Author: sanaesuzuki

My favorite thing about going to Japan is the hot springs and Shiatsu massage! 

So this time, I made plans to go to Tenzan in Hakone Yumoto, where I went four years ago.

Meet up with a good friend, Chihiro, in Odawara. 

She took us first to Owakudani – one of the most famous viewpoints in Hakone, where you can observe the intense volcanic activity from up close. It is said that this place came to be thanks to a phreatic eruption and pyroclastic flow that occurred almost 3000 years ago. It’s also known to locals as “Jigokudani” (the Valley of Hell) and is famous for its black eggs, which are boiled in the sulfurous waters to give the egg shells a distinctive color. The sulfur smelled so strong I had to wear a mask because I have smell sensitivity.

When we arrived at Owakudani, we could see Mt. Fuji, but it was behind the clouds, so we blew our breath to move the clouds away. 

 

Did it work? 

Sure, it did.

Four years ago, it was raining, and we could not see Mt. Fuji, so we felt blessed this time.

Mt. Fuji is the symbol of Japan and World Cultural Heritage.

I have memories of my father’s construction company building a road to the 5th Station (Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station), and I feel a sense of familiarity with Mt. Fuji. The Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station is located at an altitude of 2,300 meters and offers a panoramic view of the Fuji Five Lakes. 

It is a popular spot even for those who does not climb the mountain climbing. While my father’s company was constructing the road, I was invited to see the breathtaking Mt. Fuji. I was moved to tears when I went to see the completion of the 5th station road a long time after my father passed away.

I’ve talked about this story with Eric many times, but someday I want him to see the road leading to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th station.

 

Chihiro drove to Ashino Lake, Shinshou Soba (opened over 50 years ago), for our lunch.

Usually, I don’t eat much soba because it is much denser than udon noodles. But Shinshou soba was smooth, light soba that I could enjoy. I had soba with grated jinennjo (wild yam).  I had never had such thick jinennjo before. It was sooo delicious.)

 

After a delicious lunch, we saw the beautiful mountain cherry blossoms, then went to our destination, Tenzan. 

 

Tenzan has a great onsen (hot spring), massage, cafe, and souvenir gifts shop. 

As soon as we arrived, first, we went to the massage room area to make an appointment to receive the massage after Onsen. There are many choices to choose massage style. I decided on the therapeutic Shiatsu and legs/feet combination. Eric and Chihiro chose the therapeutic Shiatsu. 

The Onsen is nature’s gift – it warms the body, heart, soul, and spirit and makes skin so smooth. Tenzan had an elegant wooden indoor bath and an open-air bath area surrounded by the forest’s trees outside.

The last time we were there, Chihiro and I talked too much, dipping ourselves to enjoy Onsen too long, and we were late for our massage, so we had to make sure we won’t be late this time.

 

The massage was heavenly healing, and we were all satisfied 100% with big smile.

 

 

After the massage, we went to the cafe “Ukaregumo” (it means Floating Clouds).

The last time, I ordered a Red Shiso Juice since the weather was warmer. I liked it so much that I make it in Santa Monica in the summer, so I wrote the recipe on my blog.

, but it was still cool this time. I had homemade hot Amazake (a traditional sweet Japanese drink made from fermented rice) to warm my heart and sweeten my soul.

 

Eric had plum wine and chocolate tart.

The hot springs are freshly brewed and can be drunk or brought back to your home in a bottle.

In general, hot springs have a high content of magnesium and have the impression of being “hard.” Tenzan  [No. 74 hot spring] contains zero magnesium ions. The content of calcium ions is 1.2 mg in 1000 ml, which is very soft and has the property of super soft water.

I have another favorite thing to do at Tenzan – stop by their souvenir gifts shop, “Sharetei.”

I love their unique, rare collection of items that can use in daily life. Just adding such a modest tool makes life fun.

 

I found Zukou (a powder incense) with a cherry wooden container to put the powder incense this time.  I have enjoyed incense since I was a teenager, but I didn’t have any powder incense, so I was excited. Powdered incense is applied to the body to purify the body. 

Agarwood, sandalwood, clove, cinnamon, and other precious herbal fragrant woods are used as a base to create a clean fragrance.  Apply the incense to your hands and body when you hold a Buddhist memorial service or before you start copying sutras.

