Happy before bath

Glass Museum

Before checking in to our ryokan, we stopped by the Glass Museum. Noah had fun running around while mommy was surprised to see a whole section of Chihuly's glass work being exhibited. What an unexpected taste of Seattle in the mountain of Hakone.

Bamboo forest

Lunch with Taisei-kun

On the next day of the wedding, both families got together for dinner to celebrate. Ring bearers, Taisei kun(Kiyo's nephew) and Noah exchanged presents with each other and both behaved really well playing with their presents during dinner. By the end of the dinner, Noah was also speaking a lot of more Japanese. Mata asobo-ne!

Rotenburo (Bath house in the woods)

Shinkansen to Hakone

Sushi in Noah's size

At Sushi Zanmai, Tsukiji. The sushi chef made a plate of mini sushi for Noah.

Vitamins for eyes and body

Juice bar and flower shop that we pass by on the way to train station every morning.
Noah's favorites: ichigo to-nyu miluku (fresh strawberry soymilk) or japanese melon
Mommy's favorites 30 hinmoku (mix of 30 vegetables + fruits) or blueberry cassis

Ocha

Is it due to age? I find myself enjoying tea more and more these days. As Ganma, Rie, and I were looking for a coffee shop to have our lunch in Omotesando, we ended up discovering this tea shop. Without hesistation, Rie insisted that we should go in. This tea shop only specializes in Japanese tea, which means (..if I remember correctly from the tea class I took last year..) all the tea leaves are heated by being lightly fried; where as for Chinese tea, such as Oolong, the tea leaves are not heated and are used after the fermented process ends. To accompany the tea, kuromitsu kuzukiri with sakura ice cream that is made with real sakura petals.

Kamakura in Early Summer

This time during my trip to Kamakura, I was able to see the fresh, crisp, new grown leaves that surrounded the temples. As the summer continues, these leaves will turn from their light jade-like green to darker green. Too bad it wasn't hot enough for the Ajisai (Hydrandreas) to be in full blossom. Next time I will come back in mid-late summer to see a different scenery of you.

Onakani akachan ga imasu (there's a baby in my belly)

Every prego can get one of these at the train station and hang it on their bags, so when people see you on the train, they will let you have their seats ;)

Ahhh...this is why I am born Japanese....

When I come to Japan, there are several moments that makes me sooo happy of my Japanese heritage. Eating sushi at Kyubey is one of these moments, especially when I put the melting chu-toro, sweet uni, and lightly seared and sea-salted anago into my mouth. Obviously at this moment, I am totally ignoring the common advice of no raw fish during pregnancy. But still checked with the sushi chef (only expecting answer that would make me guilt-free for being this happy) and he just laughed and said no such thing...pregnant Japanese come and eat sushi all the time...on the other hand, he told me to cut down on sushi rice as they contain much sugar and salt. At one of my favorite sushi restaurant - Kyubey. http://www.kyubey.jp/index_e.html

Names...

Been thinking about names for a while now....something that sounds Japanese, something that ends with an A, imagining the kind of a baby/girl she will be. So far the top picks are Sophia/Sophie/Sofia & Charlotte.