Red Hat Farewell Luncheon

Ingrid & Jim are leaving in April - he's retiring & they're returning to Florida - so a few of us got together to wish her farewell at her favorite restaurant near the Nishiki River. They serve a wonderful light lunch set, but they also have a fabulous gift shop! I suspect this is why it's her favorite . . . Oh - see her foot up on the chair? She fell recently & broke her ankle. And she's moving soon - great timing, huh?


No pictures of our lunch, but look at this fabulous dessert tray - decisions, decisions . . . I had the tiramisu in case you're wondering, but strawberries are definitely in season.


View of the river from the restaurant. The Kintai Bridge is in the distance, around a curve.


Beautiful arrangement in a frog vase, made by Kuniko-san. She teaches ikebana classes - Japanese flower arranging.


Ingrid in the gift shop. She may be on crutches, but she can still shop!

Kuniko-san and Belinda at lunch.


On the way home, we decided to stop at Hide's shop. His father is dozing in a sunny window.


Funny-face Emperor & Empress in elaborate kimono fabric costumes.


Lots of interesting goodies for sale. This shop is where we bought our tansu that holds our TV & other electronics, as well as Sachi's private cubby.


Ingrid paying Hide for her purchases. Glad her crutches don't slow her down! I really liked the carved screen behind her - it's from India.

Hiroshima Shopping Trip

Barbara and I have gone to Hiroshima today for lunch & shopping. Look at these amazing kitchen items to make perfect & cute children's lunches.


Each item above makes cute animals with food - the "easy" way. These look real, but they're classic Japanese plastic food!


I thought these miniature rooms were interesting.


Amazing detail . . .

Just a few of the many world globes for sale here. Many are magnetic & float on their stand. Cool. Barbara found some supplies for her son's science project here at Tokyu Hands. It's such a great & affordable store!


Margie with plum (or maybe early cherry?) branches at the entrance of Andersen's in Hiroshima. They smell so sweet!


Barbara on the streetcar. What a nice way to travel around Hiroshima!


Crossing over a river.


Barbara under a pretty decoration at the train station.

Another fun shopping trip. I LOVE Hiroshima!

Nagoya Trip - Day 2 - 3/15 FERTILITY FESTIVAL TODAY!

Are you ready for this? Keep in mind that Japan has a different culture and things that we might consider taboo are OK here. So, be warned, and keep going to see something you've probably NEVER seen before ! ! !

Monday morning view from our tiny hotel window on the 12th floor in downtown Nagoya. I love the shrine with bright orange torii in a roof garden below us.


Card machine in the hallway near the elevator where you can buy minutes for pay TV. But we decided to watch the opening day of Spring sumo instead - on free Japanese TV after we arrived, and then we went to dinner.


Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel is featuring a sakura drink in honor of upcoming cherry blossom season.


It's nearly 9 AM as Stan gathers our bags in the large lobby before our tour bus arrives.


Downtown Nagoya outside our hotel. Just a few blocks down on the left is where we had dinner last night.

Cute yellow school van (?) with upside down characters on top.


Downtown Nagoya - signs, signs, everywhere signs.


A short drive has taken us to nearby Komaki Town. We're on a VERY narrow road (especially for our BIG tour bus) headed for Oogata Shrine - honoring female fertility.


This torii gate is the entrance to Oogata Shrine, our first stop today. The red sign indicates that vehicles cannot enter here, but there was parking (and restrooms!) only a block away.


Sign near entrance of Oogata Shrine.

Where you purify your hands and mouth when entering the shrine grounds.


Looking up inside the roof.


Interesting dragon spits out recirculated water to purify with. But just dip & pour the water with the bamboo cup - don't put it to your mouth.


A beautiful weeping plum tree still in bloom. We're further north here, so they're blooming a little later.


Closeup of these gorgeous, fragrant double blossoms.

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Red prayers hanging on a board.


All the stone statues were braced like this, so we asked why.


This man told our guide that there had been a festival a few days ago, and the statues were protected from the crowds.


Oh! Look at that hillside of ume (plum) trees. They smell so sweet!

Closer view. I wanted to walk up there, but there were a LOT of stairs, and too little time . . .


Barrels of Sake - "O-miki is reserved for rice wine used in Shinto rites and festivals. Sipping a cup is still a prayerful act of symbolic unification with the gods. Shinto shrines and sake manufacturers maintain a symbiotic relationship, in which the shrines conduct rites to ask the gods for the prosperity of the brewers, and — this is where the barrels come in — the brewers donate the grog that shrines need for ceremonies and festivals." - from a Japan Times article. And now you know . . .


Beautiful roofline.


Margie & Stan at Oogata Shrine (thanks, Terry!)

Colorful banners at Oogata Shrine.


Featured at this shrine is the famous "Princess Rock" which signifies, uh, a private part of female anatomy . . . which Oprah refers to as the "VJJ" (even our guide Taka was a little embarrassed to tell us about it, but didn't want us to miss it!) I told Taka that I was surprised at the graphic images I'd seen online of the Fertility Festival because the Japanese are normally VERY modest, and he said he didn't even know this event existed until he went to work for the travel service on our air station. So, here we go . . .


I don't think I would EVER recognize this, if I didn't know what it is supposed to represent.


I love the beautiful and colorful origami crane streamers.


Another beautiful building.

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And another one. To the right and left there were booths set up setting goodies and snacks. Oh, that's Terry and Jerry walking right behind the man on the right in red!


Purchased prayer cards hanging on a board, with origami streamers.


Closeup of prayer card at Oogata - the female shrine, asking gods to bless them with babies.


This one features a tiger - 2010 is the Year of the Tiger in Japan, so perhaps a baby this year.