And some more

Some photos

A wet end to GW

After a glorious string of sunny days, yesterday's torrential downpour brought to an end a very relaxing GW here in Tokyo. Miyu and I ventured over to Gotanda and visited Akachanhonpo, which is like a giant baby emporium selling everything you need for children and parents under one roof. I checked out the baby chairs and spotted a very nicely designed one which we may buy a few months from now (no sense getting it now as the baby wont be able to sit-up for a while after birth). Bought a very cool baby sling called Natures Sway Sling, which is very ergonomic and easy to use. It holds the baby in a cocoon like sling, and keeps body contact with the carrier (which is supposed to be important for development). We were going to buy lots of baby clothes too, but after consulting with Miyu's mum, was told she has a whole stash of baby clothes from one of Miyu's aunts, so we wont have to buy very much. That's a relief, as baby clothes are really expensive! Plus, as they grow so quickly, they outgrow everything in a few months, so I'm a bit loath to splurge on designer gear. It's a very good business to be in though. No wonder a lot of top designers now have a baby range - it's a real cash cow.
The baby's moving around so much inside Miyu's womb now. You can actually see this rippling wave of movement across her belly, as the baby seems to flip and turn. Very "Alien" like, but surprisingly not disturbing at all.
One of the things that I've been noticing going to places like Akachanhonpo here in Tokyo is the attitude of young fathers to their children. I had this image that they'd be more distant, letting the mums do most of the work, but it's quite the contrary. Maybe the fathers from previous generations were like that, but these fathers are very hands on, it seems. At least they are when I see them. I suppose during the week they don't get as much chance to be with their kids, so they try to make up for it on their days off. Plus, I've heard from several Japanese fathers that they don't want to be like their fathers were to them - distant and untouchable. They really care about bonding with their kids. I think this attitude is also seen in the recent spate of magazines that are aimed specifically at young fathers, and how the central message in them is the importance of maintaining closeness to your child's growth. It's definitely a good thing, I think.

Heroerotic sport

Just read an excellent article in The Observer about man love in football. Very funny: LINK
It seems very obvious really. The whole spectre of watching extremely fit men run around "fighting" each other, and then rejoicing in their glory when they score. And yet, men don't see anything homoerotic in it at all, which is rather funny as in fact it's extremely so. Are we all in denial, or is this an important aspect of men's nature that needs to be expressed?
Spent a very lazy summery day yesterday in the local park. Miyu and I picnicked, read, tried some code breaking (from a very good book by Simon Singh - LINK), slept and took loads of pictures of some gorgeous flowers. Yes, flowers. I'm totally comfortable with my softer side, you see ; )
I'll post some flower pictures later...

The avoidance of eyes

It's Golden Week here in Japan at the moment, so Miyu and I decided to head on down to Enoshima yesterday for a bit of sand, sea and sunshine. This involved taking the Shonan Shinjuku train line all the way to Ofuna, and then changing to the monorail for a short ride to Enoshima. What really shocked and disappointed me was the fact that nobody on those very crowded trains offered to give up their seat for a very obviously pregnant Miyu. In fact, the people in close vicinity to her, who were sat down, either pretended to sleep, looked away or knotted their brows in concentration reading their books. This was exhibited even by people who were seated in the priority seats for people who need to sit down (handicapped, old and pregnant women), but who were obviously very able bodied. Had us both seething I tell you.
When we did arrive at Enoshima, it seemed like we were in fact in Shinjuku station at rush hour. The sheer volume of people there was quite shocking. Queues everywhere, and it made stopping on the streets almost impossible due to the steady flow of people traffic carrying you along.
Funny thing was, and something that added even more to the notion we were in fact in Shinjuku station, was the escalators taking you to the top of the hill. The island has a large number of temples, and it's quite steep, so somebody must have thought it'd be nice to install these escalators right in the middle of such tranquil antiquity. Miyu was glad of the assist though!
We had planned to cross the island and then take a ferry back to the main port. However, after trekking up and down lots of steep steps (and escalators), we found the ferry wasn't in operation! So, Miyu decided she didn't want to face the crowds again, so we took the short-cut along the cliff faces. This involved some not so easy rock climbing, which Miyu took in her stride very well, considering she's seven months pregnant. The only mishap was we both got our feet slightly wet in the sea at a particularly difficult stretch of the cliff face.