Golden Week Vacation

Last week was "Golden Week" - a week in Japan where you often get around 3 days of vacation depending on how the holidays fall (unfortunately they're not all in a row).  But many people take the remaining days of the week off and travel since the weather is pleasant and not too hot yet.  This year's schedule was kind of weird- we had a three day weekend followed by a three day work week and then a four day weekend.  I decided to save some money and stay home for this Golden Week but it was nice to have some days off.  This year I managed to take some pictures of the sakura (cherry blossoms) around town.  The sakura only bloom for a short time (around 7-8 days) so it can be hard to take pictures of them.

A view of the bay from a hill.  You can see some blossoming trees (not sakura) on the left.

Some sakura blooming around a shrine.

A close-up of some sakura in my neighborhood.

I think that the sakura tree on the slope is incredible since it survived the tsunami and continues to bloom beautifully.  In the foreground is a field that used to be a rice paddy, but now it's too salty for growing rice.

One of the holidays celebrated in early May is 子どもの日 (kodomo no hi) or Children's Day.  In the weeks before Children's Day families hang some 鯉のぼり(koi nobori - carp-shaped streamers) outside of their homes (though you can also see them hanging in other places too).  The colors of the carp represent the members of the family.  The big, black carp represents the father, the medium, red one is the mother and the small ones are the children.  The color of a child's carp-streamer varies depending on the gender of the child and the area of Japan, though blue is the most common color for the oldest male child.

Some carp-streamers near a local market.  Can you find the father, mother, and child?

That reminds me, I wanted to mention gender-associated colors in Japan.  Just like the carp-streamers, black is for guys and red is for girls.  This is especially true for restroom color-coding; I once went to a restaurant and there were no signs or symbols on the bathroom doors, one was simply painted black and the other red... so be careful when traveling in Japan!  This color system is true for children as well, that's why elementary school girls often have red backpacks and boys have black ones.  Though at my elementary schools I have seen girls with pink and light blue backpacks as well - I guess since pink is related to red it still works out, and it seems that blue is more of a "children's color" since there are a few boys with dark blue backpacks as well.

Anyway, during one of my days off I took a walk down to the local shopping area to buy some vegetables.  It was a sunny day so I had on my sunglasses, and since it was a holiday I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.  Along the way I saw three of my elementary students (all 6th grade girls) walking towards me as they were coming back from the shopping area.  They saw me approaching and started whispering among themselves, as if they were psyching themselves up for something.  When I was in hailing range they all said, "Hello!" together.  I greeted them back and by that time we were next to each other.  One of the girls looked surprised and said,「ちょっと、先生?」 "Wait... sensei?" (sensei means teacher so any teacher can be called 'sensei').  They had apparently not recognized me in my informal attire and mistook me for a random foreigner visiting the town, and yet they had still greeted me in English!!!  I've gotta say, I was proud of them for doing that.

Now for a few more pictures:

Some more metal-sheet art near one of my schools.  There is some Japanese writing on the upper one a bit to the right of center.  I believe it says,「ここで生きてきた幸せ。ここで生きていく喜び」"We were happy to live here.  We live here with delight."  (It's read right to left and top to bottom in the traditional Japanese style).

A neighborhood cat sitting in my apartment parking lot.

Notice how the cat is sitting right where a tire usually rests.  He doesn't care as long as he's in the sun.

And now for a special picture.  Way back I mentioned that some traffic lights in Japan appear blue instead of green...

Here is a legendary blue traffic light!  This particular traffic light is nocturnal and lives in the mountains between Minamisanriku and Tome.

Well, that's all for now - I'll be busy in the coming weeks but I'll try to write again in good time.