It’s been a quiet month around here. Well, truth be told, we spent the first half of it gallivanting around France so it wasn’t THAT quiet, but regarding Japan-based adventures, I’ve been taking it easy.
The weather, as is so typical of May in Japan, has been perfect. Days in the 70s (yes, that’s Fahrenheit, all my non-American readers … think 22*C I think) and evenings with breezes so refreshing I’ve taken to letting all the doors hang wide open at night (we do have screens) and enjoying the rustle of the wind as it moves through the apartment. It takes me back to my childhood, growing up in a house sans air con. On midsummer nights, we’d always open all the doors and I’d listen to the crickets outside.
But I digress … 🙂 With such nice weather, my daughter begged for a trip to the zoo. If you follow the blog, you know I am not a HUGE fan of zoos but the zoo here in Kumamoto is pretty decent. The big cats and bears could definitely use more space, but some of the enclosures – like Monkey Island – are genuinely hospitable. Next to the zoo is the city’s botanical garden. Somehow, in all of our trips to see the animals, I’d never really wandered over there until this spring. Now, I try not to miss it. The field in the back was planted with glorious yellow rapeseed on our last visit in March but this month, it was a carpet of spring flowers. It’s not quite as impressive as some flower parks I’ve seen, but for our little city, it’s a lovely place to picnic.
Uncover Japan 
Leave a Reply