travels

We are in Vietnam - did you know?

We'll tell you all about it later.

Wasuremasen

Spotting a happy little bear in Akita.

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The secret messy lives of a Japanese family.

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20 kids jumping rope.

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Bentos and green tea on the shinkansen!

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Murals and more murals!

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Beautiful futons.

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Ice-blocks shaped like watermelon slices.

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Having my fortune read by a small pirate.

Lucky number: 5

Lucky animal: Elephant

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Colourful elementary schools. And all the many, many bags students have.

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Those trees.

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...the happiness when its jelly, yoghurt or chocolate spread day at school.

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When hydrangea petals get sunburnt after the rainy season. They get such a fright.

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Listening to jazz records in a Japanese home on an uncomfortably hot day.

Drinking buckets of iced tea and coffee.

Eating a watermelon with salt (this I might like to forget).

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Now a series of posts of things I never want to forget from our last few weeks in Sendai.

Listening to First Aid Kit and cicadas, while sipping a "Sparkling Peach Nectar" chu-hi in the rice fields, under a shy full moon.

Boats from barrels

On day two of our tour of Sado we were taken to Oji, a little town in the south to take a turn about the waters in a traditional boat.

When we arrived they turned on some old Japanese music, somewhat muffled, that piped around us as we paddled. Pretty darn cute.

Our captain for 20minutes, in the infamous barrel boat hat.

Difficult!

In the lovely clear Sado water we could spot little fish and bioluminescent jellyfish.

Two turtles

The last activity Chikako had planned for our first day, was a walk around the coast to Futatsugame - a rocky craggy area that looks like two turtles.

The coastal walk was delightful with lots of rockpools, those cheeky little funamushi, and we came across two lovely little shrines tucked into caves/crevices.

When we arrived at the two turtles we kicked ourselves for not bringing any togs - the water was super clear and extremely inviting.

We had to satisfy ourselves with just a paddle.

And for afternoon tea - strawberries from Chikako's garden.

floral carpet

After the glass bottomed boat ride we snacked on some frozen persimmon before heading to the northernmost part of the island where the wild lilies, Tobishima-kanzo, were in bloom.

(Oh and did you know large flowers of the lily family are called licorices? - I did not!)

It was nothing less than spectacular.