Our family video podcast from Toyama City, Japan, featuring the adventures of Jerry (papa), Shinobu (mama), our ten year old son Luke, and our four year old daughter, Max. My goals for this show are to share highlights of family news and a bit of Japanese culture as well. This show is intended primarily for family and friends, but anyone interested in daily life in Japan is also welcome.
Here is the story of how Luke won his first official gold medal, at a swim meet at our home pool in Yatsuo. Coach mama was one of the main organizers, so this clip shows her in her element. At the time of this event, Luke was nine and in the 4th grade. He has been working very hard in the pool, so it was great for him to get this tangible encouragement. Luke not only won gold, but also set a meet record. Still, coach mama did her thing and found a lot of ways he can improve. Max, now four, als...
Our daughter Max turned four on March 7th, 2011. The following morning, according to our family tradition, we took her to a photo studio to get her annual portrait done. If you're in the mood for cute, check out this video! :-)
On May 3rd, 2011, in the midst of Golden Week, Luke participated in the annual Hikiyama festival in our hometown of Yatsuo-machi. This festival has been held since the mid-18th century and features ornate floats decorated with extremely cool works of Japanese craftsmanship, including wood carvings, metal work, dolls, and embroidery. This short clip chronicles our adventures from the day, including Luke riding in the top of a float.
On the 1st day of Golden Week 2011, Luke participated in the 23rd annual "Super Chibiko [kids] Challenge", a sports event for select 4th-6th graders from each elementary school in Toyama Prefecture. The kids compete in five events throughout the day: running, jumping, dribbling, throwing, and swimming. It's basically like a pentathalon for children, designed to challenge and test overall athletic ability. Each school can send up to three boys & girls (one for each grade). Luke was the only boy...
Here is the 2nd in a series of videos on our experiences from the amazing winter of 2011. This is a simple tale, of my daily duty of taking our daughter Max to nursury school each morning. On this particular morning (January 31st), the snow was at its peak. Please come along for the 2 km ride to school through the winter wonderland that was our neighborhood.
Our three year old daughter Max had an especially fun winter this year sledding and skiing for the first time in her life. Here are some highlights.
It's been an amazing winter here in Toyama, one definitely for the record books. With snowfall amounts not seen in a generation, it has simultaneous made for some severe stress and wonderous beauty. In this the first of a series on our Winter 2011 experiences, Mama & Papa work hard to shovel snow off the roof of the house, a process known in Japanese as "yuki oroshi".
Scenes from the 27th memorial service for the founder of Nipponzan Myohoji, Nichidatsu Fujii (Guruji). This Buddhisht ceremony took place at Kiyosumi Temple in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, on January 9th, 2010.
Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you're all having a good holiday season. This little clip attempts to capture some of the fun we had last weekend setting up our fake Christmas tree. We have this dancing Santa toy that sings "Jingle Bells" ad infinitum, and the kids started to dance and dance along with it. Things began to escalate, and before you know it, we were all dancing around the room. It was a scream. Hope you like it!
Last year young Luke climbed his first mountain, Mt. Tateyama, here in Toyama Prefecture. This year's trekking trip was more ambitious- 3 days, 2 nights in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. What an amazing trip! This episode, the first in a series of three, tells the story of our 1st day, one that featured a climb up the largest field of year-round snow in Japan, the "Daisekkei". With this video I'm aiming to not only tell a family story, but also to introduce what it's like to trek in this ...