Mitchells visit Japan Oct 2024

 The last half of October we were so happy to have the Mitchell family come to Japan for a visit. We started our adventures in Tokyo. Mitchells arrived from Korea (the first leg of their trip) at 2am on a Sunday. It just so happened that week was our Stake Conference, which is held in the Temple Annex, so we all stayed at Hardy Barracks in downtown Tokyo for a couple of nights. Our Tokyo activities included a visit to the Taiko Drum Museum, the Ninja and Samurai Museum, Senso-ji Temple, TeamLabs, Trick Art Muesum, an Owl Cafe, Meiji Jingu, and Shibuya! 




 






















After Tokyo we came back to Camp Zama and took a few day trips - Hakone (including a swimming suit hot springs), Disney Sea, Miyagase Dam (where we did Indigo dying), and Showa Park (where we rented tandem bikes). Plus lots of fun times just hangin out (including a trip to Zama Costco)!



































The next week we planned a road trip to Matsumoto and Kamikochi. It was fun to stay at a Japanese ryokan!

Our hope was to be able to see wild monkeys in Kamikochi, but it was not to be. Oh well, still so beautiful. We stopped off to check out a crazy high dam on our drive back down from Kamikochi.

Our last day in that area we visited a wasabi farm - it was really interesting and very scenic. We tried a ton of wasabi products, including wasabi ice cream (not that good, tbh)





















We had a fun meeting up with the Okumuras for Shabushabu one night .



Our last two days were packed full. We spend a day in Enoshima and Kamakura (Sea Candle, Sea Cave, Giant Buddha), getting back just in time for Trick or Treating. Then the last day, half of us went to a cooking class to learn how to make authentic ramen and gyoza while the other helf made a visit to the Machida Squirrel Garden. We finished off with a stroll through Asamizo Park.
























Last but not least here are a few pics of the yummy food we all enjoyed (we ate sushi at least 5 times!)












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