One of the most common questions I get is:  “How long does it take to fly to Japan (or the U.S.)?”

I usually give the answer, “About twelve hours.”  But truthfully, it depends.

First, it depends on which direction you are travelling.  Flying towards Japan over the Pacific takes a little longer than flying toward the United States.  It usually adds at least an hour to my flight (a very uncomfortable hour, in which one is thinking, “Aren’t we there YET?!!?”)

Second, it depends on where one is travelling to in the U.S.  A trip to the west coast will take less time than a trip to the east coast.   It takes less time to reach the northern part of the U.S. than the southern part.  Also, you have to take layovers into account.  It might take twelve hours to fly to an international airport–then you wait for another two hours for your next flight (which takes two hours) to your final destination.

I consider myself lucky, though.  Many, MANY people make the U.S. to Japan trip but also may have been coming originally from Brazil.  Or heading to Thailand.  Their flight time (in total) is excruciatingly long.

I have some photos from our trip from the U.S. to Japan.  We travelled on American Airlines from Dallas to Los Angeles, then switched to a flight which headed to Tokyo (Haneda Airport.)

Here we are waiting for our flight at the Los Angeles International Airport. My son is used to these trips, since we take one yearly.  He just sort of goes into hibernation mode.

Looks like it is on time!  Hooray!  This flight is unusual in that it lands in Haneda Airport.  (Tokyo has two main airports–Haneda and Narita.)  Usually Narita Airport is reserved for mostly international flights, so that is the airport we had always used previously.

I see the west coast of the U.S…..we are on our way!

We sit in economy class (third class, coach class.  The other classes are first and business.)  Years ago everybody had to watch the same exact movie on a screen in the front.  But then around 2000, economy class started getting better in-flight entertainment–screens in the seats so each person can choose what he or she wants to watch.

This flight had many TV shows and movies to choose from.  This is a documentary about Warren Buffet.

After we take off, we first get a drink and some small snack like pretzels.

Then there is a “dinner.”   Basically, a passenger has two choices (like beef or chicken)  but one can order a special meal prior to the flight if one’s diet is more specific.  (Like a vegetarian meal or a kids’ meal.)

There were so many choices in movies–both current and classic–that I felt I could not complain.  If I can’t sleep, I just spend my time watching the TV.  (Which is what the majority of people do.  The lights dim after the dinner and it’s hard to do anything else, really.)

I had never seen “The Last Samurai” but I remember when it came to Japan.  I decided to watch it.  I enjoyed it, despite it starring that unloveable varmint Tom Cruise.

Inside the flight, midway.  You can see that it’s really dim.    Midflight we got a small snack–a sandwich and ice cream.

I watched the movie “Loving” which had not come out in Japan yet.  (I think soon…?  April?  May?)  This was a slow moving movie, but I really liked it.  I liked it even better after I googled it (later on) and found that a lot of the dialogue was taken from documentary footage.  I think the filmmakers tried to be accurate.

“Breakfast” is served about an hour before we land.  It usually feels like in the middle of the night (because it is, time-wise, for us) so I’m not very hungry.  But I’m happy because the arrival of this last meal means we are almost there!

Here we are at Haneda Airport!  Tokyo!

As you are aware, we live in Fukushima–which is not exactly close to Tokyo.  So the plan was to stay in a hotel in Tokyo and leave the next day for Fukushima.   Dividing up the trip like this is so nice!  It’s a long journey….

I had fun!  And relaxed….

I am back in Fukushima City now, so I will start with my regular posts soon.  However, as a special post today, I will show you what I did in America.  My parents’ dog Ellie May held a doggy fashion show for me.

Ellie May is a special dog because she is truly a rags to riches story.   She came to my parents’ house as a rescue dog (thanks to my sister, a true animal lover.)  And now she has risen to the top as a one of the doggy icons of northern Texas.

Ellie May……..Lookin’ good, hon.  Why don’t you wear some of your pretty dresses and model for us?

A real Southern belle.  Sweet iced tea, anyone?

