A Day Off

The past few months have been very busy.  Packing, cleaning and moving, unpacking, cleaning, organizing, reorganizing, then repeat on what feels like an endless cycle!

So I decided to take a day off today, just go out and see something different, plus Hannah asked me to come and look at the Hakama she had chosen for her graduation.

Mikey, Christopher and I drove to where Hannah is living. 

These are some photos on the way.

One of the main shopping areas near where we live

Between where Hannah lives and us, lots of mountains

The drive is about an hour, maybe a bit longer if the traffic is heavy.  The road goes through the countryside, with small towns and villages dotted around.  

As we came into the city there was a road that had lovely trees, the leaves have changed, some had fallen but still very pretty.

coming into the city

The first place we wanted to visit was the art museum. There's a special exhibition of a golden Tea Room constructed in the late 16th century for Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was a samurai lord who managed to take over many of the Japanese clans, he was eventually made regent. 

The art museum is near to the castle and has very beautiful grounds to explore. 

Part of the grounds, the building is the local TV station

Nice statue but no idea who it is!

The wall is part of the castle grounds

Most of the exhibition photography wasn't allowed.  There were letters dating back to the 16 century written by farmers to the local lord, saying that the crops weren't growing properly and asking for help. I was surprised that they were literate back then.  Very different to England where only the upper class or clergy could read and write.

The last part we could take photos.

screen depicting some battle

one of these is the god of thunder the other  the god of wind

It's difficult to see on the photos but the details of the battle are incredible, each face is unique, it shows the different weapons that were used and even some people fleeing the scene.

The main exhibit was the Golden Tea Room.

Even the outside and back were gold

Got a photo of Christopher

So he got one of me

I wanted to get more photos but there were too many people!

Mikey and Hannah decided not to come in, so after we finished we went to find them in a massive car park. I asked Hannah to send a photo to help figure out where they were.

Not very helpful

After doing a full circle of the car park we found them!

We went to Lotteria for lunch. It's a Korean fast food place. Hannah told me that they had a roast beef burger, so that's what I got.

Roast beef burger

Then it was off to the kimono shop for Hannah and me. Christopher walked to a recycle book store, Mikey slept in the car.

Hannah had already decided which one she wanted but wanted me to give her my opinion.  I think the one she chose is very nice.  

This is the kimono top, longer than I thought it would be

with the Hakama skirt

She isn't wearing the skirt, it's just clipped to the obi belt.

We decided on a different color obi belt, the yellow seemed a bit to strong on the red background.

The final set up

She has a gold colored obi belt and a light purple strip on the neckline, it's difficult to see but looks very nice.

While were there Christopher went for a walk, he found some interesting things on the way.

There are a lot of these birds in the small canals

A gate from the Edo Period (1603 to 1868)

another bird

I had a lovely day. Bit too much walking. I'm going to make some dinner soon, get an early night and start again with unpacking, organizing and reorganizing. Also I really want to bake, I've missed baking because of the moving, so really want to to do some this week!!