The holiday bustle continued

We had a whirlwind of a day on Saturday, December 22. There were three separate events on our schedule. In order, the morning consisted of a Namban Rengo photo shoot at Yoyogi Park, followed by a karate demonstration in Saitama Prefecture, then finally a Christmas Party in the town of Kanamecho.
We left home early that morning by car around 9AM and fought through traffic to get to Yoyogi Park. Traffic was a mess, a lot busier than usual though we made it in time with less than a minute to spare. The Namban running group in which I am a member, will be featured in an upcoming Japanese runner's magazine in Tokyo. A reporter and photographer from the magazine came to do the interview at the location where we do our Sunday long runs. Rodney and Markus came along to take some souvenir snapshots of the team.



Before noon, we whizzed back home to drop off the car then trained it to Minami-Oshiwa to watch a karate demonstration. Rodney's co-worker Ota-san invited us to the year-end presentation at the dojo to where he and his three children are enrolled. In my opinion, you don't have to be a martial arts expert to enjoy and appreciate the technique of karate.
We witnessed a variety of age groups in several belt levels perform their Kata (prearranged training sequence of moves), and sparring matches. We were certainly intrigued by the event...so much that I'm really considering enrolling Markus and I here in Tokyo.

Upfront and center is Ota-san's daughter, Chihiro-chan

Ota-san in focus as he prepares to karate chop wood for the first time...

...A success. YATTA!

Ota-san with his children (L-R): Chihiro (orange belt), Kohei (green belt) and Yusuke (green belt)

Finally after watching karate, we headed back toward Tokyo to attend the Front Porch Players Christmas Party in the town of Kanamecho. Enroute, Markus napped on my lap on the train; by then it was most needed. We arrived at the hall in time for dinner to enjoy a food fest of traditional Japanese holiday cuisine. And it must be said that no Japanese Christmas dinner is complete without Christmas cake. Along with the delicious cake, we enjoyed many new kinds of tasty desserts. Following dinner, the Front Porch Players jammed to Christmas carols. Markus enjoys listening to all sorts of music, so this was a definitely a treat. Besides drinking, mingling and meeting new people, we also played Bingo and delightfully, everyone left a winner.

Ebara-san announced the numbers while Markus was the designated Bingo ball-cage turner. As you can see, he had a blast with his duty!

Bingo frenzy!

It's all about keeping the PEACE!

Happy and attentive while listening to the band play some familiar Christmas tunes.

The musically talented couple Kenta Ebara and Ryoko singing in a duet

The expert at pounding the drums...or anything for that matter!

An enjoyable night was had by all! Special thanks to Meiri-san for the invite to the wonderful party.

It rained heavily that evening so we ended up taking a taxi back home. It was only a fifteen minute ride. I just remember us being exhausted by the end of that Saturday night that the three of us nearly dozed off in the taxi cab.

Sunday was our day of rest.

Frijas Christmas Party

Merry Christmas!

Everyone loves a good a holiday party and that was what I wished to have with our good friends in Japan on December 16. Together we celebrated the joys of Christmas in a Canadian-American-Japanese-style. This year, since our guest list exceeded the comfortable capacity of our home, we rented out our apartment's recreation room for the evening, which turned out more convenient than expected. The guests were so kind to bring many dishes of wonderful Japanese food to add to the plentiful menu. Even more, we were happy to have live entertainment for the party. Some members of the Front Porch Players attended the party and brought along their string instruments and together we sang some Christmas carols in English and in Japanese.

As I've mentioned in my previous posts, turkey dinners are not customary for Japanese and therefore it is rare to find turkey. However, one day while shopping in Ikebukuro at the Tobu Department Store, I found a catering menu at a check-out counter. As I perused through the catalog, I came across a photo of what appeared as a roasted chicken, but to my surprise, after reading the Katakana (Japanese scripts), it read "roasted turkey"...I almost couldn't believe my eyes! I was so ecstatic and immediately placed an order for our party. It came with a hefty price, but for a special occasion, I didn't mind the splurge. After placing the order, I was excited and thought of all the fixings to cook to go along with the turkey.

Preparing for the party was quite hectic. It made me really miss my kitchen space and all my appliances back home. Though after nearly two years, I've gotten used to compromising in my small-no-oven-Japanese kitchen. Everything turned out just as I imagined...even my Christmas cake that I baked in the microwave oven!

