The Japanese are the World's Biggest Animal Lovers

And I don't just mean that they love their Wagyu beef. Which they do.

I mean they LOVE animals, like they want to love them and pet them and call them George.
Maybe it's because of the Kawaii culture in Japan. Have you heard of Kawaii?? It indicates a love for all things...cute. Like Hello Kitty, or Pikachu...or...well...animals!

So the Japanese love their animals and want to hang out with them as much as they can. Did you know that there are 58 cat cafes in Tokyo alone? And maybe that number is higher now, since that is as of 2015.  What's a cat cafe? you may ask. A cat cafe is a place where you can pay to go in, even get a coffee if you wish, and hang out with cats. That's it! A simple but intriguing concept. So of course, we had to go to one. I'll get back to that in a second.

But first, note that we were in Japan for 9 days. Two of those were travel days, so that leaves 7 days for real tourism. And how many animal experiences did we have?? 5. 5 animal experiences, with 7 different types of animals. So that's one animal a day. And you may think that we sought those experiences out...and we did, kind of, but the fact is--it was really easy.

Our first animal experience happened on our very first full day in Kyoto. Niccolo actually found this experience when we were planning back in the United States. He discovered a monkey park where you could visit with free-roaming snow monkeys, and even feed them. We had to climb up about 1,000 stairs to get there:

But when we did, we were rewarded with all sorts of scary-looking snow monkeys, just waiting to attack you and claw your eyes out.

(Monkey lying in wait)

No, I'm kidding. No one got their eyes clawed out. But there were signs everywhere saying not to get too close and NOT to look them in the eye. !!! I once dated a guy in Italy who had a dog you couldn't look in the eye. What's up with these ferocious beasts?

Anyway. The monkeys were super cool, and just sort of wandering all over the place. I kept a good distance and kept my eyes below the belt. Not my fault. The signs prohibited me from looking higher, and they do have those fancy red behinds, so....not my fault.

We also got to feed the monkeys. For 100 yen, you could get a little packet of fruit or peanuts to feed them. Who knew monkeys liked peanuts? I thought it was only elephants. Actually, feeding them bananas was the best, because you would give them a slice, and they'd take it with their kawaii little hands, and peel it before quickly devouring it. Now we had to do this from inside a cage, since we couldn't get too close. I thought that was hilarious. The monkeys were roaming free and we were in the zoo!

It was a good thing, too, because one of the kids in our group tried to hand a monkey a piece of fruit and accidentally dropped it.  The monkey immediately went ape-shit (no pun intended), and hissed at the child and thumped his chest. It was pretty crazy. He was definitely displeased with us.  I dared look him in the eye from the safety of my cage, and I saw the monkey rage.

Anyway, that was animal experience #1.

The second experience actually came the very next day (see? one a day) in nearby Nara. Nara has a huge deer park where scruffy little mini-deer roam around like squirrels. You can spend 100 yen there, too, for deer food to feed them with. The deer food actually looks rather like the bread wafers you get at communion in church. I guess they are holy deer. We had a great time hanging with the deer, and trying to get selfies with them.

Sorry for all the pictures, but these deer were frickin' hilarious! We even tried to get one to pose in one of our Ironic Trump Hats (Make Japan Great Again!!), but even he was opposed to Trump:

So 2 days in, and 2 animals down.

Then we had a sort of dry spell until we got back to Tokyo. And then the magic really happened.
I mentioned that they have 58 cat cafes in the city. Well, it turns out that you can combine a cafe with basically any animal! They have cat cafes, dog cafes, owl cafes, bunny cafes...even a hedgehog cafe!!
And we went to 3 of them.

First, we went to a cat cafe. The one we chose was super nice, but sadly, only allowed in kids older than 13, so that meant only Niccolo. He and I decided to go in. It's worth recounting the experience, so I will.

You go in, and like everything in Japan, it is extremely clean. The first thing you do, after paying, is remove your shoes, and retrieve a pair of slippers from a machine that sanitizes them. Then you have to sanitize your hands. You get a locker where you put your shoes and bags and things, and then you can go in.

And they have all sorts of comforts. It's a quiet peaceful space with cats lounging everywhere. There are video games to play, books to read, chargers of every sort for your phones, even blankets. And drinks. We had opted to feed the cats, so again in the name of cleanliness, they escorted us to a designated part of the room and laid down a tarp. They then had us put on aprons. We could then feed the cats treats from a little spoon and a cup. So fun! We had a blast just hanging out with all the felines.

