Karaoke Yoga

Karate-ka

Riku got his dougi — his karate uniform — today.

(We have to hem the sleeves and pants ... I guess they all come long.)

Kyoto Station

I met an old colleague (great phrase ... and one reserved for the non-young) and his wife at Kyoto Station for a quick lunch. I worked with Renaud at Zing.com, a pioneering (?) photo sharing site that eventually lost out to Ofoto and others. He's now the head of engineering at Eventbrite, a company started by Kevin Hartz, the same serial entrepreneur (a non-great phrase, but an accurate one) who started Xoom.com, my employer.

Kyoto Station is right in the heart of the city, and boy do I feel it ... definitely culture shock sets in at some point between quaint, quiet, staid Nishigamo and Kyoto Station. It's a truly massive building, and I didn't even realize that until today when I actually meandered around a bit for the first time. It's here that you catch the bullet train to Tokyo, which is what Renaud and Tina did right after lunch (yummy tempura) and coffee.

Chinese Class

Quick series of pics I took today as I took Riku to his weekly Chinese class.

The class is downtown, and it's a bit of a haul to get there, but we now hop the subway to speed things up (taking the bus all the way there and back was too painful for all concerned). But today, a combination of the subway, our good moods, and maybe luck ... it was a great trip.

First leg ... bus from our place. Riku snacking on some unseemly item (you'd love 'em!).

On the subway now ... half the riders are private school children in adorable uniforms.

Outside the nondescript building where he takes his class ("When we get to the 4th floor ... we're in China!").

Riku's classmate ... it's just the two of them ... this boy spent three years in China while his father was stationed there on business ... his parents are trying to keep his Chinese up now that he's home.

Their teacher ...

Riku purposely trying to look silly ... our customary post-lesson dinner out. Tonight was ramen, an easy sell ...

Planting

Everyone in Riku's class is growing a little plant outside, right behind the classroom. They are responsible for watering it in the morning. Here's Riku posing with his plant ("plant" ... I don't have any specifics actually!), plus a drawing that he did for school.

Okonomiyaki in Nishigamo

Akane and I had lunch out ... still checking out the neighbourhood spots. This place was recommended to us ... okonomiyaki ... Japanese "pancake" prepared in myriad ways.

I had the negiyaki (green onion pancake ... Kyoto is known for its green onions so this seemed like a good choice). Akane typically orders a non-okonomiyaki item at these places. Usually she orders yakisoba (fried soba noodles mixed w. meat, veggies) but today she had fried marrow and onions.

This place is tiny, cozy, and casual. Smoking, beer, and sake along with their meals. A true local place, and am looking forward to taking visitors here. Tasty and cheap.

When we walked in, my eye caught the back of a Buddhist monk sitting at the counter. He turned out to be an American, born in Toronto, living at a Buddhist retreat in rural Pennsylvania, and in Kyoto for two weeks for a training class. Very friendly, chatty guy ... we were sitting right beside him at the counter.

Quick video of the place here. Akane's dish is visible at the beginning and mine's the one he flips and plots onto the egg.

Tasty cappucinos at a non-smoking cafe that just opened close to home.

Picking Up Mirei

I picked Mirei up Thursday afternoon. It's about 30 minutes south by bus, along Horikawa ("canal river") Street ... a pretty major north-south road through the city. You hop the bus at the very beginning of the route, so you always get a seat. The way back ... usually not so lucky, although people tend to give up their seats to Mirei.

School lets out at 4pm. Parents begin congregating in the courtyard a few minutes before 4. Equal mix of walkers, bikers, and cars. Mostly moms, maybe half are French, half Japanese. Dads are always French ... I don't think I've seen a Japanese dad at pickup time (although a few "Japanese-Japanese" children go to the school).

Mirei gets lots of attention at let-out time. Lots of "au revior Mirei!" from the older children. Same when we're walking to the bus stop, just a few minutes east of the school.

Mirei generally enjoys the bus trip. She eats her snack, often pizza bread or something else from the bakery on the corner. She comments on the goings-on on the bus, often in her shall we say piercing voice? The smiles from the other riders outweigh the frowns 90% - 10%.

Mirei has learned that most little old ladies have some kind of treat hidden away in their purses. So she'll strike up a conversation ... "what's this?" ... "that's my scarf" ... "and what's this?" ... "that's my bag" ... "what's inside your bag?" ... she views these women as ATMs of hard candy and other sweets.

