Mom and Gail (Gail is a friend that lives across the road from Mom) landed in Japan on March 27th to begin their 2 week vacation (although I think they probably needed another vacation after they got home).

Yuki took the 2 weeks off work and I was on Spring Break so we borrowed the car from Yuki's Mom (if you saw the past pictures of our car you will know why) and toured around central Japan. 

Our first stop (if you don't count all the shopping in between stops) was Kobe.  We spent a night there and managed to conquer most of the town.  The following day we headed down to Hiroshima, with a brief stop at Himeji Castle on the way,  to spend a night at Yuki's aunt and uncle's place.  Yuki's aunt and uncle took us to a geta (Japanese clogs) museum and then out  on Yuki's uncle's boat to see the cherry blossoms on a nearby island.  The next day was Mom's birthday and after eating birthday okonomiyaki, we headed over to Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb memorials.  I had never been there either so it was interesting for me as well.

The following Saturday we did a day trip to Kyoto - a lot to see in a day, especially in the peak of cherry blossom season.  After that it was a night at Michan and Ki-rin's in Osaka.  We went to a BBQ restaurant and managed to get Mom to eat beef tongue (unknowingly).  The rest of their time here was spent touring gift shop after gift shop after gift shop.  They bought so much between the two of them they had to buy another suitcase and that still wasn't enough room to get everything home!

It was a good time for all I think and I am happy I got to introduce Japan to another member of the family!