Lost & FOUND

Well a postcard arrived at my door on Friday from the police. Someone had turned in my wallet! Excellent. It wasn't at my local koban though, it was at a bigger office in Itami. So I bundled up and headed off. It was actually pretty close by train so it didn't take long at all to get there. When I was handed the wallet to inspect it had everything in it. All my cash, all my coins, and most importantly, all my various cards. I asked if there was anyway I could contact the person who found the wallet in order to thank him or her but I was told the finder wanted to remain anonymous. Please beat me over the head the next time you see me to remind me of how lucky I am. Sure, most of the cards in the wallet are now useless as I have already cancelled them but now I'm ready to try and get my Japanese driver's license again. I've got my alien registration card and my Canadian driver's license back in my grubby little paws so I'm back on track. Also inside my wallet, which I'd forgotten about, was my opera ticket. This weekend the staff at my wedding chapel and I had a little bonenkai, or year end party in Tokushima. The staff are mostly choir members so they found a performance of La Boheme for us all to see. Afterwards we went to my friend Norman's (of the Big Brother's Sandwich shop fame) shot bar called 'Root Down' for some good food and drinks.

Here are some current pics of Yukiko and her growing belly:









Seigo, Keiko and Yuka came up for another weekend visit.

The happy family plays at a park near our apartment.

Is that a Quebec shirt? Is Yuka a separatist?

Yukiko and Yuka at the park.

Yukiko and Yuka at dinner.

Yukiko and Yuka on the bed.

Yuka strikes a pose on the bed.

Not a very clear picture but you can see our little fiber optic Christmas tree in the background.

Here are some other neat Christmas trees I've seen around:

This is from the Clemente hotel in Tokushima. It's a very nice hotel but pretty expensive so I don't stay there. I often take full use of their washrooms after the long bus ride though.

This giant tree is outside the Sky building in Umeda. They seemed to have built a German theme park around it for the holidays.

The maternity clinic that Yukiko and I go to had a Christmas concert for all their customers. We thought there might be another 20 or 30 couples there because... how many pregnant couple can there be at one small clinic right? There were a few hundred couples there at least. The hall was full and they were still bringing in extra chairs for everyone. The highlight of the concert was a demonstration of the various aerobics teams, maternitybics for expectant mother, afterbics for post delivery mums, and everything in between.

Some of these mums are 8 and 9 months pregnant!



The 'Anpanman Dancers'

Here's some shots from my bonenkai party with the staff at my wedding chapel in Tokushima.

We started out at the Tokushima Bunka Center Hall.

Then it was off to Root Down for drinks and eats. The hot cocoa and rums were especially good. Thanks Norm.

When we had come out of the opera it was just dumping snow.

1 of these girls was from Okinawa and didn't care how cold it was as she loved playing in the snow.

The snow and lights of Tokushima.

How the awaodori dance would look in the snow.