Quite the Week

The week began wonderfully.  We got to spend our P-day last Saturday with the Mannings, the oldest daughter of President and Sister Baird, her husband Craig, and their four great children, Mckay, Abby, Josie and Kimball.  We drove to Matsumoto, a place we had really never spent much time at.  We enjoyed a wonderful museum dedicated to illustrators of children's books, especially Chihiro, a delightful Japanese artist. The museum is named after her and half of it contains her wonderful artwork.  The other half has amazing illustrations from children's books around the world.  It is in a park setting, and we wandered around and enjoyed it immensely.  Sorry, no photos.

Then we went to Matsumoto Castle, also called Crow Castle because it is nearly all black.  I thought it was beautiful.  It also has a beautiful red bridge. We got to have an English speaking tour guide at the castle, and the history is fascinating.  It's a castle built on flatland, so it is surrounded by a mote. Lee took lots of pictures at the red bridge with the black castle in the background for the Manning's Christmas Picture.  We got some of ourselves, too.  But sorry, no pictures for this blog.  

On Tuesday, we took note that it was our half-way mark.  I was going to say, "celebrated," but we didn't celebrate.  We just noticed that we are half way along on our mission.

On Thursday, Sister Kondo planned another full day for us.  It is the height of fall colors right now, and the trees are dripping with color, especially up in the mountains.  So that's where we went.  We enjoyed a morning tour of a lovely little town with canals filled with the biggest koi I've ever seen.  Beautiful fish.  We visited one of only four Japanese candle shops left.  This one was a 7th generation candle maker.  Both the candles and their way of making them are completely different from anything I've seen before.  Sister Kondo and Sister Morita stopped at a "morning market," and loaded up on fresh veggies.  I got my first taste of crisp, delicious persimmon fruit.  We saw a stately ginko tree that was over 300 years old, and a juniper that was over 800 years old.  It was a lovely town.  Sorry, no photos.

Then we returned to           Falls, where we went when Jesselah visited us.  We climbed all the way to the top of the 13-fall hike, which was quite steep, and enjoyed a grassy meadow with a hill, on which were some of the most vibrantly red and orange-leafed trees I've ever seen.  Lee took pictures for half an hour.  We hiked back down and had lunch on a rock with Daddy Long Leg spiders that make the ones in the US look like their babies.  But lunch was yummy, provided by our amazing Sister Kondo and Sister Morita, who never cease to surprise us with wonderful new Japanese tastes and treats.  Sorry,  no photos.

Then we drove the steepest, most winding, incredibly narrow road I have ever seen (or held my breath on) up into the breathtaking mountains near Takayama.  We stopped at a parking lot.  I looked up to see a hill just a short walk away where I was sure we would go to get a marvelous view.  But no, it was to check in and pay a little--to take another hike.  Up.  So we walked 45 minutes, but did see some more fall splendor.  We came out as it was getting close to sunset.  We then headed home.  I'll bet you'd like to see those fall colors.  Sorry.......

On Friday we hustled at work to make up for missing a day.  And Friday evening, we came home a bit later than normal, dropped off my purse, Lee's camera and computers, and a few items from work, and headed out for our regular date night dinner out.  We were tired, so we chose a restaurant fairly close that we like, ate and returned home within an hour and a half, tops.

I walked right into the room where we have our chest of drawers, hangers for our clothing, and another little vanity chest.  I stopped.  All the drawers in our chest of drawers were open.  "Did we leave our drawers open today?" I asked Lee.  We never do that!  Then I turned around and saw the drawers of the little vanity open, too.  Lee saw that, too, and said, "Could we have had an earthquake that we didn't feel?"  Then I walked into the kitchen to see if my purse was still on the chair where I had hung it.  Well, you know the rest.

Someone broke in from a sliding glass door in our kitchen area.  They took my purse, Lee's camera bag with nearly all of his equipment but the tri-pod, and his briefcase with his computer and ipod.  They left my PC on the desk (thank Heaven!!).  My purse had $250 cash, a pair of sun glasses I just bought recently that were quite expensive, my drivers license, my credit cards, my ID card for Japan, and numerous smaller items that I will miss.

I got online within two hours of when we had left home.  They had already used both my credit and debit cards and spent well over $3500.  I got them stopped.  The police were here for about two hours.  They got finger prints, for what it is worth.  We were up until after midnight trying to figure out how to "pick up the pieces."  And we have spent the day working to recover from the effects of the theft.  We have secured our doors better than they were before.  We have talked to most of the places we need to talk with.  Lee is now at the Mac store figuring out what is best to do.

Some of the purchases that were made were for expensive computer games, so we are hoping it isn't a theft ring that sells all of our personal information.  I guess we will see.  Mostly, we have tried to count our blessings.  It wasn't a violent crime.  We are fine.  We can still survive with one computer.  The camera equipment was insured.

So the worst thing:  Sorry.  No pictures.  Of anything except what I've put on the blog since we came to Japan.  We are very sad about that.  (Well, we do have a few pictures on Lee's iphone.)  So that is our greatest loss, and we hope it will remain our greatest loss of our entire mission, which is now---half over.

