Well this post is going to be a bit short. We actually were fairly busy this week, but neglected to take the camera along so not so many pictures. On Friday we I had to take the day off and head to the US Embassy with Kate. Work asked why I needed the day of and I told them (in Japanese) that "before we came to Japan we sold our home. We will be returning shortly and, although I would be OK to live under a bridge the family was not willing to. As a result we had to go to the Embassy to get a power of attorney form notarized." They laughed a little and let me take the day. We found the Embassy with little trouble, and because I had made an appointment online we got in and out in less than 1 hour. The line for everyone else stretched around the block.

Kate recently learned how to make korokke.

Korokke wiki definition

It is a deep fried dish with various fillings. In this case crab and potato versions. This will be added to the list of Japanese dishes for us to take home and continue enjoying. Kate types every new recipe she learns for future reference.

Since we are preparing to leave Kate had a night out with some of her friends. While Kate and Chizuko were out, Taka san and their children came to our house for the evening. He even brought dinner with him for us to enjoy. As always it was delicious and I was happy that I did not have to prepare anything.

After dinner we broke out an old favorite of Greg's, Pente. While the children were digging through things I saw it and thought it would be fun to play. The directions were in English, but with a little Japanese, a little English, and some example moves, we were off playing. After a number of games between Taka san and I, the children became interested and also participated. In the end it was a very enjoyable evening.

On Saturday we went to Nikko. We had gone months ago and saw a picture that we liked at an antique shop. At the time it was $350 and cash only. Since it was a lot of money and we did not have enough cash at the time we decided to think about it a little. Well we decided we liked it so we took the money out of the bank and headed to pick it up. When we entered the store we quickly found it and decided we should confirm the price before saying we would buy it. The worker this time was different and this time the price presented to us was $1000. That is way more, and again we didn't have the cash. I tried to explain that the price before was much less, but I have never perfected a method to argue in Japanese so we gave up and walked around the town a bit.

A typhoon went through the day before. I have been told that the weather after a typhoon passes is always nice, and this day was not an exception to the rule. It was cool, crisp, and beautiful. One thing of the many things I will miss from Japan is the customer service. We stopped for an ice cream cone and to sit and enjoy the suns warmth. After we finished our cones, the woman inside came out and gave us all hot tea to drink while we sat on the benches. Other than the fact that we came home with no picture, it was a great day.

Sunday I went on my final group ride with the guys have ridden bikes with over the last tow years. Ubukata san made the course and it was punishing. 150 miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing. We basically climbed the equivalent of sea level to the top of Mt Fuji over the 3 different mountain ascents. It was great training, and I will miss the mountains when we move back to Ohio, but man it was painful and I am wiped out today.

I try to avoid McDonalds when I can, but the other day we needed a quick and cheap lunch so we stopped. Everyone was only allowed to choose 1 food item and only water. For my choice I decided I should eat the Tamago Double mac as you can only get it in Japan. It is two patties, an egg, bacon, optional cheese, and special sauce. The advertisement makes it look awesome.. I opted for the healthy no cheese version.

In real life it looks much different. All the ingredients were there, but the colors were not so golden and glowing. It was tasty enough, but as I ate it the grease poured off of it onto my wrapper. In the end probably not so healthy. I don't figure I will get another before we go home..

Have a great week...

Happo hill climb, Green park, and BBQ.

Last week while Kate and the children went to the rice field for harvest I went to Happo for a bike race sponsored by a local bike shop. The event is a hill climb and it is not a mass start. Each person starts 30 seconds behind one another. Although I am much lighter now (148 lbs.) than when I came (182 lbs) I am still slightly overweight for a true hill climber. The Utsunomiya Blitzen pro team showed up for this event and they were very fast. I ended up running the 13.5 km 10% climb route in 48 min 32 seconds. Typically this time would be top ten, but with all the pro and semi pro members that showed up I ended up in 22 place. In the end I was really happy with the result.

Colleen joined a choir group that meets after school. She has been practicing for a number of weeks now and will compete soon against other schools.

