Disaster area Iwaki in Fukushima

I got my home town Iwaki city last weekend to see my parents.  The house of my parents is fine, but sea side area where  it takes 20 minutes by car from their house has been damaged seriously by the terrible earthquake and the tsunami on March 11th, although over 2 months have passed.  It seems to take very long time to reconstruct all. And Fukushima has still big problem.  The problem of nuclear power plant is still ongoing.  It's annoying  matter for my parents.  When is that settled?

Cafe at Enoshima beach

We visited Tsujido kaihin park to ride bicycles that we can rent many type of bicycles for free.  Only Kana has her own bicycle.  She was eager to ride a bicycle with three of us as we don't have our own bike for all.  That's nice place to practice riding a bike and have time for family cycling. 
After enjoying the cycling,  we popped in "Santo Cafe" in front of Shin Enoshima aqua musium.  They provide nice and cozy separated space. We ordered a pot of coffee not a cup and a strawberry tarte and a chocolate cake.  My favorite was the strawberry cake that was not much whipped cream and was spread with enough strawberry.

Minakami hot spring

We stayed Minakami hot spring for a night a week ago last Friday, after Kana came back from school.  Minakami is in Gunma where it took over 3 hours by car from Yokohama through Kanetsu highway.  There is a heavy traffic jam on Kanetsu highway on weekends,  so we could avoid it and obtained a price of Matsunoi hotel at the lower price.  The special pricing plan included dinner and breakfast.  The dinner was beautiful traditional Japanese and delicious.  Our family were full up and satisfied with it.  The picture is the dinner we had for one person.

Swimming school

Yesterday was the first day for Kana to go to the swimming school and she enjoyed it very much.  There were first time trial lessons for free last month and Kana did them with joy. Since then, somehow she didn't say she would like to join it.  I convinced her that how it's important to be able to swim and she must swim at her school.  The other day, suddenly she answered "Yes".  I hurried to sign up for it before changing her mind.

Panda

We visited Ueno zoo during golden week to see pandas called Riri and Shinshin because Kana loves pandas very much.  There was a very long queue to see them and it took almost an hour although we enter the zoo around 4 o'clock.  When we were in front of them, we couldn't stop to see them and take photos of them.  I glanced at them and clicked the shutter quickly.  I hope to see them a little bit longer next time.

My Birthday party



My birthday party was held at a french restaurant "Escale" that is small but sophisticated in Hotel Monterey Ginza.  The best things are the price and quality.  The special full course dinner costed only 4000 yen.  You can feel the excellent atmosphere and are served high level staff services.  Ginza is the most expensive area in Japan so I'm convinced it's perfect french restaurant you can't find just anywhere.  They put the message on the plate of dessert for my birthday.

Lunch at Tennocho

I had curry lunch at Everest Kitchen at Tennocho with a friend of mine.  Our kids used to be same nursery and we hadn't not enough time to chat for long time as they went to other school.
We talked about their school life and the difference and son on.  The curry was good taste and low price (700 yen) and served with a drink and salad.  I would like to come again this restaurant with Kana who loves naan really.