Golden Week

Has come around again but this year we don't have such an extended period of holidays. Japan is fairly rigid when it comes to public holidays. If the holiday falls on a Sunday then it is carried over to the Monday, but if should occur on a Saturday, well, enjoy 'your day off' on what is otherwise considered a work day. The other vexing issue with public holidays is that they tend to be clumped together. Although Japan has more public holidays in the calendar year than Ireland (15 as opposed to 9), they are not spread throughout the year. We have two each in January, September, and November, with Golden week accounting for four in the space of seven days. Spreading these out a bit more, say one every month with the remainder bundled together either at New Year's or August, would be a bit more relaxing, ne?
Well, alright 15 days off are better than 9 so less of the whining. 
Anyway, we have had a couple of days off so on Saturday we went to Lake Utonai where a bitter wind was blowing across the water and Spring was refusing to arrive until the place warmed up a little more. So for lack of green things to snap I present to you my photo essay "Tree Bark - the untold story".

 

After meditating on nature and the soul stirring appeal of all things arboreal, we went shopping because Mammy isn't quite taken with all this tree-hugging shite. It was raining at the shopping mall so Cian and myself took shelter in the Lego store while Sanae ran amok with her credit card. And gosh and darn it if we didn't find a must have helicopter. And we had it. Plus we didn't get home until late which meant Cian could subsequently boast to his friends how he didn't go to bed until after 10:00pm!

Sunday we went rock fishing! Yes!! Where we caught: a starfish, a shrimp, some aggressive hermit crabs, a more chilled out crab, a sea snail, a mussel, some baby fish, and a dollop of seaweed. Much to Mammy's disappointment Cian operates a 'catch and release' policy so she couldn't snack on them in the car on the way home.

 On Monday the wind blew hard and we didn't feel like going anywhere in particular. Some days are just like that.
Tuesday found us up in Forest Kozan, our first trip this year for a very relaxed afternoon of ambling around catching tadpoles, admiring cherry blossoms and enjoying the sort of transcendental peace only nature can bestow.
And then it was back to school and work today and the peace transcended and reality reasserted its vulgar self. And no more holidays until August.