Narita Air Museum

Since this was a national holiday here in Japan, I decided to take Anna to the Narita Air Museum located right next to the runways of Narita Airport. Just outside the museum were many older planes that the kids could sit in the pilot seats. In one small Cessna you are able to fire up the propeller. That was pretty fun. When we arrived at the entrance, we were surprised to see a HUGE crowd there gathering in the main display area. Some had camped out their own spaces with a blanket, coats, etc. When I asked what was going on, the staff member there informed me that they were just about to start the "Go-On-Ger" show. Kind of like the new power rangers. Anna watches the show on Sunday mornings here before Pretty Cure so we decided to stick around. Later, we headed up to the observation deck where there was a guy announcing all of the take offs and landings from the airport. The tower at the museum overlooks the entire airport and is located at the end of one of the runways. So, when a big 747-400 comes in from Europe or the USA it comes in right over your head. Very neat.

Finally, if you look at this Licca-Chan doll here you may notice that she is wearing the same uniform my daughter wore at Kidzania when she was a stewardess for All Nippon Airways.

25 Random Things About Mark Williams

It's been pretty slow lately at the Williams household Japan, and cash used during the new years has been reduced to low flow as of late. So, in liew of a real post, I thought that I would share with you 25 things about myself. This can also be seen on my Facebook page.

1. I was born in Toledo, Ohio.... but you all know that.

2. My best friends on Burnham Green were James Reed and Kieth Kujawa. Just like my sister, I am in contact with James again in Atlanta. Looking forward to seeing you there man!

3. I went to the best elementary school in the world.... Dorr Street... Go Dragons! Crissy and Holland can SUCK IT!! Can I get a HELL YEAH JIMMY 9!

4. I grew up knowing how to annoy my little sister to no end and paying for it with the law that was my Dad, Thomas A Williams. He and my mom are the reason that my sister and I did not grow up to be delinquents.

5. Best joke played on a friend was to take Steve Bruno's garage door opener and go past his house in Jeff Renner's car opening and closing his door all day.

6. Revenge was sweet for Steve Bruno when I was taking a dump at Steve's place. He had a key to the bathroom and doused me with water while on the shitter. Nothing worse than having your fortress of solitude violated when you are in such an easy place to be taken advantage of.

7. My best friends, Tommy, Jeff, and Jimmy, I met in High School. We lived our dream of making videos and imprinting our brand of twisted humor on the entire school.

8. I decided to take Japanese during the bubble economy in Japan. Because of the current economic conditions I thought it would be advantageous to me to learn Japanese at the time……. Oh……. Alright…. That’s just bullshit….. I took it because Japanese women are hot…. OK?

9. A life changing experience was learning to speak Japanese at the University of Toledo. The inspiration, meeting my friend Kenji. At a language lab at U Hall, Kenji was sitting at the desk next to mine. He asked, in broken English, "Are you studying Japanese? “Um… Yeah.” ~ Hey, I'm Japanese".

10. My first trip to Japan was to Kenji's house in Tokyo. It was a wakeup call.... after two years of class work. I could understand squat! I needed to study more.

11. I would really like to find more folks from my Japanese class at UT. So far Richard Lange is on Facebook but I’m still looking for others.

12. I became the first American member of the Japanese Student Association at the University of Toledo. Met some really good people in that group that I wish I kept in touch with more.

13. My sister does not remember this but I know she really gave up playing the piano after hearing David Ng from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. He is truly a natural genius on the keyboard. Hear him play and you will know what I'm talking about.

14. After college I landed a job with the Japanese Government to teach English in a small town in central Japan. I did not know where I was living until I arrived in Tokyo.

15. In the months leading up to the move to Japan I was very busy getting ready for the move. When I arrived it was a blur, I remember very little of that time. The one thing I do remember is getting dropped off at my apartment in Matsusaka for the first time after everything was done. I was alone, in a foreign country half a world away and knew no one. My first thought was... "Oh shit... What the hell have I done?"

