Student paintings

First, here is some work from Kat's students. This guy isn't having fun.

 And the kids who captioned these photos were in a harsh mood.

 Here are paintings done by my third graders.

 "Strange" is a common word used in their titles.

 "Strange Jungle", "Strange Grapes". When all else fails, just call it strange.

 Here are better pictures of the sports day flags.

Now that it's warm out, the bugs are showing up. The giant bumbles are pretty cute. The giant black spiders, not so much, but I can deal with those. I really don't like Japanese house centipedes (geji-geji). Seeing them in my house was a highly upsetting experience. If you want to see what these wiggly boys look like, you can click here, but they're gross. I warned you.

Sports Festival

It's sunny! The plants are out and the daily temperatures are in the mid-20s.

 On Saturday the junior high school had its Sports Day. The kids have been training for it for two weeks.

 Red team and Blue team.

 All the families have their tents out in the field.

 The 100m dash.

 The boys' 200m race.

 The cool make your outdoor life living.

 High schoolers get to throw javelins, but the junior high students throw these lawn dart-like things with rubber tips, for safety.

 Look how high that one went!

 The group jump rope contest.

 Red won with 35 or so jumps in a row.

 A game where the kids see which team can get the most people on the platform before someone falls.

 Each new person stands on the middle platform, then jumps on the group platform. Red won again. Blue actually had a lot of space left but the kids squished too close to the edge and fell.

 The visiting elementary school students also got to run a short race.

 The dance contest.

 Tug-of-war.

 The blue team's flag features ice Mario.

 The red team's flag has fire Mario.

 A variation on the three-legged race, the centipede race has everyone's ankles tied to those of the person in front of them.

 The blue team tripped a lot.

The blue team's skill must be in speed, because despite losing the tug-of-war, jump rope contest, centipede race, and box jumping games, blue still beat red overall.

Sports Day was fun, but it didn't have a lot of the games I've seen in anime, like the bread-eating race, the scavenger hunt race, beanbag throwing, or the famous cavalry battle.

I think I got a sunburn.

Weekend Events

First off, here are pictures from Shannon's Easter party. This was before Golden Week.

 I'm trying to teach everyone how to play Munchkin, which Shannon owns but hadn't played.

I made kabocha salad. It's not yams and kale, but it was well-received nontheless.

Candied walnuts.

Shannon had a staggering number of Peeps. I didn't know Peeps came in so many flavours.

Here are pictures from last Friday, when I went to Queena's town, Kembuchi, for an English talk and game event.

Look how cute these little cuppiecakes are!

 It's the right time of year for wild seasonal mountain vegetables. 

This is butterbur (bog rhubarb) and alpine leek.

And on Sunday Mike had his (semi) bimonthly potluck. I made kabocha salad again since Shannon was the only one there who got to try it the first time.

It's always great to hang out with people. Some of them were a little upset when I told them I'd be leaving in a few months. It's sad to think I won't see these people ever again.

Sakai - Japanese garden

We started the day by walking to the nearby Namba Yasaka Shrine.

It's got a big lion face.

 It's 12m tall and 7m deep.

 Inside the mouth.

 A monument of the tampion (muzzle cover) of the main gun on the battleship Mutsu.

  

 We had bahn mis for breakfast.

 The stairs going up there were narrow and steep.

 Cabbage kid, fried cabbage.

 An anti-littering mascot.

 This big thing is out in front of Sakai station.

 It looks different from the other side.

It's the season for carp streamers.

 The bridge had this bird motif.

 Decorations on the brick wall.

 Canada looks different from what I remember.

 Lots of pictures of ships around. Sakai has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since medieval times.

 Hole covers showing a lighthouse and a ship.

 Suumo mascot on a swing.

 Sakai's Xavier Park.

 Sakai's Traditional Crafts Museum, where you can learn about the town's traditional industries, of which there are a lot.

Once known for samurai swords, Sakai is now famous for the quality of its kitchen knives; most high-quality Japanese cutlery originates in Sakai, and its production is a major industry in the city.

 The steps from lump to knife.

 Who knew there were so many kinds of knives?

 Traditional fabric weaving.

 Yukata made using traditional dyeing techniques.

 A giant pair of scissors, setting up the return of the Scissorman in the sequel.

 Some tiki dudes outside a restaurant.

 Wiggly Jim

 Daisen Park, just chock-full of tumuli. 

The giant keyhole-shaped tumulus (burial mound) is another thing Sakai is famous for.

The biggest one is about 500m long and 300m wide, the largest grave in the world by area.

 We spent a while in the Japanese garden.

 Who's that out on the bridge?

 Mr. Dribbles.

 A pair of ducks.

 A maple tree with red seedpods out.

 The koi were making a splash in one corner where a boy was throwing out fish food.

 The tower of peace (Heiwa-to).

 More art in the station.

 We had dinner at Camp, a camping-themed curry restaurant.

 Everything is camping gear.

 I also got a chicken-mushroom pie at Pie Face.

 The pies are so cute.