Railway Museum

On Sunday we did a day trip to the Railway Museum in Oomia. 　This museum is definitely not just for sad old trainspotter types - there is a lot that their daughter and wive can enjoy as well.

Right now Hanna is very keen on trains and was literally shaking with excitement when we walked in ("gatan goton!, gatan goton!").



It is difficult to overstate how well designed this museum is, especially for kids. For example, the location is just between the 2 main lines north out of Tokyo so from the lunch and observation areas kids can watch different shinkansen and regular trains go past.



Also there are many excellent hands-on activities like train driving simiulators and even a minature railway where kids can drive 3-seater trains around a track (mum and dad can sit in the back). It has a automatic train control system so the trains can't crash into each other.





This is Japans largest HO scale model railway. Its so popular that you have to que up for a half-hour show. Hanna was very excited by this and kept shouting 'shinkansen!'.





The man in the left rear of the set gives some idea of the size. He is on his way to fix a de-railment in one of the tunnels.


Hanna playing with Shinkansen toys in one of the free play areas. This area was kindly sponsored by Tomika, maker of Shinkansen toy trains.

Sea Paradise

Baba very kindly drove us all to Mito on the west coast of Izu to see the 'Sea Paradise' acquarium. This is famous for its dolphin and seal shows. As you can see here.



These dolphins are jumping 5m out of the water, which is also almost the length of a blue whale's head.


I noticed that the dolphins are paid in fish on a per trick basis. I would have expected them to be salaried, and they must get pretty hungry during the off-season.


Sea Paradise also had penguins and sea otters.


Which got me thinking that Dunedin needs something like this.


Flamingos and pengins. I imagine there are loud arguments over the air-con setting in this enclosure ("make it cooler please", "no, make it hotter", "no, cooler!"...).


We also took a boat trip out into Suruga Bay. The bay is a famous fro its view of Mt Fuji but unfortunately due to clouds we didn't see Mt Fuji at all this holiday, until the last Sunday when we unexpectedly saw it from Tokyo. But the boat trip was still very pleasant.

Two Years Old

Hanna turned two years old last week while we were staying at Ikadaba.





Baba bought Hanna a birthday cake from the shop in the next village called 'san rive sekiya'. It says. "2 years old. Congratulations on your birthday Hanna". And I have to say that it was probably the nicest sponge cake I have ever eaten.



Hanna thought so too.




Hanna received lots of nice presents. Meccano from Rachel and John which she enjoyed putting together and playing with.







Granny and Granddad gave Hanna a book and a DVD of Hairy Mclairy which is enjoyed by the whole family.



Hanna also received a present from the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Taro Aso. To stimulate the economy Aso gave JPY 20,000 to each child in Japan, and JPY 12,000 to each adult. As you can imagine the Japanese toy and sweet industries are weathering the global recession pretty well.



After carefully considering our family situation, Hannahs needs, and our duty as patriotic residents...

...we decided to support the domestic cuckoo clock industry. This is Hanna's new "Aso-dokei"


Danyl, Sonoko and Yoppi gave Hanna this cute red and white dress. Hanna is excited because she has just realized how to get a kiwi call from the kiwi that Katherine and Leonard gave her a while ago.