Transportation Park

We visited the transportation park which is along Tsujido beach. Vicky used her new camera for the first time. The park is fun - it has transportation-themed activities for kids and a transportation museum. Plus, grass, walkways, play structures, etc. like a regular park. It also has a big water park, but that's closed for the season.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/TransportationPark#

Dante's Photos

Dante's Christmas Day Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/DanteSPhotosOnChristmas#

Prepping for Santa

Dante is checking how to spell Santa Claus - his mom wrote it out for him to copy.

Three more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/PreppingForSanta#

Merry Christmas!

In Japan, they play Chrismas music in all the stores for a month, but they don't get the day off work. So, our Christmas in Japan will be on Saturday, when I can stay home.
The Tree Set is from D2. It came with all the decorations - glass balls, garland, bows, gold-painted pine cones, 30 blinking lights, little wrapped boxes, a big bow for the top, a Merry Christmas sign, and a packet of cotton (for a snow effect). About $22. I put on the lights and Dante did everything else. I didn't give him the cotton, 'cause I thought it was lame.
Vicky doesn't have the same idea I do that the tree isn't complete until there is a pile of presents under it. I guess she wants them all to show up on Christmas Eve at midnight.
For Christmas dinner, Vicky's having sushi, Dante is having his favorite pasta (carbonara), and I'm having adzuki-bean filled pastries. Maybe I'll get some KFC, too. When in Rome . . .

Nunchaku Like Michelangelo

7 photos of Dante's "ninja" class.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/DanteKarate#

Bang!

I had a car accident yesterday. Some guy turned right right in front of me. He couldn't see me coming because of small trucks going my way waiting to turn right. I slammed on the brakes, but couldn't stop. Scraped my bumper pretty good and damaged the corner of his bumper.
He was a friendly retired guy, but he didn't speak a word of English. We babbled at each other for a while, and I called the folks at work to bail me out. Takamura-san and Ishikawa-san came to where I was. They arrived not long after the police.
I don't really know what the police thought about the accident. They told me to drive slower and Takamura-san said everything was alright.
Ironically, I was only driving the car to work that day to return it to the rental company for its annual inspection. So, I had to get a new car anyway. I joked that I didn't have to tell my wife, since I would be driving a new car home, anyway. But, I called her and told her the story. She told Dante, and he asked, "Is Papa going to jail?" I think he was rather hopeful that I would go to jail - I'm not sure why.

Mark's Commute to Work

http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/MarkSCommuteToWork#

Latin Bar

I went into a building and downstairs to check out this Latin bar. The Guinness sign for a Latin bar in Japan made me laugh. The menu says 500 yen for a drink, 500 yen for food, and it's repeated in katakana: durinku 500 yen, fuud, 500 yen. Inside the door, we have Betty Boop, and outside is an African mask. Wicked.

Poor Orchid

We can't read the care instructions, so this orchid's probably a goner, but it sure is pretty now. I didn't see the snow-falling-up design on the vase until I looked at this picture. I liked the black vase better before.

Crafty Foxes

I saw this little neighborhood shrine while walking through Fujisawa's shopping district today. I've never seen the fox statues caged like that before (click the picture to see higher resolution). I guess they were worried the foxes would muscle up to the bars and vroom!

Music Academy

The view from our balcony again. I just deciphered that sign today - it says "guitar". It's a music school that will teach you to play guitar, just a few minutes' walk from our apartment.

Bad Hair Day

That's just two missing teeth in the picture. He's lost another one since then. I told him the story about tying a string around the tooth and running it to a doorknob. The tooth fell out just as I finished the story. His gum bled a little - I suppose that must have happened to me, but I don't remember it.

Photos of Our Apartment

Photos of our apartment in Fujisawa.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/OurApartmentInJapan#

Nan desu ka?

Vicky bought this without knowing what it was but has since decided it's a Chinese yam. We don't know what to do with it and haven't tried it yet.

New Veggies

We don't know what either of these are. The left one is very tasty. We just wilt it in the stir-fry. Kind of like spinach, but tastes better. Vicky bouth the one on the right, but we haven't tried it yet. I guess she liked the mascot on the package.

"Special" Mobile Phones

Normally, mobile phones in Japan can be switched into English mode, so the menus and messages are in English. Unfortunately, the phones Proto Labs provided for Vicky and me are not capable of this. Helpful Japanese people keep telling us that surely they can be changed to English, and collectively, they have spent hours trying to switch them for us.

Today, the director of Dante's school made yet another attempt to switch Vicky's phone to English. She finally called tech support at NTT Docomo to find out what gives. NTT's tech support told her that our phones are special - they were designed for the elderly and the retarded! I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with English menus, but it gave Midori a good laugh when she told Vicky.

I think tomorrow I'll go see what a low-end mobile phone (with English) costs at the Kojima electronics store in Ebina.

Stepfather

I've been listening to the latest CD by the Seventh Gallery (Jim's band). Good stuff. I gave a copy to Ishikawa-san when we visited his house for Shichi-go-san. I was trying to explain that the music was recorded by my stepfather, so I had to look up stepfather in the dictionary. In Japanese, stepfather is Mama Chichi! I kid you not.

Shichi-go-san

Yesterday, we celebrated Shichi-go-san, a Shinto holiday for girls 3 and 7 and 5-year-old boys. Pictures and more info here http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/20091121ShichiGoSan#

Enoshima

I took Vicky and Dante to Enoshima Sunday. Here are the photos:
http://tinyurl.com/enoshimaVD

Dark Out

Dante taking a picture out the balcony window at night.

Happy Together

Dante took this picture of his parents.

