Boy's Day

May 5th is Boy's day in Japan. While it's not as fun as Cinco de Mayo (in other words, no alcohol involved), they still do a good job of decorating/celebrating here. Homes that have boys hang carp windsocks, which are called koinobori. They're also displayed in public places as well. Here are some koinobori in Kyoto:

A friend of ours brought over a mini-version for Ian. He got to play with it for a while and then we also displayed it for the 5th.

Note the huge camper in the background. I don't know how they do it, but our neighbors park it in the most incredibly tight space I've ever seen. ...and they do it on average 3-4x/week. I hope at some point I'll be able to watch it in action.

Huh.

We took Ryan's parents to our favorite okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake) restaurant in Tokyo last week. As we were leaving, they brought over a gift for Ian. It was wrapped in a package and looked like this:

We waited until we got home to investigate. Ryan has the hiragana characters memorized, so he read the words ton-katsu on the package. Ton-katsu is breaded, fried meat or veggies. It's similar to tempura, but definitely a thicker breading. It's pretty good. Upon opening it, we saw this:

Needless to say, we were a bit confused. Ryan took the first bite and had an awful face. It was basically a fried stick without any meat inside and awful seasoning. After Ryan's reaction, I chose to lick it. Yuck! Ryan then proceeded to bring it to Bill to taste. Here was Bill's reaction:

I cannot imagine why they think this is a good gift for an 11 month old, although I do appreciate the gesture. Ah, the things we parents do to protect our children.

Hanami

Hanami (or "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, specifically sakura (or "cherry blossoms"). On Easter Sunday we traveled to Ueno Park in Tokyo to take part in Hanami with a few people from our host nation...

It's a fairly popular tradition.

Yes, she is balancing a bottle of alcohol on her head. Huh, I still don't know what she is doing.

On Saturday we enjoyed Hanami at a local park with a group from work...that managed to pick a park that overlooked work, errr (the shipyard is in the background).

If you would like to visit us during Hanami in the next couple years, the best bet is the last week of March and the first week of April.

I thought this was an interesting sign in the sakura park at the top of a hill. There is lots of Kangi on the sign but the message seems clear enough, if you are driving in a slot canyon, which, is no where near here, watch out for kids.

Republican Hair Cut

I have noticed my “80s hair” has been referenced in previous posts on this blog and I’m pretty sure Ian’s not the author…Kari. I can’t help that my hair naturally feathers and no, Miami Vice hasn’t called to ask for their hair stylist back. In my defense my clippers don’t work well on 50hz power and I’m opposed to paying more than $5 for a hair cut when I can cut it myself in 20 minutes. This week I decided my hair was bad enough that I would have to endure the horrible vibration and noise from my clippers operating on 50hz power. I went from this.

To This.

On Friday I went to lunch with my boss. His comment was, “that’s a good republican hair cut.” Huh, I’m never cutting my own hair again.

Skillz, part 2

Ian has moved on quickly from rolling to creeping. In the past week he's been traversing the floors to get to his destination. (usually a toy, an outlet, or cords) His current mode of transportation looks like a combination of an inchworm and the breaststroke. It cracks me up, so I figured I should post a short video.

Go, Ian, Go!

Skillz

In the past few days Ian has finally learned how to roll over. He's done it a few times in the past, but never consistently. For the past four days he has also skipped his afternoon naps. He's in his crib talking to his hippo, and when I finally check on him this is what I see:

I'm hoping this 'no nap' thing is just due to rolling. I'd prefer that to having Ian drop his 2nd nap of the day earlier than average. (most infants do it between 12-18 months) It's not looking good, though. I can't imagine what will happen when he starts crawling...

Kappabashi Dori

On Sat. we took the train up to Tokyo with our friends Todd and Mary. (Todd is one of Ryan's coworkers from Bremerton. He is here for 2.5 months for work) We went to Kappabashi Dori, which is a street in Japan that's dedicated entirely to restaurant supplies. Anything you need for opening a restaurant...they have it. (i.e. stores with display cases, chairs, cashier registers, you name it)

They have some great pottery stores with super reasonable prices. (note Ryan is currently rocking some stylish 80's hair)

Here, you'll find signs for your restaurant...and a big, fat Italian man to lure in the crowds.

There are a 'couple' choices here for knives.

Ryan decided it would be fun to pose Ian next to knives that are almost as big as he is.

After we had our fill of shopping, we found a small restaurant that serves okonomiyaki. This is a Japanese version of a savory pancake. They bring out the batter, you stir it to get the egg mixed in, and then you pour it on the griddle on your table. I was hoping they would run the batter out yelling 'okonomiyaki' (just like they do at pannekuchen), but no such luck. The okonomiyaki was excellent. Here are Todd and Mary mixing the batter:

Although Ian's bib is on and he would probably be more than happy to try some, we brought with some pureed food for him. Soon, his okonomiyaki days will come.

Another great day in Tokyo.