Hakone Open Air Museum

Now to the highlight of our trip... the Hakone Open Air Museum!

This is a great museum with mostly outdoor exhibits.  We were fortunate that the clouds had lifted long enough to see of the pieces of artwork in natural surroundings.

Here's a bunch of my favorites!  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Man and Pegasus, and check out the child playing on the giant egg down below.  I told you they loved eggs in Japan!

Big Hand - KG wants a big high 5!

My Sky Hole
(oddly enough, there were 2 works of art with this same name, and they were completely different!)

Can't remember the name of these lovable clowns.

Garden of Stars

Tarynn navigates through the natural labyrinth.

Inside the labyrinth.
It reminded me of a corn maze, but if I stood on my tip-toes I could see over the edge and cheat to find the exit!!

Woods of Net

Inside the Woods of Net.  I wish I were 11 again! 

Climbing on these ropes looked awesome... comfy like a giant hammock!

Picasso Pavilion features over 230 works be Pablo Picasso, with a focus on ceramics.

This is a sweet moving sculpture, like a giant weather vane, and I totally want one in my own yard some day. 

Symphonic Sculpture doesn't look like much from the outside, but wait until you see what's inside...

Kerri and Tarynn in the stained-glass wonder!

Then we climbed up 5 stories to get the full view.

Nice view from the Symphonic Sculpture.

This was one of my favorites :)

This sculpture is frightening similar to one I saw in the city center of Krawkow, Poland.

Guess what?!  Same artist!!

Close

For some reason this one made me smile!

Foot bath.  The Japanese really love their onsen (hot springs)!

The Hand of God

Miss Black Power

Curved Space

Plastic balls for kids to climb in.  Can you imagine how hot it must be in there?!

Fish Bones

and if you don't know the artist on this one... shame on you!!

Alexander Calder is an American artist most famous for inventing the mobile. 

His works are very distinct: large, curvy, and generally red or black.

Calder sculptures and mobiles are featured in Washington D.C., Chicago, Grand Rapids, NYC, and pretty much every other American city and abroad!!

Weeping Woman

She's the female version of Narcissus.  She is weeping in a pool of water because she can see her reflection and is in love with it, but she will never meet this beautiful woman.  I love that the hair is made of plants, too :)

Cute horsies in the Children's Area!

Rainbow Row and Tree Man, also in the Children's area

Next, we're going to try to finish the "Hakone Loop" and get a view of Mt. Fuji!

beep... beep... SPECIAL REPORT... beep... beep...

I interrupt the regularly scheduled Hakone blog post for a special report on … Summer Heat in Japan!

August 17th marked a turning point for residents of Japan.  This was the day when 2010 officially took over as the most deadly summer in Japan’s history.  The death toll reached 283 due to the ongoing heat wave, and there is no temperature relief in sight!  Nearly half of these deaths occurred in people over the age of 65. An additional 31,579 people have been hospitalized and treated for heatstroke this summer.

The majority of these deaths occur at night (between 5pm and 5am) because a person can become dehydrated and weak throughout the day, and then his body literally shuts down on him while he is sleeping.

Nagoya broke the historical record for having the most consecutive days above 35 C (~95 F) in the month of July. 95 may not seem so hot, but the heat index raises the temp at least 10 degrees due to the humidity. Couple that with the fact that many residents of Japan feel that A/C is “unhealthy” and makes your body weak, and you’ve got a deadly combination. In fact, some train cars in Japan are labeled “low A/C” or “no A/C” because many people prefer to go without. (Even when I am in a train car with air conditioning, I usually have my fan out and I am still sweating!)  Entering stores, restaurants, or offices can provide a little relief, but there is still the government energy restriction that all A/C settings must be 82 F or higher, and many places keep the entry doors propped open at all times (even in the winter) so the outside temperature can sneak right in.

In addition to the pure heat and humidity, I can always tell which days are worse than others based on the thickness of the air.  Most days it's like a sauna, and I have difficulty breathing.  It literally takes your breath away.  That's another reason why I would rather be outside in the shade of a tall building because at least there is a chance for a breeze.

Check out this clip from NHK World News from Japan

Tokyo temperature topped 37 C (~99 F) yesterday for the first time in years, and its neighboring suburbs measured in at 38.2 C (~101 F). This scorching heat wave is especially problematic for Tokyo because the heat index gets out of control due to the high density of people and tall buildings, which prevents air circulation. Those residents that use A/C units crank up the blower on these hot days, and then more hot air from the exhaust fans dump into the streets.

A strange coincidence to this heat wave is that there have been 60 instances of overheating iPods on Tokyo trains that start burning, burst into pieces, and the smell stinks up the trains. (Apple claims this is a battery issue and is letting their battery supplier determine a fix.)  The notorious timely train system was even stopped for 8 minutes recently to investigate where the burning smell was coming from!!

On the bright side to all of this tragic information, I couldn’t find any reports of deaths due to children being left in vehicles. This makes sense in Japan since so few people drive, but I did find 36 unfortunate reports of dead children in the USA already this year.

There have also been reports of record ice cream sales across the country in order to keep cool.  Japanese people and I can finally agree on a yummy food product!


