Matsumoto

hello everybody,

It's been a while since we've last posted something here. I guess, it means that our life here has gotten a bit more like an everyday life and a little less adventurous.

Obviously, it being Japan and all, we haven't yet stopped wondering about little things, like why did this woman step into the street, bow and turn to walk away? Or why do everybody bow coming to a new floor in a warehouse? Why was I offered a sip of a man's drink in the playground the other day? and why, as I refused, did he think, I'd reconsider if he told me it was whisky. Why did a school class bring a fotographer with 3 different cameras and 6 zoom lenses on an excursion? Why does Tokyo have more than 6 millionen vending machines? And what is the obsession with washing hands? A few days ago we came across this interismistic petting zoo, and believe it or not, they had put up around 10 zinks (similar in size to the toilets set up at festivals etc) in order for people to be able to wash hands afterwards. And at the playground they also encourage you to wash hands after having played in the sand. Yes, we haven't quite figured out Tokyo yet. Shame, that we're leaving in less than a week.

It being weekend and all, we obviously haven't just been sitting around in the playground drinking whisky. Today we decided to leave Tokyo and go for a breath of fresh air near the mountains - a city called Matsumoto. It was a 2,5 hour train ride - nothing much to do there...

Playing with Selmas kaleidoscope on the long train journey.

In Matsumoto, besides from getting some nice fresh mountain air, we went to see a beautiful castle.

Nice and dramatic just before the rain started.

And finally we tasted some delicious tempura - that won't be the last time that I decide on eating tempura instead of sushi - although I haven't gotten tired of that yet either.

Tomorrow we'll be going for a trip south of Tokyo to see some nice temples and shrines. I hope we don't get any rain. Since the weather forecast didn't mention anything about rain for the weekend, we packed all our rain gear in the first bag that we've stored in Kristians lab. We're leaving the appartment monday and moving into a hotel, and we wanted to avoid dragging all our stuff at the same time. By the way, moving to a hotel means that my days as a japanese hausfrau are numbered...hmm...not bad...still wouldn't mind, though, if someone would come and look after the kids for a couple of hours...

I'll have to leave the computer to Kristian now, he still has lots of work to be done before he leaves the lab here on wednesday. Poor thing!

Arigato and sayonara!!!

Rikke