Autumn Flavor, Delicious Pears

Hot summer is going. It’s cooler this week than that of the last week in Utsunomiya.
Today is a Japanese national holiday of Respect-for-the-Aged Day and the last day of the three-day-holiday.
We should show respects to the aged on this holiday. But I could do nothing to the aged, on the contrary, received presents from my mother living in Shimane.
The presents are autumn flavor, delicious pears.

Except for having given a thanks-call to my mother, I have nothing special to do these holidays. I just walked around nearby park, did web surfing, making a bunny video and uploaded it on YouTube site. If you have time, please watch it.



When our daughters were elementary school girls, we went to many places together to enjoy driving, hiking and sometimes camping in autumn. But, now, they have their own things to do: track and field training at junior high school and drama practicing at senior high school are the things they do on holidays recently.

Kids grow very quickly not only their height and weight but also their mind.
Sometime, parents feel lonely about it.

Annual Tennis Tournament

The first Saturday of September has come yesterday: it's the day of a local tennis tournament in the area of my company. I had asked my colleagues to take part in the annual tournament and five brave colleagues joined my team.
We won the tournament last year but, to our regret, could not this year.
We were defeated at the preliminary league.

They prepared for first league losers to make a consolation tournament.
So, we took part in the consolation tournament. Then we won the tournament. We got no trophy but little prize.
We vowed to win the next year’s tournament.
Anyway, I enjoyed playing tennis very much on wonderful Saturday.
:-)

Rakugo at Utsunomiya Kyowa Univ.

A few weeks ago, I attended open lectures in Utsunomiya Kyowa University and had a lecture of Rakugo with my family.

Rakugo is a Japanese verbal entertainment. A lone storyteller tells a long and complicated comical story.
A Rakugo storyteller who usually remains seated uses words and facial expressions to portray various characters.In the lecture, firstly the teacher whose stage name is Rakki Tei Sanda explained what Rakugo is all about, the history of Rakugo, how to speak Rakugo stories and how to become a good story teller in English.

Then, we students were asked to memorize a short comical story from the text and perform Rakugo in front of the audience.

It was a really tough job, but very interesting. We enjoyed it very much.

Beijing 2008 Olympics

Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games have been over.
I really enjoyed watching the games: swimming, judo, wrestling and 100m/200m dash are the most exciting competitions for me.
Japan got fewer medals than those of four years ago in Athens, but their performances moved me very much.
Thanks all the athletes for showing us wonderful games!

Staying in Shimane in Obon Period

We went back to my hometown Shimane prefecture with my family last week in Obon.

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the deceased spirits of our ancestors.

It is believed that these spirits return to their families during the period.

People return to ancestral family places and clean their ancestors' graves and make offerings of flowers and incense.

I went to my father's grave and made offerings, too.

To tell the truth, meeting with my family living in Shimane is more fun for me than religious ceremonies.

My mother is now 83 years old.
She can't walk easily now but always welcomes our visit. We stayed just three nights there and came back here before the traffic becoming crazy crowded.

I really enjoyed visiting Shimane again.

Burning wood in the pan is called Mukaebi or welcoming fire. It is said that the fire illuminates the way to the home for the ancestors’ spirits.

Leaving Utsunomiya for Shimane

Few hours later from now, I leave Utsunomiya for Shimane where I was born, with my family on summer vacation. We have only five days common holidays this year.
Shimane is about 1,000 km away from Utsunomiya. It’ll become a very hectic travel, but I’m excited to be able to meet my family living in Shimane and visit where I was born.

During the vacation, our bunny rabbit Nobi stays in my daughter’s friend’s home. Nobi wears a flower of morning glory that bloomed in our balcony.

Summer Festival: Miya matsuri

We had Miyamatsuri summer festival in Utsunomiya today and yesterday. I went to the festival with Rina. She holds an apple candy. Apple candies are sold especially in summer festival. To make a candy, they use a whole apple putting candy source on it.
It’s really yummy.

