As I explained in the previous post, Maki and I used to go to hotspring overnights in Kyushu a lot when we lived there. These places invariably only had 10-20 rooms, although with excellent service and food. I would be hesitant to take a 2 and a 5 year old to such a place, however. So, for this excursion, our first such overnight since Genbo was born, we chose a larger hotel. The onsen, Keburikawa in Kameoka, was in fact bigger and more institutional than both of us expected. At first I was a little disappointed by this, but our room was still excellent, and the size of the place meant that we didn’t have to keep Genbo and Zoe on such a tight leash (reducing stress). I was extremely glad that we decided at the last minute to spring for the room with its own outside bath; it really made the trip for us.
Here’s the balcony off our room, with its private bath made of shigaraki pottery. In Japanese it’s called a rotenburo, which Genbo still thinks is an English word because he learned it at a friend’s house in the States where there is an outside hot-tub. It’s hilarious to hear him pronounce this very Japanese word with an American accent.
Here’s our room shot from outside on the balcony. Very nice and spacious.
Wearing yukata, or simple kimono, is one of the pleasures of any onsen. Here is Zoe in hers, while Genbo waits in his skivies for his larger size to be delivered (he is, to put it mildly, taller than most Japanese 5-year olds). I particularly cherish this picture because Zoe, being a little bit more reserved than her brother, doesn’t often give the camera her full-wattage smile.
Much frolicking was had…
…and jumping too and fro…
Finally, Genbo’s yukata arrives.
Onsen exist just as much for the food as the baths, and the fact that you pay by the person instead of by the room attests to where much of your money goes. Although at smaller onsen you usually eat in your room, here there was a restaurant, where everybody was knocking back beer and sake in their yukatas. You had a choice of three different meals, and we chose the wild boar, which is apparently a local specialty.
Before dinner we had gone to the large public (gender-divided) baths, but after dinner we filled our own private one. It was raining outside, which just added to the atmosphere.
It was a long day for Zoe, who curled up in her favorite place before bed and didn’t even have the energy to bat my camera away or shield her face.
Yesterday we took our first family trip with all four of us to anywhere other than our respective ancestral homes. We went to an onsen, or natural hotsprings, about 45 minutes outside of Kyoto in a little town called Kameoka (30 minute train ride, followed by a 15 minute shuttle bus).
Maki and I used to go to lots of hotsprings when we were childless and lived in Kyushu, the land of excellent onsen, but it’s not really the kind of things you enjoy with babies in tow. Still, it’s nice to get away for even just a night and enjoy some awesome baths and great food, and Genbo and Zoe do at least a passable of impression of human beings most of the time these days, so we’ve decided to explore the outskirts of Kyoto to see what we can find. These shots are all from the train to the onsen, as was the previous post.
I took this first shot before I realized my camera was still on full manual mode from my last macro shoot. Still, I like how Genbo is hamming it up for and Zoe is hiding from the camera. Only Adobe Lightroom saved an completely screwed-up exposure.
Everybody’s personality coming to the fore 
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This next shot is from directly above Genbo as he gazes out the front of the train.
Genbo at his customary station as we ride the train into the wilds.
This is a catch-up post. Way back in July I posted pictures of the summer festival at Genbo and Zoe’s daycare festival. In that post I described how the kids “get dressed up, dance, and pull a big o-mikoshi (御神輿—think Japanese, Shinto-based Ark-of-the-Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark and you aren’t too far off) around.” I always meant to post photos of that but never got around to it. We had our first real snowfall of the year here this week, so it’s nice to go back and look at some summery photos.
At this point all the kids were looking at me and saying “You’re in the way, cameraman!”
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The other day the Kamadas came over for a little new year’s get-together, which involved hanging around at our house for a while and then going out for some great yaki-niku, where you grill your own meat at the table and drink lots of draft beer. The owner is a fan of Kamada-san’s pottery, which I’ve blogged about in the past, and he treated us like kings, especially because Kamada-san brought him a little present at my suggestion.
