Introducing Akari

My sister-in-law gave birth to a baby girl two weeks ago.

Japanese birthing centers are terrible! Both the mother and baby have to stay there for five or seven days after birth. The baby stays in a room with all the other babies and the mother stays in a tiny little room elsewhere. Every four hours the mother has to make her way to a feeding room where she is handed her baby. She only has twenty minutes to nurse the baby before the nurse comes back to return the infant to the baby room. Tweny minutes isn't enough....too bad! If Mom wants to see the baby outside of feeding time she has to do so through a glass window. No wonder there's so many weirdos in Japan.

What are you looking at?

There are lots of foreigners in Japan. They are everywhere! On TV, on the trains, on the streets, etc. In Tokyo, everyone is used to seeing gaijin. People rarely give me a second look there. However, in my town it's a different story. The kids stare in disbelief when they see me. One kid saw me and actually fell of his bike! The adults stare too but they are a little less conspicuous. Junior gets a lot of attention too because people can't figure out if he's Japanese, a dirty foreigner or a bit of both.

Leo receiving a tradition Japanese New Years gift ... money.

New Years Eve

Happy New Year

Leo Dancing

"Must taste EVERYTHING!"

Non-alcoholic beer for kids sold at Toys R Us.

Mr. Diaper Head

Me and Junior

My first mohawk.

Avatar

Mike and I went to Kawasaki last night to see Avatar. WOW! It was incredible! I've never seen anything like it...actually, no one has ever seen anything like it because it's all new. The story wasn't anything special but the CGI and 3-D effects are amazing. I highly recommend it!