Instead of staying in the cafeteria of the Kokurakita ward office, all of us and Sakamoto san (our advisor/supervisor) spent our day outside, in front of Kokura Castle.

The sakura have bloomed and the sun was out. Yesterday's clouds and drizzle gave way to some very nice weather today. Viva brought some tarp where we could sit down and everyone just chilled out. Some played badminton, others played soccer or bumped the volleyball around with other sakura-watchers, little kids and the like.

It was something out of a perfect, Sunday scene. In the morning we were one of the first there but soon after the castle grounds were filled with people enjoying food, drinks and chat around the cherry trees. I was listening to track 9 of Yoko Kanno's latest soundtrack work for "Wolf's Rain". It was ultimately relaxing.

I spent my time taking a few pictures here and there and making much progress on Metroid Fusion on my Game Boy Advance SP, which I picked up in Osaka (right before going to Tokyo). I couldn't ask for a better chance, or place, to relax.

Metroid Fusion is a great game, even though it seems pretty short. I do believe I'm closing in the end and I've only had a game time of about four hours.

BOE time was technically from 9-12, but a lot of us stuck around the grounds well into 3pm or so. A few people took nice naps on the tarp, Chris and Brian took some time to read their books. I took some time out to actually watch people and not think about anything. Sometimes I was fixed on my game, and sometimes I just sat there with my iPod and didn't think at all.

We're doing it again tomorrow.

After the relaxation I had kaitenzushi with Tim in Amu Plaza (at Kokura Station), picked up a pouch/carrying case for my SP and went home. Did my routine backup of important files on CD-RW, cooked some chicken for dinner.