Easter Sunday - Osaka Castle

He is risen!  Happy Easter from Osaka.  There is definitely no commercialization whatsoever of Easter in Japan....no Easter bunnies, egg hunts, baskets.  Fortunately it hasn't hit the "market" here.  We enjoyed a nice lunch after Easter service with our church family next door.  We even had "Easter eggs"....hard boiled eggs wrapped in cellophane.  Cute!

This afternoon we decided it was prime time to view the cherry blossoms.  They are at their peak here in Osaka so we took the train down the line to Osaka Castle.  Of course with it being a Sunday, there were plenty of other people with the same idea.  It was an overcast day, but still beautiful to see all the pink blossoms.  The castle grounds have over 600 cherry trees.

We saw a couple dressed in traditional wedding clothing, having their pictures taken on the castle grounds.  Unusual to see!

Remember the pets craziness I mentioned in an earlier post?  Yes, these dogs even have sun glasses!

A huge moat goes around the castle, but this part was dry.

Osaka castle has the largest rock walls in Japan.  The kids are standing in front of the fourth largest rock on the grounds and I couldn't even get the whole rock in the picture.  It has been there more than 400 years....amazing!

Another Japanese treat....mitarashi dango, pounded rice balls covered in a sweet sauce.

A beautiful place, and well worth the miles we seemed to cover on foot today.  Tomorrow we are flying up to Ishinomaki to visit my sister and her family.  There are five cousins awaiting our arrival and it's sure to get a little on the crazy side. :)  Jennifer's family ministered in Osaka, but moved to the Tohoku area after the earthquake/tsunami.  We are looking forward to meeting the people they have come to love over the last two years.

Work and Play

Today was a good mix of work and play.  When I came upstairs this morning I found this scene, Grandma reading to Johanna and Ami.

Chris's stash of coffee:

The boys worked on getting some old materials cleaned up from Grandpa's back yard.  

Meanwhile Johanna and Ami enjoyed playing in the yard atop the hill.  

The church is right next door to Dad and Mom's.  Beautiful!

This is just down the street from Dad and Mom's.  The cherry blossoms in this area are at their peak right now.  They are everywhere!  Love this!

Another work project....we're cleaning up and repairing some old termite damage in the sun room porch.  Fortunately it's "old" damage and we haven't seen any more of those nasty critters.

Chris has been being his techie self and taking care of lots of upgrades, backups, and such for Dad and Mom.

This is the street that Dad and Mom live on.  The streets are SO narrow everywhere.  Things have changed quite a bit since when I lived here, but it's still very familiar and home to me.

The kids spent a lot more time at the park today.  It's probably close to the size of a football field, which is highly unusual to find in a neighborhood in Japan.  Space is at a premium.  Benjamin and Johanna are getting braver at trying their Japanese and have made a few friends. 

The park has a nice walking/jogging path around it.  From this far end of the park you can barely see the green roof on the horizon with the cross of the church next door to Dad and Mom's.

Puppies, Octopus, and More

Today we enjoyed poking around at home and another shopping excursion.  I think the highlight of our day was going to a local pet shop.  The Japanese live in such tight quarters in the populated metropolis of Osaka, but they do love their pets.  You will often see high end breeds out for a walk with their owners, and the pet stores have every amenity imaginable for your pet children. 

 

The kids all went crazy oohing and aahing at the cute puppy faces, but Johanna was especially in animal heaven.  Too much cuteness!

Below is a typical display outside of a Japanese restaurant.  Plastic food is everywhere!  This particular display looked pretty real.  If you are a foreigner that doesn't speak Japanese, this makes it nice and easy to point and order....although you may not know exactly what is in the dish.  :)

Ahh, takoyaki and manju again.  Manju is being made below.  It is red bean paste in a batter, but you can also order it with custard inside.  Both are delicious.  

 
This is a sign advertising takoyaki.  Bits of octopus are cooked in a batter on the same type of molded griddle as the manju.  It may not look the most appetizing, but I like it and some of my kids do too.  Chris....well, he tried it 20 years ago and said that was one time too many for him.  :)

Our last stop on the shopping trip was the grocery store.  Yes, we make quite a sight with 9 of us going into the store together (although Elijah and Ami blend in quite nicely with the rest of the shoppers!).  Chris wanted to buy a whole case of his favorite canned coffee!  I stocked up on some yummy miso soup packets.

Um....something was definitely lost in translation here!

So, Dad had a set of keys stolen years ago.  One of the keys that was lost went to this antique gun cabinet.  There was one section that was locked, in which he thought he had some gold and a camera flash.  Elijah to the rescue!  He fashioned a key and was eventually able to pick the lock.  We were quite excited, but it ended up rather anticlimactic as there was nothing but dust and an old can inside!  So the mystery of the missing gold and camera flash continues.  Now Elijah is onto another project of trying to pick the lock of an old safe that Dad picked up from a friend.