Don't let the absence of pictures fool you into thinking April was an off month for us. It really wasn't, but we repeated quite a few events and so I spared you multiple pictures of the same thing over and over again - you're welcome!
So I will pick up where we left off - our Spring Break Trip - the Osaka leg. We took the train from our Airbnb in downtown Osaka to Universal Studios and thankfully the train dumps you out directly in front of the the Universal gate! We had a little bit of confusion trying to figure out our digital park passes but I was able to find an employee who spoke enough English to figure out what we needed to do. Super Nintendo World had just opened os we were hoping that most of the crowds (it was also Japanese Spring Break for some schools) were heading to that area of the park. We decided to head to the "Flying Dinosaur" roller coaster in the Jurassic Park section first since the lines were predicted to be long. Apparently everyone else had that same idea because we waiting in a pretty long line. What a difference this time around - the kids actually WANTED to do the thrill rides!! The kids went off on their own and the parents got to do our own thing too! It was a win-win!
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| Not super crowded, but definitely the biggest crowds we have been in our whole Japan Covid experience |
After a couple of hours, we felt we had seen and ridden enough. The adults decided a nicer meal was in order. The park was closing early anyway so we texted the kids to join us at the Hard Rock before last call at 8:00pm. I know, you are thinking you ate at the Hard Rock?! But let me tell you, sometimes you really just want a delicious Western style meal. Today was one of those days. I regret nothing.
The next morning Jim and I decided to go for a run around Osaka. He left before me but I told him I would run towards Osaka Castle and hopefully meet up with him there. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and the original structure was built in 1537. Of course it has had many fires/explosions/lightning strikes/restorations over the centuries and the current building is a concrete reproduction that houses a museum. The grounds are a popular spot for festivals and of course is covered in Cherry trees. It has also been featured in many Godzilla movies and also James Clavell's Shōgun. We drove the kids by it on our way out of town later that day, but its significance was largely lost on them. They are all Castled out, for the time being anyway.
We didn't get to spend as much time in Osaka as Jim and I would have liked. We did however go down to the kitchen district in search of a few souvenirs. This place is dangerous. I want ALL the blue and white dishes. I am going to have to do some major purging in order to keep our total weight allowance under the limit. I told Jim I would love to come back! He is scared.
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| Kitchen District of Osaka |
On our way home from Osaka, I asked Jim if it would be possible to stop off in Koka to check out a tanuki store. He gave me a side eye but when I showed him the picture of the place he agreed it would be worth the small deviation off the freeway. The kids weren't as excited about it. There were sooo many tanukis!! Giant ones, small ones, some dressed as Elvis and even one that doubled as a bathtub-ish. We ended up buying one for donation to the Yokota High School PTO for auction. They even have a class where you can make your own tanuki. The tanuki stop ended up costing us about an hour, but I felt that it was totally worth it! Everyone else might have a different opinion. 😜
We barely made it home for Easter! Thankfully the kids slept in so the Easter Bunny had PLENTY of time to get his act together. We were able to coerce the kids into doing an egg hunt but they were only in it for the money eggs.
The big big news for April is that High School Soccer is ON! We weren't sure when soccer started practicing back in February if there would be actual games against other schools, but somehow it happened. Both girls were on the team and it was so great to see them playing a sport they both love. Basically the season consisted of them playing several games against the two closest schools to Yokota, in addition to one day of games against a school over 8 hours away. They did pretty well and we are hopeful that next year the team will be even better. I took way too many pictures of the girls and their teammates during the games, so I will just tell you they played every weekend during the month of April as well as every Tuesday. I will spare you (and them).
Jim got to go back to Okinawa this month for a whirlwind trip. It was great to see some of the places we visited and lived but strange at the same time. Okinawa truly is a world away from the mainland. He snapped this picture of Fuji from the airplane. We hope to get down there next month and to hopefully hike it over the summer.
Another cool thing Jim did this month was a midnight bike ride to downtown Tokyo with a bunch of coworkers. I am not sure exactly how he managed to do this and then function the next day, but he said it was pretty cool.
On a totally random note and really just because I have been working with these two about sharing space I snapped this quick picture of the fur babies. No one was harmed in this photo although you can see the disdain in Yoshi's face and while you may not recognize Wesley's look as fear, he was quaking and wouldn't make eye contact. Apparently when Yoshi hits him with his velvet soft declawed paws - it hurts 😳. Let me also throw in that Wesley weighs about 60lbs and Yoshi clocks in at a respectable 10lbs.
Before we arrived to Yokota, Ben was most excited about the base skate park. However after we got here he found out that the park had recently been demolished and was on the list to be remodeled. The problem was there was no money earmarked for the project. Luckily there was a group of skateboarders (young and old) who jointed together and decided to not take "no" for an answer. This group, of whom Ben was an active member, drew up a petition, got nearly 300 signatures, had several meetings with base officials including the commander. End result: we now have a skate park!! With some creative outside-the-box thinking and use of existing and materials left over from previous projects, the base was able to quickly turn the demolition zone into a skatepark for all ages. While there are still some hurdles to cross and larger ramps to be built, the park is now open!
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