Thursday, September 29, 2011

Toray Pan Pacific Open 2011


With Joey Gibson, Dawn Grespan and Kelly Hadden

I had the opportunity to spend the day with friends watching some great women's tennis at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. We had the chance to see the number 4 women's player in the world, Victoria Azarenka play (and handily beat) Irina-Camilia Begu. We also saw Agnieszka Radwanski beat Angelique Kerber, Ana Ivanovic beat Laura Robson and Julie Goerges beat Greta Arn. The weather was partly sunny and mid-70's- a perfect day for watching tennis!

Victoria Azarenka: Someday, I will look like this...NOT!
Victoria Azarenka: Someday I will look like this...NOT!

Next week, October 6th, Scott and I, along with our friends Kim and Ken Graham, are heading to the Rakuten open where we will hopefully see Rafael Nadal, Andy Murry and Mardy Fish (among others- had to put in the highest ranked American playing!) play.

Kyoto- Happy 11th Anniversary!

Our Wedding Anniversary is September 23, and this year, we celebrated 11 married years (16 years together) by taking a kid-free weekend trip to Kyoto. Kyoto is about 2.5 hours away, by Shinkansen (bullet train- my first time on the bullet train!). The girls stayed with our family friend, and Hanna's former Preschool teacher, Kana Otsu. They love her and had such a fun weekend. Kyoto is a very historical city, with a TON of shrines and temples, and a place everyone says is a "must see" while you are here in Tokyo.

Kyoto (京都, Kyōto) served as Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794 until 1868. It is now the country's seventh largest city with a population of 1.4 million people and a modern face. Over the centuries, Kyoto was destroyed by many wars and fires, but due to its historic value, the city was dropped from the list of target cities for the atomic bomb and spared from air raids during World War II. Countless temples, shrines and other historically priceless structures survive in the city today.

We trained out early Saturday morning, arriving in Kyoto around 10:30am. We stayed at the Hyatt, where we were allowed to check in right away (how many times does that happen?). Saturday, we visited one Shrine, one Temple and went down to the Gion (old city) district that night, in hopes of seeing an actual Geisha (which we didn't)!

The first shrine we went to was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This was the Shrine I most wanted to see and was not disappointed. I was very glad that the girls didn't come, because we walked gradually uphill for over an hour to get to the top of the Torii Gates!

Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine

Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.





Scott and I
From there we ended up going to an Irish Pub, called the Gael, that I had read about on Lonely Planet, and it did not disappoint. The food was delicious, and we had the chance to drink a few beers and watch some rugby- Scott actually said if that and the shrine were all we did, it would still be an awesome day. From here, we continued on to the Kiyomizu-dera temple. This temple was VERY old and had a lot of really neat things to look at and many places to place your prayers (including a Love Stone- if you were able to walk straight from one love stone to the other, your love would last forever!).



Kiyomizudera (清水寺, literally "Pure Water Temple") is one of the most celebrated temples of Japan. It was founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto, and derives its name from the fall's pure waters. The temple was originally associated with the Hosso sect, one of the oldest schools within Japanese Buddhism, but formed its own Kita Hosso sect in 1965. In 1994, the temple was added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.

Kiyomizu Temple















That night, we went down to the Gion District of Kyoto hoping to see an actual Geisha. Unfortunately, we did not. :( But the area was old and beautiful and definitely nice to walk around at night. We also toured around that general area, walking down by the river, through small, extremely crowded streets packed with restaurants and back home for dinner of Sashimi, Sushi rolls, donburi bowls and beer!

Gion (祇園) is Kyoto's most famous geisha district, located around Shijo Avenue between Yasaka Shrine in the east and the Kamo River in the west. It is filled with shops, restaurants and ochaya (teahouses), where geiko (Kyoto dialect for geisha) and maiko (geiko apprentices) entertain. Gion attracts tourists with its high concentration of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses. Due to the fact that property taxes were formerly based upon street frontage, the houses were built with narrow facades only five to six meters wide, but extend up to twenty meters in from the street.

On Sunday, we started the day visiting the Nijo Castle. The castle was very old and squeaky - the floors were made to squeak whenever walked on to detect enemies if they were somehow able to get into the castle- very cool. The grounds were beautiful, and gardens gorgeous.

