A round of congratulations

First, my good friend Sheila, who was a bridesmaid at my wedding, was married last weekend.
Isn't she lovely?

Second, Mike's cousin recently got engaged. We are so happy for her!

Veggie Tales

No, not the creepy cartoon.

Last Wednesday the kids did a vegetable printing project. This was a lot of fun, but I think that the idea of having kids make vegetable and fruit prints definitely originated outside of Japan. For one thing, fruit is pretty expensive here. From the lesson plans I saw online, apples were a common fruit used in this activity. Well, here apples can easily go for $2 an apple.

So, apples were out. I ended up going with the cheapest stuff I could find: daikon, lemons, mushrooms, eggplants, and bell peppers.

My other problem was getting the paint to be the right texture. We were down to the end-of-the-school-year amounts of supplies, so making enough paint for all the kids made the paint pretty thin. I thickened it with flour, but this wasn't easy.

Anyway, this was a pretty fun activity, and, in the end, the weird veggies and fruits and the tricky paint texture didn't seem to matter.

Just a friendly reminder

The creepy Japanese soccer team made out of sticks is here to remind you that there's only ONE WEEK remaining to sign up for our soccer picks league. The link is over there on the right-hand side at the top of our link list. Go on, do it. You know you want to!

This picks league does not require you to know anything about specific players (you pick countries only) and it is free. Also, fun.

Even if you don't think you know anything about soccer (or think it is a "lefty euro sport"), you can still play. I can't stress enough how much you are guided through the picks process.

What are you waiting for? Do I have to come and build strange stick art in your front yard?

The rice paddies

When we found out we were moving to Tsukuba, our friend Yuko (who is from Chiba, near Narita Airport) told us that were really moving to the country. “Really?” we said, “Will we, like, live next rice paddies?” She smiled. “Well, maybe not next door, but you’ll definitely be able to see them.” Hah, hah, hah, we thought.

She was right.

I actually love this about Tsukuba, the way that farmland is interspersed with commercial and residential land use. It makes me sad to think about this because, with the advent of the Tsukuba Express and with real estate prices in Tokyo being what they are, I fear that this mixed-use will not last. I worry that we’ll come back in five years and Tsukuba and all the areas accessible via the TX will just be housing, indistinguishable from Tokyo.

But for now, the rice fields triumph.

Here are a few pictures I shot around our neighborhood the other day.I should also add about the rice paddies that not only do they look cool—and they really do—they are also home to a lot of wildlife. Some of this is nice: the great white bids silhouetted by the rice shoots are quite picturesque and we enjoy hearing the chorus of the bullfrogs at night. However, rice paddies also mean standing water, which means mosquitoes. Lots of them.

I need an agent, clearly

I am famous.

Edited to add: Note the author of the article! My friend Daniella is twice as famous and twice as much in need of an agent as I am.

The Spring Program

Today Kate and I attended the Tsukuba International School's "spring program" (Tsukuba International School is the elementry school where Kate volunteers). The whole thing was quite cute, but my favorite part was where they showed off the Japanese calligraphy they had written. Each kid would come up and say something (in Japanese) like "I chose the phrase 'spring, summer, winter and fall. I chose it because I like seasons. The part that I did best was the character 'winter.' Thank you."

The Mikasa

So, way back in March when SYL was here, we saw something that didn’t make it onto the blog right away. And then later it got lost in the shuffle of vacationing with my mom. So this is sort of a make-up blog post.

Our friend Rob is really into battleships. Like really, really, really into them. I am, uh, not. When I came to Japan to visit Mike in 2002, Rob stressed to me that it was vital that I travel out to Yokosuka to visit the Mikasa. Uh, whatever: I had ten days in Japan, and I was not going to spend one whole day trekking out to some ship. Or boat (I know that among those in the know there’s a difference between “ship” and “boat,” but I wouldn’t say that I know when to use which).

Anyway, this year it was a different story. In part, because Rob had also stressed to the lovely SYL the importance of said ship. And SYL was thus determined to go, “for Rob.”And so we went. I wouldn’t say it was the most compelling thing ever, but it was interesting. There was actually a lot of English signage, so we were able to understand what we were seeing. Rather than explaining it all to you, I refer you to the expert in these matters who can address the history and significance of the Mikasa with far more eloquence and accuracy than I.We were also the only two women there together (in a group without men) and the only two people (other than a group of visiting Japanese sailors in uniform) under 65.

It was a cold day, colder still right on the water. But the park surrounding the ship was quite pretty. And then we headed off to Kamakura to warm up and eat lunch.

I wouldn’t say that this is a must-see if you come to Japan (although I suspect Rob would), but for an offbeat sight, this was alright.

Long Awaited News Re: Our Schedules

I just found out I got a three month extension of my grant, which means I will be here until the end of November. So, here is our scheduling information, for those of you keeping track at home:

Late June: return to Western US to meet my parents and for a friend's wedding. After wedding, MHS returns to Japan, but Katem remains in US.

July: MHS presents at a conference in Fukuoka, where he stayed when he went to Japan in high school. He stays with his old host mother, but the rest of the host family will be out of town. The paper will be in English. He is concerned about the Fukuoka heat, and may dress in the cool biz style.

Weekend of Nov 11: MHS presents at a conference in Ohio.

Late November: MHS moves back to US.

December: MHS and (maybe) Katem visit MHS's family for Hanukkah.

My new favorite socks

Pottery

The pots we made when were visiting our friend Chie’s family in Sendai arrived the other day. Before, the pots looked like this (scroll just shy of halfway down the page). Now, they look like this (behold, the miracle of color!):
Also, check out the flickr box over there on the right-hand side. We just joined flickr and I’m in the process of uploading all our photos. This means that, as I work backwards, old photos along with new ones we have yet to take will show up in the animated box. You can also click on the box to be taken to flickr’s website where you’ll eventually be able to see all our photos. If you're on flickr too, let us know so we can be buddies or friends or whatever they call it (I'm new to this, see?).

