duane sentgeorge

61010

2010-06-12T09:06:00.001-07:00

Katrina and Jonnie at her art showing in downtown Bend, Oregon
Katrina and Uncle Steve
Fancy toenails on girl at party Mary Ann took me to.
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Greetings,
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I am sitting in my house in Bend, Oregon, surveying all of Katrina's boxes she has packed for her move to Portland. Marty arrived yesterday from AZ, Andy and Kathy brought Steve over from the coast and Jonnie came by bus from Salem. Tom Reed even came over for the festivities. Haven't seen him for a couple years and it is great he could make it over from Portland. Marty treated us to a nice fish dinner in Bend and everyone is coming over in a few minutes for breakfast. A, K, M, and S are staying at Eagle Crest for a couple nights and Tom is staying here at the house.
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We are off for the graduation after we wind up breakfast and check out how to pack up Katrina's stuff for the Sunday move. More later after we get through with the ceremonies.

duane

60210

2010-06-02T09:22:00.001-07:00

sidewalk chalk art in Santa Barbara

Still with us

Ain't she cute.

Great "World Pup" pic

Best of show, per my opinion

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Greetings,

Made it across the pond again and am happily ensconced in my sister-in-law's place in Santa Barbara. Always a favorite. The flight over was easy and smooth, plus quick at only 8 hours thanks to the tail wind. Not many screaming babies, but one did a prodigious poop that permeated the cabin quickly and powerfully. I thought I heard the tell-tale braappp, then all of a sudden, there it was; a colorless miasma that could of felled a Haz Mat team member in full gear. The poor parent got up right away and stumbled his way to the ejection room to rid us all of the foul smelling creator. Not sure how he could see as it appeared that his eyes were watering profusely. It took a bit for the recycled air to be shared by all, but at least it left our section and hopefully worked it's way to First Class. Phew. And the crowd said a hearty Amen once the stench cleared.

Patty was waiting for me at the customs gate and we only had to stop twice in traffic on the way north. It is nice to be back and nicer still to see familiar items on a readable menu. That is until we walked past a Vietnamese restaurant. Albertsons still had my favorite no sugar added lemon meringue pie and the pizza didn't have fish on it. What more could a guy ask for. Last night Leo BBQ'd some great thick steaks on the grill and with the sweet potato fries and a Negra Modelo beer, it was easy to slip back in the groove.

I'll be attending the First Thursday art walk downtown then on Friday morning, I'll head down to see my mother and stay with Mary Ann and Paul. Then, on Sunday, I'll head back to SB and then on up the road to Bend to prepare for the graduation experience, once again. At least this time I know we can avoid a possible melee since Becky won't be present to chuck tortillas at someone. Don't ask if you don't know.

So, today I'll get the bike out and dusted off, fueled up and go for a short ride to compact my spine and pry apart my pelvis to the required motorcycle width. More later.

duane

51810

2010-05-18T02:58:00.000-07:00

Help me. I am old and lost and cannot figure out which way to go.

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Greetings,
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I had to run in to town today for some errands and found this sign after I got off the train near Shibuya. Wasn't sure which way to go. At least it was a nice day and after all the deeds were done, I decided to walk the 5 miles home from Kichijoji. Bummer tho, as I forgot and had worn my worst pair of socks thinking I would just stay around the house. Ow.

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duane

51510

2010-05-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

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Last night we were invited to one of the administrator's beeeg houses for an informal Irish combo playing a lot of the Pogues and other Irish and Scottish tunes and songs. The little guy was of Japanese descent and the girl was all American and had graduated ASIJ 10 years ago or so. They play professionally and had several gigs in Tokyo but they always come out to the school to play for her sake.

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They are very good and played for over two hours to the 20 or so of us sitting around soaking up the great music. She played guitar and violin while he played a variety of flutes and penny whistles. The pic above is his case with all the flutes inside. He was quite an accomplished player and they never looked at a sheet of music. A couple of musicians from the teacher corp and another professor from the nearby college showed up with a violin and mandolin and accompanied them for their blue grass set.

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It was quite an entertaining evening to be sitting right next to and in front of the live action. Quite the professional pair. Plus, the host had a nice spread of American snacks of pizza, a variety of chips and dips, chocolate, cheeses and crackers, pita and spreads, wine, beer, and we brought some very popular deviled eggs. What a fun time and we understood every word spoken and knew every edible item on the tables.

. Becky had to attend training all day Sat and Sun, so I got to get some shopping and laundry done. My A1 coffee, recently supplied by visiting Diane, is running low so I will have to go back to my local supplier by the end of the week.

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One of the counselors here at the school has gone on a weight loss program of cutting out half of his usual carbs and walking like a fool. His longest walk was taking the train clear down to Tokyo station and walking home - 24 K's. I like his idea but can't imaging doing that kind of distance. And here I thought 4 to 5 miles was a long walk. Now he has me motivated. I can imaging getting off the train at Ogikibo or maybe even Shinjuku in time and walking home, but Tokyo? No way. I suspect this new effort may bring a lot of cool pics of the waysides.

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duane

51310

2010-05-13T00:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

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Last night was Men's Night Out. The 5 of us met at the Musashi Sakai platform for the run to Kichijoji at 5:30pm. Standing there near the spot for the first car was this gma and her gson. She said he really likes trains and she brings him there every day just to watch a few come and go. Whenever one would come to a stop and disgorge people before swallowing up a like amount, he would wave his little arms all around in excitement saying "tain". That is of course, Japanese for airplane.

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We talked for a while until our train came and he gave us a nice wave goodby. I just love interacting with this little local kids. The start out very cautious and afraid of the nasty Gaijin but almost always warm up to some minor inquiry. Invariably, the parent thanks you for taking their picture. Cute kids.

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Speaking of which, I only had 3 little high school cuties today for the Advance Placement World History test. They was most pleasant and even giggled at my attempts at humor. I always try and get the kids to lighten up a bit before the tests begin. 3 hours later, they thanked me and went on down the hall. No tests tomorrow, but I do get to sub for Becky as she needs an extra days rest to fight off a terrible cold she acquired from her teaching partners.

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We went to a new rib joint in Kichijoji for our dinner and, as luck would have it, they even served beer. They even gave us multiple servings. How nice. The ribs were quite good as was the onion soup and the apple pie/ice cream. Definately an overdoing it evening. But, we solved the world's problems for another day and had a nice and cozy (super jammed packed) train ride back. Where do all these Japanese come from?

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duane

51010

2010-05-10T04:06:00.001-07:00

ASIJ AP Physics testees.

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Greetings,

I had a very lazy day sitting in the chair watching the clock tick by the minutes while the students were frenzied over their AP Bio and AP Physics. For a small school, they had 40 some kids taking each test. Lot of very high end kids attend here.
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Not much else going on after our local 4.0 earthquake that shook up the house and our nerves. Since the epicenter was so close, it was quite sharp but brief. Now we had a tiny taste of the "expected any day now" BEEG one. They feel that a 8.0 something is due to hit Tokyo around 2010.... or earlier. Right.
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We heard from Ryker that he arrived at Bagram in A'stan finally and has to stand i nline 1 1/2 hours for each meal due to the crowded conditions with the SURGE going on. He said they were supposed to be issued ammo, but didn't get any and were told to keep an empty magazine in their weapons so it looked they were loaded. Sounds like General Barney Fife is running the show. If they don't give any thing to shoot back with by the time he gets to his outpost, I will have to complain loudly and often. Maybe they just don't trust our troops being together. Oh well. He said the airbase was rocketed just before he got there. Apparently that happens a lot since it is surrounded by mountains. I have a feeling we are going to hear a lot about incompetencies in the force.

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I get to proctor all week and build up gas money for the bike this summer. Every bit helps.

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duane
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5510

2010-05-04T05:28:00.001-07:00

Little Fuchu festival participants

Squid ball vendor

Nana dresser

One of many portable shrine type floats

Young kimono reveler

Butt end of a float

Big one under the lights

another float

nuther

cool mask

Greetings,

The 2010 version of the Fuchu-shi night parade. No road apples for this show, just a lot of semi-loaded, beer drinking float pullers with their accompanying drummers and flute players. Noisy as all get out but very Japanese. We stood by and watched 12 or so floats slowly meander down the main street near the train station before they went to their performance parking areas to carry on the noise.

We left that scene just before my ears filled up and toured one aisle of street vendors. Shuffling all the way due to the giganormous crowds. At least we had a nice Chinese dinner just before the big rush. I've been back home for an hour and I still hear my ears ringing.

duane

43010

2010-04-30T00:26:00.001-07:00

Explanation of next shot

At Edo Architectural Museum

Greetings

Our visiting friends were about half/half today. Lois was coming down with a cold but Bob was 100%. He and took a cab up to the Edo Architectural Museum to see a variety of houses and building from the old era up to about 1926. The one above is my favorite structure on the site.

We ran into a couple school groups on a field trip from a Japanese school. I found about 15 of them in an old bar replica. I said, "Bieru No, Sake OK". They all immediately said the same thing back to me. Then, as we walked around the site, whenever they saw me they would shout, "Bieru No, Sake OK", much to the chagrin of their teacher. The rest of us didn't care a whit.

Bob and I stopped at a noodle shop on the way back, then caught the two trains back to our place. Beautiful day. Tonight we are off to the Fuchu night festival. I'll try to get some pics off in the next few days.

duane

42710

2010-04-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Yep, nudies in the streets of Yokohama, but with Japanese women, you have to look carefully.

Two buddies at our favorite Curry House

Katrina in a bamboo forest

Greetings,

We have been busy with nuttin. Katrina is preparing to return to OR and finish off her undergraduate work culminating in her graduation on 6.12. I'll be able to fly home early for that event, but Becky won't make it due to a summer school commitment. She will barely be able to make it back in time for her birthday fireworks.

Ryker will be leaving the USA on 4.28 for Afghanistan. We wish him luck with his dangerous endeavor and hope he never has to test his new, privately purchased body armor. He said the Army gave him his new one and it was no good and wouldn't last. He called up a reputable body armor manufacturer and they rushed him one in two days. Ryker has learned that in the Army, you have to size up everything on your own and never buy into the company policy.

For example, they learned that shiny black rifles stand out in the rocky terrain so the Joes paint them blotch tan colors. The Army even finally realized this and wrote a new regulation allowing it. But then, they painted their rifles (never call them guns) and the 2nd platoon were doing theirs the next day when the Brigade CSM screeched to a halt and demanded they immediately cease ruining military equipment. He demanded to know who authroized that and they told him their CO. He stormed into the CO's office demanding that he stop his troops from defacing equipment and the CO told him, "No, I'm good". Off roared the CSM, back to his Brigade HQ to bitch to the CO only to find he had also painted his own weapon. Go figure.

Katrina is leaving Thursday and Bob/Lois are arriving Wednesday evening for their two week tour of Japan. We have been busy with visitors this year and will probably have more next year. Becky and her went to Yokohama for some festival that I figured would be too crowded (it was) and too lame (it was) so I avoided it. It is 1 1/2 hour train ride from our place so it wasn't a difficult choice. One of the parade surprises was 4 people walking down the street painted gold and only wearing the briefiest bikini bottoms. And, yes, a couple were women... if you can tell.

duane

42210

2010-04-22T04:23:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Here are my students from subbing today. It only took a few threats to get them to stay reading quietly. When I first walked in, an 8th grader asked if I was the sub for the class. I told her that I probably was since I haven't seen too many 200 pound 8th graders walking around. These were really good kids and the period went by quickly. At the end of the class, I told them about my "random acts of kindness" when I found the drug money in Astoria and how great it felt to give away nice flowers/plants to complete stranger. I asked them to fold up an origami crane this evening and give it to an older Japanese person on the street this weekend. They were kind of excited to think about it. As they filed out the door at 3pm, one of the girls gave me a crane she had made while I was talking about it. Touched. What a nice bunch of kids.

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Then, there were the 6th grade wieners I had for the first part of the day as Mr. Science. There, I had to resort to direct threats. The most effective one is the one Becky told me works best for her. I simply ease up to the offender and ask them if they want to become my newest best friend. They don't know what to say but usually ask what that means. I tell them that they will get to stay behind after class gets out and help me clean up and reorganize things. No takers but they sure get and stay quiet.

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After two days of work in a row and eating at their cafeteria, I am rethinking about eating there and may shift to packing a brown bag. Typical large preparations. I saw one worker trying his best to paddle a large oar in a huge vat trying to make some beef/vegetable concoction. It wasn't very popular but they do have a nice condiment table with 10 sauces from mild to salty to spicy. No wasabi so I'll start packing mine. I found a nice pocket size tube that will work. Hopefully tomorrow I get to sleep late. But then again, that $200 a day for 5 hours of work ain't bad.

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duane

42010

2010-04-20T01:13:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Today, Katrina and I took the wee Chu bus into downtown Fuchu, probably a 2.5 mile ride for 100Y. The weather for the next couple of days predicts rain so off we went looking for a recommended Chinese restaurant. We couldn't find it right away and went and ate at a regular food court with just so-so food. The so and so part was supposed to be a piece of flattened, breaded chicken but it had probably 30% fat that I had to trim off. Yuk. But, the curry and rice was nice.

Tomorrow the predicted rain is just a few mm but it said about 28mm on Thursday. So, off we will go to try the Chinese place. Their picture menu looks great and I can't wait to try their orange chicken or Kung Pao.

Also, found some wasabi super hot sauce. Gotta get those sinus cavities cleared out...

duane

41210

2010-04-12T02:46:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Here is a picture of a prayer board hung on the prayer lists at a big temple in Kamakura. Hope Ryan gets his wish.

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duane

41010

2010-04-10T04:12:00.001-07:00

The big dude with the cherry blossoms in Kamakura

Two buddies taking a break with small temple in background.

Shinto priest conducting the wedding.

The bride and her attendant. Bride has on her hood to hide her horns of jealousy.

One corner of the temple structure.

Temple where wedding took place.

Prayer bulletin board.

Entrance to temple.

Cherry blossoms in park behind school where we had a school wide cherry blossom picnic. Good beer, sushi, and pizza.

The kids.

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Greetings,

We packed Ryker off on Monday and Diane flew in on Thursday. Katrina will with us for a few more weeks. Today was a nice day so we took Katrina and Diane down to Kamakura where a lot of Buddhas hangout. A long train ride but it wasn't too crowded.

We got lucky at one temple and observed, along with hundreds of others, a Shinto wedding. Interesting, but I couldn't understand a word of it of course. The bride looked great tho. Then we hit a few more temples and walked around 4 miles to get them all in. Then we trained back home to our favorite curry house for dinner and another 1 stop train to get home. Long day but the weather was quite nice and nearly got too warm in the afternoon.

Katrina stepped in some wet concrete that was recently poured around a large pole but the guy wasn't protecting it very well and we were not watching our feet. We tried to help him smooth it out but he just said no so we headed on down the street. Lot of sneezing around with all the cherry blossoms out. They are about done now but they sure are great while they are here.

Tomorrow, the girls are heading back into town to Harajuku to shop and get some pics of the local girls. Not me, I'm resuming normal behavior and hitting the newspaper on my Kindle and doing some crosswords.

duane

4110

2010-04-01T03:51:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Here is the Men's Night Out crew + Ryker. Here we just finished a Thai dinner and drained a few mini-kegs of Japanese beer. On the left is Colin from Scotland. His wife teaches at Becky's school and he works for a financial company down town. Next to him is Walter who's wife also teaches at ASIJ and he was retired until he took a job this year as an elementary aide. Ryker is next. At the end of the table is Richard. He and his wife both teach at the school. He and the last guy, Greg, are Canadians. We sure took a ribbing with the results of the Olympic hockey game.

We usually go out once a month, usually to Kichijoji to trying something different and keep checking to see if their beer is still wet. No women allowed.

duane

32910

2010-03-28T18:17:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Well, the girls are bonding again after being apart since Christmas. This is something the girls do but in this joint, they get out the timers to ensure they don't get ripped off.

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Ryker and Amelia have finished their touring and she is headed back to the USA this afternoon. Now, we will be back to the original 4. Amelia went shopping yesterday in Harajuku and now she has a box to take home along with her large suitcase. Girls and their shopping.

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It is very chilly here getting down in the 30's at night but at least it has dried out a bit. Becky had to go back to work after her spring break week off and she was able to ride her bike to work without her Chinese bicycle rain poncho with built in windscreen. Pic to follow when she digs it out.

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duane

32710

2010-03-27T00:18:00.001-07:00

Street corner sign in the Garden of Souls

These people loved their little critters and had some mounted/wired onto their tree

Cool tree

It may be concrete but it is still a Tori gate

Greetings,

Katrina and Becky went to the school today to work on Katrina's next project, an altered book and she is making it into her travel journal. Me, I got through my morning routine of shower, breakfast, coffee and the IHT while they were being productive. But I also did a load of laundry since the sun was out today and put some beans on for making chili later this afternoon.

Katrina wanted to go for a walk so over thru part of the soul garden. There is a cold front coming in and it will be getting down to 0C tomorrow night. But today was nice and sunny although it was quite chilly. Ryker and Amelia took off this AM to head to Buddha country down in Kamakura. They have a bunch down there; some quite large. It makes for fun day out and about though and they can get in some cool pics.

Tomorrow will bring back the rain so I am not sure what the tourers will be doing, but it is a safe bet the coffee will be on here at the house.

duane

32410

2010-03-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Ryker rolled in today and we took a walk thru the park to the best Thai restaurant in Kichijoji. Since it was raining, we skipped a lot of the neato shops on the side streets. Here is a shot of a girl in the train station awaiting her turn on the platform. She was fully ready for some cherry blossom festival.

duane

32310

2010-03-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Amelia made it to Tokyo on time and in good spirits. My bus ride to the station only took 1 1/2 hours but the ride back took 2 3/4 hours. The driver saw on the expressway overhead sign that the route was blocked all red meaning either the commie were invading or there was a serious blockage. He took to the streets of Tokyo, never a good plan, and we slowly wound our way around the Imperial Palace and on to Kichijoji. At least the seats were comfortable.

