Monday, April 28, 2014

Being disabled in Nagoya

Something that I have found amazing and wonderful is how adapted to the disabled Nagoya is. I have seen maybe 20 disabled persons in the month that I have been here, say my first autistic boy on Saturday at the flea market, he was side skip-running down the rows of vendors.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Mammoth Flea Market

This past Saturday Paul had to work and so I went alone (with the children) to the largest flea market in Japan. I wish I had taken more pictures, but no one else was taking them, so I figured that it was not allowed.

So I got the children ready and left the apartment. Our first stop was the Family Mart on the corner on our way to the train. I wanted to get somethings to drink for our trip. After we left the Family Mart we headed down the road toward the Nagoya train station, only to discover that I had left the directions at home. We turned around and walked the short bit back to the apartment and retrieved the directions. Then we hit the road again.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Toyota Museum of Industry

Visited the "TOYOTA Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology" in Nagoya today. Really neat place! It's a combined showcase for the "old" Toyota that manufactured textile equipment, and the "new" Toyota that manufactures automobiles. They have a lot of beautiful old equipment that still runs, from both stages of the company's life. I think the most impressive to me was the 120T flywheel press that forges complete piston rods out of red-hot steel blanks... about three meters away from an audience of children! In the next room is a fully functional industrial tapestry loom, also running a scant couple meters from the audience.

It goes on and on like this. Everything is beautifully appointed and well staffed. I feel like I had more fun than the girls did, but even then it kept them engaged for a solid three hours. Really cool stuff for anyone both curious and technically inclined. We'll probably be back at least once during our stay.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Friendly Lunch

This past Sunday we were invited out to lunch by Hara-san, the very friendly president of Ryoki Tool Company.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Tired in Japan

If your planning on coming to Japan, and your going to live in the city be prepared to walk everywhere.

Before coming to Japan, it was winter in the NW, cold and wet. I didn't do much walking before I came to Japan and I feel out of shape. After getting here, I went on a long walk with my three children, my two girls walked and I carried my son in a front pack. We left at about 9am and got back at noon. I was tired and sore when I got home. It was the first time I had carried my son in the front pack for months and he is much heavier now then he was then. It was a nice walk. Japan has lots of interesting buildings, is very clean, and the cherry trees are in bloom.
When your walking around in spring, its easy to tell when you pass a shrine. Most shrines have large, beautiful cherry trees that have lovely blossoms. They are noticeable over the shrine walls. There are some that are in between buildings and are just a small shrine with their traditional entry.

We have come across many little playgrounds when we go out for walks around town. The kids get to run around and play for half hour and then we head home. Lots of times we will stop and grab a bento or two for lunch.

We are having lots of fun walking around Japan!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Nagoya Castle

Saturday, 2014-04-12:
Rode bicycle to the supermarket with Teddy in the front pack and Charlette sitting on the handlebars. Stopped at a 7-11 on the way; Charlette picked out a pack of bean rolls (bread on the outside, some kind of bean paste on the inside). Got to the grocers a half hour before they opened. Walked around the block a few times. Saw a couple of dogs, which Charlette was excited about. She also scraped her knee from falling off the curb. Ate all four bean rolls before the market opened.  Brought back two large bags of groceries, including some sushi rolls for lunch.

Got home. Ate pancakes that Anna made. Packed everyone up and took the subway to Nagoya Castle Park. Walked around the park a bit.
Beautiful flowers

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Getting Around

Saturday April 5th, First day out without Thomas.
Took the subway to Motoyama station, walked to Heiwa park. On the way, stopped at a 7-11 and bought some rice balls, yogurt, and bean balls (mochi on the outside, some kind of bean paste on the inside). It was a pretty long walk uphill to get to the park, and we were all pretty worn. Walked around for a bit and ate what we bought at the store under the cherry blossoms. The Japanese apparently call this "picknick under the cherry blossoms" by the name "hanami". There were a lot more people all around when we were there. We may go back to Haiwa Park some other time, just to compare it to a normal crowd.

Cherry blossoms!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Don Quijote

Wednesday night we made our first visit to a Don Quijote store, which went fairly well. Imagine one of those crazy book stores where it's just a maze of shelves. An impenetrable maze of shelves where you can easily loose yourself or your children. Then, instead of filling those shelves with books, fill them with miscellaneous and mostly unrelated items. It's like a highly concentrated high quality yard sale. Really crazy.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Orientation

After arriving in Nagoya, I think we were all more jet-lagged than I was aware. Kind of dazed and dis-oriented. Here's an overview of how our first weekend went.

Saturday 2014-03-29: Got up before dawn, probably around four in the morning. Thomas was taking the subway and then a train to a sports practice session, and I tagged along for the subway bit. The plan was to ride the subway back, but after I got out and looked around, I decided to walk back to the Freebell instead. Here are a couple things I saw on the way back.
A funny little cobbled stone path between a brand new parking lot and a bridge undergoing maintenance.