Mark to Japan

Mark came to Japan on Friday evening in order to attend the interment of Takashi's remains in the family grave. We had a few beers on Friday night to catch up and left the house on Saturday morning to travel to the nearby Kodaira City cemetery.

The actual Buddhist ceremony was very brief with only close family members in attendance. The urn was placed in a space under the large granite headstone with a surprising lack of ceremony and then after the priest had recited some sutras, we went off to a steak restaurant to have lunch. The mood was relatively light and Takashi was spoken about fondly by all. The day was more of a celebration of his life than an event to mourn his passing.

After a nice family dinner, Mark and I went out around Kumegawa for some beers and entertainment. We ended up playing darts until about 4am and then got up around midday on Sunday. Although Mark's flight was not until 7pm in the evening, he had to leave the house much earlier as Narita Airport is a fairly long journey from Tokyo. I suppose it was only a matter of time until an error of semi-biblical proportions decided to make things interesting. I did well to get Mark on the Narita Express, it just turned out it was the train from the airport and therefore going in the opposite direction. Mark ended up getting a taxi which cost him about GBP150.

Despite the last minute hiccup with Mark's train, his visit was a success and was certainly appreciated by Yuki's family. I will probably visit Hong Kong for a week or so later in the year as it has been some time since my last visit.

Now I have a 1 week holiday. I have lots of things to keep me busy (more on that in later posts) but I will also ensure that I find ample time for enjoyment. Bye for now.

Tama Zoo

The Japanese are on holiday mode at the moment as it is Golden Week - the period when a number of holidays fall together into one block. Everyone is on holiday, with the exception of myself.

Since it is the weekend and the weather is gorgeous, Yuki suggested we visit Tama Zoo, a short train and monorail journey. The kid in me likes the idea of travel on a monorail - it is still a fairly rare mode of transport and the views tend to be very nice from the raised track. I think it took about 30 mins to the zoo from our house in Kumegawa. I was keen to get out of the house and get some fresh air as the skies are blue and the air is fresh. We had better make the most of the cool clear days as Tokyo will soon become a hot and humid sauna once again.At the entrance to the zoo there were carp wind socks called koinobori. These are traditionally put up to celebrate Children's Day in Japan.

The zoo was nice enough and some of the animals were fun to watch, the mischievous monkeys in particular. However, the most pleasant aspect was simply walking around the zoo, enjoying the sun, fresh air, and surrounding trees.Clara also enjoyed stretching her legs although found my perpetual monkey impersonations slightly grinding. We are all going out for dinner soon (in about 30 minutes time) to a nearby restaurant. Beers between 5pm and 6pm are half price - only ¥250! Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of spring cleaning and will also try and organise some of Takashi's things. A very nice day so far and a good dinner to look forward to.Although I am working the whole of Golden Week, I will have the following week off in lieu...more on that soon.