

Today Noboru and the boys and I, went to see the Ushiku Daibutsu/ Buddha statue, it's located in Ibaraki Prefecture which was formerly known as the province of Hitachi. Ushiku Arcadia lies at the southern end of Ibaraki, and is about fifty kilometers northeast of Tokyo, in an area surrounded by abundant forests and rolling hills. The statue is 100 meters tall, standing on a 10m lotus base and a 10m platform, total 120 meters. Since its completion in 1995, Ushiku Amida Buddha is the tallest statue in the world. The monument is three times taller and thirty times larger in volume than the Statue of Liberty. The statue weighs 4000 tons. Its first finger is 7.0 meters long. An elevator takes visitors up to 85m off the ground, where an observation floor is located.
We actually live about a 20 -25 minute drive from this giant Buddha. The drive from our home all the way up to see the gigantic Buddha is quite scenic. It's gorgeous actually, with greenery everywhere! It's so peaceful and tranquil where the Buddha is. And although, I'm Catholic and so are our two children, with them being baptized and all. I can still really appreciate the beauty of this Buddha and like I said, it was just so peaceful being here today!We spent about an hour and a half at the enormous Buddha statue. Looking around, the view from the platform inside the Buddha was breathtaking. Strolling the tiny little shops around the big Buddha was pretty cool. We all had some ice-cream at one of the tiny little shops at the base of the Buddha statue. It was fun! And such a hot day too!
After that, we were all starved! Ha ha ha. So we drove to the city of Tsukuba, we went to Saizeriya for some Italian lunch. It's cheap here and we like cheap lunches, ha ha ha. It saves us money. Then we headed to the great big mall they have there and window shopped in Baby Gap, Gap Kids and regular Gap (we didn't buy anything because the boys have plenty of clothes for summer and there's no need for anymore, it would be overkill.) Had some iced caramel machiatto's at Starbuck's. Then we headed to the Akachan Honpo and bought Branden a jinbei and those traditional flip flops, that go with the jinbei. And we also bought Noah a jinbei as well.
Summer festival season is coming up soon. Most start at the beginning of July. And go until the end of summer. I got an email from my good friend Kumi-san, who's in the PTA at Branden's yochien. She also works as an ALT supervisor for this area. Anyway she's a pretty good friend of mine, since I moved here and anyway she emailed me the other day, reminding me. That NATSUMATSURI season is almost upon us and if you want the best selection of jinbei or yukata for your children, buy them in June before all the other mom's buy them here in Japan. If you wait until July, all the good ones will be gone and you'll be left with just the leftover ones! I thanked her for her reminder. So seriously, any mom's reading this, go right out and buy yours ASAP!
I am glad I took my time choosing and deciding which jinbei looked best and matched each of my boy's perfectly. They both got different jinbei's with different patterns and different coloring, because well, my son's don't look alike (even though each is equally cute), so I figured their jinbei's should look as unique as they are. Branden's jinbei was chosen, because it complimented Branden's golden tan skin coloring and his hair color best. Meanwhile, Noah's jinbei matches his pale skin coloring and hair color best, as well. They will both look wonderful for summer festival season. And good thing, I got there when the selection was still excellent and well stocked! My boys are now ready for the summer season now. Ha ha ha : )
After that, we went to Tokyo Interior's, in Tsukuba, and didn't buy anything, but we looked around. We then stopped at Toys R us, Noboru bought Branden, some stuff from the new movie Cars, that's coming out. He got some cool cars from the movie. We also bought Branden a round intertube, for going to the beach this summer or the big pool near our new house. We wanted to buy him a Nemo or Thomas one, but they didn't have his size, they only had 50 CM intertubes and that's for wee little kids. Yup, in Japan they even tell you what size intertube to buy, by age. It's actually quite helpful, because if it's too big, the kid can't hold onto it properly and if it's too small the kid won't fit into the hole. So, we wanted to buy a 60 CM intertube, which is for 3- 7 year olds. They had slim pickings though in that size for boys! Our choice was only Pokemon or Buzz Lightyear. Hmmm, Branden chose Buzz Lightyear. Ha ha ha, oh well, at least he will have one for this summer. And we bought the cheapest ones they had, for 800 -900 yen. They had some that were 1900 yen to 2900 yen. Hell no, would we pay $20.00 or $30.00 for a plastic intertube he'd only get a summer or two's usage out of! Besides, I actually thought 800 or 900 yen, for a mere plastic intertube was sorta too expensive already! Noah got some more Sesame Street bouncy ball's. And another small toy. And we also bought 3 packs of batteries, so we can change some batteries on some toys that the boys have here at the house.
We did all this stuff well before 5:00 pm. Because we got home at 5:00 pm. We all changed clothes. Noboru mowed the lawn. And I made dinner. Just simple cheap gyoza and rice and some egg drop soup. I made the egg drop soup myself. The rice was left over from breakfast and warm in the rice cooker. We had about 3 cups of rice in there still, so it was enough. And the gyoza was premade and from the freezer section of the store we shop at. So dinner was easy and fast!
We ate before 6:00 pm. All four of us showered and bathed together. I showered with Noah first. Then he and I soaked in our big bath tub. And then Noboru and Branden got in and showered and soaped up. We all chatted in there. Branden and Noah blew massive amounts of bubbles together in there and also played with the Spongebob squirt toys. Honestly? Bath time is a blast at our house. Then when it was Noboru's and Branden's turn to soak in the tub, Noah and I got out. Got our jammies on. And went downstairs. Noboru and Branden joined us downstairs with their PJ's on as well. We all watched TV and all four of us, munched on a bag of microwave popcorn, that I threw into a big plastic bowl. Noah fell asleep first, he fell asleep right before 9:00 pm. After Noah fell asleep I took him upstairs to sleep, we all got out some tortilla chips and salsa and some soda's. Branden had oolong tea though. Deeply into the movie, the three of us, munched and munched and munched. Branden fell asleep around 11:00 pm. And Noboru and I carried Branden upstairs and put him to bed. And then Noboru and I watched TV together until midnight. My eyes actually kept shutting and opening a few times, during the last ten minutes we watched TV, because I was so sleepy. Even the last few things he said to me, I just said, "uh huh!", not quite sure what he said, but I was agreeing with him, whatever he said! : )