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We met Becky there and went across the street from the train station to scarf up a Shakey's Pizza buffet and then left for our place. The train to Musashi-Sakai was full up at 10PM! We forced ourselves on by backing into the car and forcing mirco-moves by everyone shuffling backwards. We only had to go 2 stops but it was amazingly crowded so late in the evening for a middle of the week day.

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Then we got on the local train to our house for two stops. Crowded also with standees but not shoulder to shoulder, like the Chuo. I just can't imagine all these people were just then getting home from work. There was a very light drizzle when we got back but it wasn't wet enough to break out the umbrellas. She was bone tired when we got home after her long trip, but one down and two to go.

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duane

31910

2010-03-19T23:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Coming home from dinner last night, we biked by two different Japanese portable food vendors trying to pull in a few extra yen. This guy had one of the smallest mini-vans around but all decked out with little shelves with prepared dishes to go for 390Y or about $4. How you can make any money doing that is beyond me, considering he doesn't sell out very often I'm sure. But, the little lanterns are cool and as the weather improves, the vendors will probably expand. I think it is something for them to do that gets them out of their tiny 50 meter square houses.

Yesterday was 9th grade graduation at the local public schools. There was a crew in the restaurant we went to celebrating. Good thing they had double ice cream tubs at the dessert bar. We preempted them by hitting the curry pot before they started sitting down so we could scoop around for some beef in the 4 gallons or so of curry sauce. If we get there early enough, we can find a few nice pieces of protein to go with our main course burger steak.

They had a new menu last night reflecting big real steaks for $72 equivalent. I usually order the $15 simple hamburger steak and then enjoy the curry and salad bar. Salad bar fixings = slivered white radish, pickled ginger cuts, ice berg lettuce, raw cabbage slaw cut, soy beans, whole kernel corn, pickled broccoli, endive looking greens, some slimy looking unknown substances, and 4 kinds of dressing. They also had pineapple chunks, custard slabs, green tea looking jello like slabs, fruit cocktail, lichi nuts?, plums, and a couple substances unknown to the non Japanese.

At least the orange sherbet, chocolate ice cream, and vanilla ice cream were good; apparently from Belgium although I think that is just the name of the Japanese company that makes it. The ice cream wasn't THAT creamy.

Bicycled down and back avoiding crashes with other bikers. These idiots do not have any simple "rules of the road" for bicycling just like in China. Since everyone drives on the left over here, you would think bikers and walkers would stay to the left. Nope. As you see someone coming towards you, you simply do not know which way he/she will go. Maddening. Lately I have been pointing to my nose (meaning me) and showing with the same hand which side I will be going on. Most of the time I feel like pointing to my butt and indicating what they can do...

duane

31810

2010-03-18T01:11:00.001-07:00

Pathetic place for these pre-schoolers to have to play in Mitaka. But they were having fun in their meager surroundings.

Morning rush hour at the local station. White gloved "assisters" that gently push you into the car if your front or rear protrudes past the door plane. They were busy this morning.

Greetings,

Today was my semi-annual blood test and I had to take 3 trains to get into the right spot in Tokyo. The worst thing was that since it had to be first thing in the am for the doctor's office (9) I had to endure one of the biggest rush hours in the world. The gloved jammers were lined up on the platform and were busy easing commuters into each car. As the trains pull up, you can see everyone on board jammed to the max. The ones at the doors had their faces an inch from the glass. Each car was definitely overloaded. Where is the fire marshal when you need him.

After the draw, I was able to find a McDonald's for a late breakfast. Then it was on back through Kichijoji to Musashi Sakai to pick up some freshly roasted coffee. I got my usual order of 100gm Tanzanian, 100g Sumatran, and 100g of Guatemalan. They roast it right there while you wait and enjoy your free cup of coffee. You can read and listen over the 15 minutes or so it takes. The beans are cracklin and the smoke is vented away but leaves a bit of the roasted aroma. Freshest coffee anywhere. He has probably 50 bags of green beans stacked up to choose from.

On the way there, I saw this little group of tots hunched down playing with their little pails and shovels in the dirty gravel near the station. Their minder was pleased someone was interested in them. Pretty cute watching them fill their little buckets and pat the top layer several time to make sure it has the very most bits of gravel. Of course they were all chatting it up but I couldn't understand a word.

After gathering up my coffee, I walked the two miles back home and enjoyed the cool spring air and the few plum blossoms peaking out on the early trees. No cherry blossoms just yet. They are awaiting the arrival of the kids next week. Here in Japan, the news agencies put out a nationwide cherry blossom status alert and report nightly about in what part of the country the blooming line currently is located, until the whole country has enjoyed the flowering trees. With the kids coming next week, I suspect they may be too early for the full show.

duane

Metro Soul Garden

2010-03-16T23:02:00.001-07:00

Soul Garden family crypt

this family must own a gutter business. Only one in 20000 that has gutters.

Oranges and incense is ready.

Beautiful large plum tree in background.

Best bush in the whole garden this time of year.

Kinda looks like someone was trying to get out of the locked door. Only crypt with a storm door.

Very neat carved stone bowl that held water.

fresh flowers chained in.

Some poor Eqyptian must not of made it back home.

Nice door but the gates need some work.

Greetings,

It was such a nice day Sunday, we took a hike through the local cemetary that is officially entitled "The Metropolitan Soul Garden". Not sure if they look for a new crop every year or what they are gardening besides a lot of rock. At least they make for very peaceful neighbors.

duane

31410

2010-03-13T18:41:00.001-08:00

Center city Tokyo entertainment. A not-so-wild wild monkey.

Jizus - commemorating deceased or unborn babies. Hundreds of them at this shrine.

Wall dragon fountain.

Nice shrine out building.

Big temple near Tokyo Tower.

Old temple and new residential tower. We were on 38th floor and oh, what a view of Tokyo!

I obeyed!

Monks had a big party last night as per all the sake bottles out back of temple.

Becky fishing without a line.

Self portrait.

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Greetings,

We had to run in to center city yesterday to deliver two of Becky's new prints for consideration of placement in the Tokyo American Club big print sale in October. We thought we would deliver in person so the lady could put a name to a face. Good decision. This club chairperson and her husband lived on the 38th floor of one of the nicest high rises in Tokyo.

The furnishings were top drawer and the view was spectacular. Very large, sturdy, but comfortable furniture. Shiny marble floors with some hardwood trim. Great art work on the walls and better looking host. Best yet, the three women there, the chairperson and two other club members, liked Becky and we ended up sitting there enjoying some great coffee and of course the view while chatting about her work and past experiences. We left with a good feeling about her getting accepted for this highly juried show. Time will tell. They also wanted her to set up some watercolor and pottery classes for adults, after school. The school likes the concept and would allow her to do that, all in the encompassing community spirit for Gaijins.

Since we were already downtown, we hiked around to some nearby temples and the Tokyo Tower. We didn't ascend the tower for 1000Y since we already had an even better/longer view from Ms. Nussbaum's condo. Plus, she had better coffee.

The grounds of the largest Buddhist temple was quite grand for center city. Lots of green spaces and the koi pond, dragon wall fountain, a couple of huge bells (3 foot diameters), and the long lines of Jizus. People who lost a baby or had an abortion buy these little statues and keep them dressed and entertained with little whirligigs. Weird but you can find them all around at little shrines. One nearby our house has 3 or 4 of them. They usually have knitted caps and sometimes a bib. Quite touching when you see someone attending them.

After walking around for a couple miles crisscrossing the area, we finally found a nice Mongolian restaurant that had some great curry and kabobs. So much better than sushi or noodles. We rested our dogs for a bit and then headed back out looking for the nearest subway station. At our first light, a little boy pulled up to wait on the edge of the sidewalk on his little bicycle. The wind was quite strong coming in off Tokyo Bay and a stronger than usual gust blew the little guy flat over on to the sidewalk. Several salarymen in the suits quickly ran over to hoist the littler feller up and dusted him off. Brave little guy riding around and I didn't see any parents nearby. Pretty safe place in that part of the world's largest city.

We found the subway access and jammed in to the zero body space car and whizzed on out to the Shinjuku station to get on the little bit less crowded JR train line to get out to the house. There are almost always little tots with their parents sitting there in awe of everyone and I can usually get a wave out of them if I try long enough. Some even give me a wave goodby with their little mitt. The parents always encourage them to wave and say "hello" or try to. Friendly bunch. Much better than the drunk I encountered last trip.

duane

31110

2010-03-12T16:35:00.001-08:00

Roof Guardian "Vigilant"

Slippers in the shadows "Waiting"

Greetings,

Just a quick blog as we are getting ready to go in town to deliver these two new prints for consideration in the prestigious Tokyo American Club Print show in October. We are hopeful, but one of her teacher friends said they tried 13 times and were chosen only 3 times. She did a series of 10 for each one, their minimum.

duane

3910

2010-03-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

The snow started around 3pm and it is expected to be "raining" for the rest of the day and night. The wind chill is -1C so I suspect the snow may start accumulating this evening. Good luck expressway drivers as I suspect the overpasses will become quite slippery tonight and with poor driving on ice skills, the backups may end up exceeding the 44 kilometer jam last golden week. At least if it builds up much, Becky may get a snow day, which she loves
duane

30710

2010-03-06T22:44:00.001-08:00

Greetings,

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I guess McDonald's has finally figured out they should use coffee beans in their "cafe" instead of something else. It actually tastes like coffee, though not as good as American McDonald's coffee from Seattle's Best. How many Japanese can read and understand the Full of Beans on the cup is beyond me. At least their fish sandwiches are as small and tasty as in the USA.

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Today is the second in a new series of slightly drippy and cold days following a great Friday with 65F and sun. Good thing I got some laundry done then. Yesterday's load is still damp up in our "laundry room".

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Becky had to be at school yesterday and today finishing off her prints she will be presenting to the prestigious Tokyo American Club for possible inclusion in their annual Printmaker's Show coming later this spring. She had to use a different technique and couldn't rely on her prints from her watercolors. We shall see.

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I got to catch up with the IHT and The Economist this weekend. Can't go out without feeling like I'm on the Oregon coast. Last Friday, friend Bob and I went out for a sushi lunch. He loves the stuff, but then, if you weigh 300 pounds, you probably love anything edible, not just sushi. We went to a typical sushi restaurant where they have the little conveyer belt going around with plates of various fresh made sushi circling for the hungry customers. The wall shows you pictures of the plates colors/designs so you can tell if the plate costs 150Y or 250Y. When you are done, the lady comes around and counts up your various plates and gives you the bill. I could only handle the tuna and salmon plates. There were some sick looking things circling for possible ingestion that I had no idea what they were. At least none were still wiggling. Bob said it is best to sit near the fish carver so you could see what he most recently put out so you could get the very freshest cuts. It is ok once in a while but please show me to the nearest pizza parlor please.

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duane

3110

2010-03-01T02:32:00.001-08:00

The found ring

Where I had to go to pick it up.

Greetings,

Well, today was the first day I could go to pick up the ring Becky found on the street one day a few months ago. We thought we did the right thing and turned it in to the local police. After a couple hours filling out paperwork and talking to the police interpreter over the phone, we were given a receipt and told to pick it up 3/1. I went to the local police station and was told to go into Fuchu to the main station. Did that and was told to go to Iidibashi to pick it up.

So, armed with the transport directions, I took the rapid train into Tokyo and got lost in Itibashi, the wrong part of Tokyo. After showing my Japanese police form to a cook in a little lunch shop, I was redirected to the correct ...bashi. I got off the train and went to the local Detour for lunch and a decent cuppa. Afterwards, I thought I was able to figure out where the pick up place was located. Each rail station has a large map outside the main entryway so you can orient yourself to the local highlights. I walked over the giant 'over traffic' bridge and stopped at the Koban (local police station) for the final redirection. I thanked the officer and walked the 1 1/2 blocks towards the building. The officer had kept watch and bicycled down to reredirect me back to the building I had passed and missed the off street entrance. And, sure enough, it was "LOST AND FOUND".

Surprisingly, the process only took a few minutes and I was back on the train home. Well, about 5 stops from my final station, I had to change trains and the car that I entered was quite full but there was a bum lying across three seats sleeping. This is the first time I had seen anything like this, even on the street. When two older ladies walked on and looked over at the bum on the seat, I couldn't help myself and kicked the guys shoes to waken him and get him to sit up and provide the elderly women their seat. He didn't move so I did that two more times and he rolled over and made a goofy motion and probably told me to shove off in Japanese. Everyone one around was very shocked that I did that since culturally, they would never go out of their way to confront another Japanese for anything. They will go out of their way to help an obvious foreigner, but not their own people.

So, we rattle on down the rails to the next stop. I was content to let the bum sleep it off since no one else made any moves to support the exchange. Then, at the next stop, two even older women got on and so I repeated my kicking his shoes. He again rolled over and said whatever he said louder and refused to sit up. I didn't feel comfortable grabbing him and physically adjusting his attitude and position. After a couple of kicks, he ignored me. Everyone was giving me a big smile, probably saying, "Gaijin, you are really weird attempting that". So we all just rode on down the line standing.

Otherwise, I learned not to try and correct some of their local poor unacceptable behaviors and not to turn in anything of value that I find on the street. It probably cost me $12 to run the trains today and another $20 in public embarrassment. When will I ever learn.

duane

Guess I'm getting lazy without any posting for a while.

21310

2010-02-12T19:35:00.001-08:00

Greetings,

Well, here it is. My Valentine's Day present from Becky. Yup. I came downstairs this AM and did my usual groggy stagger into the dining room to get my early morning pill and there was this red gift wrapped up on my side of the table. After my shower and getting dressed in my flannel lined jeans and double shirts, I moseyed back downstairs to start the coffee and begin cooking our usual Saturday AM egg/Canadian bacon breakfast. Absolutely cannot stand Japanese bacon as it is way too fatty with a couple hints of meat in it.

After the preparation with a good sized slab of darkish German bread from the local bakery topped with some top-o-the-line preserves from Knotts Berry Farm, I sat down for the meal. After a few bites, I opened up my 'early' Valentine's gift and there it was. A double gift of squeeze relish! Now I can really live it up with my hamburger and cooked onions.

We have never been able to find relish around here so Becky bought these in CA and brought them over and hid them until today. What a forward thinker. Now we can make tuna salad sandwiches and have deluxe burgers.

Made my day.

duane

21210

2010-02-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

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Here is a prime example of how safe it is around here. Two ladies rode up near our favorite curry house to go shopping in the next door grocery store. They put down their kick stands and left their packages in their bike baskets, without fear of anyone taking them while they were out of sight in the store. Pretty safe place around here.

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I walked up to school today to pick up Becky to hike up to Shin Koganei where our curry house is and to stop by the bicycle shop. My rear tire on my Trek has a large bubble in the side wall awaiting just the right bump to blow out. It is a 26 inch wheel according to the Trek website so I converted that to 66cm and went to check on availability.

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The Koganei shop was quite small and jammed packed with bikes and accessories. The owner, an older guy, only spoke Japanese, of course, and we worked through my hand signs and write 66cm on paper to get the idea across. He went back in and pulled out a tire that said 26 inches on the side wall. Even though it was clearly marked Made in Japan, it was still labeled in inches vs. metrics. So, now I get to ride my bike up there tomorrow as far as the bubble will allow, and probably have to push it most of the way. Then, it is wide open riding. But, getting my butt into bicycle riding condition is yet another problem.

.

duane

020610

2010-02-06T21:39:00.001-08:00

Becky on the train. The lady next to her is laughing so hard she is wiping tears from her eyes.

This just has to be a major worthless endeavor.

Greetings,

Well, we survived the trip into Tokyo proper and made it back safely. It was very cold, down in the single digits Cwise, and the wind was whipping in from the bay at around 30mph. Just darn cold. So, Becky breaks out her polar gear and puts on her, "I'm here to rob you" mask to try and keep a tad warmer. She got some funny looks but a lot of people around here wear masks to keep their germs to themselves. Courteous crew these Japanese.

We took the fancy school bus into town Friday night and were going to meet Heather for dinner after Becky's school meeting was over. Heather was having a bout with Arthur Itis and decided to stay in out of the cold wind. We could understand that, but having waited too long for Becky's meeting, we were hungry and so hit the McD's nearby for some instant, familiar hot grub to keep the shakes away. We made it to her place ok and got to watch some evening TV on her big new flat screen.

On Saturday, the girls went across the city to some bead shops looking for art supplies for themselves and for their Art classes. They also found a great place to buy the see-thru plastic envelopes for her art prints at wholesale prices. I guess the store has everything you could ever possible need for shipping/wrapping things, and at very reasonable prices. I'll have to take Katrina there when she comes to visit.

After they got back and we had some coffee, it was about time to prepare for the cultural event of the week. Some school board member provided several free tickets to the Verdi Requiem presentation by a large chorale group and a medium sized orchestra. It was quite nice and in a beautiful concert hall with excellent acoustics. Although I never heard the report, I suspect some poor chap in about the 14th row must have had an acute sudden loss of cabin pressure as all of a sudden several people started twisting their heads around looking for something mysterious, then got up and left the area. Good technique for getting extra seats next to you for your coat and backpack I guess.