I decided to use the powder incense as a Japanese aromatherapy to soothe and protect myself.

These powder incent and a wooden box will be added to my treasures in Santa Monica.

Love,

Sanae❤️

There are many hands-on classes in Japan to learn about Japanese culture. 

On this day, I originally wanted to go to the hands-on Kintsugi class (Kintsugi 金継ぎ, “golden joinery,” also known as the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum; the method is similar to the maki-e technique.) early in the morning, but I decided to take it easy. 

Sometimes, less is better, and I believe an opportunity to learn kintsugi will come in the future.

 

After relaxing and having breakfast, Ringo-chan and Shigeru-san accompanied us to the bus stop, and we took the bus to Futako Tamagawa station.

Our first destination was our favorite glass shop, JINS (4th floor of Futako Tamagawa Rise).

JINS is a Japanese glasses store established in 2001. I found out about JINS 5 years ago on a 2020 Tokyo TV show program. I saw JINS’ mission is to provide functional, innovative, and lightweight eyewear at affordable prices for everyone. 

 

 

JINS frames are designed in Tokyo and carefully assembled with the spirit and passion of Japanese craftsmanship. 

We went to JINS in Asakusa 4 years ago for the first time. Indeed, JINS was efficient, courteous, prompt, and reasonably priced. Eric liked it very much and was looking forward to going to JINS again to get new glasses made.

This time we chose 5 glasses. If we made 5 pairs of glasses in America, we would be bankrupt here in America, but it was less than 1/4 of the price there. 

Eric chooses two cool bifocals. I have one for bifocals, one for computers, and one for craft/calligraphy.

While waiting for the glasses to be ready, we went to the “Bunkyodo” bookstore on the 6th floor for about an hour. 

* Bifocal glasses take 1 week. In our case, JINS send it to our friend in Setagaya, and she will send it to Santa Monica. If you go to Japan and make bifocals at JINS, I recommend that you go there as soon as you arrive in Japan and pick up your bifocals a week later.

 

I love Japanese bookstores. A spacious and full of things other than books, where you can find something you did not even think to enjoy. Check out the calligraphy pens, ink, and Japanese paper, browse magazines and comics, and I could spend time all day there.

I only know a bookstore like the Japanese one is Burns’s Nobel bookstore on the third street promenade Santa Monica. I was sad when it closed. 

When I was in a wheelchair, I often went there with my service dog, Kula. Checked out various magazines and books, grazed at photos of thick heavy hardcover photo books, and chose colorful stationery.

While I was focusing my viewing, Kula accommodated everyone and made them smile. 

The Bunkyoudo had the same relaxing atmosphere; it reminded me of the nostalgic good time I spent with Kura at the bookstore.

I was not looking for particular books, but I bought Snoopy’s book, “Snoopy Prepares Your Heart.”

This book explains Japanese quotes and Zen words.

 

Peanut comics, which are drawn in black and white and have blank spaces, have something in common with Zen, and the lines of the characters that appear often overlap with Zen language.

Even in silence, there is a world that is familiar to Zen.

An example given at the beginning of the book is the – Natural result.

“You just do it first and see what happens.”

This is one of my life mottos to live my life.

I learned English by reading Snoopy’s book when I was little, so I felt a connection with this book, and there was something I could learn from this Snoopy book again.

I had Snoopy’s book and Dennis the Menace’s book to study English. I also watched Sesame Street TV shows, listened to English music records, and translated the lyrics, which are fond memories.

 

Well, after the bookstore, we were hungry, and I was exhausted.

It was lunchtime, and there were long lines at all the restaurants, so when we were wondering what to do, we saw one restaurant called “Japanese Cafe Tsumugi” with almost no queues, and we thought this place might not be so good food.

We decided to eat there anyway since we did not have much time. As for the taste, the food was fresh and delicious for us to enjoy it.

Thanks to lunch, I regained my sharpness a little. We went to pick up my three glasses, then took the Tokyu Den-en-chofu Toshi Line train and the JR line to Ikebukuro. 

