0630 in the morning here in Yokohama - it's actually Sunday, 12/12, here. I'm sitting at the dining room table of my cousin, Hiro and his wife, Reiko's, home. Everyone in the household is awake! I hope I'm not the reason for all the early risers. :-) Both Riko and Osuke are wide awake and being kids.
The sun is just coming up in the East and I have a nice view through their sliding glass doors out past their adorable, chisai front yard, of the blues and reds of sunrise here in Japan. Skype'd Rosie again so she could meet and chat with Osuke. She enjoyed the chance to see him for the first time.
I had a great day yesterday hooking back up with Hiro and family. He came and picked me up at the hotel a little after 1000 and I got to meet his son, Osuke, for the first time. He's a precocious 4yr old. :-) Hiro's still driving the red, Volvo station wagon he first picked me up in 6 years ago, or so, when I last visited Japan. It's great to see him again. He's now the father of 2, his daughter, Riko, is 7 now and, he's a JAL Captain flying B767s.
We left the hotel on a mission - to find a Christmas present for Osuke that they haven't been able to find in Yokohama due to it's popularity with kids all over, a toy 'power' belt that is worn by a superhero on a kid's TV show shown on Sunday mornings here. It makes sounds and you can change those sounds with interchangeable cards that you insert into the belt. The Japanese really do make some of the coolest toys around. :-)
Drove to the Ginza area, found some parking and started walking the streets of Tokyo. Osuke eventually spied the coveted superhero apparel in a shop window and we went inside to check it out. 15 minutes later, purchased toy in hand, we departed the shop for the walk back to the car.
Tokyo just feels like one gigantic, never-ending city block. It's a maze of roads, rail tracks and buildings of all sizes with some greenery and rivers all about. Hiro uses a hand-held GPS - a feature of his i-phone - to navigate around with. We just started heading towards Yokohama, where he now owns a home, via the 'back' roads if you will.
Enroute, O-chan starting getting hungry so, Hiro went looking for a restaurant to pull into for a late lunch. I never saw it but Hiro pulled into a small parking lot attached to a restaurant called 'Jonathans' - right next to a McDonald's. They still allow smoking in eateries here in Japan so we choose a table in the non-smoking section (even though that doesn't help much) and took a look at the menus on the table. What I found quite interesting was that the menu said Jonathan's and each page had a header in English but, all the pictures of the food in the menu had nothing but Japanese writing associated with them! :-) So, not really sure why this particular restaurant went to the trouble of using English writing at all... made me think, hmmmm?
Everything is new to me, again, in Japan. There was a small device on our table that was in the shape of a mouse and I started playing with it to see what it was/did. Hiro quickly told me it was a way of summoning the waiters/waitresses and not to push anything unless I wanted to have them rush over... too late! Both Hiro and I apologized for the false alarm. :-)
Hiro ordered a cheesy rice and shrimp casserole dish for himself. For Osuke, he ordered a child's plate that included a hamburger patty (looked like a Salisbury steak), some rice, 1 chicken nugget like morsel, some french fries and a small variety of veggies including: broccoli, pumpkin, peas and something else I can't remember. Osuke, like most kids everywhere, completely blew off the veggies and dug right into the meats and rice (with Dad's help to cut up the portions). He polished his entire plate (except for veggies) and ended up eating about 1/2 of Hiro's plate! Incredible appetite on the growing 4 yr old! I do believe he'll grow to be bigger than his dad. :-) I ordered the 'club' sandwich and, just as in every other locale I've been to to date in APJ, they included an egg with the sandwich - very odd but, I'm getting used to it.
Lunch cost right around 2800Y - not too bad for 3 folks.
Continued on our ride to Yokohama. Traffic was light and, of course, I had no SA (situational awareness) or idea of where we were. Yokohama from my hotel is located basically in the west to southwest direction. We eventually got there.
It was great seeing Reiko and Riko again! Last time I saw Riko she was only about 2 yrs old. Hiro, Reiko and Riko visited us in New Jersey about 6 yrs ago when Riko was just 1 yr old. She is very tall and slim for a 7 yr old and a bit shy. Both of the kids are great and it's obvious how much love there is in the house for both of them.
Hiro and Reiko's house is located on a corner. It's a nice size 2 story house that looks like a 3 story house because of their single car garage at the very base and most of the windows face eastishchisai yard, a bit of grass and shrubbery near the front door entrance and another small patch of a garden just outside of the dining room area. You can walk all the way around the house - it's a single family unit.
Nearby, well within easy walking distance is a 7-11 convenience store. :-)
The reason Reiko and Riko hadn't come along to pick me up with Hiro and Osuke was because they had attended a neighborhood Christmas party for about 80 kids this morning. The house already has 2 very nice artificial Christmas trees decorated up in it.
I spent a very pleasant rest of the afternoon sitting at the dining room table doing my best to converse with the kids and Reiko with my limited vocabulary of Japanese and everyone trying to speak some English back to me. Hiro did a lot of translating. :-)
Dinner was great. Osuke was fed first before the rest of us sat to eat. Reiko put together 4 delicious offerings: a potatoes au gratin covered in cheese and smothered in her own creamy sardine gravy; a avocado and shrimp salad; egg plant parmigiana and, finally; a marinated baked chicken dish all served with healthy brown rice. They also uncorked a bottle of champagne for the occasion and we all did toasts. Hiro's not much of a drinker but, Reiko enjoys her wine - I was happy to keep her company!
We were all getting a bit sleepy but, waited up until we could Skype Rosie. She got to chat with and see Hiro, Reiko and Riko - Osuke had already fallen to sleep. He'd had a long day.
I took a nice Japanese bath/shower and eventually retired for the evening up in Riko's room on a futon on the floor with a couple of pillows... I was quite comfortable. The rest of the family slept downstairs in a room that appears to serve as the master bedroom, playroom and dayroom.
Hiro has to fly for the next 2 days - all domestic flights up to northern Japan, Hokkaido, to southern Japan, Kyushu. When he left at 0900 to get to the airport, Reiko and the kids drove me back to the hotel here in Tokyo, where I am now finishing up this blog. She did a great job just finding the Grand Prince New Takanawa! I saw them off and likewise me.
I hope we do get to see them in NJ/NY next summer!
Later!
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