Kate went early one day and said they sound really good. I got the opportunity last week to watch them for a few minutes at the end of their class. They did sound really good and I will be excited to see how they can do in their competition. The children really take it seriously..

Today we went to Green Park with Hiro san, Makiko san, and Tora kun

The park has ponds and rivers running through it that the children can enjoy as well as a number of other attractions. This is the same park that had the obstacle course that Kate fell off the barrel and into the water on last year. Liam ended up with some crayfish from the river while the other children did their best to catch fish from the pond, but came up empty handed. I told Liam that his crayfish looked good enough to eat, but since none of us know how to prepare them we just let them loose back into the river.

After we finished at the park we came back to our home for some BBQ.

Kate, Makiko, and Hiro went to the grocery store to pick up the meat and vegetables while I stayed back with the children. We set up the grills and chairs in our front yard and started cooking.

The food was great, but Tora got ahold of something that must have tasted funny...

I hope to bring this style of grilling back to the US with us, it sure is tasty... After we finished eating we hung out by the fire and played. The children taught Hiro san their dances from last weeks Undo kai. Hiro san is a quick learner as you can see in the picture.

Have a good week..

Children's Undo Kai (sports day) and rice harvesting..

Well this past weekend was our second and last Undo Kai (sports day) in Japan. Last year both children were white team, this year both were red. We were lucky that both children were on the same team, other family's were split one red and one white. Basically the school is split into two teams 1 time each year to battle for supreme galactic playground bragging rights. At 6:00 am the community is woken up by fire works. It is nice to lay in bed and listen to the fireworks going off in neighboring communities. At 9:00 am the opening ceremonies start..

It took a minute but we were able to locate both children in the crowd. Maybe it is because they are our children, but they always seem somewhat easy to spot.

Once the opening speech is delivered the children move immediately into warm up stretches.

This year Liam was happy that he was old enough to help out with the event. One of his jobs was to carry the number one flag. When another child finished the race in first place he would walk with them to the organizers and make sure they got credit for their position.

The score was displayed throughout the day on the 2nd story of the school building. Red team jumped out to an early lead. Last year the white team trailed all day, but finally took the lead in the last event, the tug of war..

Liam participated in the 100 meter dash. He is noticeably faster this year, but so are the other children. He got edged out at the finish line and was able to place 3rd in his group.

Colleen did the Typhoon event. Three children have to hold a pole and run together around a course. Each cone they pass they have to circle around as fast as possible, thus the name Typhoon. I believe red team pulled off a win in this event.

Last year Liam really liked the older children's dance. He thought it would be cool to do it. At the time we did not think we would still be in Japan during the next Undo Kai, so we didn't think he would have the opportunity. Because we were extended by 3 months he got to do it this year.

He did a great job, and we were glad that he had the opportunity to participate.

Chihiro was a member of the Aka team cheer force. They led cheers throughout the day to rally the red team on. Of course there were equivalent members cheering on the white team as well. Chihiro's sister Chika was a member of the white team.

Some of the cheers would go back and forth between the red and white teams, but they were always supportive of one another, and always said do your best to the other team. It is nice to see the emphasis on sportsmanship.

The playground where the event is held is made up of a very fine gravel. As a result the children can get pretty dirty throughout the days worth of competition.

At half time everyone stops to eat lunch. This year we sat with the Shionome sans in the shaded area. The view from this spot is not so good, but it was noticeably cooler than being out in the sun. Since we stood in multiple different spots to watch the events, I believe this location for base was perfect. While we were eating lunch I told the children they could run faster if they pulled their shorts up higher. They didn't actually believe me, but I got them to pose for a picture anyway..

Just after half time the parents get to try to help their children win some points in the ball toss. You are given about 5 minutes to get as many balls into the basket in the air as you can. At any given time there are 2 red teams and 2 white teams competing against one another. Kate was not able to pull off a win in her round, neither was the next group.

Our team faired better and the two red teams competing during our event went 1 and 2. In the end white team parents got the best of the red.

