Camping in Ibaraki Prefecture

I went camping with my family to Ajigaura beach in Ibaraki prefecture last Wednesday. I was able to take a lot of pictures of the beach side and the Pacific Ocean view. The route from Tochigi to Ibaraki was not crowded; it was an enjoyable three-hour-driving.

But, as far as camping, it became the toughest one for me. Why was it? Because it was too hot both day and night. Can you imagine four people are sleeping in one tent at 33 degree centigrade (92 Fahrenheit) without an air conditioner or fans. Furthermore, you were kicked and hit by kids every hour and enduring continuous mosquito bites.

What is worse, I suffered from diarrhea due to drinking tap water at the camping site. I’ve almost recovered from it but I don’t have enough appetite yet. I knew Ibaraki was hotter than Utsunomiya but I couldn’t imagine that much.

My Recommendation
Simple. It’s better to avoid camping on too hot day! Or, you can’t sleep.

Do you have any recommendation on hot day camping?

Scorching Summer in Utsunomiya, Japan

It is said that the Utsunomiya castle was burnt down in 1868 as a result of the war between the government forces at that time and the anti-government forces. Recently, a group of citizens were driving the reconstruction of the part of the castle and it was finished this year.

As I haven’t visited there so far, I decided to go to the newly reconstructed castle with Rina.

I had thought it would be crowded since most of Japanese companies and schools were in summer holidays this week. But luckily it was not.

I took pictures and enjoyed walking in a burning hot day. We stayed in the castle park for a couple of hours and, on our way back home, we ate cups of ice candy together.

I love this burning Japanese summer!

This hole is for shooting arrows.





I guess this hole is for gun shooting.







Yummy, ice candy. It's the "Summer delight!"

Videos, "Traveling in the American West."

I’ve finished editing two more videos of travel in the States last April. It took me a lot of time. The reason is simple. I put too much pictures (about 2,000) into short two videos.
While editing, every time I change the order of pictures, duration of pictures, music, and titles, my PC freezes for few minutes. Sigh.
I’m not satisfied with the quality of uploaded pictures on YouTube. But, I think it’s bearable.
I featured Japanese POP singer Hikaru Utada as background music.

I’m glad you watch those videos.

#1



#2


#1 (1st day to 6th day) Music:Hikaru Utada/ Exodus '04
Places we visited
Needles, NV/Colorado river.
Williams, AZ/Route 66, The Grand Canyon.
Kayenta, AZ/The Grand Canyon, Monument Vally.
Page, AZ/Monument Vally, Mokee Dugway.
Bryce, UT/Hoseshoe Bend, Bryce Canyon.
Zion, UT/Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park.

#2 (6th day to 13th day) Music:Hikaru Utada/ Traveling (Bahiatronic Mix)
Places we visited
Zion, UT/Zion National Park.
Las Vegas, NV/Zion National Park, Fremont Street.
Las Vegas, NV/The Las Vegas Strip.
Los Angeles, CA/Santa Monica, Hollywood, UCLA.
Anaheim, CA/Disnyland

Miya Matsuri Summer Festival in Utsunomiya

The Japan Meteorological Agency said that the rainy season in the Kanto region ended on last Wednesday. My long waited summer has finally come!
We have exciting summer festivals everywhere in Japan. The summer festival called Miya Matsuri was held today and yesterday in Utsunomiya. The first Saturday and Sunday in August are the days for the festival.
I haven’t gone to the festival for nine or ten years, because I always went back to my hometown, Shimane during the festival. This year, daughters are excited to be able to go to the festival.

Do you know what’s the most fun for young girls in summer festival? Most of young girls love to wear traditional clothes, “Yukata.” They are kind of summer version of Kimono. My two daughters wearing Yukata, went to the festival with their own friends separately. They bought sweets, frozen pineapple, candy and goldfish. After that, they took Purikura pictures. I asked them what they did and what they bought. Believe or not, things they bought and did were amazingly the same.

Before going to the festival, Emi prays to the small shrine next to our condo.




Rina has a dark suntan, since she attended an athletic competition today till four o’clock.
A hectic day, wasn’t it?

Upper Purikura pictures: Emi and her friends. Those of Rina and her friends follows.

How do I spend this summer?

I made it a rule to take a week off and go back to my hometown Shimane with my family members from the end of July to early August. But, I gave up doing so this year. Because, I took already two weeks off last April for traveling in the States and my elder daughter is busy to study for a high school entrance exam. She goes to a cram school twice a week. But, during summer vacation of her school, she goes five times a week.
I love spending summer season in Shimane very much but I can’t do this year. I should decide an alternative way to spend this summer… Maybe, it’ll be a camping or swimming in Tochigi.

