Happy 6 Months Birthday Jotaro !!

Well Jo has hit the 0.5 year mark, congratulations! And to celebrate we threw a little shindig with our friends Kazu, Hiroko and Miku-chan.

The half-birthday boy!

Kazu and Hiroko bought us this nice birthday cake. It says, "Jotaro - half - congratulations."

Kazu and Hiroko with Miku-chan

Jo & Miku play

Kazu prepares the bungee chair for Miku.

The next day more friends came to play with Jo.

Emi & Hiro

Jo & Miku & Hiro

Jo & Hiro play


Jotaro's big floor routine

Jo gets his turn in the bungee chair

Yukiko & Jo at the local park.

Here's Miku slapping Jo around a bit. Poor little guy.

And sadly, something of an era has come to an end in Tokushima. The main hangout spot for foreigners there, 'Big Brothers Sandwiches' has closed their doors for the last time.

Clockwise L to R: Me, Norman, Keith and Yumi.

Our trip to Okayama: Day 2 Tivoli Park

Day 2 started off with a sunrise trip to the rooftop onsen. What a view.



Then it was off to Tivoli Park, which is pronounced 'Chibori' (チボリ公園）in Japanese. I later found out that it is named after a famous park in Copenhagen. It was very fun and had a very strong Copenhagen/Hans Christian Anderson theme.



The main entrance

A topiary beefeater

Map of the park.

Miku & Jo





The cobblestone roads and narrow winding alleys of 'Old Copenhagen'





It may be called 'Old Copenhagen', but the souvenirs are definitely Japanese.

Fountain with a large stage behind it.

Opposite view, the same fountain with Hiroko & Miku, Yukiko & Jo, and Tivoli Tower behind them.



The old pirate ship looked great, right out of 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Unfortunately it was closed this day :(

It did rain while we were there. Luckily, we ducked into an Italian restaurant during the worst of it.







Jotaro and Miku liked the garden best of all.









This is a statue of a famous clown. I thought it was pretty scary looking though and worth a picture. It's those ruby red lips, makes it look like the Joker from Batman.

The 'Yoroshiku bus'





And that was our trip to Tivoli Park.