First time skiing

Up north for the christmas holidays and yesterday in -10 degrees and proper winter weather Kai got to try skiing for the first time yesterday. While beeing too young to ski by himself the carrying bag we got from colleagues in Japan came in handy. After a few nervous sounds during the first runs Kai soon fell asleep and enjoyed the rides, a good sign for the upcoming ski trip to the alps in a few weeks.

Back in stockholm archipelago

Today we took a break from house hunting, job hunting and all other things involved in moving from tokyo to stockholm. We caught a ferry to the Grinda island in the middle of stockholm archipelago this morning and are enjoying the fresh air and the scenaries. A nice day trip worth recommending to anyone want to get out from stockholm for a day.

Manta rays and glass blowing in Ishigaki

Now we have just returned the keys for the apartment and checked in to a hotel in Shibuya. Tired after last couple of days packing, cleaning and fixing the apartment for the move and thinking back on last week's nice trip to Ishigaki island - here's a few photos.

First night at the hotel beach and we jumped into the warm water as soon as we arrived.

Diving with manta rays was really exciting (well, not diving with them as like we socialised but they were not more than 5-10 meters away from us at some times). We stayed still on the bottom of the corals and they came gliding over us. Not without getting a bit nervous.

Kai really enjoyed being in the water. Good to see, in Australia he wasn't too keen on getting in the water but it was a bit colder at than time and he was only 3 months old. As soon as he noticed he could make a lot of sound by splashing his hands in the water he couldn't get enough of it.

BBQ dinner by the sea after sun set. Very nice way to spend an evening and they literally had to kick us out from the "all you can eat" buffet when they wanted to close the place.

We found a place where we could try blowing our own glass. Very fun and with a little help from our friends owning the shop we could manage to make our own glass cup. I have to admit I wasn't too happy with the first one and had to make another.

A nice area on the north part of Ishigaki with beautiful beaches and corals close to the beach on shallow water good for snorkling.

Like diving in a fish tank even just off the beach. We bought a water proof camera before the trip and it was fun to play around taking some photos and record some videos while playing and swimming in the water.

Kai playing with his first water toy - an inflatable mattress from 100 yen shop. Wouldn't trust it in a life critical situation but it didn't brake during the 20 minutes he was using it.

On a neighbour island where we went up a river boat into the forest and took a 2 hour hike to see some "rain forest like" nature and a few waterfalls. Beautiful and a good exercise.

Ishigaki is well known for water buffalos so we took a ride on a wagon pulled by a buffalo. Instead of using a stable the animals are kept in a small pond. Looked quite fun but must be very nice in the hot summer.

Last morning on the beach. By for now Ishigaki island, I wouldn't mind coming back!

More photos on picasa.

Weekend trip to Nikko

One of our friends took us on a weekend trip to Nikko and Chuzenjiko to enjoy the beautiful nature and the water falls in the area. Yesterday was extremely tight fog so we could hear the water falls but couldn't see anything at all. Today weather was good and we had a nice walk along Chuzenjiko lake and we saw a few different water falls. The only thing that could have made the weekend even better would have been two goals for Japan in the game playing Holland.














Same waterfall, different haircut, almost 5 years ago. It feels like yesterday but man does time fly.

Tomorrow we will leave Tokyo for 5 days in Ishigaki island, Okinawa. If lucky we will see manta and in any way we should have a nice relaxing week. The forecast tells us we can expect 30 degrees and a fair amount of sun every day.

Kai 9 months

Today Kai is 9 months. Not yet walking but standing, crawling and climbing as soon as he get a chance. And for some reason he has got an unexpected interest in the keyboard to the imac. Part of the cyber generation or whatever it is called these days or just another apple brand fan?

Shikoku roadtrip

Last week we had a nice roadtrip from Hiroshima around north part of Shikoku island. Here are some photos, more on picasa webalbums at the link in the bottom of this post.

This week we will spend in Tokyo and maybe a short trip the coming weekend (Nikko area?) and next week we are going down to Ishigaki island in Okinawa.














First day on the trip we went to Naojima island close to Kurashiki. It's apparently a well known location in japan for this painted pumpkin.














Nice city environment in Kurashiki where we spent the first night.














The Seto bridge connecting main land and Shikoku. We learnt that Öresundsbron became a sister bridge to Seto bridge in 2008. Not that I would know what a sister bridge is or does, still an interesting coincidence..














The top part of the konpila temple. To get here we had to walk a mountain path with 1386 step,one of us carrying an extra 9,5kg.














In Imabari on Shikoku. Here we visited Maki's relatives and also we had time for a bi-cycle trip on the bridge. We only crossed the first bridge, 4km part of the 63km beautiful way across islands and bridges spanning from Shikoku to main land (Honshu).














Relaxing time in the hammock. It was the first time to try camping and stay in a tent with Kai and we had a very nice time. Picnic close to the water in the sunset and breakfast in the same way when the sun was rising.














