January Skyping

Here's Nancy & Eldon Skyping us from their home in Vicenza, Italy.


Natalie & Amelia - Everyone in their house is having snow days in Nashville, TN because of heavy snow & icy weather.


Andy has joined Natalie & Amelia. They were telling me about how much fun they've been having playing in the snow!


Cody - closeup


And Kelly

Christmas Skype Photos

Heather, Cody & Kelly opening presents on Christmas morning.


Andy & Amelia opening our box of presents. They especially love the unwrapped surprises!


Natalie singing to us . . .


Cody & Kelly are copying Grampa's "walrus look" (he uses chopsticks, of course!)


Cody & Kelly before Christmas - when Cody still had hair!

Hiroshima with Barbara 1/27/10

An employee at Tokyu Hands is hanging up cherry blossom decorations - Spring can't be too far away!


We've left Tokyu Hands and walked over to Sogo Department store & into Pacela Mall. Barbara thinks she may have left her camera here the night we went to the Kodo drum concert in early December. First though, we're going to eat lunch. This one looks interesting . . . Fantasia Italian restaurant on the 9th floor. No English menu or plastic food, but we were determined to order lunch!


Yum! We had a great, relaxing lunch of salad & chicken pasta, but no pictures - sorry! I liked this cute wine glass holder. The stems lift out separately from a single stand.


A beautiful elephant outside an Indian restaurant nearby.

Bike with beautiful leather bags & decorations - outside a leather shop.


Here's the price - 176,400 yen - about $1764 - yikes! Don't think this includes the bicycle either . . .


Looking up at the ceiling of the mall . . .


Entrance from the first floor of Pacela Mall in Hiroshima. Unfortunately, no one at the restaurant nor at the Information booth had found Barbara's camera . . .


Beautiful fresh seasonal flowers at the bottom of the escalator.

Click on "Older Posts below to see more of this entry!

Listen to this beautiful chiming clock at Pacela Mall in Hiroshima. Sorry it's a little wiggley - I was trying to walk to get right in front of it! CLICK ON THE ARROW BELOW . . .

Me at the bottom of the escalators.


One last stop at Starbucks at the train station & Barbara found the 2010 cup she wanted!


Isn't it cute?


Some schoolgirls came in & Barbara noticed the backpack on the girl on the left.


It's a shark with it's mouth open!

Seeing Avatar 3D in Downtown Iwakuni

Once we park in this small lot downtown (whoohoo - we got the last available space!), a bar comes up underneath to lock our car in place. When we return, we enter in the number of our space into this machine & it tells us how much yen we owe.


Our car just before the bar goes up underneath . . .


The theater is just around the corner on the main street.




What I DIDN'T get a picture of, were the cozy fleece lap blankets stacked on shelves as we entered the theater. Very thoughtful . . . Notice that Stan's reasonably sized popcorn serving is covered in a plastic bag to help eliminate mess. Also, our goodies came in a small plastic bag we could use for our trash.

Stan in his cute 3D glasses.


Here's his glasses. Oops, I flashed . . .

The movie was FABULOUS and it made me cry. I want to believe that in the future (when this movie takes place) our country will have changed it's foreign policy, so we are no longer taking what we want by force & ignoring the indigenous people & their cultures . . .

Hiroshima with Elaine & Pat 1/2/2010

Saturday after New Year's Day & it's crowded on the train. We're going to show the Pattersons how to get around Hiroshima today & see the Christmas lights one more time.


We've taken them to our "new favorite" steak restaurant on the 2nd floor of the train station. That's beef for our dinner. I like watching the food being prepared & cooked right in front of us!


I think these are scallops for someone else . . . ?


This is our chef.


We've taken them over to Tokyu Hands department store. This is our new favorite store & where we'll do our shopping from now on. They have such interesting things! These are spray bottle covers . . .


Closer view.

Sweets cleaner . . . (to dust with?)


Cute teapot & cup sets.


Awww . . . Pat & Elaine on the streetcar.


Looking down into other cars.


The Pattersons at the light show. We had fun walking around, but STILL didn't see it all!


Click "Older Posts" below to see more of this trip . . .

Japanese Rice Field Art

This is absolutely amazing! A friend from Idaho sent me some pictures & asked if this was real. Internet research has proven that this is indeed, authentic & we're hoping to plan a trip to see this for ourselves if we're still here at the end of next summer. The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Tokyo (very from away from us!), where this tradition began in 1993. CLICK RIGHT HERE for more unbelievable photos, info & even a time-lapse video of how they did it!

Folksy yet sophisticated ... a reproduction in rice of Hokusai's famous print the Great Wave. Photograph: Norifumi Naito/Solen

Coming of Age Day 1/11/10

20 years is considered the age of adulthood in Japan and the second Monday of January is a national holiday - Coming of Age Day in Japan. Read about it HERE! and HERE!

Tokyo Sky Tree Tower

Have you heard about this new tower under construction in Tokyo? It's going to be one of the highest in the world -- taller than the existing Tokyo Tower (which is a slightly taller version of Eiffel Tower in Paris.) Take a look at this website & be sure to check out the really interesting color & lighting options . . .
http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/

And here are a couple of artist drawings from the website:



I can't wait to get to Tokyo & check this out!

Japanese New Year Customs

Found this interesting article that tells everything you ever wanted to know about celebrating the New Year and the rest of January in Japan - complete with pictures. Check it out HERE!!!

Geek Alert! Robots in Japan . . .

Check out how robots are viewed in Japanese culture! Just watched this short video on a great BBC TV show called "Click" -- this is SOOOO Amazing! CLICK HERE!

Holly & Heather Together in Vegas!

Happy New Year 2010!

Stan's Black-eyed Peas!

Year of the Tiger - 2010 ! ! !

This was the quietest NYE we've had in years! Most of our party friends have either moved away or are out of town for the holidays, so we just stayed in & watched TV and played Wii. Turns out I (who have always been no good at sports) am a crack shot & can also whip Stan at ping pong. Who knew? Baked a spiral ham & Stan's black-eyed peas are in the crock pot. Hope 2010 is a better, easier, and more prosperous year for everyone . . .

Check out a baby tiger in this video from Japanese TV!