May Day

It's Golden Week! Today and next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all bank holidays here in Japan. Many people have tomorrow off too, giving them a full week of holiday. The weather is usually good at this time of year so it's great to have some free time.

Today H joined the May Day Labour march, despite it being only April 29th. For the last few years the unions around here have held the march early so as not to break up the holidays. Here's the gathering in the park at the end of the march:



Are the workers shaking their fists at the injustices imposed on them by tyrannical employers? Cheering in support of the rousing words of a speaker on the stage? Or are they all playing 'rock, scissors, paper' in an effort to win prizes?

Yup, it's the last one...

K and I went to the park early and played for a while, met H after the march and had a picnic lunch. After that, K had his first bouncy castle experience! Children of the marchers (and, I suppose, any other kids in the park who didn't publicly proclaim that they were not with the march) could bounce around for free for as long as they liked. I thought that K might be a bit afraid, especially as there were quite a few bigger children there, but he loved it.

He didn't move about that much but he had a big smile plastered across his face and, after coming out once, he just wanted to go straight back in again. In fact, he was still there after all the other kids had left, and I had to go in there and get him...

(I didn't mind. I love bouncy castles!)

Finally we headed over to the city-run Children's Culture Centre. They host various events for young children; there's a library and a big hall; there are various games and toys to play with, for all different ages; there are craft activities, crayons and paper available all the time....

... and a planetarium.

If you know H, you will not be surprised to learn that this was his reason for suggesting we go to the Culture Centre! We all lay back on the reclining red seats and looked at the stars projected onto the domed ceiling. K did get up and run around a bit but he was pretty quiet and too short to get in anyone's way, so I think all was well.

And time to head home again. It was a busy day for a little boy.

Dreaming of what else we'll get up to over Golden Week?