Special places and people

This was a busy week with the Mission Presidents' seminar and Area Review.  Fortunately, there was some relaxing time and one of these was for the sisters to go to Mt. Takao for a special lunch.

There are many sweet statues around Tokyo that have little caps and jackets.  We weren't really sure what they represent until one of the Japanese sisters looked it up and she said it represents a reminder of  how important it is to love, protect, and care for children.

There are many beautiful bridges and trees at Mt. Tako

waterwheel and entrance

Here is the "tea house" where we had lunch minus any tea

It was a special group of sisters to spend a special afternoon in their company.

Another day we went to Kamakura

That evening we had a wonderful dinner and listened to a famous koto player.

Port of Yokohama--the largest port in Japan

This shrine area was constructed in the 8th century AD

Lunch in a shabu-shabu restaurant.  You cook your own food in the boiling pot in front of you.  We had very thinly sliced Kobe beef which was very tender along with lots of vegetables.

The big Buddha again with little Carol standing in front.  One always smiles and the other never smiles--see if you can guess which is which.

Beautiful gardens at Hesadera near the big Buddha overlooking the town of Kamakura.

The grounds of the temple are home to hundreds of small Jizō statues, placed by parents mourning offspring lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. These statues remain in place for about a year, before being removed to make way for more statues; it is estimated that some 50,000 Jizō statues have been placed at Hase-dera since WWII

Gold statue--actually a wooden statue covered with gold leaf

The town of Kamakura and the bay filled with wind surfers if you look really closely.

Gary and Carol standing by a  beautiful pond and garden at Kamakura

Some more of the flowers at Kamakura

This was the weekend before in the rose gardens in Yokohama with our friends and fellow missionaries--Dave and Barbara Hansen (area medical adviser from Rexburg, Idaho), and Orion and Judy Wood (public affairs from San Francisco area). 

Kamakura

This is the cute little place that Carol went to with the sisters.  Everything was cooked over charcoal right at your table.  Believe me, this isn't how we normally eat.  We eat rice but no beans because beans are very expensive here--like $5 for a can of chili or refried beans.

You might recognize a few people in this picture except that you usually see them in suits and ties.  The ones on the bottom in front of us are Adam and Carey Aalders.  Adam is the director of temporal affairs for the area and is from Australia.  We heard some very inspirational messages from great leaders whose main concern is serving God and Christ the best they can.  It was a time we will never forget.   

Hawaiian Festival

You know us.  We can't resist anything Hawaiian so we went to the Hawaii festival in Odaiba which is in the middle of Tokyo Bay where there is lots of new buildings and construction going on.

A little Hawaiian food?  

Fuji TV headquarters in Odaiba.  Kind of a strange 30 story building.

You can see Gary at the bottom of this transformer.  In the night he lights up (no not Gary) and starts moving around.  

Represents some kind of eternal flame.

I don't get this--how can you have Octoberfest in May? 

You didn't know Gary could do this did you?  Well, he can't and I wouldn't recommend that anyone try it.

We stopped of in New York City on the way.  I always thought the statue of Liberty was taller.

Odaiba is a big amusement, shopping and office area with lots of construction.

I can't rightly say what this is but it doesn't look like a good landing place for skydivers.

This is the outdoor stage where the performers performed--is that bad English?  Each show last about an hour and there was an hour between shows but the seats filled up as soon as a show was done. 

Gary really wanted some shrimp but they were very garlicy (is that a word?) so that meant no kisses for a week.  He passed on the shrimp--good choice.

Just some old guy with some old lady.  I hate it when people stand up on the trains and offer us a seat.  Gary doesn't look a day over 65--of course he's only 64.

Newer residential area of Tokyo only about two miles from where we live.  Of course it's more than two miles across the water.

This bridge is named Rainbow Bridge because they change the lighting colors throughout the year.  On our way back into Tokyo we walked across the bridge when it was dark and you could see the lights of all the buildings.  It was a three mile walk to the nearest train station on the other side.

Very nice park and beach along the bay and kids throwing rocks into the water--how unusual!

This dog has it's very own duster.  It was a chilly day so it had its little coat on as well.  People actually buy these little dogs for as much as $4000.

This a dog with its back pack although it could be a saddle or maybe it's just a pack dog.

Gary had to have a loco moco to eat--very Hawaiian.

Carol had nachos--you might wonder why I would take a picture of this and include it here.  I don't have the slightest idea but we don't see nachos in Tokyo.

These are the performers from the Polynesian Cultural Center at BYU-Hawaii.  They were here performing every day for about 10 days.  We felt sorry for them because it wasn't warm

More of the PCC show.

The little kids had great fun coming up on the stage and following one of the dancers who is on the right which you can't see.

If you look carefully on the left side you can see the sister missionaries with some friends they are teaching.

And of course, you have to have the fire dancers.

At the end of the show the performers from BYU-Hawaii come down and talk to everyone.  The sister in white is a recent member from China that we have come to know and love very much.  We often have her over for dinner on Sunday.

Everyone wanted their pictures with the dancers.  One of our young missionaries, Elder Rezentes on the left, is from Hawaii so he was really happy to see the show.

The dancer is from New Zealand and recently returned from a mission in Wisconsin.  On his left is Elder Tu'ua.  We talked to lots of people there and handed out information about the church.

The giant ferris wheel in Odaiba at night as we started walking back across the bridge.

Another day, some of our friends from Utah came to see us.  They are Curtis and Carron and her parents, Don and Annette.  They had been travelling all over Japan.  Curtis was a missionary here about 35 years ago.  We spent our Saturday showing them around Tokyo and Yokohama.

They were getting ready for a parade in Ueno area of Tokyo.  This is one of the little things they carry around.

A Buddha in Ueno park.

We had heard something about that for children's day they put a bib on the Buddha to represent the children.

Don, Curtis and Gary in Yokohama in front of a very beautiful rose garden

A beautiful rose and the most fragrant rose I have ever smelled.

This is Carol's left over corsage and flower from Mother's Day.
We hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day, and wish all of the Fathers a very happy Father's day, too!  And to the children, if you lived here in Japan, you would have been able to celebrate Children's day!  Of course, every day is Children's Day, isn't it?