How highway "Rest Areas" should be, Japan verison

In Japan, rest stops (or rest areas) off the highway are not the scary, dirty, dreaded places that they are in USA (to me anyway, stopping at a rest area in USA is a last resort for me). In Japan they are spotless due to ladies that are constantly attending to things and they are never out of toilet paper! *whew*

I took some photos on our trip from Tokyo to Osaka last week of one rest area (called a Parking Area/PA or Service Area/SA in Japan).

Some rest stops are pretty big with Mc Donald's and sit down type Japanese restaurants and 7-11 type stores. Some also have Starbucks but the ones that don't certainly have all the vending machines one could ever need. This machine offers pretty great coffee! You can select many types of coffees, sizes, black, sugar, cream etc. There is English under the Japanese so that helps for us foreigners!

Here are just some of the choices...after you choose, you can view your coffee being brewed on the TV screen. When I took this photo, the lid was being placed on the cup.

The cup then appears in the little door but don't take it out until you see the red lights completely lit up in the little bar next to the door!

And the restrooms themselves can be very interesting. Narration below each of the photos.

First thing you see at this particular rest room, is an electronic sign showing you which stalls are available and which are occupied, and what you will find in each one (Japanese style toilet, Western Style, etc). My husband tells me that this is not in the Men's room.

After consulting the sign board, you can proceed to the stall you want.

All the 'Western Style' toilets have heated toilet seats and controls for 2 kinds of 'bidet' washing and a button to push for the toilet to make a loud flushing sound without actually using water to flush (so that no one has to hear 'your business'). Some also have a button for blow drying!

Some restrooms have instructions on how to use the automated toilet seats. Now we can have the "Powerful Deoderizer" function defined!!! Whew....

Just incase you were wondering how use the toilet itself....

How to flush the toilet can be different in every place you go it seems, thankfully this one has things spelled out in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. However, some translation may still be necessary for some as normally we flush the toilet with water, not 'pour' it!

Mother's of young children will appreciate the child seats in some of the stalls. Some common sense warnings are posted, don't turn your back on your child to do your make-up, don't let the child crawl around and play on the seat, watch fingers and of course, don't let your baby smoke in these seats!

The lovely hand washing area.

This sink is all automated. Hold your hands in front of each place with markings and water (center), soap and warm air (to dry your hands) to make it run.

And last but not least, here is a brand new 65 inch plasma TV on the wall showing the current (up to the minute) traffic information for the major highways one might be thinking of taking. Boy if this TV was on a wall at a rest area in USA, I doubt it would remain there for long! Sad but true....

ALBA Golf Magazine - Daisy in July 2009 Issue

Me and Ken and Daisy Ipo at Kashimanomori Country Club for ALBA magazine July 2009 issue.

I just realized I forgot to put up a post on Daisy's photo shoot for ABLA Golf Magazine here in Japan. She was featured in the July 2009 issue for a spread they had on golf courses in Japan that accept dogs on the course. We had a fun time and Daisy was her usual photogenic self!

Enjoy the pics...

ALBA magazine photographers shooting Daisy on the golf cart.

Scanned from the magazine

Scanned from the magazine

Scanned from the magazine

Kashimanomori Country Club employees playing with Daisy while Ken and I enjoy the onsen after finishing golfing. The employees put this photo on Kashimanomori's blog.

Sunny 1st week of December on Maui

View towards West Maui from the beach at Kenolio Park in North Kihei.

Here are some pictures and video from Maui this warm and sunny first week of December. Trying to get some fresh air in my 'sick' lungs provided a few photo opps to share with you. Enjoyed some waves at Hookipa (formerly known as a place to see windsurfers) and little sand crabs on the shore at the beach in front of Kenolio Park in North Kihei. Wish you were here!

Shortly after I took this photo, just beyond the rocks along the shore, a horse appeared from the trees (being led by it's owner of course) and played around in the water for a while!

After I layed face down at the beach to get alittle sleep, I felt a little tickle under the towel on my cheek. I peeled the towel back and found the source....cute huh?

Here are what the waves look like on your average day at Hookipa, on the always windy north facing shore of Maui. In the next 48 hours the biggest swell in almost a decade is expected, hopefully I can get some video of that!

ALOHA....

