Catching up...
18 Feb 2006
It's been a while since our last update, so time to catch up. Although we're not going on a lot of trips, after all it is winter, we did experience nice things and took some good photos we want to share with you.
In February the lantern festival took place. Time flies, last year Lenette arrived on the last day of the festival. This year we could enjoy the festival together.
The opening was great. We had seen this group before, during the opening of the new bridge in Nagasaki, but they will never bore you. They enjoy their performance so much, it is almost un-Japanese how their faces glow during the show.
The city is awash with tourists, taking small steps at a time we all shuffle through China Town.
In February, Lenette goes to our Yokohama office for a week. The trip is extended for a weekend, to see a bit more of Yokohama and the area.
Sankei-en gardens is the Japanese version of the Dutch Open Air museum in Arnhem. A silk merchant set it up at the end of the nineteenth century. Het had buildings from all over Japan, moved to his garden.
They are not particularly small buildings that moved to his garden. Here you see one of the buildings, with giant doors. Ladies in traditional kimonos play a traditional instrument. It was surprising that they could play so well. It was cold enough for their fingers to get frozen to the strings.
Look, this is what you call a tatami room. The tatami room in our appartment is no match for this.
Close to Yokohama is Kamakura, a small village but famous for the 750 year old statue of Buddha. It was very busy with tourists, eventhough the real tourist season hasn't started yet.
The area is very nice, the weather quite a bit nicer than the day before, so perfect for a hike. The path leads, via several temples and shrines, to a village where you can take the train back to Yokohama.
Of course you can create a museum on any topic. Yokohama has a noodle museum. Unfortunately all explamations are in Japanese, so there is no other option than looking at the pictures and use your imagination.
This looks like a village square at dusk, which it is.... but indoors. What it comes down to is that you have to pay 300 yen to get in. A few square meters is dedicated to the history of the noodle amd the rest of the museum consists of a souvernir shop (of course) amd this copy of a village square.
Around the square are all kinds of restaurants where you, can buy noodles from various parts of Japan. Each area has its own specialty noodle.
We notice that spring is in the air. The cold days are alternated by nice sunny and warm days. On these days, temperatures can reach 20 degrees celcius.
Finally we got around to visiting Iojima. We take the ferry, and from Nagasaki the trip only takes 20 minutes. It is a small and relaxed island. In an few hours we walked aroumd the whole island.
According to our Japanese colleagues, this is the time of the year that the waters near Sasebo acts differently than normal. The explanation was not quite clear to us, but we pictured big whirlpools. We don't exactly know what to expect but we head out to Sasebo.
On the way we stop regularly to enjoy the views. The trees are getting more and more blossoms, amother sign that spring is near.
Here we are at Sakai bridge, where the whirlpools are supposed to be. Unfortunately it looks just like we saw it the last time...
It is time for another drink. This time the occassion is not so much fun, our secretary Ide-san is leaving. We will miss her very much. She was a great help when we needed translations. She went with us to the dentist, and to get our Japanese drivers license and she helped us with hotel reservations for our weekend trips.
It was a nice party, with great food and also the sake went down well...
In February the lantern festival took place. Time flies, last year Lenette arrived on the last day of the festival. This year we could enjoy the festival together.
The opening was great. We had seen this group before, during the opening of the new bridge in Nagasaki, but they will never bore you. They enjoy their performance so much, it is almost un-Japanese how their faces glow during the show.
The city is awash with tourists, taking small steps at a time we all shuffle through China Town.
In February, Lenette goes to our Yokohama office for a week. The trip is extended for a weekend, to see a bit more of Yokohama and the area.
Sankei-en gardens is the Japanese version of the Dutch Open Air museum in Arnhem. A silk merchant set it up at the end of the nineteenth century. Het had buildings from all over Japan, moved to his garden.
They are not particularly small buildings that moved to his garden. Here you see one of the buildings, with giant doors. Ladies in traditional kimonos play a traditional instrument. It was surprising that they could play so well. It was cold enough for their fingers to get frozen to the strings.
Look, this is what you call a tatami room. The tatami room in our appartment is no match for this.
Close to Yokohama is Kamakura, a small village but famous for the 750 year old statue of Buddha. It was very busy with tourists, eventhough the real tourist season hasn't started yet.
The area is very nice, the weather quite a bit nicer than the day before, so perfect for a hike. The path leads, via several temples and shrines, to a village where you can take the train back to Yokohama.
Of course you can create a museum on any topic. Yokohama has a noodle museum. Unfortunately all explamations are in Japanese, so there is no other option than looking at the pictures and use your imagination.
This looks like a village square at dusk, which it is.... but indoors. What it comes down to is that you have to pay 300 yen to get in. A few square meters is dedicated to the history of the noodle amd the rest of the museum consists of a souvernir shop (of course) amd this copy of a village square.
Around the square are all kinds of restaurants where you, can buy noodles from various parts of Japan. Each area has its own specialty noodle.
We notice that spring is in the air. The cold days are alternated by nice sunny and warm days. On these days, temperatures can reach 20 degrees celcius.
Finally we got around to visiting Iojima. We take the ferry, and from Nagasaki the trip only takes 20 minutes. It is a small and relaxed island. In an few hours we walked aroumd the whole island.
According to our Japanese colleagues, this is the time of the year that the waters near Sasebo acts differently than normal. The explanation was not quite clear to us, but we pictured big whirlpools. We don't exactly know what to expect but we head out to Sasebo.
On the way we stop regularly to enjoy the views. The trees are getting more and more blossoms, amother sign that spring is near.
Here we are at Sakai bridge, where the whirlpools are supposed to be. Unfortunately it looks just like we saw it the last time...
It is time for another drink. This time the occassion is not so much fun, our secretary Ide-san is leaving. We will miss her very much. She was a great help when we needed translations. She went with us to the dentist, and to get our Japanese drivers license and she helped us with hotel reservations for our weekend trips.
It was a nice party, with great food and also the sake went down well...