Monday 12 October 2009

Happy sports day

It is a three day long weekend here.
Today celebrates Sport! Happy Sports Day!
This weekend across Japan thousands of schools will have their school sports days - or undokai.  It's a bit mean really to put school events on the Sun. of a long weekend... but it seems to happen a lot in Japan.  I can't imagine teachers or parents in Australia would tolerate it though...

We haven't done much sport over the weekend to celebrate.
Hiro had to work in Kawasaki over the weekend, so while he was doing that,  I took the chance to go to the local govt. weekend Japanese classes. We met early evening for gyoza (pan friend Chinese style dumplings)  at a gyoza specialist place in Shimbashi that had all sorts of offbeat fillings - tomato, corriander, shiitake, shiso leaf. Delicious - well worth the trip in !
Sunday we met one of my school friends and her family in Shinjuku.  We had a busy day of sightseeing.  With a  3 and 5 year old in mind I endeavoured to keep walking to a minimum, but the reality of Tokyo is that it's impossible to sight see by public transport and not walk.  We stopped off at Koishikawa Korakuen which is my favourite garden in Tokyo, then onto Akihabara, Shimbashi - to get some bento, Odaiba - via the Yurikamome line, back across by boat, to the Pokemon centre.... , Harakuju and Kiddyland toyshop, before having dinner in Shinjuku.  A busy day.


Koishikawa Korakuen


Fuji television building from the boat back from Odaiba