Gardens at Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle (二条城, Nijōjō) was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). His grandson Iemitsu completed the castle's palace buildings 23 years later and further expanded the castle by adding a five story castle keep. After the Tokugawa Shogunate fell in 1867, Nijo Castle was used as an imperial palace for a while before being donated to the city and opened up to the public as a historic site. Its palace buildings are arguably the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture of Japan's feudal era, and the castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994. Nijo Castle can be divided into three areas: the Honmaru (main circle of defense), the Ninomaru (secondary circle of defense) and some gardens that encircle the Honmaru and Ninomaru. The entire castle grounds and the Honmaru are surrounded by stone walls and moats.

After the Nijo Castle, we ended our Kyoto weekend by visiting the Kinkakuji Temple, otherwise known as the Golden Pavillion. The temple was beautiful and definitely a great picture!

Kinkakuji (金閣寺, Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Kinkakuji was the inspiration for the similarly named Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), built by Yoshimitsu's grandson, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, on the other side of the city a few decades later.

Golden Pavillion


















We arrived home on Sunday night to wonderfully taken care of kiddos, happy as can be to see us. They decorated the entire apartment with welcome home signs, homemade crafts and fantastically warm hugs! Then, about 10 minutes after Ms. Kana left, they asked us if we could go somewhere else! Ahhh....Home Sweet Home!
Best way to come home!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Kumon

Both of my girls have started going to Kumon for Math. It is a repetition style program, that they have to complete their current level, get it all correct in a certain amount of time before being able to advance. It helps with memorization of math (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), as well as with focus. They get work booklets for every day of the week, and they attend every Tuesday and Friday after school.



Saturday, September 24, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Baseball in Japan!!

A day at the Ball Park
Last night we went to the Yakult Swallows vs Hanshin Tigers baseball game at the Meiji Jingu stadium. It was our first baseball game here in Japan (Scott has gone with friends during the summers, but it was a first for the girls and I!), and we had a fantastic time! The crowds here are so charged up and excited, which made for a fantastic atmosphere in the Stadium. I compare it to a football crowd at an NFL or Major College football game- just excited and in love with their team of choice. I found it interesting that they split the stadium into a Swallows fan side and a Tigers fan side. I also was so impressed with all the cheering that went on- actual cheers, chants, singing...it was so much fun to watch. One thing I found very different is that the cheering is constant- they do not stop for the batter- they cheer right through it- there is rarely if ever silence while the game is being played. I also loved the beer keg sellers- they carried a mini-keg on their backs, and had cups, and would pour you a beer right at your seat! The girls purchased their Swallow umbrellas - every time the Swallows scored, music would come on, and the whole crowd would open up colored umbrellas and move them to the music. The girls loved this part, and needed, needed, needed to get their own umbrellas! The Swallows won 6-2, there were a lot of hits and several home runs- what a fun experience!

Meiji Jingu Stadium under the lights

Hanna and I



Scott and the Girls

















Maya really got into it!
We ended up going to the game with our friends the Vaughn's, who have girls that are the same ages as Maya and Hanna. The crowd was LOVING the girls, and at times, there was more attention paid to them by the fans around us, then there was to the actual game. The four girls found empty seats a few rows up from us (which was nice, because it was hot, with 100% humidity and seats sized for the smaller Japanese), and they had a blast being a bit independent. We in turn had more space (though it didn't stop the sweating!), and were much more comfortable. The four adults also ended up on the Jumbo Tron which made the kids super jealous!

Monday, September 5, 2011

This is how it is done here....


There are many wonderful things about living in Japan, and then there are some things that seem like they should be SO simple, yet, they are not. It is maddening how long it takes to accomplish basic things here at times. Last year I attended the Rakuten Open with my friend Kim. It is a Professional Men's tennis tournament- Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick as well as many other incredibly talented people were playing and it was a great time. It took me a long time to get the tickets, as the only way to pre-purchase tickets was to do it through a Japanese website. I was on the phone with the Tokyo American Club for more than a half a day, just trying to get this form filled out correctly and make sure I actually did order tickets! This year, thinking I would have to do the same thing, I went to the Rakuten site to try to get a start. There I found a new link to Order tickets in English!! Oh how happy I was....until I tried to actually order the tickets! I had to fill in a form, stating what day and what seats I wanted. They would then email me back letting me know if they were available, and then they would assign me a reservation number and I could go to the 7-11 and get them (Convenience stores here are unbelievable! We pay all of our bills at them, order concert tickets and apparently, also sporting event tickets). The site actually states that if I live in Japan, I have to get them at the 7-11. I am hoping I have tickets when I get there, but I am too exhausted trying to have any more of these fun communications!

