Koajiro Forest

When I got up this morning the first thing I noticed was the bright blue sky outside!  After all the rain lately I thought it just had to be the perfect day to get out and try to find a new adventure!  So, after breakfast, we headed out the door, roughly 1045.  Okay, Mackenzie likes to eat a five course breakfast every morning.  It's her big meal of the day.  It takes her f.o.r.e.v.e.r to eat breakfast!  We caught the train out of Yokosuka Chuo and made our way to Misakiguchi Station.  Once out of the station at Misakiguchi we walked out to the main road...and, it pained me to walk away from the beautiful sakura trees lining the road behind the station...but, we walked away from the trees and took a left at route 134.  

The walk to the forest wasn't a bad one.  We had a lot of interesting things to look at along the way.  Lots of cabbage fields.  Veggie stands.  Motorcycle shops.  Even a little shrine, I'm guessing it's there to pray for a good harvest.  

Now, before we left on this trek, I had looked at maps and guessed where the entrance might be.  I couldn't find anything that specifically said, "HERE, RIGHT HERE!"  I could see where the forest was on the map, so we headed in that direction.  After about a mile we saw a little sign attached to a post.  We checked it out and kind of guessed how much further we had to go..."Um...maybe just around this corner."  So, we walked on around the corner.  No entrance.  We kept walking and walking and walking.  Now, about two miles from the train station, and 45 minutes later, I'm looking to my right, down the hill, and I say, "Well, THAT'S where we want to be.  Down there.  I think we may have missed the turn."  Garytt says, "No, no.  It's this way.  We are going the right way."  So we walk a few more steps and I stop and ask him if he's sure.  Because what 6 year old doesn't know how to get to some random forest on the edge of the water?  So, Boy stopped, got this far-away-look in his eyes, and he starts pointing to a map that he's recreating in his mind.  After a few swift hand movements, he announces, "Yup, we missed the turn.  We have to go back."  

So...back we go.

As we are walking around, I pull up the two documents I found on the internet to explain the forest to me.  And, lo and behold, there are actually directions at the very bottom of the page!  Even a darn picture for where to turn!  Oh geez...  I show the picture to Mackenzie and ask her to help me find the intersection where we turn.  We walk a little further, and there it is!  The little building with the blue tarp in the window, just like the picture.  Right where we stopped 20 minutes ago to look at the map...yeah, how shocking that they would have a map of the forest route right next to the stinkin' entrance!  Duh!  And, how about that....the little sign (in Kanji, so I have a little bit of an excuse) on the right says Forest of Koajiro.  I learned a new Kanji today...forest...森

As soon as we made the right turn at the white building with the blue tarp, we saw the signs for Koajiro Forest.   And, a map of the hike.

See the blue 134 at the bottom right?  About a mile down that road is Misakiguchi Station, where we started.  We walked past where 26 and 134 merge, around to where 26 veers off toward the top of the map.  We ended up walking all the way around to where the forest does the V on the top of the map, that's where we turned back around and walked back to the 134 split.  We then followed the red line all the way to the water, where it splits.  We took the split toward the top of the map, but that was the end of the trail.  So, we turned back and took the split that leads right to the water's edge, then follwed it around to the gray road and back to 134 and then back to the station.  All in all, I think it was about a 5 mile hike, in addition to the couple miles walk from our building to Chuo, it was about an 8-9 mile day.

Here is the view once you turn off the main road.  The road splits.  We took the road to the left.  But, first we pulled out our sandwiches and started eating lunch, since it was now about an hour past when we normally eat.

Down the hill a little, we made a left turn and found the boardwalk.  I'm glad for this boardwalk, since it has been super rainy lately, and would have been a terribly muddy trek if it wasn't there.  The forest doesn't look too exciting, since the trees haven't had time to grow their leaves back.  So, maybe we will revisit once it warms up and the leaves come in.  Oh, so I guess I should talk a little bit about the park.  Koajiro Forest covers about 170 acres.  There is supposed to be red-clawed crabs here, since they need a combination of forest, river and ocean in order to survive, which Koajiro offers.  Depending on the tide, there are other types of crabs to see as well.  I guess we went at low tide, since the mud flat stretched out pretty far in front of us.  

Nice boardwalk winds down the valley, along a river, toward the inlet.

We saw several dams along the way...some natural, some manmade....Boy disputed that any were manmade and insisted there were really smart beavers in the area.

A few cool, twisty branches and the small, winding river.

Signs that Spring is on the way!  Woot Woot!