Carving the little five-pound turkey. Yes it was small compared to the 18+ pounders my mom usually buys...but indeed a delicious turkey! Ouishikatta!

Fun in our festive hats!

Happy smiles from everyone!

Meiri-san's creation: a festive Christmas tree of vegetables, nori (seaweed) and Japanese rice.

Plenty of space to play!

Hemmi Family (Mihoko-san, Takuya-san, Chihiro and Chiyo) and Arai Family (Sayaka-san, Shuichi-san, Kotaro and Sora)

Keiko-san, Reiko-san, Yamazaki Family (Yamazaki-san, Sachiko-san and Ko-chan) and Wakayama Family (Hirofumi-san, Miyuki-san, Junki & Naoki)

Rodney with Saboro-san, Teru-chan, Ebara-san and Meiri-san

The Front Porch Players



Sayaka-san & Mihoko-san with their two beautiful babies!

To add some excitement to the party, I had a few door prizes to give away. One way to win was if you had the most point cards. In Japan, almost every retail shop including supas, department stores, electronic shops, pharmacies, and so on, use point card systems. Collecting points offer future rewards like discounts. Over time, these point cards can accumulate in your wallet easily...trust me, I have proof. So I thought it would be fun to see who had the most. Miyuki-san was the winner. She had over 34 point cards in her purse!

Chi-chan was the lucky one to have the special sticker under his plate, so he won a prize as well.













Wakayama-san trying his hand at the strumstick (right)

We have been fortunate to be blessed with wonderful friends in Japan. We cherish their friendships and look forward to 2008 with many more great times together!

Wishing you a very Happy and Safe Holiday Season!

Tokyo Disneyland..."A Christmas Fantasy"

Recently, Markus had been reliving memories from watching our past Tokyo Disneyland videos over, and over, and over again. So, we promised him a special trip out to the 'Magical Kingdom' during the holidays. We decided to go by car that sunny Sunday morning of December 9. This would be our third trip and, perhaps not the last. Still, it's worth the travel time in traffic as it gives us something unique and exciting to experience each time. I think ultimately, Rodney and I get a thrill out of seeing Markus so happy.

For the first time, we rode the Disney Resort monorail, which gave us a tour around the park. We got to see the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel construction site up close. The photo below does not do justice to the hotel's massiveness. I mean this building spans FAR and WIDE and I can just imagine how impressive it will be once completed. The grand opening is scheduled for July 8, 2008.

When we entered the park gates Markus uttered, "Ohisashiburi"; a Japanese expression or greeting which means "Long time, no see". (He's grown accustomed to that phrase, one of his favourites actually.) This time around we enjoyed the festive holiday atmosphere throughout the amusement park. It's sure to get you in the Christmas mood. When the sun went down, we marvelled at the exquisite illuminations at every turn. The "Twinkling Holiday Moment", was the special lighting ceremony of the Cinderella Castle which featured a holiday greeting show with the Disney friends. Unfortunately, Markus was worn out and had fallen asleep by this time. Naturally, we took loads of photos and video footage to add to our Tokyo Disney scrapbook. As the evening progressed, it became blustery and cold so we opted out on the night parade and fireworks display, both of which we've seen in our previous visits.

When we first entered the ticket gates, we were greeted by Tigger and Piglet. Pooh was bombarded with people, so we decided to move on into the park.

In the center of the World Bazaar, was an enormous Christmas tree, quite possibly the largest decorated tree I've ever seen!

The Cinderella Castle all decked out.

During the "Lilo & Stitch's Aloha Christmas Parade", cheerful Hawaiian Christmas songs were playing over the loud speakers. One song was called, "Mele Kalikmaka" which means, "Merry Christmas" in the Hawaiian language. (Gosh, the song was stuck in my head the entire day.)

Markus with daddy trying to be patient while waiting for the Dumbo ride.

Alas, the much anticipated Dumbo ride after waiting over 40 minutes!

Keeping warm aboard the Jolly Trolley

PEACE!






TOONTOWN!

The Cinderella Castle, by night.

Against the dark sky, the lights flickered and danced to the beats of the Christmas carols during the "Twinkling Holiday Moment" show. At the finale, the entire castle was illuminated, everything in site was covered with lights!

A magnificent view was shared by hundreds of people "Ooh-ing" and "Ahh-ing".

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Tokyo Disneyland!