School is out, and children are on their spring vacation. High school students in Aichi Prefecture had their last day of school on Tuesday, and younger students finished on Friday. I think most students are looking forward to the vacation. They can get up later than usual and play inside or hang out with their friends. The lucky ones get to go to theme parks such as Disneyland and USJ. Not everyone can take a break, however. Students who want to go on to a good high school or university will spend the vacation studying, and many parents will be busier than usual taking care of their children at home.

We had a big picnic and ceremony at the Fujimae Tidal Flat Activity Center yesterday. We have a year-long program for children, and in March, we finish it with a ceremony to celebrate the children becoming junior tidal flat rangers. Before the pandemic, we had a big picnic and played games, but Covid-19 stopped that. Yesterday, for the first time in five years, we built fires and made rice paste and fried noodles outside. Then, after lunch, we played some games. The new junior rangers gave short presentations, and then we gave them their junior ranger cards. The weather wasn’t great, but everyone had a good time, and I’m really happy that life is finally back to normal.

Where can you go by Shinkansen in Japan? Almost anywhere! The original Shinkansen line opened in time for the 1964 Olympics but only went from Tokyo to Osaka. Now Shinkansen lines go from the south of Kyushu to Hakodate in Hokkaido. It’s also easy to travel across Honshu from the Kanto area to the Sea of Japan. Last Saturday, the Hokuriku Line opened a new section from Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture to Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture. Now it only takes 3 hours from Tokyo all the way to Tsuruga! Tokyoites can take the same train and go skiing in Nagano, visit hot spring resorts in Fukui, or go swimming at Tsuruga Bay.

It’s springtime in Nagoya, too. However, according to the weather report, the weather is going to get colder once more before it really starts to get warm. Unlike Hitachi, the cherry trees haven’t bloomed here yet because most of them are “someiyoshino,” but you can see magnolia trees in bloom here and there. The white blossoms are large and look like tulips, so these trees are sometimes called tulip trees. They look especially beautiful against the blue sky. The spring has lots of flowering plants, but I think that trees that blossom before their leaves come out are really special. These include plum trees, magnolias, and cherry trees.