16. I met my wife at a coffee shop in the little town of Matsusaka. I originally went there to meet with the head of Matsusaka Taiko (Japanese Drums). To learn how to play and join the group. I did not end up taking any lessons but became a regular customer at the coffee shop.

17. I became friends with my wife’s family before I started dating her. This was the key to actually being able to marry her later.

18. While in Japan I broke the code of men. Sorry Kelly, you seem happier now anyway…. Who needs a F1 race queen anyway?

19. I was in Japan for the massive Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. No damage in Matsusaka but it scared the living shit out of me. Of course, my co-worker from the UK, Ian slept right through it. Yeah right…

20. I had a traditional Japanese wedding and I moved back to the USA in 1996 with the wife. I worked for a trading company before starting my career at SMC in 1998. My boss instilled me with an almost fanatical devotion to my company that survives to this day.

21. After trying for so long to have children my wife and I finally gave up. 2 weeks later she brought in the pregnancy test that she had taken many times before to show me the positive result. On September 13th, 2003, my daughter Anna Mae was born in Walled Lake, MI. She has the name of my grandmother and her name can be written in Japanese also (杏菜). The first character is AN for Anzu or apricots. The second is NA for NAPPA or greenery. My wife chose the two for the sweetness of the fruit and the green for the new green of the leaves at the end of spring, her favorite things in life.

22. My father came up from Atlanta to Detroit to see my daughter for the first time. He was able to hold her in his hands at our house there. Two weeks later he passed away from a heart attack. I think about my dad every day. This past August I bought a birthday gift for myself. It is a bear claw that I wear around my neck to remember my father, the bear. My mom has the original one on her key chain. Miss you dad…

23. In 2006 SMC offered me the chance to move to Japan and work at our Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. I took the job and have been having fun ever since. This is a great place to be.

24. My sense of humor and knowing the culture here is what keeps me sane. That and a love for beer, finding new places to drink, and wonderful public transportation to bring me home when I’m stumbling home makes me want to stay even longer.

25. I have an open invitation to my friends around the world to make the trip across the ocean to visit this wonderful place. I can be one hell of a guide.

Ise Jingu Hatsumode Video 2

Ise Jingu Hatsumode Video 1

Ise Jingu Hatsumode 2009

On January 2nd we had the highlight of our trip to Mie Prefecture. On that day we all got into our cars and headed to Ise (Hiroko's mom had a cold so she stayed behind). As we approached Ise, the cars began to back up. The police were herding all of the cars towards the "Sun Arena", a sports stadium built back in 1993 for that year's world expo. It took us a good hour to finally get to the stadium's parking lot. There we saw about 20 tour buses with more coming in behind them to pick up the lines of people waiting in the parking lot. As each bus filled up, another one lined up at the beginning of the line to pick up more people from the parking lot and drop them off at the entrance to the Ise Shrines.

The Ise shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu, the supposed first mother of all the emperors of Japan. In the Shinto religion the story goes that she was upset that a brother had burned her fields and this drove her into a cave. Since she was the sun goddess the earth turned dark. The people tried having a festival outside the cave to coax her out. Eventually she was finally brought out from curiosity by seeing her own reflection in a mirror. This mirror is housed within the Ise shrine. Of course, we all being mere mortals, only the emperor is permitted to go all the way into the shrine to see the mirror. Ise shrine is the only shrine that still practices the Shinto tradition of rebuilding the shrine every 20 years. I was fortunate to live in Mie back when they built up another shrine next to the older shrine. The emperor then came from Tokyo in a grand ceremony to bring the mirror to the other shrine. Ise shrine is also unique in that it was so important to the Japanese that it was the one place that foreigners were still not allowed to visit after the Treaty of Kanagawa between the USA and Japan in the mid 1800's.

Once we arrived at the entrance to the shrine (a large tori gate and a bridge that leads into the shrine grounds), we headed into Okageyokocho. This area was popular as a resting stop for pilgrims all over Japan who came to Ise Jingu. The residence believed that there would be good luck for their home if they served these visitors and gave them free lodging and food. Although the restaurants are no longer free, they still look much the way they did back then. The whole area is just as it would have appeared back in the 17th and 18th century. It was here that I was able to take a great picture of a rainbow that appeared over the crowds going through the town.

