Two Firsts--The Tokyo Marathon and Krispy Kreme (do the same people take part in both?)

Shinachan and I have both been very busy over the past month and havent had a chance to update, so I thought I would send an update about what we did over the weekend, among other things.

First Tokyo Marathon

Today was the first Tokyo Marathon (http://www.tokyo42195.org/index_e.html). Unfortunately for those running in the marathon, today was cold and rainy!!! What a terrible day for running (or so I would imagine--though for me there really isnt a good day for running). This race led people from the Metropolitan Government Offices in Shinjuku (Western Tokyo) to an area called Ariake, near the man-made islands in Eastern Tokyo. Part of the route led runners past where we live in Ningyocho (See Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3xytUa0QSY)

LUNCH
After watching the crazy people running in the rain (See Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXgZbmW4duk), we went to Akihabara, the electronics capital of Japan, for some delicious ramen (Chinese noodles). Tasty, and great on a cold day(See Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoPsRdXN0cc)!

Krispy Kreme's First Store in Japan
We also stopped by (though did not actually enter) the first Krispy Kreme to hit Japan. As you can see, it is already extremely popular, and apparently always has a huge line out front. I did confirm that they hand out free hot doughnuts to those who are waiting in line, just like in the United States...nice way to pass the time (See Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIqBkb23d3I) !

Baby and Baby Clothes
Im also attaching a picture of Shinachan and some little baby clothes we've started accumulating. Shinachan is feeling great, and enjoying collecting baby socks and other little items!



More next time!

Hospital Visit

We recently visited our hospital in Tokyo and found that we will have the good fortune to be the parents of a baby girl this year. We're very excited and are in the process of thinking of suitable names!!

The Hospital

The Hospital we visit is Eiju General Hospital, located about 5 minutes away from our home in Nihonbashi by car, and about 5 minutes on foot from Ueno Staionhttp://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo/Ueno in eastern Tokyo. http://www.eijuhp.com/. When my parents first came to visit me in Japan when I lived in Yamagata after graduation from college, we stayed at a hotel near Ueno, and visited the area quite a bit. It's interesting that fate has led me back to Ueno for a purpose such as this!

Dr. Visits

Our physician is Dr. Takahashi, and was recommended to us by Dr. Yamashita, one of my customers at the Tokyo Medical Center, where I sell medical devices. Dr. Takahashi was the former boss and educator of Dr. Yamashita at Keio University in Tokyo. Dr. Takahashi always gives us very careful explanations, and is a very nice doctor. Usually I accompany Shinachan on her visits, and Im called in at the very end to look at the ultrasound. Its pretty incredible to see the image of the baby moving on the screen. You can very clearly see her moving her arms and legs, rubbing her eyes, sucking her thumbs, etc. Dr. Takahashi takes a video of the ultrasound each time we visit, so we will have a nice keepsake for the future, showing the growth of our little girl.

Here's a short video of Eiju General Hospital:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqGDNoSsh4E

Until next time!

Cold in Tokyo

It's been a little while since I updated the blog... Since I last updated, Shinachan and I have both returned to work, and Tokyo has gotten pretty chilly. Usually, it starts snowing in Tokyo at the end of December, and continues on an off throughout March. This year has been unusually warm, however, and we've yet to have any snow. Yokohama (next to the Tokyo Metropolis) had its first snow today, so ours is probably not far off. Check out the weather forecast if you have a chance! http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/JAXX0085_f.html

We usually go out to eat several times a week, but because Ive been unusually late coming home from work during the past few weeks, this evening was the first time we've been out in a while. The restaurant we went to this evening is "Sekai no Yamachan http" (http://www.yamachan.co.jp/menu.html). This restaurant began in the major Japanese city of Nagoya, and is an Izakaya (here is a so-so description of "izakaya": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izakaya) that specializes in Nagoya foods such as chicken wings. The chicken wings are covered in salt and pepper, and are delicious (check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PibCXTGjgAw ) and cheap!! Make sure to try Sekai no Yamachan (Yamachan of the World!) next time you're in Japan!

Until next time...

Last Vacation Weekend of New Years 2007

This weekend is a three-day weekend in Japan (Monday is Coming of Age day, a celebration for those who have turned 20 years old over the past year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seijin_shiki).

Apparently, in the Edo period (the period from the early 1600's until the late 1800's, when the Shogun was in power and present-day Tokyo was the center of government), coming of age day for boys meant that their forelocks were cut off. For girls, it meant that their teeth were died black. I dont think they do that anymore, but I'll check on that.

This weekend, Shinachan tried out the bread-cooking function on the rice-cooker for the first time. She made an apple-raisin pastry that was absolutely fantastic. I came home from my office's beginning-of-the-year party to find this delicious, freshly made pastry, and ate about 1/3 of it before I realized I wanted to take a picture for this blog (picture included). For those interested, please buy an Induction Heating (IH) Japanese rice maker for your bread or pastry making.

Anyway, its a new year and our vacation is, sadly, almost over. But we're looking forward to the great year of 2007!!

Shinako's stomach starting to show a little bit (picture included), and she's even started to feel some kicking.

The night here is very clear and bright this evening(picture included--both of the view to Akihabara and toward the Sumida river). The moon is so bright tonight it looks like a star!

Until next time!

John and Shinachan

Last day before (John's) New Year's Vacation Ends

Today is the last day of my New Years vacation. Like all long vacations, it seemed like a really long time off before it started, and now I can hardly believe it's over! My condolence is that tomorrow is Friday, and Monday is another national holiday, meaning that I have a three-day weekend coming up. Yeah!!! Shinachan is taking tomorrow off, so her vacation continues... I, on the other hand, will be attending a 2007 Kick-off Meeting for J&J...Yuck!

Anyway, today was spent relaxing and tending to business in the neighborhood (banks and many businesses started today).

For those of you who have visited our home in Ningyocho, you can see a few new additions to the neighborhood. This is a really growing area with lots of new condominiums and apartments. For that reason there have been a lot of new restaurants coming in recently. Here is a picture of one brand new apartment building (under construction when we moved in last year. You can see the tall buildings of famous electronics district Akihabara in the distance--about a 3 minute train ride away on the Hibiya line) and a new Italian restaurant that opened up at the bottom of our building.

Finally, tonight we're trying the brand new rice cooker we purchased this past week. For some reason, although we eat a lot of rice (this is Japan, after all), we havent had a rice cooker (almost everyone in Japan does). This is a pretty cool one and can aparently even bake bread!