The start of the bus ride south, and the canal alongside the main road.

Waiting for Mirei to emerge ... that's her teacher, Hugo, in the blue t-shirt.

Video of Mirei emerging ...

Kyoto Bakeries

One thing I knew I was going to miss in San Francisco was the bread. And it's true. But I can now also say that I'm really going to miss the bread here in Kyoto. There are some amazing bakeries here.

In Sakai, where I've spent the majority of my Japan time, the bread choices are pretty limited. Actually, lots of shapes and sizes, but generally all light, fluffy, white bread. I remember just one time when Akane brought some bread home from a high-end Osaka department store ... a mini-bakery inside the store called "Paul" ... eating that bread and thinking, "this bread is just as good as SF's ..."

In Kyoto, there are plenty of the Sakai-style places ... tiny neighbourhood shops that make perfect white toast bread, but that's about it. But there are also these specialty bakeries ... sooo good!

Akane's mom and sister were here this weekend, so with access to a car we visited a place recommended to us by Riku's piano teacher ... "Klore", her favourite bakery. Tiny place tucked away in the residential hills of Kitayama, the upscale neighbourhood just south of us. I think the pictures tell the tale ... the only thing I need to add is that they taste as good as they look.

Himeringo

Akane's mom and sister got here Saturday afternoon, and we had an amazing Japanese dinner that night at Kanbashi, which Akane and I discovered a few weeks ago on one of our "lunch dates". It's run by a husband-and-wife team ... he cooks, she serves. Beautiful interior ... austere, light woods, clean lines. The place is pretty small and they've subdivided it into three sections.

The front of the restaurant has Western-style tables. The middle section is a counter (where we had our lunch), and the back is a single, enclosed tatami room, with plenty of room for 10+ diners. We had that room (with its single table) to ourselves for our dinner.

Too much food, excellently prepared. A nice balance of traditional Japanese cuisine with some modern touches (e.g., avocado tempura). This is the perfect place to take the more adventurous of our future guests. And being so far from the tourist track makes it especially nice ("it's all ours!").

Riku had school today ... Sunday ... and has the day off tomorrow to make up for it. The school opened on a Sunday to allow fathers to come and visit their children. The whole school was an open house and you could visit any class you wanted. They were discussing AIDS in the grade 6 class (sex education starts in grade 5 here).

Riku was free at 12:20 and we were off to a quick lunch at Sakai, just two doors down from the previous night's dinner. This place is famous for its reimen dish ... cold ramen noodles in a somewhat spicy vinegar-based sauce, with chopped nori and veggies on top (the bottom dish in the photo on their home page). I love it. We also ordered (hot) ramen, karaage (fried chicken), fried rice, gyoza, and steamed rice.

(In between these two restaurants is Tokkebi, a Korean-style yakiniku place. Akane and I like this place a lot, too ... we've named this little trio of restaurants Restaurant Row.)

After lunch comes coffee, and I suggested we head to Himeringo, an old-style coffee house right on the (wonderfully lush and green these days) Kamogawa River ... maybe a 5-minute bike ride from our place. I've been here twice before ... once on my own in the morning and once with Akane in the late evening, while Mom watched the children. It's incredibly cool. Very spacious interior, all decked out. Piano, stunning grandfather clock, busts, random art, lush seating ...

(It's right next door to a massive, massive home that has two late-model Bentleys in the driveway. The first time I went to the cafe, a very well-dressed man was holding court, and I theorized that he might be the resident of the mansion. The next time I went, with Akane, he was there again, looking just as regal and holding just as much court. I presented my theory to Akane, who promptly told me that he was a cabbie ...)

(Speaking of that mansion, I was mentioning it to the owner of the local LP-only jazz bar that I visited ... I imagined the owner involved with some very cool, Kyoto-specific commerce, like green tea, kimono ... but the bartender knew the house and told me the owner was a pachinko magnate.)

Akane had tea, Ayako mixed juice, Akane's mom "blend coffee" (weaker), me "american coffee" (stronger), and Riku and Mirei a scoop of vanilla ice cream each. It's a mom-and-pop place (they built it 20 years ago), and the mom was quite taken with Riku, presenting him later with a Hanshin Tigers (fabled, if not always winning, local baseball team) piggy bank.

