Spring arrivals

Halfway around the world from Japan my brother became a parent for the first time. Thanks to inventions like webcams and skype I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of my new nephew. Meanwhile, I saw my sister in person as she takes a two month holiday around the world. Lucky her and proof perhaps that wanderlust in is the family genes.
Many of the places she and I went to I have blogged about before; Matsumoto castle, frog street, the monkey onsen and many sights in Tokyo. We also went to the Kiso valley to a town called Tsumago. Hundreds of years ago it used to be a post town and traders would stay here as they carted their goods between major cities. It has been preserved exactly as it was more than a hundred years ago so no telephone poles or traffic lights or other signs of modernity are visable. It was quaint but very nice; a kind of Japanese Cotswolds. We also went the amazing Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo. You probably know their animation movies like Spirited Away and My Neighbour Tottoro. The museum is very much in the same spirit as the movies. Unlike Disneyland, it is small and doesn't have rides and the number of visitors are limited and sell out weeks in advance. The museum is built like a castle and full of spiral staircases, turrets and indoor bridges. The displays were full of invention and the museum's exclusive short film maintained the same quality of their feature films. Unfortunately I am too old to play on the cat bus but the little children playing seemed to really enjoy it. I thoroughly recommend a visit.
My sister may contest this but she can be a fussy eater. So I feel quite proud to have gotten her to eat almost every major japanese food; ramen, soba, sushi (including squid), yakiniku, natto, wasabi, cow's tongue and japanese barbeque to mention some. She has left now but it was lovely to see her.