Our grandson, Tucker,  our youngest in Nebraska,  graduated yesterday.   He is valedictorian of his class! with all A’s in his whole HS career!  Plus an athlete with 2 state champion rings in Track.  

The day before,  the class walks each halfway in the school with undergrads, including the elementary kids, congratulating them. 

He led the class as they walked into the gymnasium.  As they approached the camera, he fist bumped the camera with his state rings.

His speech was excellent! 

Each kid also is introduced with a baby picture, graduation picture, a little about their family and plans after graduation.

Part of the ceremony,  each graduate picks up the class flower and delivers it to their parents.   It is so touching and sweet!  Their class flower was a white rose lily,  very unusual and beautiful!

The kids in the community have open houses and everyone celebrates the community graduates.   It is a nice tradition,  but an intense amount of work for family!  Today we all need a rest!

a little of our prep…. decorating and preparing food

Along with graduation is fun with family.

The sky tells part of the story!  The weather threatened hail, but did deliver thunder,  lightening and a lot of rain during our time at the party after.  Thankfully,  the hail missed Imperial as well as the farm.

Another adventure begins.   Our youngest grandson in Nebraska is graduating as Valedictorian of his class!  so we are off to celebrate with him! 

We have been watching a website forecasting the view of Mt Fuji for months,  checking the weather,  and frankly hoping we got a good week!  And we did!  Almost every day it forecast to be good sighting of the mountain, but Sunday the 19th looked the best!  We reserved a private driver for the day to take us to the prime viewing places on the north side of the mountain.   it was a bit more expensive than taking the train but we saw so much more and at a relaxed pace. it was well worth the money! 

Our driver picked us up at 6AM!  Sounds early but it was s great decision.   the crowds weren’t there at any of the sights we visited,  yet!  We started with the pagoda at the shrine,  seen in many Fuji posts. Luckily there were even still a few cherry blossoms in full bloom!  Great photos!

Next we visited 2 is the 5 lakes on that side of the mountain,  Kawaguchiko and Saito

There is a rebuilt village there,  once destroyed by a landslide in 1910, it was rebuilt as a tourist site,  an open air museum in 2004.  We visited some of the houses / shops and had a lunch of a local houtou noodle.

Lunch

we visited a couple spots to view Fuji made famous by Instagram,  but we had seen the best already!  having a private driver and stopping where we wanted was the best way!

spectacular Fuji!

Ueno park is just 3 stops up from our station and full of museums and flowers.  We had decided toto do 1 museum and choose Tokyo’s National Museum,  the oldest! 

The park turned out to be hosting a Sake tasting festival with entertainment and food!  Just in time for us for lunch!

Our afternoon we planned to add a workshop doing the art of Kintsugi, golden repair,  the Idea that just because something is broken it still has value.  It is the repair of broken pottery with resin (or super glue in modern times) and not hiding the crack, but embellishing the flaw with gold.  It is a wonderful concept,  that the old,  broken things can be beautiful and still useful!  Perfect for 4 Seventy somethings!

Great afternoon!  and a great souvenir of Japan when we finished

Today we took the trains and Metro Around Tokyo,  visited Shinjuku and Shibuya Stations. We also went up the Tokyo Municipal government building for the free panoramic view. Here’s a few glimpses of the trip

And the views!

Most days there is no view of Fuji!  The humidity and pollution often obscure it! 

In late afternoon,  Cheryl and I took the trains to Kameiko Tenjin Shrine.  It has beautiful wisteria in full bloom.  The scents are amazing too! 

We topped the evening with 3 is us enjoying a Great Sushi dinner!

Another great day!

Our last city to visit,  Tokyo has so much to offer,  that after our train from Nakatsugama. we decided to visit one of the important sites,  Asakusa Temple and Shrine.   We were lucky to get a great glimpse of Fuji from the train on our way.   It was closer and bigger than I had imagined!  there were just a few clouds but we could see a bit of the summit!

Asakusa is a short metro ride from our hotel near Kanda Station. the same neighborhood we stayed in when we visited in 2017.  We left our bags at the hotel and adventures out,  since our rooms are not ready until 3PM.

After getting checked into our hotel, taking a nice soak and rest,  we found a good wagyu beef restaurant for a hibachi dinner!  delicious!  Our first dinner on Tokyo!  Let’s see what tomorrow brings!  But we are happy to see,  no rain. and nice comfortable temperatures! 

Our next destination was another adventure!  There is an old trail between the 2 capitals of Japan,  the ancient capital,  Kyoto and the new capital, Tokyo. 

