Carps Blowing in the Wind

 We have arrived at Mibu Recreational park in Japan. Teresa has planned a surprise by visiting this park.  I am anxious to see what is going on here?

Many beautiful cherry trees are in the park 

Walking along and we saw many big plastic bags on the ground and several men.  A smile comes on my face when I see they are taking big windsock carp fish from the bags. The carp socks were all various sizes.  We watched as the men hung the carp fish on cable hoping to see them raise the big line of carp fish.  It started to look like they were having trouble getting the winch started to pull the cable of fish up. We decided to walk about the park for a while and see what else is in the park. :-)

Thought I should tell you why they hang carp fish. On May 5 it is a tradition to hang carp fish shaped streamers outside to represent the number of boys in their family.  They also set out a warrior doll or other heroes inside their homes. The carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success, according to legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon.  

As we walked around we saw the typical things you would expect to see in a park, but we kept walking as Teresa said there is a beautiful garden here we must see.

We came across an amusement park where big stuffed animals were outside that you could ride.  You had to feed them 100 yen to ride.  Inside the big building were lots of electronic games they could play.

Large stuffed animals for children to ride at a cost.This one is oh so cute.

This little fellow was heading over to one of the riding animals.

Well, we have reached the location of the beautiful gardens. I can see hundreds of tulips so I'm going to get some shots of the beauty that is before me.

I see a group of ladies that were taking a break and having a snack and some hot tea. I said Ohayōgozaimasu to them.   They smiled thinking I could speak Japanese.  As soon as they started talking they knew I  could not speak their language.  Teresa came to save me, the group offered us some sweets and tea.  After some communication, we found out the group volunteers to take care of the gardens here at the park.  Wow, what a big job and these gardens are so beautiful. Teresa and I enjoying our morning break with the group.

I wanted a group picture before they all started off back to work.  So happy we have met this great group of people.

More pictures of flowers from the gardens

 

Time to head back to see if the park people have the carp fish flying yet.  Well, not yet it looks like.

Awe, there they go Up, UP and AWAY............

The carp fish are flying high..

Marlon and I by the biggest carp fish hanging.....they are huge !!!

 
Beatiful view of the Japanese garden

Me and my BFF Teresa 

 

After park and Tochigi City museum we went to get cup of coffee at a small cafe in the country.  Teresa has been friends with him for a long time.  To our surprise the owner told us to follow him and to our surprise we got to listen to a group of ladies who played Tiako drums.  They were so good, after they played for us, Teresa got to try out the drums with the sensi of the group.  To my amazement so did I.  What a happy day.

Filling out information about us

Tochigi City ~Shopping March 27, 2012

Picking up Valarie and Kencho this morning to take a road trip with us to Tochigi City to do some shopping.  Again they are waiting outside for our arrival.  When they get in the car we all say our good mornings and start off chatting about our day.  Teresa wants to go to some of her favorite places to shop and mine too.

 As I catch up with the rest of my friends Kencho stops me and reads this sign to me.  No dogs allowed to poop in the sidewalk. Now only in Japan would I expect to see a sign like this. LOL

 Teresa directed us to her favorite shop where we were greeted with free cups of freshly made cups of coffee for each of us.  Poor Valarie didn't get to enjoy shopping here as she was fighting her allergies.  Her eyes were swollen and she had the sniffles, along with feeling sick.

Kencho is hungry and so are the rest of us.  Teresa has a card for a new place to eat in Tochigi City called Warabi. Ric and Teresa had eaten there and liked it.   So we are on our way to find this restaurant.

After walking to where we thought the place should be and not finding it we stopped two schoolgirls and showed them the card.  They seemed to know where the place was and walked us all the way to the new place.  Only in Japan would someone go totally out of their way to take time out of their schedule to make sure we all got there.  Thanks to those wonderful girls for being so kind.

I love the designs of animals used to hold up barriers.

We are in the new place to eat and we all took our shoes off and decided to eat in the private rooms that have Japanese seating. We each take our place at the table and the waiter comes and gets our drink orders and explains what's on the menu because it is all written in Japanese. 

Our lunch was delicious.  First, we were served steamed vegetables and our drink orders. I had ordered an iced coffee and liked the tin glasses that the coffee was served in.

Basil Risotto 

Pumpkin Risotto 

Apple pie and vanilla icecream 

When we were done eating and paid for our food the owner comes out and gives us each a big bag of green olives that are soaking in olive oil.  He told us to let them soak for at least 3 hours. One of the waitresses remembered Teresa from an earlier visit.  She walked us outside and took our picture and then we added her to the photo.  This was absolutely a delicious place to eat.

We are on our way to do some more shopping in Tochigi City.  I still have several things on my list to buy for special people.

I see a shop that sells the samurai boys' day dolls.  Once inside the shop, my mouth fell to the floor.  Wow, lots of very nice boys day samurai dolls to look at.  Before I came to Japan for vacation I was wanting to buy boy and girl dolls.  Boy's Day is May 5th so there are stores displaying boys dolls, I think girls' day dolls are going to be difficult to find. Japanese display samurai armor inside the house to hope that the child will grow up strong like a samurai !!

   

I finally find one I can afford and ask owner to purchase.  He told me it was already sold.  I was very disappointed. He then showed me another doll that looked just like the one I wanted but was bigger.  He told me he would sell to me for almost same price as smaller one.  I told him yes I would buy it for that price.  :-)  He packaged the doll up with very protective material to keep it from breaking during shipment.  Here is a picture of the boy doll I got.

 As we were getting ready to leave store the owner stops us and tells Kencho he can go pick out a carp flag fish that was in a basket.  Kencho ended up picking the bright orange one which I liked.

  We took the big boxed up samurai doll to the car and started off down the street to another one of our favorite shops. This shop sells handmade baskets and brooms.  I bought a large handmade basket with nice handles for $1800 yen, wow what a great bargain.
I used to basket to carry the rest of the purchases I made that day. 


Only in Japan can you find a drink machine on every corner even in the country.


We are looking for a coffee house to sit down and relax but so far we are not having good luck.  We did find an interesting shop that sold antique furniture.  Boy, there were several items I looked at that I just loved.

We have not found a good coffee house so when we finished looking in the antique furniture store we decided on our way home we would stop at Lawson's and get something to drink. I liked this so I am sharing with my blog followers.

Later that evening when Teresa dropped me off at Kazue's house I rested then it was time for dinner.  Ate and I visited with my host family.  Later Shusumo brought home a bottle of Japanese wine and together we drank the bottle and talked in English.  What a perfect ending to a perfect day.