The Final Day Of My Tennis Club Has Come.

I have been playing tennis two to three times a week for twelve years on the top of a building. But, the tennis courts are going to be closed in the end of this month due to lack of members.

It is said that Japanese economy hit the bottom and is now on the way of recovering. Do you think it is recovering? I doubt it.

The close of the tennis courts shocked me and other members very much. My tennis coach will be laid off in three days and have to find a new job. I guess finding a new job at his age is not easy. So, I can’t help sympathizing him.

I’m now thinking to take a rest of playing tennis for a couple of weeks and start a tennis-club-hunting in the middle of April.

Perhaps, playing tennis in the new place with new members could be fun to me in a sense.

Left: Me      Right: Tennis Coach, Mr. Yuzuki

Center: Me, Back Left: Ms. & Mr. Soma, Back Center: Mr. Yuzuki, Back second from the right: Mr. Nakagawa, Back Right: Hikaru or son of Mr. Yuzuki
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Indian Restaurant ‘Taj Mahal’

To celebrate Rina’s passing her high-school entrance exam, I went to a nearby Indian restaurant ‘Taj Mahal’ and have lunch with my family.

My two daughters Rina and Emi enjoyed the dishes very much; beforehand, I had not failed to ask a waitress that food be not-too-spicy for kids.

I found again that my seventeen-year-old elder daughter Emi has become able to eat a lot of food, more than the portion for one person.
That must be one of the reasons that she amazingly became bigger for the last one year, I understand.

They displayed many Indian antiques and paintings. They also played Indian music as a BGM in the restaurant. It was nice atmosphere as we visited last time.

Though you may feel the prices are a little expensive, I guess it is worth every penny.

Congratulations Rina On Graduation and Passing The Exam!

The Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March. Rina, my younger daughter, graduated junior high school last week.

She is going to go to the same high school as that of my elder daughter Emi goes to.

I was very relieved that Rina passed the entrance exam. Because, even just one week before the exam, she kept going to tennis school, kept morning jogging and kept watching TV anime program seriously.

I could not go to her commencement ceremony, but I heard Rina was very happy to have been able to attend the ceremony with her close friends and teachers.

Congratulations Rina on both her graduation and passing the entrance exam!

Hina Dolls Wait For A Display.

Most Japanese families having girls celebrate Hinamatsuri Festival on March 3rd by displaying Hina dolls at their homes. We have not been an exception of it for seventeen years since our elder daughter was born.

But, we were very busy handling a lot of chores last couple of weeks. So, we haven’t displayed Hina dolls this year.

One of headaches is water leakage from the wall of our condominium. We had to move tons of goods in one room to the other for repairing the wall.

The construction workers are scheduled to come again tomorrow. They said it would take more three to four days to complete. Sigh…

I took the picture a few years ago. The doll is now in a dark closet with other dolls, waiting for being displayed again, maybe, one year later.

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A Spring Day in Futara-yama Shrine

It’s been warmer and warmer in Utsunomiya.

It had been raining in the morning, so I gave up playing tennis and lazily took a morning nap after eating breakfast.

I slept for a couple of hours and got up around noon. Luckily, it cleared up in the sky.

I went to Futara-yama shrine to feel a spring breeze. It’s about a ten-minute-biking away from my home.
Going up along stone steps, I found several religious people and lots of pigeons as usual.
A small difference was that I found a full-bloomed white plum tree in the shrine yard.
It’s beautifully blooming in the sacred and warmer spring atmosphere.

I couldn’t ask for a nicer spring afternoon like today.

I’m sure that an exciting cherry blossom season is coming soon.

Quiz "Guess Who He Is"

One of my office workers asked me to find some pictures of my own which were taken when I was a small child.

The office worker was in charge of designing my department’s web page. About one hundred people are working at the same department.

The web page contains a monthly quiz that shows some pictures taken at their younger age and guess who he is or she is.

The answer of the next month quiz is me.

Can you answer the quiz correctly by just seeing those pictures?

It Snowed in Utsunomiya

After snowing two days consecutively, yesterday and the day before yesterday, it became sunny day today in Utsunomiya.

I played tennis with my friends today on Sunday as usual.  It covered beautifully with snow near the tennis courts.