The next event for Liam was the giant ball race. The children had to push the ball around the perimeter of the playground and then push it to a small pedestal. First team to finish was the winner. Red team just pulled it off.

Colleen also had a dance. She carried pom poms for her dance and was able to show off some wicked dance moves.

I think when she gets older she will be a good dancer, I don't think she got that from me or Kate..

The final event was the tug of war. Last year leading into the tug of war, the children were behind. They took two out of three and ended up winning the overall victory. This year they were only ahead by 5 points going into the pull. Colleen's team was up first. They put up a valiant effort, but fell short of the win.

Next was the 2nd graders. They were able to get the victory for the red team and that made Liam's pull that much more important. A win for red would mean an over all victory, a loss would mean they would give up enough points to lose the overall lead. It went on forever, but in the end the red team was able to best the white in the last event.

The ropes for the tug of war are huge. This video is only showing the red team. There is an equal number of children pulling on the other side of this image.

The award was presented to the winning teams leader at the closing ceremony.

At the end the children have to pick up all their things and carry their chairs up the steps and back to the class rooms. This also helps to build a sense of responsibility. Even though the children look beat, they all managed to make it up the steps with their things. This year, because Liam was older, he also got to help tear down all the tents and decorations. He was at the school probably another hour past the time we went home.

The following day I went to the Jitensha no Mori hill climb bike race. Kate and the children went to the rice field for harvesting.

The perimeter was cut and collected by hand. Kate said that Liam was really a hard worker and made a big effort to help.

Both children told me that there were tons of praying mantis and frogs. They also saw a snake at one point. Colleen caught a praying mantis that caught a grasshopper and ate it in front of her. I am OK now, but would have been a little creeped out by these when I was younger, but both children love them..

To finish up the field a motorized rice combine was used. Recently I have seen a lot of these. They have a tread like a tank on the bottom to keep them moving in the rice fields. These machines can tear through a field in no time. Once the rice is collected it goes through a number of processes before it becomes the typical rice that we see at the store. Taka san told me it takes about 2 weeks from harvest to finished product.

That is all for the post, have a great week..

Utsunomiya Buddha, Kate's Tokyo weekend.

Kate went to Tokyo for the weekend with some friends, so the children and I decided we would try to find the Utsunomiya Buddha. I glanced at a map and got the rough location relative to the station and we were off. We parked at the station and set off walking. Within 10 minutes we were able to stumble onto it. It is close to the river running trough the town. Not incredibly large, it is still nice and located within a well kept temple. We did a variety of other things for the weekend, but I failed to carry the camera along.

Kate headed to Tokyo with Reiko and Elin to spend the weekend. One of their stops was to a shop specializing in the fake foods that are often present in front of restaurants.

This is definitely an art form and if you want to buy it, it will cost you. Kate said that a plate of 5 fake gyoza was about $50. I can not imagine what the price of some of the more elaborate foods would be.

Of course sushi was also an option for purchase. We talked a little by phone and decided not to purchase any. It was a little pricey, and although it truly is a form of art, it is not really something we would put out on display.

Over the weekend they went to a restaurants with numerous salt water aquariums in them.

In the evening they went to the Black swan. Kate had gone to this show before, but said that the late night show was a bit more risk-ay.

At the end of the show all the ........ladies posed for a picture with the ladies.

While on the trip apparently both Kate and Elin ended up buying the same necklace from one of the shops. Kate said it is actually for holding glasses, you hang them by the earpiece through the ring, but they just liked it as a necklace. Not sure who's idea it was, but they decided to pose with them as a monocle. To me it just means they had fun.

On Sunday they went to a restaurant already decorated for Halloween. She said is was a "Cinderella and the seven dwarfs" themed restaurant. Sounds interesting. They also attended a Kabuki show. They couldn't take any pics and were very tired from the late night before but Kate enjoyed watching it. She said you definitely needed a translation ear piece to understand what was going on. It was a 4 hours show but they chose to stay only for the first 2 shows.

That is all for this post, have a great week.