Picnic at Yoyogi Koen

I always feel very refreshed after spending a day at Yoyogi Koen. Today is a public holiday. We brought the kids and grandparents for a picnic. A lovely spring day with temperature close to 16 degrees, warm sunshine and lots of people at the park.

Pics, pics, and more pics .. ...

In the car while waiting for parking space

The back of the car was packed with 2 bicycles, soccer balls, food and drinks for our picnic. We waited for about 45 minutes, but it didn't seem that long because the two boys kept us entertained the whole time.

"Mommy, I am here!"

After pitching the tarp, we started to play soccer in the open field. Gong Gong and Po Po joined in too. They were as sporting as ever, running around and tackling the ball.

3 generations playing soccer together

After the exercise, we went back to our shady spot beneath a huge tree and had our little picnic. We had ham & cheese sandwich, tuna salad with raisins, yakult, ocha, oranges and prunes. (Prunes were limited to a few for each person as consuming too much can cause diarrhoea. Lesson learnt by someone who ate 16 prunes at one go to appease hunger, and subsequently spent a long time in the toilet.)

Resting beneath the tree

A picture before lunch

Having our picnic

Justin enjoying his salad

Jonathan & mommy

A relaxed grandpa

After lunch, Justin looked into the cooler bag for the caramel corn chips. He had been eyeing for it since morning but I told him that he could only have it after his lunch. When he finished his lunch, I asked him if he was full. He said (also from mommy), "I have a separate space in my stomach for dessert". Kids learn fast.

Anyway, this was one of the few times he acted like a big brother sharing the chips with Jon.

After lunch the kids cycled their bicycles. Justin has been practising on his bike three times since we first bought it. He has made a lot of improvement - he can now cycle about 100 metres without falling or stopping. Hooray!

He still swerves left and right ocasionally, needs to work more on his balance. Initially he didn't want to ride the bicycle because he didn't know how to balance. But with some encouragement and daddy's coaching, he did it. Good job!

V.I.Ps in Tokyo

We have V.I.Ps in town this week, also known as our Very Important Parents.

After sending Justin to school on Wednesday morning we visited the Sensoji Temple at Asakusa. We arrived at Asakusa Station at 10:30am and proceeded to the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate). The outer entrance of the temple is characterised by a humongous red lantern hanging at the entrance .

Jon with Gong Gong and Po Po

There is a shopping street known as Nakamise of about 200m, before reaching the second inner entrance. The shops sell many souvenirs and local snacks such as Yukata, Kimonos, folding fans, red bean cakes, osenbei (rice crackers), etc.

Shopping street after entering Kaminarimon Gate

At Hozomon, the main gate

5-Storey Pagoda

Left: Lantern at Hozomon
main gate

Right: Big straw sandle behind the gate

Left: Visitors drawing lots and hanging them
at the poles to bring good luck.

There is an alter in the middle of the temple grounds where devotees burn incense. The smoke from the alter is said to have beneficial powers. People will sweep the smoke towards them and pat it on their body for blessing and protection.

Can you spot a familiar face?

I saw some people washing their hands using the ladles and drinking water from the water fountain next to the main temple. Po Po was so happy to see the water fountain that she kept on washing her hands so that it will bring her "luck" for her mahjong. Only to find out later that the purpose of the fountain was to cleanse oneself before entering the temple. No mahjong allowed. (*lol*)

Huat ah!

Gong Gong's turn

Jon wanted to try too

LUNCH TIME!!!!

Having lunch at Akasuka

Lunch set: katsu-don and oyaku-don with miso soup

Zoorasia School Excursion

Justin went for a school trip to Zoorasia in Yokohama on Friday. The whole class wore their lovely dyed T-shirts and little green caps. The exhibits at the zoo included the Indian elephant, pileated gibbon, Sumatran tiger, red panda, otter, polar bear and okapis (endangered species).

We had a rest stop at Mina-no Harappa. The kids had some time to play at the playground before having lunch at the rest area beside it.