Lindsay Ann Hawker's killer caught

Ms. Hawker posing with Tokyo in the background

This is kind of a sad story but it's happy news in Japan today. Normally I don't put anything but 'sunshine and butterflies' (so to speak) on this blog but I felt compelled to share pictures of the beautiful Lindsay Ann Hawker, a girl who came to Japan to explore and learn (like many of us) and to share and teach, instead she was murdered by one of her English students (in the same city where we live, less than 10 minutes from our home).

Today her killer was finally arrested after being on the run for 2 years and 7 months. There has been so much focus on the killer, whose name I will not even mention here. This because the only way to catch him has been to constantly keep his ugly mug in the news, and recently his newly remodeled uglier mug (due to plastic surgery he got to conceal his identity). I thought, how sad that Lindsay's life and beautiful face is not what we are all thinking about and seeing today (and lately), because really it is all about HER. So today I post the some pictures of the beautiful young Lindsay Ann. See you in paradise.....

Until then, R.I.P. Ms. Hawker.

Pictures of the very pretty Lindsay Ann Hawker, which appear to be from her time in Japan.

Dog Lawn Burn remedies dangerous?

Two burn spots that I am working on re-growth

If you have a small space for a lawn like I do and like to let your dog out to enjoy it, burns may be an important issue to you. This summer, I began using a popular lawn burn prevention tablet for our dog Daisy to eat so that her urine PH would be neutralized in hopes to keep our lawn from being damaged. However now I am concerned that this may have contributed to (or even caused) her having a bladder infection.

After searching the internet for information on possible dangers of these lawn burn remedies and finding very little information or experiences, I wanted to share our story today on my blog. I hope that it may be useful information for others.

CAUTION: the below may be too wordy for some of you who are not interested in this matter directly ('Mom'♡).

We have a Dichondra lawn, which is pretty hardy, however, our soil does not drain well. I hate to call it soil even since it is composed of mainly clay it seems (this area used to be marshy tidelands from what I understand). Of course I prepared the area that was to be 'our lawn' with bags and bags of appropriate lawn soil (this took about 6 months), otherwise, I doubt any grass or other lawn type ground cover would have taken root. Our Dichondra lawn is beautiful and green all year round and super easy to maintain. It's especially nice to have that nice lush green to see everyday when living in a metropolis like Tokyo.

Then came our dog, Daisy. During the rapid growing seasons (spring and summer) the lawn can take all the punishment Daisy dishes out, but once things start getting colder and the position of the sun changes, the Dichondra goes into a sort of 'hibernation' mode. Then the dog urine burns a dead spot that doesn't grow over and then ends up being a spot of dirt. I take Daisy on regular walks but she still likes going outside in her garden too (and it's nice when I'm feeling tired or unwell that she can 'go' out in our garden).

A spot where the Dichondra has recently died, next step will be plain dirt during the slow growing seasons of late fall and winter.

The whole reason for putting in our lawn was to cut down on the dirt (which can be muddy during rain) and dust that blows around the patio and eventually enters the house, so obviously I wanted to find a way to remedy the lawn burning.

Last winter I made the lawn inaccessible to Daisy with this green garden net (in the photo here above). Since I had trained her to potty on a tray that holds disposable 'potty' pads/sheets for during times we were traveling and emergencies (like inclement weather), I then set up the potty tray on the lanai (patio). But she doesn't really like going on that and seems to wait to use the tray until it's a last resort (it seems to be more enjoyable to 'go' on grass etc.). There were even a few accidents in the house because she held it so long, she couldn't get out fast enough (sometimes we have to close the doggie door so she doesn't bark excessively at people passing by our fence).

So this summer I tried the lawn burn tablets for dogs. It sounded like a miraculous solution. It did say on the bottle that dogs with certain illnesses such as 'acidosis' should not take it. 6 months have past and it really seemed to help (or maybe it was just due to the growing season). I have kind of tapered off, not being religious about giving them daily. About 3 weeks ago dead spots started appearing again, as the weather is cooling down and full sunlight is not reaching the entire lawn anymore. So I put up the net and Daisy had to start using the potty tray on the patio again.

View of the netting off lawn and the 'potty tray' on the patio.

Because of using the potty tray, I was able to see that Daisy was 'ill' far quicker than I could ever have otherwise. I noticed last night after she urinated, that the color was much different that usual. It was almost red and there were little darker red spots. Also I could see a 'sparkling' in the urine, like it was crystallizing. So off to the vet we went this morning. She was diagnosed with 'cystitis' which is really a catch-all term for infections in the bladder or even urinary tract. She is on anti-biotics and a special diet for 2 weeks.

