Blaine's latest

Never fear, Washington Post! While Blaine's family is on vacation, Blaine is not slacking off!

Just in the past week, Blaine wrote stories about...

Tokyo's governor calls America "selfish"

The impact of the slowing global economy

Japan's "killer" work ethic - which actually kills people

North Korea kills a South Korean tourist

What a hard-working correspondent!

U.S. visit

Lucinda, Arno and I are back in the United States on vacation, visiting my parents in Denver. Blaine will arrive next weekend. The trip over with the children wasn't easy: 2 hr bus trip to Narita, 2 hours waiting at Narita, 9 hours to San Francisco, luggage customs and a quick wait in SF, and then 2 hours to Denver. A very long day that repeated itself.

I hoped that the kids might sleep on the long plane ride; it is, after all, a night flight. But Arno fell asleep literally as the plane was making its final approach to S.F. and I had to carry him off like a sack of apples. Fortunately, they both slept on the way to Denver because I have no idea how I would have entertained them. (I don't sleep much on planes in any case.)

Lucinda handed the jet lag like a champ: the first night in Denver, she slept for 15 hours! The same night, Arno slept for 4 hours, woke up at 1:30 a.m. and refused to rest until he passed out at noon. Finally, on day 3, he fell asleep at 5 p.m. and slept till 7 a.m. - and then we were back in business.

We're in Denver for 3 weeks, probably the most time I've spent here in nearly 20 years. We're doing lots of swimming, some shopping, lots of playing in grandparents' backyards, and I've signed the children up for various summer camps. I'm also actively trying to relax rules that I'd set up in Tokyo to make life there easier; here, Arno can wear his Superman pajamas to his summer camp if he wants to (I'd banned them from preschool because he wanted to wear them every day).

Lucinda and Arno are quite happy about life at the moment and curiously seem more mature and independent than they did even a few weeks ago in Tokyo. I'm not sure if it's because they're just older or because they've learned to handle themselves in new situations as we've lived in Japan. In either case, it's a very welcome development.

Wishing on July 7

There are "wishing trees" popping up on market streets in Tokyo to celebrate Tanabata, "the evening of the seventh" on July 7, or 7/7.

Wikipedia tells me that the Japanese festival was inspired by a Chinese story. In Japan, though, it's celebrated by writing wishes on colorful paper and hanging the papers on bamboo trees with ribbon.

We were having an ice cream cone recently when we saw this Tanabata tree.


An older man in work clothes, who was carrying a big can of Sapporo and was clearly a little drunk (but quiet) saw Lucinda and Arno and handed them some paper and a fat black pen so they could participate.

Here's Arno's wish:


And Lucinda's wish. (She's thinking of Kaila, her Seattle friend, whom she'll see in a few weeks.)

The Tooth Fairy

It's been a big month for Lucinda. She turned 6. She learned to swim. And today she lost a tooth!

Through sources I cannot reveal, I'm told she left the following note (along with her tooth, of course) under her pillow:

"Dear tooth Farea. I wont to see you. Pleas Tace a piccher av your self and Rite bak. By Lucinda (then she signed her name as she writes it in Japanese) PS I wont to no wy you clect teeth. Can I cip my tooth?"


The tooth fairy responded thusly:

Dear Lucinda,

Thank you for your note! I like getting notes from kids. And thank you for showing me your tooth. Congratulations!

You asked me to take a picture of myself - but fairies are magic and cannot be photographed. I hope you understand.

You asked why I collect teeth. I do that to show children that losing your baby teeth is an important part of growing up and something you will always remember. In this case, I am happy to leave your tooth with you to keep. I'll be back when you lose the next one!

(signed) The T.F.

P.S. Please keep brushing your beautiful teeth - in the morning and at bedtime!

Train fashion

I haven't done justice this year to the fashion thing in Tokyo, mainly because I often feel self-conscious about asking people if I can photograph them - even if they are wearing the most outrageous outfits and clearly want to be noticed.

Anyway, I recently saw these four young women on a train when I was coming back from Costco. When I took out my camera and asked if I could take a photo, they jumped into a pose!


I'm going to try to get more fashion-detail stuff in later posts, but these women do represent a lot of what we see on the streets, like the shag haircuts, thigh-high black knee socks or tights with white shoes, yellow baby-doll dresses and high heels with almost everything.

And it seems like almost every woman in Tokyo carries a designer bag; Louis Vuitton does 40 percent of its business here - and even this woman has one.



Here's another trend in Tokyo: jeweled fingernails, to go with jewel-covered cell phones. (click pic to really see the jewels)



More fashion to come...

Summer night

The weather in Tokyo lately has been delightful. I'd been warned about the rainy seasion from mid-June to mid-July: that it would rain most days with a blustery wind that would soak us and shred our umbrellas.

Instead, we've had a string of lovely, cool-enough days with some rain, but not too much rain. And we're really enjoying it. The other night, we went swimming at the Tokyo American Club, took the bus home, ate soba and tempura at a century-old noodle restaurant, and walked home through Azabu Juban in 70-degree pleasantness.

Flower pots

Tokyo is a concrete city. Except for parks and planters outside buildings, almost anything Earthlike is covered by a road, sidewalk, house, apartment building, or something else that is flat and paved.

But people try really, really hard to bring a little green into the picture - mainly with flower pots. Some of the pots are old and cracked but sometimes everything is very deliberately and artfully done - like outdoor ikebana. I've even seen planters used for growing strawberries, zucchini, and tomatoes.

I hope it's not too many pictures, but I liked finding this citified greenery. (Click a pic if you want a better view.)

These are houses we pass on the way to Lucinda's or Arno's school.




A restaurant on a busy street.


The front steps of an apartment building.


A wall overlooking a parking lot next to a few tiny homes. (My favorite photo.)


Outside the post office in the Azabu Juban neighborhood near our house.


A flower shop sets the mood.


These tiny stone planters were for sale outside a stone-masonry store.


I spotted this rooftop garden from the third floor balcony at Starbucks in Azabu Juban. Here's the building...


...and this is the rooftop closeup.


We'll be back in Seattle for vacation in a few weeks; for now, this is our green.

Blaine's latest...

Blaine had three more Condi and N Korea-related stories over the weekend. His job is a heap of hard work.

US sends shipment of wheat

SecState fails to solveS Korean protests about US beef.

and

N Korea blows up cooling tower.

Arno's suggestion

Arno said the following at dinner tonight: "I think we should have another baby. Babies are cute. If it's a girl, we could call her Rose. If it's a boy, we should call him Superhero S."

Me: "So, his nickname would be Supe?"
Arno: "No, just Superman S."

Some discussion.

Arno: "Or we could call him Astroman."
Blaine: "His nickname could be Ass."
Lucinda: "I think we should call the baby Stinky Cheese."
Arno: "I want you to call me Astroman."

We are NOT, by the way, having any more children. We told the kids that we're happy with two.