Book shop

Do you go to a book shop to read books but not to buy?

Here lots of us do! not so in a small shops, but big shops

there are many people standind in a isle reading. and they do

sometimes read whole book.

And these big book shops, they even have chairs, so people can

sit down and read!

This is one of shops I went to. I was meeting my friend and got there half an hour early.

I had a pair of sandals on with heels, so this was perfect!

waiting for a friend, reading a new book borrowed from the shop without getting sore feet!

It was saturday, and the weather was good, so we decided to have a picnic by the river.

The place is called Settu-kyou and it`s not too far from where we live. We went by bus which took about 15 min and walked up to the Settu-kyou park for 20 min. It was very hot day and temprature must had been up to 30c or more!

After 20 mins of a nice sweaty walk, we came out to the river. It is a beautiful place, can`t believe only 15 min away on the bus!

It`s looks like its right in the countryside but it's actually quite close to towns and cities and convinient stores, and as it was a sunny saturday, of course the place was packed! in the photos it doesn`t look too busy but there were people everywhere, BBQ smoke was filling the air.

The first thing we found was a little lizard. how cute is this? Kids wanted to catch it but it got scared and ran away under the rock.

It`s so nice to be in the water!! yay!

And we looked for little creatures. We found lots of shrimps and crabs.

Japan is a mountainious country. When we go to the countryside, it`s nomally surrounded by mountains. It`s very beautiful... In summer we should be able to see fireflies too. We`ll certainly come here again!

From our balcony

It`s not a million dollars night view, but still beautiful.

just before midnight, wind is still warm.

missing somebody so much... X

We went to Hiroshima to see my grandma. From Osaka to Hiroshima, it takes about an hour and a half by Shinkansen!! When we were little this trip took 2 and a half to 3 hours! It was always crowded because it was during the holidays, also me and my sister both got car sick very easily, so this train ride was nothing to look forward to. But now it takes only almost half of time it used to...., there isn't any time for getting sick!

Viz likes trains; he was really looking forward to ride on Sinkansen. We went on a NOZOMI N700, which can go 300 km per hour!

Inside of the train. Actually this was on our way back from Hiroshima, and the train was from this station. We were first one in! yay!

My grandma is 85 and she lives with my uncle and his wife. My couisn lives near there and his children came to see us too. they were about same age as mine, they got on well and played all day together.

Inside the house, we found a "kotatsu" which is a low table covered with a duvet and has a built in heater. This is for winter and now the weather is warm, but my grandma thought it will be nice for Hunny and Viz to see, so she left it out for us.

They both got into it in no time and were soon snuggling up. Later this was used in hide and seek for their base. The kids love to stick their head in it!

This is how it looks inside. It`s got heater on the back of table top, so nice and warm in cold days.

Just don't let a stink bomb go off in there!

We are in the middle of the Golden Week!

From last week, we have 4 days of national holidays and with 2 weekends together, so some lucky people could have 11 days off! Most of the people have to go to work a few days in between, but still this week is the longest holiday which can be taken for many people.

Kids had 1 day off, 1 day school, 5 days off, 2 days school and then 2 days off...

There is no half term off, so without this holiday, this spring-summer term will be a very very long one!

One of national holidays in this week is "Children`s Day"

It`s on 5th May and this is the day to celebrate boys to grow up strong and healthy.

We decorate the sky with something called "koinobori" which is basically a carp shaped flag.

There is a myth that carps went up the river and became dragons . People wished their sons to be strong and healthy, so started to decorate these koinobori.

In the park by the river, they had a Koinobori Festival.

There were 1000 carps swimming in a blue sky.

There were lots of food stalls and some game stands, and shows of brass bands, dance clubs, and Japanese Drums etc. Our favourite was the performance of the Japanese Drums.