Cherry Blossoms vs. Yu-Gi-Oh

Last Monday, Yuta and I went to Roppongi so that the lad could play Yu-Gi-Oh at the Konami building.  We were going to leave at 10:00 AM, but he came home late from school and Oba-chan made us stop and drink some juice before we biked to Kita-Kogane.  I took this picture of the two of them right before we cycled away.



We had no troubles riding the Chiyoda line from Kita-Kogane to Roppongi, but were too late for the Yu-Gi-Oh lessons at noon.  We stopped at Starbucks for lunch, Yuta ate a ham and cheese sandwich (the same as me) and I also had a piece of cheesecake.  We got to the Game Center at around 12:40 and Yuta dueled several people.  This photo is during one of his matches.

At around 3:00 PM, I went out to take pictures of the surrounding cherry (sakura) trees, as they are in full bloom right now.  It was an extremely beautiful walk and I could feel my Nature Deficit Disorder waning.  I took quite a few photos and I am going to post a few of them below.  I hope that Brother Eric Benson finds this post, as he had thought to come to Japan and witness this event for himself.  I was thinking of you as I took the pictures, knowing that I would have an audience seeing the results of my work inspired me to do my best!

Spring Flowers in Oba-chan's Garden

      I find the garden outside the living room of this house to be astounding.  Oba-chan has been working on this masterpiece for many years and it shows.  Today I am giving you a glimpse of a portion of the garden that I find particularly appealing.  If you know the names of the flowers, I would appreciate learning them from your comments. . .

Yuta's Moving Up Celebration!

       Today there was a celebration at Yagi Minami Shogakko in honor of the sixth grade moving up to Yagi Chuogakko (middle school).  Parents were invited, so I went to see what I could.  I did not understand all the Japanese, but I can now figure out what the topic is.  As I arrived at 10:30 AM, the students in the sixth grade class were already speaking, one at a time.  The topics were their teachers, the school, and sports.  I heard Yuta's teachers name (Orita-Sensei) a few times.  There was much applause and it was all very nice.  Then fifth grade students got on stage and performed an act that used Basketballs to syncopate a beat, it was very well done.  They ended by wishing the outgoing students good luck and to work hard in Middle School.  Then the fourth grade got the stage, and Yuta did a great job.  He was playing a recorder on stage and theatrically falling down when the soloist played a wrong note.  It was quite funny and again well put together, reminding me of a "Drifters" skit (google "Japanese The Drifters").  The entire show took about 2 hours and at one point, several of the sixth grade students were in tears.  They even took the time to say thank you to the audience and community in general.
      One extraordinary event was when a bat (komori) started flying around the auditorium.  It was a Japanese House Bat, very small and harmless.  I imagine that it lives in the building and all the commotion woke it up.  The bat flew around the room and landed on different walls looking for a place to scutch up and hide, until finally flying outside.  While this was cool and certainly caught my attention, the participants in the ceremony never even batted an eye (pun intended).  They just kept right on with the proceedings as if it was completely normal for a komori to be flying around.  I have named the bat "Sir Isaac!" and hope it is doing well.
       This event illustrates for me the vast differences between how teachers and education are treated in Japan and America.  Nobody seemed to mind that the staff had helped put together this event that was partially used to honor them.  There is no correlated event in the States, but maybe there should be.  Does the respect follow the event or does the event come about from the respect the community has for the institution?  This seems like a better version of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. . .

Bird Attack!

            Today I was jogging along an abandoned road where an old house had been demolished.  The site was still surrounded by a retaining wall which has steps, and an old cave like garage at street level.  As I was going past this garage a bird (here on referred to as Miley) launched itself towards me and actually collided with both my feet (they were passing each other, as is their habit when I run).  Having managed to survive the impact we both reacted with surprise and indignation, with me primarily occupying the former and Miley the latter.  As this awkward bird arched away sounding a bit like Oba-chan when I absentmindedly leave a light on, I recovered my stride and laughed.  I think I will go back and see if Miley is nesting or some such thing.  Now that Sir Isaac Newton is nowhere to be found (I hope he is okay); I have the time to pursue these mysteries.  I wonder if Miley is telling all her bird friends about her close encounter with my ugly running shoes. . .

My head is touching the ceiling here.

      When I went back for the photos, there was no sign of a nest or Miley.  I guess it was just a random occurrence. . .

