all things d@vidb
So Rumi-chan in Tanegashima gave Noa a nice haircut (this was about 2 weeks ago). Look how cool he looks:
and the process
see how happy he is?
and the before shots: (this was us in Kiko’s house!)
you can almost see dagger, dagger 2 (aka twin dagger), tooth, misty, and the newly emerging “sean”.
off to sleep for me…
… 2007 in Tokyo! Welcome.
We were off to the beautiful island of Tanegashima again for New Years this year. I thought I had already posted this, but I guess not!
At any rate, we got to see Kiko’s family, and Noa got to play with his 3 cousins, Hina, Kana and Shuichiro. (aka his lover).
We also celebrated … something … I forget the name, but they put a heavy load on Noa’s back and made him step on rice. Um… ok..? weird.
Kana (the middle one) is all dressed up for her ceremony. Look how cute she is!
and finally a picture of me and her for good luck.
and one of all of us!
I’ve decided to take a break from the regular Noa reporting to talk about me for a little bit. 😉
Don’t get too excited…
Today marked the end of my two year contract with Manno (formerly Chunan) Town, and as a CIR on the JET Program. It was quite sad for me to leave my office for the last time as it has been an excellent experience. Living in Kagawa Prefecture taught me a lot about Japan. My other experiences as a high school and university exchange student saw me living in Tokyo and Yokohama, and gave me the false impression that I had even the slightest clue of what Japan was like. 90% of Japan is rural farmland (and mountains) and it took 2 years living here to learn about what that was like.
(I know this is getting corny, but forgive me for just this post.)
During our time in Chunan/Manno (仲南町/まんのう町) we got to meet many kind people, grow vegetables, have a baby, buy a car, live in a super fantastic house, receive vegetables on a daily basis, and just get the brunt of the generosity that the people here have to offer.
As a CIR on the JET program I was fortunate enough to be put in a town that supported me in whatever I chose to do, and allowed me to work at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo, work as a prefectural PA councillor, star in the JET PR video, act as vice president for the regional AJET group, and have a whole lot of interaction with the Tokyo office of the JET program through the organization of orientations etc.
My actual duties here included numerous things such as school visits (elementary, kindergarten) [where we did tons of stuff like play games and make gingerbread houses, etc… remember!?], visit community groups, organize activities (cooking, speeches, whatever), town english classes (with really dedicated people, old and young), write articles in the local newsletter and papers, a weekly radio segment, and a whole bunch more.
Why am I writing all of this? I just needed to put it somewhere so that I wouldn’t forget and I can look back and remember. This is where Noa was born, and Kiko and I have had a great time living here for the past 2 years. We are going to miss our house, our gardens (except the watermellon-killing dogs), the nice people, the beautiful mountains and scenery, and all of the friends we have made.)
No worries, we will be back to reporting on Noa tomorrow, not to mention what we will be up to now that we are leaving Kagawa… don’t get too excited.
Chunan and Manno, thank you!
仲南町、まんのう町、ありがとう！
(okokok. i give in)
Look – it’s Tanegashiman!
You know the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, right!? They are based on a reoccurring series of 5-person -colour coded-group-fighting-team-show (sentai) that has been airing in Japan for the past 30 years. Every year or so the group, the group’s name and abilities change (which Mighty Morphin Power Rangers did by keeping the same group but adding “new vehicles and costumes” etc.) and get’s a new name. It is usually something “-man” or “-ranger.”
Someone thought it was a good idea to promote Tanegashima (Kiko’s island, remember?) and have “Tanegashi-man” a group of super heroes that run around the island. neat.
Speaking of neat…
A few more pictures of Noa spending time with Kiko’s family in Tanegashima for Golden Week. They love him, he loves them, it was super.
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!) 
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. 
Hello!
Last week was a roller coaster. Lots of ups, and many more downs. Between my computer breaking, our Ipod Nano breaking, messing up a lot of translations, getting called on the messing up… the list goes on. Suffice it to say I was not pleased and I was kind of down.
On the other hand, I also had some very good things happen. Our MythTV box is back up and running (after a lot of work), I am still loving my job here in Chunan, and <drumroll>
I got the scholarship I applied for last year!!! 
Although I will be very sad to be leaving Chunan, from October of this year I will be attending Gakushuin University (known for the emperor’s family and politicians kids going there) through a very big government scholarship!! I am still in shock, but there are so many people I have to thank…. Kiko, Komuro-sensei, Arntzen-sensei, Ito-sensei, Jotaro, Ishikawa-sensei, Tracy, Shane, everyone else that helped me out with the application… THANK YOU!!
Like I said, it is going to be tough to leave Chunan, we really do love it here. But I am confident that this experience will help me move close to one day getting a job as a professor back in North America, so wish us luck!
Now since there were no pictures in our last post, Kiko has asked me to upload these family pictures we took in Tanegashima. I believe we promised to have them up earlier.. sorry! These are pictures from Noa’s omiyamairi, the blessing that Japanese children get after 30 days. We took family pictures after the ceremony.
We have also had quite a few visitors for Noa. Below are pictures with Liz (Jim’s girlfriend. In case you forgot, Jim is my good friend who bashed Noa’s head into the ceiling light.) Following that are many of my good friends here in Kagawa prefecture on the JET program, and finally Yoshiko Hirao. One of my most loyal and favourite students attending my town English classes. Enjoy!
How exactly was our New Years in Tanegashima?
We figured your might be interested so I put up a few pictures to show you how it all went. Being from a more rural island, Kiko’s family was very into tradition, so we did a number of things from making rice cakes, to planting pine trees at the entrance of doorways, to visiting a shrine (or temple… or something). Noa has grown quite a bit in the 3 weeks since we have been here and has put on a lot of weight. He is getting stronger and is becoming quite expressive.
We hope you enjoy the pictures!
We also thought you might like my brilliant photography. If you have any complaints, its the camera’s fault. seriously. im perfect.
Noa : Up close and personal
