Getting retro in ol' Nihon

Mojikō Retro 門司港レトロ district scenery, including the former Moji customs house 旧門司税関 on the left, and the Kitakyūshū International Friendship Memorial Library 北九州市立国際友好記念図書館 at the foot of the Mojikō Retro Observation Room 門司港レトロ展望室

Japan - where to begin? A good place would be with a few facts and figures, such as it was my first visit there in almost three years (when my family stayed in Kagoshima 鹿児島 during the 2015 Lunar New Year holiday); that we spent a total of eleven days visiting Kitakyūshū 北九州, Yamaguchi 山口, Tsuwano 津和野, Hagi 萩, Shimonoseki 下関 and Fukuoka 福岡; and that getting to that part of Japan from Vilnius involved three flights (Vilnius-Helsinki-Nagoya 名古屋-Fukuoka), followed by three subway/train rides to our first night's destination (Fukuoka Airport 福岡空港-Hakata 博多-Kokura 小倉-Mojikō 門司港).

It's something of an understatement to say that all three of us were pretty tired by the time we finally checked into the Premier Hotel Mojiko プレミアホテル門司港, just a short walk from Mojikō Station 門司港駅, following a two-hour train ride from the airport in Fukuoka. But hunger usually triumphs over exhaustion, so after dropping off our bags in our room, we headed out to Curry Honpo 伽哩本舗門司港レトロ店 for our first meal in the country. I had the Old Grilled Curry 昔の焼カレー, a grilled baked curry made from a recipe that originated back in the 1950's...:

...and washed it down with a welcome bottle of a local craft beer:

Afterward, we took a stroll along the waterfront, taking in the view of the Kanmon Bridge 関門橋 linking the islands of Honshū 本州 and Kyūshū 九州, as well as the Shimonoseki skyline (or what passes for one) on the opposite bank of the Kanmon Straits 関門海峡:

Walking back to our hotel at the end of a very long day (or two, seeing as we left Lithuania on the 21st but arrived in Japan on the 22nd):

The following morning we explored the Mojiko Retro district, located in Moji-ku 門司区, Kitakyūshū 北九州市. Mojiko Retro was created in 1995, reinterpreting the area's port history (since 1889) as a tourist destination. There are a handful of renovated old buildings plus the inevitable souvenir shops (and numerous curry restaurants):

The Premier Hotel in the background; in the foreground is the Blue Wing pedestrian drawbridge:

My wife is a devoted selfie-taker:

Enjoying lunch at the Mojiko Beer Factory 門司港地麦酒工房:

My daughter and I took a short boat tour, leaving from a dock next to our hotel:

Appearances can be deceiving - the Blue Wing wasn't raised to allow our boat to pass under the span (we easily cleared it heading out into the straits). Rather, the drawbridge goes up every hour for the benefit of camera-toting visitors; we just happened to return to port on the hour:

The old and the new, with the latter dwarfing the former:

Mojiko Retro is a pleasant place to spend a few hours, but in retrospect (no pun intended) it probably would've been better to have stayed in Fukuoka after the long flight(s) from Vilnius (and Helsinki), and instead visit the area as a day trip by ferry from Shimonoseki. On the other hand, the hotel was comfortable (with a good breakfast buffet), and our first full day in Japan was meant to be an easy one, to help us in getting over the jet lag. We left Mojikō in the early afternoon on Saturday, traveling by train (via Moji 門司駅, Shimonoseki 下関駅 and Shin-Yamaguchi Stations 新山口駅) to our next destination, Yuda Onsen. For our visit on the 23rd and the 24th, we splurged, going way over our usual budget to stay the two nights at the Nishi-no-Miyabi Tokiwa Ryokan 西の雅常盤. Our room was large, the kaiseki 懐石 dinner spread featuring fugu フグ impressive (my apologies for not taking any photos of our meal on our first night), and the indoor and outdoor hot spring baths soothingly hot:

The ryokan also offers a somewhat-bizarre free evening show, featuring an amazingly energetic senior citizen, and including taiko 和太鼓 drumming, dancing, magic, joke telling...pretty much the proverbial kitchen sink. I wish there could've been more of the drumming and less of some of the other aspects, but the audience appeared to have a good time. I was impressed with the way the star transformed folded pieces of paper into flitting butterflies through the use of her hand fan...:

...while my favorite moment was the way she attacked a koto 箏 a la Jimi Hendrix:

Full disclosure: yours truly was also briefly part of the show:

あけましておめでとうございます！

Xmastime is coming...and 2017 is leaving

The Christmas tree in Cathedral Square

It's Christmas time again, only this time we opened our presents eight days early, the reason being we'll be in Japan on クリスマス this year. Why Japan? No reason, other than perhaps a break is needed from Old Towns and cobblestoned streets. In any event, we'll be going to Italy early next year, so it isn't as if we're looking down our noses on Europe. We'll be back on New Year's Day, so this'll be the last post of the year. Season's greetings and happy holidays, my opening salvo in the ongoing war against Christmas.

And as for what we've been up to the past few weeks...