Today is the day of upper house election. After voting, I went to company’s tennis court with Rina who was my younger daughter. Though she joined an athletic club in her junior high, she is still practicing tennis at neighbor tennis school once a week. I rarely play tennis with her. Maybe, last time I played with her was more than a year ago. We had a good time and I think it could be a good practice for her today.

Browsing on the Web; YouTube “Ken Tanaka”

I found an interesting series of YouTube videos few months ago. It has attracted me very much since then. The story goes like…
A man whose name is Ken Tanaka was born in Los Angeles in 1973. Later, a Japanese family in Shimane Prefecture adopted him. He has been brought up in Japan and is now looking for his real parents, Jonathan and Linda Smith in Los Angeles.
The videos are about his journey looking for his real parents and happenings around him.
How did I find it? Yes, I was brought up in Shimane same as Ken. One day I was looking for videos on YouTube with a search keyword “Shimane” and hit them.
There are 16 sets of videos, so far, and most of them are numbered. If you have time ,please watch them in order. I promise you can enjoy them.
URL follows,
http://www.youtube.com/user/helpmefindparents


When I was browsing on the web, a bird was looking at me. I took his picture.

Earthquake Strikes on Marine Day

Today, the 3rd Monday of July is Marine Day, one of the national holidays in Japan.
This consecutive three days holiday became a terrible one for many Japanese.
First, we had a typhoon on Saturday and Sunday. I booked my company's tennis court but canceled it again. I think many had to give up their well-planed schedules.

Furthermore, a big earthquake struck in Niigata area today. Many TV programs have been rescheduled to news programs reporting earthquake distressed area since this morning. I feel sorry for the victims.

How have I spent this weekend? I was doing netsurfing for long time lazily. The only good news is that one of my friends Michel living in Canada will have a baby in the end of this year. Congratulations Michel and Yoshiko!
I took these three pictures in Atami two years ago. I looked for pictures of the sea commemorating for Marine Day, but I don’t have many. Do you know why? ... Since I live in Tochigi… lol

Even In the Rainy Season...

It’s drizzling in the morning. A bunch of morning glory in the balcony keeps growing in the rain. Its vine has grown more than one meter so for.
I planed to play tennis with my colleagues, Yuzu Tennis members and my drinking friend Anthony at my company’s tennis courts. But, due to the bad weather, I had to cancel the plan. I sent cancellation mail to my friends in the early morning.
After that, the drizzle had stopped and the weather turned better. The feeling I wanted to play tennis grew bigger and bigger, then I asked Ms. Kaneda if they play tennis at indoor tennis courts or better condition outdoor courts today. My company’s courts are next to tall trees, so once it rains it takes a whole day to dry up the surface.
My goodness, she answered YES. So, I called Anthony again and rushed to join Mr. and Ms. Kaneda’s group or Smile Tennis Team. Thanks Mr. and Ms. Kaneda very much again! We had a wonderful Sunday.
I knew that Anthony kept practicing tennis for long years, but it was the first time to play tennis with him. His shots are pretty fast. He hits a ball with a small quick motion. His play style is rare among my friends. Sometimes, he loses the game by missed shots. I think that it's because he doesn’t practice regular basis after coming to Japan. If he keeps practicing regularly, he’ll become far strong a player than he is now.
Right: Anthony

Congrats on One Year Anniversary!

I began updating my blog on July 1, 2006. Today is the one-year-anniversary.
I wanna say greaaaaaaaaat thanks all of you for visiting my blog.

I show you pics of the coziest Pub in Utsunomiya. I can’t get away from here.

Rain, Rain, Rain...Business Trip to Tokyo

I went to Tokyo on business yesterday and the day before yesterday. I attended a seminar of software development: that is about the standard of communication protocol between semiconductor production equipment. Learning new things is always fun to me and gives me power.

I’m working as a system engineer in my company. I had been in charge of a new project that would be completed in early 2008. But it was discontinued, judged by company’s top executives few months ago. It was sad not only for me but also for other members. Though, thanks to the cancellation of the project, I’m able to spend my working time more for learning, doing research and writing patents at my discretion.

Anyway, after the two-day-long fruitful lectures, I went to a photo gallery in Shinjuku one day and bookstores in Ochanomizu the other day. Those two towns are among my most favorites.
I took several pictures of rainy Tokyo.

A Bud of Morning Glory

I live on the 4th floor of a condo having a small balcony, where I keep several flowerpots. I can’t say I have green fingers, though I can grow plants all the year around: I love to see flowers there no matter how small and shabby they may be. Every year in this rainy season, morning glories put out their buds even I haven’t seeded at all. It’s really surprising. They have grown bigger and bigger as if they grow by 1cm per night since few weeks ago.

