Serendipity in China!

What a wonderful looking playground! Spruced up from Twenty years ago when Sarah and Helene arrived here at 5 years old and 3 years old. Cathy, Yun Ying and I stood at the gate peering in waiting for the gate man to find someone. The teachers at our travel school said there would not be anyone still  around that I knew.

All the kids were in at nap time. perfect time to snoop around.

Amazing! I immediately recognized the woman who came out to meet us, with a picture of Helene in her hands. She was 23 when she taught Sarah and Helene. We did not see her after she had a bad head injury after a bike crash, and here she was turning 44 on April 3, same day as Helene turned 26!

This fuzzy picture is the kids tucked into their bunks. Sorry a quick snap but I always thought this was such a cute set up. 

 And from the schoool newsletter......stuff to do with your napkin when you're bored. Just in case you've forgotten how.

Newsletter photo of grad from kindergarten!

And as ever dancing is fabulous at this school!  Can you guess that Sarah loved it!

Here she is, Bi Wei Hua, Sarah and Helene's first lead teacher, now principal. Such a warm loving presence, and beautiful as ever.

The secrecretary who knew Sarah and Helene works at the school and came to join us too. I told them that the reason Sarah and Helene wanted to do full days at the kindergarten was because they loved the little fried fish. It just so happened that that was on the menu for the day and there was some left for us!

Here's that yummy fish Helene!

There is so much you just have to let go of in life, it felt like a miracle to be sitting with this beautiful little group who have been so dear to us and we were not sure what happened to two of them.

Sweet Hello and goodbye, but my heart was deeply moved at the great integrity of these dear ones who want to offer their love to children. What a rich place this school is and has in my heart. Imagine two little girls learning Chinese in a classroom with 48 others, with a noise level they'd never experienced before and a hundred other new different things as well.

It took a great teacher, with huge positivity to walk them through it to enjoyment and fun.

 They keep on with the important work of playing a million games.

Carry on Bi Wei Hua !  Our love,congratulations and thanks.

Spring in Tokyo is special... especially when we can share it with my sister Cathy!

We were thrilled that Cathy joined us for a week in Tokyo on her way back to Vermont; why not? It is after all just a hop across the ocean from Zhengzhou to here! Cathy was great about just wanting to share our life here in Tokyo. 

So... in a quick week of fitting in with our schedules Cathy sampled the range of our lives here in Tokyo.

The first night we needed to dive right into Shinjuku in honour of Julian and his appreciation for the movie Lost in Translation (click here). Ah yes, the lights, the energy welcome to Tokyo Cathy!

Along with wandering through back alleys to explore Tokyo by bike, finding funky cafes and second hand stores, exploring hidden temples I enjoyed hosting Cathy at school. She is a "little" sister isn"t she?  :-)

Any visit to the school is not complete without the fascinating drop-ins with some of our clubs to see these traditional arts being learned by the next generation.

Naginata:

The Koto club performing on beautiful ancient Kotos:

Cathy also had a fascinating visit of the Tokyo Friends school seen on this blog on Saturday. She and Shelley spent the afternoon at the Meeting house sharing her research and photos of dad"s work in China during the revolution and his links to Tokyo Quakers. 

The next day we were thrilled to be able to host her at another Yabusame event in Kamakura this time as front row guests of our friend Yosh Ono. 

Because of our connection with Yosh we were able to go behind the staging area to meet the judges in traditional garb:

We also met some of the archers with their family crest proudly worn on their shoulder.

Some of the officials were giving the important task of blessing the track with these paper flags after each passage of a rider.

The riders have been trained in the Takeda school started in the 9th century. The gentleman in the tan robe is the current head teacher of the Takeda school standing with his riders. 

For my first time seeing Yabusame, the stormy clouds cleared up and we were feted with superb horsemanship and shooting for the afternoon. 

Once again, the family crest worn proudly:

To finish off the afternoon we had a beautiful ridge top hike above and around temples to a look-out over the roaring ocean. The trail wended its way back down the ridge to end up in the back court of a small temple. We basked in the light from the setting sun, the huge sacred trees towering over us and the sense of the sacred in this ancient temple compound. 

We sat for a peaceful meditation together, Shelley, Cathy and I, reviewing in our minds the gifts that we have all been given in our lives, the amazing adventures we have shared together. As we sat in silence we enjoyed seeing solo worshippers, very much in their own worlds, coming to the shrine, praying, touching the sacred tree, bowing to the gods of their beliefs. 

Thank you Cathy for your laughter, your caring and your sense of adventure!

Cathy left Tokyo the next day and we are back to our regular routines. 

A spring Sunday in Tokyo...

Spring is a vibrant time in Tokyo when life bursts forth encouraged by the frequent rain-showers. The intensity of the cherry blossoms are finished but flowers continue to emerge from nooks and cranies around the city to delight us:

Most Sundays when we are in Tokyo we get up early and ride across the city (over 20 km) to worship at the Tokyo Quaker meeting with a nice gathering of Friends from all over the city. We enjoy our journey every time as it gives us a chance to find new blossoms along the rivers:

To find where they have planted late blooming cherry trees...

As we ride along we love stopping for quick visits to the many, many shrines along the way. They are tucked in all kinds of nooks and crannies; from tiny ones...

To larger ones....