The 4 singing stars were fairly good, considering my profound lack of proper assessment experience. The messyo-soprano was the largest chunk of a Japanese woman I've ever seen. She had to have come from some female sumo stable. We sat in the back row to facilitate our escape to acquire the trains before the mob left the hall, but even with her bright emerald green gown with lots of sparkles, her cleavage looked like the Great Rift Valley in Africa. Beeg woman. She sure belted out the notes tho. The wimpy soprano next to her sure had a sharp, clear voice. On a couple notes I thought I might have to hold on to my glasses lenses to keep them from shattering, but then I remembered that they are poly-carbonate and not actual glass. She was strong, but not strong enough to shatter plastic.

The first violinist was so fidgety in his chair that I figured he must have had an atomic wedgie. All the other musicians sat perfectly still while playing their instruments, but he kept leaning far forward and backward seemingly trying to free up something important. Even after the intermission, when one would think you could remedy such an unfortunate situation, his chair must have bit him twice and he kept on reeling in place.

The tenor was quite tall and looked like Tojo reincarnated with his spectacles and all. The last dude was quite small but was able to hit the low notes rather well. Nothing remarkable, just functional.

The evening went by rather quickly for a nearly 2 hour event, but the combination of the orchestra and the singers was quite pleasing. I seemed to recall snippets of the music from old classical cartoons; especially some cat/mouse chases.

The seats were designed for the local clientele, Japanese, so my American rump was a bit over sized for the capacity of the fold down cushioned seat. It didn't groan or anything when I planted myself in it, but I could tell I was definitely beyond the expected limitations of the designed maxi mum load.

The orchestra looked like a Ninja group, all dressed in black. But their leader with his back to us only had a tiny stick to keep them all in order. Given all the bamboo around here, one would think he would have been carrying a much sturdier, intimidating piece of wood. Oh well, what do I know. I can't even play music on the radio without getting static.

I just spent about an hour looking over our Japanese TV monthly magazine trying to find where I can watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. I think I have it figured out, but I hope the commercials are not translated over. It looks like it starts around 8am local time. The school told all its students that even if they have an excuse from home that allows them to miss the day, they can't avoid school just for the game. But, they will have their huge flat screen in the locker/hang out hall on for the whole game. If I can't get it to work on my not-so-flat screen, I'll just walk over there and take it all in.

So goes the life here in Japan. My 3rd cup of coffee just chilled down too low so I'm going to sign off for now.

duane

2210

2010-02-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

Well, it finally happened. The Siberian air flow finally made it over the Japanese Alps and brought us some snow. Tokyo got hammered with 1 inch of the fluffy stuff and the school seriously considered closing for the day. I'll get out for some snow pics later. Not even enough to make a decent snowman, maybe some snow sushi tho. Right now it is hunkering down with some grade B coffee since I ran out of the local fresh roasted stuff and am using up a back up can I've had for some time before I dig into the French Roast the Reed's gave me for Christmas. Good coffee again soon.

duane

13010

2010-01-30T00:40:00.001-08:00

Ominous black cat in the cemetery. Yikes!

Dining out, little time, outside a new "super market". Biggest one we have found within a mile+ of our house.

Greetings,

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Saturday was a nice somewhat sunny but chilly day so we decided to go and check out the newly recommended "Mom's Kitchen" about a mile and a half from our house. After we trudged our way there, it was CLOSED. Closed on a Saturday afternoon. Go figure. It is a small place with about 10 stools fixed around an L shaped counter. Supposedly it serves western food, but we couldn't tell. But there was a nice little glass display with some good looking brownies, so I guess we will ask around and try and find out what days/times they are actually open.

On the way back through the cemetery, we had to out wait the black cat to see if he was going to cross in front of us or behind. He left the scene later, behind us. Good place for him to hang out.

Last night I met Becky at her school and we walked down to our favorite local restaurant. It is the Steak, Hamburger, Salad Bar restaurant. They do have a salad bar of sorts and their dessert bar has 12 or so different ice cream self-serve flavors. My new favorite is Yuza which tastes like a sharp tangerine flavor. Along with the orange sherbet and strawberry ice cream, I got my 3 servings of fruit in one sitting. It was a sacrifice having the dessert bar vs. the beer stein. I guess that will have to wait an hour or so.

So, another lazy weekend lined up. At least we got some real Canadian bacon for an egg breakfast. Plus I picked up a loaf of German bread at the bakery. I ask them to cut it at the 1.4 setting so I can get about 8 slices out of the small loaf. When Becky gets an idea of making French toast, I order up the 1.9 setting and the bread is absolutely perfect; fresh and thick. And with the Log Cabin no sugar syrup we brought from the US, it makes for a memorable US breadfast here in Japan. Even though there are Denny's restaurants several places around, they can't really put up a tasty breakfast. I'll stay at home.

duane

012210

2010-01-22T19:13:00.001-08:00

Walter and Cindy w/entertainer

Cindy and Karen with dancer letting it rip

Lots of swirls in very narrow walk way between tables.

She had a very expressive face.

Richard and Colin taking it all in.

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Greetings;

Last night was men's nite out w/dates. So, we gathered up our teaching spouses and headed for some light Indian entertainment at a distant curry house. It was two train rides and 6 stops west of here, but the traffic wasn't oppressive on the train as we had enough personal space to allow oneself to be able to turn and talk to each other. Somethings the trains are so crowded during their rush 4 hours at night, that you cannot even raise your hand to scratch an itchy nose.

It was up to Tachikawa for the events. We planned our arrival to allow time to get a round of drinks in us just in case the dancing was sub-par, and even got our orders for dinner in before the start. At first I thought we were going to need a lot more beer as a couple Japanese women dressed like Indians (why bother) carried around some 2 foot tall marionettes doing their little jiggles etc. Definately below sub-par. Just when it was looking gruesome, the dancing lady showed up and livened up the joint.

This was another Japanese girl dressed up as Indian with the red dot and everything (fully dressed) and she put on quite a lively show dancing back and forth between the tightly arranged tables. She had very good facial expressions and had obviously taken some Indian dancing classes as her hand movements reflected some kind of training.

Then the dude came in to dance with her. That was a return to sub-par as he had a punk Japanese hair arrangement that went every which way and his bodily movements were stilted and he had none of the hand movements or facial expressions. It looked like she made her boyfriend do it with her. She was good but he was pretty bad.

But then, that is what they make beer for. After the show our curry showed up and we put that away in short order. Then is was out the door as the next show was about to begin and we couldn't take take two. Back to the train station nearby and a nice comfortable ride back on the first train yet the smaller line that goes near our house was packed with people at 10pm on a Friday night. Where did all these bodies come from at that hour. Back to Japanese travel form - one arm holding on to ceiling strap and the other holding on to your wallet and hopefully some cute girls backside...

duane

012110

2010-01-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

Guard frog and dog at little side shop in Musashi-Sakai

Their calendar for the forgetful shopper.

Greetings,

Had to hike up to our favorite store in Musashi-Sakai to buy the ingredients for Becky's ceramic's class breakfast tomorrow, as well as restocking for some of our larderette. Bought too many things and filled up the backpack with the heavy stuff and still had a large bag to carry home. So, I took the train instead of the 2 mile walk.

It was nice and sunny and warmer than usual at around 13C. Supposedly there is a Siberian flow coming our way in a few days, so that warmth will blow on out to sea.

Friday evening we are headed out to Tachikawa to an Indian curry restaurant that has music and dance as part of their entertainment. I guess I go find my red dot and try and fit in.

duane

011610

2010-01-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

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Here is typical Japanese kid activity on the train or bus. We took the school's deluxe bus into Tokyo Friday, after school, to go to Heather's house for a day or two. Over the course of the 1 hour trip, these two boys were having a lot of fun with his hand held game that also took photos that you could customize your fighting men with you buddy's face. They kept taking pics of each other with scowls, 1 eye squeezed shut and crooked mouths trying to out do the other for their character. They sure had a lot of fun.

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We did too, once we got to Heather's house. Since it was Friday night, it was out to dinner at Jonathan's. We like it since it has a good picture menu and their offerings include several western style dinners like hamburger steak, chicken without smashed bones, and some pasta. Plus, of course, fairly good Japanese beer. We hurried out of there as the kid at the table next to us had a chronic and frequent dry cough. Not sure what he had, but since Becky's fellow teacher turned up after Christmas bread with Swine Flu, we weren't taking any chances. Especially since Heather has fought of cancer three times and has a weakened immune system.

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Saturday was sleep in day for me while the girls went to the flea market and then on to the big Japanese quilt show. I got to do the walk down to Meguro station, about a mile away to stand in line for 10 minutes at McDonald's for my favorite fish sandwich. The place was jammed and I found 1 stool sitting in a row between two Japanese girls. They were working their cell phones feverishly while I munched away and then got up and walked away. Too noisy there. It was nearly as noisy as one of the ever present Pachinko parlors with all their flashing lights and dinging noises. Horrible places yet people sit there for hours playing with their balls.

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The girls got back late but had huge bags of crappola that Becky and I had to drag home. She just cannot control herself. I'm not going back to Tokyo again with her unless she completely agrees to not go to a flea market with Heather. We finally got home after 9:30pm so I checked my emails etc. and hit the sack. Becky had to get up at 7am to go start up her kiln so the kid's projects would be done for grading time this next week.

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Today we took a hike 2 miles down to Don Quixote to get a bicycle pump. Can't use the one from America on Japanese bike tires, so there went 990Y for a new one with several tips. Staying off the butt pinchers is the only tip I need. Now it is letting my scallop stir fry settle and fill in some of the cracks with some South African wine.

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duane

011210

2010-01-12T23:50:00.001-08:00

COSTCO customer working his way through a cup of icey creamo and thinks it is number oneo

For the do-it-yourselfer - a shrine and tori gate outside the DIY massive Home Depot type store

Greetings,

The cold snap let up a bit but the wind was blowing so it just seemed as cold today as yesterday when it snowed briefly. Since the sun was out and I was out of cereal for breakfast, I took the train down to COSTCO. A two train 45minute+ run. I forgot to take along my Ipod or Kindle so it was just observing all those young Japanese girls in their short skirts and knee socks. They halfta be freeeezing. But I had to do the job.

After the obligitory hoto dogo ($ 2.50 here in Japan) and soda, I took my detuned hunger and wove my way through the aisles. My dining partners were two ladies with one's little son eating his way through a cup of ice cream. He had it all around his mouth and liked the attention I gave him. His mama and her friend understood some English so we had a fun conversation about wearing food vs. just eating it. On to shopping. Let's see, 6 green/red peppers for $ 10; no. 3 pack of cereal for $9; ok. And on it went. They had racks of precooked/seasoned pork ribs so that was definately a go. Keeping in mind that our freezer drawers have a combined capacity of about 2 square feet, I had to be careful. A 3 pack of frozen breakfast sausages would fit, but that megakilo of ground beef would probably not.

Trying to keep my purchases limited to what I could have shipped home in a box for $ 5 and using my largest backpack for the fresh/frozen goods, I spent my $ 177 and made it out of there in time to catch the Rapido train back home. It wasn't rapido tho and stopped at every station just like the local. Not sure where they get the rapido from. Then, I missed the little bus that wends it way around Fuchu to get to my stop near our house by 3 minutes and had to hang out with some old timers shifting around on their skimpy footwear at the bus stop. If you get out of line, you might have to stand on the 30 minute bus ride home. Not a desirable outcome.

I was able to get back before Becky got home and will warm up the 2 chicken bakes for dinner I brought in the back pack. That is always my post COSTCO dinner offering. Too bad I don't have any of that ice creamo.

duane

011010

2010-01-09T21:31:00.001-08:00

Leo and I with the Wednesday night "Lost Boys Motorcycle Club" ride breakfast stop.

Christmas tree cactus in Huntington Beach, SoCal

Our brood.

Cousins with movie going mustaches

Ryker shoveling snow on back deck in 20 degree weather, shorts and flip flops only.

Ryker sharing chocolate covered grubs and crickets with his grandmother.

Ryker feasting on more chocolate covered bugs with Katrina and Uncle Steve watching

Greetings,

Well, the Christmas 09 break has broken and we are back in Tokyo restarting the Japanese routine. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Reeds in Lee's Summit, MO and with the Bechsteins in always lovely Santa Barbara. That was 20F with 8 inches of snow in MO and 70F with lots of sun on the beach in CA. Now it is sunny and 50F in Tokyo. But, at least we missed the 6.5 quake near Eureka and found everything on our shelves undisturbed in Tokyo.

It was fun being together as a family for several days as Katrina and Ryker flew in for the Christmas event. Then, Ryker also flew to Santa Barbara since there are other interests there as well as family. He and his beneficial friend stayed in a very posh Bacara resort nearby as they wanted to do something special before he deploys to 'stan country.

Becky's parents are doing very well and enjoying their quiet home (now) after the total infestation of children, grandchildren, and some siblings and friends from Kansas. I think there were 21 present for pizza on the day after Christmas, including my nephew Jake and his wife and 2 year old daughter. Being the youngest present, she certainly the big hit of the day.

Too bad Becky's uncle Ernest fell and broke his arm, but at least it wasn't his hip. At his age that could have been disastrous. It was fun watching the Reed clan all together with the siblings still hanging out. John with his brother Ernest, sisters Dorothy and Esther all in good spirits and having a good time. Hopefully the tribe will all be able to gather together again next year.

I was able to do some riding while in Santa Barbara and Leo and I didn't get any tickets. Patty got one for not putting on her plate stickers since we had her so frazzled with pending organizational issues. But, everything else worked out very well and Becky and I gained a few pounds while Ryker lost one due to getting his pre-deployment haircut back to Army standards. He had let it get to be about 4 inches long on top for his vacation. There was quite a pile on the floor after his mother got done giving him the # 1 style. Buzzed.

We were able to get down to Huntington Beach to visit sister Mary Ann and Paul while Marty and Sherry came over from Phoenix. Marty took us out for a nice real steak dinner and we came back and enjoyed the decorated cactus next door as their outdoor Christmas tree.

Now it is gearing up for the coming months. Ryker and Amelia will be visiting in about a month or so just before he leaves. Then, Katrina will be able to come stay for about a month or so as she has a very limited study term just before she graduates in June. I get to fly back early so I can get biking up to Bend in time for the festivities. Becky had lined up 3 weeks of summer school in anticipation that she and Katrina would do it together but Katrina's grad school will interfere and she may have to start that just 2 days after graduating from OSU. I am looking forward to that and another summer of riding. This year, BMW is having their annual big rally right in Redmond nearby so that will save riding to Colorado or elsewhere in July.

Tonight we are headed out for our favorite curry house tonight for dinner and then on to Musashi Sakai for some refrigerator stuffing purchases to reload on veggies and fruit etc. Now we are back to chicken and fish... but then, that is what we have the FISH COOKER for.

duane

121809

2009-12-17T19:27:00.001-08:00

Closer view of the gourds

Gourds growing on a thick stem.

Greetings,

I have been busy getting things done so we can travel back to the USA tomorrow. A couple days ago, I ran out of coffee so I hiked up to my new favorite coffee shop that freshly roasts your choice of among 36 different green coffee beans and to the roast level of your choice. What a difference the "freshly roasted" aspect gives your cuppa in the morning. I have been playing with various blends and haven't yet settled on just one. If you buy at least 250 grams you get a free freshly made cup for free that is always just perfect, although a bit small in size, fitting with the Japanese tradition. No venti cups here.

Across the narrow street from my new coffee shop I spotted the above gourds for sale at a tiny garden store. I like their color and their grouping on a large stem. Cute little buggers.

Yesterday I hiked the 2+ miles one way to Fuchu as a lady visiting her son and family from Eugene, OR wanted to learn how to wend her way to the Toy's Are Us store under the train station there. She is a slow walker so that made it easy for conversation along the way since you have to walk in single file due to the plethora of bikes peddling their way up/down the sidewalks.

I showed her the Don Quiote store that has everything from Rolex watches to paper towels, where the mid-point western toilets were located, and other necessary highlights like the location of Baskin-Robbins etc.

So, tomorrow we haul out to Kichijoji to catch the bus to the Narita airport. We always leave with plenty of time for traffic jams on the expressways and then find a comfortable seat in the airport to relax and read. Today, I'm charging up my ipod, kindle, camera, and US cell phone so I should have plenty of reading material on board for the lengthy flight. This evening the clothing and gift packing will get done so we can sit around watching some 3 year old Bones show and have time to think about what we forgot.

Hopefully we won't be shaken out of bed in the wee hours of the morning like we were today. Around 4:45, we were quickly snapped out of dream land with a 5.3 quake that was centered about a hundred miles away. The house shook a lot and the windows rattled the whole minute of the event, but we didn't hear any pictures or other things fall. I was just about to get up and begin looking for my cold weather gear when it finally stopped. It has been a few months since we had the last noticible one but this one was definately a mover/shaker. I checked around this morning and no cracked glass in the windows either. May have to wash the sheet tho.

duane

121209

2009-12-12T23:41:00.001-08:00

The 2 art teachers from ASIJ. Greg from Canada and my dork.

The 2 dorks.

your choice in a Japanese bathroom. Do you want a little squirt on your bum, a big squirt, or total wash. I think the wavy lines have something to do with methane, butt I'm not sure.

In front of the ANA Intercontinental Christmas tree just outside the brunch area.

some poor sucker bit the dust today, and his mother-in-lay is already laying down the whatevers in her kimono.

Greetings,

Last night we had the school Christmas dinner that was catered by some big outfit downtown. They had a lot of smoked salmon and great cut up wraps along with various sauces. Lots of cookies and other goodies. All the beer/wine you could handle and obviously some handled it better than others. I had left the camera at home but 3 women teachers were seen dancing on a nearby table. We were all surprised it took the load and movement without breaking.