He loves that thing. I think Maki made it for him. Those Japanese are good with folded paper. 
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The photo below shows them playing something very interesting. Japanese people are very big on various forms of karuta, or cards. The most widespread version is the Hyakunin-Isshu, which was originally an anthology of 100 poems compiled in the 12th century.These were then assembled into a deck of cards, with each card containing a single poem in calligraphic form. The game is that two or more people will sit in front of the spread-out deck, while another person reads the poems at random. The contestants then have to find the appropriate card and pick it up before their opponent does. This is actually a very big “sport” in Japan, with national championships, ranks, and the level of obsession Japanese people pour into just about everything. The “pros” only have to hear one or two syllables before they recognize which poem is being read, and their hand shoots out unbelievably fast. Here is one gorgeous video showing people dressed up in the ceremonial garb of the 12th century playing the game at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto (a ritual carried out at the beginning of each new year), and here is a national news report about the national championships, with some great video showing how fast the pros are. Coincidentally, this is at the shrine where Genbo and Zoe go to daycare.
Anyway, Genbo got a deck of karuta for new year’s from his Japanese grandparents, although these don’t have the Hyakunin-Issue poems on them, but rather kotowaza, or Japanese proverbs. Being a confucian country, Japanese people are big at sprinkling proverbs into conversation. They learn them very early—five years old, in fact. Genbo already has his proverb cards memorized, and Zoe isn’t actually half bad either.
This is an alleyway off of Kawaramachi between Sanjo and Shijo. There is a lot going on here, and the thumbnail doesn’t do it justice. I also jacked the colors up to 11 because the scene seemed to call for it, especially the reds and yellows. Japan can be so cartoony, and to me this little alley shows a little bit of that.
We’re having a very good time of things here in Sausolito/San Francisco/Palo Alto. The first week was the best, when all four of us were here (including for Halloween), but I have managed to keep things from becoming miserable for the remaining three of us after Maki had to go back to Japan for work. Helping me has been many of my extended family, who have flown in from various parts of the US to see my kids (definitely not me!).
Anyway, here are a bunch of pics from the second week of our stay. I unwisely unloaded the first week’s pics onto a friend’s computer, then forgot to get them back before I left their house in Palo Alto. Lucky for me I’m going back there before we leave. These pictures are un-edited in any way. I haven’t even had time to go through and make sure I am selecting the best pic of each series. But, I wanted to get something up here before too much time had passed. Hopefully in a couple days I’ll post some of the best of these individually.
(To view full-screen, first press the Play button in the center, then place the mouse over the slideshow to view the control bar on the bottom, then press the symbol in the lower-right corner.)
Today is Genbo’s birthday. Five years ago today he obligingly came into the world five minutes before his due date of Friday the 13th. We did the cake thing yesterday, since Maki was home early that day, and he got one present then and one present today.
Last year I took photos with a flash (an external flash, bounced off the ceiling, of course), but this year I tried using my light-sucking 35/1.8 with just natural light. They both have their good qualities, although I think that maybe judicious use of flash in the end produces better photos, despite the fact that non-flash gives better ambience. (With flash the average quality of all indoor photos is probably higher, although without it you probably get better outliers.)
Eyes light up even more than the candles
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Mmmm…Blueberry Totoro cake looks goooood
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Woops! Forgot to tell him to make a wish. Probably extraneous at this age anyway 
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What’s going on in that little brain of his, I wonder
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Oh, how I wish this photo were in better focus…
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Genbo loves all things oceanic, so I bought a cool scientific ocean pop-up book. He found it interesting, but not nearly as engrossing as the present he asked for: a light-and-sound producing sword from some Power-Rangers knockoff currently popular. We definitely don’t show him that stuff, but he’s exposed to it at daycare.
Not exactly what I would have selected myself for him, but nor was it bad enough to refuse.