Our apartment seems spacious with nothing in it, but Vicky is wondering if it was wise to send seven boxes of junk from home. We just got them today, but haven't opened them up yet.

Hashi

Dante's first go at chopsticks. He did pretty well.

Yes, he's sitting on the floor at a towel-covered suitcase. But, since this photo was taken, we have bought a few cushions, so we're more comfortable when we gather around the suitcase for our evening repast.

You Can Rub Strongly

I spent hours at the D2 home store today, too. I bought cooking and cleaning stuff, but I missed these things. I found this at Khing's apartment after I got home. I wonder if we have these things in the US. Seems like a Swiffer, but without the plastic handle. The English on the package says:
MULTI PURPOSE WET CLOTH
Change the mood of your home. Change your home neat and luxurious.
We are going to return our customer's favor with better products.
Keep your kitchen, furniture or leather goods clean with the useful item.
You can rub strongly with thick sheet.

That much I understand, but then along the side it says, "Potable Goods," and I can't imagine what that is supposed to mean.

On the back we find:
CAUTION
It's for cleaning. Use only for its intended purpose.
The sheet will get dry if you keep it out of the case for a long time, so use it immediately after taking it out.
Before cleaning up with the wet-tissue, remove the sand or hard dirt to avoid scratch.
It's a disposable item.
Do not throw it away into lavatory.
Do use in on the chemical goods.
Keep away from direct sunlight or any hot place.
Keep out of reach of children.

I wonder how the one about chemical goods started out.

Me and the Peas

One food I miss while in Japan is good bread. There just isn't much bread, and the Japanese idea is that bread should be very soft. For example, a sandwich at the convenience store will be on mushy white bread with the crust removed. Also, some things that look like bread are really buns with stuff inside - maybe meat or sweet beans - and I can't tell what I'll get, since I can't read.

So, I was pleased to find this baguette at the supermarket today. Lovely crunchy crust, light inside, definitely good eating. The cheese is a bit disturbing though. It's "Kraft Camembert in 6P Cheese," though in the US it wouldn't be cheese, it would be cheese-food. It kind of reminds me of Laughing Cow.

I spent what seemed like hours at Food One Supermarket today. By the end I was really tired of trying to decipher packaging - "Hmm, I wonder if this is vinegar or fruit juice? And, why are there three kinds of Kikkoman soy sauce?" I wanted food that will be easy to prepare while we're getting our apartment set up, so I bought basics and convenience food, like these snack peas. I think I've had this kind before, and I'm not sure I liked it, but I couldn't resist the packaging - "Kasugai Peas & You"!

Trip to Enoshima

Four pictures of my trip to Enoshima with Khing-san.

http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/Enoshima#

Khing and I visited Enoshima, a small island south of Fujisawa. We saw lots of surfers on the way. There's a bridge - Khing says it reminds him of Mont Saint Michel. We walked up a steep street between shops. We bought a potato cake, a fish cake, and a tasty grilled substance on a stick that we couldn't identify.

At the top of the little town area, you start up the steps for the temples. For ¥150, you can ride a series of escalators to the top. Most people take the steps. As you walk, you pass several shrines, a temple, more restaurants and shops, and some houses.

At the far end of the island, you descend to the rocky shore. We thought that when we got to the far side of the island, we could return by walking around the island at sea level. But, Enoshima is too rocky for that. The only way back was up all those stairs, across the top of the island, and back down the way we originally went up. The juggler passed us on the way back down.

Is It Still A River?

Most of the streams I've seen in Japan are in cement channels. Of course, I've mostly been in urban areas. Japan has lots of wild and steeply descending streams elsewhere. This is the river right by our apartment-to-be in Fujisawa.

It doesn't look like a living river, but this fellow is doing OK:

And here are some carp:

That's Not Milk

Here are the sake selections at Khing's Palace. The stuff in the three-liter carton isn't as good as the 1.8 liter bottle. I know, it could just be the psychology of drinking out of a box, but I think the bottle really is better.

The cool think about sake is that it varies widely. It can taste clean or rich or yeasty or lots of other things that I can't name. Somehow it always tastes like sake, too.

Food Day At Work

At home people bring in donuts. Monday Kanno-san brought eggs and Ono-san brought persimmons. The eggs were boiled in an Onsen or natural hot spring. They're popular for bathing, but apparently you can cook in them, too. They are white inside and taste like regular hard-boiled eggs, but I guess the minerals in the onsen turn the shell black.

I remember Mari-chan saying how she missed the persimmons in Japan and couldn't find them in the US. The only persimmon I ever tried in the US was unpleasantly astringent. The first one of these I cut open was juicy and super sweet - it was awesome. The second one wasn't quite as good. I ate them for breakfast during the week and I bought a couple more at the grocery store today - I think I'll try them in my oatmeal.

Mixed Nuts

I bought this big can of mixed nuts at the drug store near work (
¥880). On the front it says, "Crown nuts and fruit - Mixed Nuts - Delicious...Any Time - Crown Foods Co. Ltd. Yokohama." That's the only English on the package. I can't even figure out how much it's supposed to weigh. The selection of nuts is wild: two kinds of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, corn nuts, garbonzo beans, and pistacios IN THE SHELL. It's like they put land mines in there to make sure you're looking at what you're eating before you put it in your mouth.

I'm enjoying them with my Eco Choco. I haven't yet found top-notch chocolate here, but this one's not bad. The only thing I can decipher from its package is that it's Rainforest Alliance Certified and bitter. I wouldn't have called it bitter, just moderately dark. The other dark chocolate I tried, "Meiji Black," is dark in color but sweet. It's excellent in my oatmeal.