I enjoyed both playing tennis and taking pictures of beautiful snow-covered nearby scene.

My Birthday

I had my 51st birthday yesterday, on February 6th.

Kiyono, my wife bought a birthday cake for me at her favorite sweet shop as she did on my birthday last year.

This time, she asked a staff of the sweet shop some candles. We put them on the cake top and lit them to celebrate my birthday.

I bought a birthday present to me by myself last year. The present was a trip to Florida with my family. I still vividly remember the wonderful trip. Honesty, I can’t believe that the trip was the event almost one year ago.

I’m vaguely thinking of buying a present to me again but don’t know what it would be.
A tennis racket, a bike, a camera, a PC, an iPad, a trip …

The thinking process itself can be fun to me.

A Construction Site

My company subsidizes every employee who doesn’t have his or her own house ninety percent of house rent for fifteen years.

I’ve been working for my company CANON for thirteen years and ten months. That is to say, I only have one year and a few months to enjoy the housing privilege; I can spend more than a little money not for housing but for other purposes.

So, recently, when I find flyers about condominiums or houses for sale, I check them rather seriously than before.

I found a flyer yesterday about a condo, which was under construction and would have been completed in March, 2011.

I went to see the construction site of the condo which was very close to JR Utsunomiya station with my wife.

To decide a new house will take really hefty time.
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The Size of the Shoes Tells a Lot.

I think nobody can’t deny that children become bigger and bigger without parents’ notice.

Recently, when I was cleaning my drawers, I found a pair of shoes which my daughter Emi wore when she was in her nursery school.

Her nursery school made it rules that all kids there should wear the same type of white shoes and that one of parents should draw a picture on both shoes together.

Do you know why?

Because most small kids could neither find their own shoes nor distinguish their right shoe from left one.
So, for drawing a picture on both shoe’s face together could help kids to find which one was left and which one was right easily. Of course, they could find their own shoes out from others easily, too.

I drew the picture almost fifteen years ago. Though the color of the shoes turned yellowish a little, rest of them were still in perfect condition.

Needless to say, Emi doesn’t remember the shoes at all. haha.
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Cafe La Saison: Restaurant in Utsunomiya

I went to a French restaurant ‘Café La Saison’ to have lunch with my wife. It took us fifteen minutes from our home by bike.

They served us nice pasta dishes, dessert and hot coffee.
My wife, recently studying French, told me that ‘La Saison’ meant ‘The Season.’
They used seasonal vegee and fish as cooking ingredients for the pasta and the dessert.

We enjoyed having nice lunch and cozy atmosphere at the restaurant very much.

Rina's Birthday

We celebrated Rina's birthday having a cake with full of berries on it on January 9th, the next day of her birthday. She has become fifteen years old.

Happy birthday to Rina.

I wanted to go to somewhere to eat out with family as we did last year. But, this year, Rina has been very busy for preparing her high school entrance exam scheduled coming March.
So, we could not have a party on her birthday.
Instead, we cerebrated her and ate the cake at home early morning on the next day before she goes to her cram school.

My wife Kiyono bought the cake at the same sweets shop as she had bought one on my birthday.
The cake was not only delicious but also looked very beautiful.
We enjoyed the juicy and yummy cake very much.

Rina brought back several birthday presents from her friends from school.

A Happy New Year!

My office has been closed for about one week since Dec. 29.
I have been living very lazy days, without doing any exercise nor meaningful work.
I’ve kept eating, eating, drinking, drinking and eight-hour sleeping a day. I may have gained at least a few kilograms.
The only creative thing I’ve done during this holiday season is making a New Year’s Day postcard with pictures that I took in 2009.

To think about the year 2009, I almost did something I wanted to do on every weekend.

After spending these lazy days, I realized that taking a sufficient rest is sometimes good for me both physically and mentally.

Up Left: Universal Studios in Florida
Up Right: Rina won medals both 2008 and 2009 Utsunomiya Marathon
Down Left: Disney Resort, Epcot in Florida
Down Middle: Salvador Dalí Museum
Down Right: Kiyono published a book about the U.S. President Obama
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The Year-End Party, 2009

Year-end parties with friends or co-workers are said to be an annual event in Japan.
Most office workers have, at least, two to three times year-end parties in December.

