Spring around the corner

After a bit chilly beginning of the week with more rain (fortunately only outside, the roof really seems to be fixed now!) the end of the week provided very nice weather. We spent thursday-friday with hot springs and sightseeing in Hakone - a trip that now is more or less part of the "standard package" when we get visitors, which is kind of nice as I enjoy it just as much every time. This time of year is very nice to go to hot springs as well as it's not so warm outside just yet. Of all the times we've been to Hakone this time we got the best weather and a clear view of mount Fuji.















Yesterday we couldn't think of a better way to spend Niklas and Maritha's last day in Tokyo than arranging the first picnic of the year in Yoyogi park. We had around 15 degrees and mostly sun, very nice indeed after the cold winter. By coincidence there was a japanese festival in Yoyogi park yesterday so we got a lot of different good food and drinks for our picnic, better than the bento box from 7eleven that was the plan.















We could even find a few cherry trees that had started to bloom. Beautiful to see and a true indication that spring is coming. Would think that most trees will come to full bloom in about 2 weeks or so and then all parks will be crowded with people enjoying the cherry blossoms.

Today the three of us enjoyed another sunny day in the park after Niklas and Maritha had taken off to return to Sweden. Next weekend I'll be finishing off the winter with a ski trip to Hokkaido. Feels kind of awkward now when spring seems to be coming but it will be nice with one more ski trip before bringing out the shorts and flip flops.

Sleeping in the rain

We are slowly approaching warmer weather and more light here in Tokyo and leaving winter behind. It's been a bit tough month and a half, not due to the cold weather which compared to rest of the world is not that bad, but because our house is under reconstruction. With short notice, just after extending the contract, we found out that the house would have a 2 months long reconstruction going on. So starting from end of January we've had all walls covered with building stands and protection net blocking all view so it's felt a bit like a prison. In addition all the noise starting already 8 o'clock in the morning and people walking right outside our window hasn't made it the optimal place for Maki and Kai to spend the days but often have had to leave the apartment and stay out all day.















One of the worst part of the reconstruction is that our bedroom roof suddenly started to leak water. Not very nice in the cold rainy winter season in Tokyo. The big surprise though was that even after telling about this, which we thought was not only a great inconvinience for us but actually very serious for the building itself, the didn't manage to fix it. After a week of not raining it started leaking again last weekend when the rain came back. And of course it was during the weekend so no one was around to fix it.

Now they seem to have fixed the roof on the outside. After some sunny days during last week the rain is back outside but no longer in our bed room. They teared off the paper and paint though in the roof as a memory.



















As a small apology the owner of our apartment brought a box a cookies when coming to see the the leaking roof the other day. To bring something in situation like this is common in Japan and this is very likely the most expensive cookies we have ever had in a beautiful wood box. And they taste very nice as well.















Something good that has happened lately is that Kai has started to read books. It's not one of the famous classic works but it's a start.















And when Kai got a new bath robe with his name on from Maki's friends he was this happy!



Finally a video from when Kai tried out the "walking-bouncer" he got from Niklas and Maritha for the first time. He was quite unsure what to do! Speaking of Niklas and Maritha, they are on the way over to visit for a week and should be approaching Ebisu station as we speak. I will go with Kai and and meet them up now. Maki is at a "marathon" get together with friends south of Yokohama today and will be joining later this afternoon. Some 10 of our friends running half marathon and another 10 coming to meet up for lunch afterwards, guess what group of people Maki is in? The plan was that I would be running today also but a soar throat made me make the choice to stay home and act as welcome committee for Niklas and Maritha instead. So we are looking forward to a nice week with them!

Happy valentine!

I got nice Belgian chocolate from Maki on valentine's day. Kai got the wrapping paper for the chocolate and seemed to be equally happy for that.

Passed!

Results from the japanese language test I took in december came in the post the other day (JLPT level 3). Even though I passed I must admit that my score was much closer to the cut off limit than to the maximum limit. There is still a long way to go for me to learn japanese well but now there is at least a chance that I can understan Kai the first year he starts talking. Another option is of course that I could try harder to teach him swedish.

Vivaz video

First try to capture Kai on video with the Vivaz mobile phone.

Ski trip without skiing

Yesterday we made an attempt to go skiing just for the day. Up early in the morning and after an hour of picking up members we left west of Tokyo around 6 o'clock in the morning. Massive traffic and at least 3 accidents along the way as we could see made us sit in slow queues all the way and the 2 hour drive turned out to be more than 6 hours.











Pit stop for putting the chains on. In japan around Tokyo it is not common to use winter tyres and if you don't then are are forced to use chains on the car when going into the mountain areas.

It started snowing more and more as we came up the mountains and despite being late I was happy that the conditions must be perfect for good skiing. So I was slightly chocked when we got stuck in another queue just 2 km from the slope and cars started turning around - we were told that the ski lift had been closed due to bad weather. Bad weather? -4 degrees and plenty of snow coming down from the sky! Could it be more perfect!











