Alvinology goes to Japan - Day 6 of 14

On the sixth day, we took an ANA flight out of Hokkaido and headed to Yokohama (横浜市). We woke up really early at around 6am. Rachel and I were feeling a little down on leaving Hokkaido as we had grown fond of the place. Nonetheless, we are moving on to the second leg of our Japan tour.

At the airport, Rachel was persistent on trying out a caramel soft-serve ice cream she saw, but did not get to try when we first arrived at Hokkaido. As the restaurant serving the caramel soft-serve only opens at the same time as our boarding time, Rachel sneakily made a dash for it while we were not watching and almost made us missed our flight. Here’s a picture of the naughty little brat enjoying her victory prize.

Little brat enjoying her soft-serve which almost made us miss our flight

Upon landing, we rented a car and headed to Shōnan (湘南), a resort-oriented region along the coast of Sagami Bay in central Japan. We were going there to stay the night at Mark’s Japanese friend, Masako Asai‘s house.

At the Nissan store — Filling up the paperwork

The Asai household consists of working dad, Katsuya; housewife mom, Masako; their two sons, Toshiki and Motoki. Masako used to work as an English translator, and speaks very fluent English. She also passed this on to her two sons. Her elder son, Toshiki has also taken Chinese lessons.

Once we reached the Asai’s house, Masako, our friendly host whipped up a sumptuous Korean-styled lunch for us. After unpacking, Motoki, Mark and I cycled to the nearby train station to purchase our Shinkansen (新幹線) tickets for the later part of our tour. We also stopped by the local supermarket to pick up some groceries for our dinner which Masako will be cooking for us. Meanwhile, Rachel and Meiyen stayed home to play with the Asai’s pet hamster and their neighbour’s fat cat.

The Asais neighbourhood — The Asai’s neighbourhood

Meet our beautiful host, Masako — Masako bringing out lunch

Running up Rachels hand — Running up Rachel’s arm

An entire cat food section at the nearby convenience store

The Asais neighbour with a very interesting surname — The Asai’s neighbour with a very interesting surname

Japanese cats are much fatter than their counterparts in Singapore

Rachel stroking the fat cat in the Asais garden — Rachel stroking the fat cat in the Asai’s garden

Toshiki then brought us to a nearby shrine, located on a mountain-top with nice scenery for a short tour. On our way there, Mark stopped at a Nissan shop to pick up a badge for his Nissan Skyline which he ordered when he was in Singapore. We managed to catch the sunset from the peak and the view was breathtakingly beautiful.

We have an eerie suspicion that Mark planned this Japan trip just to buy this piece of plastic — Mark planned this Japan trip just to buy this piece of plastic

Me enjoying a Japanese herbs Senbei — Me enjoying a Japanese herbs senbei

Explaining to us, how to make wishes at the shrine — Toshiki explaining to us, how to make wishes at the shrine

Water to cleanse yourself before praying

Thats a real persons name — That’s a real person’s name

Sunset – can you see Mt Fuji in the distance?

Beautiful isnt it? — Beautiful isn’t it?

Another angle – the cone-shaped mountain shrouded by clouds is Mt Fuji

Thereafter, we headed home for dinner. Masako cooked a lot of food! The meal was healthy and delicious. Masako really filled our tummies to the brim.

Helping out to lay the table and the dishes — Getting ready for dinner

Delicious beef stew which took Masako two days to broil — Delicious beef stew which took Masako three days to cook

Another bowl of salad with octopus inside — Another bowl of salad with octopus and salmon inside

Raw fish with lots of greens - Rachel and I love this — Raw fish with lots of greens – Rachel and I loved this

At night, we had a chit-chat session with Masako and Katsuya, who arrived home from work quite late. We then tucked in for the night, overwhelmed by our host’s kind care and attention. To be honest, Rachel and I felt bad to be imposing on the Asai for the night. Hopefully, they might pop by for a visit to Singapore some time and we can then have our turn to play host. 🙂

Links to my previous blog entries on my Japan trip:

Day 1 – Kansai Airport, Hokkaido

Day 2 – Skiing, Otaru

Day 3 – Asahikawa, Asahiyama Zoo

Day 4 – Sledding, Shiroi Koibito, Crab Buffet

Day 5 – The 60th Sapporo Snow Festival

Day 6 – Staying with the Asai, Shōnan

Day 7 – Ueno, Tokyo

Day 8 – Shibuya and Akihabara, Tokyo

Day 9 – Ikeda, Osaka

Day 10 – Kobe

Day 11 – Kyoto