We had a fun time with our school friends and enjoyed the first band. The second live band was a screecher band and pumped out a lot of very loud, fast music but they couldn't hold a tune if it had a handle. We quickly left a lot of the younger teachers jumping up and down thinking how great it was.

Then, this morning, we headed in to Tokyo for the Art Department Christmas brunch; at $40 a head. It was good food and a lot of choices. They even had cantaloupe which is an expensive item here. They never serve coffee in the restaurants here, you usually have to go to a machine for it. This fancy place had a machine that would make you regular coffee, latte, or cappuchino. It was surprisingly good coffee, but with their small cups, I ended up going back for 6 cups to make 2 real cups of coffee.

We all decided their smoked pork in white sauce was a great choice, and of course their smoked salmon was the best. I skipped the sushi looking offerings and the salads and enjoyed curried chicken, smoked chicken, jambalaya, rice with sausage, great roast beef, spanish omelet that was very dry and not very popular. They also had dozens of tiny desserts that we sampled. It was a nice buffet but they only let you stay 1 1/2 hours then they come around and remind you to leave on time. That seemed to be a quick hour and a half.

The big hotel had a nice tall Christmas tree in the lobby where lots of Japanese were taking pictures with each other in front of it. A wedding couple was also using the tree. So, we enjoyed eating to our hearts content and visiting around the table then we took off for Harajuku and some shopping. The streets were quite busy, but then again, they always are on a Sunday in that part of town. Mostly young people profiling and trying to do something other than sit around their 10 foot by 10 foot apartment. At least the weather was cooperating.

Now, we get to prepare for the flight back home and Christmas with family. Oh, and Tuesday I get to head back downtown to some giant street festival. Supposedly it brings in a couple hundred thousand shoppers with vendors all out on the street. I went last year and will take the camera along.

duane

120809

2009-12-10T00:52:00.001-08:00

Little munchkin at Kichijoji Starbucks.
.
Greetings,

Easy day today as I had to train in to Kichijoji to pick up our bus tickets for the 19th ride out to the airport. I had nearly forgotten that part of our Christmas trip as I wanted to get them early to avoid having to get a bad time as the buses load up on the Saturday after school gets out.
.
Decided to stop at Starbucks since it was a very sunny day, although chilly. There is a big one in Kichijoji that has a large outside sitting area. And, as the locals do, I picked out a table and stuck around for an hour reading my Kindle. I missed a couple picture opportunities with some little guys running around trying to avoid their mothers. They were barely old enough to ambulate faster than a walk, but they were stretching their boundries and went off site laughing all the way; until their mom's came after them. Busted!
.
My fun for the day, then it was back to the house for some marinaded salmon and special white rice from northern Japan - good stuff.

.
duane

120509

2009-12-05T02:17:00.001-08:00

Becky at 12/09 ASIJ Winterfest. She looks great, but it was a flop.

Little man after my own heart.

Cute little guys as the 'Fest.

Greetings,

So, today was the big American School in Japan Winterfest. We were hoping to make a tidy sum on Becky's prints, but the turn out was low and so was our cash box. We made enough to cover our costs, meals, and pay for all of her prints, so from now on we are in the gravy.

We saw a couple cute kids playing with small toys around their parents booth. We didn't have such a booth accessory but enjoyed watching them from two booths down. Now we have to figure out how to market the remaining stock of prints. Becky did make a good contact with the prestegious Tokyo American Club print show committee person. Hopefuly this will grease the skids for acceptance to their annual prints show where you can make thousands. Now the pressure is on.

duane

120209

2009-12-02T02:47:00.001-08:00

Cutie of the day and her mom.

3 boys in a hurry to get out of school running down the walkway. All were missing some top teeth but smiling and laughing a lot... til they saw me taking pictures.

Young egret type bird fishing for dinner. This stream usually has two footers, as you may be able to see in the foreground.

House blooms in Tokyo on 12.02.09. Been having great weather! Sorry it was windy and I couldn't get a real clear shot.

Greetings,

Had to go run some errands for Becky today and ran into the above. That little girl was just perfect. Japanese mom's just love strangers taking pics of their younguns. The little guys were really hauling down the hill until they saw me. All 3 were missing some front teeth but we couldn't communicate until I pointed to my missing tooth and they then showed me theirs.

The local "river" that flows past the school thru the park always has some ducks and really big fish that sometimes get very frisky and leap out of the water. Today I was lucky to catch the little white stalker looking for a fish sandwich. I had mine at McDonalds.

.duane

112909

2009-11-28T23:21:00.001-08:00

Nice angle for their stone lantern.

Major theme today was red.

nearly gone red.

More red with some creepy blue.

Sign at entry to graveyard. If they lost their bird, what are the chances of finding it OUTSIDE.

We decided to go for a short walk on a different route through the nearby massive graveyard. The last of the reds were showing so we took a few shots. Not much else going on and since the cool weather returned, we didn't stay out long. Time to dig out the wool socks.

duane

112809

2009-11-27T23:51:00.001-08:00

Romanian moved into the neighborhood. Which house is theirs?

One for my dentist.

The second guard dog and hat rack.

My buddy and her favorite - tori gates

Nearby working man's store for angry workers, I guess.?

Greetings,

Well, turkey day came and went as did our lasagna. Ah, and the leftovers were nearly as good but not quite. Today we went for a bit of a hike to pick up some Japanese forked toed socks for Becky's friend. The shop keeper must have been the model for their sign as he didn't look very happy jammed in among stacks of gloves and safety vests.

There is a small temple behind the fire station on the way home and Becky wanted to check it out. I liked their guard dog with the bared teeth. Becky is always a sucker for the red tori gates. And then, on the way home, we saw a house painted unlike any color we have ever seen in Japan. Must be a foreigner.

While we stopped at an antique store and checked out some of their bargains, we met an American guy with his Japanese wife and little kid. He said he has been here for 8 years and does IT work at home. Must be planning on staying here as they bought a house and put down roots. He said things are pretty slow and he is worried about all the Dubai financial mess and how that is going to bring the global economy down even farther. Stupid Arabs building islands in the gulf for gullible westerners and they only sold one!

Oh well, back to reading about everything that is wrong with the world.

duane

112509

2009-11-25T00:52:00.001-08:00

Creative mail box on side of a house

Tokyo roach coach.

Weird tree with flowering whatevers.

Greetings,

Becky got off work at 1pm today since it is the day before the Turkey day break. This is one of the holidays that the Japanese don't share with us so most westerners head for the hills and go skiing. This is the time for shorter ski lines and less traffic on the road.

We took a 2 mile hike up to Musashi-Sakai for some shopping and to pick up some badly needed fresh roasted coffee, now that I found a place that will roast the green beans fresh for you while you wait in small batches. Nothing like a real fresh cuppa.

We also went to one of our favorite little grocery stores and then caught the KFC for dinner before the short train ride back home. Oh, we also went to Uniglo for some Christmas shopping - you know who..

Now we get to prepare for Thanksgiving. This year it is going to be Italian since we can't find a turkey, let alone fit one into our counter size oven, and we have a beef lasagna in the freezer taking up half of it's volume. Becky can't give up on her stuffing though so we have a loaf of bread going stale on the dining room table. A loaf of bread over here is half a loaf anywhere else.

So, back to my Kindle to finish up this weeks Economist.

duane

112109

2009-11-20T23:40:00.001-08:00

Becky wanted a shot of the street sign with the old roof line in the background with the roof gargoyle (why aren't they called limbaughs?)

Posh part of the cemetery. No tissues which I guess means no crying, no cigs, no bonfires, and no Scotty dogs.

Probably have a shot of this store front before but found another one in a different town.

Some idiot's small motor scooter with an add on ash tray.

Greetings,

Finished off another easy week here in the land of the rising sun. Becky went to work and I goofed off. We had our monthly Men's Night Out and the 4 of us decided to head west to Tachi-

kawa instead of east to Kichijoji. We found a nice Indian restaurant that had some great hot curry so we hunkered down there for several rounds of beer, a necessity to quell the hot curries, and solved the world's problems. If I remember anything, I think it involved a lot more bombing and less handicapping the troops by not letting them call in artillery when they are being over run as it might stray and hit a civilian. Right. Civilians nearby the attacking Taliban.

Oh well, the beer was ok and we got to tramp around another nice town on the edges of Tokyo. At least it wasn't as crowded as Kichijoji usually is in the evening. Plus, they have more real side streets vs. the big rabbit warren of old shops where you have to flatten yourself up against a wall if another person tries to walk by. Very narrow walkways. No place for sumos or overweight westerners.

Last night we walked the mile plus down to our new favorite restaurant, Steak, Hamburg, and Salad, down near the big stadium. They are trying to make it more western style with a salad bar (Japanese version of course but passable), ice cream bar (12 different flavors like green tea, melon etc.), drink bar with multiple teas, coffee and sodas, and a big hot pot with soup and another one with curry to go with their 3rd pot of rice. Most of their "settos" are 180 gram hamburger steak, but they also have some real meat as well as port, wimpy chicken, and fish. At least in Japan you can eat the fish and they don't come to your setting with big open sores on the side of the whole fish like in China.

Today we took a walk thru the cemetery as it is the easiest walking route to the area grocery store. Becky drug along her COSTCO hand truck so we loaded up with the heavy stuff, milk, oranges, taters, onions, apples etc. along with a bunch of other jazzbo for the week. We finally saw what look like hot dog buns so we are going to try them this week to go with our COSTCO smoked sausages. Of course, the last time I bought what I thought were nice looking whole wheat buns were actually dessert buns with pudding in side of them. I was careful at the bakery last week and bought some that I was sure were just bread but sure enough, once they were cut open, they had butter inside. I guess I have to start looking for puncture marks on the rolls I buy. At least I can be assured that a real bun doesn't have a sphincter.

duane

111609

2009-11-15T22:26:00.001-08:00

Farmer's ride 3 blocks away. Must grow a ton of radishes to pay for this big Bentley.

Greetings,

Cool and cloudy day after 71F yesterday in Tokyo. Rested nervously last night awaiting something to follow the Saturday 4AM 4.1 quake. At least it only lasted about 10 seconds, but it did wake us up in a start. Took a long walk down to the new favorite grocery store, about 1 1/2 miles away (one way) then came back and hiked up to the school to get some yen from the ATM. Good day for walking and listening to audible.com books on the ipod.

duane

111509

2009-11-14T23:19:00.001-08:00

Just in case you would like a piece of pie. Some had ingredients that were unknown to me.

Our neighbor getting ready to do the wash. Sculpture at house near the park and school.

What the sign below on the big door says. They are a Buddhist sect that ran in the last election and did fairly well. I forgot to take pics of their fortress walls with barbed wire and big cameras.

Don't worry, be happy here at the party HQ. House in downtown near Heather's home.

Fellow train traveler. Absolutely the cutest. Blow this up if you can.

Greetings,

On Saturday we went in to downtown Tokyo to go to the Sacred Heart school winter fund raiser. Becky's is coming up in 3 weeks so we wanted to see what her friend's school's shindig was like. It was mostly various international foods but the quality was woeful and the serving sizes excessively skimpy. But, at least the various import beers were untouchable.

With the funk from the wasted afternoon, we hit up Jonathan's restaurant on the way home. It is a long walk back to Heather's house from the school, so the food stop was great. They have Tasmanian hamburger steak and baked potato. Not quite the Outback, but then, we were there last weekend. The waitress even told us how to tell the waiters to pour the beer with less head. It is Japanese for "bubbles lessen". Some phrase that will come into use a lot in the future.

As we headed into town, we ran in to this little girl and her grandfather at the Tama train station. She was a bit shy, but absolutely beautiful. She like our attention and we waved goodby to each other at Musashi-Sakai when they took a different car. And, what a proud Gpa she had.

Near Heather's house, was the HQ of some political party. And party they must. It sounded quiet when we went by, but it was late morning and I suspect the hangovers were in full swing.

We went for a walk over past the school along the park looking at some possible new places to rent for next year. They have a full park view and are on a very quiet street. One is a Swedish built place that is insulated and has triple paned windows for warmth in the winter and helps cool the place in the summer. We hope to get a tour of the place this week and will make a decision down the road after we find out all the details. At least from the one neighbor, it looks like a classy neighborhood if he has a couple of these sculptures on his property. Might have to offer to buff them up a bit as they looked a wee bit dusty....

duane

111109

2009-11-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

It was raining today and Becky is off on a 3 day school jaunt leaving me to my own devices. My friend Bob's wife is on the same jaunt so, since he has a car, we headed down to COSTCO for a load. We have also wanted to check out two do-it-yourself giant stores right next to COSTCO so we were off at 10 for a day of it.

The above picture is the epitome of the Japanese hardware display practices. They actually line up bolts individually so they look pretty. Too many people on staff to do all that work. No wonder their unemployment is so low. If you have time to stand up each bolt and line them up, well that is just plain wasteful.

We found a few things we couldn't do without so it was off to a fast lunch on the way home and back through the 500 red lights over the next 17 kms. On the way back thru Fuchu, Bob showed me the huge wholesale warehouse for restaurants. It has hundreds of little stalls for veggies, meats, fish, and glass/plateware for all the myriad tiny restaurants around town. For example, there is one near us, that has 1 table. I had a pic of it several days ago I think. When I get back down that way, I'll get some pics of the joint.

Now, it is back home and prepping some smoked salmon, courtesy of COSTCO.

duane

110809

2009-11-08T22:11:00.001-08:00

Japanese housing construction; built to be torn down in 30 years.

Local pistachio harvest (I think) drying out in the 70F sunny day.

Greetings,

It was a nice sunny day and I needed to resupply. That meant a 2 mile walk up to Musashi-Sakai was in order. Plus, I have been trying to catch the little shop called "Coffee Roast" open to see if they just sell counter coffee or actually roast it themselves. So, it was up to ASIJ, walk back along the side of the big complex and continue up along the edge of the large Nogawa park. Then it was over the 6 lanes, finishing off the park stroll, uphill to the residential neighborhood and near the International Christian Women's university. I got to the Shin-Koganei train stop which is halfway. On past Walter's apartment complex zig-zagging past the pink elementary school which was having recess. I had to stop and watch the cuties in their uniforms playing and teasing each other. No pics taken as I didn't want to attract attention. On up the business street and past the Gourmet Grocery store (it isn't) to the last turn off before the run up to the Musashi train station.

The coffee shop is a couple blocks west of the station and I found it ok. I walked in on some locals having a cuppa brew and saw that they had out probably 30 different sacks of raw coffee beans awaiting roasting orders. The operator was able to speak berry wittle Engwish but he understood French Roast and suggested the Indonesian beans. He said he would fire them up and they would be ready in 20 minutes. I gave him a hearty arrigato and left for McD's for a fish sandwich lunch and then on to Hana Masa for groceries.

I filled the backpack completely and headed back to the coffee shop. He had the beans ready and said if you buy beans, you get a free cuppa joe. Boy was that stuff good. Nothing like fresh roasted coffee made to order. I can't wait to try out my beans tomorrow knowing they were roasted today, ground tomorrow and consumed minutes later. Can't get any fresher.

With my 30 pound backpack with apples, onions, carrots, 3 liters of milk, oranges, 3 types of meat and several different veggies, I decided to take the train home since I already got in my couple miles. So, back home it was and now I can rest and await the 4:30 dinner starting time for a 5:30 dinner.

duane

110609

2009-11-07T01:21:00.000-08:00

Old Japanese scale

Indoor Japanese heating for teapot

Indoor charcoal heater/cooker

Start of old Japanese hand dyed printed fabrics

Greetings,

Today was a beautiful day for about a mile walk up to the International Christian Women's University to see their special display of old Japanese hand dyed/painted fabrics in their museum. We had not been on their campus before and found it quite extensive for a university in Tokyo with large green areas and big trees everywhere. It looked like an American college campus with lots of students roaming around the grounds and sitting in groups here and there. The displays were great and we were the only visitors to the museum for quite a while

Then it was time to get back to reality and hit the ASIJ last football game of the season. It was burger time amongst the cheers and under the lights. The varsity was winning 55 zip when I left with 6 minutes left in the game. Back to even more reality to home for dinner of creamed tuna on toast. I will probably get over that by tomorrow when we head up 3 train stations away to Mitaka for a flea market.

duane

new girl friend

2009-11-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

I just love it when they dress up for me....

Greetings,

On my way to the grocery store today, I ran into this little cutie and her entourage heading to a shrine for official blessings for the 5 year old. She sure looked cute and her younger sister was quite envious. You just never know what you will run into on the streets of Japan.

duane

Halloween09Tokyo

2009-10-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

The lineup outside Tim's house.

Little nips on the prowl Halloween night. Note the ever present V sign so popular with Asians.

Bigger nips but just as cute and still with that V sign.

I table bar/restaurant. Note the barbecuer just on the other side of the bamboo fence. The lanterns are a beautiful red but got washed out in the flash.

A batch of T & T'ers awaiting the gate opening at 5:30PM.

A mutiny brewing while waiting for the posted 5:30PM starting time.

Greetings,

We took a hike to the distant curry house up at Musashi-Koganei and had a leisurely dinner and people watched. We didn't see any T & T'ers up there as it is strictly a Japanese neighborhood. But, once you get near the American School in Japan, all heck breaks loose. The lineup outside Tim's house, right across the street from the school had a couple hundred kids lined up with their moma's. They were stacked up 6 deep and at least 75 feet long awaiting their turn at the 'candy cauldron' and all the Japanese kids were slowly taking in all the white faces and slowly exited the candy space possible in fear for their life as some of the adult whities had on scarry masks.