Maki in front of the famous temple gate in Miyashima. We stayed here the last night and enjoyed some short hiking in the mountains and visited the temple built in the shallow water.














Sunset in Miyashima island.














The Kintaikyo wood bridge in Iwakuni. Nice area surrounded by the mountains and we stopped for picnic and ice cream.















Hiroshima is famous for okonomiyaki and of course we had to try it. Slighlty different from the okonomiyaki in Tokyo and very good.














The atomic bomb dome in the peace park in Hiroshima, the last stop on saturday before flying back to Tokyo.

More photos from our roadtrip on picasa webalbums.

Minor problem

We're now enjoying our holiday in shikoku and we've been sightseeing with car, ferry and bicycle and visited Maki's relatives and just had a relaxing time. No problems until this morning when an older lady decided to back into our car, despite us honking the horn for a second or so. It was the most harmless type of accident with the only damage being some scratched paint but we still had to call the police to come and fill in the report.

Now we have found a quiet and empty camping right by the sea. The tent is up and the food is cooking - just the way it should be on a summer holiday!

Last BBQ (for this time...)

The episode of working and living in japan for this time is coming close to an end. Last week was the last week in the office and now I will have paternity leave and summer holiday until returning to sweden early next month. The three of us will spend the remaining time in japan with a few trips as well as relaxing days in Tokyo. Starting tomorrow morning we will leave for a roadtrip in Shikoku, one of the main islands south of Honshu. We will fly to Hiroshima and take a rental car for 6 days and drive around Shikoku.














As a "see you again" party the friends in the office organised a BBQ in a park in Tokyo yesterday. A very nice way to spend a day with the people you have been working with for a long time. No doubt it will be very sad and strange to return to an almost empty office in Kista without all Tokyo friends.














The grills kept being loaded with various kinds of food and you could walk around trying all different things.














And we are fortunate enough to have friends that know how to cook real tasty indian food. Mmmmm!














Takahashi-san's, the main organiser, best trick: if the grill is not hot enough, just use a blow torch to BBQ the meat!














Kai got all the attention he wanted and it was no problem finding baby sitters volunteering for the job.














Part of the group that stayed towards the end.


















I went to Tokyo for 2,5 years and my best memory is this t-shirt. It's been a kind of tradition to give members a hand decorated t-shirt when leaving the team and now it was my turn to get it. Fun and heart warming messages, truly a great memory to keep. As a bonus it came with a bottle of single cask limited edition Suntory whisky including a certificate issued in my name :)

Golden week

Today is children's day in Japan, the last of the golden week holidays. We have celebrated Kai with the traditional food and decorated the house with this kabuto, a present to Kai from his grand parents in Tokyo. Kabuto is a traditional gift to a baby boy in Japan and is said to protect him.














Earlier in the golden week we have been to the beach in Chiba with friends. The weather has really taken off and gone from long stretched winter to summer in one go with temperature up towards 25 degrees and a lot of sun. I even had the first swim in the ocean of the year, not even that cold. I also tried surfing again next morning. Pretty much same result as last time. Strong wind and lack of wet suit made it a very short attempt to get up on the board. Except for swallowing a lot of sea water I didn't manage to do much at all.














We've had a relaxing day in Yoyogi park as well. Difficult to understand how big this park is. Even though we have been here many times before we managed to find a completely new area where we have never been before.














Kai is very keen on being able to walk and he has used most of his time during golden week to practise getting up on his feet. He is not really there yet but I think it's only a matter of time now (maybe that's a quite safe bet when it comes to children and their development when I think about it).














Little Kai - growing bigger but still with a cute smile.

Stuck on the way...

After 2,5 days delay from skellefteå we landed 45 minutes ago in stockholm, 15 minutes ahead of schedule. So far so good. Until we got on the bus to go to stockholm. Right before the highway someone had crashed into a traffic sign resulting in the sign falling over the road. The driver took a chance to pass under the sign. And now we are stuck... waiting for fire brigade to come and lift it up.

Moving on south

Now it looks like our holiday in the north part of sweden is coming to an end. After 2,5 days of cancelled flights it looks like we'll be getting on a flight to stockholm this evening and later a flight to tokyo on monday if there is no new volcano outbreak. We've had a fantastic time up in skellefteå with sunshine every day and a lot of fun winter activities as well as relaxing moments.















Linn and Lukas gave the swings a go and practised jumping off them into the snow.















Maki and Kai going downhill with the "bob" (bob sledge?).















Niklas' family out on one of the childrens favourite winter activities in the north, to go with bob sledges after a snow mobile.















Maki and Kai waiting for someone to drill a hole in the ice to do some ice fishing.



















And that someone drilling a hole for them.















Dad with a somewhat lazy style of doing ice fishing.















Maki on the snow mobile with Niklas.















Niklas cooking the dinner using a moruka over open fire.















Out on a walk across the ice with Kai on a sledge. By for now!