It's a Golden Week!

Japan has taken a break, well sort of.  It's May and the country is celebrating 'Golden Week', a time when three different events are celebrated. Also add to this Showa Day, on April 29th, which celebrates Emperor Showa's birthday. He is the previous emperor and not to be confused with the current Emperor, whose birthday is celebrated on December 23rd. It is the longest vacation period for many in Japan and sees people heading off in all directions, within and outside the country. Many people used the time to head north and help the community of Fukushima clean up. My teacher Toshiko's husband was one of those volunteers. Like any one who has visited the area, he was shocked that in reality, not on a TV screen, the situation is far worse.

May 3rd is .....Constitution Memorial Day (Kenpo kinenbi). On this day in 1947, the new post war constitution came into effect.

May 4th is...... Greenery Day (Midori no hi). The day is dedicated to the environment and nature. Greenery Day used to be celebrated on April 29, the birthday of Emperor Showa, because he loved plants and nature.

Before being declared Greenery Day, May 4 used to be a national holiday due to a law, which declares that a day falling between two national holidays becomes a national holiday. 

And finally May 5th is....Children's Day (Kodomo no hi). The Boy's Festival (Tango no Sekku) is celebrated on this day. Families pray for the health and future success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls, both symbolizing strength, power and success in life.  Shops, apartments, rivers and streets are decorated with the big carp windsocks. 

As these holidays fell mid week, Steve took the Monday as a day of his holidays, which gave him a one week break. Initially, we had planned to go away but, as it is the busiest holiday period of the year, bookings were tight and quite honestly we couldn't be bothered. The first few days saw us heading off on our bikes and 'knocking up' a few kilometres that way. 

On the Friday, we covered 40 kilometres heading north towards Tokyo. We rode along major roadways and also poked around back streets and wharf areas.

The weather was perfect, t-shirt material, and we had a wonderful time. The blossoms have gone, the tulips are nearly spent.....

.....and the flavour of the month is the azalea.

The trees have leaves, the grass has returned and everything is green. It is easy to see why this is a favoured season!!

There is never a dull moment, you just never know what you will see. Heading home there was live entertainment at Akarenga Soko (Red Brick Buildings).

On Saturday we headed south, riding over familiar territory and also finding places we haven't been. We ended up in Yokohama Seaside at the Mitsui Outlet (Japan's Direct Factory Outlets) where we had lunch. I had spaghetti carbonara and Steve had pizza (which numbers did we order?).

We only covered 33 kilometres but added some serious hills and even steep steps, which gave us no choice but to carry the bikes. Next time I will take the bike with lots of gears, not the 'granny bike' which is the name my Japan bike has been given.  I just can't resist the comfortable seat. Approaching home we rode along Motomachi Street to buy bread at Pompadour's. We crossed paths with this cute little guy, a teacup poodle. He was attracting quite a bit of attention! He would probably set you back about $3,000 and that wouldn't include the outfit. I suspect those divine shoes cost more than my runners.

It really is great fun cruising around on the bikes. When our time in Japan comes to an end, I know bike riding will be high on my list of favourite and memorable experiences.

 

On Monday we decided to rest our legs and take a drive to the Boso Peninsula. A trip just before New Year, with four of our 'alien' visitors, saw us head down to the southern tip. The post, 'Another Peninsula', described our trip through the Tokyo Aqua Line and some of the places we visited that day. Like anywhere though, one visit is never enough and barely touches the surface. The Boso Peninsula is in the southern part of of the Chiba prefecture, to the east of Tokyo. Chiba city is the prefectural capital, and is at the northeast end of Tokyo Bay. On this trip we planned to head towards Choshi in the north then make our way down the east coast, checking out surf beaches as we went.  

We took the Tokyo Bay Aqualine Tunnel on our previous trip. On that trip, though, we didn't stop where the tunnel exits the water on to the artificial island, Umihotaru. From the viewing platform we looked back to where we had come under the water and where the tunnel exited.

A bridge then completes the 15.1 km journey to the other side of the bay.  

Like everywhere in Japan the island is home to another multi storey building, five in this case. With the normal abundance of shops and eating places it is a very popular stopping point. The colours in this artwork  were great!!

Hint:If you want a better view of any picture, just double click on it then use the back key to return to the Blog.

Even though it was pretty hazy we were afforded fabulous views. Tokyo Bay is a hub of activity with ships lying at anchor waiting to berth and the normal recreational traffic. Overhead there was a never ending stream of jets approaching Haneda Airport. 

We were fascinated by the size of the cutting face from one of the machines used to bore the tunnel.

Each tungsten tip blade bore the signs of the hard work endured!

