Sunday in the Park

What a beautiful fall morning. Liberty and I went to Prince Arisugawa Park in Minami Azabu, and we meandered all around the paths, meeting up with people exercising and other dogs and a few ducks. We also encountered the gentleman in the top photo playing his samisen, a three-string traditional Japanese instrument. I recorded a bit with my iPhone but it was a bit too far away from the microphone to record much.

Wow! It's been a hard day's night

And I've been working like a dog. It feels like much of my life has fallen by the wayside as I try to keep up with my job these days. I came here with the intention of building a program with actual people and resources, but then the global financial crisis hit and I've been just doing the job the best I can, no people and no resources. But it does finally feel like we've seen the worst so I'm going to renew my commitment toward putting together a program that I can be proud of and that extends beyond just me.

Home from spring break

How did it get to be March so soon? We just spent five days on Guam, which was a ton of fun.  We stayed at the Pacific Islands Club, which is chock-full of fun activities, including a water park, lots of pools, snorkeling, sea kayaking, windsurfing, and just plain swimming.

Omochi pounding

Masahiro is the assistant boy scout troop leader and soon-to-be-husband of our cub scout pack leader, Bonnie.  They are a great couple and make the boy scout experience a great one for both kids and parents.

I can't resist posting this photo, taken at a fertility shrine at Daishi Kawasaki in Tokyo.  We were in the neighborhood to pound mochi for the new year with a group of Japanese scouts.

I hear this penis shrine is quite popular and many foreigners come to pose with it, so add me to the list!  While we were here, I did see some families posing in front of the temple with their young babies, presumably giving thanks for the success of the fertility shrine.

If you can't own a car, might as well get a bike with some caché

I see these bikes all over Tokyo.

The best grocery sack in the world

Yes, the Japanese have the best reuseable grocery sack.  You may not have even known that you need the features in this grocery sack:

1. It folds into a very neat square that you can tuck into your purse or briefcase
   
2. A snap to keep things in the bag
3. A pocket for your wine bottle (of course, the store will also cradle the bottle in its own foam fishnet sleeve)
4. A small inner pocket for your money, in case you are doing the grocery store run
5. Super strong handles and construction because you WILL be walking those groceries home for several blocks