Matsusaka Gion Matsuri

This past weekend we returned to my wife's hometown of Matsusaka. I was actually supposed to be participating in the Gion Matsuri on Saturday to carry one of the portable shrines (mikoshi) in the festival. Unfortunately Typhoon #4 (Manyi) came up from the Philippines and made the festival impossible.

Fortunately though, the second day we were able to complete the children's portion of the festival on Sunday. During that part of while we were busying ourselves with that a reporter from the Yukan Mie (Matsusaka's Local Newspaper) interviewed me for an article on our long relationship with the town. You can see his picture here, taking a picture of us for the paper.

Also, that Sunday night my daughter dressed in her yukata again for the Matsusaka Suzu Odori festival. All day on Sunday, in the main intersection were many dance groups putting on performances on two stages. Then, at the end of the day all of the dance groups all lined up and down the main street and danced. My daughter enjoyed it allot.

Anna's Bon Odori

Playing with friends in her new Yukata

Yusuzumi Kai at Kobayashi Tenjin Yochien

Today was the big day. We attended my daughter's summer festival at her kindergarten for a special treat. My mother in law had made my daughter a yukata just for this event. Here you see her getting ready for the big day. The obi or sash was custom colored by my mother in law and the yukata was also hand made. She looked great.

After arriving we went straight to the gymnasium to see a magician do some pretty amazing stuff to get allot of 3 and 4 year old's attention. I have to admit, he was pretty good. After that all of the children were lined up outside for a group picture. A professional photographer's job is pretty tough. Especially getting all of these kids to sit still for a few seconds to get a really nice picture.

Finally, the big event of the day was the bon odori or traditional dance. All of the kids lined up and danced in the courtyard to the music and the teachers beating taiko drums. This was definitely allot of fun.

Happy 4th of July from Japan!

Here is a great one shot that was taken by the mother of Anna's best friend Honaka. Today was the 4th of July and was not a holiday in Japan (Since this is not the USA). Here Anna is wearing her patriotic all American girl shirt with Honaka under the umbrella.

This was such a great picture I had to include it in my blog today.

Happy Independance Day!

Wife has the Flu

We aren't doing much this weekend. My wife has come down with the flu and she has been pretty much sleeping most of the day.

Yesterday, Anna and I went to the Convenience Store to pick up some lunch for everyone. There she met one of her classmates. I noticed that his parents were much younger than us. The dad had some extremely spiked hair.

Next time, I'll have to get a picture. Today, we'll leave mom to herself and head over to the big play area at the mall. We'll probably have some lunch and then head back home.

Sorry for the slow weekend. If we would have had everyone healthy, we would have had a BBQ at the house today with some family from Funabashi. Maybe next week!

Anna's Pictures and Shibakari

Here is a picture of Anna with her Detroit Tigers cap that I bought before we left for Japan. She had not worn it for a while so I had to bring the size up a bit to accommodate her head that will some day grow as large as Daddy's.

Also, for Father's day last week Anna drew a picture of me. It's a stunning resemblance of me I think. Please take a look at the slide show above (Click them to jump to the Picassa Web Page) for Anna's pictures taken with my digital camera. They are very cerebral and abstract, I think. She has a special skill at taking very dream like pictures of feet. I do believe she takes after her father and that she is a genius.

Today I tried my hand at mowing the lawn in front of the house. Now, our yard is about as big as most people's master bed room (The lawnmower is small so it creates an illusion that our yard is huge.) so I did not take me that long to cut down the weeds that were poking out amongst the moss and short grass. Also, the lawn mower that we have is electric and not gas powered like the ones we have in the USA. I could have the yard done in three strokes with one of those today. A riding lawnmower would have taken just one path.

The most difficult thing was trying to get the right extension cord. I visited Joyful Honda and bought an extension cord that I thought would work. Unfortunately it had the wrong end and would not fit the lawnmower. Luckily, my neighbor saved the day with an extension cord of his with a smaller connection. I knew he would have one being that he had a great Christmas Light display this past year.

Melissa, Daniella, and Anna Mae's Freeze Dance!

Singing her School Song

Father's Day 2007

Today for father's day we spent the day at home and brought out the barbecue grill for a family party. What was really nice is that the son of the family next door to ours is a wonderful pianist. He plays Jazz and classical piano for most of the day. At first, we thought it was someone playing a CD until we heard him make a little mistake, then we knew it was for real. At night, for dinner, we always leave the side window open to let the music come into our house. They must be the best neighbors in the world.

Also, my daughter has been on her best behavior for some time now and it is starting to get hotter everyday. I decided to get her another pool. She and I played in the pool until my wife came back from the store with the meat and noodles to fry on the grill. Here she is holding her watermelon beach ball while wearing her stunning watermelon bikini.

About the grill, I had always thought that I was a master griller. Unfortunately, I could not admit this to myself but, back in the USA I could always get the fire going but I would always use to way too much lighter fluid and put the steaks on too soon. As a result, our steaks always had that slight petrol flavor to them. Here in Japan I've decided to try to go natural and leave the lighter fluid out of the equation. Unfortunately after several sheets of paper and an inability to get the fire going, my lovely wife came out to save the day with some corn oil and her special paper techniques. She was able to bail me out today. Thanks Pooky!