Tokyo Roses

Friday morning I went to Hibiya Park. This is a beautiful park, right near the government buildings in downtown Tokyo.

The roses were in bloom, and they were so beautiful.

(Okay, so the “real” Tokyo Rose had a much sadder story than these lovely pictures)

The rest of Hibiya Park was really nice, too.

After Leaving Kita-senju... Liveblogging the TX

I recently purchased a new computer -- a Mac. My old computer was experiencing substantial difficulties, and considering the importance of a computer to my research and my private life (I have really come to rely on my computer to keep in touch with my friends and family), I decided to buy a new one.

One of the advantages of my new computer is that its ability to establish wireless internet connections is much better than my previous computer. Thus, I have discovered that there is actually an internet connection on the Tsukuba Express, the train line we ride to get to Tokyo. It is currently being tested, and the connection is a little spotty, but it is free (since I signed up as a "test user") and very cool.

Right now it is 8:50 am, and Kate and I are riding the Tsukuba Express all the way to the Akihabara Terminal. There, we will change trains and head to the National Diet Library, where I will do research and Kate will read. We will meet our friend Daisuke for lunch (Nagu's father, who works in the government, close to the library), and then we will split up in the afternoon with me continuing to research and Kate exploring. This evening we will meet at a university in Tokyo, where a professor I like will be giving a talk (in English). Another academic I know characterized this professor's talks as being "like stand-up comedy," so I am excited.

This week in art

So this week we did a kind of art-appreciation complete-the-picture project. The school had some old calendars, both with photographs and reproductions of traditional Japanese watercolors. I cut varied and interesting sections from these calendars. Then I had the kids select one of the picture's I'd cut. I asked the kids to continue their picture, imagining what the rest of their picture might look like. I asked the kids to keep the same idea and use a similar color scheme and believable surroundings.

If I had access to postcards with real works of art, I would have used them (or maybe half of each of them). But, even though the kids weren’t working with Monet’s lilies or Van Gough’s sunflowers, we still talked a little bit about color and detail. I also gave a short lesson on perspective and “the way you see things,” noting that things far away will appear smaller and have other things in front of them, and that most pictures have a place where land and sky come together.

The kids seemed to enjoy this and the pictures are great!

Slow Days

Well, the winter cold has left us, and the pre-rainy season warmth and clouds have descended. Every now and then, we get a really nice day (like last Sunday), but most days are either cloudy or wet. But at least it’s warm!

We haven’t been doing too much. In part, this is because I hurt my foot:But the bandage will come off on Thursday, so hopefully I’ll be back to normal—and running—then.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading lots of books (no reviews, sorry) and knitting some. I’ve made two hats for no babies in particular. The green one on the left was an attempt to use up that strange shade of green that I bought in a moment of weakness. Also, although I measured my row gauge, this hat still turned out shorter than I'd intended. I'll definitely have to work on that before I start making things like sweaters. The yellow one on the right was an attempt to sort out how one shapes a ribbed hat at the top. I did better than last time, but I wouldn’t say that I’ve figured this out this out totally. I also played with knitting a flower, which was hard, but turned out quite nicely.

On Saturday we went into Tokyo. I found a new place to buy used obi (kimono belts) for cheap.

We also found a decent Mexican restaurant. By this I mean Mexican food that is comparable to what one would find in Seattle, but nowhere near as good as what one can find in Southern California.

Also, we saw some dogs in Tokyo.Yes, those dogs are wearing sunglasses. Who knew?

Clifford is apparently doing a campaign for Tokyo Metro.

On Sunday, my friend Daniella and I dressed up in kimono. A kimono store here in Tsukuba was running a promotion where you could pay a little to dress up in a kimono and get your picture taken. The store was beautiful, and they did the whole dress-up thing, with all the kimono undergarments and wraps. Although I’d been told that wearing a kimono was uncomfortable, I didn’t find it to be so – although it was a warm, with all the layers on. This was really fun!

Sorry that these pictures are a little blurry. We don't have a scanner, so the above are pictures of pictures.

Pictures from the weekend

Although Hakodate was significantly cooler than Tsukuba, we had a wonderful time!

On Friday night we ate some special bean sweets from Sapporo, which is also on Hokkaido. Mike’s host father had just made the 5 hour train journey returning from a conference he’d been to during the week.

On Saturday we set off to see the major sights. We first did a little tour of the Western influence to be found in Hakodate (it was one of the first treaty ports).

We stated with a statue of Perry-san.

Then, we saw the old town hall (complete with a toilet once used by the Emperor).The Russian Orthodox Church (and accompanying sidewalk tile).Other interesting buildings, plus a great sign.Last, Mike’s old school (any resemblance to a reform school is purely coincidental, I guess)

Hakodate also has a big 5-pointed fort in the middle of the city. I couldn’t get the whole thing from the viewing tower, but these pictures should give you a good sense. Also, it was super-beautiful since the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

Hakodate also has a very famous night view.

The day view of the beach wasn’t so bad, either.

Squid boats (squid is big business there)The district where Mike’s host parents currently live is called Toi. The mascot of the district is an octopus named Topas. Here is a flag with Topas reminding drivers about traffic safety. You know, because nothing says traffic safety like an octopus with a snorkel.

Mike’s host parents have two very cute dogs. Here are some dog shots. You knew I couldn’t resist, right?

This was also a weekend of two firsts. My first sea urchin sushi, and my first time seeing a recycle bin where you could recycle your bento box.