Monday, June 13, 2011

Kai Kun Yochien (Parents day)

We went to the park for a Japanese playdate. All moms put out the tarps to sit on, took off shoes. I tried to keep up in Japanese while chasing Akina around the park. Kai played on the playground with kids and then they all got ice cream at the park. Akina thinks she is part of the group.





Parents day at Kai's Yochien. Kai did a great job....he is doing well picking up the daily routine....learning what they teacher is saying..that will come ;)
Again, Akina thinks she is part of the group.








Kai's only foeiegner friend at school. Shinra is half dutch and half Japanese.


Riki and Akina really like each other. Riki has a thing for Akina...or maybe her hair?


What a great dad!!!!!



Lining up to take off name badges and smock.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Our Earthquake story...




when the camera goes left...we are actually one car behind the taxi...filmed just after earthquake.


As the 8.9 earthquake hit Sendai, Japan (2:46) we were in the car at Omotesando crossing. I could tell we were having an earthquake, but as the shaking continued and got stronger it became the scary scene from the movies:  trees swaying back and forth, traffic signals waving side to side, 10+ story bldgs. shaking so hard and in different directions that I still can’t understand why they did not fall or crumble. There were thousands of people running into the streets from every direction screaming and crying. I saw hundreds of people running down the stairs of all the buildings. Our tires on our car were all bouncing around like we had hydraulics on our car. I have never been so scared in my life. I’m sure everyone had the same thoughts in their mind, “this is it!” Kai and Akina didn’t really know what was going on and for some reason Kai fell asleep within 5 minutes after the earthquake. For someone who doesn’t take naps anymore, Kai slept for 2 hours in his car seat.  This was the scariest event that has ever happened to me. I was scared to death! I was trying to decide what to do with the babies and where to go, etc.  We couldn’t get in contact with Peter who was at work in Yokohama.  (Hopefully he will be able to write his experience below). There were tsunami warnings on the radio. Phones and Internet were all down. After about 20 min I was able to get email on my iphone to contact Peter and both of our parents to let them know we are alive. We didn’t get far before the second earthquake hit. I braced myself at the wheel and said, “Here we go again”. Thank goodness our friend Julia lived close by and had a very open space away from buildings to park in. Across from Singapore embassy where we were given updates on what was happening.  We waited here for some of the aftershocks to stop and decide what to do.
We decided to drive home and go to the park near our house and buy water, groceries, etc. Roads were very crowded and trains were all stopped.  It took us 1.5 hours to get home (about 5 Kilometers).  Later we heard that people were sleeping in their cars and driving 12 hours to get home at 5 am. Horrible! As we were stopped we would have smaller earthquakes/aftershocks. I would pull over the middle lane and hold on while looking for poles or trees that might be near us. It was horrifying that the ground kept shaking over and over. The earthquakes would not stop coming. At our supermarket, I ran into a lady in our building who explained to me that our building is okay and the elevator is not working.  I would have to walk up the 20 flights of stairs with both kids…probably leaving the stroller and groceries in the lobby (I put everything in the car). We stayed with the Berardy’s until Peter made it back to Tokyo. A million thanks to the Berardy’s and Alena for taking such good care of us. It was such a relief that Peter could make it home and be with us (5 hours later). We decided not to go back to our apartment at night due to the aftershocks happening over and over. It would be horrifying to have to run down the 20 flights of stairs with the kids.
In the morning we returned to our apt. to assess the damage. It looked like our house had been robbed. All of the paintings were literally sideways, our wooden carving had fallen, put a hole in the wall, tansu shelf fell down, wall sized mirror fell over (I’m so glad I had piles and piles of laundry on the floor which saved the mirror). We are so blessed to not have anything broken or damaged considering the magnitude of the shaking.  We were home for only one hour to call our parents , clean up  and then leave….we were still feeling aftershocks every 5 minutes and our building kept swaying…no joke. We decided to go out to a park for the day and stay away from all the tall buildings. Even tonight as we got our gas turned back on, electricity to come up the elevator and have dinner…we still feel like the boat is rocking. Our building keeps swaying from aftershocks. We pray that these aftershocks will stop soon! They just won’t stop and it’s so scary and frustrating.  It is really like every 10 minutes we feel another one! 24 hours later it has been reported that we’ve had 180 aftershocks. Largest earthquake in Japan in 140 years. 5th largest earthquake on record since 1900. Definitely something we will never forget.
Of course there are devastating problems north of us and we pray that all of those people will be safe and cared for.
We’ve built a shelter under our kitchen table..pushed it up against the sofa and put a phone and drinks underneath. We are starting to feel motion sickness from the constant rocking. As one aftershock stops it takes time for the building to stop rocking, but another aftershock comes a few minutes later. We went to church today and had a few earthquakes during church.  On top of the shaking which is said to last a few weeks, to nuclear explosion and leakage is a major concern. For now it’s said to blow into the north east, but we will go to buy iodine tablets in the morning for the kids to take. We have filled our bathtub and sink with fresh water and have lots of food storage and water. The stores are bare and shelves are empty. It really is important to be prepared ahead of time as we saw that last minute purchasing will not be sufficient. The gas station would only let us buy 20 Liters to conserve for others. Always good to be prepared.

