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NEWS FLASH Our nephew,
NEWS FLASH Our nephew, Seth Adams, was born at 1:26 pm on May 4th (Tod’s birthday, too). He weighs in at 8 lbs, 12 oz. Maureen and Seth are both doing fine.
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I’d never encountered a
I’d never encountered a massage chair until I came to Japan. In stores, the demonstration chairs are a good place to locate husbands who’ve strayed from the family shopping expedition. The basic format of a massage chair is a recliner with wheels inside that roll, tap and vibrate up and down your back. It sounds…
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I’m feeling weighed down
I’m feeling weighed down by all my possessions. Piles of books, papers and pamphlets that I’ve been saving for research are trash now. The detritus of several projects–spare brackets, hardware and boxes. Gone. Dust under the computer is about to be vacuumed away. I’m tempted to pull out drawers, throw away clothes, pitch everything that…
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The Communications Museum “TeiPaku”
The Communications Museum “TeiPaku” (theme park) is pretty unassuming from the outside. It’s in big building in the middle of the financial district, on a corner near Tod’s office. It’s signage is ugly. We’ve given it short shrift for three years. But yesterday, we decided to stop in after lunch. What a pleasant surprise. It…
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Actual samples from the
Actual samples from the Japanese test in front of me. Form a sentence with the following words: [tameru (to store), ofuro (bathtub), mizu (water), tamaru (to collect)] How do you answer that?! Please collect water in the bathtub to store in for an emergency. My hobby is collecting water; I store it in my bathtub.…
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We invited friends for
We invited friends for dinner and planned a Chinese meal. Chinese food, in case you’ve never cooked it before, requires a fair amount of deep frying. Even Kung Pao chicken and pepper steak are deep fried briefly before being stir fried. But tops on our menu last night was shrimp toast which needs a lot…
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Some of Tokyo’s streets
Some of Tokyo’s streets and alleys have been around for a long time. Walk past the sento near our house, and when the street curves to the left keep walking straight ahead into an alley. The alley continues for half a kilometer, gradually narrowing into a passage barely wide enough for an open umbrella. At…
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You never know what
You never know what you’ll see as you walk along Japan’s shopping avenues. Here’s Colonel Sanders dressed up as a samurai hawking his latest chicken confection–Twisters. What’s a Twister? It’s a chicken burrito. Why is a samurai/colonel advertising chicken burritos? You got me there.
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43,000 yesterday. 46,000 today.
43,000 yesterday. 46,000 today. That’s how many people are leaving leaving Japan via Narita Airport. Why? It’s the beginning of Golden Week–4 national holidays in a seven day span. This week, a few precious vaation days can be stretched into a 9 day holiday. And about 10% of Tokyo’s population leaves not only the city,…
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Note to self: spend
Note to self: spend more time with the old relatives. Too many questions about the family become permanent mysteries when the generations change. My great-aunt, Sr. Louise Burroughs, died earlier this week. She and I had an e-mail correspondence going for over a year and she was always intersting to hear from. Aunt Lou was…
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