Uta's Birthday

We are all still too bleary eyed with jet lag to host a proper party just yet, so Uta had a pretty low key birthday today. But he still had fun. We made a watermelon cake from sorbet and ice cream, and just spent the day together doing more or less nothing. But it was his birthday after all, and me and Papa found ourselves saying yes to things we normally say no to. Candy from the corner store? Well, it is your birthday... And Pop definitely surpassed his normal quotient of time spent playing with Uta, which is ultimately the best gift anyone can give him.

Going home

What's cooking?

This is a family favorite, called Okonomi-yaki, or what we affectionately refer to as Tachibana pancake. It is a sort of pancake, but savory, and chock full of veggies and meat. In years past Uta was not such a big fan, this time around, however, he ate with gusto.

You only turn eight once...

But, you can celebrate turning eight as much as you like. We had a special dinner to honor Uta's upcoming birthday, since on the actual day we will no longer be in Japan. Baba and Jiji grilled a whole fish and bought a strawberry cake. Uta also received the Kamen Rider belt he has been pining for since our arrival.

More from Nara

In Nara we visited the world's largest wooden building which is home to the largest Bronze statue of the Buddha. I forgot to take a picture of the Buddha, but here is everyone in front of the Great Buddha Hall. Uta crawled through a tiny tunnel at the foot of an enormous column inside. The passage through is said to be very beneficial, if you are small enough to fit. 

Momo-kiki

The peaches are in season now in Japan. Big and sweet and full of flavor. Good enough for the gods. Baba has them lined up on the ancestor's shrine (along with beer, rice, tea, and sake). The peaches are Kizuki's favorite food. She eats them every day. I think she is even beginning to look like a peach!

Karate

Losing it

Our trip is almost finished, just a handful of days left. Baba is stockpiling for our return, a sort of extended care plan. Everyday she comes back with something else for us to take home, the goodies are piling up on top of our suitcase like small offerings on a shrine; Kizuki's favorite puffed rice snack, Uta's special blueberry jam. She shows her love in feeding her family and so must fill our bags with everything and anything by which to remember her until we return again. 

But it is time to go. Five weeks in someone else's house is a long time. It is a small space with paper thin walls and no privacy to retreat to. Uta is losing it. He needs to release more than a little pent up energy.  

Nara

In Nara the deer roam around like pigeons, flocked under the trees and meandering down the streets in search of good eats. Vendors sell very tasty looking deer crackers for them for about $1.50. The deer are never in short supply of tourists eager to fill their bellies. They are tame and docile for the most part, easy to approach and feed without concern. But every so often one comes along that is a little too pushy, nudging your elbow, sniffing your bag, and stealing a little taste of your shirt.

Before it is too late

Kizuki is already walking. She is ten months old. Her record, to date, is ten tiny wobbly steps from midair to me. She stands all on her own from a squat position with her hands up over her head. Her legs are remarkably strong. I will try to post a video of that soon. But before it is too late I must document about her unique way of crawling. Her knees never touch the ground. It looks like the yoga down dog in motion. She is fast too. Sometimes her legs move so quick they get ahead of her hands and she lands on her face. But for the most part, this is her preferred method of getting wherever she must go. Walking is still a balancing act she performs only for show and applause.

Octopus and edamame

Uta took these photos at the grocery store yesterday. Edamame so fresh it is piled up in a basket, roots and all. The octopus looks pretty fresh too, though I can't say I have anything to compare it to.

Origami Fairy

This morning Uta woke to discover that the origami fairy had visited while he slept. His mini red action figure had a brand new samurai hat!

Collections (3)

Paper bugs.

Collections (2)

Game center cards. (Purpose unclear to me, but Uta is obsessed with them.)

Collections (1)

Rest stop stamps on the road from Osaka to Tokyo and back.

Jiji-sensei

Towels and tissues

I’m never really sure, in my experiences here, what is representative of Japan and what is particular to the Tachibana family. It seems however that tissues and hand towels play a very important part of Japanese culture. Handkerchiefs are still commonly used. Paper towels, big in America, rarely make an appearance. Jjij is always wiping things; a nose or a tabletop, a chair leg, children's hands or a door front. I mean always, obsessively. The kids can be eating watermelon and he is at the ready with tissues to catch the drips and towels to wipe their faces between bites. I have been doing the same just to fit in, though really I’m a fan of getting good and messy. But when in Rome…

Origami Lessons

Papa has flown back to NY for work and we have stayed on for reasons I sometimes feel clearly about and at other times evade me all together. When Papa is with us our days are a whirlwind of people, coming and going, trains to and fro, friends on top of friends that we must meet. It is fun (but exhausting), and we eventually end up craving ordinary life. So it is good to be left in Japan with nothing to do. The trouble is, it is not the nothing we are accustomed to, it is the day to day of an older Japanese couple that conduct a rather quiet life together. It is not the sort of life to satisfy a seven-year-old boy with energy exploding forth from his ears. Baba and Jiji are doing their best to provide fun activities. Two days ago Baba took Uta to the movies, and today Jiji took him to a baseball game. He is doing many special things. But the special moments happen when we least expect it, like making origami cranes with Baba after everyone else has gone to bed, or sneaking out with Jiji to eat ice cream cones at the bakery down the road.

Lucky girl!

Sometimes life shows up with the most perfect thing for you at the perfect time, even when you were unaware that you needed it, or that such a thing even existed. Kizuki is still in a little shock, I think, about just how happy this whacky contraption makes her. She had been pushing the laundry basket around. But today Jiji and Uta came back from a little outing with this special gift. With its leaping trio of animals and loud clack clack sound, it is way better than the laundry basket.