Golden Week

We are now back in Kagawa after a trip to Kiko’s island (Tanegashima) for Golden Week. Noa is fatterer, I am tired, Kiko got a haircut, and we had a great time!

Noa got to spend time with his cousins (Hina, Kana, and Shu), his Aunt (Mie) and Uncle (Takao), and his grandparents.

I would have more for you, but (as my last post stated!) I am hard at work on the new website. Expect good things soon. In the meantime, perhaps you can get as excited about this as I am.

(Our shoutbox is currently offline because I can’t seem to stop the spam. Give me a few days!) emoticon

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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!

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

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!)

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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.

feb2006-noa-setsubun.jpg 

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! emoticon

feb2006-noa-and-kato-family.jpg  feb2006-noa-and-dad.jpg

feb2006-noa-and-his-chair.jpg  jan2006-noa-1st-stroller.jpg