Gong hei fat choi – Year of the Ox

It’s Chinese New Year (a few days late, but it lasts a week).  We went to Kobe since they had a China Town to check out the festivities.

 

That’s Airi’s mom on the left and sister on the right.  The China town area was actually pretty small (much smaller than the one in Seattle).  They had street vendors on both sides and it was relatively crowded (although not as crowded as the Nagoya subway).  We rode the bullet train from Nagoya to Kobe.  It was a pretty smooth and comfortable ride, although we all took a nap since we got up early (left the house at 9am).

The day before, we went to the Nagoya zoo with two of Airi’s friends from school and their kids.  The zoo itself was pretty old but it was fun although pretty cold.

A week ago, we went to see Nagoya castle.  The only thing missing was some samurai and ninjas.

A few days before that, Airi’s family took us to a hot spring.  Near the resort, there was a village that was still (mostly) authentic feudal Japan.  It’s a tourist attraction and likely much busier in the Spring, but it was pretty neat seeing all the old architecture.  The illusion was somewhat broken when you’d see a modern car parked next to an old building (since people are working and living there).

That about catches up on most everything that has been going on.  Only 2 more days left before we fly back to the Puget Sound.