Flowers and Rice

Recently we were invited to a Farmer's Market and field of flowers.  The flowers will be turned under after blooming to prepare the soil for the rice fields.  The fields will then be flooded with water and the rice planted.  Next week we have been invited to plant rice in the same field.  But first, here are pictures of the field of flowers and friends.

Finley in a typical moment with one of his Japanese friends

Some locals enjoying the spring sunshine

We also were invited to make bookmarks with pressed flowers.  Here's Laura and Fin "over the shoulder" hard at work and some bookmarks we made:

         

School in Japan

Notes on going to school in Japan:

1.  we've been practicing how to write Kanji: の本がお買得 (we love Japan). 

2.  math is harder in Japan, like multiplying decimals.  

3.  we made tea in Home Economics.

4.  in gym class we've been learning how to ride a unicycle (here we are practicing in at the apartment-- that's Yukie riding with Nevin):

Every day we walk to school with our friends (and neighbors) Yukie, Yuu, and Aki.  Athletic suits are very popular in Kobe so of course we wanted to get our own...

Goodbye Grandpa

To our beloved Grandpa
We will miss you...

Van Harrison, April 16, 1921-May 10, 2011
Pearl Harbor Survivor, great father, a decent and honest man

A Night Visitor

Tonight this moth appeared at our door.  His wing span was 5 inches!  Here he landed on a lamp

Golden Week

Golden Week is a collection of 4 national holidays--Showa Day (honoring former Emperor Showa), Constitution Day, Greenery Day (dedicated to environment and nature) and Children's Day.  We decided to spend one of our vacation days in Nara, an ancient city near Kyoto that celebrated its 1300th anniversary last year.  The shrines and deities guarding the temples (left), monumental Buddha statues (below) and beautiful grounds are incomparable.

Hanging out with the Bresnihan family kids (Isiah and Michelle) in Nara

In Nara the deer come up and eat from your hand and let you pet them.  We took a lot of pictures:

  

During Golden Week we also visited Chinatown.  Here's one of the manhole covers we found:

In another part of Kobe we attended a festival and had lunch with one of our dad's colleagues: Yoko Matsuda.  Here's a float from the festival and the shoes worn by men who pushed it and a detail on the float:

Tanjoubi Omedetou Laura

April 24, 2011
Happy Birthday Laura!! 

Osaka Castle

A poster outside the castle

It is tempting to write a post about riding subways and trains in Japan when you cannot read Kanji--truly an adventure and in Japan, you better have your translator nearby.  Today we rode the rails to the Osaka Castle.  Fin and Mark have been reading James Clavell's Shogun and really enjoying the vivid descriptions of Osaka and the Castle in the book.  What fun to see it in person!

The Osaka Castle is about 600 years old and it is a fortress of astonishing size and beauty perched on the highest hill in the city.  It is filled with interesting and beautifully organized displays like the one below of samurai solidier in battle:

Here's a view from outside the castle.  A moat surrounds colossal stones that elevate the castle high above Osaka.  

Fin enjoyed standing under one of the enormous gates.  And here's another example of the fantastic manhole covers that we've been recording on our travels around Japan (see the Osaka Castle in the background?)

Fin and Nevin are now in school every day and loving it.  The classmates are very friendly and fun-loving.  Laura has been learning about speech pathology as it is practiced in Japan.  Besides teaching, Mark is enjoying photographing our travels.  Today it was rainy in Osaka.  Here is a picture of some puddled benches in front of the castle: