My Second Wind of Visitors!! Wes and Mills in Japan

Wes and Mills at Sensoji Temple

colorful kimono fabrics

Mills ties her fortune up on the cherry tree, due to sakura season already ending, the blossoms were fake

Sensoji temple at Asakusa is known for gigantic lanterns, here you can see one in the Temple gate- check out that big shoe too!

a woman in a kimono and the incense burner at sensoji temple

sensoji temple

Wes and Mills in front of the market in Asakusa

the pagoda on the grounds of Sensoji Temple and koinobori... which are the fish windsocks.. they are flying for childrens day which is during golden week... this year it was on may 5.. the carp symbolizes strength and courage, because carp are able to swim up a waterfall.. youu see these banners flying all around

Ohanami ~ Cherry Blossom Viewing Season

Takada Park is the third best place in all of Japan for night-time cherry blossom viewing, and it is right in my own back yard! People travel from all over Japan to sit under these blossoms at the start of spring~ You send someone in early to get your group a prime spot, you lay out a tarp, kompei your sake or beer, and enjoy the pleasant surroundings of the new life...all while getting completely inebriated.


Pokeman balls, these were so yummy, little dough balls baked to look like Pikachu.... kawaiiyo~
Lining the park are State Fair like games and food stalls with typical Japanes treats. What constitutes as a traditional japanese treat you ask? Well, you could get everything from grilled squid on a stick, takoyaki (which are grilled octopus balls), cotton candy, chocolate covered bananas (now this was a cool one because you play janken (paper- rock-scissors, the japanese answer to everything) with the vendor and if you won you get two- I lost), pokemon balls, okinomiyaki (a cabbage like pancake), and of course miso soup, beer, and sake.

sakura at dusk

Now it is really important that when you plan your Ohanami, or Sakura Viewing Party, that you also plan to have it on a day in which the blossoms are in full bloom. You don't want to be having your Ohanami party with crappy half open blossoms! That is JUST WRONG! Because of this phenomenon you find yourself going to a whole series of park get togetheres (that and due to extreme popularity of course) and you also get nightly news predictions of the sakura blossoming process...

if you think this is funny you should see the anime induced weather reports....

This is Takada Castle, it is in the middle of Takada Park surrounded by a lake that in the fall will be filled with blossoming lotus flowers.

Ohanami at the Hospital: If She Can't Join Us, We Will Take It to Her

Ohanami at the hospital... On a covert operation, Liz and I stole some cherry blossoms off a tree, and smuggled in pizza for Tiffany in the hospital... Tiffany had to have surgery on a tendon that she cut, and in the Japanese way she had to be laid up in the hospital for a month. She had to live in the hospital for a nearly a month. It was scary, we likened it to the scene in Beatlejuice waiting room, where all the heads were shrinking. It was fun to go visit Tiffany in the hospital because she was the happening girl on the floor. Everyone was coming out of the woodoworks to visit her, and she was such a sport making friends and trying to make the best of a situation.

Here we are at our makeshift Ohanami party for Tiffany: Mel, Tiff, Liz, and me.
Due to the timing of Tiffany's surgery she was going to miss the whole cherry blossom viewing season in Japan. So we brought in the branches. The wild child also broke out a couple times, we had plans for a scheming escape, but she ended up just asking and getting official permission. She walked around the parties in her sylin' hospital pants. In the end she got released on the last day of the season, also just in time to go to Korea! (She told the doctor the day that they admitted her that the day after her initial official release date she was flying to Korea for a week, she said the doctor gave her a stern look)


that my friends, those two pizzas, that is $40 worth of pizza...hefty price huh? the movies cost $15
WE were told specifically that we were not allowed to bring her pizza (well they told Tiffany she couldn't order one) That the other patients would smell it and want it. WE told Tiffany we didn't care, we would smuggle it in, and if the other patients wanted some, if there was any left they could have it, but why don't they just order their own. People are always bringing in Fast food in there , we didn't see much difference.


she cut her tendon and had to be laid up in the hospital for four weeks- she got out a few days early, but her stay covered the duration of the cherry blossom viewing season... she busted out though and got to see it, and she also got to go to Korea with us, baby you rock...you can see her gory details on her blog... http://japanbystorm.blogspot.com

Gomenne

Gomenne = Sorry. So I haven't updated in quite a while. I have been busy so I should have a lot to tell about. So I will figure out where to begin and backlog.