The last weekend of June we head for Yamagata and Ginzan. We leave Friday, after work, and on the way get treated to a beautiful sunset. The Toyoko-Inn is starting to become our favorite hotel. We book it for both business- and vacation trips. It is a typical Japanese business hotel. Small, but clean, usually on a central location and on each room free internet. It is not expense, which makes going away for weekends more affordable.

The weekend of 16 and 17 June are reserved for hiking. On Saturday we do the boardwalk near Oguni Numa. We had been there before, but it was too early and we couldn't reach the boardwalk because of the snow. Now is clearly a better timing, hiking season is at its peak. There is a big group of Japanese (who else?) hikers, perfectly dressed with the correct shoes, hats and of course cameras.

Early June we have another meeting in Yokohama. Again we stay for the weekend, and this time to visit Peter and Rie. They plan to get married in November and will have the wedding ceremony in Kamakura. Kamakura. Kamakura is a popular spot for wedding ceremonies, so we go to check out how such a ceremony is conducted

At the end of May we went to Niigata Aquarium. It is still quite cold, so it is not very busy in the aquarium, which suits us just fine. The description resembles the Dolfinarium in Harderwijk, the Netherlands. Since we've never been there, this seems like a good occassion to see what we can expect when we visit the Dolfinarium. There are shows with dolphins, orcas and seelions. Everybody was impressed, and especially Yun-fa's daughter enjoyed herself a lot.

My friend Mari-chan's mother teaches Ikebana (1) and I am invited to attend a free lesson Ikebana (2) is the art of flower arrangment, and an art it is! I can choose from various flower bouquets and get a big dish with two bloks with sharp nails. They look like miniature fakir beds. In those I have to arrange the flowers and twigs. Mari-chan helps me and, especially with the help of her mother, the result is beautiful.