Some friends that I met hiking when I was back in the states recently got married and took a trip to Japan. When they arrived in Tokyo I took them out for some delicious Japanese Tofu cuisine and had a great time talking and catching up.

One of my friends invited me to a very small outdoor festival/market. With an emphasis on natural food and items and almost a hippie atmosphere, there were various bands, foods, and booths where you could try making some items with your own hands. I spent the entire afternoon carving my own spoon, making my own hemp bracelet, eating some good foods, and listening to different varieties of music.

Someone was also playing the didgeridoo

My handmade spoon before and after shots.

Delicious lunch set

Making your own threads

My hemp bracelet.

This month’s hiking trip was to Mt. Zukou, a measly 300 meters high. Of course the purpose of this month’s hike was more to see the cherry blossoms. Along the way we stopped at Lake Shinko, which was supposedly formed a long time ago by a large earthquake.

Mt. Oyama is on the right.

Yaezakura

It was still a week before most of the Sakura come out, but my my friend and I still went around to see what was in bloom. We went to Mitsuike (Three Ponds) Park, a fairly famous park in the Yokohama area for Sakura. Most of the trees had still not bloomed, but the ones that did early were very nice.

It was a slightly rainy day, so my friend and I decided to go to the skate rink. It was my first time to Kanagawa Skate Rink, and I guess not too surprisingly it was crowded with lots and lots of kids. Some of the kids were quite good, doing spins and jumps and other skate thingees. I however, even with the days practice, still cant figure out how to skate backwards.

It is the first day of Spring.
In Japan, the tradition for the day is to eat Ohagi. Although, it is sold everywhere on the day, I still prefer to make my own:

Three kinds:
Uguisu Kinako, Regular Ohagi, Goma

It is Ume blossom time, and although it was slightly raining my friends came down for a visit to Kamakura. We walked around and went to some of the temples and shrines famous for having plum blossoms, and of course there was lots of interesting foods to be had throughout the day. The main shrine we wanted to visit was ‘Engaraten’, which is surrounded by plum trees. The street all the way up to the shrine also had plum trees on both sides.
Being so close, I feel that I really should visit more often as there are a lot more interesting shops, foods, and cafes to explore.

Some of my hiking friends and I took a 2-day snowboard trip to Grandeco in Fukushima. It had been three years since I last went snowboarding, so I was very out of practice. I was also extra careful not to get injured like last time, but I still ended up with quite a few bruises. The weather was nice both days and we were able to get plenty of boarding in as it was not very crowded.
We stayed the night at a Japanese ryokan in Nakanosawa Hot Springs village. It was a fairly cheap ryokan, but the food was decent and the hot springs was great. Plus, there was a sweets shop right across the street.

Arrival

All ready to start

At the top

Sweets

In the Ryokan

Start of day two

Day two was absolutely beautiful