For all you Fathers out there!

Have a good one!!

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Sister's visit

Brattnay visited me here in Japan from May 2nd until the 25th. Now, that's over THREE weeks of us living together...something I had thought of as being mildly IMPOSSIBLE!! lol Actually, with only a few exceptions, it wasn't so bad. I was able to take her to various sightseeing spots around Tokyo and here in Nagano. Let's see if I can recall....Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa, Akihabara, Tsukiji, Matsumoto, Okaya, Suwa, Shimosuwa, Narai-juku, Shiojiri. All in all, not too bad considering I was working during the week and she usually slept till 1:00pm. Lots of pictures were taken, we saw shrines, temples, kimonos, hot springs, castles and she was able to teach a few classes at my school as well as visit some local schools around town.

Anyone who has been to Japan will tell you one thing for sure.....it's expensive. She came with $500 for the three weeks, and I thought that was cutting it close. Turns out she wouldn't have had enough...but, as I mentioned before, she taught a few classes at my school and was paid accordingly....$25/hour. Not bad money for a high school graduate.

We should be expecting some good photos from her as well, as I passed down one of my old cameras to her......my trusty Canon S2 IS. I had used that camera since 2004 and it had been pretty good to me. I'm hoping she'll take the time to learn how to use it.

. . . .

last weekend pics

Just a couple of shots I took while out last weekend. My favorite, the first one, was actually taken while I was in my car stopped at a red light.

Spring Hath Cometh....

I took this beee-u-ti-fulll picture yesterday around Lake Kawaguchi. The Sakura (cherry blossoms) were out almost in full bloom. That, combined with a great view of Mt. Fuji, made for an interesting photo idea that came out quite well. Me and a couple of my students went out for the day. Our itenerary included the Lake Kawaguchi area, then off to Iwara where we visited a huge park with lots of blooming flowers, then our last stop was in Kofu to check out a cool Samurai festival at the old castle grounds. I'll get some more pics up on here....if I somehow snap out of my lazy streak. :D

Day out in Tokyo

I made my way over to Tokyo today to meet up with an old friend of mine, Asami. She recently found out that she is pregnant and is expecting her new arrival in November. A big congratulations to her!! Well, we met up around 11:30 in Shinjuku. We then walked over to Harajuku and had lunch (cold soba to be precise). I wanted to visit Yoyogi park, as it fills up with some of the most interesting people on Sundays, so we walked over after lunch. As expected, there were a lot of things going on...people dressed up in cosplay, live bands, skateboarders, dancers, and my personal favorite...The Greasers!

It was Asami's first time to visit the park on a Sunday and to see the crazy sorts that hang out there. We had a great time hanging out, walking around Harajuku, and catching up with each other. It's been about 3-4 years since we saw each other last. We first met way back in 1998, when she visited her good friend Wakako, in the Philippines. We've had some pretty funny and memorable experiences together in Manila (Halloween Party) where she disappeared by the end of the night and ended up sleeping on the street, and also in Bangkok where we somehow found ourselves in Patpong , and probably the most disgusting/disturbing experience either of us have had...NO DETAILS!!

Man...were does the time go. The older I get the faster it seems to go, which is true for pretty much everyone else too, I guess. I don't want to get myself too depressed so I'd better go ahead and post the pictures from today. Enjoy!
the sea of people in Harajuku
cosplay 1
cosplay 2
hmmm...well...errr.....I dunno!
Doo-wop dancer





a pretty cool shop sign on a wall in Harajuku

I like.....to play with.......dolls!

Hahahaha! Well, not exactly.

Last weekend me and a friend went over to a museum to check out a special display it had going. You see, every March 3rd here in Japan, every household with a daughter puts out a doll display to bring good fortune and happiness to her. The average display is about six levels with around thirty dolls. The World Folk Doll Museum in Suzaka City had a display of thirty levels and a thousand dolls!! Here is what it looked like:

.....and a couple of other dolls

Although I'm not a huge doll fan, I thought it was quite impressive. I wanted to visit the snow monkeys afterwards, monkeys that are famous for coming down from the mountains to bathe in the hot springs, but the weather suddenly turned nasty and we had to cancel that part of the trip. I'm determined to see them this winter though so keep posted for updates.

As for other news, well there's not a whole lot to tell. Work is going along nicely, the weather is still cold over here, my car is running fine, and life in general is good. I'll leave you with some more pics I've taken over the past couple of weeks.

Enjoy!!