Some of the wildlife we encountered along the way.  This guy came out with a few of his friends when Garytt decided to eat a bag of chips.  He quickly put the chips away for fear of having his hand snatched off.

Keeping watch from the trees.

About halfway through the forest we saw this:

We were quite puzzled at what it could be.  I decided that it must be a long rope that someone dropped in the water.  The kids agreed and we moved along.

Checking out what's floating in the water below.

A little farther down the boardwalk Garytt wanted to check out what was below.  All of a sudden he excitedly insisted I come look...more ropes!  So, I took of my backpack, laid down the camera, and hung over the edge myself.  The ropes didn't look like ropes from this distance.  I decided to pull up a reed from the water and see if I could fish out one of these "ropes".  

Once we fished it out, we realized it was actually eggs!  Tubes of eggs.  But, what kind of eggs, we weren't sure.  We couldn't see anything in the area that would be laying them.  So, after my inquisitive Boy examined it close up and then gave it a touch to see just how gooey it was, we put it gently back in the water and picked up our stuff.

As we stood up a group of old Japanese ladies came toward us.  One of the ladies said a whole lot of stuff that I didn't understand one single word.  Eventually, she just motioned for us to follow.  So, we did.   We walked a few steps down the boardwalk to where she was pointing.  I still couldn't understand her, and had no idea what she was pointing at.  Finally, I thought maybe the brown lump in the middle of the reeds was maybe a frog.  I said, "ribbit", but she didn't seem to understand.  Maybe Japanese frogs don't say ribbit?  Then, all of a sudden, the brown lump moved!  The kids screeched, the Japanese ladies said, "Aaahhh", and I pulled out my camera.  Two frogs making eggs!  We thanked the ladies, who went off to rejoin their group, and then Mackenzie said, "This is just like a school lesson, but in the forest!"  Then, the kids started rattling off all kinds of facts about frogs, the temperature for laying eggs, the gel around the eggs, the stages of a frog's life.  I said, "Wow!  Where did you learn this?"  (side note:  this year we are studying flying creatures.  No frogs in our lessons yet)  Mackenzie stood up and said, "We learned this from 'Wild Kratts'.  Today we are teaching you, Mommy!"

After we stood there and watched and talked about them for quite a while, the couple decided to move under a branch so we couldn't see them anymore.  This is when we moved on as well.

This is where the boardwalk splits.  To the left is the path that leads to the end of the boardwalk.  We walked up there first, then decided to go back to the split and head to the right side of this picture.

The mud flat

Once the boardwalk veered off to the right, away from the water, we were back on a dirt path and heading up stairs to find our way back to the train station.  On the way, Mackenzie squealed with delight at the bamboo tunnel she found.  

In they went...

 And, out the other side.

When we left the house, we were quite excited to see the beautiful blue sky.  What we couldn't see from our apartment was the ferocious wind!  It wasn't bad in the forest, but on the road to the park and then the road back to the station it was horrible!  A few times it actually blew us backwards a few steps.  Yokosuka had 30 mph winds gusting to 40-45.  I'm not sure if the wind was any stronger down here by the water, but it was pretty crazy!  Just look at the choppy water.

We saw a few ume (plum) trees along the way.

We made it to the station about five minutes before the train left, so we were able to grab two seats, sit and relax for the 20 minute ride back to Yokosuka Chuo.

Here is a map view of the forest.  The red dot is where we entered.  

After a winter where we didn't hike on a weekly basis, the kids complained a lot more than they usually do.  They were very excited to have the opportunity to skip school that morning, though.  I think if the wind wasn't so crazy there would have been a little less complaining.  Oh, a crab sighting or two would have helped, too.  Now that I know where to enter we can get back without so much walking around the city.  You would think that by  now I would realize that most hiking trails seem to start in someone's backyard and it wouldn't be so easy for me to miss it.  Oh well!  Another adventure to add to the books!

Tsukuihama Tourist Farm ~ Strawberry picking

Last week the kids and I met our friend, Junko-san, and a few of her friends for a strawberry picking adventure!  Junko-san teaches English classes throughout the week, and on Fridays she teaches a group of 3 year olds.  They have been talking about fruits lately and asked if we would tag along on a trip to pick and eat strawberries.  Yay! 

Not exactly a strawberry, but the road from Tsukuihama Station to the strawberry farm is lined with fields and gardens, some of them private, some of them shared gardens.  The kids thought the water drops on this cabbage was "Soooo coooooollll".