Municipal Track and Field Competition

Track and field competition of municipal junior high schools was held in Utsunomiya last week. My younger daughter Rina took part both in the 800m race and in the 1,500m race.

My wife had to go to her ballet practice for the performance in autumn and elder daughter Emi had to go to her drama club practice. So, only I went to the stadium with Rina.

The second runner is Rina in the following picture. Rina finished the race as a runner-up.
With Rina’s great practice she has done so far and her efforts, she became a runner-up in the 800m race and 3rd in the 1,500m race.
So, she could advance to the prefectural track and field competition next week.
Congratulations Rina!
I hope that you will do your best in the coming races.
Good luck!
The results of the women’s 800m race final follow.

Sarah Comes Home

Sarah who is my wife’s friend came home from London yesterday. She has been traveling in Japan since a couple weeks ago.

It was more than seven years ago when she came to Utsunomiya last time.
The upper picture was taken on April 30, 2001 at the botanical garden of Utsunomiya Romantic Village. Two daughters Emi and Rina look very small.
Digital cameras were not popular at that time so the quality of the picture was not good enough.

We spent talking, eating drinking on Sunday evening. It was a very wonderful day yesterday. She was going to leave Japan for London tomorrow.


On our way to JR Utsunomiya Station, we happened to meet Emi who was coming back from a drama club practice at her high school.
Few minutes before Sarah took the train to Tokyo, Sarah and I were standing at JR Utsunomiya Station.

Tennis Tournament in Shimotsuke City

I attended doubles tennis tournament in Shimotsuke city, next to Utsunomiya city with my colleague Mr. Ogata. My tennis friend Mr. Yoshida also attended the tournament with former tennis coach Mr. Saito. He is a senior student of a college in Utsunomiya. He has quit a part-time tennis coach job since one and half years ago. It was the first time for me to see him since then.

We won the first round rather easily at the sore of 8 to 4, but in the second round we were defeated at the score of 0 to 8.
The opponents of the second round, Mr. Watanabe and Mr. Fujinuma, were the last year’s winner of the tournament and this year’s first seeded team. They were very strong.
We were defeated very easily at the second round but I was satisfied with being able to play the game with such a strong team.

It was very hot day today as if the rainy season were over. If these hot days continue, soon or later, the Meteorological Agency will announce the end of the rainy season and an advent of the summer.

Left: Mr. Saito, former tennis coach
Second from the left: Mr. Yoshida, he plays tennis 6 times a week
Second from the Right: Me
Right: Mr. Ogata, my colleague

Shibamata Taishakuten Temple

Few moths ago, I went to Shibamata Taishakuten temple with my family. The temple is famous for the serial movie “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” or “It's tough being a man.”
The main character, Tora-san lives near the Taishakuten temple in the movies.

Most of the movies have the same basic plot.
A traveling salesman Tora-san arrives in some remote town planning to sell his wares to the locals. He meets a local woman and falls in love with her. However, he usually ends up inadvertently helping bring her together with another man. He ends up being heartbroken at the end of the movie.

I like the movies and watched them many times, but had never been Taishakuten temple before. We visited Tora-san museum, sweets shop Toraya and Taishakuten temple.
It’s a really wonderful town.
Tora-san fans should visit the town.

These board are called Ema. Ema are made of wood on which worshipers write their wishes.

Ema are then left hanging up at shrines or temples, where God or Buddha can read them.
The Ema in the picture holds wishes:

“May my mother-in-law become healthy”,

“May all my family live happily with smiles.”

Rain, Rain and Rain

We had another rainy Sunday today in Tochigi area.
I know this rainy season is necessary for the plants in Japan. But, I always wish the sky would clear at least for Sunday and Saturday so that I could enjoy biking around.

I upload photos of hydrangea flowers that I took last week because I stayed home all day long today. Those flowers are blooming only few blocks away from my home.

Tomorrow is the last day of the first half of the year 2008. Time really flies quickly. Sigh.

Rainy Season and Hydrangea

I got up late today on Sunday. It’s been raining since last evening in Utsunomiya. I booked company’s tennis court but it’s impossible to play in the rain today.

