Flying Fish and a Visitor

It's that time of year where the carp flags (koinobori) are hosted all around Japan.  These are flying in honor of Children's Day.  I think they are a lot of fun.

In other news, I'm about to go to Narita airport to pick up Kristen, sorority sister and former roommate, who is visiting with us for a week.  Hopefully, I'll have lots to report.

Snow Hike

It is almost May and yet I somehow found myself hiking through the snow yesterday.  This weekend the temperatures dropped drastically, so when we decided to go for a hike I made sure I was prepared with winter gear.  However, I encountered a bit more than I bargained for.

Here we are happily getting a picture thinking it was nice that there were a few patches of snow on the way up Nakimushi Mt.

I'm chugging along.

Then we get into this.

And eventually we are dealing with inches of snow.

We turned back after hitting 1,050 meters (3444.88 feet), knowing that the way down would be somewhat precarious.  There were some great views up there.

  

Last Knitting Project

I finally finished up the winter hat that I was making for myself.  The 100 yen shop, where I normally buy my yarn, has packed up all of their knitting supplies.  I'm taking that as a sign that winter is over and I need a new hobby for the spring.  Here is how it turned out.

It was my first try with making cables and I'm pretty pleased with how it went.  I didn't actually have the right sized needles for the pattern that I used, so the stitches do stretch out when I put on the hat.  My plan is to line the inside of the hat with white fleece once I return home so that you can't see my dark hair through the holes.

Ashikaga Flower Park

I was able to check another outing off my list this weekend after we took a trip to the flower park in Ashikaga.  From the end of April to mid-May they have a fantastic Wisteria display that looks out of this world.  Unfortunately, they also charge $17 a person during that time, so I got over it and we went early for only $7.

Here are the beginnings of the Wisteria where they have a trellis set up so that people will be able to walk under the tree.  It will be awesome!  Drew decided it was best that we came early because the Wisteria tend to attract a lot of bees.  There were already too many around while we were there for Drew to be completely comfortable.  I sacrificed myself to take some of these up close pictures.  I got to thinking that I've never actually been stung by a bee before, so it's entirely possible that I could be even more allergic to bees than Drew is.  Hopefully I'll never find out.

This little guy already had a good set of blooms going.

It was a lovely park even without the Wisteria display.

Ueno Zoo

We finally made it to the zoo!  Word got out that the pandas had finished mating so, of course, I was dying to go.    Check out that panda!

I love going to zoos in different countries to see if they have anything that the Louisville zoo doesn't normally have.  This anteater was kind of a big deal.  At least I thought his nose was pretty awesome.

We took this one for my Dad.  Guess it's about time for me to come home and chow down on venison.

Drew seemed to enjoy himself as well.  Here he is posing with the polar bear that is currently blending in with his environment.  Can you find him?

Overall a great day with my second ever panda sighting.

Oyama Countryside

We took a bike ride to the outskirts of Oyama on Monday and found a beautiful area.  Lots of trees, fields, flowers, and open spaces.  I had been missing that aspect of home more than I realized.

We even came across this little fellow.  He was a pet at a preschool.  I'm sure the kids go crazy over him.

Observation Deck

Tokyo has several options for getting a city view.  We've been up in Tokyo Tower, and now they have Tokyo Skytree which has replaced the tower as the tallest building in the city.  Both of those cost money though, so it was nice to find a free observation deck on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

What we find amazing is how you can't even see the end of the city when you look out from this height.  When you see this, there is no doubting that Tokyo is the largest city in the world.

Japanese Baseball Game

Last time we lived in Japan we went to a baseball game and had a lot of fun, so we were hoping to go again this year.  On Sunday the Tokyo Yakult Swallows were playing the Yokohama Baystars and, as neither of these teams are great, we had no problem getting tickets.  Even though the weather channel was calling for "near gale" winds, it was a beautiful day to be outside.

 I've been impressed at how into baseball Japanese people get.  It is more like basketball in Kentucky.  They have a band, special chants, tiny plastic bats to hit together as noise makers, and even cheerleaders.

The best part is the umbrella dance that everyone does when the Swallows score a run.  Out of nowhere, tons of tiny umbrellas emerge and are shaken up and down to a celebratory song.  I found out later that the meaning of this is to tell the opposing pitcher that it is time for him to hit the showers.

I was hoping to get the traditional ball park hot dog, or "Hoto Dogu" as the Japanese call it, but I could not find one.  We settled for some KFC and Baskin-Robbins instead, which at least felt a bit like home.

Ohira-san Hike

We had a beautiful Monday this week and took the opportunity to take our first hike of the spring.  This past fall we took a 4.5 hour hike at this same mountain, which totally pushed me to my limit.  We felt the need to ease ourselves back into hiking this time around and I was able to enjoy a leisurely 2 hour hike.

I must also mention that the parks around our town are looking lovely.  Too bad the blooms don't last forever.