Mom and Dad in Japan

So first of all, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this thing... April was a wild month and here we are at the end my May and I'm just now feeling like I can take a minute to breathe! So April 1st not only brought in the amazing Cherry Blossom season, it brought my wonderful parents! So as my parents arrived in Tokyo on Friday, I had to finish off my week at work. On Saturday night, I took the Shinkansen after work and met my parents at the amazing Tokyo Hilton! It was beautiful with a beautiful view of the city! The next day we were off to Hakone, where we would be enjoying a fun little "Pirate Ship" cruise on Lake Ashi and rope-way ride, and then to Atami where we would enjoy an amazing classic onsen Ryokan (Japanese style hotel) with an amazing ocean view of Atami.


While the Pirate Ship cruise was exhilarating, my favorite part had to be the amazing onsen at our hotel and the exquisite kaiseki dinner (celebratory dinner). The whole tour group got dressed in our Yukata's (casual cotton kimonos) and dinned in a traditional tatami mat room. The dinner was not only amazing, but the presentation was beautiful! There was soo much food and it was all fabulous!


After our amazing meal, they had a Karaoke machine set up for a little post dinner entertainment... however, my dad and I were the only performers... oh well at least us Urhausen's know how to rock the Karaoke!


So after our great stay in Atami, we were off to Osaka and Kobe! In Osaka we stayed at the Imperial Osaka and visited the castle! I had been to the castle before, but the cherry blossoms were absolutely amazing! Apparently the Osaka castle is one of the most popular places to have o-hanami parties (Cherry Blossom viewing parties)The surrounding park was full of people enjoying picnics under the cherry blossoms! It was really beautiful!



In Kobe we went to a sake brewery and walked around the China town
then went to a nice Kobe beef dinner and enjoyed the beautiful picturesque view of the Kobe harbor with a delicious desert of green tea ice cream! yummy!


After our night in Osaka, I had to head back to the daily grind of Kakegawa... Mom and Dad continued their tour and went to Kyoto and Nara before joining me in Kakegawa. That next weekend we took a little journey to Ooigawa for a relaxing end to their visit. We took a steam train on the Ooigawa railway before making it to our destination.



We stayed at a beautiful onsen Roykan. It really was a beautiful place. A great way to end an amazing visit!





Overall it was an amazing visit! It was a busy two weeks but was so much fun! I was really able to see a different side of Japan and experience some amazing places!