Track And Field Competition in Kanto, 2011

Rina runs right side on the track. Her grandpa cheers her up loud.

Rina went to Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium in Tokyo to attend the track and field competition in Kanto.

Kanto includes Tokyo and six prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa.

The population is said to amount approximately one third of the total population of Japan.


Rina was nominated from Tochigi prefecture as an athlete of 800-meter-run and 1,500-meter-run this time.

Rina’s competitors were so strong that she finished XXth out of  YY members.
XX and YY are secret numbers withheld by Rina’s earnest request.

Anyway, she had a wonderful experience. Congrats. Rina.

Bike Festival in Utsunomiya

We had a bike festival today and yesterday.

They arranged a bike road race or Criterium race, an imported bike exhibition, bike parts shops, a live concert, street performers, … you name it.

Weather was not perfect, but I enjoyed them as one of bike fans.

Monkey Show Was Held Next to My Condo.

 When I went out to a shop in front of my condo to buy some bottles of beer, a guy was doing a street performance with a monkey.
The monkey did imitating human actions,  jumping bars and walking on stilts.
We call the monkey show Saru Mawashi in Japanese. It’s usually carried out in New Years Day or at festivals.
I don’t know why he’s doing Saru Mawashi now.
Did Utsunomiya civil servants planed it to attract tourists?  It has still been a mistery.

It’s Health-Sports Day or Sports Day Today.

Sports Day falls on today in Japan; it's a national holiday held annually on the second Monday in October.

My wife and I went cycling to Bell Mall which is the largest shopping mall in Utsunomiya city. It's sunny warm day perfectly fitting for cycling.

At bell Mall, they keep alpacas in its front space. Every time I visit there, it’s my pleasure to see how alpacas have grown up comparing the last time.

On our way back home we dropped by a newly opened noodle soup restaurant “Miyakoya” to which my colleague highly recommended to go.

Taste was nice and they were reasonably priced.
Yes, it’s worth visiting.

Higanbana Flowers

I went to Takanezawa Green Park located in northeast of Utsunomiya to play tennis and to see a cosmos flower field.

I played tennis from 8:30 in the morning to 4:00 in the evening.

I've been very exhausted by playing tennis so long.

During a short lunch break, I took several pictures of cosmos and red spider lily (Higanbana in Japanese).

They were very beautiful, weren’t they?