Visitors From Novi, Michigan

On Thursday we had visitors from the USA. Anna's friend Momo, her mom and new little one arrived to visit our from Novi, MI. Unfortunately, I was at work for the day and could not meet up with them. But from the pictures, I know they had allot of fun.

I have included two pictures here. The one on the top is from July of 2006 at Indian Springs Metropark in White Lake, MI. The second one is taken just this past Thursday at our house here. It is amazing how in just a little over 1 1/2 years they have changed.

They played together as if they had just seen each other the other day. We hope to soon make a visit back to Michigan to meet up with Momo's family again there. From there we will head down to Georgia to see my family.

Must Have One of These!

Anna Gets a New Bike!

After Jero's concert we took a trip to the other side of the tracks to Joyful Honda and bought Anna a new Hello Kitty Bicycle. Many of her friends at school are already riding on just two wheels (no training wheels) and we thought it is probably a good time for Anna to get started. At first we looked at the Pretty Cure Gogogo model but Anna liked Kitty the best.

The Barbi tricycle that Grandma had bought had gotten much too small. Tomorrow we will take it out to break it in by riding to the park. Hopefully I won't have to push her too much.

Hello Japan! Here Comes Jero!

This Saturday was the much anticipated arrival of Jerome White Jr. or Jero as he is known here in Japan. My mom got to see him perform on TV while she was here and was impressed (At least that is what she said). Jero sings "Enka". Enka is a Japanese form of folk songs and old country music. It has been very popular in Japan for a very long time.

Jero grew up in Pittsburgh, PA where he sang songs for his Japanese grandmother. As he grew older he learned many more and made his debut on the Japanese NHK TV show, "Nodo Jiman" or the "Proud Throat". Now he is about to release his first CD here in Japan and the hype is unbelievable. He looks like a Rap star but sings like a Enka star. Young and old from all over Japan are going to love this guy.

This afternoon at 3 he had a short free concert here in Inzai at the Big Hop Garden Mall (The same mall that my wife works at). The square in the middle of the mall packed in everyone shoulder to shoulder. Anna and Mom bought a CD to get up near the front and get a handshake after the concert. I have their picture here.

Jero sounds great! He has a talent for languages and music that few could aspire to. He has done alot of work and deserves every yen he makes here. His grandmother would be very proud.

Click Here for Jero's Website

Two Big Earthquakes - Anna Still Sleeps

The first earthquake hit at 1:09am. This one shook the house pretty good. When you are sleeping on the 2nd floor, you really feel the house sway. Afterwards there were several aftershocks. This one was a 3 in Inzai on the Japan vibration scale.

The first map shows the power of the earthquake by color. The light blue is a 3.

After this one was over we thought we could then go to sleep. We were wrong.

The second one rocked the house back and fourth. This measured a 4 on the vibration scale and a 6.7 on the Richter scale. This one made my wife scream a little and scared the crap out of me.

As can be seen on the second map the green triangles represent a 4. This one was wide and strong. We had 2's at about 15 minute intervals until early morning. As a result not many people were able to sleep to well last night.

Our daughter Anna has yet to wake up for an earthquake. We are not looking forward to the one that she does.

Click here for the Reuters Story.

Ueno Zoo Panda Dies

When my daughter and I visited Ueno Zoo a couple of weeks ago we were very fortunate to be able to see Ling-Ling, the giant panda there. This morning's news was very sad though. Just as I had thought, he did not seem too well when we were there. It has to be very hard to live out your last years inside a glass box where people snap photos of you every time you look over your shoulder.

When we were there the guards would tell people to turn off the flash. Unfortunately there are dolts that refuse learn how to use their camera and just keep flashing away. You could see the panda flinch every time someone would flash him. This is about the best picture I could get.

It's just a sad way to go.

Click here for the article on Ling-Ling.