what the hell is a humburg? and why does daddy have one?

the saitama aquarium

happy father's day to all the dads out there!
yesterday rose and i went on a father's day date to the saitama aquarium. it's about a half hours drive away and it's dedicated to the fresh water fish that can be found in the rivers and lakes throughout the area.
the most important thing is that most of the fish make rose smile. the rest make her jump into your arms squealing, 'scary, scary!!'
one of her most favorite things that she did there was feed the carp and catfish in the ponds surrounding the outside of the aquarium.
it was the best i could ever have asked...
except, maybe, for a rod and some bait to catch those fish! haha!!

serious business

i took this photo a little while ago, but i think it illustrates the diligence of the japanese. even working at noodle restaurant they have their morning meetings. out in front of the restaurant no less! in almost all businesses these types of meetings are a must in japan.
it reminds me of the summer that i worked part-time at walmart and how there was morning everyday there too. that mostly consisted of the manager hootin' and a hollerin' about the customers with a big half hearted cheer from the rest of us at the end...
anyway, for me morning meetings are a drag anywhere im the world!

the flood!

whoa. what a drive to work today. the thunder was rumbling and the rain was coming down in fat drops. june is the rainy season in japan and do i hate it...

huh?

hey! this guy has the same first name as me!

watch out!

seen on a bathroom door in akihabara...

daddy-daughter days

japan is coming off the golden week. it's a string of national holidays that most japanese companies lump together with official company off days to basically give everybody here the week off. the name golden week is a play on the japanese term for prime time tv, which is known as golden time here.
for me it was a great chance for some daddy-daughter time with rose. nao's company only gave her the national holidays off, so most of the week it was just the 2 of us.
on wednesday we went to the ueno zoo in tokyo, which is famous for its panda, only to greeted by the news that the panda had died that day! it was ok though rose more interested in the lions and elephants. the best was her reactions to the animals she didn't know because at first she would be like, i don't like this!, but when i said let's go, she'd say, no! i like this! afterwards we headed to tgi friday's for some good old american food.

most other days we spent around the house or at the park. the 3 of us went up to the mountains for the weekend to relax in the hot spring. it was certainly a golden time!

just say no!

yeah bo--i!!

bamboo season

it's the time of year again when the new bamboo shoots come in... this means a lot of work for me! cause i'm the guy who's gotta get these suckers out of the ground!
but it's well worth the effort when nao whips one of her baby bamboo dishes... i'm looking forward to the spring rolls she promised for this weekend... mmmm delicious!
for the past few weeks it's jurst been a pleasure to spend time cleaning up the yard. battling the jungle is more like it! you never what kind of freaky plant or creature you're going to find out there.
one nice thing is that a few years ago we planted tulips out front and now they come in nicely every year.

favorite!

rosie plays her favorite! the bus game! even better, we don't have to put in any money. she'll sit and turn the wheel forever............

blink of an eye

the cherry blossoms have come and gone. we had a great on sunday at the park eating, drinking and talking with friends under a pink canopy. with each breeze petals would be blown from the trees only to be found in a bag, shoes, pockets, every which where later on.
yesterday the japanese emporer and his wife abtually visited nao's hometown yesterday. the reason for the visit was to celebrate one hundred years of ties between japan and brazil. why visit nao's hometown? because many of the descendants of those japanese who first moved to brazil have been coming to japan for work. oizumi has one of the largest brazilian populations in japan. too bad we didn't get to see the emporer, but we did see his motorcade!

no sky perfect tv for you

long weeks... several long weeks and still no satellite tv. for the first 3 weekends i tried the do it yourself thing... and failed miserably. so we called in the pros. he showed up on sunday morning and we thought that by afternoon we'd be surfing through tv land. how wrong we were. after a few hours of fiddling around with it he says it's a problem with dish or tuner!! now stuck back in japanese tv purgatory until the pros can get back to our place with replacements. ugh!

loving spring

man, i'm loving that spring is on its way. let's put away the cold and windy days to get ready for one of the best times to be in japan, cherry blossom time! yes, a time when public drunkenness is not only accepted, but expected! so roll out your tarps at your favorite park, crack open a beer, and gat your blossom viewing on...

question

what is the feeling on how long an UNOPENNED canned or bottled good is past it's SUGGESTED expiration date?????

another test

i'm trying to keep up with my japanese. i completely agree with the sentiment that if you're living in a different country then you should learn that country's language. that said, man, is it hard to put into practice!
so i took another test called 'the test of practical japanese'. the hold about 6 times which is way better 'the test of japanese proficiency' which is only once a year. another great thing is that it isn't pass or fail like the other test. so i won't feel like a total idiot when i get the results. the other test? i've failed the same level test three times now. i've got to study harder.... i'll find out the results of this one next month.
on a side note i've put another nail in study habits... we're putting in a satellite dish for tv. trust i'd have gone for cable if i could have but its just not available in our backwater town! so we're going for 15 channel package. imagine 15 whole channels!!

No. 2

last night i joined up with 47 other members of our business block for a bowling tournament. it was funny because a co-worker and i got into a little war of words over who would come out on top. there was individual competition as well as teams. there teams of three and two of the ladies in my office were on my team. we were ゛the dummies" cause i called the other team ゛the nerds"!
well in fact the dummies came in second place and i came in second place in the individual competition. all in all it was awesome to kick some ass!!!

great trains

one great thing about japan is the trains. you can always depend on them to be on time and to get you where you're going with little or trouble. not to mention that you can get to almost anywhere by train in this country.
this is all great, especially when you have a daughter under 3 who can ride the train for free!! rose and i took advamtage of this yesterday when we took the train to kiryu to meet a friend for lunch. it might seem a little silly that nao picked us up at kiryu station anyway, but rose has been asking to ride on the train recently so it was a great chance for her.
now she's asking to go to disneyland again!

a mighty wind

strong wind and strong women, these are two noteworthy attributes of Gunma, the prefecture that i live in. yesterday it certainly lived up to the strong wind part! the wind was ripping all through saturday night and all day sunday. it was so strong that several trees were blown down in our neighborhood. our place is surrounded by dead or dying pine trees, because of an insect infestation.
as for the women part, hhmmm, just ask nao! anyway a couple of months ago i read an article that ranked the beauty of japan's women by prefecture, it's unfortunate to say that Gunma ranked near the bottom...
but DON'T tell nao that!!

failed zoo trip!

we went to the utsunmiya zoo today. usually we go to the one in kiryu, which is down the road from where i work, but we wanted to try something a little different.
well, utsunomiya is about an hour and a half away and almost as soon as we walk in the wind kicks up, the clouds roll in,and down comes the rain. we had to run back to the car to head home!
it was ok because rose and nao had a chance to catch a fish at the tank. nao was psyched because she got to feed a giraffe, but rose was freaked yelling about how scary the giraffe was!

ice cream thief

a couple of weeks ago rose and i went to an international food fest in town. the food was made by people from japan, thailand, canada, india, etc. for dessert they had delicious italian ice cream. i got a cup to share with rose. she took one taste, grabbed the cup and spoon and off to a corner. after that she wouldn't share any more ice cream with me!!

snow days!

we had snow a couple of weeks ago. rose loved making a snow blob!

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