Long Time No See!

Hi, and long time no see!
The temperature dropped, but not enough to snow. Since we are living near the bay, I have't seen snow cover for years! (sigh...) But, we still have lots rain.
We had a Christmas Party at Dad's school last week. A lot of people came, and the food was good! We had some live music until midnight! My Mom said that some of the band were still playing when we went out!
At home schooling, which I am doing right now writing this blog, we are doing computer programming. I think I talked about programming on 'Nothing to Do About Snakes'. Well, I am doing some fun programs that ask stuff like, 'What is your favorite music?: '. Really interesting stuff! I'm looking forward to making my own games!
I have put a new link to "My Mom's 'NEW' blog". You just look at the 'Links' list and click on "My Mom's 'NEW' Blog" and it will go to her page.
That's all for today! Almost a week until Christmas!
See ya!

”読書の秋”: Autumn Reading

Hi!
We are having some cloudy weather today. It's getting really cold too. But, today, it's ok!
Today I started to read Washington Living's "Rip Van Winkle". Before I started this story I finished Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". It was a great story! Some of the words in the story were really old so it was a little hard to read. But, It was a good pirate story. If you saw the "Pirate's of the Caribbean"(1 or 2) you can see that Disney used some of the names and 'legends' in the story.
The story of "Rip Van Winkle" uses beautiful words, and you can see, as you read, a picture in you mind; mountains and clouds and people. It looks like a really shorter story than "Treasure Island", but there is a lot of dificult words in the story. Comment me on the 'comment link' right below this blog and tell me about your favorite books. I might use the book you like for my next story to read!
One month until Christmas! Wow, time flies! That's all for today!
See ya!

Man, It's cold!

Hi!
It's cold and cloudy. It was warm 2 days ago. Where did the heat go!? Oh well.
We had a tsunami watch this Wednesday. Hokkido had a evacuation call. It was not bad. I was asleep that time when the tsunami hit Hokkido. It was just a 2 foot rise in water level, no problem.
Japan is really watching out for those tsunamis because in the year that I was born, a big tsunami struck at Hokkido and a village was wiped out and a lot of people died. 2 years ago, a big tsunami struck in the Indian sea area. That, time they did not have a tsunami watch system. Japan has a lot of tecnology so they know when to move. Hokkido's takeing a lot of hits! Tornado 1 day, tsunami the next! And it get's really cold there.
Well, that's all for today! I hope I get something warm for dinner.
See Ya!


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Tornado Strikes in Hokkaido

Hi!
It's freezing! Maybe not that cold but, it was very cold this morning. Also the wind is strong.
Speaking of wind, there is a big news in Japan.

" 'Tornado kills at least nine in northern Japan'"
At least nine people were killed, at least 20 injured and others trapped under rubble when a tornado hit northern Japan Tuesday, local officials said.
Officials said the tornado demolished two prefabricated buildings at a construction site, about eight private houses and a factory.
Two people were still missing, said an official at the fire department in Engaru, on the northeastern part of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. He added that rescue efforts were being hampered by rain and a power blackout."
from: http://today.reuters.com

Yes, there has been a tornado in "Hokkaido". The red X on the map is where the tornado struck.
Yestreday was very windy over here too! As you can see, on the news script, that the buildings were prefabricated. That advanced the destruction. It is really rare to have a tornado in Japan, they do not have the equipment for tornado watchs. Very scary!
It's beginning to be when you're hungry, and sleepy, and "It's too cold, I miss Summer." feeling. Ah! Winter! Why does it have to be so cold! Ah! Winter!
My Dad is watching the election on "CNN". I looks very complicated. And my Mom is still at work. She is substituting for an office worker at my Dad's school. That's all for today!
See Ya!

Nothing to Do About Snakes!

Hi!
It's cold! Last night, when I was outside, I already could see my breath. Today, it is a cloudy day. It was fine in the morning though.
My Dad has a cold. It started 4 days ago, I think the cold weather got him, I hope he gets better. Since I am doing "home schooling", I got to be careful not get his cold.
Today, a book has arrived. The book is about computer programing, "Python". It dosn't have anything to do about snakes! The name is named after the group called "The Monte 'Python' ". I don't know anything but "spam, spam, spam, spam..." from them. Well any way, the book came and we (my Dad and I) are going to use it for "home schooling"; computer programing. It's realy fun, it's like solving a puzzle. And making games are really fun.
Sorry about not haveing pictures on the last blog. I'm going to try it this time.
That's all for today! Try not to catch a cold!
See Ya!

