Category: Family

2005 Kagawa Soccer Team

Hmm, these are a little bit late.. (not to mention a bit embarassing!) but here goes.

Introducing the 2005 Kagawa Soccer Team. emoticon

2005 Kagawa Soccer Team

Studly bunch, us. If you want to see more soccer pictures, go here.

 At any rate, we have a game coming up this weekend. (Followed by a tournament the week after which I cannot make because of the impending baby. Have a look at last years tournament.)

Here are a few pictures from a game we had a few weeks ago. We played Tadotsu Town office team. It was our first match together and we came back from 3 behind to tie it up at 3. That was the good part. We then proceeded to have our asses handed to us by Junior High School students who came up to Jim (the really tall guy)’s legs. I guess they practice and stuff everyday… but still ….

ps. my birthday is soon. excited? 

2005 Kagawa Soccer Team   2005 Kagawa Soccer Team   2005 Kagawa Soccer Team

Sanuki Fuji

Here in Kagawa they have this mountain called iinoyama. It goes by the nick-name of "Sanuki Fuji". Kagawa is famous for lots of little mountains in very nice mountain-shapes. Sanuki Fuji happens to be a tiny-little version of Mt. Fuji. It is actually quite nice and can be seen from anywhere in the prefecture.

Last week Ishikawa-sensei (my supervisor) and I climbed it and took pictures from the top. It was about an hour climb and, save for a few clouds, it was a fantastic view.

Wanna see more? Click here.

Sanuki Fuji   Sanuki Fuji   Sanuki Fuji   Sanuki Fuji   Sanuki Fuji   Sanuki Fuji   

Kiko @ 10 months!

10 months!??! Those advanced Japanese people. Babies in Japan gestate (??) for 10 months.

Not really … I bet you believed me for a 2nd, right??! (I actually thought this was the case when I was first told about this 10 month deal.) No, actually they start counting from an earlier date and the baby is said to be in the womb for 10 months.

Backwards little yellow people? Advanced future overlords? I’ll leave it to you to decide.

At any rate, here is the beautiful Kiko at 10 months (or 2 weeks from the due date.) See how nice she looks? emoticon  (I’m happy by the way.. that’s my picture face.) emoticon

Halloween Party

Kagawa Halloween Party

I was debating about putting Kiko’s picture up, or putting up pictures from Halloween. Halloween won.

Here are some pictures from the annual Kagawa AJET (JET Council, of which I am vice-president??) Halloween Party. Everyone looked pretty good. Especially Greg in his saran-wrap costume, and Jim as spiderman. In case you didn’t notice, I was dressed up as a disgruntled Canadian. Kiko was the wife of a disgruntled Canadian.

If you want to see bigger (more?) of these Halloween Pictures, look here.

Kiko and I are now off to watch "It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" for Halloween.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! emoticon

Halloween Party   Halloween Party   Halloween Party   Halloween Party   Halloween Party   Halloween Party   

My Amazing Sweet Potatoes

Coming hot off the heals of the potato party, take a look at my sweet potato excitement. Boo!! That’s right. 3 types, all transported from Kiko’s Island of Tanegashima to here in Kagawa. (I live in Chunan-cho, but you guys know that, right?) emoticon

 Now enjoy the view and look how cool I am picking my sweet potatoes. (and yes… I already know that no one likes to comment on my farming because you are all jealous.)

 

Sweet Potatoes   Sweet potatoes   Sweet Potatoes

The Famous Potato Festival

This entry was actually entitled "Update on Kiko" but she didn’t like the photo I was going to upload. She promised I could post one tomorrow, so expect an update tomorrow. She looks… umm… big. But cute…emoticon

Anyways… yes, it’s the Potato Party. Remember how Kiko used to work at one of my schools? Well they invited us back for a Potato Party. The actual translation was "The Honourable Potato Party"… but well… umm… that’s stupid.

Now what do you do at a potato party you ask?

Well, first you take cut-up sweet potato, put them on Ritz crackers with whip cream, add some more whip cream and sprinkle liberally with chocolate chips and sprinklesemoticon 

Potato Party   Potato Party   Potato Party   Potato Party

Then what do you do? (Do you really have to ask?) You have a potato quiz, sing the potato song and talk about potatoes. (He is pointing at a sign that says "Potato Quiz" by the way.

 

Potato Party   Potato Party

 

You’re jealous right? And why shouldn’t you be. 

Konpira Festival and Me.

Wow! I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to write a little article about this entry, but there is nothing on the net about it! I’m a little shocked, but I will fill you in.

 On October 10th I was asked to take part in the Konpira Festival. Konpira is a shrine  (Shinto=Shrine, Buddhist=Temple) located in Kotohira, a town right next to mine.

The cool thing about this festival is that it re-enacts a procession from the Heian Period (794-1185AD) in Japan  complete with dress. (Guess who was the star attraction?) You can check me out in my gear below.

Or you can take a look at all the pictures here.

 At any rate, basically the deal is on October 10th (October is known as the month when the gods aren’t around… keep reading) we take the God out of the shrine and take him down the mountain to hang out in a Japanese-inn (Ryokan). The next day, we drag him back up the mountain and put him back home.

That’s fine and all.. the problem is that Konpira is famous for having something like 800 steps and is located at the top of the mountain. Also, the God lives in a portable shrine (omikoshi or something) (or whatever… those crazy asians) which literally weighs 1 tonne. Combine that with the fact that we have to take all his stuff as well and it makes for exciting times.

My team was in charge of the big Japanese-drum (Taiko). emoticon Suffice it to say it was ridiculously heavy.

Enjoy. It was a lot of fun. They don’t know for sure, but rumor is I’m the first foreigner to take part in the event (its been going on for hundreds of years.) neat.

 

Konpira Festival   Konpira Festival   Konpira festival   Konpira Festival   Konpira festival   Konpira Festival

 

Dead Smurfs?

i usually try and keep this homepage about davidandkiko (hence the name.)

That being said, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to share this with you.

smurf_bombs.jpg 

What the hell is that all about??? Apparently Unicef Paris decided to use the Smurfs in a  poster to teach children about the horror of war.   emoticon I’m 25 and this poster still traumatizes me. Holy crap. Smurfette is lying dead off to the side!!!

that is all. 

The Great Camera Debate

Here are the facts:

 

  1. We have a Camera. A 4.0 megapixel Canon Powershot 410. It is 1 year old and takes nice pictures.
  2. It has a slight smudge on the lens. 
  3. We have a baby coming.
  4. David has proposed to buy a $900 Canon EOS Rebel SLR Camera.

emoticon  David

  1. With a baby coming I think it is important that we have the best possible pictures.
  2. I want to learn how to use an SLR style camera anyways.
  3. Money grows on trees. (my tree.)

 emoticon Kiko

  1. We already have a camera.
  2. We don’t have the money.
  3. We recently got a new video camera.

 

Voting has begun. Look to the right of your screen (perhaps it is near the bottom now.) 

Vote! 

Daily Updates?

Do you know difficult it would be for me to update this site daily? Not that I don’t have the chance.. (I do!) – I check it everyday… It’s more of the fact that I don’t have enough stuff to write about.

How many times can you look at a picture of some vegetable we have grown, or how big Kiko has gotten? emoticon 

That being said… expect (more) regular updates coming soon. The last few months have been busy with the site re-design, but both Kiko and I have decided to focus more on writing stuff. That being said, when the baby comes expect more baby pictures than you will ever want to look at.

In the meantime, look at this crazy huge Sweet Potato I grew. Are you jealous? (and admire the beautiful model…) emoticon  (yes… I am sweet.)

my-sweet-potato.jpg