Ellie May says, “No cameras, please.”

“I SAID, NO CAMERAS!”

“Is that Britney over there?  Hey, Britney!”

“Britney’s wearing my outfit! Probably got it a Walmart!”

“Mine is an original Vera Wang!”

“This is my classic preppy look, circa 1982. Tennis, anyone?”

“And this is my Valley Girl look, circa 1983. Granddaddy Lange doesn’t like me to wear such short skirts, but shhh…he’s not here, so we won’t tell him.”

“Stunning, dahling. Positively stunning,” says the cat, the only one in the audience. He’s the only one who truly cares.

Hello, everybody!   I will not be posting for a while.  This is because my son’s spring vacation is starting and we will go to Texas in the United States during the vacation.  He needs to see his American gramps and grannie!  Yee haw and Howdy!

Normally we go to the U.S. during his summer vacation (which is much longer than spring vacation.)  However, my husband insists that darling son needs to study this summer.  Why?  He will be heading to high school in a year…and Japan has a different system than the U.S.

In the U.S. most kids go to whatever high school is closest (if they go to a public school.)  However, in Japan, kids take tests and try to get into a good high school.  So they need to study for the tests.  Of course, the high schools look at other factors like school grades and so on.  So it’s a little like getting into college in the United States.  You want only the very best!

High school isn’t mandatory in Japan, but I think most kids go.  (Though not all.)  Of course, my son will go.  My husband is a Tiger Dad.   Do you know that expression?  It has become popular in recent years.  However, when I first came to Japan, I learned the equivalent:  “Kyou Iku Mama.”  (Education Mama)  It has the same meaning as Tiger Mom (a parent who zealously oversees her or his child’s education.)   That was twenty years ago when I learned it…….Education is important in Japan, definitely!

Here are some photos I took a year ago.  Happy?  Yes!  Happy in Fukushima!

Fukushima literally means “Blessed Island” but the exact meaning is rather ambiguous and can not be exactly translated.  So it often gets translated into “Happy Island.”

Have a great day!

This was March 11th, 2017, and as I took this photo I was heading toward the train station.  You can see it in the background.

This clock is always decorated in some way, year round.

The candles…  This is in the evening, obviously.

And here is the same photo much earlier, during the daytime:

Thoughts of that terrible day…

This candle holder was constructed by local high school students.

I love Fukushima!

That one of the left (above ) has a swan.  This area (and I think Tohoku in general) is a stopping point for swans in winter.  In summer, they fly to Siberia.

That’s the train station, but SPAL is a shopping center adjacent to the station.  Like many large stations in Japan, the Fukushima City train station is a place for shopping.

And the moon watches us and wonders why….

The earthquake itself was on a Friday afternoon.  Six years later, its anniversary fell on a Saturday.  So that means that darling husband was home instead of at work (as he usually is on a weekday.)   At the time of the earthquake, Japan held a minute of silence.  My husband and I prayed at home during that time.

Later, I went out to see the memorial candles.  I went to two areas:  Machi Hiroba and the area in front of the train station (east exit.)   I took a lot of photos, so I will do each place in a separate post.

This is Machi Hiroba.  Basically the town square.  It’s down the street from the east exit of the station, and also very close to my house.  I come here every year on March eleventh.  This photo says ふくしま３．１１　That means “Fukushima 3.11”

Reporters interviewing a girl

Last year, I was able to decorate a candle.  This year I got there too late for that.  This man is decorating his candle.

The sign says, “Candle Night.”

I will show some of the individual candles.  Most have Japanese written on them, but I am assuming most readers of this blog don’t kow any Japanese so I purposely chose mostly the candles with English on them for these photos.

Pray for Happiness

Japanese flag

I ❤ Fukushima

Let’s believe in nature (below that is written in Japanese:  Fukushima 福島)

Smile

This is the view in the direction of the station.

And looking back in the other direction, away from the city center.

It was very peaceful.  There were not a lot of people, actually not as many as previous years.  Each year the numbers seem to dwindle.