A few weeks ago, I had a year-end party with my tennis friends.
I always feel more relaxed having a party not with coworkers but with tennis friends.

It's really interesting talking with people from different walks of life, including a medical doctor, engineers, a mechanic, a sales person, house wives, a college professor and a tennis couch for kids.

It’s my last working day in this year tomorrow. New Year Party season is not far: it’s coming soon. lol

Family Pictures

 Even email is very popular among Japanese, we still have a custom of sending New Year's Day postcards to our friends and relatives as Westerners send Christmas cards to their friends and relatives.

I'm not the exception of Japanese.
I always make my New Year's Day postcards using my family pictures in the middle of December.
I took pictures for the postcards yesterday at home.

It’s hard to know the growth of my daughters because I live with them and see them everyday. But, when I compare the following pictures, I realize that our daughters have grown amazingly.

The picture I took yesterday.

Year 2008

Year 2007

Year 2006

Tennis, Tennis and Tennis.

Mr. Ikeda and I became runner-ups at the Ichikai doubles tennis tournament a few weeks ago. The prize was two right hand gloves for tennis players.

Mr. Takano and I won the CANON Utsunomiya division employee’s tennis tournament a week ago. 5,000 yen, about US$45 worth restaurant coupon was the prize.

Ms. Tajima and I became runner-ups at the Mohka beginner’s level mixed doubles tennis tournament today. We got two middle size towels as a prize.

I have been a tennis bum for almost one month, he-he.

To tell you the truth, I have tons of things to do within this year. One of the biggest tasks is to take family pictures and make new-year greeting cards. I may need 48 hours a day.
Time really flies … sigh.
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Utsunomiya Marathon 2009

Rina, my younger daughter, earned a bronze medal at the 2009 Utsunomiya Marathon.
Congratulations Rina!

There were half marathon, 10 km, 5 km and 2 km races for both men and women, being divided into their age groups at the Utsunomiya Marathon.

She took part in the women's junior high school students division in which about one hundred athletes participated.

Even it had passed a few months after she retired her track and field club at her school, she did a great job.

Most of Japanese high schools have the same policy or practice that all third grade students should finish their club activities in autumn and start to prepare for their high school entrance examinations.

But, after retiring her club, Rina kept running long distance on Saturday or Sunday morning alone till the day of the marathon race.

Unfortunately, she could not beat other two competitors nor her last year's her own record, I'm proud of Rina.
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Shibamata, Tokyo

I made a movie with pictures and video files that I took when I visited Shibamata, Tokyo last year with my family.

The background music “Otoko Wa Tsuraiyo” is played by Koichi who is an amateur electric organ player.
He uploaded numbers of tunes on his YouTube site. I impressed his skilled technique a lot.

One day, I wanted to make a video with his music, I asked him a favor of using his music in my video. That is about two months ago.
After getting his generous permission by email, I spent almost a month to complete the video.

I’m happy you watch and enjoy the video.

7-5-3, Shichi-Go-San Festival

Shichi-Go-San, literally translated "Seven-Five-Three" is a traditional festival day in Japan to celebrate the healthy growth of children, three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys.

It is not a national holiday. It is generally held on the nearest weekend around November 15.
When I went to Tokyo a few weeks ago for a college reunion, I visited Kanda Myojin Shrine on Sunday morning.

Two families were celebrating Shichi-Go-San festival there.
They were dressed up in their best clothes and held a ceremony of purification.
Parents didn't fail to take pictures of thier lovely children.

One young couple were having a wedding ceremony at Kanda Myojin on the day.

Tokyo Sky Tree

I stayed in Tokyo on the day of the college reunion party. Then, the next day, I went to "Tokyo Sky Tree" with three former photography club members who had come to the party.

"Tokyo Sky Tree" is now under construction in Sumida Ward, located about 1km east of Asakusa, Tokyo.

It will be completed in 2011. The height of the tower is said to become 634m and will be the world's tallest.

According to the notification showed at the construction site, the tower was a little shorter than 200m when we visited.

Even it was one-third of the final height, its huge skirts of the building impressed us very much.

Many tourists were posing before the tower to be taken a picture.

Mr. Yamamoto (center) and Mr. Nakahigashi (right) in the subway.