Thank you to everyone for checking on us and for your emails, calls and prayers!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Our new place

Next month we will be moving to a new apartment in Shibuya.
16 Floor, 3bdr, 3bathrooms (w/toilets) 2 showers, 3 sides have balcony with amazing view, white carpets, lots of space ;). We are 8 min from the station and 2 streets away from a huge park.
Here are some inside photos to get a sneak peak. (Not our furniture).

Small video of the living room and view.



Hallway



Bedroom 1


Bedroom 2


Master Bedroom


Shower Room


Guest Bathroom


Entry way


Kitchen


Outside bldg.

Building Entry


Lobby

Tell us what you think!!!


Tokyo Sopra Tower Tour

Friday, August 6, 2010

Two little angels

Akina started crawling and Kai is the master of the iphone (background).

Kai on the Anaheim Angels field ready to run the bases.
 

Thursday, July 22, 2010


Preschool Fire Drill....First time for Kai and it was definitely an interesting experience!!!

The announcement for a fire drill came on as I was getting Kai situated in his class. The teachers of the baby class all of a sudden strapped a baby onto each of their fronts and backs. Kai's classmates were putting on these crazy seat cushion/tent looking things on their heads...pink and blue. As the teacher handed Kai one he looked so confused and refused to put this thing on his head. It took a little while showing him that the other kids had a pink or blue one on and it would be fun to wear the hat/tent......I really tried hard to contain my laughing at how cute/funny they looked. I wish I were able to take a photo, but I tried to find one similar online (see above).
Then, I became impressed with the organization at this point. The teachers had a bag of slip on tennis shoes for each child and they all started to put on their shoes...Kai still wondering what is going on. The kids all lined up and went down the stairs single file to the meeting point. Now Kai thought this part was fun...and that is where I slipped out the door. I REALLY wish I had a picture or video of this!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Creative!


For the last 4 years we had only seen the square watermelon in Japan...yesterday we saw these!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Tokyo Food Show

A walk through the Shibuya "Tokyo Food Show".

We are huge fans of Andersens Bread and the pastry shops.
Below are more pictures of the amazing artwork on each little pastry (about $4 each).
The area with the fruits and vegetables are quite pricey, but have the best looking fruit that you'll ever see...home of the $15 strawberries, $80 melon, square watermelon, etc.
Other food stalls have Yakitori, Tempura, Chinese food, Sushi, bento lunchboxes, etc.
The video is around 5pm when it gets quite crowded.




The Pastries



The Square Watermelon




Maccaroons


Yes, the price is Y12,600 (~$126) for Melons.


Everyone that comes to Japan becomes a fan of the bread!!!


Many go home raving about the hot dog bread ;)


One of the many reasons we love Japan....The Tokyo Food Show.

(More to come... If I can keep up with it, I'd like to post each week about our lives in Japan).

Sunday, February 28, 2010

February Fun

February is the start of the most delicious strawberries on earth!!!
Kai calls them, "EE GO" (Ichigo in Japanese).

For our 2nd annual Valentines tradition..we went north of Tokyo to the strawberry farms.
The price is Y1,500 per adult and Y500 for Kai Kun...all you can eat!
If you've seen the price for strawberries in the supermarket here (Y600-Y1,500/small container), you know we definitely ate our moneys worth! Kai loves strawberries and may have eaten more than we did two years in a row! The strawberries are so PERFECT..soft, melt in your mouth, large like a Popsicle, sparkly red and delicious!



Akina in her pretty dress

Kai and his buddy Dallin at a primary PJ Party.


Mr. Handsome in his rain gear.