Rain Boots Song

Ibaraki Natural Museum

After the festivities at Tenjin we went and visited my friend from work and his wife to make a trip to the Ibaraki Nature Museum in Bando City. The museum is located in the middle of a huge marshland that has a very long bridge that you can walk across and see all of the flora and wildlife of the area. There were scattered thunderstorms all day on Sunday so we decided to stick to the inside of the museum and leave the walking around the park for another day.

One of the coolest displays was the skulls of early man. Here they had from the smallest all the way to modern man. You can see these in the rest of the album for the day.

Here is the link: Ibaraki Natural Museum Album

Lastly, there was a special display dedicated to the insects of the world. Here they had a display of some of the delicacies of various countries. I especially liked the baby scorpions on a stick that they serve in China. Yum, Yum!

Daddy's Day at Tenjin Yochien

On Sunday morning I was able to go with my daughter to her kindergarten to see first hand what she has been learning there. When we first arrived we saw that there were already many other families there and the parking lots were pretty full.

That morning Anna dressed in her school uniform for the morning's activities and we set out to Kindergarten. They ushered us into the little auditorium and they sang their songs. One of the hits included; I'm in my long boots so I can splash in the puddles".

Then the gym teacher came out and we were able to do the "Washing Machine" where I spun Anna around, lifted her in the air, and squeezed her tight. It was allot of fun.

Here is a link to all of the Daddy's Day pictures and videos.

Returning A Wallet

Today, I was proud to be the last leg of a journey of a wallet back to where it began it's journey, Japan. My co-worker back in Detroit (Paul) had a father in the Coast Guard stationed in Maui. During that time his father met a Marine coming back from Iwo Jima. This marine gave his father a wallet that he had picked up off the battlefield from a fallen Japanese soldier. This wallet was then given to Paul and he has had it ever since.

Last week Paul sent me the wallet to my attention. It appropriately arrived on Memorial Day (USA). After receiving the wallet I looked up the phone number for Yasukuni Jinja.

Now, Yasukuni has been the source of quite a bit of controversy for some time now. All of the men and women who died for the protection of Japan are enshrined here. Putting politics aside, this place is special in that it honors the men who gave their lives to protect their country and the family they loved back home. My philosophy is this; on the big scale war is a clash of cultures but on the small scale it is the stories of individuals on both sides who give their lives for many reasons.

I called Yasukuni and was put in contact with a Mr. Oyama (Pictured above). This past week Mr. Oyama and I had gone back and fourth with e-mail and found that the name on the wallet was Yutaka Hagino. When we arrived at Yasukuni Mr. Oyama met with us at the museum and discussed the handing over of the wallet. Mr. Oyama will be doing some more research on the wallet but, the owner of the wallet may have been in a Naval Air unit (#125) on Iwo Jima protecting one of three air fields from American bombers.

Mr. Oyama carefully cataloged all of the items in the wallet and will be sending a formal thank you certificate with Paul's name for me to send to him from here.

This was definitely a great experience for me in that I think that the soul of one man can finally rest easy that his spirit now lies where it is supposed to be, at Yasukuni.

Click Here to see the rest of the pictures from Yasukuni Jinja.

Click Here to see the contents of Yutaka Hagino's Wallet.

Little Ichikawa Zoo

On Sunday we went with my wife's family in Funabashi to a little Zoo in Ichikawa. Just like Mother Farm, my daughter was able to hold some animals in the petting area. Here is a picture of her holding a baby chick. There were also goats and pot belly pigs roaming around in the petting area. At one point when my daughter was returning a guinea pig to the pen, a big pig crossed her path. She didn't scream but her eyes got really big and she backed away pretty quick.

We had once visited a petting zoo back in Michigan that had some pigs. When my daughter went towards one of them it let out a big "SNORT" and freaked her out. Ever since then I think that the pigs make her nervous.

She also got to ride on a small Shinkansen "Bullet Train" around the park. I was able to get a video where she says Hi to me while passing by. Take a look at it in with this link here. (Shinkansen Video) It is the last two pictures at the bottom.

The Zoo also had quite a few Japanese monkeys that were quite active while we were there. You can see those in the Picassa Album to the right of the web page.

We had a great time again.

Trip to a Capsule Hotel

On Friday I attended a meeting in Nagoya and went out drinking with the sales staff there. Knowing that I would not make the last train back to Tokyo that night, I decided to stay at a capsule hotel. I stayed at the Wellbe Hotel at Nagoya station right next to the Meitetsu department store.

Here is the link to the Wellbe Hotel in Nagoya.

I had my last couple of beers with the Kacho at a bar near the station and made my way across the street to the fourth floor above a McDonald's. Right away you take off your shoes and lock them in a special shoe locker that you get a key for when you check in at the front desk. They give you a wrist strap with your main locker key attached to that.

I then went to my locker, took off my clothes and took the small towel from there to the big ofuro room. I washed up and soaked in the bath for a while and then headed out to find some pretty nice pajamas waiting outside. From there I headed back to my locker took, took out my contacts and went to find my capsule.

