We went to Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens today to view cherry blossoms. They are not in full bloom yet, but the 枝垂れ桜 (weeping cherry trees) were really beautiful.
Collection of photos from last month.
It’s getting warmer in Tokyo – warm enough to enjoy ice cream outside 🙂
Toward the end of the month, we went for a walk to Inokashira Park 2-3 times a week to check out cherry blossoms.
At the beginning of the month, we had a family wedding reception with my parents, brother, Keita’s dad, and some of his relatives. I wore his aunt’s kimono.
A group of friends from Japanese WordPress community gave us really nice surprise gifts – flowers, boxes of baked goods, and message boards. The bouquets were the biggest ones I’ve ever received in my life.
I went to Nagano prefecture for a short vacation last week, during Obon (or Bon Festival) Buddhist holiday. A friend of mine who moved to Nagano last year invited a bunch of us from Tokyo.
On the way to his home, we went to Yatsugatake Alpaca Farm. The alpacas there were very friendly and love to be fed from your hand. One of the young ones (actually called “Happy” for his smiley face) didn’t even mind being hugged — he just stayed still as if he’s a statue.
That night we went to watch Les Miserables movie under the starlight 🙂
One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Akeno Sunflower Field in the neighboring prefecture Yamanashi. According to the official event site, Hokuto City has planted a total of 600,000 sunflowers. I think these photos deserve full-width treatment!
And here’s a panorama one which your can click to view a larger version.
More photos from my friend and my Flickr set.
We were bummed that the Lake Suwako Fireworks Show was canceled because of a rainstorm (which somehow hit the lake area just as the show started) but it was still fun that I got to wear my new Yukata for the first time this summer.
Nagano is a great destination that is easily accessible from Tokyo by trains. I picked up a flyer for a hiking event this fall, it will be nice to visit there again in a few months.