As we rounded the street to our house, we noticed the neighbor coming out our driveway and into their house. Becky took over our paltry pack of Nestle Crunch mini-bars and knocked on their door and apologized for not being home. Same with the other neighbors that have kids. Next year we will give it a shot and start saving money in May for the big extravangza of Halloween. Can't wait to her Tim's count for this year.

duane

103009

2009-10-30T04:54:00.001-07:00

THE POLICE STATION

Greetings,

.
Well, we welcomed yet another unique Japanese experience tonight. Last week Becky found a nice gold ring on the street near 7-11 and we tried to figure out how to put out a "found" notice or just what. We thought we could just put up a notice in Japanese along the street but were told that is just not the way to do it. We had to turn it in to the police station, or Koban nearest our house.

.
So, we stopped in tonight on our way out for a walk and dinner and ran into an hour of I don't know what. Of course we do not speak any Japanese and the desk officer, an older guy, didn't speak any English. I had prepared a brief statement on our computer and had it translated into Japanese and then printed it out to take with us. The translation was a bit amiss but we gave him the ring and the paper and he got the idea. Of course the first thing a good office cop did was pull out a lengthy form and begin trying to put our information into his little squares. He got up several times and find something or other, we think as a delaying tactic while he tried to figure out just what to do. Then he made several calls to HQ to seek quidance. Finally, he made contact with a translator and we were nearly on the same page for a while. Then, we had to find out just where she found it on his Japanese map. Finally we agreed to the spot and he wrote something down on his form.

.
The interpreter told us that if no one claims it in 90 days we can claim it. So, come next February, we shall take our receipt down to the Koban and see if anyone actually claimed it. One good deed and an hour of our time in our local tiny too warm police station and we were on our way.

.
On Thursday, I got called in to substitute for the Drama teacher. The first class had 8 middle school kids and the plans said to have them do charades. Easy 40 minutes. Then, 18 kids came in and did the same thing for another 40 minutes, but they were much better behaved and still had fun doing it. I had a long lunch time and a final 1 hour plus class of 5 high schoolers who quietly worked through their set designs on the computer and then we ended with their self critiques. A very easy day for 20000Y.

.
Now we have an easy weekend to sit back and read my Kindle and catch up on the Economist and my latest Flynn novel.

.
duane

Halloween Elem School Walk of Shame 09

2009-10-29T01:48:00.001-07:00

The elementary school has an annual Walk of Shame for the tykes just before Halloween

Teachers participation as anti-Swine Flu

Happy Halloween,

This morning I was rudely awakened by the high school vice principal asking if I could come and substitute for the drama teacher. So, I geared up for looking perky and even put on a nice dress shirt vs. the typical T-shirt. I didn't have to show up until 10:30 but still get a full day's sub pay. My kind of accounting. Now I'm behind on the usually difficult Thursday crossword and reading the newspaper.

The fun part of the 'Walk of Shame' was all the weird noises each kid was making to try and match his persona. I swear the big kid in the black cape was making fart noises but looked like a Count Dracula. Who knows. I guess those 6th graders are big into fart noises as a general demeanor.

We are going to have to figure out what to do here Saturday night as the Japanese kids have the American families all staked out with maps and everything to go begging for candy that night. One of the counselors at the school said they get from 800 to 1000 kids on Halloween night and they have to make a special run to COSTCO for cases of candy so they won't run out. I don't have a $300 budget for Halloween this year so I think it will be a black out at home and us going out for a long, late dinner.

duane

102709

2009-10-26T23:18:00.001-07:00

Entry gate to Musashi-Sakai temple

Bamboo fence so often utilized in the city.

Greetings,

After the rains yesterday, today showed up a bit blustery but with sunny skies. I decided to take my 2 mile walk up to Musashi-Sakai and forego the train ride, but use it to return with my load of grub. I always try and take a different route by walking up a couple blocks and turning left a few to keep east of the rail tracks until I actually get to the big station.

I was late for lunch so I took in a recognizable fish sandwich from McDonald's. Trying to avoid the fries and all their heart stopping crud as well as the calories. I sat there after finishing my sandwich and read my Kindle for half an hour, just like the locals playing with their phones or reading their books. I really like this gadget. By the time I get up every day, the time is on a need to know basis and noone needs to know, the International Herald Tribune is downloaded and ready for reading. Every Saturday the weekly Economist is also down loaded without any effort on my part. I like this version as it avoids all the ads and most of the sports crappola. Trouble is, it also deletes the crossword, so I'll have to go back online to find the NY Times each day. And, I get to save $ 30USD a month on my newspaper subscription and save having to recycle it. The article are very easy to read, especially when at a table as it lies flat and can be seen from any angle without any glare. This is a keeper. I already downloaded Vince Flynn's new book and read it on the device.

I went downtown yesterday to take some of Becky's art work to the Tokyo American club for their consideration of incorporating some of her work in a monthly show they have in their entry area. While they had their meeting, I took the train up to Akihabra to the local Electric Town and spent 2 hours walking through the 8 floors of Yodabashi Camera. This store has everything electronic you could possibly want. Interesting gadgets and computer stuff. But, I made it all the way through and didn't buy anything. The $ 12,000USD Rolex watches looked interesting, but then again, so did the $ 89USD Timex. Quite a selection.

I had a heck of a time carrying Becky's large portfolio thru the train system early that morning in the rain. The walk from the house to the local station was the only rain risk but once I got to the Musashi station, each train pulled up crammed to the gills with Japanese. Each time they stopped, I only watched two trains as I gave up hoping for an opening, people lined up would turn around and try and enter each door with their backsides first to push the crowd back. It was easier than elbowing. The official car crammers were busy 4 cars down so we had to do it ourselves. Literally every door, at least 3 per car, pulled up with faces and hands plastered up against the door windows. When it opened, some oozed out just before the butts started pushing them back in. It isn't quite fluid dynamics, but I suspect some bladders were massaged. I had a heck of a time with the big flat portfolio so I just kept being the last guy in and first guy out at each stop until we got past Ogikubo and I was finally able to find an inside place without the pushing. Coming back was carefree and I actually had a seat the whole way. But then again, it was an hour before the reverse rush was set to begin. I just can't imaging doing that dance twice a day.

Any how, the club declined her work, which we found surprising. The word is that they are scheduled out over a year ahead and with their new building coming on line 1 1/2 years from now, it is probably a mess trying to schedule anything in. They said they liked her art, just couldn't include it in any shows soon.

No other news from here. Guess I had better go make the meatballs for dinner tonight.

duane

102009

2009-10-19T21:27:00.001-07:00

Japanese midgets going home from school.

Greetings,

I was sitting here this morning working the crossword puzzle and I started hearing a lot of yammering and other noise outside our house. I looked out onto the street and there were a long string of nose miners heading up the street in proper order, probably going on a local field trip. Yep, kids are the same the world over; lots of pushing, hair pulling, back slapping, accidentally walking into each other due to lack of attention, and constant verbal orders from their commander to straighten up and walk like a good student.

.
Sure was funny watching their 1st grade antics as they proceeded up the narrow street. I just love their derbys and uniforms. I'll have to try and get some close ups sometime.

.
On Sunday when we were hiking around the Shinagawa area, we noticed a couple families going by on bicycles. The traditional Japanese way is for the father to pedal unencumbered while momma gets to manage her way with a 2 year old in the front basket seat and the 4 year old in the back child's seat. She always gets the larger load whether it is groceries, kids, or anything that needs to be toted. I guess that is the way things have evolved here from the Samurai days. At least she is the sole keeper of the purse and papa gets to turn over his monthly salary to momma for her expert management.

.
Becky is getting ready to make some new prints as the Tokyo American Club only wants real prints and not photo prints. I get to scan our big folder of Japanese photos for her to consider for prints. Once she selects a few, I'll pass them on as attachements.

. I had preordered the new international version of the Kindle book reader and is should be arriving next week. You always have to add on 4 days to their stated delivery date as I think customs takes their time looking at packages coming in to the country. I got this as a gadget, but also to reduce my costs for reading the International Herald Tribune (NYTimes overseas). It currently costs me 4900Y a month and will only cost 1900Y a month via the wireless web. Every morning when I get up and turn the thing on, the newspaper should be downloaded and ready for me. I'm hoping it will be sans advertisements but with the crossword. The Kindle system has several national/international newspapers and magazines available on their subscription lists but sadly, they don't yet have the Economist. Hopefully that will be added later. I'll keep you posted as to how I like the new electronic gadget after it arrives.

.
duane

101809

2009-10-18T02:47:00.001-07:00

Old man dancing the fish dance outside Shinagawa station.

Fat boy playing 3 string back up.

Girls doing the rice harvest dance. They looked a lot better than the base player.

Two story building with old vine still attached long after death.

Greetings,

Yesterday we went tot the school for their homecoming festivities. They had the requisite football game ( a real blowout at fifty something to 12 for our team ) and various little fund raising booths. We learned to go up to the 3rd floor large balcony for their outside food and beverage display. They have the best food and drinks. Plus, you can watch the game from a great angle. I saw something during the game I had never seen before. Our team punted and one of our guys made it down field to ready a tackle for the opponent so he wouldn't advance. Bam, the football hit our guy squarely on the head and the ref stopped play as they called it a dead ball. Ref goofed up with the bad call and the whole crowd laughed a lot.

Becky volunteered us to chaperon the dance but only if we could get the early 7-9pm shift. That kept me busy as the squirrely 9th grade boys were afraid to dance with gyrls so they tramped around looking for mischief. I had to rout them out of several "no-go" zones and kept bugging a couple desperately looking for privacy to keep it legal. The principal was there but didn't do anything but stand around and visit with another chaperon. Oh well, at least Becky gets credit for her volunteer work for the year.

On Sunday, we went downtown to the Tokyo American Club to walk through their annual high brow art print show. Becky got the info on how to submit her work for next year's show and also for their monthly in-house gallery. She will be trying to get into those as they usually result in great sales for very little cost. It was a fun day and we saw that her work would hold up to anything they had on display. After the show, we treated our self to a nice American style dinner at TFIFridays. Can't get a rack of ribs like that anywhere else. My fingers are still sticky.

.
So much for out weekend.

duane

101609

2009-10-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Pile of chestnuts that were just raked up prior to shucking. Prickly little guys.

Nice bamboo and twig fence.

Another prickly one.

Sign for the statue.

The park dude.

Greetings,

This is the last of the pics from the park walk last weekend. Guess I forgot to put them back up after I did the first installment. The chestnuts were along the walkway from out house up to Musashi-Sakai. When the weather is nice, I sometimes take the two mile walk to our favorite small grocery store. It is a different route each time since I cannot ever remember just which turn to take but I always end up at the same place. I just keep the train tracks to my left and I can't go wrong.

This weekend is homecoming and we got tagged to be a chaparone for the big dance. At least I'll get to see a real football game, buy a real burger, and swill some cheap wine that they always have on hand for the returning alums. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Then, on Sunday, we head into the city to the American Club for their annual art print exhibition. It was quite nice last year and this is about the only time we can get into the club since we don't have the multi-thousands to pay for annual fees. Then on Monday, I'll be taking some of Becky's prints in for consideration of a possible monthly show there. They want me to drop them off and pick them up later in the day. Then, they will let us know in a month or so.

So, that is our schedule for the next few days. Think I'll be going over to take my first motorcycle driver's test next week. Most predict at least a couple failures before you can actually make it passed their ridiculous requirements. Some guys said they failed because they forgot to bow to the testor before and after their flawless run. At 5000Y a pop, I don't want to fail too many times. I suspect this is an income source for the testing station. Charge the Gaijins triple.

TTFN

duane

101209

2009-10-12T02:45:00.000-07:00

Two park tourers that punked out early

Another punky tourer by the salt water pond.

Very nice little and old wooden shrine on the park grounds.

Sorry, hazy pic due to the sun's location.

The park is right downtown. That is the Tokyo Tower in the background. The park is completely surrounded by either the river or big high rise buildings.

Another tour boat heading back up river.
Homeless camped out along the river walkway.
More homeless.

Rickshaw pullers were sweating today.

Greetings,

Today we took the train in to Tokyo Bay and went on the short river cruise from Akasuka down to the Detached Imperial Palace Garden. It was a beautiful day and perfect for a brief, 45 minute cruise and hike around the park. Since Monday was a National holiday, it was a bit busy. We thought most people would be at their schools though since it was National Sport day and most of the families would be at the school demonstrations. I think we were accurate on that count as we didn't see many school age kids around.

The park was quite large and had a big salt water pond as well as another fresh water one. They used to have a duck hunting field in the park but after killing off so many ducks, they changed it to a duck memorial area. The park had a lot of large, old trees, including a 300 year old pine tree. I think we may have missed it.

Then, my buddy thought she knew a better way home and nearly got us lost. Instead of a three train trip home, we had a subway ride, and 4 trains to get there. I tired out by Musashi-Sakai and we did the McD's quick stop. After the Steak and Salad Bar joint last night, we took the easy way out. Then we did our usual Hanamasa grocery store run and packed it all home in two back packs.

So, it is back to the routine. Becky goes off to work in the am, and I get to assault the NY Times crossword...

duane

101109

2009-10-11T03:46:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

We had a lovely, sunny day today and decided to relax and recover from our early rise yesterday for SAT classes. I guess we get a bonus for that 5 hours in that the pay is now $150USD. Yippee.

So, after a lazy day around the house, we took a hike and walked down past the Tokyo University for Foreign Studies and the National Police Academy to the big stadium and all it's food shops. We like the wide sidewalks that allow that rare opportunity to walk beside your companion and have a conversation, instead of dodging cars and shifting around every time you hear a bicycle ding ding.

We chose the Steak and Hamburger Restaurant as it had a somewhat familiar sounding name that we could understand. The name actually matched the picture menu and we didn't see anything slimy anywhere. There were several Japanese sailors awaiting their turn so we felt it must be ok. It was. The joint even had a salad bar, ice cream bar, soft drink bar and dessert bar. We couldn't really understand the Japanese menu so we just assumed the ice cream and salad bar were part of the meal price. Of course we decided that after intensely watching other diners proceed from ordering etc. thru the salad bar etc. For about 2770Y, we had a nice, very hot hamburger steak dinner with some dead vegetables, rice and fairly fresh corn. The salad bar had some lettuce, cole slaw mixtures, soy beans, corn, cooked broccoli chunks, pineapple, and several other things I could not and did not want to identify. I also had ordered a beer and was surprised to get a 24 oz beer for only 650Y.

Their ice cream flavor options were orange, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, melon, tea, green tea, rum raisin, and brown tea. I just can't imagine making ice cream with tea in it, but it isn't too bad, just weird.

The above pic is a shot of the sailors stacked hats on their empty chair while they were in line for the 3rd time for salad bar. I guess they don't get many greens on board.

On the leisurely walk home, we heard an ambulance round the corner up the street and with lights flashing and sirens wailing, the vehicle sped by us at about 15 KPH. The bicyclist behind him was keeping pace since he was going so slow. The hospital was only 1/2 a mile away so it is a good thing they were so close since their "hurry" mode was extremely slow. Another day for the rant about emergency services here in this 4th world country.

duane

100909

2009-10-09T05:16:00.000-07:00

1/2 gallon hand sanitizer at entry of the school, replenished continually.

Greetings,

Just got back from Friday night football where ASIJ was clobbering the heck out of Yokota Air Base school team. Apparently their school had some eligibility problems with some of their varsity guys and so, being a DOD school, they don't allow them to play. It was 48-8 at the 3rd quarter mark. Their 8 points were scored on a blocked field goal that they ran back. Blow out just after the typhoon blowout the day before.

I went out for lunch to the local day time only airport that happens to have a great little cafe right in front of the landing strip and hanger. Today they had an old biplane with two seats that must be a stunt plane. Fun to look at. The strip had 4 or 5 times more planes than usual. I guess all the little strips off the coast flew in to anchor down for the typhoon. All of them had 6 or 8 sandbags piled up against both sides of each wheel. Apparently the local strips never concreted in tie down rings when they poured the parking areas.

Tomorrow, we have to get up early and go proctor SAT tests at the school for 4 hours. It is an easy $100USD so we always sign up. We just have to bring the checks back to the states to cash them. Should be a short weekend with this job and probably a ride in to Kichijoji to resupply on the dark roast coffee.

Nite, nite.

duane

100809

2009-10-07T22:58:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Well, we survived the supposed worst typhoon to hit Japan in 10 years. It sounded serious on the typhoon warning system displays, but it was a bit like a typical Oregon winter storm. In anticipation, I closed and locked all the window storm shutters and closed and locked the windows inside of them. We ran through our usual 2 year old, or more, recycled TV shows awaiting the big hit. They predicted the big blow would start around 6am, and rains around 3.

Well, the rains certainly did pick up around 3am and seemed to come in waves. Then, the metal shutters started banging around 5am as the winds began picking up after the rain stopped. It was a bit gusty, probably 50 mph or so, I'll read about it more tomorrow, but nothing really excessive. As you can see from the backyard pic, none of the bicycles survived standing but the bmw did. I figured if I leaned it on the side stand instead of erect on the center stand, it would have a better chance. Proved accurate.

Becky checked early on the school web site, as they recommended, and sure enough, they cancelled school for the day , but teachers still had to report. I guess they didn't want their fancy busses full of fragil kids bouncing off the cement median dividers on the expressways. They would have had a difficult time driving through some of the peak gusts, given their large flat sides.

Now, it is sunny and a slight breeze. I think we will walk up to our favorite (read cheap) curry joint and celebrate surviving their worst typhoon in a decade. Guess we just luck out. Two years ago, we were able to enjoy Suzhou's worst snow storm in 60 years. I wonder what will be on the schedule next? Probably an earthquake...

duane

10509

2009-10-04T23:07:00.001-07:00

And the big Buddah said, "Not even this much pot".