Truthfully, I don’t really complain about this situation much (only on facebook and blog entries), but that’s because the locals do enough complaining for everyone. Usually I just want to punch them for whining. (I mean, they choose to live here every day, while I was actually assigned to this temporary location.)  Everyone in Nagoya knows it’s hot outside, there no need to state it every time we step outside. 
 
Atsui ne?  (It's hot, isn't it?)  ATSUI!!!!  (I'm HOT!!!!)

As you are making your way from your home to your car and wondering why the heck it's so hot in the US, think of me defying death every day in Japan by walking to and from work for 20 minutes! 

Oddly enough, I’m really looking forward to typhoon season, which reaches its peak every year in September, and traditionally brings wind storms and heavy rainfall.

Weekend in Hakone

Hakone is affectionately known as "Tokyo's Playground".  It is about an hour outside the big city, and Tokyoites flock here to relax in the onsen (hot springs) and enjoy breathtaking views of Mt. Fuji.

This is one of the busiest travel periods of the year, and Tarynn and I waited a little too long (like the night before) to book our train to Hakone, so the only seats left were in the Green Car (first class). 

Here we are riding in style!

KG has arrived in Hakone and is ready to see the sights!

River in Hakone

Exhibit #...  well, I've lost count, but Japan still needs swimming pools so people aren't forced to cool off in rivers and streams.

We have arrived at Lake Ashi for a sightseeing cruise, but this port is closed because of low-lying clouds and rough water.

The water is a little high, too!

Ancient Cedar Avenue, which was planted in 1618, along the Tokaido highway in order to provide comfort for the foot travelers from the hot sun of summer and the snow of winter.

KG certainly enjoys the shade on this hot summer day :)

Path less traveled... Tarynn and Kerri found a small portion of the Avenue without cars passing constantly.

Hakone Sekisho

Checkpoint for all travelers in Japan back in the Tokugawa era (since 1618).  The Tokaido highway was the main passage and it was nearly impossible for someone to get from Tokyo to Kyoto with passing through this area.  It was known as the biggest and most important checkpoint in Japan.

The main purpose was to control weapons entering Edo area and women attempting to leave Edo!!  LOL.  Hakone Sekisho was notorious for its strictness and primary responsibility of keeping women from escaping!  Can you imagine?!

Special Arms Room:

Filled with guns and bows with the main purpose of intimidating travelers!

Arresting Implements:

Tools used to catch criminals!

Hakone area is also known for its special "black eggs".  They are regular chicken eggs, but cooked in one of the numerous volcano geysers (which also produce the hot springs) in order to turn them black.

You can bet I wasn't eating one of those black eggs, but I did buy a souvenirs plastic black egg from a kid's toy machine!

We moved on to the next port of Lake Ashi, but by the time we got there that tour was also cancelled due to the low clouds and poor visibility. 

I was upset because I wanted to ride this sweet boat!

See the rolling clouds... this pic was taken right after I walked off the dock. 

The visibility was unbelievably poor.

Since the boats were shut down, everyone had to leave by bus!!

After a couple of buses and trains, we finally made it to our hotel.  Since we were a little late planning this trip, we booked the only hotel room (2 days before we left) that we could find available.  As it turned out it was a "Single" with a twin bed...

That's all part of the adventure, right?!  Since the town (including restaurants, bars, and gift shops) closed at 7pm, I read a novel and then went bathing in the hotel onsen before trying to get snug and cozy in our tiny bed ;)

Hopefully tomorrow brings clear skies and calm weather!

Nagoya Castle Obon Festival

Since it was Obon Week, there were many special "night" events happening around Nagoya.  The night events help patrons beat the heat and the cruel sun, but they also provide a rare opportunity to see some Nagoya sights which are usually locked up tight by 5pm every day. 

I decided to check out the Obon Festival at the Nagoya Castle, mainly because I've seen a few posters around town of Nagoya Castle at night, and it looks amazing!  I was excited for a glimpse of my own!

Walking to the Castle.  The streets are lined with lanterns guiding spirits back home!

Many booths of crafts, food, and games were set up.

View of a castle turret beyond the lanterns

Inside the 400 year old turret!  They had the crazy decorative paper lanterns for lighting.  I have no idea how the Japanese warriors moved around in these dark quarters!

This place would be great for a haunted house...

Walkway to the castle.  Seriously, these pics remind me of Halloween, but actually the lanterns are all red.

And the beautiful castle at night.  I think it looks majestic every time I see it!

I can't believe it never occurred to me to wear my yukata (summer kimono) to this event!  It even has "festival" in the title.  I feel like I should be getting as much use out of that thing in Japan as possible.  But I seriously forget that I have a special outfit to wear to events like this!

We ran out of time to eat at the food booths (oh darn, I missed out on fish-on-a-stick and octopus balls...), so instead we decided to have dinner at the foreigner bar, Shooters.

I love this place, and apparently the bartender loves me because he sent over 2 free shots (Alabama Slammers) since he hadn't seen me in a while... LOL. 

(I haven't been there since April, and yes, folks, I am that memorable!)