A chatty kitty and a big solar panel

This kitty looks like two I had as a child back in Nova Scotia. Both I had named Charlie. Charlie 1 was born sometime about 1978 and lasted until about 1983. Charlie 2 I remember about 1983 to 1994. Pretty old for a cat.

 Due to the energy shortage by the nuclear plant meltdowns up in Northern Japan which produced 40% of the Tokyo regions power, this solar panel was built near where I live. Not sure how many of these will be built in the near future.

A happy weekend here in Kamagaya

I have been informed the I will be granted an MA in TEFL/Applied Linguistics from the University of Leicester, having successfully completed my dissertation!
Also, today (May 12) is my son's 8th Birthday!

Today started off with us going to Toys R Us for Ian to get his present, a DS game system, then he got a haircut, then we went to another mall to get him some school supplies.
And surprisingly, Baskin Robbins 31 had a special event. If you gave a donation to the Japanese Earthquake recovery, you could get a free scoop of ice-cream.
We then went to McDonald's for his favorite lunch, cheeseburgers.

We then got him a strawberry shortcake birthday cake.

All in all, pretty darn good.

Golden Week, 2013

This years edition, consists of a movie day, a day at the park with a picnic, and a bbq.

The movies I rented were Titanic (1997) Aliens (1986) going for a James Cameron double feature, and Pocohantas (1995) to give my kids a little bit of our culture, although filtered by Disney.

Kung Fu Panda 2 also featured in the bill.

Our trip to the park was once again to our favorite place, Big Hill Park in Inzai. I decided to go ethnic by makin Hummus in Pita, though I had to substitute white beans for chick peas.
I then made a peanut sauce to go with it. Quite tasty.

We played with our dart guns, then came home to play kick ball in the street. Followed by our Saturday night ritual of watching House MD and Dexter.

Sunday was our bbq. It was a little quiter this year as I just had my family. I also started my BBQ with some gel fuel, as well as a nice little metal helper which burns the charcoal faster. I began my fire at 10:45 and it was rearing to go by 11:15. By noon, we had cooked half of our food. 5 big sausages, 10 sticks of yakitori, or grilled chicken on skewers, and 3 steaks. I also made 8 baked potatoes.

Yakitori on the grill

By 13:00 we had finished. The rest of the afternoon, we relaxed and played.

Ian takes a try at roasting marshmallows

I got the BBQ going early

Mrs. Redden relaxing

The Redden ladies bbq marshmallows

 

Monday saw us take back our DVDs, and go out to a park in Chiba Newtown, however as we began walking through the park, we noticed that there were grass areas roped off. There were warning signs up that there was still residual radiation from the meltdown of the nuclear power plants from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
We then waked around the AEON shopping centre, and went into another camping store to look around, then had a late lunch at an Italian all you can eat restaurant.
All in all, it was a great 4 days. Sometimes the best fun is when you don't plan stuff, but just go out.

Well said Daddy.

 

Dancing and Karate

It's been a bit of a busy weekend here in Japan. Ian and Leena had a dance event on Friday, for a charity event held in Kamagaya. The event is to be an annual event to assist the recovery effort for Tohoku, Japan, the area hit by the big earthquake.

Leena as a butterfly

The local neighborhood festival.

These are the pictures from the dancing.
There were some interesting samba dancers but if you've seen them once, you've seen them all (and I've seen the same ladies 4 times this year, though they are marvelous, though my wife was daring me to take shots)

I'm dancing again?

Do I have to wear this makeup?

Left foot, right foot.

Just before the samba ladies showed up.

Then on Sunday, Ian had his first Karate tournament. He won his first sparing but lost to the second. There was one kid who placed third but he was a real spoiled sport. He threw his gloves on the mats and had a temper tantrum. The umpire scholded him in front of everyone for being such a bad sport. Of the students in Ian's dojo, only one managed to get a medal for his kata or drill style. However, it was a fun event. Even Ian's sensei concured with my opinion of this kid. Totally disrespected the match, the players, judges. Sure he was only 6, but in any sport, acting up like that is bad. (Pictures to follow)

Sakura or cherry blossoms

Spring in Japan is when the Sakura or Cherry blossoms come out. Last year, all the Sakura viewing parties were cancelled due to Japan's expression of mourning for those who were killed, missing, injured or otherwise badly affected by the Great East Japan earthquake.

   

Gear for emergencies

This kit contains a space blanket, towels, a first aid kit, 12 hour candles, water proof matches and nylon para-cord.

After this event, my family kept all of these items at hand. We also have about 40 liters of water and tea in case the water is cut off. We also have emergency food in the form of Ritz Crackers, retort boil in the bag meals as well as pasta.

We also have camping gear which can be used in the event that our house collapses.

Radio flashlight combo

This is a combination Radio/Flashlight. For myself, the only radio station which would be of use to me would be AFN, the American Forces Network as they broadcast in English. NHK may also give announcements in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portugues, and Tagalong.

Kids kit

Ian's bag consists of a complete change of clothes. He also has a protective hat which covers the head and neck.

Contents 2

Another shot of the contents, showing tissues, and cans of barley biscuits

Contents of earthquake bag

As can be seen from this shot, the bag consists of:

A. a collapsable water container.

B. forks, spoons, plates, cups, bowls, chopsticks

C. 3 cans of barley biscuits.

D. 2 pairs of cloth gloves.
Most families keep bags like these for diasters.

March 11 2011 14:46 earthquake commeration

Today, Japan pauses to remember the 15,000 people who died in this disaster & those who are missing & those who are still affected by it.
At 14:46 today, Japan will stop for 2 minutes of silence in rememberance of this diaster.