After a great lunch of marinated tuna sushi over rice and giant fried shrimp, we headed to the Ise shrine itself. The walk is long through the forest. The cedars, hundreds of years old, have grown huge along the gravel path. I love visiting here because, as I walk towards the shrine the forest is so quiet you begin to think about how you arrived at this instance of your life. I have told Japanese people about this feeling, and I am not alone. When we arrived fairly close to the stairs leading up to the shrine we were greeted by the mass of humanity waiting for their turn to make a wish for the new year. From that point, it was a good hour before we arrived at the top.

Afterwards, we headed to a gyoza (pot stickers) restaurant in Ise that we like to visit. Their the kids were able to enjoy fried chicken and gyoza for dinner. We were exhausted but it was a great experience.

New Years in Matsusaka

On Sunday morning Hiroko and I woke up and loaded up the car for the trip to Matsusaka. We woke up..... fairly early and packed up our stuff. Surprisingly, the trip to Matsusaka had no traffic jams whatsoever (Which is really surprising for New Years). After arriving in Matsusaka we watched the news to see that they were expecting the big rush to every one's hometown on the 30th since there were still people working on Monday and Tuesday of that week.

In Matsusaka we lived the high life. Eating great food, staying up late, and sleeping in. After getting back we all found it hard to get over our "Matsusaka Jet Lag" and get back to work. On one night Hiroko's mom bought 1.5kg (3.2lbs) of Matsusaka beef for sukiyaki. My brother in law bought Yebisu beer and we washed it all down with that. It was soooo good.

Also, on another day we got the kids out of the house to enjoy the play area at the local Apita shopping mall. It's great to put all of them together so they can play till they drop. We were able to get them tired enough to have an adult night out with Hiroko's sister and husband at the local Japanese bar across the street from their house. It was great fun.

Christmas Date In Shinbashi

With Anna away with her grandmother ahead of us in Matsusaka, Hiroko and I had a chance to go on a date on the Saturday the 27th. Hiroko had to work at Eddie Bauer until 3 so I left the car at home and took the bus to Inzai Makinohara Station right next to Big Hop. This was so we could go drinking in Tokyo and not have to worry about driving home from the station.

First we took the hour long train ride into Tokyo where I took Hiroko to Takashimaya in Nihonbashi. This is the first department store for Takashimaya in Tokyo. The building has that old feel to it. They even still have elevator attendants who are there just to tell you what is on what floor and press the buttons for you. There Hiroko tried on some eye shadow that made her eyes sparkle like morning dew. Ah.... so beautiful..... I kept thinking... what a lucky guy I am.

From there we headed to Shinbashi station for dinner at a great little Spanish restaurant called Venga Venga. The tapas there were great and the paella was just the best. From there we headed to a little bar I know next to the Concorde Hotel called the Drunken Bear. Unfortunately it was closed so we headed up to the 41st floor of the Shidome City Center Building in Shimbashi to a bar called the Majestic. There we had our own sofa and a great view of Tokyo tower and the night lights of the big city. We had allot to drink and headed home late that night. The next morning we were off early for Matsusaka.

Early Christmas Morning 2008

Ooo-Oooh Kira-Kira with Anna

Chi-Chi Ka-ka!

Merry Christmas From Japan!

This Christmas came a bit early here at the Williams house in Inzai. On Christmas day Hiroko's mom will take Anna to Matsusaka ahead of us so we decided to have Santa come on Christmas Eve morning instead of Christmas Day.

Anna woke up to find the piece of Christmas Cake that we left for Santa already eaten. She also found quite a few presents underneath the tree.

Yesterday, Hiroko had to work so I took her Mom and Anna to Ueno, the park, and the zoo. There Anna always likes to ride the little rides at the entrance to the zoo. So we bought 500 yen of tickets and let her decide what she rode.

Also, this past Sunday, Anna had her ballet recital in Shiroi. I have some videos of her dancing. Sorry for the quality of the videos. They are pretty bad. We should have a DVD that I can rip her dances off later that will look much better.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! And a Happy New Year!