Greetings,

The flash around Tokyo expat community today is that the elementary principal at the Sacred Heart International School and her husband got busted for smuggling in 5.9 grams of pot via the internation mail system. Pretty stoopid. But they said that the Kindergarten kids took their naps without a fuss and ate all their cookies and milk...

Not much else except it rained on my proposed COSTCO run today. There is always tomorrow tho.

duane

10409

2009-10-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

For just $ 10USD, you can have this delightful snack of dried fish minus their guts and eyes!

Or, and even better snack of dried octopi parts for a more reasonable $ 2.00

We even found some good beer for about $ 2.75 a bottle; typical price. A case of Japanese beer usually costs around $ 45 for 24 beers.

Special hot sauce for Ryker. Even comes with it's own skull fob for your cell phone.

Greetings,

The sun was shining and it was a Sunday, so we went for the approx. 4 mile trek down to Donkeyhoties. A "we have everything" store so crammed you have to excuse yourself continually going down any aisle. But it is fun looking through their Japanese snack rows. Their imported liquor is amazingly cheap while their beer is very expensive. You can get a nice fifth of Bombay Gin for around $15.

Becky always likes to buy some food product she is unfamiliar with to try something different. I showed her the snacks above and said anything but these. I think she bought some rice based seaweed crackers. If you hold them up to the side of your head, you can hear the ocean.

I couldn't pass up the hot sauce. It looks powerful when they attach a little skull key ring to it. Don't tell Ryker but that will be in his Christmas stocking, if we remember to bring it.

Otherwise, it was a pleasant walk down our favorite tree lined street with wide sidewalks that allow side by side walking and conversing. Once you get down to the main street, it is either single file and no talking or a constant cacofony of dinging bicycle bells demanding their right-of-way. At least we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. They didn't have the chicken sandwich and another burger so we had to settle for other choices. I've been off the Freedom Fries for a while so it was No Setto, meaning no set drink/fries meal deal. A couple little nips came up and kept pointing to the happy meal toys asking for them while we were still ordering. Anxious little buggers but their mother kept pulling them back in her attempt at the usual courteous Japanese decorum.

Now we are back out of the 75F sunny day and sitting in front of the fan cooling ourselves while waiting to fire up the big 3 burner cooktop for a nice stir-fry of veggies and scallops. The scallops here are cheaper than beef and the small ones work well in the wok.

I looked up the article about the motorcycle idiots that crashed on I-5, all 26 of them in one wreck, and posted it on the local Tokyo Rider's blog site. It has received some funny comments about gangs and ape-hanger bikes mobility in tight situations. Look up the Oregonian and search for I-5 and you will find the article.

Time to finish off the crossword and close out Saturday's.

duane

092509

2009-09-25T01:39:00.001-07:00

Waitress for men's nite out. They had a Halloween theme going. Liked her horns.

Shrines big prayer tree.One massive piece of wood made into this donations box. Probably 18" high x 3' wide.

Nice shadows inside shrine complex, along with row of beautiful lantern.

Shrine located in bustling downtown Tokyo.

Dutifully going in for their prayers and following the multi-step ritual to awaken the Gods. They must be sleepy as you have to ring a bell and clap your hands loudly.

Their intricate outside lights.

Back side of temple with all the flags.

Prayer tree with temple side building.

Ninety steps up the hillside through the Tori gates to reach the shrine.

Flags at end of the long climb.

Street level view of shrine entrance.

Greetings.

I had to renew my motorcycle insurance so since they don't use checks in Japan and I hate trying to arrange for direct bank transfers, I decided to venture downtown to the insurance company HQ to pay my bill in cash. Short train to Musashi-Sakai and then the JR train for 4 stops to Ogikubo, then the Maranuchi subway line to the spot I needed to go to. It was a sunny and warm 82F day so I went in my ugly American uniform of Ranger T-shirt and shorts.

I found the building easily enough by asking the local wandering policeman and he took me 1/4 of a block away to the front door of the building. They just can't be more helpful if you ask them. Went in and found the English speaking rep to review my policy and answer some questions. Found out that I get a rebate on last year's rate and a discount this year since the bike has ABS brakes. Got that done and she was impressed that I was bored enough to actually come into the city to get my task done. She told me about a nice shrine only two blocks away and went back down to the street level to show me where to go.

Found the entrance easily enough and then trudged up 90 steps through umpteen bright red Tori gates to get up to the actual temple. Hardly anyone was around but I did catch 2 sinners approaching the big bell pulls to make their amends. I waited for them to clap the Gods awake and felt they were probably being properly attended to, so I left. The grounds were very clean and neat. I left via the downhill Tori gates and found my way back to the subway so I could reverse my course and get to Kichijoji to meet up with the men's nite out crew.

The new guy didn't show up so it was just the 4 of us. I had earlier scoped out a Mexican themed restaurant but as I went up to it to ensure I had the right streets, I discovered it had closed for business. I asked the local bicycle Nazi and he told me all about it, except I couldn't understand a thing. I thanked him, Domo, and went scouting for another different place. I found another Mexican type place that was playing English music so I made my way back to the train station to await every one's arrival. Got my crossword and suduko done on a street bench while I watched all the cute office girls heading home for the day.

We had some dubious Mexican fare (chicken fajitas) that was missing the green peppers but their margaritas were ok as was the next round of Ebisu beer. The place had filled up and was getting noisy (very low prices) so we ventured back to one of our favorites, The Moscow Bar. They have a nice, small open air area on the 3rd floor so we could catch some breeze while we shot it. Their beer is always good and their pizza just the opposite. Since the fajitas didn't fully satisfy our hunger, we thought the pizza would. It was a bit bigger than a communion wafer and had some ketchup slathered around on it with some dead plant leafs arranged around in a tight circle. Not going to do that again.

So, it was back to the JR station and the two train ride home with a stop over to pick up some basic necessities at our favorite Hanamasa store in Musashi-Sakai. Made it home around 9:30 and it was a successful day all considering.

duane

092209

2009-09-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

Interesting building relief in stone. The building had about 6 of these in a row above the first floor windows.

Greetings,

I ventured back into Kichijoji today to find some coffee and scout out possible restaurants for Thursday evenings men's night out. Found a Mexican restaurant but the Japanese menu makes it hard to find "taco". The waiter was able to explain the menu but still had difficulty saying quesadilla (sp?). I think I'll guide our motley crew there in a couple nights.

My favorite coffee bean store was out of business so I found another and purchased some "who knows when it was roasted" french roast. The other store had a date on the package as to when it was roasted. I'll give these guys a try and hopefully, have found a reliable place.

I was also able to talk with a motorcycle rider about where to park in Kichijoji. This is the place where bicycle parking is everywhere and they still have to stand in line to get into a bicycle parking lot. Today, being a Japanese holiday, the streets were full of people, mostly teens, and the sidewalks were completely jammed with bikes. The rider told me about a couple places and when I went there, I found a spot for about 10 motorcycle and they were plugged up also. There was another pay for space (100 Yen for 15 minutes [1USD per 15 minutes]) . Don't think I'll stay there very long. If you want to go there for a couple hours, it will be cheaper to take the train.

The school where Becky works had a job opening in the Library for managing books/in-out and all purchases for the school libraries plus their credit cards. I interviewed last Friday but they found someone who has done that work before. Phew, close call to ending my retirement. I told them initially that I would interview if they couldn't find anyone that was a natural for the job, so I'm not sure if they sandbagged me or the one they hired applied late. I do feel much relieved at not having to report to a boss every day.

Tomorrow is the last of three consecutive Japanese holidays. The roads will hopefully return to normal come Thursday so I might get a chance to head to the west coast and then up towards the north. It all depends on my weather info.

duane

092009

2009-09-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

Interesting bust at a grave site for this gentleman. They even put a pair of spectacles on his face.

Greetings,

We had a nice sunny and warm Sunday and took the time to relax around the house. We did finally take a long walk around the nearby cemetery and found this guy. Most of the plots were either Shinto or Buddhist. But there is a Christian section where all the plots have crosses instead of Tori gates etc. The vast majority are well cared for and many had fresh flowers; possibly since the next 3 days are national holidays.

.
I was going to take a long ride up to Hokkaido but the traffic is impossible. On Friday I was going to take off for a weeks ride but the paper said Fridays traffic jams on the main expressways out of town were 41 kilometers of stop and go on one and 33 K's on the other. Traffic on the Tokyo expressways is always dense and the speeds quite low. Even with empty roads, the speed limit is about 60MPH for cars and less for two wheelers. Plus, you get to pay about $ 1USD every 3 miles for highway use. My plan is to wind my way to the west coast using mountain roads and avoiding the cops and wild monkeys. At one rest stop this weekend, a black bear entered the parking area and ended up in the lodge after mangling 8 people, a few rather seriously. Since no one carries a gun around here, it took nearly an hour to get someone there to plug the offender. And here I thought the monkeys were the danger.

.
Oh well. back to the typical grind tomorrow. Happy birthday in America Katrina....

duane

091909

2009-09-19T01:37:00.001-07:00

Interesting reflections of nearby buildings from this building's curved window wall.

Typical Japanese girls with their little doodads hanging off their purses/packs.

Example of the wealth of local Tokoyites. Here is a speciality hotel that provides spa and restaurant services to canines only. Haven't seen one for cats yet.

Saw this ninja sneaking down a dark alley heading for some unknown assignment.

Greetings,

Had a nice couple days here in Tokyo. I dutifully went to my first job interview in 30 years. I have no idea how it went but since I could care less about getting the job, I didn't feel stressed at all and had a fun time responding to the usual questions. At the end, the leader said it was the most fun interview she has ever had in her 30 some years of hiring people. Probably botched it, but then again, this retirement is AOK with me.

Friday, after school, we took the very classy bus the school uses (20 of them) to get to downtown for free. It was a bit of an ordeal listening to 40 some middle-schoolers not so calmly reviewing their day with each other, but it saved a couple of spendy train tickets and the ride was very comfortable. No yellow school bus here, the school uses only top of the line tour type busses with very comfortable seats and they are kept immaculate.

We took friend Heather out for dinner and a good listen to her Aussie accent. We went to her favorite Italian restaurant near where she lives and the food was tolerable as was out outside table. Afterwards, we retired to her house after buying some good ice cream for watching The World's Fastest Indian. A second viewing, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

This AM, after a quiet late sleep, we walked down to a nearby art museum to check out their wood block prints. Some were quite rudimentary and I got shusshed for saying Katrina's were much better. Becky and Heather got some good ideas tho for their art classes so the trip was worth it. We tried to have lunch at the London Pub (real pints of real beer) but they were closed so we reacted to a street tout for a Nepalese restaurant. The tiny 4 to 5 year old child with the lady delivered us down the steps to a slightly out of the way 6 table restaurant. We were the second table taken, but by the time we left, all tables were busy. The curries were great and my spread was too much to eat, so I had to push myself to belong to the clean plate club. Heather didn't make it and Becky was smart to order less. Really good food and an English speaking waiter thankfully as the menu was strictly Japanese.

We took the 3 train tango and got back home in time before darkness fell and now we have the rest of Saturday and Sunday to kick back. Oh, yesterday, on the way back home from some shopping, I saw this ninja headed down the alley I guess going to work. See if you can find him in the pic above...

.duane

091309

2009-09-12T23:28:00.001-07:00

It was so crowded in Kichijoji Sunday, you had a long wait in line just to park you bike! Every bike lot had 20 or so waitees. I stood and watched this spot for a full 5 minutes and no one left to provide a space for just one of these poor souls.

Lot of drinking going on at the street festivals.

Shrine carriers working up a thirst.

Another batch coming up the street trying to make the tight turn.

Crew chief urging on the chants.

Cool drummers on a truck downtown.

Big drum drummer whacked himself in the nards with his beeg drum stick and girl was quite impressed.

Greetings,

I'm sitting here back at the house cooling off with an ice tea and a 100mph fan blasting me straight on. Since Becky had training today, I took off for Kichijoji, 4 stops away to pick up some great German bread, cheap Hokkaido milk, some veggies, and coffee. Coffee place was closed on weekends. Go figure. The one day they had 50,000 people on the streets and they were closed. The city was so crowded every place was jammed with bicycles and the extras had to wait their long turn for someone to leave the bike park so they could jam theirs in and pay for the privilege. Glad I took the train. Had fun listening to the drummers and chanters. Wasn't too hot today unless you had to stand in the sun, but glad to be back with the ice tea and fan. May just have to turn on the AC but no one else around here has it on yet.

Ok, back to the summer. My sister had a nice cook out for the visiting kin and some of her friends. They have a great back patio/hot tub area with plenty of shade and cool air from the nearby beach. Had a fun time visiting and going over to see my mother. Her new place sure is nice and they have her health concerns well under control.

I took off up the interstate to Santa Barbara and a lengthy visit with my sister-in-law and her family. Ryker flew in for a week or two and we brought Katrina down for several days. We were all together again and enjoyed our time there in beautiful Santa Barbara immensely. I think Ryker enjoyed it even more with his girl friend being down from SF.

After 3 weeks or so there, Becky got dropped off in Los Gatos to visit her friend from her university days and I rode the bike up for a couple days there before heading on. Becky stayed there for a week catching up on their newly retired life while I rode on up 101 to Eureka and then across the Coast Range via Happy Camp (didn't look like such a happy place) and on to my friends great log cabin just across the border into Oregon off the last California exit on I-5.

I had a great time there relaxing and enjoying the quiet and privacy. I dropped my bike though trying to park it for a second while I went to open the large gate to the property and couldn't pick the beast up in the gravel. I found a distant neighbor and he was a big help getting it back on two wheels. The drop broke the left mirror and turn signal lens but that was later replaced once I got to a BMW shop in Idaho. From there I rode up past Crater Lake to Bend to be with my daughter Katrina for about a week. I was able to fix an oil leak her beater was experiencing with the help and encouragement from mechanic Marty. It felt good to be "home" for a week but it wasn't really home. It still feels like a home away from home since our big house is in Astoria, but leased out for another year. From Bend, I rode a long day east through Prineville and up past Pendleton to Spokane and then east again to my destination near Sandpoint, ID. More on that next time.

Ahh, ice tea reloading...no error message.

Duane

Calmer 9/11

2009-09-10T23:07:00.001-07:00

Got to visit my sister in Huntington Beach and then on to my mother's.

Car seen in Santa Barbara that reminded me of someone.

Greetings,

Sitting her in sunny Tokyo enjoying a calm 9/11. Got two loads of laundry hung up to dry and I'm slowly getting back into the routine. The crossword took a lot longer than usual today, must need more coffee. Becky has special training to attend this weekend, so I guess I'm on my own. Probably need to go down to Costco to pick up something we must need.

I added up my estimated milage on the motorcycle for this summer and came to at least 5,100 miles. It all started when Becky and I flew in to LAX and she went on to KC to be with her parents and I hopped over to Phoenix to brother Marty's. He and I loaded some friends bikes into his truck for delivery to Tulsa, along with his bike and we took off in his big truck eastward rolling along the not very busy interstate. We dropped off the two bikes in Tulsa in the dead of night and proceeded on to KC to pick up my bike and get some rest at the Reeds. Got to see them and my buddy for less than a day and then it was back in the truck and on to Ryker's house. We were going to ride around his area for a while with him but his bike took ill and needed some serious attention. Bad timing but it just wouldn't run, even after Marty's attention.

So, the 3 of us took off in the truck with just a big welder to deliver to eastern TN for a friend of Marty. The older couple had a large, beautiful home on a lot of green acres alongside a grass airstrip that they maintained. They put us up for the night and we had a great time with them watching the deer come down out of the woods, amble across the freshly cut 10 acre yard and over to the edge of the Great Smokey Mountain Park. The hills even sent down some "smoke" for us to make it official. Back to Ryker's house the next day and then Marty and I got on the bikes and roared up the interstate to Oil City for a visit.

Just into Kentucky, we got blitzed by a thunderstorm and got soaked. It was so bad for about half an hour in the downpour that traffic was slowed to about 30 mph and everyone had on their 4 way emergency flashers as we slowly swam out of the deluge. If the traffic had kept up to speed (definately not safe at that time) we could have stayed fairly dry with our farings working well at or above 60. So, it took us a couple hundred miles to air dry with some body parts taking an extra hundred miles to reach that state. Oh well, a free rinse never hurt anyone.

We got into Oil City and stayed at the old downtown (new in the 70's) hotel and it was very much the worse for wear. At least we got to see some old friends and even caught Kathy for a great home cooked dinner out at her mother's house. With a bad weather front rapidly approaching and not wanting a repeat of the hosing we got a few days before, we bolted down the interstate to Ryker's place a few days early and missed the New Castle relatives. Once back to Ryker's, we loaded the bikes in the truck and returned to Phoenix. From there I unloaded my bike and took off the next day to my sister's place in Huntington Beach to visit her and my mother, who lives nearby. Since the expected temp along the way near Palm Springs was scheduled to be 112F, I left around midnight and avoided most of the heat and traffic.

So, tomorrow, the summer's saga will continue.

duane

Back in Japan

2009-09-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

This plot allows the visitor to have a couple drinks while sitting there contemplating the lost soul's demise. See the two whiskey glasses?

Misses his human buddy or just a cool cat looking for a cool stone to lie on during a hot day.

Make shift tori gate at Santa Barbara Beach.

Lazy Santa Barbara surfers. One has a paddle to move quicker and the other has his dog along on the board.

Greetings,

I am officially back in Japan and trying to remember just what my retirement routine is here. The flight was uneventful on Singapore Air and, as always, their free drink policy along with their meals and snacks is always a pleasure to endure. The flight took off on time and our 3 row seat had the spare space in the middle due to the low number of passengers. Patty provided the much appreciated ride down from Santa Barbara and that traffic was even lighter than usual.

