Zoo, Driving and IKEA...

It's been a week since my last post and we have been quite busy since then. Our trip to the zoo was enjoyed by all, especially daughter 2 who's favourite animal was definitely the bear! The lions and chimpanzee seemed a little sad in their small enclosures but the highlight of the trip was most definitely the petting zoo, Japan style! Mice, guinea pigs and chicks are roaming around on small tables, the children take a mat, a brush and a small animal, sit down on the benches provided and pet... none of the animals tried to escape and no-one got hurt, bitten or scratched!

The rest of the week passed in a bit of a blur ending with a trip to the drivers licence office on Friday to obtain a Japanese drivers licence. After a very early drop off for daughter 1 with a school friend we braved the rush hour train through Yokohama station to Futamatagawa with daughter 2 in her pushchair! We were just very glad that the millions of people crammed in the train with their faces pressed against the window got out before we had to get on. The wait at the office was almost exactly what we were expecting 3.5 hours, and with much help from a lovely japanese lady we left with two japanese drivers licences :o)

Saturday then meant we HAD to go driving in our new car so feeling pretty brave we headed out to IKEA! Although we had a few hurdles on the way... firstly we had no petrol... found the petrol station, managed to convey what we wanted and now have a full tank! secondly we had to program the japanese satnav... good job Benn was paying attention to the lesson he had. We arrived at IKEA just after opening and had a surprisingly enjoyable trip and delicious meatballs for lunch returning with almost everything we went for!

Feeling pretty brave I headed out into chinatown and the day ended with o-mochi kaeri (take out) from our local chinese restaurant... YUMMY :o)