Let's not forget Japanese food

In Japan, you are never far away from food. And delicious food as well. Yes, it has been a bit of a challenge to travel here and try to explain that we do not eat any wheat, barley, or rye. But eventually, I learnt how to say this in Japanese. For those of you who do not know, all the girls in our family have gluten intolerance. That means no bread, pasta, pizza, soy sauce, and a lot of other things that might contain, in particular, wheat. At home there is no problem, because there is an abundance of alternatives for us, but when traveling it can be a bit tricky. However, we ended up eating a lot of fish, vegetables, fruit, and rice. This is the first time I do not eat any grains, apart from rice, and I can tell you all that my belief is that we would be much more healthy if we did not eat wheat.

Many times, you do not need to speak Japanese to order food, because there are plenty of restaurants that display their food.

These plates with plastic food seem to be a big industry in Japan. It is more safe and predictable to go to a restaurant with displays than with signs like this one, don't you think?

Some restaurants and cafes display food more beautifully than others.

And we had many opportunities to sit on tatami mats eating delicious food.

And on ordinary chairs too.

I became so inspired by their bento boxes that I think I will implement it at home. Well, I guess Irene's lunch box already is a kind of bento box. A container with small compartments filled of fruit, veggies, and a main dish. Maybe just add a touch of beauty to it.

I will definitely start visiting the Asian grocery store, Uwajimaya, in Seattle a bit more often.

Here is a different kind of bento box that I bought before getting on the train one day. It contained salmon sushi. The Japanese cannot fail when it comes to food.

Happy New Food Year to all of you.

Christmas in the Japanese Alps

We decided to head into the Japanese Alps for Christmas. It was nice with a change of scenery, and we were also hoping to see some snow.

Takayama became our base for a couple of days as we explored the region. A town known for its many picturesque streets, carpentry, sake breweries, and  lacquerware.

I enjoyed strolling down the street thinking about how it must have been like here a very long time ago. I sure would have liked to be a fly on the wall back then.

One day, we rented a car to go to the historic village of Shirakawa-go with its many beautiful Gassho-zukuri style houses. We could not have chosen a better day. It snowed and snowed, but, luckily, the car tires were good and we arrived at our destination safely. I think the pictures tell you a great deal about how much it actually snowed.

We found a nice little café where we had some hot chocolate and coffee. The owners were so sweet, treating us to a Japanese bean dessert that was delicious. 

When we left, the owner said thank you very much in Swedish. It was time to head back to Takayama.

Hiroshima: no more black rain

It was finally time to leave Kyoto. We did see the imperial palace and several other interesting things there, but I quickly realized that I would not be able to cover everything on my blog if I was to keep up with all the other things on our agenda.

So we got on the Shinkansen train to Hiroshima, a city I think most people must have heard of. And I have to show you the Shinkansen train here, because I will not write a whole blog post about Shinkansen trains:)

Hiroshima will be remembered forever because “Little boy” was dropped there on August 6, 1945 killing about 80,000 people. And the reason the bomb was dropped there was because there were no POWs held there.

The main attraction (if you could call it that) in Hiroshima is the Peace Memorial Park, which contains the Peace Memorial Museum and the Atomic Bomb Dome, among other things.

Irene and Christer went to the Peace Memorial Park on the same day as we arrived, and then Zoe and I went there the next morning. We discovered that it is sometimes nice to split the family in two. A keeping-your-sanity measure.

Early in the morning, Zoe and I took the tram to the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, or the “Atomic Bomb Dome” as it is commonly called. This building has been portrayed in many places and is a stark reminder of the horrors that happened here.

The park was almost empty this morning. By the way, we have hardly met any foreign visitors or tourists on this trip. The few tourists we usually encounter are mostly Japanese.

We stopped to look at the Children's Peace Monument in memory of all the children who died including Sadako Sasaki, one girl who developed leukemia as a result of the bomb. She decided to fold 1,000 paper cranes (In Japan, the crane is a symbol of longevity and happiness), but died before she had a chance to finish all. Her class mates did the rest. This story is one of the reasons paper cranes are so popular to fold in Japan.

Then we headed for the museum. The information in this museum managed to fill in some of the gaps about what actually happened here in Japan before, during, and after WWII. And I was impressed that Zoe took so much time to read on all the information displays. However, the last part we walked through quickly, because it showed real and scary pictures of people and their injuries due to the bomb, and I could clearly see that Zoe was disturbed by this.

The “black rain,” mentioned in the heading, refers to the rain that fell in the aftermath of the bomb causing severe radiation burns.

Let's just hope that there will be no more bombs dropped and no more black rain ever.

