Hanami (Picnic Under the Blooming Cherry Trees)

This is Hanami Season.  Hana is flower, and Mi is a form of the verb to see.  

You find a good place under some sakura (flowering cherry) trees with your friends.

It is a celebration.

For our Hanami, we went to the Miura Anjin area.  It is the place that the 'Blue Eyed Samurai' had land.  It is in the hills above Yokosuka.  Go to the Anjinzuka station on the Keikyu Train line and get a taxi.  Trust me,  it is a l-o-n-g walk up there!

It is wonderful when there are lanterns up.  There are azaleas blooming behind the one lantern.

These folks came along with a flute and drums and were collecting money for the decorations, and garbages.  With so many picnics and drinking going on, even though there are bathrooms at the park, the garbage needs taken!

Even if the day becomes overcast, you look up into the brightness of the trees.

And if you end up with some cherry flavored chu-hais, BONUS!

I think we chose this area because of the distant sites.

Everyone shares their picnics, and their booze.

A lovely day it was, too.  So relaxing!

This is the group as we cleaned up to go!

Walking down is interesting, as well.  Don't slip!  And there were more beverages to lubricate the walk and a toilet at the train station.  What a great day with friends!

Cup Noodle Museum

The Cup Noodle Museum is in Yokohama, not far from the Queens Mall.  It is free for kids, but adults have to pay to get in.  

We went because our son has gotten into eating Cup Noodles.  He loves to eat ramen and likes a version of Cup Noodles that is more of a bowl with spicy sauce. He only has to add hot water, and he has a snack he loves.  I love it because I am a lazy mom.  :)

After you get your entrance ticket downstairs, you come up here and buy another ticket ¥300, so you can make a small cup noodles.  You get a time to show up for this line.  

If you actually want to make your own noodles, you have to sign up earlier.  I don't know the cost, but the kid gets their own head scarf with the chicken logo.

It looks like they kneed the dough and roll it.

For the rest of us, when it is time to go in, you get set at a table to decorate your cup.  Mine has a shrimp that is saying, "Eat more chicken."  I then made a sad Cup Noodle chicken.  April 2, 2016.

Then they take you to the line, and you see the noodles that will be loaded into your cup.  The noodles only fit so far down in the cup.  This is part of the research that was needed in order to make a cup of noodles cook through with just hot water.  If noodles were in the bottom, the water wouldn't circulate through them enough to cook them.

You turn the wheel to tamp it in just right.

If you don't speak Japanese, they help you through.

Tim's is the black diamond, then mine, then William's who put Contents: Edible biological noodles, classified as food.

Then you get to choose four ingredients and one taste.

I chose shrimp, crab flake, chicken flake, a heart love flake.  Tim chose corn, onion and egg.  William chose double shrimp, onion and crab.

All done!

Then they wrap it and send it through a heater to shrink wrap it.  

Then it comes from this mouth.  

Then you put it in a plastic purse and blow it up to keep it from being crushed.  This is part of the history museum.

The founder and I...

And some art thrown in.

I totally meant to go shopping at Queen's Tower shopping mall, but I started having muscle cramps.  They were so bad, that I ended up not getting 2 of the items I really wanted to get in Japan.  Amazon, I guess you'll get more money!  :)

Spring Break Japan

We got to fly on a 787.  It is in the back, pulling into the airport.  We took a bus, then ferry, then light rail to get to the airport.  We were early so that we could make sure we got through the security check in time.  

Verny Park was right in front of Tim's place.  You'll see many blooms in these posts!

The re-creation of the TDY Yokosuka blogspot picture.

Starbucks in the morning for breakfast.

At sushi... I grasp the tubular fish meat sky... 

The new sushi-go-round in Yokosuka.  It was so good to see Tim!

We could order ourselves via the iPad!