So, once landed and cleared Japanese Customs, I found that I had 3 minutes to catch the bus to Kichijoji and lugged my two big bags and my backpack to the loading spot just in time. That bus was full for the 1 1/2 hour ride, but my seat partner was a nice Japanese lady from Portland, Oregon. Her husband had just retired and she was back visiting her elderly mother in Tokyo.

From Kichijoji, I opted for the taxi ride home vs. fighting the two trains with the bags. Glad I did. I got home and was happy to be back with my buddy in a familiar place. The long summer vacation was officially over. Now I have to unpack and stow everything.

For my first full day back, I went through the summers mail and dutifully read the IHT, International Herald Tribune. Great newspaper but it does take some time and coffee to get through the whole thing. The crossword will have to wait until tonight. I then walked up to the newspaper delivery office and paid my Sept bill and then walked on to the not so super super market. Bought the usual veggies, liter of milk, some ground burger and chicken (to help the stents get by) and splurged on some black sesame crackers.

Tonight I due for a hair cut and an early to bed to fight off the jet lag. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to renew my walking friendship with Leo and take him for a walk in the park. Otherwise, I may have to jump the train for a two stop ride to Musashi-Sakai to buy some chicken and apples. They have some fast food up there so I may just take in a KFC or Moss Burger lunch.

Details of the summer's journey begin tomorrow.

duane

Phoenix father's day ads

2009-06-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Here is a list of items listed in the local paper's big father's day sale. This is from a 99cents store ad:

Gas relief, fat burner pills, toilet plunger, foot powder spray, 5 minute hair color, hemorrhoid ointment, binaca breath spray denture cleanser, and adult underpads.

I can see that the Phoenix area has become retirement center USA...
duane

In Phoenix

2009-06-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Arizona,

All our travel arrangements worked out and we made all our flight connections. We both travelled to LAX on a Singapore flight that was about half full. We each grabbed a 3 row set of seats so we could curl up and try and sleep over the 11+ hour flight. It kinda worked but left me with a bit of a wrenched knee that is just now going away. From LA, Becky made it to KC and I went on to AZ.

Becky's parents misunderstood the date she was coming and she had to call them from the airport. Thankfully, they are only about an hour or less away. She finally made it, but was really tired by the time she finally got home.

I slept for 14 hours in my attempt to overcome the jet lag, but then again, that might just be retiree's time, not real time. I am busy getting ready to load up Marty's truck and head off tomorrow morning around 2am to head for KC and then on to TN and PA. He is delivering 2 motorcycles to somewhere in Kansas and a welder to some guy in TN. At least there will be room for my bike once we unload the 2 deliveries.

We are scheduled to meet up with Ryker on Friday around 5pm in TN, so that will dictate our driving pace. Then, it will be on the bikes and up to PA. Should be back in plenty of time for the 4th fireworks.

duane

last men's nite out

2009-06-02T20:27:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

We gathered together for the last Men's Nite Out for the season. Richard, a 5th grade teacher, Greg, Becky's fellow art teacher, and two other retired dudes, Walter, a retired teacher, and Warren, retired engineer and lawyer (he's 6'8" and gets attention where ever we go). We did our usual meeting at the east end of the platform for Tokyo in Musashi-Sakai at 5:30PM but Walter, Warren and I went to Kichijoji early to get some shopping done. I had to get two bus tickets to the airport and some good German bread.

We actually met in the Kichijoji train station and decided where to go eat. Our first choice on the rooftop of a large department store was closed due to a special private function. Our shorts and T-shirts just would not have fit in. Second choice, and standard backup, is the Thai restaurant down by the pond in the park. They have great Thai spicy food and lots of cold beer to help with the internal fires that are constantly cropping up with that food choice. You can put out the fires, but the smoldering remains always keep me up at night. And, it's a good thing Becky falls asleep quickly.

Kichijoji is a wonderful place for a city within Tokyo proper. It has it usual large office/department store buildings, but also has a shopping district that is basically a rabbit warren to tiny stores selling everything from slimy eels, to tennis shoes. There are a couple shops I always frequent; the coffee bean store, the bakery, and I also like to just walk up/down the crowded aisle ways to just see what they have. I saw this shirt above and thought, gee, for 20% of you can buy the shirt, or for about 60% off you can buy the company.

I wasn't able to get the camera up and focuses for the strange girl that walked by us as we were waiting for the others. Warren and I saw this girl with a gold shiny dress, shiny leg warmers, a super wide brimmed gold hat and literally pounds of baubles and bangles up/down both arms. She looked all made up for something weird and we thought she was really late coming back from Sunday's Harajuku girls poser place. She definitely stood out in the crowd. Also used better discretion to not shoot the girls at the table next to us in their ultra short skirts. We stopped after dinner at a Starbucks for a nice cool round of iced herb teas (to help with the Thai embers) and to sit outside and discuss our summer schedules. The two girls next to us were having a fun discussion about what we don't know, but their hemlines were crotch level plus 1 inch. When they sat down, well, you get the picture, I didn't.

Warren and his wife are moving back to Chicago so Greg, Walter, Richard and I will have to come up with a new whiner for next year. Guess we will wait to check out the few new people that are coming. I was pleased to be included in their group last September and always enjoy our once a month dinner out. Ryker even got to meet them when he was here and they always ask about what he is up to. So, no more Men's Nite Out for a few months. And I'll miss those hemlines back in the states.

duane

substitute day

2009-06-01T02:45:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Got a call this morning, early, that the school needed a substitute for a sick PE teacher. I gave up my retirement oriented sleep in to help them out and add a couple thousand yen to my account. I only had 3 classes and was home by 1PM after having lunch there (fairly cheap).

First period was "wacko" ball, something I was totally unfamilar with as regards rules etc. It is like baseball only you use a tennis racket to hit a pitched very soft rubber ball to a batch of defensive players without mitts. Lot of fun, especially when you get to pummel the runner by directly pelting him/her with the ball if they are off base. But then, if you miss them, they are not out and can keep advancing. It was a fun and busy period and was over before we knew it. The kids had fun and I got to make some controversial umpire calls.

Second period was in the gym badminton. Boring but the kids did all the set up and take down. Easy period just walking back and forth occasionally rejecting rap music on the gym loudspeakers. I don't trust rap for normal lyrics so I said no rap while I was on duty.

Third period was ultimate frisbee. When I was waiting to take roll, I heard a couple lazy looking 10th graders comment to each other that this should be easy since they had a sub. Wrong. We went outside to the artificial covered football field and I had them do some "warm ups". Bear crawl up to the 50 yard line and back and at every 10 yards, they had to do 5 push ups or 5 sit ups. Moaning and groaning but them dutifully did the job. Then, I added another up to 50 and back doing lunges and 5 squat thrusts every 10 yards. When they finished, I advised them I ordered up the "warm up" since I heard some students thought this would be an easy period since they had a sub. All but two kids moaned and started looking around to find the guilty faces.

But, it was a lot of fun learning about ultimate frisbee and wacko ball. With my 3 classes done, I had a nice chicken cutlet with saffron rice for lunch and was home early all while earning a full day's pay. This being a sub is something I could get used to in the future.

Since the cook was busy today, we went out for dinner to the new Nepalese restaurant just down the street from out house, near the train station. It was ok but not as good as the one one stop north. I think we will always be going north from now on, but it was worth the try. The local was spicy enough and they had some good Danish Carlsberg beer, but their nan was just so so. Two more weeks and it will be back to American food. Eeeeha.

On the way home, a mother passed us riding her bike with her 4 year old in the front basket and on her back, in a back sling, was a 1 1/2 year old fast asleep, hugging her mom with her thumb in her mouth fast asleep. Now there is comfort. You should have seen the contented look on her little face. They went by too fast to get a pic tho.

duane

rainy end of May

2009-05-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

The end of May is here and the rainy season has started this week. Sunday is the 3rd day in a row of the stuff that reminds us of Oregon. The pic above is just the view out our back sliding glass door. Approximately 16 inches away from the window is the short wired fence and then the bricked parking lot. This time it is full of rain and more adding to it every minute.

Last night we had a reprieve in the rain and went to the End of School party that was catered at the school cafeteria. Apparently they usually have it at a restaurant and pay every ones tab, even with the open bar, but with the serious economic times, they did it differently this year. We paid a set price for the evening, which was low 3000Y for Japanese standards, but it included all the beer/wine and gin/tonics you thought you could handle. Some how I was able to sneak 3 into my buddy but she was afraid to get up and walk her dishes to the cleaning area as she thought she might be a bit wobbly.

After the dinner and some funny skits to wish the few people leaving good luck, they had two live bands consisting of local teachers. The first was just loud and of poor quality, but the second was a bit more subdued. I just am not familiar with the dancing music these days. All the jumping up and down seems more like calisthenics than dancing. What ever happened to the Rolling Stones, or even Aerosmith? Oh well, after a while a lot of the much younger teachers were blotto and rolling around on some mats they puled out from the gym and were trying to do Olympic rated flips etc. Funny but they were lucky they were extra limber and didn't pull/break anything. We left after our ears started to ache. Becky was dancing a couple numbers but I just couldn't find anything I could remember.

So, we found our way home after 11; late for us. We were glad to find a place of quiet solitude. Today was lounging around listening to the rain outside and feeling happy we did some grocery shopping on Friday night. Boring but it is us.

duane

052609

2009-05-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Went for a nice hike today and saw this sign tied to a hedge. I think it says that they have 28 days to trim their hedge or else. The tidiness around here is overwhelming. Everything organic is trimmed, raked, or tied up. I am going to have to weed our 1 foot by 30 foot house border before I get a sign stuck to my weeds. At least it is a small plot.

Had dinner up a new Italian restaurant in Musashi Sakai. The pizza was barely so-so but the chicken salad was pretty good. Doubt that we will be going back there. My home made whole wheat pizza crust with Costco Classico spaghetti sauce and all our add ons is so much better than this joint. Probably have to go back to our new favorite joint, the Nepalese curry house.

duane

052509

2009-05-24T23:21:00.001-07:00

Beautiful and very large old style home amongst a host of modern apartment bldgs. Great house.

Nature's ashtray. While walking along the sidewalk to Musashi Sakai, some one had sawn off this large bamboo tree and left the "stump" for the walking smokers, I guess.

Greetings,

With a beautiful, warm 73F, sunny day, I decided to hike up to Musashi Sakai to pick up some cheap milk and some wonderfully plump chicken breasts. The milk was absent but I did gather up a couple packages of chicken along with some fresh veggies and huge apples. I learned to buy my apples by the solitary unit instead of a bag of apples as the grocers, large and small, bunch in some with rot spots started or cuts/blemishes indicating mistreatment somewhere between it's home tree and my hand. And, you have to only buy a few apples at a time as they go bad quickly. I think I'll put a couple of these in the huge veggie drawer in hour little fridge.

Had a nice walk up through town and stopped for my obligatory 300Y KFC wrap for lunch. No setto, just a wrap. For $3USD, it should produce at least a minute of real rap instead of just lying there snug as a bug in a rug with it's waxy paper protector. At least lunch provided a very cute little 2 year old experiencing something similar to irritated bowel syndrome or whatever as she kept grabbing her butt and making a rather inconsollible face. It was too embarassing to grab a quick snap but I liked her cute little round face in between the grimaces. Hope she found that rock in her pants she couldn't find.

There is a new Nepalese-Indian restaurant in our little out-of-the-way town. We will give it a go this week, but it will be hard to beat the Nepalese-Indian joint we discovered 1 RR stop towards town from here. We have been there twice and really like their curry and nan. I guess since Nepal has just changed over to a Communist ruling party this week, lots of people saw that coming and bolted. All of a sudden, Nepalese restaurants are springing up everywhere. At least the one we have gone to lately has a waiter that can speak some Engwish so when Budd orders Baby strength curry, he understands. I still like the 2 pepper strength but it does keep me awake at night. All those visions of hell and forest fires and the like.

duane

birthday 2009

2009-05-24T03:04:00.001-07:00

birthday present that looks like me catching that big one.

drivers need at least 3 mirrors to be able to navigate the narrow streets

new fancy driveway. concrete laid down underneath tho.

Greetings,

So, for my first Japanese birthday, I opted for a meal for a carnivore; Outback Steakhouse. A real baked potato along with a ribeye and some grilled onions and I was set for a nice, nonslimey, burpfree dinner. It was great. They even cooked the steak perfectly. Topped it all off with a "bloke" size local stout and it was a night to go walk off. Instead, we took the taxi back to Heather's house where we stayed for the night; within sight of the famed Tokyo Tower (King Kong's monkey bars).

Got to sleep in Saturday morning as the gyrls headed out for their favority flea market. They skipped the bugs but bought some nice scrolls and other old Japanese crappola. During their last foray into the market, they found the above fisherman and Becky bought it for my birthday present. Guess I'll rub it's belly every morning being thankful I don't have to ingest the typical Japanese gruel.

Sunday was catch up on the Saturday International Herald Tribune and the Sunday Japanese Times crosswords. That took a stretch so we had to take out time to hike the 4 miles round trip to go to our favorite jampacked everything store. The aisles are about 15 inches wide and the shelves are at least 7 feet high and all non-aisle floor space is stacked with boxes. I was able to tolerate about 10 minutes and then I had to leave. The incessant noise, flashing lights, and the usual bump and go of stranger to stranger interpersonal relationships brought me to my limits. I waited outside dodging bicyclers while Becky continued eyeballing more of the apparent 15 million items on 3 floors. I have no idea how they keep inventory and restock things.

Oh well, at least the walk was good for me.

duane

051909

2009-05-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

The milk supply was getting low so I decided to amble up 5 k's to our preferred grocery store in Musashi Sakai. We can save about 90Y a liter and their meat/veggies/fruit are also significantly cheaper than the local neighborhood store. On the way past the Tama station, it looked like ZZ Top was in for a tune up at the tiny auto repair shop in town. Cool looking car parked on the sidewalk since the old Thunderbird was in the repair slot. I'm not sure what the feet in the circle in the middle of the street is for. Perhaps for those contemplating suicide, just to keep them away from the tracks and letting the trains run. Apparently that is the preferred method of offing oneself - compaction by fast traction locomotives.

duane

051509

2009-05-15T03:29:00.001-07:00

Japlish. Don't know what they are trying to say.

A good seafood choice at the local grocer.

Anyone for fish heads? At least they took the eye out.

I was in the wrong business all these years. Alcohol is good for your health!

Can't see you but he can certainly smell you.

Lil kids shoes all lined up outside the school pool.

Greetings,

Friday here and we were scheduled for dinner with Becky's teaching friend Greg and his girlfriend of many years. This dinner has been rescheduled 4 times over the past 7 months to one thing or another. They plan well ahead compared to us. We took the train up one stop and were halfway to her apartment when Greg met us halfway to tell us dinner was off as she just got a call 20 minutes earlier that her ailing mother had died. He steered us to a new Indian/Nepalese restaurant in their neighborhood that was excellent. I had the chicken and mutton curry with garlic nan and Budd had the mild chicken curry with bland regular nan. The curries were rated mild, 1 pepper, 2 peppers, and 3 peppers. I ordered the 2 pepper strength and Becky asked for the Baby Strength, apparently below mild. Mine was great and was a 2 beer dinner. We will definately be going back there.

Today for lunch, ASIJ had a special 100Y barbecue for the high school. For $1USD, you were able to have a hamburger, a hot dog, chips, pasta, and a great tasty sheet cake. While walking past the pool area, I noticed the above lineup of shoes from the little guys having their waterproofing lessons. Another pic was taken near our dinner restaurant of a typical Tshirt in Japlish. I couldn't make any sense of it. Also, on the way to school, I could hear a pup sniffing hard trying to find my scent as I walked by. His fence didn't allow for visual inspection so he was using his little nose overtime.

While walking thru their local grocery and picking up some basics, we decided against the eyeless fish head and baby octpi. May be a delicacy here, but I'm holding out for some NW salmon.

This weekend will be another in a developing series of new Japanese watercolors. Time will tell. Two down and a bunch to go. She is also working on a new logo for Ryker's platoon. Something about death to the enemy and all that. I'll post that when it gets done.

duane

051409

2009-05-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

Fuchu-shi vortex. No, I didn't turn the plant upside down, it was placed that way by the owner.

Bean sprouts? Growing grass at home? Looks like their roof needs weeding.

Onions in full bloom. The farmers are hitting their little plots pretty hard this time of year.

Greetings,

Today was nice and dry with bright sun, mid-70'sF and a nice breeze to keep the stink off ya. I took a long hike down to the generic motorcycle store looking for a helmet that doesn't give me a headache just going 45 minutes to Costco. My backup helmet here is a tad bit small and is meant for the rider in the back seat, not the front one. I saw a good one back in Huntington Beach so I'll try and wait to get one made for a non-Japanese head. All of these were too snug front to back. Guess I was bonked too many times growing up and those cranial scars built up over time.

I walked past this farmer's little plot and while he was busy planting something in his raised beds, I saw last years onions going to seed on the edge of his planting area. They looked very nice compared to the starkness of the dirt. Then, there was the house that had half an acre of oats growing on their roof. Must be a tax dodge so that if you can reap crops from part of your roof, that part gets deducted from your taxes. Probably just needed harvesting instead of weeding.

The school tried to hire me to be the master set builder for their fall play but I couldn't see giving up my valuable time teaching kids how to run dangerous power equipment after school and on weekends during the peak late summer/fall riding season of Sep/Oct. Glad they found someone else to give their couple hundred thousand yen to. Next year I can start my Social Security, I think, unless the big O extends the enrollment age up a couple notches. From the sounds of things, I had better get on that list ASAP before everything runs out. May have to turn in my IRA chits for surplus cheese and peanut butter as their cash value keeps diminishing.

duane

051209

2009-05-12T00:58:00.001-07:00

Nose miner testing display chairs at Costco and wondering where to park his prize. His friend on his left couldn't believe the size of that booger and his mom to the left of them was laughing. Maybe she could filet it and feed the family of 4.

