Here are a bunch of stories and pictures from the various outings.
The first set is the annual cherry blossoms viewing that happens each year for about a week in early April (or whenever the flowers bloom). Basically, you just go to a park where there are lots of the cherry blossoms, set out a blanket, and start eating and drinking. Everyone started around 3pm, but I had a soccer game planned so Marie went and took pictures (that's why I'm not in them). I was a little late because the park was far from where my soccer was. By the time I got there, it was dark and everyone had decided to go to a restaurant instead. I joined them for that and then we all went home. I saw enough of the cherry blossoms the whole week so I didn't miss much.
A couple week later, Kenichi and Hiroko and Marie and I and Nomoto and Mizuki (slightly new couple even though we've known them separately for a while) went clamming. It was in the same place and pretty much the same as last year (you probably read last year's account on my site and it's still down there somewhere if you forgot).
Lastly, this week was golden week (a weeklong spring vacation for the japanese eocnomy where almost everyone has off). We made plans to go rafting about 3 hours north of tokyo in Saitama. I was a bit sick with a bad throat but didn't want to miss it (I'm still healing now). The pictures we had seen were of a huge river and big rapids but it was little disappointing because the river was quite shallow and not moving too quickly. Our guide said it's much better after a tsunami or huge rain. It was still good though. We all got about 30 minutes of traning and then got in and went about 5 KM down the river. Next, we got to have a nice outdoor BBQ and then found a small inn to stay overnight. That's my favorite part - these inns always have great hot spring tubs to take baths in. I made sure to bathe both at night and the next morning. From there, we headed over to some big spring flower festival and ate foods and walked around the gardens.