 A little background info on these strawberry farms...they are grown in greenhouses, which is why we get amazing strawberries around here from December through about April.  When you go to the farm, you find the main office, pay, and then are assigned a greenhouse number.  You go to your specific greenhouse and then you are given a little plastic plate with a round indent full of yummy condensed cream, and a square indent for the strawberry tops.  You have a set time (in this case, thirty minutes) to eat as many strawberries as you like.  The price for strawberry picking goes up or down depending on the time you go picking.  I think January is the most expensive month, with the prices dropping slightly for each month after that.

In March of last year, Kris, the kids and I all hiked out here to pick and eat strawberries.  We had fun that day (even though we got lost), and filled ourselves with strawberries.  We left thinking, cool trip but the strawberries certainly weren't worth the $60 we paid for them.

What I didn't realize is how much the taste of the berries vary between just a couple weeks!

Fast forward to this year...and my first thought when I saw the price at the main office was:  there is NO WAY these two little kids and I will eat $45 worth in ichigo (strawberry).  But, we bought our tickets and made our way to greenhouse #8 with the rest of our group.  When we got to the house, some parents decided to take their kids to the restroom before heading in (once you go in, you can't come out and then go back in).  I saw the port-a-potty and said, "No thanks, we'll wait".

Once everyone was ready, we walked on in and started chowing down.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!  I can't even tell you how amazing these strawberries were!  I will say, when we left this year I didn't at all feel like we paid enough for the berries we ate!  They were AMAAAAZING!!!!  Every single ichigo we picked was huge!  And sweet!  And juicy!  And just gosh darn DE-LICIOUS!!!!


See the tall green weed-looking things behind Mackenzie?  We couldn't figure out what they were.  After having a yard full of green onions in Mississippi, that's what I immediately thought they were.  Turns out, they are actually garlic plants. The garlic helps keep the bugs away from the houses.

Look at that big ole, juicy, akai (red) ichigo!!  Oishii! (delicious!)  

A bee-box, to help with the growing

We actually didn't even make it to the 30 minute mark before we weren't able to eat any more.  We definitely got our vitamin C for the day, shoot, maybe even the week!


After strawberry picking, we headed over to a little park.  It was just down the Ichigo-Mikan road (a little path with strawberries and tangerines painted on the fence).  The park was a little open area with a stream that ran along the edge.  All the kids ran around for a bit, getting some of the sugar out of their system, hopefully!


It's hard to see in this picture, but we were able to walk to one side of the greenhouse and check out the strawberry plants' roots.  A science lesson on a strawberry adventure!

From here, we walked back to Junko's house.  On the way the moms started to make another port-a-potty trip and I thought, well, maybe we should do this now before we walk 20 minutes to Junko's.  So, off we went.  Okay, I must say, this was the nicest port-a-potty I have ever seen!  It was definitely MUCH nicer than many restrooms I've been in States-side!  It was clean.  It didn't smell.  It had actual toilet paper.  WOW!

Once we were at Junko's we settled in for a yummy lunch!  Junko planned on teaching the two American moms how to make norimaki.  I tried to get my kids to help, but they decided to be very shy.  Garytt agreed to at least sit by me and watch.  What happened was:  Junko showed us all the steps, then Boy instructed me on what to do.  My first try was a success...well, with a little help in the final roll from Junko.  I think my problem was too much rice.  But, it rolled and it stayed.  :)  Garytt tasted it, and said he liked it.  Mackenzie wouldn't even consider tasting it...she was too busy reading books to the little ones.  What a filling lunch!  Norimaki, miso, fried chicken, yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato), cookies, candies, YUM-O!  

Our group picture:

We had so much fun hanging out with our Japanese hosts!  Garytt asked all kinds of questions about language:  how to say red in Japanese, how to say Sunday, how to say strawberry, etc.  I'm afraid he talked all the ladies' ears off!  :)  I didn't get a picture of it, but there was a toy at Junko's that one little boy was trying to play with, it's a musical instrument drum-type thing.  Without a word said between them, Garytt showed him how to play the instrument through several well choreographed hand motions.  Proud Mama moment!

Setsubun at Suwa Jinja!

Shrine decorations

Last week Mackenzie's gymnastics sensei gave her a cute little origami box with two chocolate filled marshmallows inside, a mask to cut out, and a paper explaining that Setsubun is coming up.  So, I hit the interwebs to sort out this Japanese tradition.

Setsubun is a bean throwing ceremony held on 3 February every year to celebrate the first day of Spring, according the lunar calendar.  Setsubun literally means "division between two seasons", but is now only celebrated for the winter/spring division.    

