Adalei - a star in Japan! (July 2007)

Everywhere we went in Japan, the people took notice of Adalei. They would stop and talk to her. Often, they wanted to hold her or touch her. This woman kissed Adalei and Adalei kissed her back. The people were so friendly and just loved Adalei. It was often hard to keep going based on the number of people that would stop us to see Adalei.







The Tokyo Temple had a room for children to play while waiting for their parents to do temple work. These little girls just loved Adalei. They took her to eat snacks with their family and totally entertained her while we were there. We didn't have to be concerned about Adalei wondering off as someone was constantly holding on to her.















Adalei found this cute bear in a department store in Osaka. She was so cute. She loved the bear and wanted to take him with her. I told her I'd take some pictures so she posed for me. I think all the photo shoots she had while we were in Japan got her to posing for pictures!








Here's a cute pose of her hugging the bear.













I sure had a hard time finding a Japanese doll for Adalei to take home. Most of the dolls were collector dolls. We found this doll the last day before we left in a department store by the train station. It cost 4708 yen or approximately $47. Another doll was approximately $209 so this one seemed cheap! We only saw one little girl with a doll while we were in Japan. This doll has a kimono and looks like a Japanese girl. Adalei loves her doll and named her Iya. Nate said this is an actual Japanese word so we wonder if she picked it up at the nursery when we went to church. I'm happy she loves this doll.








This is a picture taken at the Osaka Castle. There were several groups of girls taking pictures of Adalei and you can see that Adalei loved the attention very much. When one person would stop to take a picture of her, it wasn't long before a small group would be assembled with more people taking pictures of her.








This is a picture of Adalei on the train. You can see the girls just wanting to touch her hair. There were rarely other Americans in the part of Japan that we were in. It seemed like they hadn't seen blonde curly hair before and they all thought she was so cute. They thought Adalei was the child movie star Michelle on Full House.









These girls had fun with Adalei on the train. She was entertaining everyone.














Adalei became fast friends with this cute little Japanese girl. It was raining and the little girl was sharing her umbrella with Adalei.











Look at all the people taking pictures of Adalei. I was waiting to take a picture of Nate, Misty and Adalei with the temple in the background. I had to be patient for awhile until this photo shot with Adalei the star was finished.










We had dinner in Kobe and these two waitresses just fell in love with Adalei. It was a good thing as they didn't seem to mind the mess Adalei left behind at the table.











This picture was taken in Nagoya. We were trying to find a kimono shop. Nate shopped to ask directions and the people were touching Adalei even though she was asleep. This young man was excited that she was sleeping and holding his finger in her hand. Others at this location were touching her hair and her arm while she slept. It took awhile to get directions since the people were so distracted by Adalei.






These girls in the train station were so excited by Adalei and took lots of pictures.













We were waiting to cross the street in Osaka. This gentleman was part of the construction crew. He came over and gave Adalei a few pieces of candy and talked to her for a couple of minutes.
















This photo shoot was at the Osaka Castle. It took awhile to see the sights as every where we went, Adalei was also in the spotlight.

Japan Trip - Osaka pictures (July 2007)

Posing on a bridge in Osaka near our hotel.



















We stayed in a hotel in Osaka and traveled by train or bullet train every day to sites within Osaka or to other cities. We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, and several cities within the Osaka area. Tokyo and Osaka are both on the list for the top 10 largest cities in the world. We were grateful that Nate knew how to get around so well as it saved us considerable time on our traveling within Japan.

This is a picture of Osaka near the Osaka Castle. The building architecture is unique in Japan and I loved looking at the buildings.









Daily, I was amazed at the number of men in suits with white shirts and just white shirts. During rush hour, the streets and trains were full of white shirts. I have never seen such a sight. Even coming home on the train at night at 9 pm, the men were still coming home from work in their suits and white shirts. Most men work 12 hour days. They leave their homes around 7 am and return around 9 pm. There were not many women that appeared to be working. We stayed in the business district of Osaka so we mainly saw the business people coming and going each day. The men leaving work around 5 to 6 pm were dressed more casual in dress shirts with colors other than white. The men did not look happy. They appeared to be tired and exhausted. No one had a smile.





A view of the city streets on a rainy day around 6 pm.














The streets are very narrow. You will also notice that all the cars are relatively new. Apparently the air pollution requirements are so strict that cars need new engines after 50,000 miles so it is cheaper to buy a new car than to bring the old cars up to meet the requirements. Every car has a GPS system in Japan. The cars generally cost approximately $25,000 but have more features than a similarly priced car in the U.S.








I was amazed that the people could ride a bike and hold an umbrella at the same time. The women even held umbrellas and rode their bikes on sunny days to protect themselves from the sun.











This is a pictures of the river that we crossed in Osaka every day near our hotel. The rivers are beautiful and the water clean. Actually, Japan is clean everywhere - the streets, the trains, etc.














Another view of the rivers in Osaka.
















Here it is - Osaka City. Osaka is also a county.


















You can see the small street and also the bike path on the right side of the street. We often felt like we were going down alley ways when we were on a regular street.















Busy streets - people traveled by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, car, train, subway.











I loved the beautiful clouds. The electrical lines were hard to avoid in pictures as they seemed to be everywhere.