Oh! And how could I forget? This is Japan, and you have to be kawaii. So they had little fuzzy cat ears you could wear. And you better believe I put them on!

So, well, we couldn't leave the other kids out, and we felt bad for them...so we found another cafe where they could go in as well. An owl cafe!!

Now I didn't actually get to experience the owls, since they snuck off to this cafe while we were stroking...cats. But I do have photographic evidence, so you must believe that these exist.

Finally, on our last night, we decided to make a pilgrimage to Roppongi to experience the Holy Grail: the Hedgehog Cafe. And we are so glad we did.

The Hedgehog Cafe was a triple-whammy: hedgehogs, bunnies and chinchillas. Chinchillas!! For a few bucks, we got to hold, pet, and get pooped on by adorable little fuzzy things. In fairness, they did give us blankets and diaper pads for that very reason.

I mean, can you even bear the cuteness?? The sheer kawaii of it all?

I can't.

You Know That Scene in Home Alone...

...Where the family wakes up late for their trip and has to run through the airport to catch their flight??

This one:

That's sort of what I imagine we look like to people as we've navigated the many trains we've taken on this trip.

Don't get me wrong. The extensive train and subway system here has been a lifesaver, and gotten us all over Japan successfully. It's so extensive, in fact, that we've only had to take a taxi once, and had a car rental only to move luggage in one town.

But it's sometimes a bit tricky, especially when the timetable looks like this:

So we've spent plenty of time pouring over information screens, pushing buttons on ticket machines and desperately consulting Google Maps. And when we finally figure it out, we realize our train leaves in 3 minutes on a track across the station. Hearing Luca yell, "6 minutes! 6 minutes!" has become quite common, and we all scramble, dropping the groceries we were trying to buy at the station convenience store, madly flipping through the contents of bags for tickets, screaming for kids to come back from whatever havoc they're currently wreaking, grabbing luggage, and running like the McAllisters through the station.

Sometimes instead, we wait patiently for 20 minutes on a platform, only to watch the correct train depart from the other side. And then we do the aforementioned mad dash again.

Several times we've gotten on the train, only to realize that this is an express train, and doesn't stop at our station. We exit, reconsult info boards, phones, etc...cue mad dash.

We've had train doors physically close on two of us, have been shoved so far in the train by a stream of humanity that children were lifted off their feet, but we haven't actually lost anyone yet. And we've always arrived at our destination.

So overall? B+ in Japanese Train Navigation.

#winning

I'm not sure if I can even call it Glamping

Yesterday was our first "real" day in Japan, meaning we woke up there, and slept there, so we had an entire 24 hours. And I am happy to report that the "adventure" part of this trip has finally begun.

The day began innocently enough. We woke up early (I swear to you that the sun rises here at 5 a.m.), spent another hour in a loooong queue for breakfast, shoveled down a strange breakfast of soupy eggs, fish cakes and french toast in under 10 minutes and made it to the station with time to spare for our 8:10 train to Kyoto.

This was a good thing, because I hadn't had the luck of procuring a coffee yet, and was hoping to grab one at the station. But sadly, none to be found, so like the good sport I am, I shrugged it off and made my way down to the platform with the others, wondering if tossing back a couple of Excedrin might count as caffeine intake.

I needn't have worried. Thanks to fancy Japanese vending machines, I got a nice hot coffee, served conveniently in a tin can, already creamed and sugared.

See? Sophie figured out that blue drinks are cold, and orange drinks are hot, so I got a nice, hot caffe latte. Score! This is going to be super useful on this trip.

We then boarded a train for Kyoto where we spent a great day window shopping, feeding monkeys and admiring a bamboo forest. All very nice. Fine. More on that later. I want to get to the juicy part. The part where we have to get from Kyoto to our rented house, and all hell breaks loose.

First of all, you need to understand that it is verrry difficult to move 15 people as a group. Especially in a crowded, tourist-filled city. The kids run off and photobomb unsuspecting tourists.

People stop to shop (me).
Or, people just get lost.  Actually, the Trump hats have been super useful, as you can spot those red hats through a sea of people. But I digress. Either way, my point is that it takes hours to move our group from Point A to Point B, and by the end of the day, we are all tired, cranky, and in bad need of Sapporos and a foot massage.
It was especially like that on our first night, since many of us were quite jet-lagged. Still, we were all really looking forward to our rented house, and we had big plans to get take out and large amounts of alcohol, and settle in for a fun night.

