Here and There Japan

Purple Shiso

2009-06-27T21:43:00.005+09:00

The green plants are taro.

Lines and Vines

2009-06-24T09:51:00.004+09:00

Telephone lines and kiwi vines. Click on the picture to enlarge it. That's a stop sign in the bottom left hand corner. Check this post for a picture of this kind of stop signs. And here for another kind.

The kiwi is over a carport. Check this post for more pictures of the carport.

It is still the rainy season. We are having overcast days, sunny days and rainy days. Yesterday was sunny. Today is rainy.

2009-06-17T12:35:00.004+09:00

Our vegetable stand man pulled some onions and tied them together to sell. That dark plastic thing is a shower stool. Some people use them to sit while they wash themselves before getting into the bathtub. It makes a good field stool, too.

That's a bundle of dried onion stalks. He used them to tie the onions together.

Here are some onions with their roots still in the ground. They're waiting to be pulled. I bought some from his vegetable stand. They are nice and sweet.

He has a lot of them!

Construction Mat

2009-06-16T08:43:00.002+09:00

There's more construction on our street. This time they put down this mat to show us where to walk.

Our vegetable stand man returned from his field carrying a load of onions. He rode his bike through the construction to get to his vegetable stand on the other side.

Up in the Clouds

2009-06-12T17:52:00.004+09:00

Watching clouds from the roof garden. There's that spot again. I've got to get the camera cleaned!

This is a baby praying mantis. The first one I've seen in the roof garden this year.

Neighbor's Gate

2009-06-10T15:53:00.003+09:00

This is just one of the many styles of gates in our neighborhood. To go to the front door you would open the right side. First, though, you would ring the bell. The owner would answer through an intercom.

Garden Raspberries

2009-06-09T10:32:00.003+09:00

There are a lot of raspberries this year! This plant has been coming up in our garden every year for ten years.

They don't all ripen at the same time. Even those on the same stem!

Ladybug

2009-06-06T13:35:00.002+09:00

Click to enlarge the picture. Believe it or not, this will shed its outer shell and become a shiny round ladybug.

Garden Wall Vents

2009-06-02T18:57:00.005+09:00

Most garden walls in our area are made of cinder blocks. This wall has vents at the top and slits near the bottom. They allow air to flow freely. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

This wall has a different design for vents near the ground.

This wall has diamond shaped vents near the top.

Click here to see another design.

More Field Work

2009-05-27T21:27:00.003+09:00

This is the field behind our house. This farmer put straw mats between his rows of corn. Click on the picture to see what is in his truck.

Here he is getting something from the van. His helper is taking a rest. They covered some rows of vegetables. Those metal poles stuck in the ground will probably be bent and covered, too.

Field Work

2009-05-26T14:47:00.003+09:00

Here's our vegetable stand man working in his onion field. The corn on this side of that path (in the foreground) belongs to another farmer.

He farms that whole area on the left side of the metal railings. His wife sometimes helps him. I just found out that he is 84 years old! Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

These pictures were taken from our roof garden.

Sun After the Rain

2009-05-25T10:34:00.000+09:00

It will be the rainy season soon. May is usually really hot, but it's been cool this year. We've had rain from time to time, too.

This is a hosta in our garden. It comes back up every year.

The New Bicycle Parking Lot

2009-05-22T09:14:00.005+09:00

Motorcycles have their own place. See the post "Bicycle Racks" (below) for a close-up of how bicycles are parked.

This is the entrance.

This is the exit (when you leave without your bicycle.)

Click here to see the old parking lot.

Bicycle Racks

2009-05-22T09:11:00.000+09:00

The new parking lot has racks for the bicycles.

There are instructions posted.

Another Field Lost?

2009-05-19T10:17:00.007+09:00

This field is around the corner from our train station. I was shocked to see like this. It was covered with plywood.

I walked further and saw bicycles parked on it. Another field lost to bicycle parking, I thought. I walked even further and saw that they were remodeling the old bicycle parking lot closer to the station. This was temporary parking. I'll post pictures of the new parking lot.