A bit disappointed we continued to the next bullet on the agenda, food. Initially planned for after skiing we went to this nice soba restaurant when the lift was closed. Beautifully located in a small village in the forest close to the ski area.

In the same area as the reastaurant we went to an onsen to have an outside bath in a hot spring before returning to Tokyo. If the weather was too bad to keep the ski lift running it was ideal for onsen. Nice to be outside in -4 degrees and feel the cold snow land on your head and shoulders when your body is in 40 degrees warm hot spring.

So it turned out a very nice day after all with beautiful winter scenery and great food and onsen. Just a bit sad we couldn't ski when it must have been perfect condition for off pist.

Slippery when wet

Apparently people in Tokyo are not too familiar with snow, or someone in our company is bit over protective, or both. When Tokyo expected a bit of snow fall yesterday we received this email with instructions on how to walk in a safe way when snow has made the street slippery. Cute. And funny. Don't forget to bend your knees! Might turn out to be a good advise for you people living in snowy sweden also.

Otoshidama

Otoshidama, a japanese tradition to give money as new year present to your own and relative's children. In fact we did not remember this until Kai received this present from his grand parents yesterday. As with everything else right now Kai tried to eat it.

Back in Nagano

For the third year in a row we are back in Togari, Nagano, for a weekend skiing with friends. We have had two days of sunshine and a lot of snow, luckely it was snowing on friday evening and saturday night so timing was perfect. It has been too warm for perfect powder snow but still more than decent off pist skiing with loads of snow allowing you to go down anywhere in the forest. And of course we have enjoyed onsen as well. Kai-kun enjoyed first contact with snow even if too early to try skiing.

Australia

Now we are back from our 2 week holiday in Australia. It was a fantastic trip and the small worries we had beforehand for going on an across the globe holiday with Kai turned out to be no problem. Both 10 hours flight and 1100 kilometer car drive just went like a breeze. I guess the advantage with having a baby that requires a lot of carrying around to fall a sleep or not cry is that it likes to be moved and enjoy being on flight, train, car whatever.















In Melbourne we stayed with Maki's cousin Akiko and her lovely family, here with children Shin and Hana. For 3 days we winded down and enjoyed walking around the city and their neighbourhood, going to cafées and simply relax around the house.















They live close to the sea in Melbourne so we got several chances of going to the beach.















Kai wasn't very impressed by the country down under but often took the chance for a good sleep in the warm weather.















But sometime it was Maki who was sleeping when Kai wanted to play. Sleeping family.















After strolling around Melbourne city for 7 hours one day we finished off by having dinner and watching the sunset in st Kilda. Well watching and watching, the sun set when we were trying to take photo of it.















After 3 days in Melbourne we spent 3 days driving the 1100 kilometers from Melbourne along the coast up to Sydney. Here on the amazingly long 90 mile beach on the morning of second day after spending the night in Lake Entrance, a touristic but very nice city along the coast. The place we stayed at had a garden with a grill free to use so we got some kangaroo meat and cooked us a well tasting BBQ dinner.















In Sydney we met up with Paul and his nice parents who we got to stay with while we were in town. Here in their garden just after arrival in Sydney. Notice the västerbotten cheese on the table that has made it all the way from Skellefteå to Sydney.















Maki dancing in front of the opera house.















On a warm and beautiful day Paul's father took us out with their 35 foot boat to cruise around Sydney harbour. An amazing experience and good way to see the city. When we stopped in a small bay for a swim we could see the Harbour bridge and opera house across the water. Must admit I had difficulties to completely forget about the sharks.














Relaxing in the botanic gardens in Sydney.















The last days before returning to Tokyo we took a rental car and drove out from Sydney and had a relaxing time in Blue mountains. We did some easy hiking around in the forest got to see some beautiful views.















Maki pointing out the famous Three sisters in Katoomba.















As a last thing before going to the airport we stopped by a wildlife park and I could finally see some koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles and other fun animals. Koalas are fun in the way to look so tired all the time and can sleep in all various positions. Similar to members in our family.



















Say hi to this guy, the Tasmanian devil.

More photos from australia on picasaweb in albums from Melbourne, roadtrip from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney and Blue mountains.

Back in Tokyo it's cold, Kai is getting frustrated that he still haven't learnt to turn around when laying on his back (bottom arm get stuck preventing upper body from falling over) and tomorrow we are going to Nagano for skiing. Possibly only time this winter so it will be fun.

A new year...

has begun. It is the year of the tiger and a year that will mean a lot of change for us. We have six months left on the contract here in Tokyo and after that we will be moving back to Stockholm. Not only have we sold the apartment in Stockholm but also I will be out of job as my office in Kista will be closed shortly after we return. So we basically move back to no house and no job. We are not too worried about that situation but instead it feels like we have an opportunity to try something new, both when it comes to what to do for work as well as where to live. And I hope it will result in some time off from the working part of life and spend some time with Maki and Kai.