 

Ikebukuro station, where we were supposed to be, was not easy to find, and I got a little tired, so I was relieved to see Junko and her family.

When Junko was a student, she did a homestay at our house in Santa Monica to study English. We’ve known each other for a long time since Junko returned to Japan, and now she is married and has two children. Eric and I are so surprised to see her children grow up fast every time.

 

Our final destination and purpose for the third day were to go to Itabasshi to see Masaki, an old friend who worked as a chef in Los Angeles. We used to go to where he used to work every Fri. with other friends. The last time we saw him was almost 20 years ago in Shinjuku. Maybe I was in a wheelchair at the time. After that, he moved to Spain and New Zealand.

He recently returned to Japan and opened his new restaurant, “Space Cafe,” in Itabashi, Tokyo, and we promised to see him at his new restaurant.

Junko kindly chose where to go near Masaki’s restaurant with her husband, Hisashi, who used to live in the area. 

We went to Tokyo Great Buddha (I did not know there was Great Buddha in Tokyo). 

After some research, I found that the “Tokyo Great Buddha,” synonymous with this temple, is Amida Nyorai. The Tokyo Daibutsu Jorenji Temple in Itabashi Akatsuka, Tokyo, has a history of 600 years.

This temple was a resting place for the Tokugawa shogun’s falconry.　The height from the base is 13 meters/42.6 feet, and the head alone is 3 meters/10 feet. It weighs 32 tons.

At the time of its completion, it was the third largest Buddha in Japan after the Great Buddha of Nara at Todaiji Temple and the Great Buddha of Kamakura at Kotokuin Temple.

Amida Nyorai is the Buddha who created “paradise” to save people in a world without suffering. Please put your hands together and say, “Namu Amida Butsu.”

I have seen Great Budda, Nara Todaji, and Great Buddha, Kamakura, which are eye-opening Great Buddhas. The Tokyo Great Buddha looked softer, as if it had a gentle soul relaxing its vibrations in the busiest city, Tokyo.

We took many pictures and had a great time with Junko and her family. Her son Ikkei danced on the ground of Tokyo Great Buddha to impress how good a dancer he was to us. 

He wants to study abroad in America, so he might come to stay at our house like his mother, Junko. It’s a double memory that shares the past and the future. I hope it will come true.

 

After Tokyo Great Buddha, for my request to go to a botanical garden – they chose Akatuka Botanical Garden, a walking course blessed with nature, which was within walking distance from the Tokyo Great Buddha. 

This botanical garden was opened in October 1981 as a facility that uses the hilly area of ​​Akatsuka, which still retains the vestiges of Musashino, where nature and plants can be more familiar. 

It started to rain, so we had to shorten our walk there, but it was the gift of nature: I gained my energy back and got ready to meet more friends.

 

When we were driving by Masaki’s, the rain stopped, and he was outside looking up at the sky – he could not hear, but we called his name loudly, “MASAKI!”.  Eric quickly got out of the car to surprise Masaki.

Masaki said later to us, “It might be a rainbow after the rain, so I was outside, but instead of the rainbow, Eric came!” with his big smile!!!

 

What a reunion for the first time in 20 years!

Masaki’s restaurant opened about a week ago, so he was alone greeting customers, taking orders, cooking, and cleaning up. We were so impressed with him.

We also planned to meet up with Kuni and his wife, Kumi, at Masaki’s restaurant. Kuni used to work in Tahiti with Eric more than 30 years ago, and Kumi loves dogs, so I had a mutual connection.

We all had such a great time with Masaki’s sophisticated, tasty food! 

What a way to see old friends with good food!

 

After we left Masaki’s restaurant, Junko’s daughter, Mako, said, “How about Gelato?” 

We stopped by A La Campagne near Soshigaya Okura Station on our way to Setagaya, where we were staying. 

I didn’t eat gelato, but Eric bought me a cute bag for dessert.

There are many cute shops around. When I passed by after gelato, the flower shop that caught my eye was called “Green Mind.” The next time, I definitely want to go there, so I’m looking forward to it.

Well-planned and executed, unexpected things and plans for the future.

Ending the third day of my Spring 2023 trip to Japan was perfect!

