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.