Shibuya Station

Family Home Evening with the senior missionary couples on September 7, 2015, and we stayed overnight at the nearby New Sanno hotel again. Also staying there were Elder and Sister Thunnel, who serve at Yokosuka Naval Base in our mission, and their daughter Kristy, who was visiting from Salt Lake City. We didn't have a lot of time, but Tuesday morning we got together for breakfast and then headed out to visit the famous Shibuya Station. This is one of Tokyo's busiest railway stations, lots of shopping and IT industry, and what is rumored to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. From Time magazine:

It would be a shame to come to Tokyo and not take a walk across the famous intersection outside Shibuya Station. On sunny afternoons or clear evenings, the surrounding area is packed with shoppers, students, young couples and commuters. When the lights turn red at this busy junction, they all turn red at the same time in every direction. Traffic stops completely and pedestrians surge into the intersection from all sides, like marbles spilling out of a box. You can observe this moment of organized chaos from the second-story window of the Starbucks in the Tsutaya building on the crossing's north side.

So we got on a bus across the street from the New Sanno and headed off to Shibuya. Several stops later, and after some wandering in and out of the train station, we and a few hundred of our best friends joined the "pedestrian surge". We had hot chocolate in Starbucks and marveled at what was going on in front of us. We wandered around the area and did a little shopping ourselves, Kristy was looking for souvenirs and gifts.

We were mostly pretty proud of ourselves for figuring out how to get there and back!

Cute Japanese school children on the bus.

Here's the crossing, we were looking down from the second floor of Starbucks. It's a 5-point intersection that comes together here. This around noon and it was raining - I'm told its much busier late afternoons and evenings, especially in good weather. But I personally love all the umbrellas!

Loved this unique digital clock!

Here's Bruce, Pat, Steve, and Kristy Thunnel

More adorable school children on the bus going back to the hotel.

Odowara

Before leaving the office, we were in on discussions in staff meetings about missionaries' apartments, damages, need for improvements, etc. The elders in Odowara actually live in a detached house with a small yard, and yard maintenance is a bit of a challenge. The missionaries aren't really here to do yard work, they've cleared the overgrowth of weeds, but of course it just grows right back. We volunteered to drive to Odowara (especially after President Wada said it was a beautiful coastal drive!), check it out, and make recommendations for some simple, low-maintenance landscaping that will make the place look better and not require a great deal of the missionaries' time. (You'd think this would be the landlord's responsibility, but it appears things are different here....)

Anyway, here's the house the three elders in Odowara live in -- two stories and it actually has an elevator! There used to be four elders but the missionary numbers are reducing and they may be down to two within a few months. I realize because I was taking pictures to share with Sister Wada, I was trying to show her the yard and didn't get a good picture of the entire house, but you get the idea.

Odowara is the southernmost point of the mission, furthest from the Mission Home and Tokyo proper, rent is cheaper here. The branch here rents the bottom floor of a building that used to house a 7-11 store. There's a small chapel that doubles as a multi-purpose room, a tiny kitchen, office, restroom, and one or two classrooms. 

After visiting the apartment, we had lunch with the elders, then they went off to do a trash clean-up service project and we found a Home Depot kind of store and looked at plants, landscaping rocks, etc. We put some ideas together to share with Sister Wada and hope to head back to Odowara when they make a decision.

While we were in the area, we visited Odowara Castle, which was closed for renovation, but we were able to enjoy walking around a bit, nonetheless. Wish I could share the history and significance of the castle and statues and shrines on the grounds surrounding it, but is too much... see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odawara_Castle

Part of their worship includes washing hands here. And we frequently see the white, folded zig-zag streamers at shrines, I don't know what they mean but there's some religious significance to them!

Here's the castle, surrounded by scaffolding. The renovation is scheduled to be finished in April 2016, so we'll have an opportunity to go back and see it next year.

It's unsettling enough to see this ancient castle surrounded by modern scaffolding, but then the crane, power lines and lights in front of it are downright jarring!

We were intrigued by the measure they are taking to save this tree. It's huge, and the support they've provided for it is pretty massive, the wooden ladder and heavy cables. I don't think I'd be too comfortable spending a lot of time inside the building it's leaning over!

I had Bruce get in this picture for scale, but to my eye it still doesn't demonstrate

 very accurately how massive this castle is. 

Here's what we assume is a part of what was once the moat, 

it doesn't go all the way around the castle any more.

Here's what the castle looks like, sans scaffolding. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

President Wada was right, the drive to and from the Odowara was beautiful, but it's actually only a relatively small section that goes along the coast. We would have stopped to take pictures but there's absolutely no place to park along that route! As we left Odowara, I dozed off in the passenger seat, slept for maybe 20 minutes and woke up to the GPS (Lia, short for Liahona) saying "Recalculating" over and over again. Bruce just stubbornly refused to follow her, opting instead for staying on the coastal highway. It was a fun drive, through old fishing villages and fancy resorts, watching fishermen and surfers. We'll head down that way again and I'll figure out a way to get some pictures! It took a good 90 minutes longer and an extra 200 yen in tolls to get back to Fussa, but it was worth it!

Our Weekend Getaway Cottage, Now Permanent Residence

Since I posted photos of the Kichijoji apartment, I thought I'd share some of our home here in Fussa.

Here's the shower/laundry room. We have a stacking washer/dryer, and a
shower set up similar to the other apartment. You shower first, then the tub is for
soaking once you're already clean.

Living room - we love our American couch and recliner!

Sliding panels here (above) separate the living and dining rooms. This will be your bedroom when you come visit! The couch is not a hide-a-bed, but we do have two twin-size air mattresses for guests.

Kitchen, above, and below is the view from the other side of the counter, which becomes the office...

...which shares space with the dining room.

Entry hallway, the tiled area is the genkan

Toilet room -- again, no separate sink, just a small one on top of the tank.

You can barely see the faucet (hard to get good photo angles in these small quarters!).

Our bedroom - we really enjoy the space here compared to the bedroom in Kichijoji.

It's older and not quite as bright as the other apartment. We were able to replace light fixtures in the living, dining, and bedroom from missionary apartments that were closed (you take your light fixtures with you when you move), we're trying to figure out how to get more light in the entry hall. But still very comfortable and functional. In both places, we've been really happy to have a nice queen bed, rather than sleeping on futons like the young missionaries do!