Love, Sanae ❤️

On the first night of my spring trip to Japan, I fell asleep to the chorus of frogs, and on the second day, I woke up early to the sound of rain.
The spring rain did not seem to stop.

Eric and I were supposed to go hiking in Ubara Utopia with Deco-chan, Yamabushi (the thirteenth generation of the 400-year-old temple lodging “Daishobo” in the Temukai area at the foot of the three mountains of Dewa), and his students; of course, no more hiking.
After breakfast, Deco invited us to a local sound bowl healer session with Mr. Hoshino Sentatsu Yamabushi and his students.

 

I forgot to tell Eric we were going to Singing Bowls Healing.
It was all in Japanese, and maybe Eric was new to Sound Bowls Healing, so I wondered how he felt.

 

After the session, all the participants shared their impressions individually, and Eric said, “The sound was soothing and connected to his heart.” What a perfect answer.
I am amazed at him once again.
I remember when he went on ten-day of Vipassana meditation; even though he first did not want to go, he came back home and said that it was challenging to sit for so many hours every day for ten days, but it was a meaningful experience to him.
Eric loves sports and is physically active, but he is not just a physical person, and still amazes me.

After the Singing Bowls Healing session, fortunate to see a tiny part of the healing work by Mr. Hoshino Sentatsu Yamabushi.

One of the joys of traveling is not knowing what to expect.

Deco took us to a bakery with a firewood kiln,” Acoustic,” open only on weekends.
There were delicious-looking bread and baked goods lined up in a cute shop.

I wanted to eat them right away when I saw them, but I bought them for a snack for a train ride later that day.
Took a photo with the baker, his wife, and son.

 

We shopped at Brown’s Field Rice Terrace Cafe, their new Brown Rice pasta, etc. We love pasta and can’t wait to try it when we get back to Santa Monica!

We ate the lunch box that we were supposed to eat on the hike while having a last fun chat with Deco-chan.
It was a short stay, but visiting Brown’s Field gave us strength and hope to come back there again.

 

Took the JR Sotobo Line Wakashio to Tokyo Station. While riding the train, I ate “Acoustic,” a cardamon roll. It was so delicious each chewed.

 

At Tokyo Station, one of Japan’s leading terminal stations, about 3,000 trains arrive and depart daily, and 400,000 people pass through the Monster station.
When we transferred to the Chuo Line, the crowds were so dizzying that I felt that I couldn’t breathe.
I had an aunt in Tokyo, and I often visited her from my parents’ house in Nagoya as a teenager. I enjoyed the visit but thought I couldn’t live in Tokyo because of too many people. The feeling got more certain.

Arriving in Shinjuku, in the rain, we went to the green Italian restaurant “Torcia” 
in the Isetan department store to meet some macrobiotic teachers and activists.

Trucha is a restaurant I went to twice when it was a Chayama Macrobiotics.
About a year and a half ago, Torcha opened as a vegan-friendly Italian restaurant where you can casually enjoy a vegan menu. The atmosphere mostly stayed the same, but everything has changed to Italian, and not only is it vegan, but the menu is abundant.

There were 7 of us, so we ordered all of the vegan menu items and tasted them. My favorites were and Strawberry Mont Blanc. It felt like 12 courses tasting menu!

 

 

 

 

I was a little nervous at first meeting everyone because there were some people I never met before, but everyone was so warm and kind. They belong to the Japanese Macrobiotic Society “Wa no Kai“: Minaka Nagai, Yuko Sakurai, Miyumi Chiba, Shugo Nanabayashi, and Nana Arisawa.

We had a good connecting time.
I was filled with gratitude for meeting them.

I felt that it would be great if we could keep in touch with everyone and hold Eric and my workshops and talks in Japan someday.

I had a good time chatting with them and felt sad to say goodbye, but after saying goodbye to everyone, Eric and I headed to Setagaya, our accommodation in Tokyo, and boarded the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku Station.

I have known my friend in Setagaya since I was at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.
Ringo-chan (a beagle dog) welcomed us there, and I gave her dog cookies, shampoo, etc.

 

 

After a long walk, I massaged my swollen feet in the bath and fell asleep with the excitement of connections of Japanese macrobiotics people on the second night.

Sanae