March - where do I start?

Kari Writes:

March was an exciting month for us!

The weather started to warm up and we enjoyed walking around our neighborhood!  Though lately we tend to get one week of nice weather followed by a week of cold and rainy.  It seems Spring is fickle no matter where you live.  Though we certainly aren't expecting anymore snow this year - we send our condolences to the mid-west!

In Japan the school year is a bit different than in America. They run on trimesters and the school year ends in March.  So March is a time a change for the youngsters!  Ian's 9th grade students graduated and are heading off to High School.  Their spring break is about 2 weeks and now a fresh crop of 7th graders are entering Akasaki Jr High!  There have also been a lot of staffing changes this year so Ian is also getting to know his new co-workers and settling into a new rhythm.

The gym all decked out for graduation!

The biggest event of the month was certainly the visit of our friends Josh and Drew!  We picked them up at the Osaka airport (a 3-4 hour drive that took us close to 7 hours! whoops).  We then explored one of the more famous areas of Osaka - Dotonbori:

I was so excited to hang out with the iconic Glico man!

It definitely had a "Times Square" kind of vibe to it!

 The next day we walked from our Hotel to Osaka Castle!  This Castle is a bit controversial because it is 100% reconstructed and the inside is very modern (elevators and gift shops etc!).  But it is still pretty to look at!  And there was a huge grove of plum trees blooming on the grounds which smelled amazing!

We also explored the huge shopping center near the train station and introduced our friends to the best part of Japan - the 100 yen shop!  It's always amazing the variety of things you can get for around 1 US dollar!

Next we took the guys to our neck of the woods.  We spent a rainy day exploring the Akasaki coastline and Kurayoshi.  And capped off the day with dinner at Joyfull and Karaoke!

Lego man on the beach!

The next day we did a bit more exploring at Port Akasaki and the Windmill Park.  And met up with Ian for lunch at one of the most esteemed Ramen establishments in the prefecture (and it even ranks pretty dang high nationally!) Kamitoku Ramen!

Learning the art of Ramen slurping!

Not ones to rest on our laurels we headed off to the Tottori Sand Dunes.  I had never been so I was just as excited as the guys!  And it was pretty great!  Sand as far as the eye can see and we got to see the camels - next time I vow to ride one!

The view from the highest dune!

All of us at the top!

After exploring the dunes we hit the road again off to Kobe!  By the time we got there we were pretty wiped out from all our adventures so we hung out in our swanky hotel and played some cards!  The next day they guys had to catch a train to Kyoto so we kept our exploring to a minimum. We ended up finding "America Town" a part of Kobe with a lot of Western style houses.  Some of them you can go into kind of like a museum.  It is apparently a pretty big draw for Japanese tourist - but kind of a funny place for American tourist to go!  "Ooohh look it's just like where I came from."

Then we dropped the guys off at the station!  We were sad to see them go but also excited to get back home and do nothing for a few days!

At the end of March we joined our friends Ellen and Matt in the age old tradition of Sakura Hanami or Cherry Blossom Viewing.  We went to Utsubuki Park in Kurayoshi where they set up lanterns and banners and have food stands!

We were stationed near the park so
we could watch all the cute kids!

There is also a giant concrete pit that is full of:

Monkeys!! Yup!

All in all a great time was had by all - even though we did get a little bit rained on!  It turned out to be one of the few good days for sakura hanami this season.

And that was our March!

Stay tuned for April!