Treasure hunting at Kurio tidal pool!

It must run in the family...
Satchi and Frido both love treasure hunting on the beach. (and I love watching them on the sand... next to Coco).

A tidal pool at Kurio was a perfect family spot for us. Practically empty (it was just us for the whole time)... The ground was covered with corals and the sound of footsteps made us feel like we were walking on the broken glasses... We happened to arrive at low-tide and was able to peek into all the little pools. Some had little creatures like fishes, crabs and snails...  Then we reached a large tidal pool with a very shallow water. I had Coco sit next to me on the sandy area of the beach but she crawled straight to the water and started splashing. First just hands... and before long, her whole bottom half was in the water... and 10 feet away! Seriously... this girl is fearless.

After spending the morning at the tidal pool, we ventured out to Matsutake - a Japanese handmade noodle at Kurio village. We loved a traditional Japanese home turned into a restaurant arrangement. Feels very intimate but open. I am curious to see how much of these experiences will stay in Satchi (and Coco)'s memory... because it's pretty out of ordinary from our life in Los Angeles!

Saying hello... in an analogue way!

As parents, it was our conscious decision to leave our iPad at home and to keep our laptop usage to minimum (mostly after girls go to sleep...) while we are on the island. There are two daily shows Satchi and I look forward to watching on my grandfather's TV and that has been such a treat since we don't own a TV at our home in LA...

Mostly... our favorite downtime activities (which we have a lot of when it rains...) have been doodling, brainstorming and writing letters on our 10 foot dining table. Satchi has been making drawings with quite bit of story lately so I have been busy transcribing her words next to her visuals... Also we brought Polaroid instant photo printer from home (it was a last minute decision!). Even though the printer is not all accommodating when it comes to connectivity with other devices..., we figured out how to print selected photos via my Android phones. Real photos on our letters and journals have been adding so much to the layers of stories. We love it.

We make a mailbox stop every few day to send letters to our friends and families... hoping to share some of our adventure in an analogue way.

p.s. I am already dreaming to get the 10' work/dining table in the middle of our dream house in the future...

Walking through the 1000+ years old forest...

During this trip, Frido is working a lot with a very special cedar from Yakushima - aka. 1000+ years old Yakusugi - so we were thrilled to visit Yakusugi Land where these trees live and breathes with the forest.

With Satchi (walking on her own) and Coco (being on Frido's back), it wasn't really feasible to do a whole day trekking so we picked a relatively easy hike through a well maintained trail.

It was an overcast day so even though it was warm by the beach when we left our home, we needed layers and sweaters once we stepped out of the car in the mountain. It was a relatively accessible hiking trail but the moment we entered the forest, I could feel the difference in the air. The crisp forest air... so clean and fresh. I instantly felt the air coming into my body. The sound of little creeks trickling everywhere... and meeting a large creek nearby. Sometimes the sun would bring some light through the thick forest creating a beautiful contrast between dark forest with moss and sunlit sparkles of the water from the rain night before.

We spent about two hours in the mountain... It's interesting to experience that nature helps us to introspect our life. Maybe it's the scale... maybe it's stepping away from the overload of commercial stimulus... It's somehow very spiritual.

I can't wait to do much deeper hike into the richness of the mountain, the air, the smell and the sound... once girls are little bit older...

p.s Satchi was pretty excited to meet the island deer and monkeys!

Our first sunny day at Nakama beach, Yakushima

Our stay in Yakushima always seem to start with a consecutive rainy days.... which can be bit daunting if we were only staying here for a few days... but it was a great opportunity to settle down and take things easy while we recovered from our jet lag.

When the first sunny day arrived, we jumped on the car and headed south to Nakama beach... where we spend our last beach day when we were here two years ago.

On our way to the beach, we introduced the concept of a Japanese vending machine to Satchi and she was ecstatic. Now she tells me that she is very very VERY thirsty whenever we are driving.

It was Coco's first time at a real beach... and she loved it. She spent quite bit of time on the sandy beach exploring the texture then discovered that there is water in front of her and crawled straight into the shallow pool. This girl is fearless!

After spending enough time by the water (and just in time before we got totally sun burn...) we decided to take a walk through the Nakama village to see Gajyumaru tree. We could watch this big tree for a very long time figuring out which roots were going where... I am pretty sure that there is a tree fairy living in this tree.