Torii gates and a bamboo forest

On our last day in Kyoto, we managed to squeeze in a visit to Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine with all its famous Torii gates. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of Torii gates leading us up to several sub-shrines in the mountains. Each Torii gate is donated by a Japanese business. The stroll under the Torii gates turned quickly into a hike. A pleasant surprise. I am glad that we brought lots of clementines to satisfy the little one, who is always hungry.

In the afternoon, we took a train to the northeast part of Kyoto to visit a bamboo forest.

The bamboo forest was quite small, but it was interesting to see these tall exotic trees swaying in the wind. More rewarding to see in this area, though, were the streets and houses.

And the dessert Zoe had in one of the cafes, consisting of ice cream, beans, mochi, and some kind of jelly, was delicious and beautiful to look at.  And a small cup of Japanese tea, of course. It is so easy to fall in love with Japanese aesthetics, don’t you think?!

Osaka aquarium

After all the visits to various temples, the children needed a break. And, as a matter of fact, so did the adults.

Therefore, we decided to visit the aquarium in Osaka.

The Osaka aquarium is the second biggest aquarium in the world. It was very nicely laid out and we all had a really good time.

We saw fish, small ones and a very big one.

Big fish, strange fish.

And jellyfish.

Heck, we even saw a Santa fish.



Pottery: my cup of tea

I have always wanted to create cups and bowls out of clay, but never got around to it. So, having some time on my hands, I signed up for a wheel throwing class during the fall just passed.

A group of six women, we went about learning the basics of wheel throwing. I quickly discovered that I was much better at appreciating finished pieces produced by professionals than making my own.

So instead of showing you the cups and bowls that I managed to produce on the wheel, I would like to show you some beautiful pieces that I found in Kyoto. Enjoy!

Nara: Japan's first permanent capital

With Kyoto as our base, we went on a day trip to Nara, Japan’s first permanent capital (710 to 785). Nara was only the capital for a mere 75 years—a horny priest seduced an empress and almost usurped the throne— before the capital was moved to Kyoto.

Nara has a small town air to it, and we spent most of the time walking around a large park with temples. Among other things, we visited the Daibatsu-den Hall, the biggest wooden building in the world. The present building, which was rebuilt in 1709, is only two-thirds of the size of the original.

The Daibatsu-den Hall contains one of the largest bronze figures in the world, the Daibatsu (Great Buddha).

Apart from temples, the park also has a large number of wild deer. Since the deer are wild, there were signs warning people that these animals could attack.

You could buy deer biscuits to feed the deer, but that did not seem like a very good idea at all. Unless, of course, you want to risk being bitten or attacked by these animals.

Just watch what happens to the girls who fed the deer in Nara in these videos:

Deer bites girl

Persistent deer follow girl

Best to leave the wild ones alone.

Kyoto: Japan's cultural capital

Sometimes it is very hard to get some quiet time alone to write. No, I am not one of those mothers who can entertain my children and, at the same time, write. It is very late at night, and I am sitting in the communal area of the hotel sipping sake while, at the same time, trying to share my impressions of Kyoto with you.

Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan, and home to more than 1,500 temples and 300 shrines. I fell in love instantly. I could live here for a year just to visit all the beautiful gardens and temples.

Some streets makes me think about Arthur Golden's book "Memoirs of a Geisha," a very interesting book about the life of a geisha in the 20th century. It is estimated that there are about 1,000 Geishas in Japan today. To socialize with them, you need connections and about $3,000 dollars, so I guess I can forget my Geisha entertainment for the moment. By the way, if you look carefully, you can see two Geishas who are out for a stroll in the picture below.

In Kyoto, it is easy to see beauty in everything, such as in a simple lantern outside a house.

Or in a drinking fountain in one of the temple areas. This one is used by visitors to the temple.



It is time to finish my sake and go upstairs to my family, who probably is asleep by now:)



Small hotel rooms

As most of you probably know, space is limited in Japan. So in general, the hotel rooms are small.

In Nagoya, we paid over $100 for one room for two people. I think this is one of the smallest hotel rooms that I have stayed in; especially considering the price.

Our hotel room in Kyoto is also small, but, at least, we can all stay in the same room.

Yes, we are now in Kyoto. I am overwhelmed by all the beautiful things in this city. This makes it difficult to select what to write about, so I better sleep on it.

Nagoya: Japan's industrial hub

The Shinkansen train dropped us of in Nagoya, which became our first stop after Tokyo. Nagoya is a city of about 2.2 million inhabitants making it the fourth largest city in Japan.

Nagoya is also the industrial hub of Japan, with industries such as Toyota and Mitsubishi R&D. Unfortunately, to visit the Toyota factory, you have to book about three months in advance.

So instead, we spent some time in and around Nagoya Castle. This castle was built in 1612, but was destroyed during WWII. However, it was rebuilt in 1959 and it gives you a very good understanding how life was here a few hundred years ago.

