You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Some things in Japan never change. Inevitably good friends will leave and return to their own countries or decide to explore other foreign shores. Sometimes you get lucky though and make new friends, or old friends come back.

My friend Linda got a job as teacher in England and went home. I only met Linda about a year and a half ago. She was taking the same Linguistics course as I was. She got the class list and saw that I lived very close to her (just 1 station away to be exact) and gave me a call. She worked at a NOVA language school and liked to practice karate. We often chatted about K-1 and martial arts. She also had a penchant for figuring out puzzles and making delicious pancakes for snacks. Linda, I hope you enjoy your new job and being home!

Linda at her farewell party.

Karaoke party.

Brent & I

But as Linda left, my friend from Victoria returned to Japan. Owen joined the JET program and is living nearby in Kyoto. His parents treated me to Sunday dinners so many times in Victoria that I've got a lot of kharmic payments to make. He's a huge J-League soccer fan so maybe I'll go watch a game with him sometime. I don't have any new pics of Owen but here's one from when he was on TV here.



Another hello to Ririka, the bouncing baby girl of our good friends Chika and Shige. We went over to their house to meet Ririka and watch the annual ceremony that Chika's mum sponsors. She sets up a canopy and a priest comes to perferm a 'jizo obon', a ceremony to bless young children and babies.

Here's Ririka!

The proud papa. Shige & Ririka

Jo & I

Mum and kids sit around the priest as he rubs his prayer beads and says magical things

Paper lanters with the names of all the children written on them. Chika's mum said she would make one with Jotaro's name on it for next year.

Jotaro also got to play with some local kids in Chika's house.







As reported in an earlier post our old TV was on its last legs. So say hello to our new, bigger and better TV! It's one of the new ultra thin, wide screen LCD models. The prices have really dropped on these so it was a good time to get one. I also made sure it's fully HD compatible so one day we'll be able to enjoy videos in all their glory.

Our little living room.


Jotaro in action:































Jo's new inflatable bath chair

The longest yard - Jotaro crawls


It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Jotaro!!


Jotaro inaction:

















Jotaro in cahoots:

Miku & Fu-chan

Miku-chan

Miku, Jo, Hiro-kun

Yuka slurps on a mango frappuccino

Miku, Jo and Fu-chan

Y2K problem finally strikes!

Everything around has recently, suddenly, and collectively decided to stop working. The list is pretty impressive:

1) the motor in Jotaro's mobile has called it quits,
2) my electronic Japanese/English dictionary refuses to display either Japanese or English,
3) the internal gears in my movement powered watch need replacing,
4) the CMOS battery in my laptop died and basically took the hard drive with it,
5) the big TV I've basically always had in Japan has thrown in the towel,
6) our digital camera got wet at Fruits Flower Park and needs to be repaired.

Otherwise we're all doing fine. For my wedding job I was once again sent to Tokushima on Shikoku island. I used to go there nearly every weekend up until December last year when I requested a change of venue because of the baby. They've sent me back again because it's a holiday (obon) and probably no one else is available. I really didn't mind though because I've got friends there and figured that I could probably get to watch the Awa Odori Matsuri which I've never actually seen. It's a big festival with lots of dance troupes in colourful costumes doing the traditional Awa Odori dance through the streets. I only had a few weddings this day but the only available bus seats were early in the morning and late in the evening. Oh well, I figured I'd make a whole day of it. After arriving early in the morning I could see how the streets had been festively decorated.

Paper lanterns line the streets of Tokushima

These grandstands, and many more like them, are setup for people willing to pay to get a great view of the dancers.

Seeing as how I'd arrived really early I decided to rent a bicycle (free for tourists!) and go look for the new wedding chapel which is supposed to open next month. I had found a map on the internet but in reality it was much further away than it appeared. It's definitely too far to walk to from the station. When I go there in the future I'll have to go by either bike or taxi.

The nearly completed ブラン・アンジュ Blanc Ange wedding chapel. It's part of a big, expensive new wedding resort.

Here's a drawing of the whole resort.

I later found out that the dancing wouldn't begin until 6pm. Unfortunately my bus heading back to Kobe left at 5:30 so despite staying in Tokushima for nearly the entire day I wouldn't get to see any dancing. What a bummer. Luckily I found this group of children doing the Awa Odori in a shopping arcade. That made my dad.

Kids doing the Awa Odori in Tokushima.

Here's Jotaro playing with Miku.



Jo sleeping in his bed.

Jo playing with his new Snoopy Playcenter.

Jotaro playing with one of his toys which we call 'Buggy'.


Here's Jotaro trying mikan (mandarin orange) juice for the 1st time