Chris and Suzanne are going to marry!

Congratulations!
Chris and Suzanne are going to marry this summer in France. Chris is from France and Suzanne is from Australia. Now they are living in Utsunomiya.
Chris came to my house as a home stay guest in August 2005, about one and half years ago. After that, even we met him sometimes on the street, sometimes in the gym or sometimes in Utsunomiya station, I haven’t had a chance to invite them home.
Finally, we could have a small lunch party yesterday. We ate Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba in the living room in my condo. Mostly I cooked for them yesterday; it’s very unusual that I cook for others by myself.
It was a very warm and nice day with full of sunshine in the room, at this time in Tochigi, the end of January; we didn’t have to turn heaters on while eating the lunch.
Chris likes taking pictures very much. I haven’t seen a guy who took that much pictures since I was a member of photography club in my college.
He bought a new SLR digital camera Nikon D40 a month ago. Thanks to Chris, I was able to take pictures using D40. It’s very well designed, far lighter than it looked, quality of pictures were very nice too. I felt that I wanted to have a SLR digital camera someday.

All pictures on today’s blog were taken using the Nikon D40. Some were taken by Chris and others by me.

Emi, my elder daughter can speak far better English this time than she could a year ago. Some say English classes in junior high are just waste of time. But she can study English only in her school. I think it depends on one’s attitude, don’t you think so?

Congratulations Rina on passing the exam for a junior high!

Parents are nervously waiting for their kids finishing the exam at the school entrance.
Congratulations Rina on passing the exam for a junior high!
My younger daughter Rina took an entrance exam last week. More than two hundreds sixth-grade school kids came with their parents at the school early in the morning on Saturday. Even prep school staff came there.
They displayed banners, “You Pass The Exam! Do Your Best!” There are two major prep schools in Utsunomiya. Prep school staff delivered their own school students leaflets to encourage them to do a good job at the exam.
As for me, I chose a public junior high school. So, I did not take an entrance exam for junior high. Of course, passing an exam is very important for all of us. But studying hard in this sixth-grade age has become a very good experience for Rina in her life. I believe what she has learned must be precious as well as the good result.

Where do you think I am?

Where do you think I am? It's not a zoo, nor an amusement park. It’s a restaurant called Rainforest Café. It’s in IKSPIARI of Tokyo Disney Resort, Maihama, Chiba-prefecture.
I went there a couple weeks ago and had a wonderful time with my family. When I went to Las Vegas few years ago, I also went to Rainforest Café there. There were lightening and squalls every ten to fifteen minutes and man-made animals in the restaurants moved every few minutes. They served delicious food and took good care of customers. It’s worth visiting!

Jumping To The Sky

A New Year holiday has been almost over.
I visited Showa-machi in Saitama-ken with my family. Showa-machi is famous for Kite Museum. The museum has about 450 kites from small ones to very huge ones. Kite Festival is held on May third and May fifth there.
Emi and Rina, two daughters are jumping on the mountain shape trampoline next to Michinoeki in Showa-machi.

A Happy New Year From Odaiba

I stayed in a condo of my parents-in-law in Tabata from December 29th of 2006 to January 3rd of 2007 and came back to Utsunomiya yesterday. I spent this holiday in Tokyo visiting Odaiba, Ikebukuro, Ebisu, Shibuya and Tabata.
I usually exercise at least two hours a day but I did no exercise at all last seven days, ate a lot of food, drunk beer everyday and slept more than seven hours a day. I refreshed mentally but maybe gained weight. I'm not a person who makes New Year resolutions but I want to keep doing as follows:

1. Practicing tennis
2. Commuting by bike
3. Carrying out a new project successfully at work
4. Updating this blog at least twice a month
5. Keeping good relations with everybody

I wish all visitors to my blog a very happy and prosperous New Year!