SCBWI Tokyo Presentations

2009-05-15T23:15:00.016+09:00

Suzanne Kamata (left), author of Playing for Papa was presented with a plaque from SCBWI Tokyo regional advisor Holly Thompson (right). Suzanne Kamata's short story, "Pilgrimmage" published in Cicada Magazine, won the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Magazine Merit Award. Congratulations, Suzanne!

Laura Rennert (center) a senior agent from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency came to our SCBWI Tokyo chapter to do a presentation about writing fiction. It was great! I learned a lot. Her picture book, Buying, Training and Caring for Your Dinosaur, will come out October 2009. It looks fun.

Teri Suzanne an author/illustrator in our chapter received a Letter of Merit for illustration in the selection of 2005. Click here to see samples of her paper cuts. She is not in this picture.

Thanks, again, Holly Thompson for organizing a great event! Holly is a great SCBWI advisor and author. Check out her picture book, Wakame Gatherers, a Sakura Medal nominee.

Caterpillar Crawling

2009-05-14T13:25:00.003+09:00

The garden is crawling now with caterpillars and young ladybugs. Toto is keeping an eye on this one climbing the screen door. I moved it out of danger because both of our cats were very interested in it.

I moved it onto one of great grandfather's bonsai trees. I don't know what the caterpillar will be. I can't find it any of our bug books. I'll keep my eye out for it.

Me in Highlights for Children® !

2009-05-12T10:08:00.004+09:00

One of my game crafts is in the June 2009 issue of Highlights for Children® . It's not related to Japan.

I got two copies of the magazine today in the mail. More to come. Highlights for Children® and Highlights High Five® have accepted several things from me.

There are a lot of good stories, fun facts, crafts, and puzzles in the magazines.

Highlights for Children® --subscriptions

Highlights High Five® -- subscriptions

Waiting on the Corn to Grow

2009-05-11T21:14:00.005+09:00

The corn is growing. The farmer recently poked holes in some of the plastic and pulled the corn stalks through them. Some of the stalks are still not tall enough yet.

This year the corn was planted further away from our fence. too bad. Rattling corn stalks at the end of summer is nice.

Click on the picture to enlarge it. Those are poles of beans in the background.

Printer Paper Illustrations

2009-05-10T09:32:00.005+09:00

I love how companies put illustrations on products here to show how to use them. I also love that this paper comes from a sustainable forest. They call it "made from plantation forest".

Salad Cereal

2009-05-08T13:35:00.003+09:00

Well, why not? Brown rice flakes with salad. Twenty years ago I was surprised to see corn flakes in ice cream sundaes and parfaits here. I think I remember seeing that in the United States last summer. Or was that frozen yogurt with corn flakes?

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Neighbor's Roof

2009-05-06T10:41:00.004+09:00

I took this picture of our neighbor's roof from our kitchen window yesterday. It was raining and we couldn't go out to see koinobori .

This isn't a traditional tile roof. These tiles or shingles are made of metal. The aluminum crescents near the edge are to hold snow. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

I zoomed in and saw for the first time that the snow guards have tulips on them.

Boy's Day 2009

2009-05-05T10:17:00.007+09:00

Baba and Aunt brought sekihan, mochi and shobu upstairs today. Check old posts about our Boy's Day celebrations by clicking on the labels below. There is also more information at Kids Web Japan.

Kids Web Japan --Boy's Day/Children's Day
Kids Web Japan--Golden Week

Back Out

2009-05-03T08:57:00.002+09:00

I picked up the stray cat from the vet today. I carried it in a cage down the street to our garden to release it. It ran off to a shed across the field when I opened the cage. Later in the afternoon I saw the cat sleeping on the roof.

It looked peaceful and happy.

I woke it up even though I was using the zoom lens from far away! It has pretty eyes.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Spring Wind

2009-04-26T15:57:00.002+09:00

No koinobori flying in our neighborhood yet. Only laundry and curtains.