Having fun with Jean and Michael

New Bonsai Museum and Hikawa Jinja in Saitama City

No photos allowed of the bonsai trees, but some were 200 years old. This is an emperial shrine, and the grounds are like a huge park; huge trees and plants are Saitama City's claim to fame. (Now also has a professional baseball team).

Mori Art Museum, etc.

1. Well..how about Tokyo Tower
2. Also..ahmmm...Akihabara Electronics district
   
3. and St. Alban's Church
   

Asian food samplings, "plus..."

The Japanese language classes are composed of us "foreigners," so the teachers organized a home-country cooking event. The countries represented that day were Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil(Western), Peru(Western), China, Japan (teachers), Vietnam and Westerners from Italy(pesto) and the US (NYCheesecake)=not pictured. Pictured is yours truly helping the Chinese cooking station make "jyozu" (dumplings-type).

Mother's Day Shamisen Concert

Taipei, Taiwan here and there

From Azaleas to Robotics

Huge azalea park in the town of Tatebayashi near the kids' science center including a special event put on by a junior college's robotics team. The kids just know how to work those remote controls...no problem.

Mt Mitsuiwa and mountain azaleas

Rare wild mountain azalea viewing on Mt Mitsuiwa entails a treacherous climb but the views are great. These azaleas are found only on the rocky peaks of the mountains in this area. The trail was a bit "barricaded" but we managed.(click the pic for more and back again)

Kusatsu Onsen and Mt Shirane

A spring day in the mountains at the start of Golden Week holidays from hot spa to icy volcano in 1 hr

Minyo Show="folk music"

Speeding train as the kids wait

The kids are walking home from school. They dutifully wait for the train to pass; you can't tell by the picture but it is going about 50mph. (the child with the yellow umbrella is actually a younger age-that's why his umbrella color is different).

Recent sights, including a 360 year old weeping cherry tree

Bangkok Red Shirts

I left Bangkok just as the protest was getting bad. We were told to stay away from the city center where they were camped out but on Friday they started to expand the demonstrations around the city. This is just in front of the office while we were waiting for a taxi to go to the plant.

Yes, the cherry blossom season is big...

Night viewing of cherry trees and picnicing

A Sunny Day

Near Banaji Temple - Ashikaga

Mariko-san & Noriko-san