So, this is how my email conversation went:

Rakuten:

Dear Leigh Garrison,

The ss seat (row 11-14) the sixth is sold out.

It is in case of the SS seat(row 8-10).

How do you do?

Please answer.

Me:

Does this mean it is available in SS row 8-10? If not a seat in S will work as well- as close to the court, preferably mid- court if possible?

Rakuten:

Dear Leigh Garrison

SS seat (8-10) can be bought.

SS seat(11-14) is sold out.

How do you do?

Please answer.

Me:
Are the SS seats courtside (not on an end)? If so, I would like to purchase 4 together. If they are on an end, I would like 4 S seats that are courtside together. Thank you!!

Rakuten:

Dear Leigh Garrison

Please look at the hall chart.
http://rakutenopen.rakuten.co.jp/ticket.html

The SS seat is a thin green place.

Can you see?

The tenth the eighth row-row of the place can be bought.

If it is OK, the ticket is reserved instead of you. (4 tickets)

Thank you

(As you can see, I have at this point, given up on trying to find out where the seat numbers actually are in the stadium!)

Me:
That looks good- SS rows 8-10, 4 tickets. How do I get the tickets?

Thanks for your help!

Rakuten:

Dear Leigh Garrison

Your reservation was completed.

Please come to the ticket sales contact to take the ticket from October 2nd to October 9th.

Please say the reservation number in the Same-day purchase counter.

We will pass your ticket.
Moreover, please pay the ticket price then and there.

※reservation number 1109-1028

Your seat number is here.
D-8-5
D-8-6
D-8-7
D-8-8

Me:
I can pick them up at the Stadium and not at the 7-11?

Rakuten:
Dear Leigh Garrison

Receiving the ticket in the convenience store requires a handling charge.

Commission of issuing tickets/one piece  210yen
System commission/one reservation 315yen
Commission paid/one reservation  210yen


If it is OK, it changes one's reservation.

※The change and the cancellation of the reservation cannot be accepted in the future.

Me:
I would like to pick them up and not have a handling charge. Am I able to just pick them up at Ariake Stadium and pay for them the day of the event (Oct 6)?

Rakuten:

The ticket is received in the convenience store.

It requires a handling charge.
Hereafter, I take the reservation again instead of you.



Present reservation status

The ticket is received in the ticket counter on the stadium on that day.


① or ② ????

Which is hope?

Me:
I assume I just give them my name and reservation number that day and I am all set? Can you please verify that picking them up at Ariake Stadium's ticket booth is ok? Where is the ticket booth?

Thank you very much. I apologize for the confusion!

Rakuten:

Dear Leigh Garrison

Your reservation was completed.

If the reservation number and the name are said, it is safe.

Please come to the ticket sales contact.

Please relieve.

Your ticket does the reservation completion.

Thank you,
Rakuten Japan Open 2011 Ticket Center

Arm Wrestling, Anyone?

Scott had a work retirement party on Friday, and it turned into an arm wrestling event. I think once the fellas at his work got some liquid courage, they thought maybe, just maybe, they could beat the big man....they were wrong- even LEFT handed!!

This Guy was trying SO hard!!


This one thought he would have an advantage if they wrestled Left Handed! Scott still won!
This one thought he would have an advantage if they did it left handed...Scott still won!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Night out with friends!

We had the chance to go to a fabulous Indian restaurant, Gunghroo, in Omote-sando!

With the Graham's and George's

Friday, September 2, 2011

First day of school, ASIJ 2011


Both girls started school this week. Maya is entering 3rd grade and has Mr. Rolls- her first male teacher! She thinks he is really funny and is really happy to be in his class. She had a great first week. Her favorite parts of the week were swimming, meeting and making new friends and just being back at ASIJ.


Hanna started Kindergarten this week at ASIJ. She has Mrs. Huber, who has a bunny, fish and other insects in her classroom. Hanna was SO happy, as this is the classroom she wanted to be in. Her only ASIJ friend in her class is Tessa Deki, and she is thrilled that Tessa is in her class. Hanna had a bit of a rough first week, as she came home Tuesday sick from school- running a fever and throwing up all night. She was not able to go to school the rest of the week...so essentially, Hanna's first week of school is this coming week.