Sunday, January 23, 2005



Today Dad and I went for a bike ride.
First I pretended I could speak Japanese to get some information about dads upcoming trip to Kyoto. Actually no problem there.
We then headed out on the bikes to this lovely Shinto Shrine near the city office, then walked up to the top of the hill behind it to check out the amazing temple at the top. I have been there before but it is always stunning. Dad is totally fascinated with the way everything is built, he has to knock on thinks and look inside. Hehehe
On the top we had a beautiful view of Fujieda and spent a while hiking around the little shrines that are hidden in all the trees. He even climbed to the top of the main alter to reach what we thought was an orange tree so that we could check out the oranges in season. Wasn’t an orange but a grapefruit. Tasted really good.
I then brought his slowly along the old shopping road, checking out a few other temples along the way.
We then came across the famous Fujieda Daruma store. The owner is a really nice guy who is so friendly to foreigners. He is the fifth craftsman of that shop which is 170 years old. He gave us some English literature to explain his dolls and then we headed off. It started to spit rain, to our surprise, so we headed back and decided to visit the Daruma man again and buy one each. I really wanted an original.
We ended up having a lovely visit there. We got to paint our names on the back of our dolls and because I am obviously pregnant he added a good health wish to the back of mine. We had this very long conversation about his amazing fish tanks, his wife brought us tea and we had a lot of talks about the history of the Daruma.
Here is a picture of mine (I haven’t made a wish yet) and I wrote a whole thing about the history and understanding of the doll. Personally kind of interesting. Link – The Fujieda Daruma.

We then went for lunch, went back to the apartment and saved my clothes that were outside getting drizzled on. After the sun came out again we went for a walk to the dollar store and then to a drugstore to find dad some allergy stuff as his pollen allergies are flaring up a bit.
Welcome to Fujieda and Shizuoka province – the worst allergy area in Japan.

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Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/23/2005 :: 0 Comments:

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