The Nakasendo Trail is a historic 534-kilometer (332-mile) walking route connecting Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, featuring 69 post towns established in the 17th century. Passing through the mountainous Kiso Valley, it is famous for well-preserved villages—notably Magome and Tsumago—offering a 2-3 hour hike through rural landscapes.  We hiked between these last 2 villages,  about 8 km. 

The old post town of Magome-juku was our starting point for this hike, leaving about 9:45.

Soon you are out of the village and the climb to the Magome pass begins.

Sights along the way

Finally,  we reach the summit of the pass,  but we are only 2.2km into the walk!  At least the last 6.8 were basically downhill!

The Free Tea stop

The flowering fruit trees were in full bloom,  cherry and possibly plum, in not sure.  one was over 250 years old!  some were grafted so that 2 types of fruit,  or 2 varietals of a fruit,  grew on 1 tree

It was hopeful when the distance we had covered was more than what we had to still travel!  And Thankfully,  it was mostly downhill! 

We passed small waterfalls,  a couple small post towns and farms along the way,  a cemetery,  a small shrine,  and more flowers of all kinds!

another small village

And a few sprinkles of rain began to fall.  

And Finally!  Tsumaga,  our destination!

We found a lunch place for Soba noodles and mountain mushrooms,  and the information about the bus beach to Naratsugawa!  a long hike but a cool experience of the old Samurai road.

finished our hike at about 1, lunch and bus,  back to our hotel for a soak in the onsen by 4!  8 miles total walking,  and a great feeling of accomplishment,  hiking this portion of the Nakasendo Trail!

We planned 2 nights in the small town of Yamanouchi at an onsen ryokan, JUST to visit the snow monkey park.  

Yamanouchi,  the Onsen town closest to the Snow Monkey Park.   Onsen means it sits on top of hot springs!  Many lodgings, hotels and ryokans here are onsens, having a natural Hot springs connection. like ours. The views from town are spectacular!

Around the little town

Our onsen, Rakki Onsen Ryokan, and our ryokan tatami mat room.

Our Onsen offered free transportation to the park in the morning and we took the city bus back about noon.   The walk from our drop off point was a great path through the woods! 

The snow monkeys are fed and protected in an area with their own onsen! 

This baby loved Cheryl’s shoe laces

Mom was not happy when baby strayed too far.   She would just grab him up in her arms and take him back!  Here she is grooming him

Emmett gets great pics by getting down on their level!

What a fun day!  Emmett will have some great pics on the FB group.

We planned another special experience for Cheryl for her birthday!  The Kimono experience!  Professional photos will follow,  but here is a glimpse of our fun day,  dressing up!

Before and After!  choosing our kimono and obi.  An attended helped choose coordinating colors for the obi,  tie,  and an accent scarf.   We choose a bag and shoes and proceeded to the dressing department.   no pictures allowed there

After…. it is easier getting out of the layers than it is getting into them!  They simply drop to the floor as the ties are loosened!

We had a few minutes until our professional could arrive so we met him at the entrance to the castle and Emmett took a few pics as we waited

when the professional ones are ready, I will post them here!  fun day! 

April 11th is Cheryl’s birthday,  and we planned a special dinner to celebrate.   Sukiyaki is a popular Japanese hot pot dish featuring thinly sliced beef, tofu, vegetables, and noodles simmered in a sweet and savory soy sauce broth (warishita). It was cooked at our table in a shallow iron pot, the meat dipped in raw egg before eating. 

We had a small private room and a special menu for just us!

Our menu included 3 small ‘sake snacks’, marinated baby squid,  tofu and seaweed, followed by a small dish of Sashimi and portion of rice.  

The service was elegant and quiet,  as the attended brought in dishes and removed the empty ones.   The Wagyu beef was brought in with the vegetables and a chef prepared the sukiyaki at our table as we wsalted.

First a large piece of beef per person was cooked with a little fat coating the pan,  some sugar melted in that and teriyaki sauce poured on the meet as it was sauted.

That piece of beef be have to each of us too shop on the bowl of beaten egg.

Then he placed the vegetables, mushrooms and Tofu into the sauce pan and brought more meat,  3 more pieces for each of us,  to add to the vegetables. 

As we took out some registration, we could add another piece of meat and more vegetables from the 2nd bowl of them.   it was a large amount of food, and delicious

The last part of the fish is too add very thin himi upon noodles and a broth to the leftover fond in the dish.

But the meal still wasn’t done!  it included a small dish of red bean ice cream with a small rice cake flower to top it all off!

Candles would have melted the ice cream so we skipped those and just wished Cheryl a very Happy birthday!