Ryoko vs Some Old Scientist Guy

         I have been brought to task for not including Ryoko enough in this blog.  I had assumed that people were following my beautiful bride on Facebook, so I put my attention on the Lad and other issues around Japan.  I am sorry and hope that this post makes up for the oversight.  If you could stop texting me hourly, I would appreciate it, the lack of sleep is starting to make me hallucinate.  I just had an interesting exchange with Sir Isaac Newton, and though that may be cool, I just didn't enjoy arguing over the duality of light and quantum mechanics.  Apparently he has not kept up with his field. . .
I started off by asking Ryoko to tell me about her impressions of the trip so far, here is what she said:

-"This is the best decision we have made!"
-"It's not easy!'
-"I am happy that we are able to make ends meet here in Japan."
-"Was that Sir Isaac Newton or the mailman?"

So I think it is safe to say that Ryoko is satisfied here with Mom and home.
From my perspective, I would mirror those comments and add that this has been an excellent chance for me to learn more Japanese.  I certainly could not have even considered doing this without Ryoko.  She is an extremely reliable source of support, inspiration, and love for me and Yuta, even when she is mad at me (which happens far less than it should).  Each morning Ryoko gets up before anyone else and starts opening up the house.  This means that she has to go to the kitchen and start the kerosene heater, plug in the electric carpet, start the water to boil, make the tea, and get breakfast started.  We usually wake to find a warm, and inviting room to start our day in, all because she was willing to endure the coldest part of the day for us.
One of my favorite events this year was when Ryoko took us to Moriya to learn how to harvest rice.  We spent the day working in the fields, enjoying a festival, and eating well.  That night we went to a very nice bath (onsen) and slept in a mansion.  The next day was similar to the first with work harvesting rice and hanging it to dry.  It was during these two days that I learned how to make Nawa, increasing my manliness to unprecedented levels.  Thank you wife.  I have also seen Ryoko support Yuta and his enjoyment of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.  It was her idea to go with Yuta to Konami and see what he can learn there.  Yuta had a wonderful day and we even went back a month later for more games.  Thank you Mom.  Each night my bride makes sure that I have a dinner that I can eat, even if everyone else is getting something different ("You can be such a pain sometimes!" -Sir Isaac).  Thank you Ryoko.
So the purpose of this post is to acknowledge several facts.  The first is that Ryoko makes me very happy.  I only hope I do the same for her.  The second is that Yuta and I are very lucky to have her on our cases, the work is substantial, but so is the worker.  The final fact is that I do not deserve such a great wife.  Thank you Universe!

Central Jimbo Town!

     I had to travel into Tokyo twice this week for additional training at the Berlitz Headquarters.  I have gone to this building eight times now and have always wanted to get off at a certain station and take a photo of its name.  Today, I was early enough to risk being late to the office and do just that.  It helps that I now have a signed contract.  The first week of travel they could have denied me the job and I was not even paid to attend, so I put extra effort into being early.
     The station that caught my attention is "JIMBOCHO".  The ending of the name means "central"and combined with Jimbo is just darn awesome.  Each time that I have passed through, I wonder how they knew about my formidable neighbor in Voorheesville and when was the decision made to name the area after him.  Here is the photographic proof of neighbor Jim's Worldwide cred!

Tokyo Blizzard!

     On Saturday we had a snow event in Nagareyama, 27 cm of an event!  I know that it did not qualify as a blizzard, but the disruption was in the same league.  Up until this storm the only snow we had was less than an inch and it easily melted within a day.  I was working in Tokyo (Ueno) and they canceled my last lessons so that I could catch the train home.  Yuta and I tried to make an American style snowman, but the snow was too cold to pack.  You may ask yourself why I had to specify an "American" snowman, and it is a fair question.  In Japan a snowman has only two spheres of snow comprising his/her body, whereas a real American snowman has three (like an insects abdomen, thorax and head?).  I hope that satisfies your curiosity and you will stop taking me off topic with these distractions.  Who do you think you are anyway?
     In New York this would have been a no sweat event, they have the infrastructure and the experience to deal.  In the Tokyo area this is not the case.  I saw no plows or salt spreaders around, and the side street near the farm was not even cleared.  Nature melted the last of the snow on the road this morning.  A lot of vehicles had chains on, but that did not prevent the bus I took home from crashing into the guard rail at one of the stops (it had chains on).  Luckily the only damage was to the directional light housing and we were still able to drive on.  Many of the drivers were going too fast and many were tailgating.  I was much more worried about the inexperienced drivers than anything else.  
     I took a video of the precipitation for you to enjoy. . .

     The good news is that this weather has severely damped my homesickness.  I missed shoveling (no, really, I did!) and the driveway here is roughly the same size as the one in New York.  I had to use a smaller shovel though, so it took me and Yuta a longer time to get the job done.  Ryoko shoveled again on Sunday, doing even more area than we had.  I do not think she welcomed this storm as much as Yuta and I.  The lad even said that the snow in New York tastes better.  I am glad that I was there to make sure it was the proper color. . .