Sunday Sunny Sunday (U2 Song?)

Spring has finally sprung and yesterday was a very pleasant, warm Sunday. After washing the dishes and tidying up, we packed the baby things in a bag, shoved Akira on his bike seat and cycled off to the pond park for a picnic. The park was really busy. It has a large, grassy area, (unusual in itself in Japanese parks), where families were playing almost every conceivable catching, throwing, batting, kicking game imaginable. Akira toddled through it all, remarkably unscathed, hunkering down occasionally to pick up a leaf or a cherry blossom petal. The cherry trees still had some blossom on them and a few of a weeping variety were still in their full glory. Couples and families were picnicking and enjoying 'Hanami', (cherry blossom viewing), under them. The larger trees had already shed their flowers in a cascade that swathed the ground like new fallen snow. I have never seen ground so white from blossom, acres of park turned to a snowlike landscape on a balmy spring day.
We toddled down to the pond and spread our picnic sheet. We had stopped at Seven Eleven on the way and Reiko had bought herself some 'Onigiri',(rice balls, these consist of a ball of sticky rice containing something like a piece of fish, some Japanese pickles or meat and then usually wrapped in a thin sheet of 'nori' kelp pounded and dried into a sheet like paper, delicious!), I stuck to sandwiches and Akira had baby food of course. Reiko had opted to bring her own green tea from home, but I bought lemon tea from the vending machine in the park. Japan is the No1 vending machine country in the world, they are everywhere and you can get a hot or cold drink almost anywhere at anytime or even a beer, sake or whisky! I can't see the same thing happening in Britain as the machines on the street would have to be made by the same company that made Robocop and would have to be just as heavily armed!

After lunch, we went to Saiboku Ham, which is a pig farm turned food theme park nearby. It has a vegetable market, a supermarket specialising in porcine products and a weird pitch and putt type game using clubs that look like a cross between a driver and a croquet mallet. They have also recently opened a hot-spring spa, which seems to be incredibly popular, going by the packed car park. Sundays at this place are just a heaving mass of humanity as people wander around trying samples of food, licking ice creams, enjoying the barbecue or playing on the adventure playground. Akira was fascinated by the machine that roasts green tea. It has a revolving display at one end and he was mesmerised by it and the steady stream of tea leaves tumbling into the tea chest. I dragged him away from that to look at the Koi carp in the pond. The fish are really beautiful and the pond has the largest single carp I have ever seen, well over four feet long and inky black. A quick cycle home through the country lanes, and Akira was nodding off in his seat before we turned into the bike park at the flats.