Sakura is a big deal in Japan. People arrive in the wee hours of the morning to place their tarps under the trees to hold their place for later in the day. Everyone is very respectful and leave empty tarps where they are. People picnic under the trees and some of them dress up!

We spent a very long time here, walking through the food markets, (Yes, those are fish on sticks! They are however hot as they sit on burning coals. ‘Fishsicle’ came to mind nonetheless.) checking out the temples and getting some pretty incredible pictures.

Fishsicle

Dinner in Asakusa saw us buying some gorgeous china from a little shop and not buying anything from a shop so packed with stuff I failed to see how to get in!

Not what I bought but cute none-the-less

Where’s the door?

On the way home, Sandy and I marvelled over the Japanese habit of not blowing your nose in public. The guy next to us on the train practically inhaled my jacket sniffling in an effort to keep his nose from running.  I understand that it is very bad manners to blow your nose in public but this is better??

Sandy and I had a moment of hysteria that cause a few stares to come our way when we had a Roger Rabbit argument on the train (that I won by the way).

Me: No, you don’t!
Sandy: Yes, I do!

Me: No, you don’t!

Sandy: Yes, I do!

Me: Yes, you do!

Sandy: No, I don’t! (Confusion set in here – then realization of what had happened. Laughing until your weak is fun.)

Ahhh… to be in a foreign country and immature as babies!

We managed to make it home and treated ourselves to the massage chair in the common room and finally sleep.

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Day 10 - Mt Fuji sunsets and blueberry tea

Posted on June 13, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

The morning of our 10^th day in Japan, I looked out the window to our balcony and had a pleasant surprise. It was snowing! Now, I know this really isn’t a big deal to most people, but I hadn’t seen snow in four years and hadn’t realized how much I missed it until then.

It had snowed most of the night and there was an accumulation on the tree branches and roofs. I quickly took some pictures to compliment the ones I had taken the day before and got some nice “Before” and ‘After” shots of the view from our room.

Before

After

On our way out, we met some new people who had arrived the night before. Haiden (2) and his parents. I swiftly fell in love with the half French half Dutch English speaking boy from Spain. (Now there’s a mouthful!) I spent a while chatting to his mother in French (something I never expected to do in Japan) before Sandy and I took to the streets.

Haiden

The snow had turned to rain and everything was getting decidedly slushy so we decided to go to the nearby Gem Museum on Gideon recommendation. It was well worth it and Sandy and I stocked up on some more souvenirs before heading around the lake to Mt Kachi Kachi.

Gem Museum

We boarded the rope car that takes you up the side of the Mountain and ascended into the clouds…literally. It had stopped raining but the clouds had remained lying very low around the peaks of the mountains surrounding the lake.

Mt Kachi Kachi

We met a couple from Hawaii on their honeymoon and took turns taking pictures of each other through the clouds.

The view on top

Stairway to Heaven?

At the top of Mt Kachi Kachi is a bell mounted in a frame the shape of a love heart.  Sandy and I each rung the bell and wandered about taking pictures of the scenery and the usual animated characters hanging about.

The Bell (I wasn’t kidding about the clouds)

What IS that rabbit doing to that bear??

After lunch in a lakeside café, we met up with Gideon and headed to Oishii Park. The clouds had been steadily clearing and we were hoping to get some sunset pictures of Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchicko.

There is a lovely little café on the shore of the lake that specializes in blueberry dishes so armed with my blueberry tea, we watched the sun set over the mountain periodically leaving the warmth of the café to take pictures as the clouds blew away leaving a wispy cap on Mt Fuji’s tip.

My Tea

I’m afraid the quality of my pictures can’t stand up to Gideons’ SLR and tripod but I think they turned out OK. Perhaps my perpetually shaking hands (It was damn cold, I tell you!) had something to do with my poor pictures.

Shortly after we got there

After waiting for the clouds to blow away

A little later…almost dusk (See the pink tinge?)

Sunset

We stocked up on more souvenirs and headed back to the hostel feeling pretty satisfied with the day on the whole.

Met by the incredible bowl of multiplying spaghetti (Fred and Lisa had cooked enough to feed an army) we ate dinner and settled in the movie room with the whole gang (Fred, Lisa, Gideon, and Ryan, Haiden’s dad, Sandy and Myself) to watch Kill Bill.

Post movie madness

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Welcome back!

Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration | 1 Comment

I hope everyone out there enjoyed their holidays as much as I did!

Twas the season (not) to be posting..lol. It was hot and the kids are home for the summer holidays and we’ve spent a lot of time together. And now, sadly… I have returned to work.

We moved offices over the holidays. Now we’re in Nedlands and it makes the drive to work SO much easier. Not necessarily shorter but a lot more pleasant than doing the stop-start thing on the Mitchell Freeway.  There’s something about driving along the coast that still makes me really happy to be here.

In fact, there is on spot in particular on Marmion Ave where you’re approaching Scarborough and the ocean just appears and seems to magically swell to encompass the whole horizon that is still breathtaking to me.

If you live in Perth, I’m sure you know the spot.

Plans for Japan are moving along (thank you to everybody that replied to that post - everything was really helpful) and we’ve booked our accommodation and will be purchasing a JP Rail Pass for transit once we’re there. Sandy has just bought her ticket!! Eep! No turning back now…lol

I’ll be following her lead this weekend. I’ve called the travel agent I normally use and I’m waiting for my options now. I need to decided whether a direct flight is more important or if I want to have a stopover that will get me into Tokyo a bit later. Sandy’s flight arrives at 3:30pm and my direct flight arrives at 9:00am. So I’m looking at sitting around the airport for 6 hours waiting for her. It might be better to have a layover somewhere else to break up the flight and that way I’m only waiting for Sandy a few hours.

It’s all very exciting!!

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