“With great power comes great responsibility”
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It appears that my Jewish genes effectively cancel out the sword-wielding half of his genetic makeup:
Genbo, you gotta learn how to hold a sword
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That’s better. Doing battle with the hanger monster
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In then end, even great warriors submit to kisses from mommy
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(I’m aware that in the States people have (often elaborate) birthday parties for children this age, but they definitely do not in Japan. This is one relatively rare instance where the Japanese way just makes more sense to me.)
Yesterday was the 納涼際, or summer festival, at Genbo and Zoe’s daycare. Amid the many things I find to complain about Japan, the yearly festivals are certainly something I find myself enjoying again and again. They manage to blend traditional celebration with basic good fun in a natural way that I like. This particular festival at the daycare involves the kids (most of them, anyway) getting dressed up, dancing, pulling a big 御神輿 (think Japanese, Shinto-based Ark-of-the-Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark and you aren’t too far off) around, and finally fireworks. Here are just a few pictures of Genbo and Zoe goofing off before all the official activities.
Genbo soon learned that…
More running, which seems to be what 4 year olds do all the time 
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Before sitting down for a frankfurter and apple juice with sis
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To be continued…
Dang, I cannot believe it’s been an entire month since I wrote what I thought was the first half of a two-part post describing our trip to Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms. I can’t even claim to have been busy with work, since the Great Depression of the Late-Naughts is still taking its toll on that front. I even have a bunch of other good posts I’ve been meaning to make, but they’ve all been butting their heads against this one, which has remained stubbornly 15 minutes away from posting for the past thirty days. Ah well, such is life.
Zoe and Maki in the setting sun against some cherry blossoms
Have no idea where Genbo picked up this quirky expression
This style of exterior is an old Japanese form of weather-proofing, where planks are charred to keep out the elements. It looks beautiful here in the setting sun.
Japanese equivalent of a red barn
Meanwhile, this bald tree offered an interesting study of lines and color.
We visited a nearby park with our friends Anthony and Jeffrey.
Anthony and Genbo riding off into the sunset. 
“Hey there, Pardner”
Zoe sits at the top of the slide contemplating the ride down
It’s easier with mommy. If only they had thought to put a blossoming cherry there instead of that ugly light pole.
Whee!
Three (4?) little munchkins
If you stuck around this long in the hopes of seeing some beautiful pictures of cherry blossoms, I’m sorry to disapoint you. We ended up going back home before it got dark and they were all lit up gloriously. Jeffrey, however, did stick around and took some excellent photos. He also has a great post of some pictures of Zoe that you should check out here.
A little anti-climactic
Genbo (who needs a haircut but is vociferously, violently opposed to getting one at this stage in life) reading a Curious George book. He has about 10 or so of these, and has them all memorized to the point that if I substitute a word, he catches me.
At least it ain’t Power Rangers 
Genbo and Zoe really do get along well. They are actively playing together even more recently, especially now that Zoe can keep up her side of things better and not just destroy what Genbo builds.
Here bro, have a railway switching thing
You’re a sweety, sis
My friend Jeffery was visiting me this day. Here he shoots a picture of Zoe in my arms for comfort, where she ends up whenever things don’t quite go her way (which is often).
Seeking refuge from the vicissitudes of life
That 35/1.8 lens really is a keeper, ain’t it?
“Just shut up about the lenses already, dad!”
My mom is here for a visit, staying in our house for a month. Whenever I tell American people that their jaw drops, but it doesn’t phase Japanese people, perhaps because three generations living under one roof is still common here.
My mom was nice enough to get me the new Nikon 35/1.8 lens, which I would recommend for anyone with a DX Nikon camera. It’s cheap, light, sharp as the dickens (not that you can tell shooting through a showerful of mist), and has nice bokeh.
One of the first subjects I shot with mine was Zoe in the shower. I realize that seven nearly-identical shots may seem somewhat excessive, but the key word is nearly, and narrowing it down to seven was itself a struggle.
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