david – Page 32 – d@vidb dot net

Children’s Day (Boy’s Festival)

May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan (kodomo no hi). Just to summarize, apparently it is a day to celebrate children’s personalities and their happiness… whatever that means. In a nutshell, families with little boys put up really large poles with carp “kites” (called koinobori) [on May 5th, traditionally known as boy’s day] to represent the boy’s strength and virility. Families with girls put up really nice dolls (hinamatsuri) [on May 3rd, tradtionally known as girl’s day] epresenting the Heian Court from aproximately 1000 years ago.

Now back in Kagawa we had some little tiny koinobori (carp flags… are you paying attention!?) (tiny because we have no where to put them!). After packing up and heading to Tanegashima (Kiko’s island) for the holiday, Kiko’s parents surprised us (noa) with some very big koinobori. And I mean very big… I spent an afternoon standing up a big huge pole right outside of Kiko’s parent’s house. It was definitely a nice way to celebrate. Noa seemed to really enjoy them too… (this coming from the baby who loves plastic shopping bags).

While on Tanegashima Noa gets to spend time with his cousions, Hina, Kana, and Shuichiro and gets to ride an airplane for like the 80th time in his life. Enjoy!

That is all. We are scheduled to be on the island from April 28th to May 7th. emoticon

Noa likes Juice

Noa also likes his (scruffy) Dad.

(ps. he is laughing… not crying. i think. … umm… I hope.)

Some nice pictures…

These are a few of my favourite Noa pictures that haven’t made it in to our earlier posts.

The first is of my sister Tray, Noa and myself.

The other is of Noa in front of a nice looking (plum? cherry blossom?) tree. Kiko is convinced she took the picture, but I believe it might actually be me…

That is all.

Just so we’re clear…

…I am a photographic genius.

It’s that time of year again in Japan… Cherry Blossom (sakura) time… Yeah!!! emoticon

In the coming days expect a whole bunch of new photo albums with lots of pictures of David, Kiko, and Noa (.com). (and some cherry blossoms as well)

Also expect some interesting stories like the time Noa was kidnapped by a waitress at a Tonkatsu restaurant!!!

Here are some samples to re-assert just how brilliant of a photographer I am. (thanks matt, greg, and lee!)

Noa’s friends (part 3)

These are some pictures of Noa and his friends. Some are from Canada, and some are with our good friend Marc who came to visit from canada. Enjoy!

(Good friends in Canada)

Marc has arrived!

My good friend Marc has arrived and we will be touring Kyoto! Marc says koneecheewa!

Goodbye Chunan-cho!

Today Chunan-cho (仲南町) had their closing ceremonies. I had a wonderful time here and I am going to miss it terribly.

Goodbye Chunan!

I love Daddy -KaPPa Version-

I thought this was a nice picture. (it’s his Kappa hat, from Tracy and Thomas, remember?)

We also decided to take some pictures of Noa’s first snowfall. Suffice it to say, he was not pleased with being made to sit through the second picture.

Setsubun and stuff that I forgot!

This may just be one of the magical/mystical posts that I make while I am still in Japan (getting ready to leave for Canada) but which appears on the site a few days later… maybe. You decide.　 emoticon

Don’t get too excited. Oh oh oh! Before I forget… Ricky Gervais is my hero. Forget the US version of the Office, take a look at the original Office, Extras, and listen to the podcast. It is really quite funny and provides me with lots of entertainment. Take a look and let me know what you think!!

At any rate, here are a few pictures that I had knocking about. Of some importance is our pictures from Setsubun. What is setsubun? And I quote…

In Japan, Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "division of season". Usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春), celebrated yearly on February 3rd (associated with the Lunar New Year).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

All I know is that Kiko made Noa and I put on scary masks and throw beans. emoticon

I think there is something about it here…

Spring Setsubun is traditionally celebrated by the head of the household throwing pan-heated soybeans out the door, while chanting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!). The literal meaning of the words is "Demons out! Luck in!" — the beans are thought to symbolically purify the home. In the Heian era, a famous Buddhist monk was said to have driven away Oni (demons or evil spirits) by throwing beans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

Enough with the chit-chat, here is the picture.

That was a big build up for just one picture, eh?

Here are a few other pictures I had laying around including a visit by the Kato family (one of my homestay families back when I was in highschool in Japan), Noa and me hanging out, Noa hanging out with his chair, and Noa’s first stroller ride. Enjoy!

Who’s the movie star?

If you may recall, awhile back I mentioned the video shoot I was involved in. Basically, I was lucky (fortunate? unfortunate?) enough to be selected as one of the people in the new JET video which is used to advertise the program to contracting organizations here in Japan and potential participants around the world.

Basically a film crew followed me around town for a few days. It was actually a lot of fun and kind of entertaining being followed by boom mics and cameras. I think it startled the people of my town as there were more camera people than townspeople in the most of the locations we shot at.

Anyways, as promised, here are a few photos of me in action. Some of the pictures include me at work, me at school, and me on camera. Enjoy! When the video comes out I will try and edit out my parts and upload them.