Japan.It's Bloomin marvellous.

[drron]

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I wonder if you noticed anything about the young children in this post that is different to Australia.
Well the teachers are male.

 

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You cant kill them.Tree chopped down and away it shoots-

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Positioned on a hill the castle is impressive.

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[drron]

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[bPeteb]

On our last full day in Tokyo we once more got the shuttle to Meguro but walked back a slightly different way.Past a cemetery-

But we were heading for this place.Had passed it many times and thought it was about time we had a look-

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Lots of wildflowers,usually with signs but only in Japanese-
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We loved this place. Like you say Ron, an oasis

 

[love_the_life]

Best get a wriggle on drron. Didn't mrs.dr.ron say the TR had to be finished before she joined you in PQ? (just joking, lest you think I was serious). Fantastic photos; you'll have a time choosing the best ones to show the neighbours.

 

[drron]

A bit surprising that the tulips were out already-

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An interesting collection of shrines-

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And the paper cranes make an appearance-

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[drron]

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And the first time I see a shrine to Mercedes-

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[drron]

Lots of cherry trees on the upper level but as you can see the blue sky has given way to clouds-

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[drron]

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So it is back down to the festival-

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Deep fried spaghetti.Didn't bother to try it.

 

[love_the_life]

The tree shapes are so interesting and different - could stare at them for ages.

 

[drron]

Hanami parties were about to get into full swing down in the main festival area-

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We had a few snacks with beef and yakitori.A Japanese fellow would translate what we said if the stall holder didn't understand.I had noticed him following the other western couple we saw here and now he was following us.The fellow selling beef on a stick was a happy fellow-

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We were intrigued with this woman's offering-

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It is a brown sugar crumble.Brown sugar over heat to caramelise then a small bit of bicarb dropped in and it solidifies.What a sugar hit!
We then brought a selection of sweets from the shop-

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These were very nice-

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[drron]

It turned out the fellow following us wanted to have an English conversation.After watching me murder the Japanese language he felt we were the ones to ask.In fact he had quite reasonable English so we had a long conversation.I am sure we both learnt a bit.He also had a phone app translating Japanese to English.Seems like a good idea.Here he is-

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On the way down the hill we had a sakura icecream-

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It was more a sakura gelato but enjoyable and we felt good giving the trade to such a young woman!

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[love_the_life]

That's an enormous ice cream. Looks wonderful but so big!

If you want to try something similar at home here is a recipe https://cuttlefishlove.wordpress.com/tag/sakura-ice-cream-recipe/

 

[drron]

Last blossoms before getting back to the main road-

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We decided to go to the Art Gallery next to our hotel and have a coffee there to warm us a little.Unusual decoration outside-

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Nice views from the café-

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Artistic cups-

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