I highly recommend Makabe if you have a little free time, and certainly it is a good place to take foreign visitors. Old cities like Kamakura do have historic temples and shrines to look at but the regular shops and houses are modern. On the other hand, Makabe is living history.
Oops, I am two weeks late but here are some pictures I took on March third, the day of the Hina Masturi. It is also a day that celebrates girls, so families with daughters have a special dinner as well as displaying dolls. Sorry, I don't have any children so I can't show you any dinner pictures ...
Makabe Town in Sakuragawa City near Tsukuba has a nice Doll Festival where over 100 shops and houses display Hina dolls in their windows. You can even go inside some houses to take a look. 
Honestly speaking, some of the very old dolls are a little scary to look at!
If you have been reading my blog for a year, you will know that I ADORE cherry (sakura) flavored foods. It is a little misleading to say 'cherry' because people think of the small red fruits, so let me use the Japanese word 'sakura'.
Today I used the leaves for the first time. I made muffins flavored with 3 chopped sakura leaves and one small can of sweet red beans. I chose a brand of beans that didn't contain much sugar or syrup, so the muffins are more savory than sweet. (No added sugar.) The sakura fragrance when I took them out of the oven was so wonderful! Next I will try kanten jelly and maybe a pound cake (not so healthy ....)
By the way, the sweets shop Ginza Bunmeido makes really nice sakura manju. (Sorry, there is no English word for manju and 'steamed buns' doesn't explain them well.) I found the manju on the first floor of Seibu, Tsukuba. Please hurry to buy some before the season is over.
The sandwich in the picture probably doesn't look so delicious because it has no oil or butter. That means the bread is like toast rather than golden brown like a regular 'hot sando'. 
From February 13th, residents of Tsukuba can change their car number plates from 'Tsuchiura' area to 'Tsukuba'. I'm not sure why but many people think 土浦 is a bit country bumpkin-ish and rather uncool. As for me, I'm happy that Tsukuba is written in hiragana characters that are really easy to write!
Tsukuba seems to be a city full of bakeries! The local government is promoting the 'bread city' and most bakeries now follow a monthly flavor theme. Not sure what this month is, but recently it was 'bread with chestnuts'.
Anyway, the new place is a 'professionals supermarket' and it has a lot of bulk items for restaurants, etc. I was happy because I could find a 2 liter bottle of vinegar there. (I use vinegar for cleaning.) The prices are reasonable for most things, even for brand name products. For example, the vinegar is a popular Japanese brand.
What a difficult word! I wonder who gave the flower that name in English?
The chrysanthemum is the symbol of the Japanese imperial family, so why do they also have the image of 'grave flowers'? I really don't understand that. If you know why, please tell me.
A few weeks ago I went for a walk in Chuo Park. It was a lovely day and the colors of autumn were all around.
It is a little early for Christmas, but today Megumi gave me this lovely table arrangement. If you come to the Takezono classroom, you can see it for real.
I really can't believe that Xmas is 'just around the corner'. Each year the time seems to pass faster and faster. I really have to hurry up and make my traditional Xmas fruit cake!
Sometimes I try to tell people what a millipede is, but you don't see them in Japan so much.
Here are some of the Chinese quince from my garden. They smell lovely, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them!
And the little orange things are called "Karasu-uri" or "Snake Vine" in English. The vine grows in the summer, and in late summer it has fruits that look like tiny watermelons. In autumn they become orange and kind of look like mini-pumpkins. Please don't try to eat them! I picked them because I think they make good decorations :)
This is my photo of the week. I found a row of camellia bushes as I walked to the post office in Takezono recently. The blooms were so beautiful I couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture ...
Anyway, here is a picture of Mt Tsukuba that I took a few weeks ago from the rooftop carpark at Yamashin homecenter. Lovely, isn't it?
Today I met an old friend who lives in Tokyo. She has exciting news - she has co-authored a book! Congratulations Chris!
Here is the 'mystery bird' that was in the persimmom tree. Thank you to K-san for telling me its name :)
There are some wonderful pictures of other Japanese birds. It seems to be a group that shares bird-watching photos.
There are two fruit trees in my garden. Before you feel envious, let me tell you that NEITHER of the fruits can be eaten ...
Oh, if you are wondering, there are quinces in Australia but a different kind. Karin are 'Chinese quince' but the quince I know can be eaten. They look kind of the same, but you can cut them up and cook them like apples. When they are cooked, the flesh becomes pale pink! My father really like stewed quinces. I wonder if I could try cooking Chinese quince?
The second tree is a persimmom tree. Of course you can eat persimmom, but the fruit on this tree are bitter. Despite that, the birds love them! A family of Japanese crows sometimes visits the tree (I don't like the awful noise they make) and yesterday a flock of beautiful birds came. They were about 30cm tall, with white/beige bodies, black heads and pale blue/grey tails. I hope those birds come back again. I tried to take a picture but my camera's zoom isn't powerful enough.
Last week one of my English classes changed into a flower arranging lesson! One of the members is studying to be a flower arranging teacher, and everyone else asked to teach us how to make a simple arrangement - in English!!!
M-san's class was really easy to follow. She had prepared a handout with the basic design, and after we finished that part, she said "Now you can add flowers as you like". I was happy with this idea because we could make our own original designs.
It was interesting because even though we had the same flowers, everyone's arrangment was a little different to the others. What do you think of mine? (It was my first try ...)
Flower arranging is quite relaxing so that night I made another arrangement at home to use up the flowers I had left over.