Getting Colder

Hi!
Today it might start to rain, and it's a bit cold. I have three layers of shirts on!
Our supermarket "ODOYA" is under construction. They started to sell all kinds of foreign stuff. It was inconvenient. The Seven Eleven convenience store was better than Odoya. But, when they started to sell foreign stuff (like Belgian chocolate!!) we started to go there a lot.
Tateyama has changed a lot since we came here. A brige was built, a lot of new shopping places were built, and a lot more houses were built. But, I think that it got a little noisy!
This month we might go to "Yokohama" to visit some freinds that moved there about 8 months ago. Yokohama is right beside Tokyo metropolitan area. But we live across Tokyo bay. So we might go by ferry.
There is also a bicycle show at Tokyo this month. We are looking forward to that too.
We started to get American Beef again in the stores ! And my Dad is fixing up steak sandwich! Hee hee hee!
I can't believe that it is November already! I didn't know that time flies that fast. And some how, I think this is going to be a very cold and a long winter.That's all for today!
Sorry no pictures today Blogger seems to be having problems with something.
See ya!

Halloween Party!

Hi!
It was raining in the morning but, the sky is back to normal and it's beautiful!
The Halloween party was great! 52 kids with their parents! It was really a full house. Most of them were little kids from kindergarden or even pre-school! They were soooo CUTE!!! They had some good costumes too.
We did some pumpkin carving with some HUGE pumpkins. My Dad hurt his back a little when he was taking it to the party room. But, the kids made great jack-o-lanterns. Some of the pumpkin skins were hard and shaped really odd but, the kids tried to carve thruoght the hard skin and made some good jack-o-lanterns.
Also the "Trick or Treat" was a great succses. The owner of the "Akitaya ( A Japanese restaurant that we often go)" had a "Namahage Mask (a gnome mask) see picture at the right" and I had a noise maker and it was a little scary, but for the kids, ohoooo , it was scary. A lot of kids cried! But, after that they say that it was fun.
Well that's all for today. On my Dad's blog, he is going to blog about the "Bossa Nova Party" that was after the Halloween party. To go to his site just click the link that says "My Dad's Blog".
See ya!

Another Beautiful Day!

Hi!
I love the weather, It's beautiful! It was a little cloudy yesterday but, it's back to normal now. It's been like this for a week and a half. I heard on the news that it snowed in New York and other locations in America. I didn't know that it was that cold over there.
Two days until "Halloween Party" and a "Bossa Nova party". My Dad's boss likes "Bossa Nova", in the evening we are going to have that and on the same day we have our Halloween Party. A little busy don't you think?
My Dad is in his October sports mode. Baseball, (American)Football, and the next sumo season starts in two weeks! It gives all the politicians of the world a break- no nasty e-mails! But,it dosn't give ME a break. Soon as I want to do something , like playing the video game, there is some thing on the television. Good grief!
Our water pipe was leaking so the workers are going in and out. My Dad is going to blog about this on his blog. You can go to his blog by clicking the link on the right of the page that says "My Dad's blog". My Mom is also doing a blog about ikebana. You can go to her page by clicking the link that says "My Mom's blog". She hasn't posted a long time. I took a picture of her recent work (The picture on the upper right hand corner).
Well that's all for today! See Ya!

New Links Added

Hi!
The weather is beautiful! No sign of rain clouds at all!
I have put a link on the right side of the page that says "Links". The one that says "Tateyama Station WebCam" is a live camera of our local station view. (The picture on the upper right hand corner is the station from my Dad's home town in America, Grafton, W.V., and on the left is our local station. )You can control the camera by clicking the "Start control" button. Some of the controls do not work so just play around with it. Below the "Tateyama Station WebCam" there is another webcam from "Wada" beach area. You can control the camera as well.
I also put a link to my Dad's new blog called "Japan a la carte". Don't be confused by the name, it's in English! Just click on the link that says "My Dad's Blog".
I have seen the airplane crash in New York. First I thought it was another terrorist attack. But, it was a two seater airplane so I think it was an accident. I am sorry for the N.Y. Yankees pitcher, Cory Lidle. I wonder why he was flying that low. And he looked like a safe pilot too.
That's all for today. Next time, I will try not to blog a lot about links!!
See ya!

Halloween Party on the 21st!