Morning glories have funnel-shaped flowers, open them in the morning. The flowers usually start to fade a couple of hours, last for a single morning and die in the afternoon.
New flowers bloom in each morning.

They’ll not only have beautiful flowers, but also have excellent vines for creating summer shade on the fence of our balcony.
I can’t wait for the clear blue sky summer and beautiful flowers in my balcony.

I promise every visitor on this site see pictures of beautiful flowers in August!

Clear Sky in the Middle of the Rainy Season

Meteorological Agency said last Thursday that Kanto area had been in rainy season.
Ironically, it has been fine since then. Thanks to the good weather, I played tennis yesterday with Yuzu Tennis members as usual and today with Smile Tennis Team members. It was the first time for me to play with Smile Tennis Team members.
One of my Yuzu Tennis members introduced me to Smile Tennis Team. Thanks Ms Kaneda! I enjoyed a lot today.

I felt somehow nostalgic when I found an azalea flower falling nearby the court. It’s the end of the spring.

Most of Yuzu Tennis members are very young. It is safe to say that more than half of them are high school students or younger kids. They like a powerful play style.
On the contrary, most of Smile Tennis Team members are senior. Some are already retired and the others are few years to their retirement. They rather enjoy the atmosphere of playing tennis and a conversation of their daily happenings than playing tennis itself.

My backache has almost gone but not perfectly. So, the play style of Smile Tennis Team is better to me right now than that of Yuzu Tennis.

A New PC and an Old PC Monitor

My PC monitor was not working properly. It suddenly displayed nothing on the screen after using it for few hours. In that case, I should turn the power off, wait for a minute then turn it on again. Sigh, I decided to buy new one.
I went to Yamada Denki, went up to the third floor of its building where PCs and PC peripheral goods were sold. PC monitors were on the corner far other side of the elevator, so I had to walk through the section where state-of-the-art PCs were sold. All new PCs looked very nice, so I just asked a clerk about new PCs on the way to the PC monitor section. While talking with him, I gradually wanted to buy a new PC rather than a new PC monitor. More than 30 minutes my questioning and his answering, finally I decided to buy a new note PC with windows Vista, Intel Celeron 1.46G Hz processor, 512Mbytes Memory and 80Gbytes HD.
Now I’m using the new PC. It works beautifully.
How about the PC monitor?
Yes, I decided to have the PC monitor repaired. It’ll be back in three weeks.



It has been raining or cloudy in Utsunmiya since last week. My backache has almost disappeared. Smile.

Mt. Fuji and My Backache

I suffered from a terrible backache at the week before last and took two days off the office.
I rarely take days off due to illness. It was so terrible that I wasn’t able to even walk and sit more than five minutes.
I suffer from a terrible backache in every two to three years, especially when I’m very tired and work too much or in the same situation I play tennis too much. This time, I took part in a tennis tournament with my colleague even I had a cold.
I felt much better last week than two weeks ago but couldn’t say it a perfect condition. Same as other people, I don’t realize the importance of being healthy before I lose it. I played tennis yesterday but, while playing, I thought I should have taken a rest at least one more week.
We are going to have a rainy season this week or next in Utsunmiya. I think it’ll be a good rest for me since our tennis court is outdoor type.


I went to lake Yamanaka near Mt. Fuji with my mother, brothers, sister-in-law and my family members a month ago. It was very beautiful. Mt. Fuji matches very well with cherry blossoms.

Three Days at Disneyland

I took a lot of pictures at Disneyland. Yes, because I like taking pictures.
But, I think Disneyland is such a place that everyone can be a good photographer and take lots of pictures.
I’ve made a slide show with the Beatles BGM.

(If you can't watch the show, please try to update Adobe Flash Player.)

The Happiest Place on Earth, Final 3days in the States

My daughters' long waited day had finally come on the 12th day in the States.
It would last three days.

--> The Happiest Place on Earth

--> Where Dreams Come True

What's that?

THE DISNEYLAND!
My daughters, Emi is now 9th grade, Rina is 7th grade students. I think both of them will probably go to college after finishing 12 years education. I don't want to think of it, though the possibility that I live with daughter(s) after their college entrance is slim. So, I have only three and half years left living with Emi and six and half with Rina.
Then, it goes few questions to myself. Are you sure that you already have had enough wonderful memories with them? Are you sure that they think they have had wonderful memories with you? I can't answer clearly.
Anyway, arranging a three-day-visit to Disneyland was a present to my family members. After spending three full days, from early in the morning till the night, what did they think of my present?