A quick catalog of the past few days, for those of you keeping score at home:  On Thursday night, the kids and I headed up to Sendai to visit my in-laws.  Satoko joined us there on Friday, and I managed to hit some used bookstores and find some good materials then, as well.  Saturday we visited the family graves (it being Spring Equinox weekend, after all) and then headed to Akiu onsen (hot springs) for a very relaxing evening. 

   Yesterday, I took the long train ride to Tokyo and from there the even longer train ride to Kyoto.  I saw the first rain of the trip when I left Kyoto Station last night around 7:00 p.m.  It's sunny again this morning, though.  I'm going to visit some colleagues here in the a.m. and then it's off to the sumo tournament in Osaka this afternoon.  From there I hop back on the bullet train and head to Tokyo, where I'll meet up with the family again for the last few days of our trip.  The cherry blossoms will be out in full force, nicely moving their calendar up a few weeks to match outs.   I'll mostly be in libraries during those days, but I expect I'll stick my nose out the door every once in a while to enjoy the scenery.   Wouldn't you?