Greetings,

Made yet another 16,000Y visit to Costco today for some real American goods like cheddar cheese, Quaker rolled oats, and spaghetti sauce. Couldn't find the relish tho. Picked up a few other things too and brought half home with me on the bike and the other half will get delivered in two days for 500Y. Great service for those with tiny or no cars.

Saw their summer camping displays and caught the two above testing out the merchandise. One was otherwise preoccupied and his mother was grinning from ear to ear when she saw me taking his pic. The place wasn't too crowded today. I planned on NOT going during Golden Week and it looked like I made the right choice. Picked up a couple chicken bakes for dinner and enjoyed the obligatory hoto dogo on the spot. Just like Costco's back home, everyone is trying to be helpful and even though they cannot speak Engwish, they try adding an O to the end of everything hoping shiminakO will get through somehow. Didn't. I just checked the back of my pants to make sure something untoward didn't happen after that idiot in the subsubsubcompact car nearly pushed me off the road trying to get into the Costco lot ahead of me. Must have been Chinese.

Duane

050809

2009-05-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

3 little guys playing in the only place they can, the parking lot. But they were having fun.

Election season. Would you trust the guy with the smirk and raising his fist?

Must be Leo's new joint

Greetings,

We had a nice day today so we took a hike to the grocery store up by the end of the cemetary. At least it is a nice quiet walk and there isn't much traffic, and you don't get any gruff from the locals. Becky always likes to buy something unknown so we can experience new things. Sometimes it works and sometimes we have to make a direct deposit into the green burnable bin two houses up.

On the way back from the store we caught the 3 dudettes above playing a fun game of bonk the biker. Two would ride around in tight circles while the "it" kid would throw a tennis ball trying to hit the rider so he would have to switch places. Tokyo play time.

Then, across from the store, we saw an apartment building that Leo owns. He never told us about it tho. Finally, the politicos are pelting nearly every fence in the neighborhood with posters. Then, they have the rolling stock that cruises every neighborhood with a loud speaker trying to keep the car rolling along at 1 RPM above stalling. More noise and I'm sure, more lies.

Maybe tomorrow I'll fire up the bike and head on down to America land, Costco.

duane

finally a dry day

2009-05-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

I probably ran this photo of the NInja bar before, but since it has been raining the past 3 days, I don't have anything better to show for a new blog. I was especially impressed with the 3 Little Pigs style of twigs for the bars on the front window designed to keep out the wolf, I guess.

Any how, Golden Week is over and things can return to normal this Sunday. It seems like in China, during Golden Week, everybody takes off to visit somewhere. In China, it was always to go back to your home and be with relatives. Here, it is to take off and travel or sightsee. Given what we experienced with public transportation last year, we decided to stay local. And I'm glad we did. The newspaper reported a couple 38 kilometer long traffic jams on the freeways and 414 10 K long jams over 10 day period. And, there were 58 30k long jams during that period too. At least here, you can buy train tickets both ways ahead of time instead of getting an outbound ticket and hoping to be able to buy a return ticket once you get to where ever you are going in China. They can't figure out how to sell tickets both ways yet.

So, today, since the rain stopped, we will probably head down to COSTCO to reprovision thru the end of school. Won't be long until we hop our flights back to the USA on 6.13. Hopefully Santa Barbara will still be there.

duane

nuther fuchu

2009-05-06T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of a few boys acting on the floats

Proud mama with last minute instructions

two buddies out having fun

cute backside

better view

may have run this one before

Greetings, i think this is it for the festival.

duane

fuchu3

2009-05-04T18:56:00.001-07:00

fuchu2

2009-05-03T23:36:00.001-07:00

another float goingby

drummer and her sticks

fully lit and rollin float

the big bad wolf

holding up traffic

wait, what happened to our beer trailer?

More nanas on display. These were the nicest.

cukes on a stick for a snack?

pick you choice of fatty meats on a stick

I figured out the strawberry, but the rest are not known to us

Greetings,

It is a wee bit overcast today so we won't be headed back to the festival until tomorrow night when the floats battle it out somehow with sparks at night. They don't like fireworks here like China but we shall see what the Sparks are. A few months ago, in downtown Beijing, the state run tv station set off so many fireworks for their golden week that they burned down their multi-hundred million USD new highrise that was nearly completed. What idiots.

duane

fuchu festival

2009-05-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

festival snacks with two eggs and whatever else

fancy bananas on a stick

pretty spices for an apparent taco like snack

one of 26 portable shrine bands

cutie girls prepping to act on the portable shrines

comin out the back for a break

acting out something involving a wolf and dragons

more of the street actors

shrine pullers on the street

street vendor selling cups of beer for 500Y

Greetings,

I will be posting pics from the festival for several days coming. We shot some great ones of little girls outside the back of the shrines awaiting their turn to dance with their masks. Absolutely the cutest. The festival had lots of street vendors selling typical festival food, what else. I will try and describe them as I put the pic on the blog. We had a lot of fun walking around the crowds looking for something unique. We had to catch the last bus at 1930 in order to save the 3 mile walk back home. On the bus back, we met a retired couple who spoke English and had a nice conversation about trying to sell commercial detergent in China in the 1990's.

Enjoy the pics and I'll send more tomorrow.

duane

SAT day

2009-05-02T05:01:00.001-07:00

Check out the mean proctor up front

kites for "Boys Day" celebrations on the school flag pole

Greetings,

Today we signed up to proctor the local SAT tests. They paid 150USD for half a day's work, but we had to be there at 0730 hours; significantly before breakfast for this retiree. It was light work though as the kids were quite exceptional. A few were shooting for maximum score and may have a real chance to get there. Oh, how I love the smell of brain power early in the morning.

After the 3 different tests, 1 hour each, we had to go out to the playing field to get some pictures of the big fish kites in honor of the local celebration of Boy's Day. Nice big kites and there was a great breeze to give them full flying power.

Tomorrow we go to downtown Fuchu-shi for some sort of Shinto celebration with portable shrines, parades, and lots of colorful costumes. Hopefully I will shrink them down for this blog. Cyatomorrow.

duane

bread day

2009-04-29T01:32:00.000-07:00

Bas relief on cool bank building

Bank must be for the birds.

Quite impressive to be walking along and then this shows up.

Queen for the day. What a cutie.

Great dog with negativespace for his head. Must not be a positive thinker.

Greetings,

Today was bread making day so we could use part of the whole wheat dough for pizza crust. This time I boiled the pepperoni to take out some of the fat and there sure was a lot of fat floating in the leavings. But, the new technique worked well and even gave the slices a wee bit better flavor from my point of view. The bread is baking as I type.

While we were walking back from the sumo practice we passed the bank office with the nicely detailed bas relief all over the facade. I haven't seen anything like it so far. It really stood out from the rest of the building. Becky spotted the dog sign that used negative space for half of his head. Good concept and she will be using that as an example when she teaches right brained drawing.

Lastly, we stayed over at Heather's house in downtown Tokyo, within easy sight of the famous Tokyo Tower, that King Kong played with, and went out for our usual Italian grub near her house. As we were leaving, I couldn't resist taking the shot of the little princess. Her parents were quite please some cracker wanted a pic of their little darling.

So, with the bread nearly baked, I'll sign off and look forward to two year old re-runs of Bones and American Idol. At least we know who wins.

duane

sumo practice

2009-04-26T02:46:00.000-07:00

Practicing deep knee bends with a granite ball

Most recent rookies doing a double "hump" around the sand ring

After the fights, a stomp to cool down

The big Kahuna, top sumo in last tourney and owner of this training gym

Flabby rookie awaiting his turn. I think I could have taken him, but only with jeans on though. Religious shelf above the workout area.

The big boys having at it. Guy in the background isn't doing a # 2, just cheering

More oomph

Working boss in black shirt was one big dude

Greetings,

We found the sumo training camp after getting lost just once. Our entourage of 20 crackers wandering around a working neighborhood must have roused suspicion. We found the place where the stable of sumos live and work out. You can stop by and visit their training sessions if you obey the rules. Some dope let his camera beep and beep so the boss came over and told our Japanese guide to knock it off. Intimidating look from that guy had us all parking our cameras for a while.

This was a lot more impressive than going to the official tournement. I was surprised at the amount of force generated when the two dudes crashed into each other. You could hear the slaps and grunts as they fought to throw each other outof the ring or onto the floor. This practice ring was hard packed sand and the rookies would sweep loose sand over the center of the ring after each bout. There were very few 4 second bouts like at the tourney. Here, the sumos would push and wrench around trying to get the advantage for over a minute, typically. They quickly worked up a sweat and immediately had to go back at each other for several bouts until they were so tired they were gasping for breath.

While the fighting went on, the others were doing thrusts against a beefy pole buried in the sand so they could simulate wacking each other. Some did pushups and others practiced their stomping. All kept their eyes on the boss to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They had a couple scrawney looking guys that I'm sure I could have taken a couple of them. Two looked very out of place, way to thin and short to ever become a big sumo. Also, even the big boys were way over flabbed but a couple looked quite strong and stout, not just fat. When push came to shove in the ring, the flabbys always lost out.

Near the end of the session, the four youngest looking sumos, grabbed each others butts and humped around the ring chanting something probably like, "look at what an idiot I am". The rookies were responsible for sweeping the sand ring, bringing sips of water to the older guys, and holding towels for the two fighters currently going at it. After the session, a couple of the sumos came out to have their picture taken with us. I'll try and get a copy of that one. We would be the ones hiding our underwear.

duane

fish kites

2009-04-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

The neighbor put up his fish kites yesterday so this must be another special time for Japan. Not sure just what, but I've seen a few of these guys around. It is really nice when the wind is up, but it wasn't when I had the camera with me.

The earthquake last night was a 4.6 and about 50 miles away but it woke me up. Nothing big, just one quick shake and that was that. They are expecting The Big on anytime, since it is historically overdue, and it is expected to be devastating with over 60,000 dead and widespread damage to the Tokyo area. I hope it doesn't happen until after our tour here.

Tomorrow, we are leaving early to go watch the thong men belly bump each other. Someone arranged for 20 of us to go watch some group of sumo's practice for their 2 hour morning session in preparation for the May extravaganza. Here are the rules we have to go by:

1. We have to be quiet so they concentrate.

2. Pics ok but no flashes and no walking around.

3. Must avoid having feet point forward to the sumo ring, which is a sacred area, when we sit. You have to sit on the floor in such a position that your feet do not aim at the ring. Or what? I don't know.

After the mayhem, we are going to Becky's friend's house for the rest of the weekend so they can hit up their favorite "No Crackers but them" flea market and run some ink prints of some of the really well designed man hole covers. Then, we get to go to the London Pub for their Carving day, when you get all you can eat beef, lamb, pork, and side dishes for 2900Y. Plus, they have real beer. What more could a Yank want, meat and beer, oh boy!

So, don't expect any blog additions until Monday at the earliest.

Got to talk briefly with Ryker yesterday. Said he didn't have a great day since he had tobe up at 04:30 to brief some XO, but said it was much better than last year when he was in the middle of Ranger training and one of his buddies felt sorry for him and gave him his 2 oz peanut butter packet from his MRE. I told him that will probably rank up there as one of his more memorable birthdays, but he thinks there will be others to come. From the news, sound like he may end up in Pakistan instead of Afghanistan.

duane

Ryker's birthday today (in Japan)

2009-04-21T19:02:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Ah, that loaf of German bread that I found in Kichijoji is shown above. Best bread for quite a long time. I wish I could get my bread to taste and look that good. I'll have to keep trying because I'm not halfway there yet.

Lazy day yesterday since it was raining outside. Did the crossword and the suduko and then finished off my audible book. I had put a stew in the crockpot the night before so I didn't even have to rassle up any dinner.

Today is Ryker's birthday over here. If you get a chance, send him a HB email on the 22nd.

This is a local election time and the pols here have loudspeaker cars that prowl the neighborhoods spreading all their crappola. One just slowly went by drowning out music or even telephone calls if you had one. Apparently there isn't much in the way of decibel controls on them as they are overly loud for just snaking up/down the neighborhood streets. Last week I got so fed up with the 2nd car within an hour, I went outside and stood on the stoop with one hand holding my nose and the other with a finger in my ear. I'm sure they had no idea I thought their presentation stunk, but I gave it my best effort. Maybe if I moon them next time.

duane

2009-04-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Took the AM off as usual for the routine - shower - breakfast - coffee - International Herald Tribune reading - but took the crossword with me for lunch action. We need milk and coffee, so I was off to Kichijoji to the coffee store and to pick up a nice loaf of German bread (pic tomorrow). Above though, is a pic of the bakery in the food section of the train station. The zone must have 100 or so small businesses throughout the basement floor and they seem to sell everything. This bakery has the best whole grain bread in differing forms. My favorite is the large loaf of German style bread for 600Y. I presented my 500Y coin and another smaller 100Y coin and was awarded a nice, still warm, loaf to take home. Can't wait to have some for dinner.

I also stopped at our favorite general food store to pick up 4 liters of milk; 2 no fat and 2 regular. No comment as to who gets the thin stuffffffff. While I was there, I noticed they have ground chicken right next to their imported ground Australian beef. Since my last test was high in triglycerides, I am opting now to make my spaghetti sauce with ground chicken instead of the beef. We shall see how long this lasts. It starts with dinner tonight. At least the bread will be a taste saver.

On the wasy back from the train station, I had to walk around two trucks that were part of the tearing down of a local house. You can possibly see from the pic that they aren't constructed very sturdily. They seem to tear them down after 30 years or so and rebuild. From what I could see, the insulation in the attic was 1 inch thick if that. They had the same thin stuff in the walls. The roof had no subroofing, just shingles on cross pieces. Their way of constructing walls appears to be very conservative with wood. The deconstruction crew takes every piece of tear down and places each splintered board carefully into the truck bed for maximum usage of space to take to the dump for burning. This is the 3rd house to be torn down within 1 block of our place. It certainly didn't seem to be in bad shape, just their way of renewing I guess. What a waste. No remodeling, just levelling.

Oh well. I have to go start the sauce to be ready for prepping dinner for tonight. Later.

duane

041809

2009-04-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

We had a nice sunny Sunday run into town to catch the tiny gallery opening for a teacher friend of Becky's and then on to meet her Aussie friend Heather for a tour of the 20th Annual Ceramics Exhibition.

The gallery was two small rooms that held maybe 15 paintings and had enough room for possible 20 people. The art wasn't nearly as nice as it looked on the advertising postcards but we felt we kinda had to go to support a fellow teacher. Her husband is a diplomat with the Slovenia embassy but looked like he was most likely carrying an AK47 10 years ago. Rough looking dude for a diplomat. I was able to last about 15 minutes and left for the cooler outside. There I caught the two boys above "playing" like Japanese kids do. They team up and sit down to play video games. That's it. No activity, just thumb action.

On the way from the train station we saw the above shop that must have a horses' ass for a manager. Could not believe the storefront. Just amazing. No telling what you will find in the city.

Finally, behind the gallery was this weird design of a condo building considering how earthquake prone this place is. Very top heavy but it looks cool.

The ceramics exhibition was the best I've ever seen. The quality and sampling was absolutely astounding. I didn't see any prices but they must have been in the thousands of dollars. We had a good time wandering around the high class joint with the two art teachers getting lots of ideas.

Afterwards, Heather took us to the London Pub in Meguro near her house. Good English pub with real beer on tap and the obligatory Feesh end Cheeps. Well, at least the Bass ale was great and served up by the pint at $9 USD per.

After a lengthy detour through the closest 100Yen store for a few kitchen gadgets @ $1 each; hence the store's name - 100 Yen. Back on the Yamanote line for the run up to Shinjuku and then the Chou line on out through Kichijoji. Home again and back to the routine tomorrow. Ahh, and I even finished the Sunday crossword...

duane

Day after tax day

2009-04-17T00:55:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

The weather turned chilly today and brought the slightest drizzle. Nothing to make one homesick for Astoria mind you, and nothing that required a bumpershoot, but just enough to give you a coating of slight moisture after a walk in the park. So, Lao and I did the regular walk and even tho Lao stops to smell every spot that emitted an oder, we still passed the old timer out for his daily venture, in creeper gear. He sure did move slowly but kept at it.

I saw this lady and her tot looking longingly at us as we walked near them, so I wandered over so the little rascal could see/touch the ever compliant and easy going Lao. She was pleased we went out of our way so I took the shot of the 3 of them after the little one got to touch the dog. The mom even spoke a bit of English. It is always fun to take Lao over to meet some kids as they are so excited to see a big dog up close; especially one so calm as Lao. Now if only I could train one of them to pick up his piles, we would be in dog heaven.

It is Friday and since the weather looks a wee bit omnious, we might forego the run to Kichijoji for dinner tonight. Since we haveto be going downtown to the Roppongi area Sunday, we may just hit up the old standby McDonalds for our carb loading.

Becky has her spring art show next week and has been getting everything ready for that and getting her grades/comments in for the student's report cards. They recently had a meeting about plans for next year and still hope not to cut any current teachers but will cut some positions that are moving on or retiring. They said that if the enrollment doesn't drop off too badly this fall, they may be able to deal with downsizing and not have to RIF anyone next year. Time will tell, but this school has a nice financial buffer; although it too has dropped like all our retirement investments.

Oh well. We at least have one more year here at this point before we have to start picking up empty beer cans along highway 101....

duane