Now, I am left wondering, could the lawn burn remedy have had a hand in this? I realize that UTI/Cystitis is rather common, especially in a female dog and that Daisy waiting for long periods to eliminate could contribute to infections. But, I have to wonder too, if her PH is off, that is exactly what the lawn burn tablets work on, the PH, would that make the environment in her bladder friendly for an infection?

So my suggestion is, if you give your dog one of the many lawn burn remedies on the market today, it would probably be good to make sure to find ways to get your dog to drink more water than usual as well as being sure they are able to urinate at least 3 times in a about a 12 hour period (maybe more if they are able to get alot of water down). I would also pay very close attention to how they are doing, maybe monitoring the dog's urine occasionally by catching it in a dish and taking a direct look that the color and clarity are normal. If you are really savvy, you might figure out how to do some PH testing on your 'samples' collected.

After speaking with our Vet today and reading up on this condition, it is clear that the sooner a dog is treated for UTI the better.

Just sayin'.......and wondering....

Toyosu LaLaPort Dog Park - Tokyo

Daisy and our friends at the ILIO dog park at LaLaPort Toyosu, Tokyo

Despite the rough start to my day today, a good afternoon managed to come to fruition. Daisy and I met my friend and her two young sons at the dog park located at the LaLaPort Toyosu shopping mall. The dog park is run by the pet store there called ILIO. There are also grooming services available. There is easy parking for the 'dog friendly' elevator on the North End of the center, nearest the Tokyu Hands store.

Also dog friendly is a wonderful cafe called Les deux Bleue that allows dogs, inside the restaurant as well as the outside seating they have facing the nice view of the riverside/harbor. There is a complete menu for dogs as well as people! How fun is that!?

So we spent about an hour in the nice little fenced off dog park. Daisy LOVED having two little boys to play with and they seemed to really like playing with her too. She was so good with them. And the "mommies" got to chat while the kids and dogs wore themselves out...hee hee hee.

After that, we stepped over to the cafe, Les duex Bleue and since it was such wonderful weather today, we sat at a table outside. We ordered some ice cream for the boys and some cakes and tea/coffee for us ladies. Daisy ordered a doggie Banana muffin, which she thoroughly enjoyed! They even bring a little water bowl for the dogs. It was very relaxing, we had such a lovely view of the sightseeing boats that port there, coming in and out of dock and the sunshine gently sparkling on the river.

It was such a lovely clear and warm day today, about 75F, we couldn't have ordered better weather! It was a perfect thing to do after my doctor's appointment that I almost didn't make it to earlier!

Since I'd never been to this LaLaPort mall, after parting ways with my friends, I put Daisy in the car to rest and looked around the mall. Its a nice little mall with some familiar retailers from Japan and USA. I checked out the LL Bean store and a shop selling goods from Hawaii. Then I found a nice little accessories shop for ladies, and got some interesting sparkly stirrup style stockings! I think I will wear them when Ken takes me on our upcoming special dinner date!

Since I was still there when it was around the time for Ken to get off work, I called him and we decided to meet at Tsukiji Fish market for a fresh sushi dinner. It only was 10 minutes from where I was and about the same for him. We had a great Friday night out for sushi, and I enjoyed a nice ICE cold beer...haven't done that in a while, it was good....✌

Here are some pictures from today...wish you could have been there.

View of the dog park looking towards the mall, the red umbrellas are the outdoor seating for the dog friendly cafe. Nice and close!

Everybody having a fun time!

Daisy and the boys looking for where her toy went off to. The buildings in the background are the Harumi and Tsukiji areas.

Yummie Yummie FRESH sushi!

Another packed Friday dinner time in Tsukiji...this particular shop is open 24/7-365!!!

Daisy and Kona

Kona and Daisy

This past week, Daisy and I were invited to my friend Mikiko's home for lunch. She and her family just got a poodle named Kona. Daisy and Kona had fun playing and taking a walk together. I enjoyed some great food and a nice visit with friends. Daisy said she wants to go back again soon!

Here are some pics of the girls!

Kona-chan

Daisy shows Kona how to sit up

Playin' around on the sofa (Daisy is in mid-howl in this photo).

