Beverly's visit to Japan

A couple of weeks ago, we got to spend some time with Beverly (Bern's sister) and her friends as they took in many of the wonderful sites around Japan. When we picked up Bev at Haneda Airport, Bern and I were so very happy to see her!

 

This was somewhat of a family reunion because Bern and Bev's cousin, Maureen, also made the trip. Maureen is the younger sister of Melissa who lives here as well. Melissa and her family were so helpful to Bern and myself when we first got to Japan so it was nice to spend some time with them again!

 

    



I have to give Bev and her friends a lot of credit because they managed to see and do so many things in such a short period of time; everyday of their vacation was planned out and very well-organized. The first half of their trip would be spent around the Tokyo area so Bern and I tagged along for a few days since we were somewhat familiar with the area already. We of course showed them the Tokyo essentials like Harajuku & Akihabara:

 

 

But we also got to see some new parts of Tokyo too like the Torii Gates at Ueno Park:

And a small little alleyway in Shinjuku commonly known to foreigners as "piss alley or memory lane" known for their tiny izakaya's (Japanese pubs). These restaurants were so small but luckily we found one that had an upstairs loft that accommodated our large group.

Following Tokyo, Bev and her friends went on to Kyoto and Osaka for a few days while Bern and I went home. When they all made it back safely to Yokosuka, we then took them to Yokohama which is only about a forty minute train ride away.

      
Yokohama of course is famous for their Chinatown where Bern, Bev, and her friend Cindy got to try out the Dr. Fish spa where tiny fish eat the dead skin off your feet and legs. I knew how ticklish I got the last time I tried it with my boy Efren so I didn't want to submit myself again to that kind of torture; but Bern on the other hand did a pretty good job adjusting only after a few minutes!

   
They also wanted to check out the Cup Noodles museum in Yokohama as well:

Something new that we got to try out in Yokohama was the Ramen Museum. As the name suggests, the place did have a small synapsis of how Ramen became so embedded into the Japanese mainstream and the differences in the Ramen served throughout the various regions of the country. But the main draw was the two-story basement of this building which was modeled after a Japanese town at the turn of the century with all these small restaurants that served different types of Ramen. It kind of reminded me of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas with the painted sky on the ceiling:

The following day, half of Bev's friends planned a hiking trip to the top of Mt. Fuji; but since I was already planning on climbing it the day after (more on that on a separate blog entry), we decided that the three of us would take a day hike going up to just one station of Mt. Fuji. We started our hike on the 5th Station and hiked up just to the 6th station. The popular thing to do when anyone climbs Mt. Fuji is purchase a walking stick and it get branded with each station's trademark. Bern and Bev got the smaller souvenir stick while I decided to purchase the big walking stick since I too would be climbing all the way to the top. I have to admit that I was a bit worried for Bern since neither one of us are hikers, but she did a good job powering through the trail despite the 90 plus degree weather!

And because this day hike was coordinated through the military travel office, it included a blueberry picking session afterwards along the banks of Lake Kawaguchiko (the base of Mt. Fuji). All the blueberries we could eat fresh off the vine plus a small plastic container to take home. Unlike the strawberries we got to pick a few months back with our friends Jerry and Grace, deciding what blueberries to pick was a little more difficult because they were all the same color for the most part. But it wasn't until I remembered this funny line "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice," that
really seemed to help me in picking the right ones moving forward! haha

Even though her trip was short, it was so much fun having Bev here in Japan! We look forward to having her back again along with Mom in March of 2016 for the cherry blossom season. Until then, we love and miss you! Thank you for visiting us and bringing carne asada burritos from Lolitas! haha