We knew our AirBnB was going to be hard to get to, because it was literally the last place left. Since it's high season in Japan (cherry blossoms), everything was booked up. We figured that since the house was a 15 minute walk from the train station, we'd rent a car so someone could drive with all of our luggage, and the rest of us would walk. Marco being Marco (for him, the crazier the driving, the better), he volunteered to drive. The rest of us hunkered down for the hike to the house.

Now keep in mind, we are severely jet-lagged. We've walked miles and miles all day, and we had to make do with snacks we could purchase from street vendors for lunch. The kids are cold and cranky, but we keep telling them that soon they can run around and we'll get sone awesome take out. It keeps our spirits up.

And when we finally arrive at the house, we are so excited. It's HUGE! It's a traditional ryokan style house all lit up with beautiful gardens, and parked there in the driveway is Marco, with all our luggage. This is going to be great!! We run for the door. And step inside, only to see this:









Now shoes are scattered all over the floor, because in Japan, you have to take your shoes off before stepping inside. You actually have to put on slippers, which you also take off before stepping onto the tatami mats in the bedrooms. But I digress. The point is: if we have rented this house, why are there shoes everywhere?

Because apparently, we aren't the only ones who rented it. Apparently, it's actually more of a...fancy youth hostel.

There is no common area.
No place for us to "hang out."
No kitchen for our use or dining table for take out. All we have are 3 bedrooms that look like this:

"Where are the beds?" you may ask. And I'm glad you did. Why, they're those piles of blankets on the floors. Which are futons, actually. Only I use that term loosely.
So ok! No beds either.
And how about the bathroom situation?
Those of you who spoke with me before I left might remember how obsessed I was about the bathroom situation. After all, we're a group of 15 people, and I have a tough time sharing a bathroom with one person, let alone 14 others. I'd read in the AirBnB description that this place had 4.5 bathrooms. That was going to be great for our group, but now our group had expanded to include...how many people? 2? 10? 40?
Twelve, as it turns out. My heart sank. All of a sudden we had to worry about our kids being quiet for the other guests. Had no place other than our rooms to congregate, and I was DEFINITELY going to have bathroom issues. Thank God I'd gotten that leg wax!! (a story for another time).

But, it's only Day Two and we're all being troopers, so we divide up the group, putting 2 couples in one room, 2 in another, and all the kids in the 3rd room. By this time, it's 8:00 at night, and we realize a few things.
1) we haven't eaten in hours
2) we walked a long way from the station and saw no stores or restaurants
3) given the situation at the house, we'll need to go out to eat

But like I said, we're actually a long way from civilization, and we only have one car, which seats 7. It's dark, it's cold...and it's late. But at least the kids need to be fed.

Our host's name is Tony, and since he's not just the owner of the house, but actually the proprietor of this...hotel?? We decide to ask him.

Tony is happy to take half of us to the local restaurant (apparently there is only one), but he'll only drop us off, not pick us up later. What to do...what to do. Well, hell. We'll figure that out when the time comes.

So we shove 8 or 9 people into our van, and another 6 or so + Tony into his sedan, and make our way to the restaurant. He drops us off and drives away, and we park and head in. Only we can't head in, because there's a line. Out. The. Door.

I want to cry.

It's now after 9. My jetlag is so bad that I feel like my head is swimming in jello. The kids look like they just want to lie down on the floor...we're all in an overall state of being plain busted. But here we are, so we write down our name and party size, trying to explain through hand gestures that we can split up our group in the name of being seated faster.

"One hour" they say.

One hour. And the place is so teeming with people that there is nowhere to sit. Luckily, this place seems to be a bit of a Japanese Cracker Barrel, so we (mostly me) amuse ourselves a bit trying to understand what the merchandise is for.

For instance, there were several items plastered with a character who appears to be a sort of yellow blob with a face, butt and legs, who may actually be an egg yolk. I actually just looked this up, and it seems to be a Hello Kitty character named Gudetama. Read more here.

Anyway, entertainment or not, our feet were killing us, we were crazy tired, and this was nearly the last straw. And I'm​ going to skip the rest of the restaurant fiasco except to say that we finally did get seated in 2 groups, had whatever was left in their kitchen, which for us consisted of some tempura, the last of the fries, and some dumplings. Oh and beer. That had to happen. Lots of beer.

The last straw actually came when we got back home. And how did we get back home without the trusty Tony to drive half of us? Why, by piling all 15 of us into the minivan, of course. 3 in the front, 6 in the middle, 4 in the back, and 2 in the luggage compartment. Easy.