Hi!
Finally the season is nice! It's been like this for 4 days. But, they say that its going to rain tonight. We don't know yet!
On the 21st, we are going to have a Halloween party at Dad's English school. We are going to carve some jack-o-lanterns, and play all kinds of games and have treats. We are going to do trick or treat too! There is this scary place to go, but it's just a harmless restaurant.
I remember when I was in America, I was a spider. My Mom makes great costumes. She makes it scary. There was a house decorated real scary, I ran back down the stairs. I met people with great costumes, and I got a lot of candy too! In Japan, we don't do any thing like that. I realy miss it, but I just thought that I am too big for that now! I wish there was trick or treat for big kids!
Well, I hope it will not rain tonight. I love shiny weather.
The picture is from Tateyama station today.
I will put a link for a "web cam" of Tateyama statio. This is the site>> http://it.awa.jp/live_camera2.htm.
That's all for today!
See ya!

Discover Japan!

Hi!
It's raining today (AGAIN!!!). And it's cold outside.
Tomorrow, my Dad will be not home for two days because there is "English camp" for the school he is working for. They are going to the "Hakkakusou". I think it means "eight sided house" in Japanese. A lot of foreigners stay there for a few days to learn about Japan, many people from Tokyo, including kids too! The owner of the place is Mr. David Green. He came to Japan and he wanted to tell every body how great Japan is. His homepage address is http://www.discoverjapan.co.jp/ . There is a English site and a Japanese site. And right now he is making another place for his camp. I hope it will not rain tomorrow.
I feel that autumn is here. No sign of summer any more. That's all for today!
See Ya!

We Love "Nabe-mono"!

Hi!
It's a rainy day today. The sun was out for about an hour but, it started to cloud up again.
Last week my Dad had a 1 week vacation . We had a power walk on Monday. We just walked up the hill near by. It took about an hour. It was a great workout. That night, since it was cold, we had " nabe-mono". "Nabe-mono is a Japanese dish. You put meat, vegetables and other kinds of stuff in a broth. The word "nabe" means "pot" or a "earthen ware pot" in Japanese. You put all the ingredients in the pot and heat it up. There are all kinds of nabe-mono. There are sea food nabe, meat nabe, and the sumo wrestlers like the "chanco nabe. It has alot of nutrition for them.
The sun is coming out again. I hope it will clear up tomorrow.
Well, thats all for today. See ya!

Tokyo Special (Part 3)

Hi!
The weather is nice and the temperature is low. Today I am going to blog about day 2 in Tokyo.

The Lightning Gate
We had a good night's sleep in a fluffy bed; the hotel was great, nice toilets and a plasma TV. We had our breakfast downstairs, and it was almost full already.
It was a rainy day. I thought it would never stop because of the typhoon. But it stopped! There was a place we wanted to go. That place is called the "Lightning Gate","Kaminari mon" in Japanese. You can see my Dad standing below the big red lantern. It was in the morning so it was not too crowded. My Mom bought us delicious sweet bean pastries. There was all kinds of nice looking stuff, like japanese umbrellas and key holders.
Hours past and we headed back to Tokyo Station. We went underground where there are a lot of food shops. It's called "chika gai". Every time we go to Tokyo we stop by there. Well, it was time to go and we got on the bus and saw the famous spots.
So, this is the end of the special series about Tokyo.
The next blog, I am going to blog normally.
That's all for today! See ya!

Tokyo Special (Part 2)

Hi!
A nice day here in Japan! It was a little cloudy in the morning.
Today is part 2 from the last time's blog.

My Autographed T-shirt.
While the lower class wrestlers were fighting, we went where the wrestlers come in and out, to get pictures and autographs. That day I had on a T-shirt with a picture of me and one of the Russian wrestlers that my father took last time. I wanted to get his autograph on it, so I waited there. Before he came his younger brother came. So I got his autograph on the back of my T-shirt. After that, his apprentice said, looking at the picture, "Hey! That's your brother!". And I waited a little longer and he came! But, it is really hard to get an autograph before their match. So, the first time I couldn't get it because his apprentice said no. But, as he pasted by, he saw the picture on my T-shirt and said, "Oh!". So, after his match was over I went outside and got his autograph on my shirt.
(The picture on the right is his younger brother "Hakurozan" and on the bottom is him, "Rohou")
That's all for today! Next is Day 2 in Tokyo (part 3).
See ya!

Tokyo Special (Part 1)

Hi Guys!
The weather is beautiful. The typhoon didn't hit us. But, unluckily, it still rained.
For the next few days, I am going to blog about the trip to Tokyo, with some pictures that I took.

