a FISHING adventure

Another from Graham:

I miss fishing. So on my day off a couple of weeks ago I went in search of a fishing experience. Amazingly, there was a fishing pond just a 5 minute walk away in my neighborhood, hidden at the end of a residential road (the open entrance on the left in this picture).

Inside is a fishing pond. Click here for a 360 photo I took: http://360.io/PFamdy.

To be honest, it's more like a swimming pool filled with pond water and stocked with tons of carp. It was the middle of a work day, so there were only 3 other men there, spread out evenly around the perimeter.

The technique was fairly straightforward. I rented a pole (with no reel) and some bait. The bait was a golf-ball-sized mass of green dough. I would pinch a bit from the mass and roll it into a pea-sized ball to thread onto my hook. Then lower the line into the water and wait for the bobber to move - which usually took about 10 seconds. In this photo you see the required equipment (left to right): sitting pillow, pole, pole rest, fish net, bucket to hold the bait, and bucket of water to rinse off your fingers after rolling a bait ball.

Unlike fly-fishing, there was no skill required to find the fish, select the bait, or cast the line. The only skill was in setting the hook, which involved some degree of timing and understanding of the bobber's movements. Clearly there was a skill here, because the guy across from me caught 30 fish in the hour it took me to catch 5. The bait came off the hook easily, so 9 times out of 10 the hook was empty when retrieved from the water. I quickly learned an advanced technique from observing the other fishermen - roll the bait into pea-sized balls while casting the line and waiting for a bite. Having a few "peas" waiting ensured maximum hook-in-water time.

Success!

While the experience wasn't near as satisfying to me as fly-fishing, I do appreciate there was a degree of therapy in the repetitive process. Perhaps it would be more satisfying if I thought of it more as a meditation than a sport.

a GUEST blogger

Below is a post from Graham:

A couple of weeks ago I took Blue to a free neighborhood "petting zoo" 20 mins away by train. The zoo had guinea pigs, rabbits, and dogs.

In the guinea pig pen, children sat on a bench with a towel on their laps, and an adult put a guinea pig on their laps to pet. Blue was very sweet with his guinea pig, and a little nervous. He was very careful, as always.

The rabbit was in a pen. I couldn't read the signs, but nobody else was getting into the pen, so I assume they said something like "stay outside the pen." We stayed outside and wished the rabbit would come close enough to touch, but the rabbit knew better.

My favorite animal was the dog, who reminded me of Lucy and was very sweet. 

I rarely see animals here, much less touch them. I'd forgotten how therapeutic it is to pet a dog. I've heard of places in Tokyo you can pay by the hour to play with cats. Before moving here I thought this idea was crazy, but now I understand why such a business exists.

the JAPANESE minivan

Introducing my new mamachari!

This is how Japanese mamas transport their little ones around. I have seen women riding with a third strapped to their chest in an Ergo. They all make it look very easy. But it is not. These bikes are very heavy and the child seat in the front makes the steering a little tricky. This one is an electric assist which means I don't have to do all the work. Going up killer hills is no problem. This is me practicing in the garage on a rainy Sunday. Blue loves it. Wiley just tolerates it right now which is why she was not wearing her helmet.

pigtails AND parties

Speaking of pigtails and parties, a little special someone showed up in Blue's birthday box from Pops and Lolly...

She has her party dress on and is ready to go! My sister and I loved Cabbage Patch dolls when we were little. Wiley will just sit there and stroke the baby's hair (it is really soft) and point to all its different features and tell me their names. The fact that she comes with her own purse makes her extra special!

party AND loot

We had a party for Blue in the park by our apartment on the Saturday morning following his birthday. I invited all his school friends, some karate friends, some park friends, and some building friends. And we had a pretty good turnout. The theme was dinosaurs (ha!) and we had a dino dig in the giant sandbox.

I ordered a whole bunch of dinosaur skeletons on Amazon and found some additional dino themed goods at the 100 yen shops (dollar stores are pretty popular here and have an amazing selection). Blue loved it. He found my stash the night before and wanted to go immediately to the park and bury all the dinos.

I just did simple finger food that was easy for kids and adults to snack on separated out for the meat eaters and the plant eaters. It was actually pretty hot but the only one who really seemed to mind was Wiley. She was fussy the whole time which is pretty unusual for her. I thought maybe she was tired but she literally stopped whining and started babbling again as soon as we hit the air conditioning.

This was Blue's first experience getting presents at a party. We opened one at the park which happened to be full of little pieces that he wanted to immediately open and play with on the spot. So we didn't open anymore until we got home and he had a fabulous day opening a present every hour or so.

two little TAILS

I had been watching and waiting for Wiley-girl's hair to grow long enough to put into pigtails and the day finally arrived! Thank goodness she seems to have a very hard head because I really had to yank those fine little hairs into place. But look at the cuteness. So worth it. These were her very first pigtails. 

happy THREE years

Blue at age three... Hmm.

Well, he loves dinosaurs. He knows almost all (not an exaggeration) of their names along with what each one eats, how it walks, how big or little it is, etc. And he acts them out almost constantly. His T Rex impersonation is uncanny. He has a hard time just being Blue which is something we are working on. In the spring he would have introduced himself as Bert. Now he is a T Rex.

Are all three year olds particular? Well then Blue fits right in. He has specific ideas about how and in what order various tasks should be performed. And he is always the director, orchestrating from the sidelines. If something is hard or "tricky" he is more than happy to let someone else do the work. We are working on that too.

He is very interested in people and what they are thinking, feeling, and saying. But he is still cautious around new people and in new situations. He is definitely a mama's boy, never far from my side. He struggles when he cannot communicate well with someone, from Wiley to all of the Japanese people and kids we meet on a daily basis.

He still wants to wear blue jeans every day. In fact, he has very particular ideas about all his clothes. He basically chooses what he wears to play and to sleep. It is helping motivate him to put his clothes on by himself so I guess I will take it. He finally admitted that the cowboy boots were too small. He still wears a pull-up at night but most of the time he keeps it dry. Even if that means waking me up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom...

I think I would finally say he is a good eater. Not a great eater but will try most things and eats a pretty diverse and healthy variety. His love of dinosaurs was the catalyst for his love of meat. Unfortunately there is not as much drama when chomping on a salad as when gnawing on a chicken bone but maybe someday he'll get there.

Love you Blue Michael!