Spring is definitely in the air..

The birds are out to play. Frogs croaking. Cicadas chirping. And the annoying bugs are coming back (although not nearly as bad as summer)! Spring marks the new school and business year for Japan, and it is also the time much anticipated by the Japanese for Hanami ("flower viewing" - specifically cherry blossoms viewing).



We saw some gorgeous cherry blossoms whilst in Himeji and Kyoto last week with our parents. And a huge-arse bee-like insect (must've been the size of my pinky finger!).



Our parents certainly has had the opportunity to experience a lot of Japanese things: inaka (country) living, visiting huge bustling cities, saw some cherry blossoms, saw some geisha girls in Gion (Kyoto), ate lots of fresh sashimi (including ama-ebi [raw prawn], ika [squid] and sazae [snails]) as well as various other Japanese food (including kaiseki, Kobe beef, soba (buckwheat) and udon (thick flour) noodles, and all those mochi and yummy bakery goods). And let's not forget the terrifying earthquake experience. I think I can safely say that they've truly had a taste of Japan in the past two weeks.