One Sunday we went to a park to have a relaxing picnic, now that the weather isn’t so hot. This park was full of life and active Japanese people.  Soccer, baseball, kids learning to ride bikes, playing catch, and on a hill across the ways kids not just rolling down the grass but sledding.  Yes Sledding down grass.  Something we’ve never seen nor thought of even though we come from a major sledding area. 

Well after finishing our lunch we were very jealous of these kids having this much fun and decided to improvise.  In Grant and Mariko’s cooler they had bought a small block of ice, no bigger than a Harry Potter novel.  Samantha and I were instantly reminded of our memories of Ice-Blocking in Utah.  Definitely this was no large block of ice compared to those of days past, but why not try I thought.  Sure enough it worked.  We may have shown this local Japanese culture their first ever viewing of ice blocking. I wouldn’t be surprised if the kids were trying it the next week.