The Season For Autumn Leaves

I played tennis today with Rina and some of my friends in Kiyohara Industrial Park.

The leaves there were at their peak color.
I enjoyed the changing colors of autumn leaves and, of course, playing tennis.

To tell you the truth, I've had a shoulder pain since early September this year.
I usually play tennis three to four times a week, but now I do only once a week.

I'm happy to think that even only once a week to play tennis is far far better than never.

Hot Air Balloon Competition in Utsunomiya

When I played tennis at Shirasawa Green Park today, I happened to see many hot air balloons in the sky. They were flying so far away that I could barely see them like dots in the sky.

I remembered “Tochigi Hot Air Balloon International Championship” held in my city three years ago. That had been a wonderful experience to me.

I upload two pictures I took today and a video I made three years ago.

The Town I lived For 10 Years

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

I went to Omori, Tokyo at the end of October. Omori is the place I had lived for ten years before I got married. There are a lot of memories at the town.

Picture #1
Sanno elementary school has buildings and a hard surface athletics track field. An athletic meeting was held on the day.

Picture #2
The tree at the flower shop grew faaaaar bigger than before. I think they could not cut the tree down, instead they caved their shop wall. lol.

Picture #3
There were quite a few public bath houses in Tokyo long ago. The bath house I visited several times was still standing there.
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Preparing For Entrance Exams.

I took a lot of pictures of Emi, one of my daughters, the other day.
When I take a picture of a person, I usually say “Smile, please.” But it was different last time.
I said “Be Smart.”
 Why?

The pictures are to be used as ID photos for college application forms. Most of Japanese colleges, I guess, don’t accept an ID picture with a smile.

Entrance exams are scheduled in January and February next year.
Emi is very busy studying these days.

I really hope that Emi will pass her most favorite college’s exam, knock on wood.

2010 Japan Cup Cycle Road Race in Utsunomiya

The Japan Cup, a road cycling event which has been held every October since 1992, was held in Utsunomiya city on October 23 this year.
My wife and I went to downtown Utsunomiya to watch the 35 kilometer long Criterium race for the first time.

I go to my office by bicycle everyday. It takes me about half an hour in the morning and another half an hour at night. I think I know “riding a bike” better than anyone around me in my office. But the road race was quite different from what I had thought before.

I’ve never seen such men who run that fast in front of me. It was very exciting event. They ran so fast that I missed chances of perfect photo shots many times.

I’ll take better shots next year!

Baby Alpaca in ‘Bell Mall’ Becomes Bigger.

The other day, Rina and I went shopping for Rina’s new shoes at ‘Bell Mall,’ the largest shopping mall in Utsunomiya city.
'Bell Mall' staff keep alpacas near the entrance of the shopping mall. The alpaca couple living there gave birth to a baby girl in the end of June this year.

The five-day-old baby alpaca had looked frail and was walking clumsily in June. But, we found her become bigger, cuter and walking with steady steps this time.

I think watching the new born alpaca must be a fun to most of the visitors to 'Bell Mall.'

Chic Cafe In Kanuma City

I took a day off from work and went to Kanuma city with my wife a couple weeks ago. Kanuma city is located west of Utsunomiya. It took us about forty minutes by car.

It was a beautiful raining autumn day.
We visited a cool coffee shop named “Kyo-Cha-An.”

They served us delicious light meal and excellent flavor coffee with yummy dessert.
The shop was decorated with old Japanese displays and furniture, so it seemed like a little antique shop.

I think the shop is one of must-visit shops in Kanuma city.

Nobi Left An Empty Rabbit Hutch.

Our pet rabbit Nobi passed away peacefully on last Thursday.

She was six years old, lived with us almost five years. She has left us an empty house of her own and plenty of wonderful memories.

We knew a live animal should die soon or later as well as other pets we had taken care of such as turtles, flogs, fish, ants and beetles.
But we never thought of it for Nobi, no, no we didn’t want to think of it.

The day suddenly fell on us and it became reality on Oct. 7th.
To perform a funeral, my two daughters and I went to a forest near Utsunomiya Museum of Art: we call it a rabbit museum because of its well-known rabbit statue in our city. It was raining on Saturday.

Hospitality / Barry Flanagan

Business Trip To Tokyo

I made a business trip to CANON headquarters in Tokyo to attend the seminar of software development technology last week.

The seminar was fruitful for my daily work, but not interesting enough to post an article about it on my blog.

On my way to the headquarters, I made a short visit to Ebisu which was one of my most favorite towns in Tokyo. There were a lot of beautiful flowers and high rise buildings.
I took pictures for a couple of hours there.

If you like taking pictures and have a chance to visit Ebisu, never miss to visit Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. You can enjoy watching a bunch of pictures.

