More Hanami.....and Pandas!

This weekend we went into the city for a doctor's appointment and to meet up with an old friend of Chad's and his girlfriend who were visiting Tokyo for a few days.  We ended up spending Friday morning at Ueno Park and Zoo which is destined to be one of my favorite places in the city.  Along with the zoo, there are shrines, temples, museums and green space all in a huge park in northeastern Tokyo.  We didn't get to see much, and only half of the zoo, but I know we'll probably go back multiple times.

Right now, the park is also known as one of the best places to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, although a lot of them had fallen by this point.

walking through the park

a few still left...

....here and there

Shin Shin---one very relaxed and hungry giant panda

the elephants were nice enough to pose

building in the park

After the zoo we headed to the doctor's office where we found out that we're having a baby girl!  I'm very excited about the massive shopping spree I'm going to go on now!   In light of that news, here's a little more pink! ;)

Going Hanami

This afternoon I went over to Ashikaga with my Japanese teacher and a fellow expat wife to do some "hanami" (flower-viewing).   As April started nearing both of us had started asking where were good local places to view the famous "sakura" (cherry blossoms) so our teacher loaded us up and took us to a good spot.

This area is a little canal that runs through Ashikaga and has cherry trees (mostly the pale pink/white variety) planted down both sides.  There are also a lot of wild flowers growing around the canal.  This is such a popular place to come that there are street vendors set up to sell food, (and for nighttime, lighted lanterns strung through the trees) although at the time of day we went the vendors were closed and no one was around.

I already put some of the photos on Facebook, but here I am going to put the edited versions of some of my favorites.  I am a pretty lazy photographer, but when I do get around to taking photos I looove to run them through my editing program for some fancy-schmancy effects......

This weekend we're going to spend a couple of days in Tokyo and I hope to go hanami there too.  Check back early next week to find out!  (And check out the new subscription options I added in the sidebar. :)

Matinee

Last week I went to the movie theater here for the first time.  I went with a couple of friends to an afternoon showing of The Iron Lady.  In English, of course, with Japanese subtitles. There's not too much to report about the experience, it's about the same as seeing a movie in an American theater.  Only three things caught my attention: 1) you get an assigned seat number---randomly generated when you buy your ticket  2) you can't get butter on your popcorn---only salt, cheese or caramel and  3) they didn't have much candy at the concession stand---only KitKat, cookies and churritos.