This is another place I will bring guests of a certain persuasion (I'm thinking Susan, Stevo, ...).

Kung Fu Hustle

Mirei and Riku decompressing on a Sunday afternoon ... watching Kung Fu Hustle on a chair that won't be able to hold the two of them forever ...

Mirei Snippets

1. Mirei was teasing Riku with her dessert as he hadn't finished his dinner yet ... Riku says, "Stop teasing me, Mirei ...". Mirei replies, "But I'm only a woman, Riku ...".
2. Mirei was up to no good at school today, and I was reminding her to behave herself. I said, "Understand? ... (no reply) ... Understand? ... (no reply) ... Mirei, do you understand?" Mirei replies, "I'm thinking ...".
3. Mirei got some soap bubbles in her mouth at bath time and started to cry. She was really upset, and I said, "I'm really sorry, Mirei" after she calmed down. Mirei replies, "It wasn't you, Daddy ... I did it by myself ..."

An old pic (Sept. '07) of Mirei ...

Han Xiao

Riku's current Chinese class, good as it is, is just too far (and unnecessarily expensive) to justify continuing. We're solving both problems by bypassing the middleman (the school) and having the teacher come to us.

The problem, of course, is ... how to find a good teacher? Kyoto's a lot like San Francisco ... lots of Chinese university students here. Young, smart, and succeeding (able to study abroad and get into tough Japanese universities). We asked Maggie, Riku's old San Francisco tutor, to try to tap into the Chinese community here in Kyoto and find us a tutor.

She emailed last week saying that she found 20 candidates (!) and was whittling the list down based upon my criteria (basically, nice/smart person, good with children, responsible, good Mandarin accent, male). She got it down to three, and the first guy came over on Saturday for a few hours.

His name's Han Xiao and he's only been in Japan for two months. He and Riku hit it off ... talking about beetles (Riku loves insects), went to the park, goofing around. He's going to come next Saturday too ... looks like this will work out.

Our commitment at the Chinese school ends end-of-month, although we would like to keep in touch with his classmate. We'll see if that happens.

Nobuyuki Tsujii

I was watching a bit of TV the other night and, although I could barely understand, it appeared that a young Japanese pianist had just won a major competition.

This morning I was reading a bit on NPR's site ... it was the Van Cliburn Foundation's competition in Fort Worth, Texas ... held every four years, and considered the top competition for young pianists (or so I read).

This year, two pianists tied for first place ... Haochen Zhang, from China, who just turned 19, and Nobuyuki Tsujii, from Japan. Akane says his name is all over the news since he won a few days ago, and his CD has sold 20,000 additional copies.

Mirei's "Graduation"

Mirei's first "year" (she started in April) at L'Ecole Française du Kansai ends this upcoming week, and they had their big year-end school concert yesterday. She starts back again in September, with the same teacher (Hugo, pictured, who runs the big combined preschool class).

After the (long! hot!) performance, we had a big potluck buffet. Lots of families are going back to France for the summer ... we're "stuck" in Kyoto.

And two quick videos of the performance. Mirei and friend playing a two-headed monster. The camera is wobbly as I'm laughing! And a big dance number, with the whole school participating.

Mondays in the Big City

I found a language partner on Craigslist ... which in Japan is pretty-much non-existent but the little that is there tends to be good. And it's kind of a good place to find stuff in English, as English speakers are the only ones who even know of the site.

Anyway, we meet once a week on Monday, after lunch and before I pick Mirei up. Since I head "downdown" to get Mirei anyway, we decided to meet close to his office. Ken just moved back to Japan after getting his graduate degree at UC Irvine. He wants to keep his English up now that he's back.

Here are two quick pics ... of the lunch I had just before meeting up (nishin soba ... cooked herring with hot soba noodles ... a Kyoto delicacy), and of the interior of the cafe where we met (which I found in a "cool coffee shops of Kyoto" book that Akane bought).

Father's Day 2009

Yesterday morning I came downstairs and Mirei said, "I made you a drawing Daddy!". Riku replied, panicked, "You're not supposed to tell him, Mirei ... it's for Father's Day!"

I slept in this morning, Father's Day. Came down at 9am greeted by two shining children ... "Happy Father's Day!". They presented me with their cards, and we spent the morning working on a finicky Meccano-style, but not Meccano-quality, helicopter. I remember getting my first Mechano set when we were living on the farm (so either kindergarten or grade one) and Dad teaching me which way tightened the bolts.

