Sakura (cherry blossom) season

Sakura blossoms mean the final arrival of spring (although it really hasn't felt like it yet). In the local area the peak will be in the next few days. Today we visited a local temple with 100 year old cherry trees. Inside we found a treasure trove of contemporary calligraphy drawings.

Tour of the New Dental Clinic

Opening of Friend's New Dental Clinic

On Mar 29, we attended the official opening of the new Kubota Family Dental Clinic. The flowers behind us have our name (in black). The family worked closely with the architect to incorporate their own ideas for both a business space and a personal space. After touring the new facility, guests attended a party where there was traditional singing and dance (specific to this area) called "Yagi Bushi" Please look at the video and click on the snapshots to enlarge them.

Mito Ume no Matsuri

This weekend's trip was to Mito to see the Ume matsuri (plum blossom festival). Mito is famous for being the home one of the 3 branch families of the Tokugawa family tracing their ancestry to the 1st Tokugawa Shogun. It was a powerful family and the 9th lord created a public garden in the Edo era with a huge variety of Japanese plum trees. Now the blossoms are in full bloom and many people came to see the festival. We visited many sites and went downtown to eat before returning home. Mito is famous for Anko nabe. Anko is called "angler fish" in English and is an ugly fish of which all the parts can be eaten (except the bones). We tried the nabe, a soup made with Anko, vegetables, tofu and a broth with miso and the liver of the Anko. We ate it all. My friend had a tuna "kabuto yaki", grilled tuna fish head. Please ignore the photo if you don't really like fish!!.

Narukami san

Today, I went hiking with Shinji on Narukami san in Kiryu city. It was clear and cold with some wind at the trailhead, but it got colder and windier as we ascended. It took us about 2 hrs to reach the top. It was below 0C and the winds were severe. The mountain covered in snow behind Shinji is Nantai san in Nikko which we climbed (Mary too) in 2004. After the hike, we made our stop at the onsen and appreciated the hot water soak.

Visit to Odaiba

Today we went to Tokyo to Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. They have just installed a new high definition 3D projection system in the dome theater. The inaugural program is an astronomy movie "Birthday" about the creation of the universe. It was quite impressive, with stars seeming to move right past your head. We also watched the Honda robot Asimo put on a little demonstration. You can see it in the attached video. We went back to Asakusa by boat, walked through the Senso-ji temple area and found a little fish restaurant that grills all the fish over charcoal. After dinner we took the train back to Ashikaga.

Akutare Festival

The celebration of Akutare Matsuri is held on New Years eve at the Saishoji temple in Ashikaga. The rough translation of Akutare Matsuri is "naughty festival" or "festival of abusive language". At 11PM, everyone marches up the hill to the temple shouting, well, unpolite language (not swearing so as not to offend the children) about what bothered you in the year just passed. At midnight, all line up to make an offering, ring the bell and say a prayer. After that it is welcome to the new year and all is polite again. The photo shows the burning of offerings prior to midnight. In front of the little girl is the shell horn used by the Buddhist priest to lead the group up the mountain.