Thought you would enjoy this....

A timely message for the day after Easter.

Nijo Lightup

We went to a cherry-blossom lightup at Nijo castle this past Wednesday. You might remember the Chion-in lightup last fall. This one was just as pretty.

We got there at twilight.

The sun soon sank.

There was a paper fish sculpture there that you could help add wishes to.

Alek's wish:

Hugo wished to go back to America. I'm not sure what Max wished for, but I think it was a 3DS.

Anyway. Where were we?

That's the moon through those branches.
We also got to hear three ladies playing koto harps.

Nijo lightup. Wish you were here!

What we've been up to lately (catchup post)

Today we said goodbye to MM and her friend G, who have been visiting for about a week. GP and GD left a week ago, and they had been here two weeks. We have enjoyed showing all these guests around Kyoto. And today, we have been quite happy to sit inside our house and rock back and forth.

Here are some things we have been doing the past few weeks.

Three of us finally visited the inside of the Imperial Palace, which is only a few hundred meters away, but which we had never seen. This is a kind of throne.

Here's the emperor's garden.

Some orange parts.

Here's my favorite form of translation help. See? This is the "kemarinoniwa."

Mum mum and I made sure we matched the trees.

Last-last Friday night we went out for dinner.

These three fellows all have birthdays a few days apart.
We ate shabu-shabu.
Darrin took MM and G to see Maruyama Park, a famous place for cherry trees. This may or may not be the "big famous one."

About 10am, people were reserving spots for their hanami. Still lots of good spots open! But this guy must have been there earrrrrly; he's taking a nap.
We're getting toward the end of the blossoms here.
MM and G were ready for their hanami.

For Max's actual birthday last week, we ordered two chou cream cakes.

Max is just growing up so fast. I swear he looks different every day.

Max got an e-reader for a birthday present.

Today we went to school for "student led conferences." I took a few shots of the stuff on the walls.

In Japanese schools, including this one, kids clean their own classrooms.

And today, Alek ran through a cloud of falling sakura.

We saw falling water....

...in the Kyoto station mall.

We could have stood there for hours, but we were hungry. We moved on.

Spring Day

Sunday's weather was perfect! We weren't the only ones who thought so. Nevertheless, we joined the throngs to head up to Kiyomizu-dera, one of the most famous temples in Kyoto. Believe it or not, we have not been here yet. I'm glad we waited. Here's the street on the way.

Some people had on spring kimono for sightseeing.

Others just wore t-shirts.

Kiyomizu is up, up, up on a hill, and has several buildings.

Before we entered the main gate, we all got to experience the "womb of buddha." You take off your shoes and go down stairs, holding on to a railing that turns into a string of large wooden prayer beads the size of pool balls. It is completely dark, and the wooden floor underneath is kind of smooth and lumpy. The tunnel winds this way and that, and there is a kind of stone thing you can see that is illuminated at the end. Then you come back up the stairs. Here's the ticket:

You weren't supposed to take photos in there, but I took one anyway. Here it is:

The womb of Buddha is fer sher among the top 2 strangest things I have ever done in Japan. I can't decide if it's weirder than the fish who eat your feet, or not.

It was even weirder than this guy.

Other than re-experiencing our original birthdays, we all enjoyed the blossoms a lot.

One of our kids is standing out there on that corner...can't remember who.
In this part of the temple, you can try to lift these very heavy metal pole things.
And you can imagine trying to wear these iron torture geta. (This is the bottom of one of the shoes).


Nice view of Kyoto up top.

We walked back through one of the minor Geisha/Maiko districts, near gojo.

The different maiko districts are holding "Spring dances" this time of year. We are going on Friday!