The capsule was actually larger than I had thought it would be. It had a little TV and an earphone so that you would not disturb your other bunk mates. I had thought it might be pretty noisy with all the drunkards coming from the bars to sleep there but the whole place was completely silent. Don't get me wrong, the place had allot of guests. It's just that everyone adhered to the keep quiet rule. That was surprisingly nice.

The bed was a pretty thin mattress and not the easiest place to sleep but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep.

The next morning I woke up, took another shower and bath, charged my phone, and watched TV. After about an hour I left the hotel refreshed and ready for the trip back to Tokyo.

All in all I think that this was a good experience. I would definitely do this again if I was to miss the last train coming back home. At 4500 yen for a one night stay it beats a 20,000 yen plus taxi ride back home.

Kamagaya Park and My Daughter's Bento

This past Sunday we had a picnic at Kamagaya Park located right along the Hokuso Line Railway. This is the railway I take to and from work each day. We had a good time eating the bento lunch that my wife made in the morning. They also had some cool electric cars that the kids could ride for 50yen. In the middle of the park they had a real Japanese Zero. It was colored yellow. I don't think they were that color during the war. It certainly would have made an easy target.

Also, at the park I had a chance to watch a game of older guys playing baseball. It was Funabashi vs. Ichikawa. I was able to watch untill the 6th inning. One thing I realized in Japan, they are very, very serious about their baseball. In the USA we have softball leagues that are basically excuses for drinking beer. In Japan they play for real. This is fast pitch baseball with the uniforms and everything. It was allot of fun to watch.

On Tuesday this week my wife took a picture of the bento lunch that she makes for my daughter. You can see the little Hello Kitty fish sausage and the bunny made out of rice. It has carrots for eyes and dried seaweed for a mouth and nose. My wife recently heard from the mother of one of my daughter's friends that since she was getting a cute bento lunch each day, she was now having to do the same for her daughter.

Thus we have begun the "Cute Bento War". Now my daughter's friend comes to school with her Little Mermaid lunch box. I hope my wife can pull it together and come out on top.

Kobayashi Daimonshita Clean Day

Every three months or so in our neighborhood we have a "Clean Day". On the day before our head of the neighborhood council goes around the town with a bullhorn and reminds everyone that clean day is near. On Sunday morning at 9am the residences of Kobayashi Daimonshita gather at the little park and head around to pick up all of the garbage.

Last year I headed into the bamboo forest next to our neighborhood to find some ripe 10 year old chemical waste that someone had decided to dump there. I was down there for so long that my neighbors came looking for me to tell me that Clean Day only lasts until 9:30am. As a result, I could not finish what I started.

This year I headed back into the bamboo forest to find the remaining pestilence still there ripened for the taking. I ended up having the most garbage of anyone in the neighborhood.

For inspiration, I wore my Thomas Equipment Hat. Thomas Equipment is a full service construction supply store located in Monclova, Ohio, USA. Their phone number is (419) 866-4929. Please speak with Tommy Sr. or Junior for all of your construction needs.

Also this weekend we bought a little pool for my daughter. Unfortunately, we have been having a test of wills at our house that has resulted in us throwing out the pool. I don't know if this will work but hopefully she will have learned a lesson.

We also had a little BBQ party at our house with our new grill. The little Webber Smokey Joe that my dad gave us years back has served us well but we had to let him go because the grill had rusted out and it would have cost us just as much as a new Smokey Joe to get a replacement grill top sent from the USA. The new grill has detachable legs for portability and movable grill tops to keep you from burning your food to a crisp.

Golden Week Part IV

Yesterday the our my sister in law's family drove in from Nagoya with their daughter (3) and their son (2). All of the kids have been having a great time.

Today we took another trip to Kashiwa no Ha Park in Kashiwa. Again, the kids were able to play until they dropped from exhaustion on the way home. My daughter was asleep 10 minutes into the drive home.

For dinner, since all of the kids fell asleep in the car, we stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on goodies that kids seem to like here. The menu included fried chicken, croquettes, fried chicken, gyoza (pot stickers), macaroni salad, and BEER (For the uncles).

Here is a link to the rest of the pictures: Family Visit and 2nd Trip to Kashiwa no Ha

Golden Week Part III

On Thursday we took a quick trip to the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple with some friends from work.

Until yesterday I didn't realize how big this place was. Unfortunately, many of the buildings are being restored and are covered in scaffolding right now. Hopefully, in the next few months we will be able to go back and be able to see the temples in there full glory.

Also, We found this globe dated from the mid 1800's inside the temple grounds. It is very neat to see how Japan saw the rest of the world at that time. In the Picassa photos you can see a detail of the eastern half of the USA. You can see Chicago and Atlanta labeled prominently on the map.

For now, we'll have to settle for seeing them online. Here is a link to the Naritasan website

I did, however get some good pictures of the smaller stuff around the temple. I like the picture of the dog above. It reminds me of my Mom's Boston Terrier, Shooter, when he gets mad.

Here is a link to the rest of the pictures. Naritasan Shinshoji Temple Trip Pictures