We will start the new year in a good way. On Monday we leave for almost two weeks holiday in Australia. As normal we have not made much detailed planning but on a high level we will fly to Melbourne and stay there for a couple of days with Maki's cousin and her family. After that we will take a few days and drive a rental car 1000km up to Sydney and spend a week in the Sydney area, partly with a friend and his family. So it will be quite an adventure to bring Kai on this trip but we have a lot of time and no need to stress so think it will be very nice trip.













This is how big little Kai grew in 2009. On the 3rd month's checkup he measured 64cm and 6,8kg (a 134% increase).


















In japan it is tradition to go to the temple on new year's day. This is a small temple close to our friend's house where we spent new year's eve and stayed over night.















New year's holiday equals "lucky bag" season. A lucky bag (fuku bukuro) is a closed bag with mixed clothes or any other things with a total value of 5-10 times more than the bag is sold for, at least this is what the stores claim but I must admit it often seems to be a pretty good deal buying one of these bags. The thing is that you can of course not see what's inside if you like it or not.

There is nothing Maki like more than shopping for lucky bags and here is the first one she bought on the way home yesterday.















And this is the second one she bought today. The clothes she got was so good so there is a great chance that there will be a third one tomorrow!















Have to agree with this tiger. Happy new year 2010!

100 days

Today it has been 100 days after Kai was born and according to japanese tradition we had a small ceremony to celebrate this. This tradition is called okuizome and should help make sure that the baby will not have problem to eat during his lifetime. Maki's parents brought the sticky rice used for ceremonies, osekihan, and we ate together with Kai. For Kai it was only a matter of pretending to eat though. A nice tradition.

Merry christmas!

With only few minutes left of our christmas eve this year we want to take the opportunity to wish all our friends and family a merry christmas! Some of you still have most part of the day left, we hope you will enjoy just as much as we have.















Fortunately santa had not forgot us this year either. The raindeers however could not make it all the way to our house, think it was something with an injury but not sure, santa was not really clear on that subject. Any way he (she?) brought a whole lot of presents to all of us. Sadly Maki was on the toilet just when santa came by so she missed the whole thing.

Tha day before the day...

The day before christmas and also the emperor's birthday and a national holiday here in Japan. Note that tomorrow, the birthday of another famous person, is not a holiday but a normal working day. We have spent most part of the day at a christmas party at a friends place. Except for a lot of good food and a lot of fun Kai got to meet santa for the first time. Too early to say whether he bought the full story with the north pole and raindeers but at least it looks promising for tomorrow.

Christmas preparations

Christmas eve is just a few days away and even if the ground is not white outside it feels just as good as always to be approaching christmas holidays. Here I'm getting some help from Kai to read the recipe for the Christmas ham.













Ham (almost) ready! We cooked the christmas ham on saturday for the traditional christmas party and invited some friends over for the usual swedish christmas food and hot glögg.



















A "tree like" plant from the neighbourhood flower shop serves as a christmas tree. It's quite large and does the job fairly well I must say. The outside door decoration was hung in the tree when we didn't have any other decorations and seem to have gotten stuck there. Anyway, with presents under the tree it looks pretty nice.

Ninjas and skates

Ulf and I took a day outside Tokyo and went to Edo Wonderland outside nikko. It's a kind of outside museum with a whole small village built up with architecture from edo period. One of the highlights was a ninja show with stunts that would have made Jackie Chan himself impressed (well, almost).















Whole family having hot glögg under the christmas decorations outside Tokyo dome. Very nice indeed.











Saturday we spent in Yokohama strolling around bay area and doing some shopping. Around 15 degrees warm outside but that's no reason not to have an ice skating rink in the middle of the bay area in Yokohama.















Yokohama is really nice and well worth a visit if going to Tokyo. Here it's like they make more use of the areas close to the water and prepare parks and walking paths than what they do in Tokyo and you get a lot of nice sceneries along the water.











Bye for this time!

Tokyo donkey

After a while in Tokyo you get use to seeing different things to what you are used to. Still, I must admit I was a little bit surprised walking home today when we met this guy and his donkey in central Tokyo. Apparently the donkey wasn't keen on having his picture taken, according to his owner, but I was allowed to take this one photo.

New clothes

Tack farmor för de fina kläderna! De passade perfekt i storlek och är mycket omtyckta. De kom väl till pass, Kai har gått upp från 2,9kg till 6,2kg på 2,5 månader så de flesta kläder han har börjar redan bli för små!

Shoot out in Kamakura

Took a relaxing day off in Kamakura, one of the favourite places from last time mom and dad came over. Stralling around the old parts of the city we found a play ground like shooting range with toy guns using cork as ammunition. Few words needed and the competition was on. No need to spell out who won, let's just say that many years of hunting did not seem to give an advantage this time.

Warm winter hot spring evening bath

Outside the LaQua hot spring bath in central Tokyo. We've just finished some 4-5 hours relaxing inside and outside bath in hot springs, cold bath and sauna. Well worth a visit, especially when you need to wind down a little. Outside there are light decorations all over the place, very nice in the winter evening.