I love the pictures which I took of the boys. They are so spontaneous and lively. I couldn't catch a moment when they were all still and posing nicely for the camera. That also explains why I was constantly running after the few boys (including Justin) who were always ahead of the class.

Special Guests from SG

We have special guests from Singapore this week. Aunt Mei Yan and Uncle Clement arrived on Friday for their honeymoon trip. After picking Justin from school, we went to Krispy Kreme to buy doughnuts. While we were in the queue, the waitress gave out original Hot Glazed doughnuts. We both had one each and it tasted yummilicious - warm doughnuts that literally melt in your mouth! The dozen doughnuts that we brought home were snapped up the next day.

Jonathan posing with Krispy Kreme hat

We had dinner with Aunt Mei Yan and Uncle Clement before they continued their journey to Hakone, Kyoto and Osaka. They came back to Tokyo the following week with lots of presents for us - lovely red bean pastry, Monster Inc. and Pooh bear buckets from Disneyland filled with popcorn. We headed to Aikihabara for lunch (they gave us a treat too) at Sushizanmai. The seafood comes fresh from Tsukiji Market everyday.

That was the first time I tried sashimi Uni (roe of sea urchin) but it tasted a little too soft for my liking. The rest of the sushi and sashimi was fresh and good. Oishii!!

Set meal which comes with Chowamushi and Miso Soup

Aunt Mei Yan and Uncle Clement

Justin enjoying his food while
watching Shinkansen trains go by

After lunch we went to Yodobashi, a huge store which sells anything electronic including bicycles. Yes, bicycles. We bought bikes for the kids and they did a "test drive" at the garage.

Justin on his Cars McQueen bike

Jonathan on his Anpanman bike

Hanami at Yoyogi Koen

Spring is here and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. We went to Yoyogi Koen for Hanami, which means "flower viewing", or cherry blossom viewing. This is the time when Japanese hold Hanami parties under the blossoms. It is also common practice for people to reserve good spots under the trees early in the morning.

We found our nice little spot, laid the tarp and the boys began to play soccer. I sat down and soaked in the atmosphere. Birds chirping happily, groups of people having their parties with lots of food and drinks, people taking photos of the cherry blossoms, etc. It was also a pretty sight to see the cherry blossoms fall to the ground when the wind blew.

Playing at the park

It's the weekend and the weather is great! More outdoor fun for the kids at a nearby park. The kids spent most of the hour at the sandbox with their spades and shovels.

Cherry Blossom trees behind the shed

The two naughties

I tried to get them to smile for the picture on the right but Justin was in his cheeky mood. He refused to look at the camera and Jonathan followed suit acting "bochup". When I finally gave up, they started acting silly and making funny faces.

Learning Chinese

Teaching Justin to speak Mandarin at home comes as a challenge to me. I grew up in an English speaking home. Although I passed my Chinese with good grades, I did not speak much Mandarin until I started my first job. That was the time when my spoken Mandarin improved significantly. Even then, hubby says I still speak Mandarin with a funny accent.

As much as I am aware of my limitations, I will still endeavor to teach both of them as far as I can go. I started coaching Justin beginning of this year but it was difficult because of the limited resources in Japan. Thanks to Hui Li, who recommended me some books and even bought them from Singapore for me!! I have received the books, thank you so much! The "Basic Chinese 500" series is well-illustrated with the chinese words, hanyu pinyin and English translation. Just what I need.

At the moment, my aim is for Justin to recognise Chinese characters. His peers back at home are already writing sentences like 我的家有五个人 and 这是一张桌子。 However, my focus is to teach him to read first rather than to write.

I made a surprise discovery when I asked him to read one of the Pelangi series books "你看到我吗?". All this while I have been reading to him and teaching him some simple words here and there. Today, I started reading the first page, and then he continued on the whole story (with some help). The video clip shows Justin reading the book.

Can you guess how he managed to read it? He used hanyu pinyin!! I am surprised because I haven't formally taught him yet. I think he used phonics from his English reading, as well as the tone marks which he learnt at HESS International Kindergarten in Taipei. I am pretty amazed he was able to put them together.