Hanami is flower viewing time in Japan, particularly those of the cherry blossoms. In just the last week, the trees have exploded here and yesterday I took advantage of it with a trip to Kamakura, one of my favorite cities. The trees were just beautiful and we were so happy with the clear skies and warm weather too. I'm hoping with it being spring break now, we can go back later in the week and see even more of the beauty.
Just finished our first Pinewood Derby. What a lot of fun, and a lot of work. Our car became a family effort, but those efforts paid off. We took third in the den and got the award for "Most Realistic Looking" car.
First Coats of Paint
Making Weight
On your mark. . .
My family has always subscribed to National Geographic and I remember how exciting it was to look at all the cool pictures from all over the world, and how far away all those places were. I am always amazed at how much we've seen over the years and how many of those "National Geographic moments" we've been able to experience, especially my little guy who isn't even five yet! World capitals, foreign treasures, fun tourist spots. Yesterday was one such day, we went to Nagano to see the snow monkeys. This was one article that I remember seeing when I was younger. How amazing it would be to go myself. Now I have!
We got an early start to the day; our bus picked us up at 4:15 AM. The trip was long, but lots of fun. Despite keeping track of the weather forecast the past few days and feeling good about it being warm and sunny, we were surprised with a snow storm. This was actually to our advantage I suppose in that the mountains were beautiful! It also made for a very wet walk--at least we were prepared with extra clothes and shoes. The walk to the monkeys was nearly an hour and the boys had a great time in the snow. We were all very much surprised when we turned a corner, and there they were. The boys were surprised that there were no fences and the monkeys were just walking around. The three of us took a ton of pictures and had a National Geographic Moment. Although being there lost some of the magic and mystery of the magazine, it was still a lot of fun.
The spring where many of the monkeys bathed.
When I did my photo today, I didn't think about the photo I took yesterday. My son has gained a new interest in creature features: Godzilla, Ray Harryhausen, Ultraman. Being here in Japan, he's been able to find all kinds of creatures in the local stores. His first though, was Godzilla, that he bought when we vacationed here last year. It was laying on the floor, so I decided to shoot it:
I say I didn't think of yesterday's photo, because last night we were in Tokyo. I snapped this picture through the window of the Shimbashi station, looking over towards Ginza--at least that's I assumed what I was looking at considering the signs. The window had some stripping in it so it was like shooting through a fence.
The last time he was in Tokyo with Daddy, our little guy saw a clock tower that looked like the same that was in the Godzilla movie and on one of the commercials here. He was so excited. They forgot to get a picture of it though, maybe next time. We seem to go into Tokyo a lot, it's a fun adventure.
We had scouts again on Wednesday. The boys play games before each meeting and at this one, they played Twister. Who knew a game that we used to play at kids, could still be so popular.
Finally, I'm still amazed at the amount of floral life that is still alive here, even in the dead of winter. These cabbage plants, for lack of better description, are all over and in various shades going from a nice cream to a deep purple. I was out with my macro lens, and tried to snap these ones with the water droplets. It's hand-held so not as good as it should have been. I need to get over to the school this weekend with the tripod and do a better job.
The blog is Photos by DJ. Today I'm submitting some photos by the "D" half of the blog. Hubby went out for a bike ride to the neighboring city and was surprised by the view he found there. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today after a rain storm earlier in the weekend. With the wind blowing too, it's as clear as can be and was greeted with this site at the beach:
It's hard to believe that Mt. Fuji is that close and that big. Wow!
The theme this week is hobbies, a pretty easy one for me since I seem to have too many hobbies. I've actually done a little of them all this week too.
Knitting, I learned to knit when I was little. But, I didn't learn very well since all I can do is one stitch. I'm quite the scarf maker. I also finished my first "cocoon" today too--that multi-color thing. I started it in August, but never got around to finishing it until now. Now I just need a baby to photograph.
Music has always been a part of my life. I started playing piano when I was five, but quit after just a year. I've since taught myself, but it's not very good. My main instrument is the flute, I've been playing that since grade school. I'm very excited as my kids are very much interested in music too. Can't wait for them to start learning.
Paper is my passion and probably my number one love. I am now a digital scrapper, but can't put the paper away. Here I am working on some Valentine hybrid projects. The templates are from the Sweet Shoppe. The kit is by Genevieve Sass.
Not a hobby, but my friends from the weekend and Monday. I had quite the cold this week and am SO happy to be over it. Thank you Vicks!
Yes, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and begins the Year of the Ox. We went on a field trip to Yokohama's Chinatown which was a lot of fun. This is the largest Chinatown in Japan. It was our first time there and I was so excited by the photographic opportunities that would be there. Although I was really hoping to see the lion dancers, they weren't appearing until after we left. Like most of the Chinatown's we've visted the thing that stands out the most is the food! There were dumpling stands and restuarnts everywhere. It makes you wonder how they can all stay in business, or what it would be like if they were all full. After walking past many, many dumpling stands, I had to try one and got one with shrimp that was very tasty. There were a couple temples, lots of lanterns and more panda stores than anything else. Whole stores devoted to Panda product, from slippers and ties to forks, chopsticks and even matches--I really missed an opportunity in not taking a picture of that. But I had plenty of other opportunities and here are my pictures of the day!
Mmmmmm, these were everywhere and had all kinds of different fillings.
For lunch, we went to Yamashita Park along the water which was very nice.
That is Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. We haven't been there yet, but I really want to go on a clear day, to get a good view of Mt. Fuji.
We have been living in Asia for more than two years now. One thing that took a lot of getting used to, was the trust and respect of property that both the Koreans and the Japanese have. I remember when we moved to Korea the stories that were told about people who would live stuff in cabs or bathrooms only to have the items returned to them later. We experienced this in Japan too. I had left something in a bathroom at a very large hotel in Shinagawa, only to return at the end of the day to find it right where I left it.
This afternoon we were on our way to the track and passed the soccer fields where it appeared a Japanese league was having a tournament. There were a dozen or more teams practicing and getting ready to play. Off to the corner the field I sported this and had to take a few pictures:
I was having major lens envy and thought how cool it would be to shoot the games. It didn't occur to me later, that this equipment was just sitting there. I never saw the camera man. All this coolness was just sitting there, by itself, on the field amongst all kinds of people. Yes, the amount of trust here is amazing and something I still haven't gotten used to.
We had a nice dinner tonight. A Sherry Vinegar Chicken that was yummy! We've been doing really well lately in trying out new recipes. Its been nice having a bit more variety.
Yesterday at scouts, the boys played marbles. We had a teacher come and teach the boys and show off his marble collection. Wow! There were a ton, and many of them rather special, including some glow-in-the-dark ones that got a huge response from the boys.
Here in Japan, we have some rather fun vending machines. When waiting for the train or walking down the street, it's fun to try and guess just what is in the machine. These drinks for instance, have no idea what they are, but they sure look cute.
Again, the topic for POTD at 2Peas this week is technology. What comes to my mind is how much technology has changed in just recent years, especially when it comes to data storage. I remember having to record my records and cds to cassette tape so I could listen to them in the car or on my Walkman. What about the old 5 1/4 inch floppy disks? So in thinking of technology, my hard drives and even bettter, my iPod which contains our entire CD collection! How far we've come.
The 2Peas theme this week is technology which should make the picture taking pretty easy this week. I thought I'd start off the week with the piece of technology my boys can't seem to live without: the PS3. It was the biggest boy who wanted this the most, but we all seem to be benefiting from it. The Blue Ray discs are very cool, so even I can enjoy. It is sure a long way from the Atari I had as a kid.