Once on the peninsula we headed northwards towards the east coast. Our initial plan of heading to Choshi was adjusted as it always seems to take a longer to get anyway here. We changed direction and headed due east to the coast. Passing through bamboo forests and farming land, with newly planted rice in the paddies, the vista was pretty as usual.

The first spot we stopped had the very glamorous name of Hitotsumatsu Seaside Resort. The actual beach was not so glamorous and on the day the surf was pretty flat.

As Australians, we are very spoiled with our beaches and it is hard for beaches, anywhere, to meet the very high benchmarks we have set. This beach and all the others had grey/black sand and quite murky water.

For me though, a beach is a beach and I can always spend hours walking along, with my head down, looking for treasures. Sadly, this beach had little to satisfy my searching!

This surfer had just left the water but looked like he was hesitant to leave just in case he missed a good set.

We moved on down the coast stopping at Torami and Isumi City.

Onjuku was well worth a look, with its wide, lighter sandy beach and bluer water.

Relatively unaffected by any traffic jams it was still dark by the time we returned home!

Each year on May 3rd, the Yokohama International Costume Parade is held. It marks the beginning of the "Opening of the Port Festival", which has taken place every year since 1953. The parade starts off in Yamashita Park and makes its way to Isezaki-cho via the Red Brick Warehouse. On Tuesday we headed off to see the spectacle but we must have missed it, as we never saw any sign of it. Fortunately, there was plenty of free entertainment to amuse us and we enjoyed the normal walk along the foreshore. The weather was delightful and the place was buzzing. In Chinatown, a Chinese dragon did the rounds of all the shops and businesses so there was plenty of noise for hours. What a busy backyard we have!!!

Wednesday saw us head off on the trains.....our destination.....Ueno, north of Tokyo. The streets of Ueno are crowded with shops selling shoes, clothes and more. We wandered around looking for shoes for Steve but couldn't decide. Quite honestly, the unlimited choices are overwhelming. Currently, Ueno Zoo is home to a Giant Panda and the crowds were insane. Japanese people seem to be amazingly patient and will queue for hours. The panda viewing queue weaved through the park and continually doubled back and forth like a huge snake. Security guards directed and guided people and created gaps in the queue, like traffic policeman, to allow pedestrians through. Unbelievable!! 

 Even the tortoises had to queue for a place in the water!!! (See them on the deck below)

Queues aren't for us, particularly 'himself', so we enjoyed watching the free entertainment and selecting food from the many food stalls. Mmmmmm! It was fairly warm, so we also enjoyed pineapple skewers and yummy chocolate cookie icecream.

As the girl played the piano accordion the juggler performed. Dancing around him while he juggled, she created sounds for the actions and built the tension with her music.

We stopped and watched an innings of this Junior Baseball match.

This statue stands at the entrance of the park overlooking Ueno. This is Saigō Takamori, a famous samurai general best known for leading the doomed Satsuma Rebellion against the Meiji government.  This rebellion was inspiration for the movie, 'The Last Samurai'.

As it turns out, 'himself' had another motive for visiting this part of Tokyo. After wandering around the park, we caught a subway train to Kita Senju and then another one to Kita Koshigaya. 

You may ask why it was that 'himself' wanted to spend another 40 minutes on the trains. I call it a 'mid life crisis', but someone had decided he wanted a motorbike. Having sifted through the classifieds on the Internet for weeks, he had decided one bike was really worth a look.......'It's such a good buy, I could sell it and make money!!!'

This is how we came to end up in Kita Koshigaya being driven around by a friendly, typical Queenslander Aussie. We were taken to a house with a small yard overcrowded with motorbikes. Having lived in Japan for 8 years the seller of the bike is reluctantly returning to Australia. His Japanese wife and three children left Japan straight after the earthquake and now won't return, so for him it's sell up and leave. With me muttering under my breath that he's mad and be careful, 'Himself' donned a helmet and took off on the bike for a test ride. Smiling like Chesshire cat, it was obvious what the outcome would be! Guess what?.....he bought it....a Yamaha SR400 and before you ask, 'No I am not going to ride pillion!!!' Excellent.....now we have something else to freight home when we eventually leave the shores of Nihon-go...!
We made the long journey, over 2 hours, home on a multitude of crowded trains.

The bike was delivered to its new home in the basement of our apartment on Thursday. Unbeknown to me, I had left my camera in the guy's van so it was also delivered with the bike. 

As Golden Week concludes, it is now with anticipation and excitement that we await the arrival of our next 'alien visitors', Sarah and Steve. The 'Jenny Lost in Japan Tour' itinerary is ready and waiting!!!! Next week Disneyland (what again?).........lots of trains..... places to go and more!!