Tokyo - Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Although spring officially started in early-February there had been no real sign of it in Tokyo until recently. It was only in the last week that the weather has begun to get a bit warmer and a spring-feeling start to emerge.



Last Sunday we went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This is a 58.3 hectare park which was originally a residence of the Naito family in the Edo period, and then a private garden for the Impreial family until 1949.


The park contains gardens in 3 styles - French Formal, English Landscape and Japanese traditional. There are more than 20,000 trees, but it is still too early for the 1,500 cherry trees which bloom from late March (Shidare or Weeping Cherry), to early April (Somei or Tokyo Cherry), and on to late April (Kanzan Cherry). The trees that are beginning to bloom here are plum trees.


This is a panorama the western end of the Japanese garden from the tea house. The tall building in the background is the NTT Time Square tower which we often see from our neighborhood.

This is 'Rakuu-tei', one of 2 tea houses in the garden.



A panorama of the eastern side of the Japanese garden. I believe that the main area of cherry trees is further east, which is a famous location for 'hanami (花見) or cherry-blossom viewing parties.


Wikipedia also tells me that "with its proximity to Shinjuku ni-chome, Tokyo's best-known gay village, the park is also popular among gay men, and mass cherry-blossom viewing parties are organized in the park by local gay bars."



I guess it is also a good place for seeing spring daisy-chains.

Tokyo - At home

It was good to get home to Tokyo on Sunday night but I had to rush straight into 2 weeks of busy month-end work from Monday morning.



On the Tuesday, my brother Matthew visited us for 2 nights on his way to New Zealand. This is Hanna with uncle Matthew.


Hanna teaching Matther how she likes to be bounced. He will visit us on the way back from NZ as well.


This is Hanna playing with Kyoko, who very kindly looked after our cats while we were away. Apparently Minimi would cry outside our bedroom door every night while we were away. But of course he was too cool to show this when we came back home!


A recent change with Hanna is that she spends more time sitting down and playing with things. Another welcome change recently is that she is learning to be more gentle with the cats. She has learned to pat them softly and usually resists the urge to twist their ears off. As a result the cats are more confident to allow Hanna to come near and play with them.



As Hanna's abilities grow, Minimi is finding her a lot more interesting to be around. As you can see here.


On Saturday we saw something quite remarkable. While Hannah was being fed on my knee, Sasuke jumped up and snuggled in beside Hanna.


So the three of us sat there together for a few minutes while Hanna and I patted Sasuke.


This is one of several signs that Sasuke is overcoming her trauma and fear of people.

NZ - best baby photos

We took these bath-time photos and videos of Hannah while we were at the hotel in Queenstown. It was a really lovely moment. I wonder what Hannah is telling Rika?









Rika thinks that Hannah was in such a talkative mood because she had just done a really big poo. In fact, the bath was an emergency 'pit-stop' to wipe her down.

This is Hannah at the bathroom at my parents place. This was just at the time when Hannah had become able to stand by herself.