The Weekend Review: Yoshino, BBQ and a little R&R

I had another pretty good weekend, although a good part of it (ie Sunday) was spent a lot more lazily than I should probably admit to. I think my body needed the rest, though, and I am definitely calm and relaxed today.


Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News...
On Friday, I went back to the foot doctor to check out my toe. It’s been over a month now, and my foot is still not completely healed. At first, I was bitter about the injury because of the consequences it carried with it (namely not being able to do the Shizuoka marathon, go snowboarding in Nagano or go swimming in SE Asia), but at least now it’s getting better and I’m used to only wearing Crocs. My toe still doesn’t look great, but the doctor said I didn’t need medicine and that I should be able to wear normal shoes (and go running!!!) in about a week.

Speaking of running (because you know it wouldn't be a Monday post without a random side-note/afterthought), my body is practically aching to move around again. Well, there is the aching and then the fact that I am definitely expanding...mostly caused by the halt in my exercise routine and lack of discipline in my diet (um, and the heaps of baguettes and French food in SE Asia). Not thrilled to be putting on kilos right before summer and our annual physical check-ups, but I’m sure I’ll be able to jump right back into my exercise routine. I might go swimming this evening, just to change things up and get started.

Karaoke in Kobe
Anyways, the rest of Friday was spent in Kobe, entertaining Kelly’s relatives who are visiting from London. Our friend Shag also brought some friends he met on the airport bus, who were in town for an IT conference, and we had dinner and a few drinks at Asian Kitchen before a karaoke session. I took last train home and hit the bed as soon as I got in. There were a million other things going on last Friday (birthday parties, girls nights, friends' concerts), but I had a good time and think I spent it well.

Yoshino
On Saturday, I slept in, talked to "America" for a bit on the phone and then set out to meet Brianne and Shannon, my Minnesota girls, for our friend Shin's birthday party in Yoshino. I was originally going to do a hanami (cherry blossom party) with my old ladies this afternoon, but we changed the date. Anyways, when traveling to Yoshino, I knew it would be a small town and that it was sort of far, but I don't think I quite realized just how extreme both factors were. I checked my trains on Hyperdia before I left, knowing I might be a little late, but it took me over 4 hours to reach the rest of my group... an hour and a half more than I thought it would take me to get there! In addition, we assumed we could just hit up a convenience store (literally everywhere in Japan; arguably engrained into the culture) or supermarket to get stuff for the picnic when we arrived, only get there and find out the town had neither. They did have the usual festival food (mostly yakisoba and takoyaki) and sell drinks, but $4 is a bit much for a can of beer and the tamagoyaki was totally burnt (first time ever). It didn't completely ruin the fun, but be warned that you should definitely plan in advance and bring your own food if you ever do hanami in Yoshino! The crowds were also huge (not to mention the immense lines for the ladies' porta potties), but since I was running short on time, I decided to cut past the streams of people making their way up the hill and just take a bus to the most beautiful cherry blossom viewing spot.

This has not been the best year for cherry blossoms, with an early warm front (interrupted by more cold) and a lot of rain, but - nonetheless - I was in awe by the beauty of the place when I hit the top of the mountain. As I mentioned, the actual town of Yoshino is not spectacular for day-tripping, but the mountain in the center of it takes on a life of it's own every April, drawing people from all over the world... and I was glad to be one of those people for at least a day! In fact, Yoshino is one of the most famous places for hanami in all of Japan, with over 30,000 sakura trees in this one location. When you visit the traditional gardens in Kyoto, many of them have imported trees from the famous site.

On the bus trip up the hill, I passed a sign for the Yoshino-Kumano National Park (one of the 815 UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the world), but I didn't learn until later that part of the reason that the sakura (cherry blossoms) are so beautiful on Mt. Yoshino partially due to the fact that the trees were planted in four groves at different altitudes. What this mans is that the sakura come into bloom at different times of spring, or in years with strange weather such as this, that you can still get blossoms throughout the whole mountainscape if one patch of the grove has been damaged by the weather or something. At the very top of the mountain, there is a shrine and tree-lined streams, all offering marvelous views of the distant mountainous landscape.


Well, due to the (fashionably) late arrival, my friends had already secured a place on a grassy knoll near the top of the hill. After climbing down a series of stone steps and making my way up a muddy hill, I joined them for a few hours of hanging out and playing around. I didn't have reception at the top, so I wasn't able to meet up with other Hyogo friends that were there, but it was nice to enjoy the weather and time with the MN girls. Excellent choice for a birthday picnic!



After traveling another three hours back to Amagasaki (Osaka area), I met Miwa and her brother for an evening at a BBQ/party. Perfect ending.


Sunday Slacker
I actually had a full day planned for Sunday (ok, and one appointment which I switched up the time on and completely missed - still kicking myself for that one), but once the morning rolled in... I decided the best prescription for the day was really just doing... nothing. I spend a lot of time running around, catching trains, and meeting people, but it was actually such a lovely end to the weekend. I think I might try it again sometime :)