Just now, after lunch, Mirei came up with a present she made at school. "Happy Birthday Daddy!".

"Happy FATHER'S Day, Mirei!"

"Another Happy Father's Day Daddy!"

Father's Day Cards

Fire Dragon

Riku was watching a wild, strange Chinese animation ... extended battles between the mystical monkeys (the good guys) and the mystical humans (the bad guys). Lots of morphing into fish, cranes, snakes ...

Afterward, Riku drew the following ... a drawing that's incorporating the Chinese characters for fire (火) and dragon (龍 ... this character is part of his name, too).

Rice Everywhere

There are lots of garden plots in our neighbourhood. I now have a clue about which vegetables are in season.

Lots of the plots that were growing green onion and peas have switched over to ... rice. It's everywhere. I guess I know when rice season is now, too. The farmers buy tadpoles and put them in the paddies. The paddy across from Riku's school was literally infested with tadpoles ... I couldn't believe how many were in there.

Tomatoes are beginning to ripen. Kabocha and eggplants getting plump ...

Sophie and Jonah

Riku's classmate Sophie from Little Angels Japanese Preschool (in San Francisco) and her family have been in Osaka for the past month. They came to visit relatives (Sophie's mom's from Osaka and her father has family in Kyoto) and are staying with us for the weekend. Unfortuntely, we are not staying with us this weekend ... we're in Sakai.

But, we did get to spend Friday afternoon and evening with them. Mirei made it very clear that, because she is a girl and Sophie is a girl, then they should play with each other, and Riku should play with Jonah. However, Jonah is a big Mirei fan, and Riku and Sophie are mutual fans as well. So they just played en mass.

Bill, their dad, and I abandoned the families and headed out for dinner at his aunt's restaurant downtown. It was fun to get out with somebody. Tiny restaurant, mostly counter seating, and about 15 freshly made dishes out on display right above the counter. You point at what you want and it gets served up. Like a tapas place I guess. Mixture of Asian and western dishes, and lots of veggies. Eggplant's in season so we had two dishes. Potatoes and cheese, potatoes and marrow, raw ground beef mixed with raw egg (Korean dish), some nice salads, ...

So they're staying at our place but will be gone before we get back tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. Sad that we won't see them again until next year at the earliest, but so nice to have some visitors!

Civilized

So we're in Sakai for the weekend. We learned a bit from our last, trying commute here. This time, instead of busing it to crazy busy JR Kyoto Station and boarding an already-packed train, we took a taxi to the start of the Hankyu Line and boarded the empty, classy Hankyu express train. Which is actually a bit cheaper than the JR line, although a bit slower too.

(Please ignore Mirei's personal grooming.)

Round Sushi

Sushi coming around on a conveyor belt ... pick what you want. Prices are determined by the colour of the plate. You can also special order. Riku and Mirei love sitting "beltside" and grabbing what people want.

This particular place, like all the places we go to when in Sakai, was packed. We waited about 30 minutes to get seated. Riku and Mirei's "baa-ba" bought them perfect little gifts: some beetle-like robots for Riku and a mini-stamp set for Mirei. Kept them busy, and their antics kept all of us amused.

Mirei is getting good at chopsticks ... she's just winging it and it's fun to see her pull it off sometimes.

And a little video of the belt in action.

Japanese Summer School

Mirei's French school wound up for the year on Friday, and she's starting at a traditional Japanese preschool this week. She'll be there for 15 days this summer, and the school's quite a bit closer than the French school (but still a bus ride).

Akane had been a couple of times, including once with Mirei, but the first day of Mirei's school was my first time there. Tons of kids out in the yard, friendly-looking teachers, and lots of equipment in the playground ... a nice change from the two daycare facilities that we'd occasionally used in Sakai.

Mirei was confident and claimed she wasn't going to cry ... here is a video of her at home a few minutes before leaving for school, and the classic "first day" photo outside the front door:

However, once the school was in sight, immediate big tears. Caught us by surprise as she had sounded almost cocky before! But it was short-lived ... she stopped in a minute or so and switched to shy mode:

And she remained that way until we left a few minutes later, then more tears ...

However, today, a day later, we're pleased to report that this morning's drop-off was drama-free. Apparently the school has met her satisfaction.