Anna Mae Sings Winter Wonderland

Dragon Kids Starring Anna Mae!

Kamogawa Sea World

It has been a while since the last post. Sorry for the wait. A couple of weeks ago we headed due south and visited Kamogawa Sea World again. This time, we were ready. The last trip here we realized that there needs to be a coordinated effort with the family unit in order to see all there is to see in any amusement park here in Japan. It takes discipline, focus, and, above all, a plan.

This time we had originally planned to leave in time to get to Kamogawa before 11am on Sunday. Unfortunately, we forgot the above concept of dicipline and overslept. As a result, we got into the car, programmed the GPS and realized we would get to Kamogawa and then just have to turn around and come back home. We decided on just going to the park for the day instead and making a plan for that Monday (I had a 3 day weekend).

That next morning we woke up at 6:30am, and headed out in time to get to the park just as it was opening. While waiting in line we had the show schedule with us. For the first show, the seals, since I had seen it before, before the show was done, I left, took some seats at the dolphin show and sent Hiroko a text message with my location. After the seals, they showed up and we all enjoyed the show. The rest of the shows went just as well. We were a well oiled machine!

Also, for the Orca show, they had recently had a baby Orca born at the park. During the show, I had tried to get pictures of the little one swimming along with the mom while she was performing. Unfortunately, I did not get the picture.

Happy Holloween in Japan

This morning, after Hiroko said goodbye to Anna at the bus stop, she had a conversation with Kaisei, and Hiroto's mothers about Halloween in the USA and how we would like to try it here. They all really liked the idea and decided to do some trick or treating around the 2 chome area between each of our houses before dinner.

Anna dressed up as Ariel from the Little Mermaid, Honoka came dressed as "Princess Hon0ka", Kaisei was the ghost on the head caped guy, and Hiroto was the pumpkin king of the netherworld.

Honoka's Mom came by our house in thier car first because they lived a few blocks away. Then we headed out to Kaisei's house, from there we went to Hiroto's house and then back to ours.

The kids had a ball. We will definitely be doing this next year with a little more preparation and, hopefully, more kids.

Kidzania: Kids RULE!

Imagine, if you will, a world where all people over the age of 12 have been reduced to mere observers and instructors in a planet ruled by children. This is not Lord of the Flies; Welcome, to Kidzania!

In Kidzania my daughter was able to work in a Licca-chan Fashion Boutique (Japan's Barbie), become a chef in the ABC Cooking School where she made Omelet Rice for her Mom, become a nurse in and learn how to take care of newborn babies, and finally become a flight Attendant on All Nippon Airways. All this plus, she was able to open a Kidzania Bank Account at Mitsui Sumitomo Bank where she deposited her Kidzania bucks and got an ATM card.

She especially enjoyed the flight attendant. They had a huge fuselage of a ANA plane inside the town. There she boarded the flight and was able to work as a flight attendant (We do not call them stewardesses any more silly!). All the parents were able to watch their kids piloting the plane and serving meals. As you can see in the fuzzy shot above, Anna barely clears the meal cart. She had a ball though and so did Daddy! She asked after she got off the flight "Daddy, where did we go?"

I said, "I don't know Anna, you boarded the flight, the plane left, and then came back in 50 minutes. I was able to watch you on the TV though." She still thinks she took a trip on a plane, SO COOL!

It was like being able to watch your kids all day at school. The first time at Kidzania she always looked nervous. I knew, however, that she was just loving this. After coming home it was all she could talk about. Later today she will show Grandma Matsusaka and Hiroko how to properly wash a newborn. I can't wait!

2008 Kobayashi Tenjin Yochien Undokai

On Sunday this week we had Anna's Undokai or Sports day at her kindergarten. This was supposed to happen on Saturday but was delayed to the next day because of rain. My daughter had made these little ghost figures they call "Teru-Teru-Bohzu" to try to keep the rain from coming but they did not work until the following day.

