Clara Nakamura

Last Christmas, my friend Neil from Scotland, gave Clara a Celtic strip. It was a bit large for her at the time time but now seems to fit perfectly. A great present but I was slightly miffed that Clara now seems to be a Celtic supporter instead of supporting The Dons. However, at least she will be supporting a team that has a chance of winning something.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I think I blogged myself to death during September and October. We haven't been up to much. I've been busy at work but now have a few weeks off over Christmas and New Year. The commute to work has been a bit tough recently as it seems to be suicide season in Tokyo. Everyday for the past few weeks there has been announcements on the train PA system announcing delays due to suicides. It appears that the people who commit suicide want others to suffer and therefore they choose rush hour, the time which will impact hundreds of thousands of commuters. My colleagues and I were saying that it is a good thing that guns are strictly controlled in Japan or these people would be potential mass killers.

Anyway, we are all fine and have Clara's 7th birthday and Christmas coming up. More blogs to follow soon - I promise.

Shichi-Go-San Festival

Just a brief post to give you some information of the Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) Festival in Japan.

As you can see from the above link, the ages of 3 and 7 are very important for girls in Japan (3 and 5 for boys). Clara visited the hairdressers and then the kimono shop on Saturday the 27th October. After her hair was styled and the kimono made just right, we all drove to the photographers shop to see Clara posing for the photos which would be made into a special album. We had also planned to make a customary trip to a shrine, but the heavy rain made that goal unrealistic. Shame as that would have been a great photo opportunity.

After a busy September and October, November is proving to be a quiet month. Work is pretty easy at the moment and I am taking the chance to go swimming and running (around the Imperial Palace) as much as possible. Friday the 23rd of November will be a long holiday weekend in Japan so I am hoping we can do something nice. I'll try and do another blog in the next week or so.