Mums' group picnic in the park

Today we had another outing with Rika's Mum's group. A picnic in Yoyogi park.

It was a lovely day and a good chance to enjoy late autumn leaves.




Having a picnic.




This is Tagashira-san with Haru-kun.


Back to our place for tea. This is Na-chan playing with Haru-kuhn.


Haru-kun and Yuki.


Na-chan, Shibuya-san (Yuki-s mother), and the Yamaguchi-sans (Na-chan's parents)

Memorial Service at Ikadaba

Last Sunday we went down to Ikadaba fro a memorial service for Rika's father. These are usually held 1 year after death and again at 3 , 7, 13, 17 25 (or 23 or 27), 33, 50 and 100 years.

The service was held at Saishoin, the same temple where Rika and I were married in October.



The service was also a memorial to Rika's father and also a child from the family who died 100 years ago.



It was a cold and overcast day, but the temple looked lovely with the autumn foliage.













Hannah and Musashi.

Team London Reunion

Mt Takao

In mid November we went for a 1-day hike to climb Mt Takao.

Hannah was quite excited when we put her in the Deuter


Mt Takao is about 1 hour from central Tokyo and technically within the metropolitan limits. It is 599m high and has a cable way halfway up. Of course, that way is for sissies so we walked up one of the trails.


Near the summit is an ancient temple complex called Yakuoin".


"Considered a sacred mountain, Takaosan has been a center of mountain worship for more than 1000 years. The attractive temple Yakuoin stands near the mountain's top. Visitors pray there to mountain gods (tengu) for good fortune. Statues of the gods, one with a long nose and one with a crow beak, can be found at the temple and all over the mountain".





As you can see from this group of pilgrims, Yakuoin does seem to be a place of active worship.


Visiting Mt Takao in autumn to see the red leaves is very popular. This is the summit and the two restaurants were doing a brisk trade.




A view from near the top, looking east towards Tokyo in the dusk around 4pm. Having walked up we wanted to take the cable-way down, but there was a 60min que - so we ended up walking down in the dark.

Jidokan

Rikas's Mums' group met up fro a team visit to the Shibuya Jidokan. This is a mega playcentre run by the Tokyo city, where children can do lots of different activities or just play in indoor playground.

This is Hannah's first go on a slide


And her second go.


She became a bit obsessed with it.


Soon she wanted to try out the bigger kids slide


I've been trying to encourage Hannah to play with the shape sorter - without pushing her of course!

Akasugu Nov-Dec 2008

After we returned from holiday, the new edition of 'Akasugu' was published, and we could see the results of Hannah's modeling work.

Akasugu Part II

Hannah also modeled for a skincare section in Akasugu.





She looks much happier modeling with her kit off.








"Mama gently care please"


File 5: Itchy skin. "make it better"




"Itchy trouble"