We Took a Trip

For the first time since arriving in Japan, we traveled more than 2 hours from where we live. Saturday night we got on a bus in Tokyo and Sunday morning we arrived in Tsuyama. Tsuyama is the city Erik lived in 10 years ago. This was the first time for Yoko to visit this part of Japan, so Erik played tour guide and showed Yoko some of the local sites. This region of Japan is famous for Momotaro aka Peach Boy. Tsuyama in listed as one of the top places to view sakura (cherry blossoms) in Japan. With spring coming early this year, we were hoping to see the sakura in bloom, but we were about a week early. Here is how the sakura looked for us and how they look when in bloom (enlarge these pictures by clicking on them).
Most of our time was spent with friends. We had a great time catching up with them which usually involved a delicious meal. It was a quick trip as we left Tsuyama Tuesday night and arrived back in Tokyo Wednesday morning. We used the night bus for transportation as it is economical and day time is not used for traveling, but it doesn't provide the best night's rest. As a result, we both had to take a nap on Wednesday. We really enjoyed our trip and look forward to the next time we can see Tsuyama and our friends.