Spring brings the start of a new school year and the transition from the playtime of kindergarten to the homework of elementary school. Each 1st grader is required to commute to school on their own except for the first day, which they are welcomed ceremoniously.

Jiyugaoka (自由が丘)

View of Mt Fuji from the city

We took a day trip to Lake Kawaguchi (河口湖) hoping to catch a nice view of Mt. Fuji and some cherry blossoms.  As you can see, it was successful.

Lunch

An impression

The proper way to view Mt. Fuji

Menace

Boys love nostalgia

Waiting for the boys

Natural patterns

Built in 1962, the lobby of the Hotel Okura in Tokyo mixes Japanese motifs with mid-century modern architecture. Tortoise shell pattern ceiling above. Even the chairs in the lobby are arranged in a sakura (cherry blossom) pattern – very cool.

French toast that’s been soaked in custard for 24 hours – yum

The perfectly shaped omelet

Fish scale pattern

Bureaucrats

Moon girl

Locked out of the Budokan

iPad nation…

A few days in Honolulu.  Locals were complaining it was cold but to us it was warm and comfortable.

If you don’t…wear a seat belt?

Rice ball from Iyasume

Morning traffic

Mini me

At the Zauo Restaurant, a chain, you have to catch your own fish. Once you’ve caught your fish, you can have it prepared as sashimi, grilled, or fried. We visited the restaurant outside Nagoya. Its a great place for kids.

A beautiful sunset on Christmas day in Carlsbad – the colors in the after show were stunning. Speaking of Carlsbad – 遼、西海岸にも豪邸

Pelicans and dolphins (you’ll have to look hard for the dolphins)

As the world passes by at 300kph (180mph) – bit of an experiment.

Fukuoka is the largest city on the island of Kyushu and ranked as the 12th most livable city in the world by Monocle Magazine. Fukuoka is also known for its outdoor food stalls (yatai) area along the Naka River – they’re open very late.

We spend a few hours in Usuki on the island of Kyushu. Its an old castle town known for Buddhas sculptures carved into the natural cliffs during the 12th century. My wife had seen these carvings a long time ago and wanted to see them again. The carvings had been restored recently and according to my wife its lost some of its character – for example some of the heads used to be on the ground but now have been repaired.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to explore the old town area of Usuki. We quickly passed through it and it looked like a place we’d very much want to come back and visit. There are numerous narrow stone paved streets. Since its a castle town, the streets are maze-like – a deterrent for a direct invasion onto the castle.

A vintage Mazda

From Usuki, we made our way to Fukuoka.

Some unique and well designed trains in Kyushu – this one had wood floors.

My wife drags me out of bed at our hotel in Tokushima early in the morning declaring we’re going to Kyushu. We catch a train from Tokushima back to the main island of Honshu. From Okayama, we catch the bullet train to the island of Kyushu. When we reach Kyushu, we catch another train to Oita.

Made in USA, Japan – home of the USA Shrine (which was established 1,500 years ago)

More from the Awa Odori in Tokushima.

First love

Zombies!

There are several well-known dance troupes such as the Ahou-Ren (阿呆連) and many amateur troupes, such as from a company, college, or neighborhood. The gap between the well-known troupes and amateur groups is wide. The well-known troupes are almost “professional” dedicating extreme hours of practice and some tour the country. On the last night of the festival in the last grandstand performance, all the “well-known” troupes gather for a finale.

One of my wife’s best friends lives in a very traditional Japanese house in rural Tokushima on the island of Shikoku. It features an impressive hatched roof – that has to get re-roofed every 10 years and very expensive since that skill is very rare now ($100k). Her family runs a sugar factory that’s well known among Japanese confectionists. The sugar is known as wasanbon (阿波和三盆糖) and the production is labor intensive and done mostly by hand. It’s taste is unique – refined but has a raw and not too sweet taste. There’s candy that’s simply the sugar cube and its really good – it simply melts in your mouth because its powdered. Wasanbon is not sold outside Japan but I did find this on Amazon.

How skinny can your legs be?

The mold to make the sugar cube candy.

We visited the starting point of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage that was nearby. Its the place to get your official pilgrimage gear.

A captured cicada

Of course, you have to have udon while in Shikoku

An early morning walk in Tokushima City.

Traveling around the island of Shikoku with a soccer mom’s bike

Summer in Tokushima, on the island of Shikoku, is famous for the Awa Odori Matsuri- the Awa Dance Festival. The festival is held over 4 days during Obon (お盆), one of the 3 major holidays in Japan. The Awa Odori attracts over a million visitor and 100,000 dancers. The dancers cry out “It’s a fool who dances and a fool who watches! If both are fools, you might as well have fun dancing!” while dancing to the 400 year old folk dance. We’re here for the final 2 days – we were here 3 years ago for the first 2 days.

The festival takes place throughout the city – the streets are closed and filled with dancers, spectators, and food vendors. There are several grandstand areas, where the dance troupes rotate in. Its hard to get good tickets in the grandstand area. The same troupes also perform on the streets.

At Wakayama City, we met up with friends, who drove from Tokyo. Together we caught the ferry to Tokushima City, on the the island of Shikoku. The ferry from Wakayama to Tokushima is 2 hours. The ferry’s main cabin is a communal mat area where you take off your shoes and can lie down, drink, and eat – cool.

Once in Tokushima, we headed to Binbi-ya (びんび屋) for lunch. Its a place known for its fresh seafood. Unfortunately its too well-known – the line to get in was around the block. We headed to another place down the road in the next prefecture, Kagawa – yup its fresh.