Jorogumo (spider) island

I am really pleased that I was able to get the photo above of the jorogumo spider because I only have a little point and shoot digital camera. I had to put my camera on to the taking photo's of pets setting which I found rather amusing!

I took the photo on a long thin island which links one side of the lake in Ohori Koen (park) to the other. The path is over hung with trees and smaller bushes which is the perfect habitat for the joro gumo to spin her meter long webs. It was quite perilous sometimes picking our way through and below the webs! They didn't seem to bother the locals though and the gardens were full of school children painting and sketching the park and its wildlife. There is an art gallery at one end of the park which probably explains the emphasis on art.

The park was very relaxing, Jase got to use his camera and when he was setting up his tripod or changing lenses I read my book. Below is a picture I took of some flowers by the lake side.

After spending all morning at the park we had lunch in a little udon cafe where no one spoke English. We managed fine. Jase had his favourite katsu kare with udon this combination seemed to amuse the waitress no end. I had an udon set which was udon in a pork based broth and some fried and shredded onions and beef with rice. It was delicious hearty food and very cheap too. If we had been sitting at the window then we would have had a view not dissimilar to the one below, over the lake.
After our late lunch we went to the station to buy our tickets for Nagasaki for tomorrow. Again I ordered them in Japanese and it all went very smoothly. We popped into Yodobashi Camera for a quick look at telescopes for my Dad but the selection in Tokyo seemed slightly better. I love Yodobashi Camera it sells everything electrical or gadgety including accessories and in all kinds of colours and styles.

This evening we have been watching some Japanese TV. Columbo is about to start but we have been watching a programme involving animals in a TV studio running through a maze of dominoes the animals used included a Capybara, a duck, ferret, dog, cat and some kind of sloth. They also had a tiger cub being bottle fed in the studio and a man being lowered into a cage with a bull in it. Japanese TV baffles and amuses all at once!

The journey to Nagasaki tomorrow should only take a couple of hours but it will be a busy day tomorrow so may not blog for a while.