The 15th International Christmas Charity Bazaar, organized by the International Women's Association in Vilnius, was held on the first Saturday of December at the old town hall. The Japanese delegation staged a kimono fashion show:

The square in front of the town hall building was filled with various food booths resembling glass igloos, where my daughter enjoyed some matcha cookies:

I took our embassy interns to Grūtas Park one Sunday. My family and I visited "Stalin World" last year, but our unpaid, hardworking future diplomats hadn't had the opportunity yet to see the black-humored collection of socialist realist statues of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and various Lithuanian traitors revolutionaries that were saved from the dustbin of history (where some might argue they should belong). It was a fun place to visit, but the ride back to Vilnius took a more sobering turn as we pulled off the road to check out another Soviet-era monstrosity:

As grotesque as the work of art may have been, it marked the entrance to one of the sadly countless number of  World War II-related tragic sites that stain the soil of this otherwise beautiful corner of Europe: On June 3, 1944 a group of German soldiers was attacked by Soviet partisans in a nearby forest. In retaliation, 119 people, including 49 children under the age of sixteen, were burned alive in the village of Pirčiupiai by the SS; there were only 13 survivors:

December 3 saw a full supermoon rise over Vilnius; my poor Sony just wasn't up to the task of recording of magnificence:

What Vilnius looks like at half-past seven on a cold December morning:

The Christmas tree in the town hall square...:

and the one in Cathedral Square. The lighting of the latter at the beginning of the month brought in huge crowds (at least by Lithuanian standards), with the result being that the streets and alleys of Old Town became one long scene of gridlock. It's a good thing we live within walking distance of Vilnius' historic center:

Gedimino Prospektas lit up in shades of white not nearly as stark as what passes for the First Lady's idea of Christmas cheer:

The realization that this will probably our last chance to experience a European Christmas market for the foreseeable future encouraged my wife to leave the cozy comfort of our apartment and braze the chilly air to see what crafts and snacks are on offer this year:

The temperatures at this time of year are hovering around freezing as usual, but there hasn't been much in the way of snow, at least when compared to this time last year. Last Sunday did see a dusting, however, as Amber and I headed into Old Town:

At my daughter's suggestion, we had lunch at No Forks, one of a handful of Mexican eateries in Vilnius:

On the way to No Forks, we stopped off at Šokolado namai ("Chocolate House") to pick up some chocolate spoons:

After lunch (and some dessert; see above pic), we walked over to the Contemporary Art Center (Šiuolaikinio Meno Centras, SMC), the largest such facility for contemporary art in the Baltics, with 2400 square meters (25,830 square feet) of space for photography, sound, video and other exhibits. I don't expect Amber to like or understood everything she sees at these places, only that she approaches the exhibits with an open mind, which to her credit she does:

The view toward the town hall square from the CAC. The building itself appears to date from the Soviet era, and thus clashes with the surrounding architecture, but at least it's been put to good use.

 But that light was bright in the center of a huge room

 Looking out at the sculpture garden

Amber was fascinated with this aural installation, marveling over the sounds that were being created by the various boxes on the floor by the windows.

One room featured photos related to Fluxus, whose participants included a certain Japanese artist by the name of Yoko Ono オノ・ヨーコ:

Checking directions on Ašmenos gatvė, a quiet hipster-friendly street of galleries and hair salons:

A smaller Christmas market was being held in front of the Presidential Palace:

Back again at Cathedral Square and enjoying a welcome cup of hot (white) chocolate:

Swing out, sister:

The town hall square on an evening when the temperature was a balmy -2°C (28°F):

The Šnipiškės quarter on the northern bank of the Neris:

Snow fell throughout this past Friday evening/early Saturday morning, leaving the ground covered in several centimeters of the white stuff. The plan for Saturday was to take my daughter for a walk through the now-snow-covered woods at a site around fifty kilometers from our apartment building. The trip along the A14 highway was uneventful; however, after leaving the main road we soon discovered that the route that would take us to where we were planning to hike was covered with a lot of snow - our car probably could've successfully navigated the road (it's equipped with snow tires), but I didn't want to take any chances, so we turned around and headed back in the direction of Vilnius. But not before pulling off to the side of the highway next to a small lake, first to have lunch, and then to get out and stretch our legs in the snow:

 Checking out some animal tracks. Dog or deer? Or both?

Of course, it didn't take long for things to degenerate into a lengthy snowball fight, with Amber losing on points to the increasingly deadly accuracy of her ambidextrous (in this case, anyway) father:

Making a rather large snow angel:

Back in Vilnius but not home yet, as to allow my wife more time to finish wrapping the presents, we drove to the Puckoriai observation deck, where we finally attained our goal of a snowy walk in the woods:

The gentlemen in the photo below were setting off fireworks, which explains the presence of smoke in the air above them:

Happy Hanukkah!:

And an early Merry Christmas and a general all-round Happy Holidays! And so this morning (Sunday) we opened our presents. In the afternoon my daughter and I went out for lunch at a Cantonese restaurant (Chinese food at Christmas - another family tradition), then walked over to Tauro kalnas (Bull Mountain). The snow disc was back at home? No problem - Amber happily slid down the hill on her shoes:

Afterward we walked down to New Town and the recently reopened Lukiškės Square. This cross commemorates the 1863 January Uprising:

Nothing brings out the holiday cheer more than posing on the site of the former Lenin Square (the flagpole occupies the spot where his statue once stood) with the former KGB headquarters in the background:

For our sort-of Christmas dinner, we eschewed the traditional favorites such as turkey, and opted instead for seafood at the Selfish Bistro in New Town. Shu-E and I started off with a couple of oysters, before I moved on to the black spaghetti with octopus and tuna, while the girls tucked into a pot of mussels each. My evening finished up a with a slice of banana cheesecake. Not a bad way to celebrate the holidays, even if they're not quite upon us just yet:

As I wrote above, this will probably be the last post of the year, but I hope to back soon after the New Year with lots of pics from Japan. Until then I bid you メリークリスマス and あけましておめでとうございます!