What Do You Do In The Morning Everyday?

The first thing I do in the morning in summer is to pick up a newspaper at the mail box, then go out to the balcony to count the number of flowers blooming everyday.

I read the newspaper and take a glance at morning-glory flowers once in a while before my wife gets up. I like doing that.

I feel the summer is passing when the number of flowers decreases.

Recently, the number of flowers has decreased very much and the size of flowers has also become smaller than that in the top season.

Yes, autumn is coming in my town Utsunomiya.

Track And Field 800-Meter Race

Rina won the women’s track and field 800-meter race the day before yesterday.
Congratulations Rina!
But, she told me that some skilled athletes did not come to the race and that’s the reason why she was able to win the race.

Judging from the time record, it seems true in certain way. She earned the time record of 2 minutes 33 seconds this time, but she ran at the record of 2 minutes 27 seconds one year ago.

She has become taller, bigger and heavier these days. As many female teenage-athletes feel, I guess, Rina feels it hard to beat her own time record at her younger age.

By the way, the third Monday of September is a national holiday ‘ Respect-for-the-Aged Day’ in Japan. We should honor and show respect to the aged today.

But, forgetting everything about the respect-for-the-aged day, I played tennis with my friends in northern resort area of Tochigi prefecture today.

I was happy to be able to play tennis in such a beautiful mountain resort and refresh myself.
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Making Red Beet Salad

I ate red beet salad the other day. It’s very delicious. So, I tell you how to make red beet salad today.

1. Sow seeds in rainy season in a plant pot on the 4th floor of your condo.
2. Forget everything about sowing the seeds and wait just for one month.
3. Remember that you sowed seeds a month ago.
4. Watch the grass carefully everyday till the roots become red and bigger enough to eat.
5. Prepare black sesame dressing for the red beet.
6. Eat them with smile. That’s all.

We Won The Tennis Tournament.

We won the Kiyohara Industrial Park (KIP) tennis tournament 2010.

KIP holds a tennis tournament on the first Saturday in September or on the last Saturday in August every year.
A team consists three doubles, all members should be working in KIP, can attend the tournament.

We participated in the tournament last year, but we became runner-ups.

I asked five brave colleagues who were very good at playing tennis to join my team and to win the tournament together.

Some of them were the same as the last year's team members, the others were newcomers.

We won the tournament, then got a trophy, a certificate and a prize (about 90US$ wroth coupon) for the winner.

One of the team members, Mr. Ikeda accidentally broke the trophy.

Hinomisaki Light House

I went to Hinomisaki light house when I stayed in Shimane prefecture.

It took me an one-hour train ride and a forty-five-minute cycling from Matsue city to the light house via Izumo Taisha station.

It’s amazingly beautiful. The wonderful color contrast between the blue sky and the white building and the view of the ocean made me forget everything of a tough 8 km bike ride in the scorching sun light.

I've Come Back From Shimane, My Hometown.

I had spent Obon holiday season in my hometown Matsue city, Shimane prefecture for ten days and just came back the day before yesterday by airplane.
I met my mother, my brother and my sister-in-law living in Matsue city.

Obon is a Buddhist festival to recognize ancestral spirits in Japan.
It is believed these spirits return to their families during the period.

We invited a monk to the house and asked him to recite a religious sutra for ancestral spirits.

Before my father passing away, we had never invited a monk for Obon ceremony, nor had we been such a religious family at all.

During this Obon season, I took a ten-day-off from my office, adding a five-day-paid-holiday to my company’s predetermined five-day-Obon-holiday for every employees.

I stayed there so long that I could have really been relaxed.

Left: my mother, Center: my sister-in-law, Right: my brother

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Miya Matsuri Summer Festival in Utsunomiya

Miya Matsuri Summer Festival is held in the center of Utsunomiya city in early August every year.

Many people, young, old, men, women wearing Yukata come to the center area of the city to watch parades of decorated floats, eat and drink street foods.

My elder daughter Emi is too busy for studying to go to the festival. Younger daughter Rina went there wearing Yukata with her friends.

I didn’t have a chance to take pictures of Rina in Yukata but took some pictures of decorated floats and young guys carrying a Mikoshi or portable shrine.

Piano Concert

My wife Kiyono has started taking piano lessons once every two weeks since January this year.

Last week, she participated in a small piano concert with other piano learners and a teacher.

The concert was arranged by the piano school to which she goes.
It was the first time for her to play the piano, Chopin Nocturne Op.9 No.2, in front of the audience.

Most of the participants of the concert seem to enjoy their opportunities to play in a concert hall, just as I enjoy opportunities to take part in local tennis tournaments.

I’m not cut out for classical music though, it’s fun to listen live music. Kiyono and other eager learners did great jobs.