parents visit!

Aaand finally I am posting this blog post I wrote at over a month ago! -.-' 

When I told my parents that this would be my last year on JET, their first reaction was, "well I guess we need to visit Japan again then!" And true to their words, they came!

After a quiet night for their arrival, the next morning we got up early to visit Nokogiriyama! It's one of the places I always recommend to people in Chiba, and since this time I actually knew about the prefecture (as opposed to last time when they came only three months after I'd arrived), I was determined to take them somewhere in Chiba and not Tokyo. I noticed this time that it seemed like many of the heads of the statues, which had been knocked off in an anti-Buddhist movement in the past, seemed to have been replaced. Sometimes they looked like the proper heads and sometimes... they didn't haha, so I'm very intrigued as to who/what is behind it all. After a mishap on the way home where a train delay tricked me into leading us off the train and subsequently having to wait another hour in a tiny rural station, we got back to Chiba City and had all-you-can-eat shabushabu!

The next day I had yosakoi practice, in which we held a joint practice with the other big team in the prefecture, Maikagura. It was my first time performing in this year's costume and we only just barely came up with a plan for the stage performance, but in any case it was very fortunate timing that my parents happened to be around, so they could see me dance. I think this may end up being both the first and last time they'll get to see it live, and it's a bit of a shame that it wasn't a real event/the dance hadn't been finalized yet, but my dad happily took tons of pictures and I think they both enjoyed it, so it was well worth it. :)

On Monday we began a quest to find cherry blossoms still in bloom, which as it turns out was my mother's main objective for this trip. First we tried Inokashira Park in Kichijoji, but sadly not only were there no sakura, even the little zoo in the park was closed. After a prolonged and maybe unnecessary coffee break, we attempted another park that the internet told me should still have blossoms until mid-April, to no avail. By that time it was almost dark and so we just had dinner, at a Showa-era themed izakaya. We got to sit in a more unique room than usual and I enjoyed sitting in the bartender seat and drinking beer poured out from tea kettles. Hopefully they enjoyed it too!

The next day we went to Hamarikyu Garden, where I had been before with my old supervisor, which - amazingly - still had lots of sakura! So my parents spent a happy hour or two taking lots and lots of photographs, and we also had some tea in the teahouse there (though it was unfortunately not a proper tea ceremony). After that we went to see a small museum in Shiodome that we had passed on the way to the gardens, before having a nice sushi dinner before my interpreting class. After class I found them in a bar nearby and had a drink before heading back home.

I had thought that seeing lots of cherry blossoms at Hamarikyu would be enough to satisfy my mother's desire to see them, but as it turns out it wasn't, and she insisted that we go to Fukushima to see them, thanks to liberal advertising by JR in every train station we passed. So on Wednesday morning we got up bright and early to take a shinkansen to Fukushima! Our first stop was not far from Fukushima Station, a place called Hanamiyama (flower-viewing mountain), which lived up to its name! First on our walk there we saw fields and fields of yellow flowers, followed by lots and lots of cherry trees as we walked up the mountain trail. There were also things like statues and ponds and overall it was just gorgeous views everywhere! Next we had lunch back at the station (ramen, because I knew they would agree) before taking the train to our next stop, Kasumigajou Park. This also involved climbing up a mountain amidst tons of cherry tea in full bloom, and the view at the top was stunning! Even I had to admit it was worth going all the way to Fukushima to see those two sites. :)

The next day I had work in the morning that I couldn't skip, so my parents chilled at home until I came home for lunch and then we headed to Yokohama! I'd taken my mom there in March last year and decided it was worth taking them both, even though actually it took just as long to get to Yokohama as it did to Fukushima the day before. -.-' Anyway, we had a really nice time exploring the passenger pier (and taking selfies while lying on the deck, passing through the red brick warehouse,  and then eating two bowls of ramen each at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. :3

And that was it! The next day I saw them off to the train station and they left for China, leaving me all alone again. :( But next time they come they can come visit me in Kyoto instead, which is a very exciting thought! :)