All setting the tone for our own weekly worship at the slightly less historic Tokyo Quaker Meeting house, but also very special to us with its lovely light and flowers:

Meeting and lunch are peaceful, thoughtful time to gather with Friends and then... we have the afternoon to dive into this huge city.

Last Sunday we went to a fabulous exhibit of the 300th anniversary of Jakusu, a prolific monk artist from the 1700s who has just been discovered in the 20th century. Click here to see some of his history and work.

 We loved his ancient scrolls that had a real taste of a modern tastes: 

After fully enjoying our visit of this stunning exhibit with some friends we dove into the random ebullient life of Ueno park for the rest of the afternoon. Other afternoons we pick Yoyogi park.

Over there? A dance festival for kids....

In this corner? Thai belly dance...

And no, this was a few weeks ago but why not Japanese/ Irish dancing?

And then of course, the rockabillies who have been studiously improving their moves for the last 20 years; check out the hair and outfits! This, by the way, is not a concert, it is just what they do on Sundays...

Ducking along some of the trails that were less busy, we stumbled on impromptu classical music:

A composer working on his songs:

And for those of us needing a jolt of Nelson culture, drumming at different sites:

As the gates of the park were shutting we decided to nip in a funky coffee joint fully furnished with old tree stumps and naked women statues (!) with opera pouring out of the speakers. 

And of course, the requisite artistic cup of Cafe-latte!

To round out the day in a truly rich, textured Tokyo way, I dropped in on a monthly open-mike night in my school neighbourhood, a free intimate blend of rock, folk, jazz, rap in both Japanese and English. 

Paddy, one of our new teachers, performed one of his poems to a drum background that night. 

What we continually appreciate is the random encounters that enrich our day in this throbbing and creative city. 

The magic of cherry blossoms in Japan

There is something magical about Sakura (cherry blossom) season in Japan.
The origins of the magic go back many years in history to the early 700s. In Japanese culture these blossoms have been linked to “the cycle of life, death and rebirth, on the one hand, and of productive and reproductive powers, on the other”. Click here for a more in-depth analysis of the history of cherry blossoms in Japan.

Here in Japan you can actually feel the anticipation growing. As Shelley and I bicycled around the city all fall and winter we noticed where there were concentrations of cherry trees. We catalogued those areas in our minds to make sure we revisited them during the peak blossom time. 

My ride to school is mainly along the Zen Pu Kuji river, a river lined with cherry trees. In early March every day as I bicycled through the cold and the early morning darkness I would check out the trees and buds to see whether there was any progress towards blossoms. 

There is even a web-site here in Japan that tracks the progress of the blossoms just in case you want to book a trip to see the earlier blossoms down South. Click here for that info.

And finally that day arrives... the blossoms begin bursting. Word flies around quickly where the first blooms in Tokyo can be found. (This year it was just outside the gate of the Imperial Palace).

Then, hooray... they began appearing on my commute:

Suddenly I found way more people out along the river during my early morning commute. More than the usual intense runners and fitness walkers, I began seeing couples young and old walking under the trees, holding hands, looking up at the blossoms and seeming to be quite entranced by the moment. The dog walkers (or those pushing their dogs in little prams!) seemed to be chattier with other dog owners than usual.

As the day progresses, more and more people come out to enjoy the blossoms and each others" company. All around Japan this builds up to a crescendo of Hanami, Hanami is a social gathering with office mates, family members, friends that involves lots of food, lots of drinks and lots of talk and laughter. It is quite an amazing site to see as we ride by with our bikes.

Check for the blue tarps on the ground and that is always the clue of up-coming Hanami at  that spot. This morning people were getting their tarps out at 7:30 AM when I rode by.

From the few scattered tarps the pace builds up to more tarps... and people...

Until by evening time it is packed!!!!

To fully experience the power of the sakura, its effect on people and joy of Hanami last weekend I rode to one of the famous rives, the Megura, where the banks of the river are lined with cherry trees for several kilometres. This area is a magnet for Hanami and strollers.

It was crowded with strolling couples, photographers and families enjoying the blossoms. There were so many people that every intersection had 4 security guards to ensure that pedestrians would not block car traffic.

All of the trees were laden with blossoms... the perfect weekend to see them. 

 Just for evidence here is a selfie. If the Pope can do it...

The whole river was lined with lanterns to provide the beautiful evening light for the strollers.

Along with the lights, the river was lined with little booths that provided all kinds of easy snacks and tasty goodies to nibble on as you walked and... only in Japan, champagne glasses (yes, made out of glass) filled with champagne and fresh strawberries that you could stroll down the river with to help your enjoyment. You just returned the glass to your booth for a deposit. Pretty pleasant, eh? 

Our great DD program assistant organized our very own DD/ English department Hanami for those of us who could come to bring this celebration to our Canadian International School world. This event brought together both our Japanese colleagues and our international staff. We also had a great time laughing, telling stories, lying on the blue tarp, admiring the quickly disappearing blossoms and eating and drinking.

At one point the wind started blowing and the air was filled with gently drifting blossom petals falling in our glasses, onto our food and into our hair:

We kept having our very own cherry blossom petal storm covering all of the surfaces:

By next week the blossoms will be gone and we will be fully enjoying the gentle leaves of early spring, one of the most pleasant seasons in Tokyo.

This is a very special time of year in Japan.