Tokyo Citizen's Day

October 1st is Tokyo Citizens Day and all public schools are off for the day and all city-run facilities, like museums and zoos, are free to the public. In the past we have gone to various museums and zoos and enjoyed the day off provided by the city. This year, I forgot about it until I noticed the kids weren't going to school and Takeshi came in all excited about doing something together as a family. Let's go to a Hot Spring. We can go to Hawaiians, Nasu or Yunessan. We decided on Yunessan since it was the closest (only an hour and a half away in Hakone) and we hadn't been since we went spur of the moment with Joshua in January of 2003. We packed up our bathing suits, figured out how to get discount tickets and were off. We had a great time in the baths together and later split up for segregated bathing.



I guess the new experience this time was with the "doctor fish". It was a special exhibit and we lined up for the 1:30pm experience. We joined a group of people and sat on the edge of a pool filled with doctor fish. At the given signal we all put our feet in and kept them steady while the fish swarmed around them and began to nibble. It was slightly ticklish and somewhat strange to see all these fish covering our feet. But I kept my feet still for the allowed 5 minutes. Then we all pulled our feet out slowly and walked around the pool to the trough of disinfectant. We waded through that and let the guides spray our hands with alcohol and we were done. My feet are definitely smoother. I would do it again. It was a very good day!! I think all cities should have a "Citizen's Day!"