Shiroi City Pool & A Flat Tire

This past Saturday my wife had to work at the restaurant so Anna and I spent the morning at the Shiroi City Pool located about 20 minutes west of our place in Inzai. This was a great place to go, especially with the temperatures going up into the Hell ranges.

When we arrived the regular parking lot was already full at 930am (They open at 9am). We walked a little way to find a long line to just buy a ticket to get in. Once we finally got in we got changed and walked into the pool area. They had 4 things to do there; First was the kiddie pool with a nice slide. Second was the "River pool" that gently took you around the pool area like a gently flowing river (that's where we spent most of our time). A lap pool and two water slides. All this for an adults ticket of 750yen (Anna's Ticket was free).

We spent our day there until the break time at 11am. It was during that time Anna discovered the high pressure multi positioin nozzle entry shower for the pool. She was too freaked out to go through it when we arrived but she soon realized how fun it was. She would run towards the shower and then run back to me. She did this about 4 times until she fell and skinned her knee. After that she was in no mood to swim any more so I thought I would take her to lunch.

About 30 seconds into the ride to the restaurant Anna soon fell asleep. I then thought I would take a drive out to Inba City on the other side of Inzai. This is not so much a town as it is a wetlands for a wide river and many rice fields. I decided I would try to find this BBQ Eel (Unagi) place that some friends had told us about in this town. Right now, at the beginning of August is Eel day. This is when everyone eats BBQ eel to help stay strong during the very hot and humid Japanese Summer (No wonder the tourists don't come during this time of year!). I love the stuff. The eel not the heat.

The name of the restaurant is Ishibashi. The car navigation said I was getting close but all I could see was river and rice fields. There was virtually no traffic on the road until I was right on top of the restaurant. In the immediate area there was about 4 or 5 other eel restaurants and all of them had just a few cars. It was then that I hit the traffic jam in front of Ishibashi. The place was about as big as a double wide trailer and most of the customers were waiting outside in the stifling heat on plastic chairs.

Since Anna was still asleep I did not stop and started back towards our house. I thought that I could head to Kurumaya Ramen for some noodles and fried rice for lunch. I eventually arrived there and Anna woke up on cue and we had a good lunch.

Coming into the parking lot I had heard a large thump but thought nothing of it. After eating Anna and I walked up to the car and noticed that the Toyota Vitz had a flat passenger side tire. This was going to be fun. 90 degrees, no shade and I have to change a tire. When I knelled down to place the jack under the car my knee was fried by the hot parking lot. I was not having too much success getting the tire off the car when a guy with a hydraulic jack came and helped me finish the job. There are some really great and helpful people here too. Thank you Japanese guy with the hydraulic jack in the stifling heat of Kuramaya Ramen parking lot whomever you are! You saved the day. If I knew who you were you would be getting a box full of eels for Eel Day as a present for your kindness. Now in the USA that would be a cruel and heartless prank. Here a gift of a box of suirming eels is just like getting a chocolate "Heavy Cake" for your birthday. (Heavy Cake: When you take two or three cans of frosting and put it on a cake instead of just one. Mmmmmm.)

Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon at the nearby Toyota dealership waiting to get a new tire. My wife also had to wait for us to pick her up from work while we got the car repaired. On top of it all, Anna and I missed meeting our neighbors at a block party nearby the house because of the flat tire. Too bad, maybe next time.

Anna's Ballet Class

This past week I was able to take one more day off to see my daughter's ballet class. It was very nice to be able to see the reason why my daughter always seems to be very tired during one particular day of the week.

The teacher is a dancer in town and runs the class to make it very fun for everyone. I now know why Anna is so tired every week.

Also click the picassa album link or the slide show to see some of the videos from the class.

If I were to make a movie about Japanese Interpretive Dance Groups, this would be the Evil Japanese Interpretive Dance Group.

Suzu Matsuri in Matsusaka

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.