Our Very Japanesey Day

I know that by living in Japan, it should mean that every day is a very "Japanesey" day, but it doesn't seem so as much lately.  The days go by and daily life is just, well, just daily life.  But when it's cherry blossom season, the Japaneseness of Japan just comes blooming out all around.  And today was just one of those days filled with Japanese things.  

We started off at Tenjin Temple in Takatsuki, enjoying a small tea ceremony.  Peaceful and beautiful under this blooming cherry.

Adding to the "Japaneseness" of my day, I learned how to use a new function on our camera that can take three shots and arrange them like this one.  (Furthermore, my subject for this experiment was the temple cat, about which I'm sure I squealed,  "So cute!"  in proper Japanese fashion..."Kawaii!"
We then headed to Osaka to visit a small art gallery where my former pottery teacher was finishing a special exhibit.   We got an invitation postcard in the mail last week:

I took pottery lessons from this kind and very talented potter for the 5 years I lived in Koga.  What a pleasure to see them and their beautiful Japanese pottery!  It made we want to get my hands on clay again, for sure!  (This picture Masashi took while we were getting ready to pose for a picture - it catches the moment nicer than the posed version.)

Finally, we strolled around Osaka Castle and took in the sights, sounds and smells there.  

The cherry trees were in full bloom, the vendors were out in full force, and there were several music groups to encounter from jazz to drum groups, guitarists to....

good ole' American 50's music just as we were walking out of the park.  A crowd had gathered and as I approached I realized it was a group of dancers - leather jacket, tight jeans, pointy sleek shoes for the guy... poodle skirts and cardigans, etc. for the girls - twistin' the day away.  It was a unique sight - a group of Japanese dancin' American, and this American being Japanese taking their picture.  

We finished with a nice dinner for two in Umeda.  A pretty good day in our lives in Japan.  More to come as the weather warms up and we venture out and about.