Weekend in Morioka

This morning we headed downtown to try out Kokko- the public play center. Being Saturday, it was pretty empty, so the 4 ladies running things got spent a lot of time giving us the grand tour and trying to translate the rules into English for us. It’s a really great facility- there 2 big rooms for bigger kids, a baby room as well, a snack area, and nice clean bathrooms complete with kids potties & sinks. They have lots of books, a small indoor jungle gym, and lots of neat toys almost entirely made of recycled goods! I never thought of making so many things with empty milk cartons before- pretty impressive. When you register the first time, your child gets a nice fabric name tag that you are supposed to pin on their backs every time you go. It’s like a permanent Birth-to-5 playgroup open from 10-5 every day except Monday. They also run classes on nutrition, baby massage, possibly dance, and other things we couldn’t figure out. Best of all- it wiped Catie out! After a couple of hours of playing and then a 2 km walk home, Catie passed out almost as soon as we got back. Finally, a nap at a decent hour! 

  

Tonight was supposed to be the Morioka Fireworks Festival. However it was canceled due to flooding. We got over 4 INCHES of rain in the past 24 hours. The fireworks are postponed at least one day and possibly more, until the river level subsides.

With our evening plans thwarted, we resigned ourselves to a quiet night at home. Our luck changed when Andy returned from a convenience store run to tell us that our neighborhood was having a festival only a block from our apartment. The promise of fair food and games made up for the lack of fireworks. We enjoyed playing, eating, and mostly watching the extravaganza. The fair consisted of about 2 dozen booths run by local groups, businesses, and student organizations on either side of a central stage. There was a taiko performance from the local junior high, a spirited edamame shucking contest with 3 housewives dueling it out with an intense color commentator, and lots of bands. The food was traditional Japanese fair food and was therefore AWESOME! There was yakisoba, huge grilled oysters, yakitori (grilled chicken on skewers), giant pickles, custard filled pancake-like cakes, watermelon, and so much more. Catie fished for a water balloon yo-yo and waved at all the pretty girls in yukata.