I searched and searched the internet to find where Setsubun would be celebrated in Yokosuka and found a few places.  We chose to go to Suwa Jinja because it was the only one that held the ceremony at a time that wouldn't interfere with karate lessons.  

At about 1320, we left the house and made it to Suwa Jinja just a few minutes before the 1400 ceremony.  When we arrived, this small shrine was already packed with people.  The man on the right was talking into that bullhorn, I'm assuming he was saying something along the lines of, "There are a lot of people.  Pack in this tiny space like sardines if you expect to catch your luck!  Pack it in people, pack it in!"

See the red dragon mask on the floor?

Okay, so I read that this is what happens at the shrine:  at some point people will walk out onto the stage with wooden boxes full of beans.  Then, those people will throw beans into the crowd.  If you are lucky enough to catch a bean then you will have good luck for the year.

Pack it in people!  Pack it in!  (side note:  look at that blonde lady on the right, remember her for later in the story)

A little after two about 15 people walked out onto the stage with wooden boxes.  The bullhorn guy introduced all the throwers.  Once he was done, it was game on for those old Japanese ladies!

Oh.My.Gosh!

I had to grab my kids a couple times and save them from the ladies that pushed them out of the way trying to get to the front.  I made a mistake and didn't have my feet in a more stable, wider stance, and when they started pushing I lost my footing and almost fell on Garytt!

The first several throws didn't come close to us.  But, with the crowd pushing us forward the next round of throws made it into our area.  I jumped up and actually tipped a bag of beans.  Then, I turned around to see where it went.  It was right at my feet.  So, I bent down to get the bag just as the entire crowd shifted.  I was pushed towards the stage, as I was bent over, not a very graceful movement, I'm sure.  Then, the crowd shifted again.  And, when it did, that blonde lady above, dumped two cups worth of some warm liquid all over my head.  I have no idea what that was.  It was warm, it was white, it smelled maybe like wheat or something like it, and it had to be full of sugar because it immediately stiffened in my hair!  I heard her say, "Oh no, oh no, oh no."  But, I just turned, grabbed both my kids by the collars of their jackets and pulled them out of the crowd.

At this point, I was trying to shake some of the liquid out of my hair.  it didn't work.  Immediately, it turned solid in my hair.  Mackenzie said, in her very concerned squeaky voice, "Um, Mommy, you have white stuff in your hair."  She was right.  Whatever was in that liquid turned into white chunks in my black hair.  Geez.  All I could think about on the way back to the base was that scene in There's Something About Mary.  Guess we will be walking back home so I can wash my hair before karate.

Here is Mackenzie's oni ~ ogre mask.  The little bag is what I got at Suwa Jinja.

The contents of the bag:  5 Yen and a handful of fuku mame (fortune beans; roasted soy beans)

Well, what are the beans for?  A person in the family (usually the man in the household who was born in the current animal year, this is the year of the sheep) dons the oni mask.  Then, the family members throw beans at that person, this action is called mamemaki, literally, bean scattering.  In Japan the oni is considered bad, so throwing the beans at the oni is supposed to purify the family.  When you throw the beans you say, "Oni wa soto!  Fuku wa uchi!"  ~  Demons out, luck in.

When I told the kids we were going to do this when Daddy got home Garytt was so excited!  I mean, he had permission to throw food.  In the house.  At his daddy!  Um, what kid would pass that opportunity up?  Mackenzie would.  Daddy's little girl.  Well, when Daddy got home he was more than tired, so I offered to be the oni if he would take pictures.

I came in the front door and Boy wouldn't even let me get past him!  He immediately started pelting me.  And, I don't mean tossing those beans at me.  I'm talking, full-on, major-league-baseball-wind-up, step-into-it, launching beans at me!

Meanwhile, Mackenzie hid in terror behind Daddy's chair.  After the bean pelting, the kids gathered up the bad beans and tossed them out the door. 

We had a fun day!  This isn't exactly anything that follows our beliefs, but it was fun to participate in a Japanese tradition that has happened for centuries.  I hope my kids weren't too traumatized by the intense crowd at Suwa Jinja, the hot-steaming liquid pouring blonde, the scary oni mask-wearing Mamma, or the terrifyingly intense bean-throwing Boy.

Now, I'm curious how this luck thing works.  Does the luck start when I have it under my control?  Because it sure wasn't lucky of me to have that hot, steaming drink dumped all over my head.  But, that happened before I grabbed the bag.  Hmmm....something to think about....