My son was seven when the earthquake happens, so he remembers it.  (He’s fourteen now.)  However, kids just a little younger than him won’t have any memory of it.  I think it’s important to pass on these memories to the younger generation.

Today is Thursday.  It’s March 9, 2017, which means that in two days it will be the anniversary of the huge earthquake.  Today I went to the Fukushima Prefectural Library and looked at a little exhibit on the disaster.  Photography was allowed.

This is in the lobby of the library.

I am not sure what all these photos signify, so I will just post them for you to look at….

After I looked at these photos, I was told there was more of the exhibit on the second floor of the library.  So I went upstairs.

Behind the library…Mt. Shinobu.

The second floor exhibit.

The nuclear power plant is the red dot.

This is Fukushima Prefecture.  The colors signify the magnitude of the earthquake for that area.   Fukushima City, my city, is in a pink area, so second highest for the prefecture.

A photo of a clock that stopped due to the tsunami.  When the earthquake occured, it was a Friday afternoon.  A very lovely day.  Most kids were in school, almost ready to leave for the day.   I personally had finished working and had come home to relax.  At the time of the earthquake, I was on my sofa reading a book by Octavia Butler.

Photo of an armed forces truck.  I feel that the Japanese military helped a lot in this time of need.

My blog is mostly about the nuclear situation, but let’s not forget that many, many people lost their lives that day, mostly due to the tsunami.  It was much stronger and went further than people predicted any potential tsunami would come, so many people who felt that they were in a safe area were actually not in a safe area.  (They had no way of knowing so soon after the earthquake struck that this earthquake was actually one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, and thus produced an extra EXTRA powerful tsunami.  This would only be known later.  Since the tsunami reached the coast about forty minutes or so after the shaking, this did not give many people time to figure out exactly what was going on and the danger they were in.)

I’m praying for and thinking of the people who lost their lives that day.  And for their loved ones who must go on without them…..

Do you know what “kokeshi” are?  They are a traditional Japanese toy that originated long ago in the Tohoku region.  Nowadays they are not actually played with by children, but are instead a decoration in the home.  (Tohoku is where I live.  It’s the northern part of the island of Honshu.)

I have always been enchanted by kokeshi.  These wooden dolls are so simple, yet eye-catching.   There are different regions that make kokeshi, and each region has its own style.

This was a present for my mom last summer.   Cute, don’t you think?

This is at the Fukushima City train station, in the bullet train section.  We Tohokuites are proud of the craft of kokeshi, rightfully so.

Kokeshi are said to have develped originally at onsen (hot springs.)   When one goes to an onsen in Fukushima Prefecture, one might bring home a kokeshi doll as a souvenir of the trip.

These were given to me by my fellow foreign Tohoku American wife, Laurel Kamada.  She was cleaning her home and couldn’t keep everything.  Very sad for her, but lucky for me.  Thank you, Laurel San!

Notice the design of its face.  Each doll is constructed and painted by hand.  Its personality really shines through, don’t you think?

If you ever come to the Tohoku region, a kokeshi is something you might want to buy!  By the way, nowadays, other areas in Japan sell their own versions of kokeshi.  But these are not the REAL kokeshi!   But Kyoto kokeshi or Osaka kokeshi are still cute.  I won’t be snobby about it.

(But we all know Tohoku kokeshi are the best.)

Hello, everybody!   As you may know, many people in Fukushima Prefecture lost their homes due to the earthquake of March 11, 2011.  Virtually all these people lived along the east coast.  Some people lost their homes because of the damage caused by the seismic energy itself.  Some lost their homes due to the tsunami that occurred shortly after the earthquake.   And some people lost their homes because the homes themselves were to close to the nuclear power plant.  (There is an area around the plant that was evacuated due to the meltdowns, and much of that area is still closed off today.)

Last week I rode my bike to the northern part of Fukushima City to shop at Aeon shopping center.  It’s a little far for me (at least twenty minutes or more by bike) so I don’t usually go to that particular shopping center.  But this time, I looked around the neighborhood.

