Nara, Friday, June 25, 2010 — just got back to the hotel to discover japan beat Denmark in the World Cup. So sorry we missed game, but we had a busy day and maybe they won last night and we didn’t know it. Yes that appears to be the case. The tv shows shibuya going crazy in the wee hours, people saying they were going to work without sleeping all night. Go Honda! Go japan! Go Nakazawa! (it also helps take the edge off the heartbreaking sumo scandal rocking japan.)

Its hard being the mother of an archaeologist. It means you have to search out ruins and archaeological sites and really old stuff no matter where you go. Today it was Asuka, which, as I explained to Will, if Kyoto is the ancient capital of japan and Nara is the ancient ancient capital of japan, then Asuka is the ancient ancient ancient capital. It is about an hour train ride south of Nara and was home to the first 6th to 7th century capital. Accordingly it is filled with ancient emperor tombs and mausoleums. Accordingly it was a place Will was sure to like.

We also have learned something about ourselves — we like going to quiet, off-beat places. Will especially dislikes the hordes of uniformed school children who squeal “kawaii!” (Meaning Cute!) at Will and want to take his photo. Asuka was nice — a bit rainy and very very humid today, but quiet. We were able to explore some tombs and gravesites of an emperor who died in707. But the archaeological museum was closed, which was sad. It would be fun to come back someday and rent bikes and explore more.

We also went to the showpiece of nara’s 1,300-year commemoration — a reconstruction of the ancient capital reception hall, but we were underwhelmed. The colors were cool, not garish red but a lovely rust color, but we prefer the actually super old sites. And again, Will hates the crowds.

One final note on how small the world is. We were walking down a narrow shopping street in naramachi, and Will was singing a song with his favorite word (rhymes with tut) and I saw a child ahead with brown hair and I said, shhh Americans may be ahead and they will hear you. And those Americans turned out to be an old classmate of Will’s from the international school, Madoka. Random encounter — the kids didn’t remember each other despite the fact they played after school together nearly every day and we have adorable pics of them at the rose festival together. The final small world moment was picking up the Asahi shim bun newspaper and seeing on the front page a story by my friend Miguel. Writing for the nyt but picked up here. Hi Miguel, Japan is reading your stories!

We are headed out to Tokyo tomorrow, and then on to Portland Sunday. Looking forward to seeing Daddy again — we have been gone a long time.