Parks Galore and Sunny Days :)

I have a paper due already for Friday but I'm not in the mood to work on it right now so I thought an update would be a better.. use of time.... Perhaps not wise but, oh well.

Ueno Park:

Lots of green.

It was a pretty chilly day though..

Outside the museum

What I went to see. The figures came from Yakushi-ji in Nara. Apparently quite the famous temple. Yaku = kusuri = medicine. According to my host mom, people would frequently come to this temple to ask to be healed. (If you're interested: http://www.google.com/search?q=yakushiji&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7TSHA - wikipedia for more info and the third one has lots of pictures of the actual site)

Looks like good memories are being made here.

Water fountain. It's a really big park that had various other museums like art and a zoo and other amusements. (And here I will advertise for Jen's blog for more interesting pictures of Ueno park!)

Musical group which I had at first mistaken the soprano saxophone for a clarinet from far away. I was a little disappointed but they were quite fun to watch.

Entrance to a shrine.

Rainy night on my way home and my ~$1 umbrella!

National Holiday celebrating the birthday of emperor Showa (Hirohito), April 29, 2008:

Korakuen--

Baseball- little league style. They were so cute. We managed to catch the very end of their game where the two teams lined up, thanked each other, ran through the other team and faced one side of the audience, thanked them, ran through each other back to their respective sides, thanked the other side of the audience, and then ended.

Koishikawa korakuen (小石川後楽園) of the early Edo Period (~1629), built by Yorifusa, the founder of the Mito Tokugawa family, who maintained a separate Edo residence here. "The name of the garden, "Korakuen," came from a CHinese text in Hanchuen's "Gakuyoro-ki" ... which said that there is "a need for those in power to worry about maitaining power first and then enjoy power later." Thus, the name Korakuen, meaning " the garden for enjoying power later on," was chosen." (-pamphlet from the garden)

Looks like the sign is pointing in the direction to get to some fairy tale land (though in real it's showing the way to the restrooms beyond the stairs...).

Small waterfall, Shiraito-no-taki.

My host parents!

Wisteria season (the purple flowers in the background). In June the plots of land closer to me will bloom irises.

Very fluttery looking blossoms. Pretty big too if you can compare it to the flying critter pictured.

Attempting to be artsy.

Another attempt... Focus was a bit wrong though.

Wide variety of flowers there.

A sense of history..

So much green.. it was absolutely beautiful that day.

Can you spot the Koi?

The Naitei, or inner garden, where the Mito Clan maintained a "shoin"-style guesthouse (according to the pamphlet).

Different angle of the bridge.

Tokudaiji Stone...

Again, so green.....

Thought this angle was kind of cool butthe way I took it might make one wonder what exactly the man is looking at through his camera...

Momiji grove (Japanese maple).

Oigawa. Imitation of a famous Chinese garden apparently.

Lovely contrasting bridge.

What lied between the two pictures above.

View from the rock bridge.

A Weeping cherry tree approximately 60 years old.

And now, back to reading/homework/paper writing for me...

Good luck to all at home taking finals!