Hanami

Maddie had her final Nihon Buyo (Japanese dance) class March 18th. She was SO precious dressed in her Kimono with her hair fixed so beautifully (the teacher and her two helpers fixed all the children's hair and kimonos). We could tell she was very proud. I couldn't decide which video to show so I'm posting them both. In the first video it's hard to see her at first. She is in the middle towards the back. In the other one, she is all the way to the right. What a neat and memorable experience for her. We've been looking for a keepsake kimono to buy for her. There are so many beautiful fabrics it's hard to choose just one.

The kids were on Spring Break from March 24th – 28th. Unfortunately Darren had to work so he didn’t get to join us on the adventures I’m going to tell you about.

We got lucky because our Spring Break was the same week the Japanese cherry blossoms began blooming. I have a wonderful Japanese friend (a mom from Nathan’s class) who invited us to go rowing under the cherry blossoms with her and Kenny (Nathan’s friend) on the Chidoriagfuchi Moat near the Imperial Palace and head to the Kitanomaru Science Museum after that. We actually ended up paddle boating instead of rowing around the moat. It was beautiful.

After an hour of paddle boating, we took a detour on our way to the science museum and stopped at the Yasukuni Shrine where there are 1,000 cherry trees planted. These are the trees that they use to predict when the cherry blossoms will begin blooming for the entire city. A lot of the shrines have festivals this time of year because of the cherry blossoms. For fun, we all paid 100 yen each to get a fortune and then Ms. Debbie (Kenny’s mom) read them to us. After that, we hung them on these wires to leave behind. Debbie was saying that usually you only leave the "bad" fortunes behind and keep the "good" ones. Since these were pretty much all the same fortunes – not bad or good – we left them behind. It was a very cultural experience, especially for Christians.

After a relaxing lunch at Tony Roma’s (a rib and hamburger joint) we finally made it to the museum. It was another fun Tokyo museum for kids. We are excited about taking our friends (Danny and Nick) there next summer when they visit. One area had this neat computer program that took your picture and then you could manipulate the photo. Here’s an example of Nathan’s. They had a great time at the museum. It was about five floors so we need to go back just to finish it.

The next day we met another friend and her girls and went to the Shinagawa Aquarium. It was a tiny aquarium, especially coming from Atlanta, which has the biggest aquarium in the world. The highlight of the aquarium wasn’t the fish in the tanks though; it was the dolphin and sea lion shows. The animals were very well trained and so cute. The kids were surprised at what they could do (and so was I).

The final weekend of Spring Break Darren, the kids and I went bike riding through the largest cemetary in Tokyo called Aoyama and to Shinjuku Goen to see the 1,200 cherry blossom trees there. It was stunning! I’ve never seen so many trees and people for that matter (I am still amazed by the amount of people who live in Tokyo!) Here is a little cultural lesson: Cherry blossoms are called sakura and to go view the cherry blossoms is called hinami. Thousands of people bring tarp like blankets and food to view the blossoms all day. In the more popular spots, like Ueno Park, some people claim their real estate early and one person stays with the tarp. When it’s an office party, usually the person who has been most recently hired is assigned this task. Not a bad day on the job if you ask me!

The cherry blossoms only bloom for about a week so it is crazy busy when you go to see them. Now the green leaves are coming in and the flower petals are falling off one by one. It’s like you are walking through snow when they fall. The kids have so much fun trying to catch them.

After our hinami, we went to this huge playground called the 100 Yen Park (Danny and Nick are going to love this too). It cost 200 yen to get in. Needless to say, the kids had a blast!

Funny photo of the week:

You never know what you’re going to bump into in Tokyo. We were walking to pick Maddie up from a slumber party and we ran into a woman with a pet monkey…yes, monkey.