There are homes in this area which are temporary housing for evacuees.     (Even thought they are considered temporary, they are still being lived in now, almost six years later.)

So there you can see them.  Very, very VERY small.  Japan is known for small housing.  But we’re not in Tokyo.  This is Fukushima–the countryside–where people tend to have larger housing.  And remember these people came from the rural part of Fukushima Prefecture, so many of them probably once lived in houses that were quite large.  Farmhouses with lots of land, and so on.  So this temporary housing must seem very cramped and uncomfortable to them.

You can see the doors.  Each door represents a different home.

You can see the pink roof of the AEON shopping center in the background.  One can buy almost anything there (including food) so these evacuees are probably happy that shopping is conveniently located…(at least they have that.)

Another photo….

I took this photo to show how little space there is.   No place for gardening, for grandchildren to play.

Another photo….

There was nobody out and about so I didn’t talk to anybody while I was there.

Okay, this is across from the temporary housing.  You can see that the regular houses (NOT temporary housing) in this Fukushima neighborhood are quite nice.  These are what typical middle or upper middle class people here might live in.  (That white house is especially nice–it’s actually a little more spectacular than typical houses in Japan.)

Some sort of religious center?  I wasn’t sure what this was.

Here I am on my bicycle heading back to my home.  The twenty plus minute journey!  The houses here are VERY typical.  Just regular homes for Fukushima City dwellers.  I live on the other side of that mountain in the background.  My area is downtown, whereas this area in the photos is not the city center.

This is a photo of a poster.  Sorry, it’s all in Japanese, but it tells of the upcoming memorials that will take place in Fukushima City on the anniversary of the earthquake for 2017.  (March 11th)  I always try to go to the memorial downtown and look at the candles and think about the victims and pray for them.

Well, it’s getting towards the end of February.   The weather here has perked up, and it’s a very comfortable temperature for being outdoors, as long as you are wearing some sort of coat.   I took advantage of this by going bicycle riding along the Matsukawa River.

Watch out for Kappas!  In Japan, Kappas are mythological creatures that live in rivers and love to eat cucumbers.  My son loves cucumbers, so sometimes I call him a “Kappa.”

This sign says, “Cycling Road.”   Shall we follow it?

First, let’s look at the map. Gosh, I can’t make heads or tails of it.  Never mind.

What a great day for biking!  Although a little windy….

I’m staying on the left side……….even though there are not many other people on the path!

This is going towards the east.  So it is going in the direction of the coast, where the Pacific Ocean is.  (Although that is way, way, way too far for me to cycle.  The sign in the first photo said that the Pacific Ocean is seventy-four kilometers away.)  This is in the general direction of the nuclear power plant–the plant is southeast of Fukushima City.

The river!!!!!

Looking back…  (Toward the west, in the direction of Fukushima City)

Swans….

Ducks….

At this point I turned around.  This photo shows an orchard in winter.  Fukushima Prefecture is famous for its fruit trees.

Back to the city…and I must say cycling back against the wind is much harder than going with the wind!

I hope you have a great February.  Hopefully, you can get in some outdoor activities, too.  It feels so good to exercise!

If you regularly read the news, you may have come across an article which tells of the most recent findings concerning the nuclear power plant.

Apparently, in at least one part of the nuclear power, an extremely high amount of radiation is present.  Very, very, very high.

What does this mean?  Well, it’s inside the power plant.  So it does not directly affect people who live in areas like Fukushima City or Koriyama City or Iwaki City.  But of course, it indirectly affects us, in that it is just another worrisome piece of news to fret over.

The extremely high amount of radiation makes clean-up very, very difficult.  According to news reports, a robot can’t last very long in such a high amount of radiation.  (Let alone a human, who could in no way get anywhere near the radiation hotspot and survive.)

Unfortunately, not good news, is it!

But fortunately, I do have a photo of pretty kitties to share with you:

They are Fukushima City kitties, the best kitties in Japan.  Perhaps Koriyama City kitties and Iwaki City kitties would argue that point.   Or perhaps they would just curl up and take a nap….