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.