With Leanne working, Forrest and I spent the morning at Hachinohe’s Kodomo no Kuni, or “Children’s Land,” with our friends Autumn, Aslan, and AJ! It’s a little amusement park just for kids, with rides, playgrounds, and lots of green space that’s starting to turn for fall. We rode the Ferris wheel and could see the whole park from the top, and Forrest even got to drive his own little bus!
The base fire department put on a fire safety demonstration in the BX parking lot! Forrest got to see the big fire trucks up close with all their lights flashing.
For the last part of our trip, we took the bus and train back to Sendai. First stop was lunch at a beef tongue restaurant, one of Sendai’s specialties. Then we hit the Pokémon Center, did a little shopping, and I explored the lively Kokubuncho district at night. Our hotel even served free midnight noodles!
The next day, we went back to the Anpanman Children’s Museum! We first went last year when we were in Sendai for a concert, and Forrest is still totally obsessed with Anpanman. He met Anpanman, rode in Baikinman’s UFO, watched the dance show, and of course ended up back in jail.
That night we found an amazing Taiwanese restaurant where Forrest ate a ton of vegetables. After he went to bed, Leanne and I hung out in the hotel lobby, people-watching and making up stories about the other guests. I laughed so hard!
On our last full day, we took a taxi to the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium. Forrest loved the dolphin show and kept asking for “more” dolphin jumping. My favorite part was watching a fluffy brown baby king penguin get fed by its parent (yes, with regurgitated fish). For dinner we stumbled onto Din Tai Fung, and the xiao long bao was just as good as when we had it in Taiwan.
Next we moved up into the mountains to Zao Onsen, a hot spring town known for its acidic sulfur water. Steam rises right out of the stream running through town!
After a ramen lunch (and a little Yamagata sake tasting for me), we spotted two wild Japanese serows, a kind of mountain goat, munching on grass right in town!
Our ryokan gave us yukata to wear, and Forrest looked so cute in his. We booked a private outdoor onsen, where Forrest’s favorite activity was splashing us with the shower head. Between the hotel baths and the private one, I did five onsen soaks that first day! Dinner was an amazing spread of traditional Japanese food and pork shabu shabu.
The next day we took a ropeway up the mountain. It turned out to be the wrong ropeway, but we made the most of it and found a great trail. The secret to getting a toddler to hike? Puff snacks. Every puff got us about 10–12 steps. Powered by snacks and music, Forrest hiked almost all the way up by himself! At the top was a jizo statue, and Forrest kept offering it little stones and praying.
Back in town we climbed the stone steps up to Sukawa Onsen Shrine. Then, right before dinner, Forrest stripped down to his undies in the hotel lobby, refused to get dressed, and announced that he was “a bad boy” and wasn’t going to eat dinner. Leanne got him dressed and said OK, he could just watch. Then she started grilling the Yamagata beef and cracked the onsen egg for dipping, and suddenly Forrest really wanted to salt the beef and dip it himself. Leanne reminded him that only good boys get to eat. After a little more grilling, he decided he was “one good.” Leanne told him he had to be “two good.” He agreed to “two good” very quickly!
On our last morning, we took the correct ropeway and hiked out to Okama Crater, a volcanic crater lake. It was so windy that Forrest snuggled up and let me carry him most of the way, and we hiked above a sea of clouds to see the bright turquoise lake.
Leanne took ten days of leave, so we packed up for a family trip to Yamagata and Sendai! We rode the Shinkansen from Hachinohe to Sendai, then hopped on a little local train out to Yamadera. Forrest loves trains, and he spent the whole ride counting all the sleeping passengers. “3 people sleeping mama!”
Yamadera, or Risshaku-ji, is a temple built into the side of a mountain, with about 1,000 stone steps to the top. After fueling up with soba at a local restaurant, we climbed all the way up, and the views at the top were absolutely amazing!
Back at the bottom, we rewarded ourselves with a konnyaku stick, a Yamadera specialty. That night in Yamagata we treated ourselves to Yonezawa beef, one of Japan’s most famous kinds of wagyu. It was honestly a perfect first day, and Forrest was the sweetest, most easygoing little travel buddy.
The next day we rode a tiny two-car local train past rice fields and apple and peach orchards. Rural Japan is so beautiful! Then we took a bus out to Ginzan Onsen, an old hot spring town with wooden inns lining the river. We walked to Shirogane Falls, soaked in the nicest onsen in town (Forrest pretended to make soup in it), and dipped our feet in the foot baths. At lunch Forrest discovered wagyu and kept asking for more. Posh kid!
On our last day in Yamagata, we took it easy. We walked around Kajo Park, where the Yamagata Castle ruins are, then strolled along Gotenzeki, an old canal lined with willow trees. At the mall, Forrest found a giant Totoro and gave him a big thumbs up!
Misawa Air Fest is the one day each year when the base opens its gates to everyone, and people come from all over to see the planes up close. The morning was rainy, so Forrest and I went first while Leanne was out, and once she got back we all went again in the afternoon. The highlight was Forrest getting to sit in the pilot’s seat of a helicopter, helmet and all!
Aliya threw us a gender reveal party, and we joined in on a video call from Japan. Everything was decorated in pink and blue, and guests painted wooden blocks for the baby’s first block set. The big reveal was hidden inside the cupcakes… it’s a girl!
Market Day is when local vendors set up food trucks and stalls right outside the base. It was rainy, but there was still plenty to eat: tacos, hot dogs, and Thai food like pad kaprao and green curry. The highlight was a seafood stall selling whole king crab and hanasaki crab from Hokkaido, and Leanne couldn’t resist getting a whole crab!
Forrest’s daycare held its own summer matsuri! The teachers set up festival games and snack stalls all over the school, and all the kids wore little red happi coats, the short jackets people wear at Japanese festivals. Forrest went from game to game collecting prizes!
The Misawa Matsuri is one of the biggest festivals of the summer here, and it lasts four days. Huge, colorful floats parade through the streets with drummers, dancers, and a shrine procession, and the streets fill up with food stalls. We went every single day! On the second night, we even got dressed up in our yukata, a light summer kimono, for the festival.