Gates

Almost since our first time to go on a walk in Japan, I have wanted to do a blog on---gates.  If you are already bored, go ahead and click off.  I won't be offended.  But I have enjoyed seeing the many beautiful gates in front of the Japanese homes.  I have also loved seeing the many different car ports and covered parking areas.  And most fascinating of all, seeing how the Japanese people manage to park their cars in the tiniest of places.  They are masters of backing into a thimble (or at least, into a space that is approximately the same size as their car).

So here are a few pictures around our neighborhood that we finally got one morning recently.  I think they are beautiful, and I want to remember when I get home.

This may look like wood in the photo, but all gates are steel or iron.
I love the Japanese trees in the landscape.

This is one of my favorites--so lacy.

Most people keep their yards very neat, and we often see people
out in front of their homes cleaning up the sidewalk and curb and road.
They pick up weeds and papers, and even clean everything
out of the ditches in front of their homes.

Another favorite.  Lee used his I-phone and I should have asked
him to do a higher resolution, but you get the idea.

This car is back in as far as it will go without hitting the house.
As you see, there are just inches on either side.
Notice the chain across the front near the windshield.
Why?  So it won't run away?

I love this gate, too.

This home looks quite American, but Japanese people live there.
It is just down the street from the mission home.  The garage door on the
left is interesting to me.  It is just that...a door.  There is no cover for
the car once they drive "in", but the door and side walls get the car out of view.

Always neat and tidy.

And now for a few parking spots:
This one would be considered roomy.  In many instances they have
cut away gardens to make room to park.  

This is very typical of a parking spot.  There used to be a home on
the left, but it was torn down and the ground is settling before
they build something new.

Once again, there is no cover on top for this car.  But it's at least
a two-car garage and provides protection from being damaged by people, if not by nature.

This is often seen, too.  The side of a house that used
to be a garden area, now parking for two cars, but only
if they are juggled.

This is unusual.  Parking for three cars and it's covered!

Just a bit of protection from rain and sun.

Roomy.

One of the larger parking areas we've seen.

This is the mission home.  No gates in front.  Open and inviting.  

This is the cutest garage.  It's hard to get perspective, but the
garage itself is only about 5 feet high inside.  I couldn't stand up in it.
It was definitely built for tiny Japanese people, not big Americans.

And your dose of hair salon names:  Hair Make Granny M, Hair Make Marble Ink, Hair & Make Heaven.

Toyota Museum

Yes, it is about cars.  But not at the beginning, because Mr. Toyoda (yes, I spelled that correctly) didn't start out making cars.  He was an inventor of looms. And Toyoda Company (They didn't change their name to Toyota until 1930's.)  produced fabric.

The museum had everything anyone would want to know about
making cloth, and I was fascinated.  We even got to try our hand at spinning.

This is an early spinning machine that does multiple strands at a time.

Then we moved to an early weaving machine.  They had on display almost all stages of advancement in weaving.
It was actually really fascinating.

This weaving machine was invented by Mr. Toyoda.  It really sped up the process because
built into this machine was the ability to sense when a thread broke and automatically
stop the machine to fix it.  Otherwise there would be a flaw in the fabric.

And we got to see a thoroughly modern weaving machine, weaving an intricately beautiful piece of fabric with a scene in the fabric.  Things have really changed, but we were fascinated seeing all the steps they went through over the years to
get to where we are now.

It was called Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, and I'm not sure if they are still in business or not.

In 1926, when the Emperor of Japan stopped allowing foreign trade,  they formed Toyota Industries.  (They changed the name slightly here, because it sounded better and the Chinese characters in the word meant wealth and good fortune.)  Mr. Toyoda's son asked his father if he could look into making automobiles.  His father granted him permission.  His son traveled to the United States and England and other countries to learn how to do it, and really started the industry from scratch.  They couldn't get the machinery together fast enough build a prototype from metal, so men made it of wood, and then formed the metal over it.  

Prototype of the first car built by Toyoda Company.

This (I think) is their  Model A.  Pretty Luxurious!

This part of the museum was interesting, showing various models of cars over the years and
how they are constructed today.

Toyota made good money producing trucks for the war in WW II.  See the one to the right?
And this spiffy new truck--notice the horn on the lower side.

Another great addition to the new truck:
Splash guards!

And this is the latest new invention of the time:
a turn signal.

There was lots more.  It's the kind of museum you can spent all day at, especially men.  It was really fun to watch how they assemble cars now--all automatic.  Cool to see how they come together.  You can also go to the factory and take a tour, but everyone says the museum is much more interesting.

Hair salon names:  Hair Make Stork, Garden Hair Design, and Hair medical Salon Infinite.

Things You Might Not See in the US, Part 1

These brooms--used everywhere.

A truck parked crossways on a highway, with no one in it.
Rather common.

Dried fish complete with eye sockets.

Dried squid.  Yum.

Bananas, dipped in icing and decorated on a stick.
Maybe we have them in the US, but are they this colorful?

Man in center is a famous star in Japan.
He plays as the man below.

Japanese kuboki

Octopus on a skewer

The Popcorn Man

Men sweeping in a stream--with those distinctive Japanese brooms.

Thatched roofs

Rocks to hold down the roof

Woven rice straw back cooler.

Cormorant Fishing

Tuna being cut up---right in the grocery store next to where you are walking.

Steps this steep without railings (a public building without handicap access.)

Toilets with a place to wash your
hands on top.  It's great in winter--ice water when your
hands are already icy.