Our First Visitors

We had our first house guests this weekend! It was so much fun having Arin and Kristina up from Okinawa, and it gave us a good excuse to get out and do some exploring. The weather wasn't really behaving but we were able to spend some time in Nagasaki and Fukuoka with them before they had to go back. 

 Our first day was spent walking around Nagasaki. After visiting the Peace park, epicenter, and atomic bomb museum we walked over to Fukusai-Ji temple. It is one of the most visually interesting shrines we've been to. It has a giant Kannon standing on top of the shell of a sea turtle. The shell of the turtle serves as the roof of the building. 

David and Eisley exploring the inside of the shrine bell.

The inside was very beautiful. Most shrines sell little tokens that you can write on for good luck. I love how they re purposed theirs into hanging chandeliers. 

One of the things the shrine is noted for is their Foucault's Pendulum, which is currently the second largest in the world. It originates inside the top of the main Kannon's head and hangs 25m to below the main floor over the remains of 16,500 Japanese killed during WWII.

 Nearby is the lesser traveled Shofuku-Ji temple. It is unique in the fact that it is one of the few Chinese-built temples in Nagasaki. It is a quiet green area in an otherwise busy city and was built in 1703. Apparently the Peach theme is also quite unique and not really seen in other similar temples.

 The next temple we visited was even older and also built by the Chinese merchants in the area, it was built in in 1624. Kofuku-Ji. It provided a place for the merchants to pray for a safe voyage at sea. They also built the Megane bridge to provide easier access to the temple.

This window is a Chinese "cracked ice" lattice that is built without nails. It was originally glass that was destroyed during the Atomic bomb blast and they were unable to repair it with replacement glass. I loved this fresh picked citrus just waiting for the monk to return. 

Megane bridge or "spectacles bridge" is the oldest stone bridge in Japan and is a popular tourist stop.

We didn't get a chance to tour Deijima, but it is the little artificial island where the Dutch traders were "contained".

I love that they leave useful information for us foreigners so we know how to properly use the restroom. 

 We made a little trip out of going back to the airport for Arin and Kristina's return flight. We stopped at the reclining Buddha at the Nanzoin Temple. It is said to be the largest bronze statue in the world. It depicts Buddha at the time of his death and entering Nirvana. It is also associated with good luck with rumors that several people have won the Japanese lottery by bringing their tickets here.  Each urn sitting in front of the statue represents a day of the year, and families leave notes for their family members in the urn the represents the day of  their death.

One of the most interesting parts was entering inside the statue itself. For 500 yen you get a stick where you write your name and a wish. These wishes are then brought inside and laid at a shrine where you touch a religious rope and a representation of Buddha's feet. Attached to the rope inside the shrine is said to be actual bone and ashes from Buddha himself. This makes it a stop on a pilgrimage route that draws about a million visitors a year.  

Tossing little tokens for good luck

In the building in front of the Buddha is a funeral hall of sorts where you an pay a base fee to have your family members ashes stored for 200 years. 

We then stopped at canal city to enjoy some delicious Hakata ramen at the Ramen stadium and do some shopping.

We also made a much needed stop at Cold Stone. Eisley was very busy stealing as many spoonfuls of ice cream as she could get. Arin and Kristina made Eisley's favorite combination by far. 

We were so sad to see our visitors go, especially Eisley who was loving all the attention! We are so glad we were able to finally meet Arin and spend some time with them on this side of the world :) The best part was just being able to hang out and play games.

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Parenting moments

This morning I opened up the wipes container to find some of David's handiwork. I let out a little amused laugh, also slightly annoyed because the travel packs of wipes are more expensive than the refill packs (which we have a big drawer full of). I was thinking about how they need to have a daddy boot camp so they can learn how all of this works. Then I realized that he didn't need a daddy boot camp at all...that he was already doing exactly what he needs to do. There are so many things that he does for us that go widely unnoticed, things that make my life so much easier. I would have never noticed that he refilled the wipes, put an abandoned pair of socks in the laundry, or he put some diapers in the bin so they would be handy. All it takes sometimes is a little wipe pack with a torn off lid to realize that just having someone who has your back is the greatest blessing as a parent. So dads, keep doing you! You may not do everything perfectly (aka exactly like your wife would do it) but you are making a difference, and that counts for a whole lot more!

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