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!