Mother Farm, Futsu City, Chiba

On Saturday we took grandma to Mother Farm. We had visited here last year during the Golden Week holiday in Japan and decided that Grandma would definitely love this place. Mother Farm is located on some pretty high hills overlooking Tokyo Bay. On a good day you can see Mt. Fuji. We were able to get some great pictures of Fuji still covered in snow.

The first thing we did was head directly for the pig races. Here on the first round, Anna was not picked to run in the race. The crowds were just too huge. The second time around we were able to come back after lunch and get her in after another little girl had a shyness attack and gave up her spot in the race to Anna. I tried to get a video but since I was urging Anna on and not paying attention to the video, she is not in the picture very much.

We ended the day with the milking of the cow and then a great dinner in Kisarazu. According to the guide book, this restaurant is 110 years old. Needless to say, it was a great meal. Unfortunately, Anna slept right through dinner.

Grandma Goes to Kashiwa no Ha Park

Today, a the day after Grandma arrived in Japan, we went to Kashiwa no Ha park. Hiroko had to work this afternoon at Eddie Bauer and the weather was so nice, we decided we had to spend the day outside.

Grandma was still suffering from Jet lag but we are giving her my therapy for getting rid of the sleepiness during the day. That is, stay active, and do not take a nap. If you take a nap in the afternoon while you are suffering from Jet lag you will not wake up.

We dropped off Hiroko at Big Hop and headed towards the park. After Anna played for a little while we had the lunch that Hiroko had made for us in the morning (My wife is awesome!) I set up our mat near the play area and I think we should have had a more level spot. When Grandma spotted a bird she wanted to show us, she nearly rolled down the hill. That would have been pretty funny.

We finished up the lunch and they had some new swan boats in the small lake at the park. You can paddle around the lake for thirty minutes for only 320yen. Afterwards we had some soft serve ice cream. We had a great time.

Mom Arrives In Japan!

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another!

Just when we thought we were done with the earthquake weekend extravaganza, we had another smaller one this morning. Who needs an alarm clock when you have an earthquake to wake you in the morning? This one was closer to the Tokyo area but was much weaker, 4.2M. I usually get an e-mail from the USGS when these happen and we can feel it but I think this one was out of the range that I have set on the website.

I think there needs to be a better way to display the center of an earthquake. Every time an earthquake is reported they display a point. I think that these must happen along a fault and should really be displayed along a line. Last year there was an earthquake in northern Japan that was very weak but sent vibrations from the top of Honshu Island all the way down to Tokyo (I talked about this with my co-workers here but no one seemed to be concerned about this but me). I'm not an expert but I think that displaying the earthquake as a line might give people some more information about what is actually happening.

I am definitely freaked out about these. The reactions I get from the people that live here is, "These are nothing to be worried about." I now understand how someone from Atlanta must feel when they see the snow in Detroit.

Rude Awakening

Last night at 1:55am. My wife and I were shaken awake by a 5.4M quake in Ibaraki Prefecture. This was probably the biggest one that we have experienced since moving here to Japan. In our area it was a 4 on the Japan shake scale. Usually I'm the only one that gets woken up by these. This time Hiroko was shaken up too.

Right afterwards, I got up to go to the bathroom and you could hear the crows and birds had been rustled out of their sleep too.

Here to tell you now, earthquakes are not fun. It is good though that we got this one done before my mom gets here next week.

Anderson Park, Shiroi City

Last Saturday we went to Anderson Park near Shiroi City. This park is kind of unique that it has a fairly large windmill like those from the Netherlands. The park is named after Johannes Christian Anderson the famous writer of children's stories.

We arrived on the opposite side of the park from the windmill and met a friend of mine from work there. Since this is a privately owned park there is an admission price. However the park has some of the biggest play structures I have ever seen. The kids can climb up the stairs and ride a roller slide from about 60 feet up. It's allot of fun. Also there are obstacle courses in the woods made of rope and logs that will challenge the adults also.

The kids had their biggest fun on the huge field of bouncy balls. These where large rubber balls of all different sizes arranged within a huge circle and held down with a fish net. Both of them spent most of their time there.

They also have a small lake and some places where you can control the flow of water with locks and dams. Anna slipped and got her foot wet in the near freezing water. Last year, Anna had visited here with her class and was the first to strip down to her underwear and take a swim. Needless to say, we had to get back home.

Afterwards we went back to our place for pork shabu shabu. Very good.