This year is Kobayashi Tenjin's 20th anniversary. So they decided to try something special in the opening ceremony with all of the kids. They had prepared helium balloons for all of the children to release on cue. Now, I'm not sure how well this was actually thought out. They had grouped all of the balloons by color and since the strings were getting tangled, It took a good 30 minutes just to get the balloons handed out. While they were handing them out, one of the teachers kept telling the kids "HOLD THE BALLOONS WITH BOTH HANDS!". However, this was to no avail and you would see three or four stragglers get sent up into the sky. I was worried that the balloons would get in the way of the planes landing and leaving Narita Airport. You can see the balloon release in my Picassa album along with the other pictures. Just click the album above to see the whole album with the videos.

Anna's Birthday Weekend!

This weekend we had Anna's 5th birthday party at our house. Her best friend Honoka and her family were able to come over for some great barbecue. The picture here is me and Honoka's dad, Yoshiyuki. My wife took the picture because she said we looked like we coordinated our clothes for the day (It's not true).

My wife bought two layers of cake and some chocolate foof in a can that she used as frosting. There Honoka and Anna both blew out the candles and had a great time. With the heat though the whip cream began melting immediately off the cake. I think it really takes Americans to make some real thick frosting that resists melting unless you put it on a hot cake.

Then, since we had a three day weekend here in Japan, I took Anna and Hiroko to the Narita Athletic course again for some good, getting dirty fun. Everyone went home with allot of sweat and dirt layers from all of the obstacles. I could not try my centrifugal escape method from the demon's bowl due to the slippery slides on the side though. It would have been really cool and I think that my wife would have been very impressed with my ingenuity if I avoided bonking my head on a tree on the way out like I did last time.

Makinosato Minami Chonaikai Natsu Matsuri 2008

This year I was appointed block leader for block #12 in the Kobayashi Daimonshita district. This is not because of an election or anything but because it is our house's turn. So, this years big event was the Summer Festival at the park across the street from Kobayashi JHS.

On Friday before the festival day we set up the tents, tables, and stage in the park. That afternoon, since my block was in charge of potatoes and butter (Jaga Batah) we had to wash and pack the them for the next day's festivities. On Saturday we baked potatoes. They had this HUGE WOK that would be primarily used in case of an earthquake to feed the whole area if need be. We hooked up a kerosene tank to this electric motor that powered a fan to blow a fuel mix to a burner underneath the wok (Think of it like a flame thrower for your stir-fry). Needless to say, this thing shot a flame that seemed to be hotter than the sun. Most everyone, including myself tried to stay as far away as possible. We then prepared all 200 potatoes and waited for people to some by.

Even with the torrential rain that came down later in the day, we ended up selling out of potatoes due to my superior sales techniques. Also, my daughter enjoyed the ice cones with her best friend Honoka.

Ueno Park and Dinner with Kenji's Family

The other day we found out that my friend Kenji's family were in Tokyo for the Obon holiday week. So we took a trip into Tokyo for the afternoon to have lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen located at the Tokyo Dome and then onto Ueno Park. Afterwards we headed to Meguro to meet up with Kenji's family.

We were kind of apprehensive about going to another US restaurant chain in Japan. Usually, like with Big Boy, they change the menu to adapt to the Japanese tastes. However, when we arrived at California Pizza Kitchen we noticed that the menus were exactly the same as in the states and they were still in English. Great for us but not for business here. There was a double header going on at the dome and there was absolutely no waiting at CPK. We ordered the California Club and the Thai Chicken Pizza. Both just awesome.

Afterwards we took the train to Ueno to spend the day at the park and zoo. There the temperature was in the lower 90's but with the trees and the breeze it felt like 89 degrees. Yeah, it was hot. There we saw this band from Peru again who seem to be a regular at the park. They are very talented.

Finally, we made our way to Meguro to meet up with Kenji's family in from Singapore. Luckily they gave us a private room where the kids could go just completely crazy. They probably should have soundproofed the walls a little better though. Kenji's wife, Asako his boy Kengo, and daughter Nanami had a great time with my daughter and their three cousins from Mito, Ibaragi. With that many kids, you can imagine the volume in the room.