Here we are in the middle of the rainy season in Kanto area.
I did nothing special today except taking a walk nearby my condominium with an umbrella.

Flowers of hydrangea are blooming beautifully in several places, a public park, a private house yard and corners of streets.
Hydrangea suits very well with rainy Utsunomiya city.

Party For Patent Rewards

We had a party to celebrate that I received patent rewards from my company last week. Every employee can get a reward when their patent is applied, registered and is used in the products.

It’s quite controversial whether or not those rewards are enough paid to inventors in Japan.
Of course, the more I get, the happier I’ll become. But, the important thing to me is that I had a chance to celebrate this rewards with my family or my colleagues.
In addition to buying a new bicycle for Emi and two new pairs of shoes for Rina, we could have a party.

I went to a restaurant called SAMURAI near my condominium with my family, drunk beer and ate Japanese food.
We had a wonderful dinner together. Though, my wife complained me that I had ordered too many dishes to eat all. lol

Emi is standing near her new bicycle.
Rina shows off two new pairs of shoes. The picture on the PC monitor was taken last time I bought her new pair of shoes.

Tokyo / Ebisu, Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku

I took pictures and videos in Tokyo a monuth ago. I edited them last week and uploaded it on YouTube site today.
Please check it out.

Day Trip to Nikko

Friends of my mother-in-law, Judy and John who live in Australia came to Utsunomiya last week. My wife and I went to Nikko shrines, Cider Tree Park and Ohya Stone Park with them.
Nikko Toshogu shrine, Futarasan shrine and Rinnoji temple were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. My wife often goes there but I haven’t been there since about ten years ago. This time, we bought multiple tickets for shines and temples in the area, so we stayed there about three to four hours, watching the wonderful heritage built in the year 786 to 1617.
Judy and John have retired from a primary school working as a teacher and a principal in Australia. They have now ample time to do what they want. That’s really wonderful. I asked them how many countries they have been so far. Judy answered, “Too many, Can’t count, lol.”
My mother-in-law also loves traveling all over the world. She retired as a highs school teacher from schools in Tokyo.
Overseas traveling must be a nice pastime after retirement. I think that I have to save energy for traveling many countries even after retirement needless to say to save energy for playing tennis. hahaha.

Keita Comes to My Home

My friend Michel, his wife Yoshiko and their five-month-old son Keita came home today. We had wonderful afternoon together with my wife and two daughters. They’ve visited Japan since two weeks ago. They traveled several places from Fukushima to Himeji and they are going to leave Japan for Canada the day after tomorrow.
We talked about a lot of things. One of amazing things to me is the difference of maternity and parental leave term between Japan and Canada. They have longer and more flexible term sharing system of the leave among the couples in Canada.
Recently, birth rate is decreasing year by year in Japan. I’m wondering, sometimes, what kind of measures the Japanese government takes to cope with that.
Anyway, talking with people from another country always gives me fresh idea. Thanks Michel for sharing nice time with us.

Tokyo Disneyland

We went to Tokyo Disneyland yesterday. Tokyo Disneyland celebrates 25th anniversary this year. I don’t remember exactly when I went to TDL last time. I guess it was almost 20 years ago. We went to Disney Resort in Anaheim last year. Comparing TDL to its Anaheim counterpart, it was far more crowded in TDL. I enjoyed watching parades and musical shows there but I was not cut out for waiting attractions in looooong lines.

I took a few hundreds pictures yesterday. I’m planning to make videos using pictures I took there in near future.

Rina's First Tennis Match

Rina, my younger daughter, debuted as a tennis player today for the first time in her life. She attended the beginner’s class of the local tennis tournament together with me, Mr. Yuzuki’s wife and his two sons. Mr. Yuzuki is my tennis coach for almost ten years.

It was unfortunately raining in the morning but later it stopped raining. We had three tennis matches in the club tournament of the preliminary league today.

Rina won one match and lost two matches. She seemed very happy when she won. It was a memorial first win. lol.

It’s a little bit bitter though, I believe, it might be an unforgettable experience for her.

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