Just the other day my son Isaiah and I went to a new park in the area called You Yuu Rando. If you notice the sign in the picture below, you can see the name of the park written there. "You" is written in English. The next character 「遊」, pronounced yuu means "play." Rando means "land." So, the name of the park is a bilingual play on words. "You play land," playing on the cross-lingual homophones of "you" and 「遊」. Pretty neat, right?
I was super pumped when we got to this park, because it is actually on a small mountaintop and mountainside. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the sun was out, and the expansive, sprawling spaces of the park were filled with benches, play equipment, an athletic park, and a long roller slide. Plus, a FUNHOUSE!
How does he do it??? Is it magic? Does he have some special ninja abilities I was unaware of!? This bikkuri hausu, or "surprise house," was very fun! It was also disconcerting. As the house is on an angle, your brain wants to tell you to stand up "straight." If you try that, though, you'll topple right over.
The vast expanses of the park. I fuckin' love it here! Or as I taught Isaiah to say: "This park is freakin' cool!" Such a spacious, open place. If you look closely you can see all the way to the city about 40 minutes away in the distance.
After we played for quite a bit here, we went off on a search for some curry rice. All the running around on the hills had worked up a healthy appetite in the both of us. While we were driving around searching for a Coco Ichiban curry shop, we stumbled across this fantastic scene!
Legions of Koi flying over the Kamo River! Awesome! These stylized carp windsocks are traditional decorations displayed this time of year in Japan, called koinobori. They symbolize the spirit, strength, and determination of the Koi, and are used to celebrate Childrens' Day/Boys' Day, throughout April and early May.
Finally, after a long, lazy day of having fun in the fresh April sunshine, we made our way to the curry restaurant. We had to drive a little ways, but it was worth it! Let's eat!
The curry was great, and as you can see, Isaiah got a little bit of sun while playing at the park and by the river, under the flying koi. He ended up ordering two of the kids' size mini-curry combos, and I ate more than my weight in curry as well.
We had a great day, and I am so glad that you could join us via this post. Thanks so much! Until next time!
Mata ne~!
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(Thanks for stopping by! If you missed the last installment of Japan Photo Blog, Vol. 86: "Smile. Smile. Smile.," you can find that HERE.)
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DTube and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)