Omiya Kotsu Koen (Omiya Traffic Park)

Sunday. Cold weather. Near the end of a 35-week school break. Did I say 35 weeks? Sorry--just feels like it. I meant 3.5 weeks.

We headed up on Bus 46 and met our friends at the Omiya Kotsu Koen (or traffic park), otherwise known as that place in Kyoto where you can drive Go-Karts!

We arrived at 12:20. No go karts--it was lunch break!. So we admired the miniature street scene, complete with cross walks and working traffic signals.

The kids played on the excellent playground that is mixed in with the go-kart tracks.

I thought this looked like some kind of old school torture device. Can you imagine trying to swing and grab each of these rings? This was the least popular equipment...

They had parked some old street cars there (you can see them above). Of all things, each car had a bookshelf filled with children's books! Hugo loved this. (But of course, Hugo doesn't like posing for pictures, so here is a photo of Alek, before his snack.)

At 1:00, it was time to GO!

Kids in Grade 3 or up can drive their own car. Three rides = 500 yen.

Younger kids have to go with a parent. (Three rides = 600 yen). Can you see my knees? Let's just say I'm glad I've been doing yoga.

Hugo and I got busted by the "cops"--I was letting him do the brake.

Then later, Alek and I got busted because I was letting him steer.

But other than that, this was a total blast for all of us. The cold wind in our hair, the revving of engines, stopping at cross walks...we did it all!

They also have a set of mini pedal cars, for the Grade 1 and 2 kids who can't drive their own go-karts.

The people working here are very friendly, but there is virtually no English at this place--you have to know kanji even to go into the right bathroom! But if you're ever in Kyoto with kids, this is a great place to visit.

Vrrrooooom!

Osechi-ryori....

We did it--we made it through shogatsu with full bellies, even though our grocery store was closed for 4 and 1/2 days and our refrigerator is the size of a box of Cheerios.

It helped that I had installed this handy fridge-annex in the backyard:

How do Japanese families do it? For one thing, most refrigerators are larger than ours. And another way is that some people make or purchase "osechi ryori"--beautifully arranged, specially prepared new year's foods that are designed to stay fresh (or at least be edible) for up to three days.

In early December, I stopped into the basement of Takashimaya department store, thinking I would order us a box of osechi, too. I asked directions, found the display, admired the beautiful boxes. But I didn't order a thing-- the cheapest box they had was 30,000 yen (about $340!). Many prices went as high as 120,000 yen! Even with "free" delivery, that's a bit much, dontcha think?

So luckily, the day before Fresco (the supermarket) closed, we decided to buy a box of Fresco-made osechi-ryori. This little box cost a mere 1500 yen. Isn't it beautiful?

We broke this out for lunch on January 2. What's in the box? From the upper left corner, you can see some kind of preserved tiny fish, three green soybeans on a stick, a bladder of fish eggs, some pickled renkon, sweet squishy tofu with "auspicious" stamped on it, pickled celery, pickled carrot, pickled bamboo shoot, some sweet black beans, some sweet potato "salad," and some daikon pickle shreds. In the middle were a couple slices of omelet roll, two prawns, and the lovely pickled kombu shown below.

(Cathy K., do I hear you drooling?)

We all tried bits and pieces.

We liked the soybeans, black beans, and sweet potatoes.

But.... some of the pickles were a bit much, even for my brave boys:

The pickled kombu was the anti-favorite.

Darrin convinced me that this was "actually really tasty! Like licorice!" he promised.

So now I know where you can get some long-lasting, fish-flavored licorice if you're interested....

The fish egg bladder didn't go down too well either. But it does make a lovely crunch when you chew it.

The good part of this experience is that I have finally figured out how to lose weight in Japan! Send me $1500 and I'll set you up with a lovely diet program next winter.

Welcome to the Gap!

Here's an exciting side effect of living abroad with two 7 year olds: Counting the ones Alek lost back home, our boys have lost teeth in three continents! You may recall that Alek lost a tooth at the Kurama Fire Festival. And Hugo lost his first tooth, ever, while sitting in a boat on top of the Great Barrier Reef.

Lately things have been fast and furious...Hugo lost a bottom tooth two days ago.

Then yesterday, we were making mochi (more on that later) and Alek lost one....(if you've tried mochi, you may know that it's ideal for pulling teeth out)
And just tonight, Hugo lost his other front tooth... (I ask you--is there anything cuter than kids with no front teeth? Stay like this, Hugo, please?)

Now 5 minutes later--just as I was loading up these pictures, he yanked out another one from the bottom. That's two in one night!

Warning: Blood shot:

One of the interesting facts about Hugo is that he grew 11 baby teeth on the bottom (kids usually have 10). Of course, dental hygenists call this a "supernumerary tooth." Right. Anyway, for the last 3 months, his two adult teeth have been coming in behind. So for awhile, Hugo was packin' 13 teeth. Kind of like a shark. Now we're back down to 11.

At least for the next 5 minutes....

Hugo thought you would enjoy this...

Hugo shows off some of his art supplies...

Hugo says, "I don't need any more for awhile."

Alek says, "Not all of those art supplies are yours, Hugo."

Happy New Year 2011! Joya no Kane and other things...

Last night we celebrated New Years Eve by staying up late (yes, even Alek!) to walk to a temple called Shokokuji, about 25 minutes (north of Doshisha University).

On NYE in Japan, the Buddhist temples ring their bell (if they have one) at least 108 times (for 108 sins) right before midnight..it's called joya no kane. Some temples let the public take turns ringing it; others (like Chionin) have the monks do the ringing.

Anyway, I could tell from the Shokokuji website that they had a bell, and we took a chance that they would ring it. We got there at 11:15pm, but it was veerrrry quiet. We were about to leave, thinking we were wrong. But then I decided to ask a small group of people standing around if there would be joya no kane. Yes, it was right here! It would start at 11:45. We were only about 15th in line. We are so lucky...

The bell was up in a tower, at the top of these stairs. The five of us took off our shoes, climbed up, and rang the bell together as a "family ring."

Then we walked out, and took a taxi home. It was the perfect, quiet new years eve temple scene. This was the latest that Alek had ever been awake without a meltdown. (I guess he will be ready for college someday.)

Here is the tower with the bell, and the boys. Photos in the dark are rather difficult--sorry....

This morning was New Year's day, of course. We slept in until 10am (another first!) and had Ozoni Soup for breakfast. This is a simple miso/chicken based soup with mizuna greens in it, that is poured over a broiled mochi cake (a kind of squishy rice ball).

Here's the soup:

And here's the komochi before you cook it.

Here's what happened when I broiled it...one big mochi mass!

Max and I loved the grilled mochi, just plain, or maybe with a little butter and cinnamon....

So we ate that, and then played around at home, relaxing.

Later we took a walk. We visited our snowmen...one of them had keeled over.

and we admired the new year decorations on people's homes.

and on the Pachinko Parlors:

Eventually, we got to Shimogamo Jinja, one of the more popular shrines to visit on New Years' Day. This is a World Heritage Site (one of 17 in Kyoto), with artifacts dating from 10.000 b.c.!

It was a surprisingly festive scene....lots of street food for sale!

Here is a main gate.

It is the year of the rabbit!
We warmed up by this fire...

Here is a traditional mochi arrangement.

And some snow bunnies!
New years' donations to the jinja, of giant mochi, beer, sake:

The boys rang the bell, and we bought a lucky charm, and on the way out, we purchased the best street food ever--fried sweet potatoes with sugar sprinkled on. So healthy and delicious.....

Everybody, Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!