Back to blogging after a fun, busy month in San Francisco with Mirei, and a fun, busy two weeks back home with Mark visiting from Vancouver.
After lots of anticipation, Riku turned seven this Friday! "Good night, 6-year-old" on Thursday night, and "Good morning, 7-year-old" on Friday morning.
(At breakfast, Mirei said, "Riku's not seven yet ... he hasn't had his cake!" I explained that he turned seven overnight. Fifteen minutes later, she asked, "How can he turn seven while he's asleep?")
After Riku's and Mirei's Friday afternoon piano lessons, we picked up Mark and went to a "round sushi" (conveyor belt sushi) place close to Kinkaku-ji temple. Amongst the five of us, we plowed through 30 plates (usually two pieces per plate) in no time, then back home for some light, fluffy cheesecake from Karan, the local bakery famous for their cheesecake.
Riku opened about half his presents, but it was getting late so we decided to open the rest the next day.
On Saturday, we had a modest party at the house. Two of Riku's friends from school came: Sugimoto-kun, and Juka-chan, his classmate who lives up the street and usually walks home with Riku. They are both really sweet kids. Juka-chan's mom and little sister also came along, as did Xiao, Riku's Chinese tutor (and family friend).
Akane and Mirei attended Mirei's teacher's wedding a few weeks ago. (Her teacher is Hugo.) It took place at Yoshida Jinja, a Shinto shrine here in Kyoto. Looks lovely ... wish I had gone.
I bought matching father/son skateboards in San Francisco in October (only the wheels are different ... a bit smaller on Riku's which makes the board slower and lower). I had his hidden away, but proudly showed off mine when I got home.
"Is that for me Daddy?!"
"No, it's for me... you're waaaay too young for one of these."
Then, two weeks later, he got his on his birthday. We just started practicing, and this is the result of his third mini-lesson. The street we live on just happens to have the perfect slope for learning (if a bit rough, but that's good for learning too).
Just a few quick shots of a coffee shop Akane and I really like. Dangerously smoky but full of charm. Lots of seniors drinking their morning coffee and reading the paper. I spent about an hour here this morning, working on my laptop and soaking up the atmosphere.
The "morning set" (a staple at coffee shops) was ¥400 (or $4.61 at today's exchange rate ... the US dollar is at a 12-year low against the yen right now ... not great for those of us getting paid in USD).
Ayako is here this weekend, so we always take advantage of her car to hit some out-of-the-way spots. "Brugge" is a bakery/cafe tucked way on the very edge of town. It's backed by a forest and stream. Very funky place ...
We love their French toast, which you can take out ... it's served like a pastry, just thrown in a bag (rather than served on a plate w. syrup). So good!
They also make exquisite-looking desserts, and had free samples of their seasonal stollen. Outstanding!
Just a couple of quick shots from Riku's piano lesson. I pick him up Fridays after school on Akane's bike (which has a "baby" seat that Riku can fit into) and haul him to piano. Today I decided to wait outside his teacher's house (usually I sit in on the lesson).
This is what I call a post when I don't remember the name of the area we were in. It was between Gion and Kiyomizudera. Stunning maze of stone laneways. Most of the buildings are high-end restaurants and tea houses.
Honda Super Cub-mounted postman delivering the mail.
Tea house entrance on right (with traditional geisha-hosted entertainment).
Akane and I spent a few hours at Kiyomizudera, one of Kyoto's more spectacular temples. This is also the first temple I visited when we came to Kyoto in 2002 a few months before Riku was born.
Even though it was a Monday, the temple was very crowded. These were taken with my camera phone, so they're not great (and I even brought our "real" camera but forgot that I had ...).