Entering the park with the Osaka Castle, this man stood with a cup for donations and he appeared to be worshipping or saying a prayer. His head was down and he did not make eye contact with anyone. I saw individuals dressed like this with cups at the temples and shrines also.


















Nate, Adalei, and Misty posing for this picture in front of Osaka Castle.


















This is Osaka Castle! This is a picture of me with Misty. It was so hot and humid every day that I had my hair up except when I was sleeping. (Just in case you wonder if I cut my hair or not.)















The Osaka Castle has an inner and an outer mote. This is a picture of the outer mote.
















A view of the big city.
















A downtown street.




















Small backyards......














City sights with multiple lane streets....

Japan - July 7 to 17, 2007 - Differences from U.S.

This is the shopping center in the Osaka train station.













I was so amazed at this parking in the condo parking garage. We arrived in the blue car to find the silver car on top where the blue car is in the picture. The man went to the lock box and the silver car was raised up so he could drive his car on the ramp below. You can see in this picture that he went to the lock box after parking his car and his car was lowered underneath the floor so you couldn't even tell it was there. (This reminded me of raising cars to put on new tires.)






This was another interesting outdoor parking lot with parking similar to the above. The cars on the top would need to be lowered to get out of the parking spot.











This is a Japanese mailman. They all ride these bikes. Mail is delivered seven days per week.












The mailman posed with Nate and Adalei for a picture.

This is the Tokyo Station with the bullet train. The bullet train goes approximately 180 mph.

The bullet train is so long you can't begin to get much of it in a picture. There were at least 15 cars. Cars 6 to 15 were reserved seats. Cars 1 to 5 were non-reserved seats. Car 3 was for smoking. Car 11 had a family room for a baby to sleep. There were 3 restrooms on every other car and the sinks were in separate. Food was sold in the train just like on the airplane. The bullet train goes so fast that you can't take a picture out the window that is anything more than a blur.

This is a picture of the "squatter" toilet. There are some toilets marked "western style" where toilets are like they are here in America. This is a toilet in the women's restroom. The seat in the corner is for the baby to sit.

We found this type of toilet in some homes and in some restaurants. When the toilet is flushed, the faucet on top of the toilet tank begins to run so you can wash your hands. Then a towel in on the wall for drying your hands. This toilet really conserves space since you only need room for the toilet. I didn't know toilets like this existed. (This is considered a western style toilet.)

Every half block there was at least one vending machine. Seeing 5 vending machines in a row was not uncommon. The 2 vending machines to the right are for cigarettes. The other 3 vending machines are for drinks - coffee, water, soda, tea, beer, chocolate milk, etc. The price in the vending machine is just a few cents higher than purchasing the same drink in a store.

I was surprised at the public telephone shown above. There weren't a lot of phones or phone booths since most people have cell phones. These public telephones cost approximately 10 cents for each 3 minutes for a local call. Most people only use their cell phones for texting. There is no charge for texting but the call is more than $1/minute for calls in the home area. Telephone booths are marked whether they are for domestic or international calls or both.

The picture above shows the police with a car pulled over. Note the bicycles in the picture. These bicycles are for the police. They are similar to bikes in the US that are women's bikes with baskets. The picture below shows the typical police station. Japan seemed like the safest country in the world based on the places I have traveled.

This picture above is a weight loss machine. It cost me approximately $3 for 10 minutes of shaking. This was at a place for massaging. They told me that if I came and used the machine every day it would help me lose weight. Theoretically the shaking of the machine exercises all your muscles without any efforts. The shaking is quite strong even though it's not apparent in this picture. After my 10 minutes, my calves and feet were very tired. I was aching by the time I returned to the hotel that night. I'm not sure the rest of my body received much of a work-out. I gained 2 pounds on my trip so I'm not sure this one time experience helped any!
The picture above was taken at a typical grocery store. I have never seen so much sushi! Below is a picture of food ready to be eaten that was also in the grocery store.
The picture below shows how small the grocery carts are. Notice that the cart basket is the same as the basket we grab in a grocery store for a few things when we don't need the cart. The aisles in the stores are narrow and this was the only size cart we saw in any store.
For Charity, I had to take the picture below of the Toyota brand!
Nate did a great job being our tour guide. He managed to get city maps, directions, and necessary information at the train station information centers.

The picture above was taken at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Takatsuki (a suburb of Osaka). Notice that all the hymn books have homemade fabric book covers on them. This was a small ward chapel. Two wards meet in this building. Since the people come from long distances for church, they do not have activities during the week. Therefore, the members bring lunches and eat in the cultural hall after church is over to socialize. Notice that they are sitting on the floor. There were no tables nor chairs in the cultural hall. Even in the foyers, there were no chairs, sofas, tables, etc. Adalei really had fun playing with the cute little Japanese children.
The picture below is the church from the front of the building. This building is small but does have classrooms upstairs. Also, notice that there is no grass around this building. There was red brick where there might have been grass. To the right of the church the bicycles were parked. To the left there were a few covered parking spaces and in the rear maybe a dozen parking spaces. This building was in walking distance of the train station.
The first day in Japan..... Nate is looking at the map to determine the route to the church. We assumed church started at 9 am and we were late by arriving at 9:15 am. But church didn't start until 10:30 am and we were quite early.