And for all you guys in rainy Seattle, here is photo of a sunny and warm (70F/20C) day just perfect to stroll around the grounds of a castle.

Heated toilet seats and women's underwear

After having been awake for nearly 24 hours, we finally fell asleep in a hotel close to Tokyo airport.

Most hotel rooms in Japan have narrow beds, so we had to book two hotel rooms. Christer and Zoe slept in one room, and Irene and I slept in the other room.

My first real Japanese experience was the heated toilet seats in the hotel bathroom. And I do not really know what I think about it. Walking out of the bathroom with a very hot bum…

And now I will share something very personal with you. When Irene and I woke up, we were hungry and, since Christer and Zoe appeared to be sleeping, we took the elevator down to the hotel restaurant to have some breakfast. After a while, Christer and Zoe show up, and Christer tells me that he forgot to pack any underwear in his backpack. And so, being the good and understanding wife that I am, I offered to lend him a pair of my underwear. And guess what, he said yes. He should be so very happy that I do not wear G-strings;) So today, he has been walking around Nagoya, where we ended up today, in women's underwear!

Waiting for Santa-san

This year, I am skipping Christmas. It is not that I do not like Christmas. As a matter of fact, I am a real sucker for Christmas. I love the whole atmosphere surrounding Christmas; the decorations, the food, the Christmas concerts, the Christmas parties and the magic of Santa. And it is the only time that I do want fluffy white snow falling outside my windows.

But this year, there will be nothing Christmassy for me. Instead, I am taking my family to Japan. Three weeks of backpacking back in history, but also venturing into the future. I hope I will be able to share some of the adventures with you. Don't get your hopes up too high, though. I might be too jet lagged and culture shocked to turn my experiences into writing.

My family and I plan to go to Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Himeji, and a few other places that I will tell you about in the weeks to come.

So while you are waiting for Santa, I will be waiting for my sushi and the Geisha entertainment to start.

Bear attack

Yes, I am scared shitless (excuse my language) of bears. So why is this a problem, you wonder? Well, it is a problem when you love hiking in forests and mountains, because mountains and forests can have bears in them.

Seattle has a lot of mountains and forests, and bears. Not a good combination for me. So, I do not hike very much these days unfortunately. Of course, it is not only because I am scared of bears that I do not hike so much. I do not want to blame everything on the bear now, would I?

I feel like I am acting like a very emotional person who, for instance, would refuse to fly on the Russian “Aeroflot” airline because they consider it unsafe, but can then get on a 50-year-old bus in Nepal that goes up the mountains on steep, winding roads that are so narrow only one and a half cars can meet.

Because how likely is it to be attacked by a bear in the Seattle area? I do not want to bore you with figures, but let’s just say that there are more people killed by dogs and lightening than bears each year. Well, I am not really scared of dogs or lightening, so time to be rational here. I can, of course, be attacked by a bear without dying. Losing an ear or get some severe scratch marks… No, I do not think I would like that. I think I need to nourish my emotional side. Don’t want to lose an ear just yet.

Seattle is...

Seattle is a lot of things. Here is a list of some of the characteristics of Seattle. The perspective is, of course, my own. However, I do think some of my friends here would agree to some of the things that I mention.

Seattle is...

• lush, green, and mostly snowless
• harbouring so many squirrels that I have stopped counting them
• close to mountains and the ocean
• clustered with nail and SPA parlours 
• in love with teriyaki restaurants (Can somebody explain this?)
• experiencing 3,000 car thefts per year
• surrounded by mountains
• home to Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing (HQ now in Chicago), Starbucks, Expedia, Costco (HQ now in Issaquah, WA), and Nordstrom (founded by a Swede)
• putting up the biggest film festival in the US each spring
• grunge
• Jimi Hendrix
• full of people walking around in flip flops and slippers outdoors all year around
• making me happy and is the most permanent  home that I have ever had

Better late than never...

Yes, I know. I should have started this blog five years ago when I first moved to Seattle. Particularly for all my friends out there in different parts of the world.

Well, I am here now. Ready to tell you a bit about my life here in Seattle. So tune in.

Let's start by showing you our house. It was designed by renowned architect Curtis Gelotte in the early 90s. Many people would probably think that it looks a wee bit boring, but I rather like the box like look. Simple lines and not much else really.

The picture was taken during a recent snowfall we had here in Seattle. And let me point out that it does not snow very often in Seattle.

House hunting was a bit challenging for my husband when he arrived here (I was still in Sweden with two children wrapping things up.) The contemporary modern style that we wanted is not so common here, although things have changed in the few years we have lived here. We also wanted to live close to my husband's work to minimize the commute. One day my husband sent me some documents and pictures and told me that we are now house owners. I am so glad that I married someone who totally understand what I like. At least when it comes to houses...