Cherry Blossom Season

The cherry blossom trees have lost almost all of their flowers. It was definitely a sight to see - I can see why the cherry blossoms are such a big part of the Japanese culture. You could see random cherry blossom trees everywhere and even though the blossoms were only blooming for a month of so, they do leave a lasting impression.

Here are some cherry blossoms up close. I picked them up this morning off the ground as I was walking the dogs.

Mona really liked the scent of the flowers -
we both agreed it was the same as a bouquet of roses. 

Baseball in Japan

We had heard that going to a baseball game in Japan was something that we needed to experience. So on Sunday we went to Yokohama to watch a game between the Yokohama Bay Stars and the Tokyo Swallows. It was definitely a unique experience - definitely much different than going to a game in the states. It was similar to a college basketball game that has a vocal student section or a European soccer game. For instance, the outfield bleachers are split into two sections - one for the home team and one for the visiting team. These fans stand up when there team is batting and they will sing, chant and do a variety of cheers the entire time. Very cool looking - the girls said that is where they want to sit the next time we go to a game. Try to watch the videos - really interesting.

Tickets - took some time to figure out where
our seats were.

Cheerleaders came out between every inning.

The cheer sections put up this sign one inning
while the crowd sang to the city of Yokohama song.

There were girls in neon yellow everywhere
selling beer.

Late in the game we started noticing most of
the people suddenly had balloons.

Where the balloons came from, I have no idea.

And then this happened.

This is the visiting teams chant/cheer. It is hard to tell from how the video was uploaded, but there were thousands of people waving their umbrellas in unison as the song was playing. What is amazing is that the stadium played the music so that the visiting team could do their chant.

These were given out to all the fans as we
entered the stadium. 

They are very nice - made out of nylon
instead of plastic.

The flowers at Yokohama Park

Outside the baseball stadium in downtown Yokohama there is a park that has an unbelieveable assortment of tulips. We have been twice (Macie and I have been there three times, once on her field trip). Every time we are amazed by how pretty the flowers are.

Chinatown Field Trip

This past week Macie's school went on field trip to Yokohama to visit Chinatown. We started out at the Yokohama Foreign cemetery and then walked our way down the hill to Chinatown. The cemetery was created when a sailor on Matthew Perry's ship died and permission was asked to bury him on land. Matthew Perry, of course, is a significant figure in Japanese history - he is credited with opening Japan to trading with the rest of the world. It was definitely an interesting field trip.

There are several gates that signal that you are entering Chinatown.

 It seemed like every time you passed a building, there was a small side street.

Macie in front of one of the many shops. Every few feet, there was either a shop or a place to eat.

There were lots of shrines. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go inside them on this trip. But they were very interesting to see from the street.

There were lots of shops to try things we had never seen before. This was a place that combined ice cream toppings and fruit with shaved ice. Kind of tasted like the dipping dots you buy at the mall.

Macie shared hers with our group.

The kids were not too excited by stores like this one - those are whole ducks hanging in the windows.

Pandas are big in Chinatown. Definitely a unique way to attract people to your shop.

The kids got a big kick out of this statue. It is Dumpling Man. Dumplings are big in Japan and this was in front of one the shops - lots of people were stopping to have their picture taken.

More photos from Kinugasayama

   Yesterday, we found out what the yama means in Kinugasayama. It means mount - as in Mount Kinugasa. The top of the park is over 1400 feet - which is quite an increase in elevation since we live at sea level only two or three miles from the park. The view allowed us to look down on Yokosuka and see the town from a completely different perspective. From the base, Yokosuka doesn't look that big but the pictures toward the bottom show why the city actually has a population over 400,000.