Fireworks

Last week, Thursday to be exact, we met up at Machiya station and made our way to the highest mansion block in the area. Ascending to the 21st floor, we were greeted at the door by H, who had kindly invited us to her swanky pad up in the clouds to take in the spectacular fireworks display which was exploding over the river nearby.
It was extra special because it was Jay's first, and he gurgled with joy as the sky lit up in multi-coloured explosive hues of shimmering delight. Great company too, with a famous illustrator in attendance (whom I must admit I'd never heard of) called Radical Sizuki, who's got a rather cool HP here - LINK
They also had this huge cat, who was so placid and easy going that he wasn't bothered one bit when Jay got rather excited and began pawing him like crazy. Fisrt time to meet a cat up close and personal. Although I'm not a big fan of keeping cats on the 21st floor, H had what must have been the longest balconey I've ever seen, encircling a quarter of the whole, rather large building. Apparantly it makes for quite an adventure playground for cats.
H's husband is an artist, who makes quirky pieces which are very popular here in Japan. One of them being a barbed wired teddy bear. Ouch!

Trapped

On reaching the ground floor of my apartment building this morning - on my way out to work - a trapped sparrow flew helplessly around the enclosed entrance way and eventually banged itself unconscious against one of the window planes. It lay on the ground twitching for a few seconds, and I tried to cup the little bird in my hands to put it safely outside. However, it quickly woke, and began running around the space, with me chasing it, eventually just opening one of the doors so that it could run out to freedom.
Later, I was speaking to a woman who's mother had just died, and instead of grieving for her loss, she has decided to clean up her parents house. She wants to organize it and apply the #Toyota way" so as to set up a functional, and more importantly, efficient, place to live. She told me all this, and then suddenly recalled how soft her mother's deformed hand was, and how when she used to stroke the woman's back in times of extreme distress, it would sooth and calm her incredibly quickly.
A monotone man later told me that there was nothing he liked better than to do his job, because he loved it and there was nothing he would rather be doing than making loads of money buying and selling loans on the open market. He laughed heartily when I suggested Australian wines were not to be compared to French wines,and then went on to regale me with the wonders of going on a wine tasting holiday in Bordeaux.
Upon arriving home late this evening, after dashing madly all over this overheated city, Miyu said Jay had spread dry cous cous all over the kitchen floor, sending her to her wits end and denying the little fella a pencil to hold as a magic wand.
And so it goes.

3 years, and counting...

I'm happy to report that Miyu and I have reached our 3rd anniversary, and so to celebrate, we decided to book a swanky hotel in Karuizawa for the weekend. It was all bloody nice, with an outdoor private bathtub on the balcony and more room than Jay could fathom! He really loved the massive expanse of carpet to speed crawl around and playing around on the bath deck. For Miyu and I, we appreciated the fine French food for dinner and the complimentary champagne, plus a surprise cake which the management had left in our fridge (the place came with its own kictchen too). The country air was bracing and the sunshine surprisingly strong, and Miyu even got her shopping fix because not 10 minutes from the hotel was an outlet mall! An added bonus was that we could spend some time visiting my grandmother and uncle and aunt. Their daughter had just had a baby, so it was a bit of a baby fest. Funnily, when I was holding Mako, the new baby, Jay went into a bit of a tantrum. Didn't like dad holding another baby at all!

Half way mark, and then some

Well, the rains are almost gone, so we must be into the summer season. Apparently this year's going to be a stinker, and I ain't looking forward to all that walking around with me suit and tie on. Perhaps I need to cultivate a frozen mind. Talking of frozen stuff, a frozen yoghurt shop has just been launched in Tokyo, so will have to sample me some of that soon. Jay said his first proper word yesterday, after waking from a slumber, he crawled into the living room and said "hello", in a rather perplexed manner. I think he was still half asleep. He then sped toward my charging i-pod, making a gurgling sound. A button has finally been sown onto one of my shirts by the button fairy, so no danger of exposed flesh in the city of Tokyo...from me at least. I think though, that I have lost my eye for photography, and I'm at a loss to think where I left it. A hefty reward to anyone who finds it...