Yes, this is being posted in May and my fam visited at the end of December! I have no excuse for being this late and I won't even try to come up with one...

My brother-in-law Jim and our friend, his Goddaughter, Emily came to visit for 10 days! After their journey here I was completely convinced that I would never see another family member in Japan. It wasn't because of their time with us (at least I don't think it was) - it was because of their flight here! (and the crappy weather may have something to do with it...) Where shall I start??? Well, how about with the winter weather out East? A ridiculous Nor'estah rolled in the evening before they were to leave Boston and all flights were canceled! SO... they called the airlines and were told they could rebook for Friday, which would knock out 4 days in Japan and if they wanted to catch their current connecting flight to Japan they'd have to drive to JFK airport. It's 2 am people. But my brother-in-law was determined to make it so he woke Em up. Em's friend was able to hook them up with a rental car in the middle of the night that they could dump at the airport. So with little to no sleep they head out into the storm. With all the texts, emails and calls that where flying between Boston, the road crew and us in Japan, I'm not sure if any of us slept for the next 24 hours!

Some entertaining moments...
My sister inquiring on the road crew -
Reply from Jim:
Sitting in traffic in the Bronx, jacked up on caffeine and egg mcmuffins

Nic:
Jim!!! No texting while driving please!!!!!

Jim:
Busted!

In the midst of this craziness, my niece woke up and proceeded to give my sister a run for her money. Day 1 GG somehow managed to spray herself with lysol and as my sister was getting the shower ready to clean her up she suddenly felt a scratching sensation on her leg... GG decided to exfoliate my sisters skin with the toilet scrubber! My reply...After the toilet scrubber did you decide to spray yourself w/ Lysol too?!

It doesn't end there - right after the lysol and toilet scrubber, this is the next message that my sister sent:
Now the tv is broken and a lamp fell on the floor. Whew. This sucks!!!

Jim's response:
Ummmmmmm. Only 10 days to go!

Ash:
Way to be positive Jim!!

I think at this point it was only 6 am in Boston and Jim and Em had been on the road for 4ish hours. So much can happen in so little time! They did manage to catch their flight and make it to Fukuoka. The only downside - their luggage didn't show up until 4 days later. I also forgot how torturous the first couple of days were in Fukuoka due to the 13 hour time difference. I was quickly reminded when 2pm rolled around and Jim & Em were fighting to keep upright. (See why I said I'm not sure if I'll ever see another one of our family members in Japan!?!) Poor things. Anyway, we kept them on the move and stuffed them with yakatori, ramen, sashimi and LOTS of coffee. The winter weather decided to come in full force so much of our travel in Fukuoka revolved around restaurants, cafes and we may have thrown a pub crawl in there.

New Years may have been the coldest and windiest night we experienced in Fukuoka. Our original plan was to hike up to the top of Atago Shrine to ring in the New Year but all motivation was lost when the windows were rattling from the wind. Jim and Matt however decided to stick with the plan and layered up as much winter clothing as they could find. Em & I stayed wrapped in our blankets and skyped with my sister to toast in the New Year. The following day we awoke to blue skies and sunshine - first glimpse of sun we'd seen in days!!

We jumped on our bikes and went out to visit some shrines and temples. Of course within a couple of hours the clouds had moved in and the rain began to fall. Can't we have 1 day without rain?! I will say the cold, wet weather did keep us wide awake and peddling quickly.





Our next adventures brought us aboard the shinkansen bound for Kyoto then back to Hiroshima for a couple of days. Want to know how the weather was?! Sunny! Finally.

When we arrived in Kyoto we wandered the streets for a place to eat and ended up at a delicious little restaurant. Once our bellies were full we took off to tour the city.



We visited the grounds of several temples and gardens and made our way over to the Kyoto-gosho Imperial Palace. Sadly, due to the holiday the palace was closed so we were only able to tour the surrounding gardens and small temples.

We continued on our walking tour and walked through the Gion district and ended up by Maruyama Park. There we found the Chion-in Temple and a monstrous New Year's festival. This was a happening place! Street vendors were setup throughout the grounds and the place was mobbed with people of all ages.




The paths eventually led us back out to a main street which allowed us to find a shabu shabu restaurant and Polly's pub. Yes, that's right Polly's pub. Anything with the word "pub" was screaming our name so we went in to enjoy a couple. Of course the pub eventually led into the excitement of karaoke (except for me but I went along with it) but we didn't know where to go. Matt asked our server at Poly's of a near karaoke bar and he said he could walk Matt & Jim over to show them where it was while Em & I finished up... 20 minutes later as Em and I were standing outside wondering where the guys went - Matt finally came racing back to get us in hopes that he remembered how to get back to the karaoke place because he left Jim standing out front. Our waiter walked them about a mile from our restaurant! We thought it was just down the street. The craziest part of the night??? While Jim was waiting for us he witnessed some teenagers steal a couple of sodas/drinks from a 7/11! I was appalled and in shock - this is Japan! I think I may have asked Jim about 10 times if he was SURE that's what he really saw. The next couple of hours were the most entertaining and tear inducing sights and sounds of my life. This may have been the hardest I've ever laughed and cried at the same time.


Need I say more?!

The next day we visited the Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion) and Nijo-jo Castle.





After Kyoto we headed to Hiroshima. Hiroshima was one of the most difficult and emotional destinations we've ever visited. Several of us had family members that fought in the war and you couldn't help but think if maybe their feet had stood where ours were today. It was eery and difficult to swallow the images and devastation everyone was exposed to during that time. The Peace Museum and Park is extraordinaire and truly is a peace offering. We spent a whole day just going through the park and visiting the museums. Very little words were spoke - each of us just absorbed the surroundings.









After Hiroshima we went back to Fukuoka to enjoy the last couple of days before Jim & Em headed home. It was filled with sashimi, sushi-go-round, genghis khan and scallops and oysters on the grill. (no, not all in one day...)








Thanks Jim and Em for being our FIRST visitors. ;) Nic, thanks for letting your husband and back-up babysitter run away for 10 days. You're a trooper!

all the pics: