5th Grade!!!!!!!!!!! By Izzy

5TH GRADE: THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!! BY IZZY

9-4-17

This past week was our first week of school! I started fifth grade and Ethan started third. I have Mr. G and Ethan has Ms. Chavira. I had Mr. G for first grade and he was really awesome. Our classrooms are right next to each other too. My friends Marissa and Aldo are in my class and they like cats like I do. We have started getting into the way the class works and the schedule. Mr. G always provides a little bit of free time at the end of the day but we can always lose it if we don't clean up and get our things out quickly. I am in a combo class of 4th and 5th graders but we only have 7 fourth graders in our class and they are all boys. In total, my class has 24 boys and 10 girls!!!😕 I have loved school so far!!!

My New Randoseru (Ransel)!!!!!

Randoseru is a Japanese word for backpack that actually comes from the Dutch word for backpack, ransel. The backpack is made of leather and mine is blue. It has a latch on the bottom that you use to open it. It is hard and makes sure that your stuff doesn't get squashed! The Ikedas found one for me since I told my mom that I really wanted one. It was actually a surprise for me and I am so excited to use it!! Thank you sooooooo much Satoru-san and Akiko-san!!!💜💛💚💙

Here's a tour of my randoseru!

Aquatica! --ETHAN

Today went to Aquatica! It is a big water park. It was SO fun because it was SO hot. It was about 100 degrees and 97% humidity.  My favorite ride was the Kiwi Curl. You get in a raft (you can do a double raft or a single raft.) You choose a closed or open slide. All the times I went on a closed slide. It is very curvey.  There was this neon cryptonite looking stuff on the slide and it was SO cool.  It was spooky because it was SO dark.

We also went to a water playground called Walkabout Waters. There is a  giant bucket that fills up every 5 minutes and it pours 500 gallons of water on people! They also have two slides at the playground. One is longer and closed and the other is short and open. I only went on the closed one -- it is SO fun. At the end they splash water all over your face!  Also there was lazy river with a waterfall! You can go as many times around that as you want! They also have a wave pool with giant waves that last for 10 minutes.

This is a movie of the bucket dropping water on us! 

Reflections on JAPAN!--ETHAN

😭😭These are reflections on my trip to JAPAN. It's a Q&A with myself.

Q: What did you love about Japan?
A: The thing I loved most about Japan is the food. I wish we had all their food here. My favorite food is SUSHI. Sushi is SO good. I love the rainbow roll. I also loved the peanut butter bread.


Q: What was different than your life in San Diego?
A: I think that one big difference is the public transportation. They get around by trains and bus. Also they have a their own language which is VERY different than English.


Q: What did you think about the people in Japan?
A: I think that all the people that we met in Japan are very nice. Everybody there gave us gifts. Even Yuji gave us 10,000 yen!


Q:  What was the best thing you ate in Japan?
A:  The best thing I ate is tonkatsu sandwich. I got it the first time and then I had 6 DAYS IN A ROW! It is SO good.  The tonkatsu is SUPER fresh!


Q: What do you miss the most about Japan?
A:  The thing I am going to miss most is all the shrines. The shrines are SO cool. My favorite shrine is the Giant Buddha in Nara.


Q: What will you ALWAYS remember about your first time in Japan?
A:  The thing I'm going miss most is the toilets. They are SUPER  high tech. I'm going to use the bidet the most next time we go.

Reflections on Japan -- by Izzy

My mom asked us to write some thoughts about our trip to Japan. So I asked her to ask us some questions.

Q: What did you love about Japan?
A: I loved all of the different types of food like yakiniku, sushi, and tempura. Everything had a great taste. I also loved meeting everybody who helped make our trip very fun and easy (all of Yuji's family -- Reiko, Fumiko, Kayoko, Mitsuko, Hiroko, Rina, Kazuki, and the Ikedas, Hiramarus, Rumi & Souri, Haruna!).

Q: What was different than your life in San Diego?
A: Some things that are different are the pachinko parlors, the shrines and temples, and the transportation. In San Diego most people get around by car. We don't have a train system but we do have buses. My family rarely rides the bus because we don't have to.  But we walk a lot and they walk a lot in Japan too.


Q: What did you think about the people in Japan?
A: Everyone we met was very nice and helpful. Everybody helped us out and some made us delicious meals! In Hiroshima, Haruna whom we had never met before, met us at the train station and took us all around Hiroshima! People were just so kind!


Q:  What was the best thing you ate in Japan?
A: The best thing I ate in Japan was the Yakiniku. I loved cooking the meat and eating it, too.😜 The sauce had lots of flavor!


Q: What do you miss the most about Japan?
A: I miss the awesome bathrooms and cool traditional houses! The toilet is separate from the bath and shower, which is so smart!!! The water in the tubs is really warm and it feels so good. I also love the rooms with the tatami mats. I love how clean the houses are and how you always have to take off your shoes which keeps the house VERY clean!