Trip To Sumo
The main reason for going to Tokyo was to watch some Sumo. Since it was a weekend there were a lot of people lined up to get their tickets. We had to wait for an hour. When we got in, they were already doing sumo. But, the people playing were the lower class wrestlers. But, even if they are lower class it is interesting to watch. One of bouts was about 3 minutes long. Some were ties and were played one more time!
That's all for today! The next blog is part 2. See ya!

Viva Sumo!

Hi!
The temperature is falling like a rock. My Dad is not getting much sleep because of that. But, the weather is beautiful. I'm composing this outside. Well, what do you know, it's starting to rain! Not that much.
Sunday to Monday we are going to Tokyo! On Sunday, we are going to "Sumo". And we are going to stay for the night. On Monday we are going to do some sight seeing. But, the problem is, a typhoon might meet us there.
I shouldn't brag about the weather. It's cloudy now!
In the afternoon, we are going to watch some american football. My Dad is happy because of the sports. We have sumo and football and baseball playoffs coming!
That's all for now. I'm going to lunch! I'm hungry!!!!!!
See Ya!

This is Not "Boaring"!

Hi!
I was wrong about the weather; it's not getting cool! It's 93 at Tokyo! But we can hear the autumn insects. Typhoon #12 is coming but, I don't think it's coming here. The weather is beautiful. We can see the stars clearly. We have a telescope, but it does not work very well.
My Dad's on a diet AGAIN! He says that alot, and it does not last long. He just told me that New Years is the tough part because the food is so good! Well, we started to do "road work" ( running ) in the morning. Last time, I put weights on my wrist! We also play "DDR" (Dance Dance Revolution) on my "Game Cube". It's fun and, very exhausting!
Sometime, when we come back home from our "road work", we go through rice paddies and some vegetable gardens. The people there often give us some very good looking vegetables! And on Monday, my music teacher brought us some wild boar! It was GOOOD- a lot of nice people around Japan! Our workout is not working because of all the food we get! LOL
But, a lot of it is healthy.
That's all for today!

End of Summer Vacation

Hello out there!
My short summer vacation has ended, and back to school for me!
Some of the leaves are starting to change color, and the hot, hot and hot temperature is gradually getting cool. Yes, Fall is coming! It's almost "sports day" for a lot of schools in Japan. I think I blogged about sports day when I was in elementary school.
Sports day is a event for a lot of schools in Japan.
Most popular is the "ohtama corogashi".
It means "roll the BIG ball" in Japanese. It's a race rolling a big, big ball.
When I was in Hojo elementry school, this sports day made teachers crazy! We had to stay late there for a long time just to do something! And I hated the "kumitaisou", you have to make a pyramid with 8 kids. I was all ways at the bottom! I'm glad I'm in home schooling now!
That's all for today! See ya!

Movie Time!!

Hi guys!
We had a weak "typhoon" (A storm not as strong as a hurricane) and we had
three of them! But, no problem! One was weak, one was stuck on Taiwan! The one we had was called "Maria". It will clear for a while now. Oh boy.
Last week, we went to the beach to do some beachcombing. It was a nice and hot day, the tide was not dangerous at all. The problem was that there were no shells! And the tide didn't seem to go out. But, we had a good time.
The day after that, we went to see"Pirates of the Caribbean/Dead Man's Chest"! I can't tell you about the story because it will spoil the movie! But one thing I want to say is that it's a great, great, GREAT movie! And you have to see the first movie to enjoy the second one! There is going to be a third "Pirates" too! I can't wait to see it!!
Yesterday, my Dad and I had our own "film festival". We saw "the Matrix Revolutions" and "i,Robot"
"Matrix" is famous for action scenes. Good graphics too! "i,Robot" is based on a story in Chicago year 2035. It's a good movie too!
Well this weekend we are going to watch flamenco. Every year we have a flamenco festival of university students from all over Japan. This is the 5th time we will go there.
It is a beautiful concert. I wish you could see it!

That's all for today! See ya!

Summer is Here!

Hey, hey, hey!
Summer vacation has started! But, I still have home schooling to do!
Rainy season is finally over. It might rain some more but the hard weather is gone.
It might rain this weekend.
The picture is from my Dad's friend in West Virginia, they are baby geese.
The women here are giving up their umbrellas for sun shade umbrellas called "higasa"
It is geting hot and the A.C. is on most of the time. We can hear the cicada, or as they say "Katydids". My Father can't hear them but, we can!
That's all for today! See ya!
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