nananana

お誕生日　おめでとう

Happy Birthday to . . .

Happy Birthday with Aloha

it is raining now. the frogs are gero^gero-ing (croaking). here is some rainy day music from Kodomo no Hi (May 5th). the band is Spitfunk. the song is called Coming Home. i think i have seen them 3 or 4 times and they are alway fun. Fubi-san, the lead singer has a wonderful voice and an excellent, very entertaining stage presence. "put your umbrellas in the air and wave em like you just don`t care".

"clear is clear"

apparently "clear is not clear". finally Noriko and i went to the Canon Service Center in Umeda this afternoon. we talked with a very nice Canon representative about my camera for about an hour and half. i learned a couple of new things about my camera. the most important thing i found out was that using the "automatic" modes on my camera will not give a clear image as the image is factory-set to be "standard" which to me is . . . not clear. it is little hard to explain but i feel a little better knowing it is not all user-error. this photo was taken next the Canon building.




indoor ajisai (hydrangea)

cherries? yes, that is one box of 40 for about $125.  i think they are from Yamagata.

and delicious soba (noodles) for dinner at the Sanbangai under the Hankyu train station

Yosakoi and Bon Voyage

i almost forgot about the yosakoi dancers from about a week ago. you need to see the video but here is one photo that this group was kind enough to pose with Tony. their performance was very moving...wait for the video.

i am on my way to Kobe. more tonite. and i think my little sister and her husband and their dogs are on their way to . . . France via Germany from San Francisco. bon voyage! safe travels!

here`s a couple of photos from my trip to see Misa and Daigo in Suma. (Kobe). they were surprised and happy to see me. and that is always a nice thing.

Misa and her cute hat . . . the Michiko-sama look

Misa-chan and i walking to catch the "pool bus"

Daigo at his swimming lessons. actually they were doing their warm-up exercises. oh, Daigo is the one in the blue swimming suit.

Misa and Daigo climbing up the slide

the view from the `pool bus` on the ride home

Daigo and Papa saying `bye bye` at the train station

rusuban

another warm day after last night`s rain. it became cooler in the afternoon but i never went further than Kikuya (obentoya-san) which is less a 5 minute walk . . . unless i stop to take photos.

Otosan working in the garden

last three rain drops from last night`s rain

one flower, many shadows

ichigo ichie

today`s obento lunch. i had the teriyaki hamburger

today`s dinner . . . gochisosama deshita

today`s sunset

flowers and music ✿ 花 と 音楽

Nishimura
it was very warm, very sunny, and just a bit mushiatsui (humid) for me today but i took a bus and then train/subway today into Osaka. here is a little of what i saw and heard . . .

Mars saxman

Mars singer

can you guess where i went today?

Takuya

Ryo

Sakamoto Keisuke

did you guess the Nagai Botanical Gardens and Senri-chuo? pinpon! and then Noriko met me while watching/listening to Ryo. we took the bus back to Visola Market Place and had curry for dinner (Japanese style not Indian). after dinner after eating too much we walked home.

take a hike

i`ve lost my keys

today was another beautiful day for a little walk. once i started walking on the trail to the waterfall, i decided to walk all the way to Katsuo-ji (temple). here are a few images from my walk.

Minoo taki (waterfall)

this is where i stopped for lunch

(yes, it is upside down. yes, it is all reflection)


wild fujii (wisteria)

Katsuo-ji

daruma and more daruma

where`s Tony?

back to yesterday. before the "street live" at Senri-chuo there was a special event featuring actor/singer/model Tamaki Hiroshi

meeting fans and promoting his new cd, Times.

Omoware

Kazoku-kun