Our Family Day at Funabashi Seaside Park - Tokyo Bay

Daisy playing with her ball at the beach

Near our home (less than 5 minutes in the car) is Funabashi Seaside Park, on the edge of Tokyo Bay. There is a grassy park, a community pool (that is opened only certain times of the year), tennis courts and some kiosk type stalls selling food/snacks and drinks as well as some toys and equipment for water and beach use. There are restrooms and fresh water showers/faucets that I sure enjoy rinsing off in before heading back to the car. There is adequate parking facilities (with a huge overflow parking lot just one block away) which costs a flat rate of ¥500. Very organized and well kept even though some of the buildings show their age.

Funabashi Seaside Park is basically a stretch of natural tidal shore that is very popular for annual clam-digging. The park authorities truck in roughly ten tons of clams, put them onto trawlers and then deposit them over the flats at high tide. When clam season opens, people show up (on some days in GREAT numbers) and after paying a small fee (a few hundred yen) they get a bucket, a shovel and an assigned a section of the beach to go dig their clams. It's great family fun. Many people also enjoy photography and birdwatching here. We saw many little hermit crabs and small fishes.

If you do wade out into the bay, take care because it is a haven for stingrays. There are signs that warn of their presence and it is not a joke. If you walk out onto the jetty walkway to the far left of the beach, you can look over the railings into the water and see them swimming around, in quite shallow water even. Some of them are pretty big!

Today we decided to have a family picnic with mom and enjoy the fresh air together. It was a beee-uuu-ti-ful day so we loaded up the car and drove down to the beach. It was Daisy's first time to the beach as an 'adult'. We took her to Makuhari Beach 2 times when she was a puppy and she wanted nothing to do with the water. She is also a little 'prissy' on her walks when it has rained, she avoids puddles and mud. So today I was shocked when she ran and jumped in the shore and wet sand and even the water! She had a blast!! It was so cute and fun to watch.

Here are some pics and then at the bottom, 3 videos of Daisy being a beach doggie!

A happy mouth full of sand after retrieving her ball several times

Me and mom and Daisy at our picnic site

Mom (in the middle of the pic) walking out in the tidelands

Ken, mom and Daisy...Queen Daisy gets the chair

What a nice day with family!

Another view of our picnic site, thanks to Ken for working so hard to get the umbrella up in the hard shoreline.

Flood in Chiba - Typhoon approaching Tokyo

A little movie I took as I walked from our apartment to the lobby.

There is a Typhoon (Hurricane) hitting Japan today. It is currently south of Tokyo and not expected to arrive here until tomorrow, and since a Typhoon's ultimate path is unpredictable, it is not sure yet if we will get a direct hit or not.

However, we are already getting rain and alot of it this morning. Our street flooded quite quickly (this is not usual, we don't get flooding on our street usually) and since the lobby of our building is street level (with no curb even) the water was flowing in.

Our building is constructed to accommodate a steel barrier that is put up to block water in such cases and hopefully avoid flooding of the first floor (we are on the first floor incidentally). So once we saw that it was getting bad outside in the garden, Ken went outside to check the lobby. Some other men from our building were there too and they all started to quickly put the barrier together. It are 4 steel panels that once put together, form the watertight barrier about knee high. Since the lobby was already flooded, after getting the barrier up they had to pump out the water with a machine we have for that. So nice to have the 'men' on guard!

The lobby is clear now (and the road has drained) and the rain has stopped, but I'm afraid it is only a sample of what we might expect here in the next 24 hours. Hopefully the storm will make a turn out to sea before it moves north more towards us!

Here are the pics from this morn...thought you'd all find them interesting... Click on the pictures to enlarge if you like...

Our lobby glass doors and our helpful men folk putting up the barrier. First row is up and they are beginning to set up the second row.

Second row of the barrier being put into place. Notice the water level outside the barrier, even just the first row of the barrier was starting to have an affect.

Barrier in place, time to start pumping water out of the lobby. Across the street (I mean 'river', ha ha) in the background, you can see our parking area, which thankfully is raised above street level, otherwise we might have been worrying about our car too! There's my super-hubbie working hard, standing on the outside of the barrier.

Our flooded street, taken thru the fence of our garden. If you look carefully, you can see the line painted on the road under water, just below that cement wall (there is a field on raised ground there that a neighbor owns and farms).

A van barreling down our flooded little street.

Rainbow in Tokyo

Rainbows in Shinjuku!

Today I saw this picture on the Japan Times website and thought I would share it on my blog. This photo is taken in Shinjuku area of Tokyo. The large rectangular building mainly houses the department store Takashimaya as well as the fun and interesting store called Tokyu Hands.

We had a rainbow here in Ichikawa recently (see previous post on the summer festival). I guess it's rainbow season!