We all found that situation quite hilarious, and we were ready to pass out on our futons for the night, when we realized: it's cold! Strange...we seem to be inside, but it feels like outside. Wait a minute...where's the heat?? Were we going to have to freeze all night too??

Luckily, rooms 1 and 3 had some devices on the walls that a remote full of only Japanese characters seemed to turn on and provide some warmth. Room 2, though, where the 7 kids were bunking, had nothing, and it was ice cold. And I'm getting exhausted just recounting this story, but suffice to say that more charades led to Tony procuring us a dangerous-looking space heater for their room. So we had some relief from the icy cold of the house...until my heater stopped working somewhere around 3 am, and I woke up to see my own breath.

So to recap:
-rented house in the middle of nowhere
-rented house not really rented for just us
-no kitchen, no beds, few showers
-hours-long wait for food
-an icy cold night

So, first day was great. First night....not so great. But this is the stuff that makes blogs fun!! I do it all for you. :)

Sayonara for now.

It's Getting More Interesting

I'm sleeping on a floor. Someone near me is snoring loudly, and I just washed my hair in a sink.

More later.

First Impressions

Well, day one is in the books.  So what have I noticed so far? Friends, I've noticed two main trends:

1) The Japanese apparently love to form orderly, long, long lines everywhere, and

2) They have crazy great automation. Lots of things are machine-controlled, from restaurant ordering, to tickets, to hundreds of vending machines everywhere.

My confusion is why these two facets of Japanese life don't preclude one another.  If everything can be automated, why do you need to stand in lines? Maybe it's for fun.

Case in point: we arrived at Narita airport and flew through security. Hurrah! We were going to be early! Only, no. We still had to pick up our Japan Rail passes, which are like Eurail passes for unlimited bullet train travel. Now this is already a clunky process. We had to pay for vouchers for these back in the U.S. at a travel agency in Novi. So you get these paper vouchers. But those aren't the passes. You have to exchange the vouchers for actual passes at the JR office at the airport, with all of the passports for all of the travelers. THAT was where the intense queuing began.

You get into a Disneyland-length line that weaves around metal barriers, and signs tell you how many minutes you have left to wait. Only there is no Disney-type entertainment, only those signs which silently mock you.

90 minutes later, we had our passes. And by the way, we were the lucky ones! Another of our travel companions arrived later, waited an hour, arrived to the front, only to be turned away as it was by then closing time. Sigh.

So lots of lines. By my count, we queued (I love this word; it reminds me of spelling bees) approximately 8 times in our first few hours in Japan, to the point that my kids asked if we were going to spend our entire vacation in line! Clearly, patience is a virtue here. I suppose it's good for me.

On the flip side, though, so many things seem to be machine-operated here, which I find completely cool and utterly fascinating. If you will read back about 40 blog posts to my first trip to India, you will see that I have an unhealthy obsession with foreign junk food. So the prevalence of vending machines everywhere selling all manner of delights makes me one happy traveler.

Of course, the machines take a bit of getting used to, and when all of the instructions are in Japanese, it makes for a bit of a comedy of errors.

By the time we checked in to our hotel last night, we had less than an hour of time before a private bus we'd hired would come pick us up for a tour of the city. We were all starving, and I'd seen a food court in the mall attached to our hotel, so we headed there.

The food court consisted of several restaurants laid out in a circular fashion, with seats in the middle. Great! Perfect. Only we noticed that each restaurant had a ticket machine next to it where you had to choose your food and drinks, pay, and then receive tickets you would take to the chef. You'd then get a beeper which would alert you to your food being ready. (All this, by the way, was not immediately apparent. It took us the better part of our remaining hour to figure this out... I'm just saving you, dear reader, all of the misery.)

Here's what it looked like:

This was actually totally stressful and sweat-inducing when you have 7 kids to try to order for, you have no idea what you're ordering or what buttons to push, and you have a line of very polite but probably quite irritated Japanese behind you.

The screen had a bit of English, but mostly looked like this:

So, ok, I can see that there are omelettes and dumplings, but what are those buttons along the bottom? Where do you pay? Plus it has credit card symbols, but no place to insert a card??? Whaaat?? Anyway, we finally figured it out, and after 45 minutes of hard labor, wound up with 6 orders of pork dumplings, 2 bowls of rice and some dixie cups of water. Success!!!

No one went hungry, and now that I've figured this out, I'm a true believer, and can't wait to do it again!!

Sayonara for now.