Mountain Day in Japan…
As you search Google today- Aug. 10th, you’ll see this picture.
Today is a holiday in Japan- Mountain Day. It is a relatively new holiday, normally on Aug 11th, however it was moved for 2020 to be on Monday 8/10 since it aligned with the Closing ceremonies of the 2020 Olympics, which would have ended this weekend. It is a day to “get to know a mountain and thank them for their benefits.” The reason why Mountain day is usually on 8/11 it is because the number 8 looks like the shape of a mountain, and from the image of tree lining up, “11” symbolizes trees. Today, was one of the first days in over a month I could see Fuji-san (Mt Fuji) from our balcony. Here is the picture this evening.
We are nearing the end of our summer before school starts in Tokyo. Since there are no tourist in Japan, we decided to check out the Tokyo Tower with some friends. The Tokyo Skytree is more popular these days, however it was nice exploring Toyko Tower with only a few locals. The Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower and you can visit two observations decks- main deck at 150 meters, and the top deck at 249 meters. The top deck was recently renovated in 2018, so if you haven’t visited Tokyo Tower recently, I would recommend it on a sunny and clear day.
Shibuya which is near us, is changing so rapidly. Since we’ve been living here almost a year, we have seen many improvements to Shibuya. The Shibuya Scramble the latest huge skyscraper opened in late 2019 and now Miyashita Park, an upscale shopping and food mall. It recently opened with reservations, however as of Friday, you can now enter anytime. Alex joined me in a quick walk through as it was too crowded on a Saturday during COVID 19 for us to explore. Note: we saw the Kit Kat Chocolatory store where you can custom make your own Kit Kat. Something we must try.
I was finally able to do a Ramen and Gyoza making class. I joined a few friends and we made two types of Gyoza- regular pork Gyoza and Miso Gyoza. We learned how to make Char Siu pork for the ramen, homemade chicken and pork ramen broth, ramen eggs, then able to sit down and eat our cooking. I now know how to properly wrap a gyoza! It was satisfying to know that I could make ramen from scratch, but gosh, it is so much easier to go to the local ramen shop, which are everywhere for cheap and it always tastes so delicious. My newly attained cooking skills may not be appreciated until we return back to the US.
This Saturday Aug 15th will be our 1 year anniversary living in Tokyo. I told our boys that we shall go back to our hotel we stayed at during our first 2 weeks and eat at the food court which we did on that first night all jet lagged. They think I am joking. Actually we loved our hotel the Shinagawa Prince hotel and the food was actually pretty good. Whatever we decide, I think we need to return to Shinagawa and reminisce the days of just moving to Tokyo and adjusting to life in the big city. More to come on what we actually do to celebrate our first year.