Q: What will you ALWAYS remember about your first time in Japan?
A: I will always remember the toilets! They are very fancy and have many different settings. The seat is warm and it flushes by itself! Also the ofuro, the deep soaking tubs. I loved all of the cat stores, too. There were so many awesome cat stores that we saw! They must love cats in Japan as much as I do!

Last Day in Tokyo: Visiting the Ikedas!--Izzy

Last Day in Tokyo and Visiting the Ikedas! By Izzy

8-16-17

Today is our last day in Tokyo which also means that it is our last day in Japan!😢 We got up and walked around Asakusa and did some shopping. After that, we took the train and bus to the Ikedas. My mom stayed with the Ikedas when she visited Japan when she was 9! The Ikedas are good, long-time friends of Jiji. Satoru-san said that he has known Jiji for FIFTY years!!! 

When we got to their house there was a welcome sign at the front of their house. Their granddaughter, Ito-chan was spending her summer vacation with them and she was there too. Their Obaachan (grandma) made some juggling balls and a tissue holder that they gave to us. Satoru-san and Akiko-san had some karaage (fried chicken), fries, edamame, and sushi for us. Mom told Akiko-san that I love mochi and Satoru-san said that Akiko-san was really good at making mochi. We helped Akiko-san roll the mochi into balls and she taught us how to boil them. The mochi was very good with honey and some sesame seeds. We had some sushi but I didn't eat all of it because I ate too much mochi. 😐 

After the lunch, we walked to the Daiso near the train station. I got a pencil case and some candy.  Finally, we stopped in Akihabara electric town. I got another outfit for my Sumikko gurashis. We took the train back to Asakusa and had cup of noodles for dinner since we were still full from our delicious lunch. 

This is our welcome sign!!

This was our delicious sushi lunch!!!



And this is us making mochi with Akiko-san!!

Last day in Japan-- ETHAN

Today is our last in Japan. I am SO sad. Today I woke up and we packed up all our stuff. Then we went shopping. We walked to Rox, a place with a bunch of stores and it wasn't open yet so we went to another place with other stores. We walked around there for thirty minutes and then we came back to Rox because it was finally 10:30. We also went to the other Rox on the other side of the street.  We went in that side because there was a sports store. We found a youth  Japan soccer jersey but it was TOO much money. 😞

So then we went to the other building and Izzy wanted to get a Japanese backpack but it was 33,556 yen. In American money that would be $313.61. There is a Daiso which is a Japanese dollar store. I didn't get anything. Then we checked out of the hotel and took a train to the Narita airport. We departed at 5:25 pm and we arrived at 11:30 in the morning in San Diego ON THE SAME DAY!!!! We are officially time travelers.

Second Day in Tokyo!!--By Izzy

Our Second Day In Tokyo:Studio Ghibli Museum By Izzy

8-15-17

Today we walked through Asakusa and went to Sky Tree, the tallest broadcasting tower in the world! We met up with my mom's coworker, Yasu-san, and his daughter, Nat-chan. It was rainy, too. We walked to the Sensouji temple and saw many different shops. We walked to Sky Tree and went inside. Since we love Sumikko gurashi, Yasu-san told us that there was a temporary Sumikko gurashi store and of course, we went and bought some things. I got a little tapioca guy from the store and an accessory for my other animal. There were so many cute things that I wanted to get!

 We got some food and took the train and bus to Mitaka which is where the Ghibli Museum is. We said goodbye to dad, Jorge, and Yasu and Nat-chan because we only had 6 tickets. I went with Cia, V, Ethan, and the moms. We first went into an exhibit that shows you how animation works. We also went to the Neko (which means cat) Bus room and the kids waited in line to get on. We got 5 minutes to play around on the neko bus. You could go inside and on top of him. HE WAS VERY SOFT!!! There were little makkurokurosuke(soot gremlins from Totoro) stuffed animals inside of him! 

We also got to see a short film that is a Studio Ghibli original. The cool thing about the film was that only two voices were used to make all of the sounds such as rain, eating, river flowing, and wind. There was no dialogue only sounds. It was REALLY good. We went through some of the other exhibits and got frozen yogurt at Straw Hat Cafe. The flavor was honey and lemon and it was very refreshing. The last thing we did was go to the store and shop. I bought a Jiji cat from Kiki's Delivery Service, a Totoro washcloth, and a pack of origami paper. We met the Hiramaru family (Nat-chan, Yasu, and his wife Akane-san) for tonkatsu near the hotel. That was a very awesome day!!!!! 

Neko bus!

Sky Tree

Sensouji Temple in Asakusa

Ghibli Museum!

This is my Jiji! (not my grandpa!)