From Sosoji to Mitsuike Park

The Ancient Mariner steamed down the coast to Osaka this morning for what the Navy refers to as a Quality of Life Visit and what I call Something of a Boondoggle. A Quality of Life Visit is when a ship pulls into port and disgorges a thousand or so sailors who will sprinkle their dollars around the local economy while conducting themselves at all times (one prays) as Ambassadors of America.

Tomorrow I'll hop on a bullet train with Fearless and her twins to participate in the dollar-sprinkling aspect of the exercise. For while I believe the tradition of Quality of Life Visits merited rethinking about thirty seconds before the Navy started billing itself as "family friendly" a quarter century ago, I am not about to miss a chance to get back to Osaka and the seared scallops around the corner from Hotel Orientale. I'm sure a long-memoried sibling  will throw this back in my face some day, but I don't really care. They haven't tasted those scallops.  There are few things in life for which I'd abandon my principles.  Those scallops are on the list.

While I charge up my Kindle for the train ride and stuff some clean underwear in my backpack, you can wander through a cemetery with Ishii-san.
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"Yoohoo! Ishii-san! I have some people who want to follow you from Sosoji to Mitsuike park. You make them nervous when you keep frowning at your map."

Ishii-san is consulting her map in half the pictures I snapped Monday.

What a strange gravesite! Both the beehive shape and abundant flowers are atypical here. We round the corner to the gravesite's entrance and are greeted by a sign that roughly translates to "Do not enter unless your grandparents are buried here." Shoot! The mere fact of that sign's existence is atypical. We must not be the only wanderers attracted to that gravesite like bees to a hive.

There's no sign warning us away from this family's gravesite but the statue at the entrance probably doesn't need any help warding off non-relatives.

The cemetery's back exit takes us to a narrow side street which we follow downhill to a traffic light and then execute a nifty left turn and there's only one minor mountain range standing between us and Mitsuike Park. Colorful flowers brighten our route. A tree with blossoms resembling bleeding hearts catches my fancy.

We cut through Mitsuike Park as our map directs. The park seems so green now that all the cherry blossoms have been replaced by foliage. There are no children on the broad cement slide but we find an entire nursery school lined up at the long metal slide. Their happy laughter distracts us from our map. How else can what happened next be explained?