Japanory

An Eventful Day which Required a Certificate…

Monday 11^th June 2007

I made Rhiannon a Star Certificate today. She deserved it.

Firstly, she was stoic about Tim heading off to Seoul this morning. Usually she gets upset but she's getting used to the idea now that Daddy has to travel away sometimes for work. Mainly though, it's because he's promised to bring her (another) present from there!

Then when I picked her up from Aikido after school she proudly brandished a real certificate for "Making a Good Effort". I think it's so important for children to be rewarded in this way. It encourages them to continue trying, makes them feel very special and boosts their self-esteem. When I was a kid, the thinking was that no rewards or recognition were required (for whatever dumb reason), so even though I was a pretty good athlete, I have nothing to prove that.

The rest of the certificate said this…

She told a boy to kiss her and he did

She played football with the big boys

When she fell over and cut her knee, with blood, she didn't cry at all

She helped rescue a mole from Raymi and Ginger by being very brave and chasing the cats away.

Then she helped mummy catch the mole and find it a new home and set it free

I shall explain:

After she showed me the Aikido certificate in the car on the way home, she shyly whispered that she had something to tell me and would I be cross?

"Of course not", I said, rather nervously, thinking, "oh no! What had she done? Got into trouble, sent to the Head Mistress?"

No, - she had indeed, dared a boy in her class to kiss her during play time, and he did! I wish I could remember who this boy way, but I can't. I tried not to laugh…

Next on the list - more boys! We could be in trouble in years to come…

There are a couple of boys who live next door to us and regularly play football outside the house. Rhiannon often presses her nose up against the window to watch, but lacks the Japanese language skills to talk to them and (usually) the nerve to ask if she can join in. They are some years older than her with the eldest being about 13 or so. But today, with her confidence massively boosted by the day's events she went out and they very kindly allowed her to play footie with them.

Now she's also the world's greatest drama queen when it comes to any injury; a bruise causes a meltdown and demands for a plaster, so you can imagine the palaver she creates when she gets a proper cut or graze that produces blood. Not today though! She fell on the tarmac and got a good scrape with a lot of blood that needed a real pad, not just a teeny plaster! And as the certificate states - no tears!! Being brave in front of the boys…

They went indoors after this to do their homework and Rhiannon got her skipping rope out to continue her playing outside.

Suddenly, she came running in shouting that Raymi (our cat) and his little stray friend - who we have unimaginatively named Ginger - were "being weird down the alleyway - I think they might be fighting". I could hear no fighting sounds, but went out to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, the two cats were being "weird", but it didn't take me long to work out what they were up to - they were chasing some kind of creature and playing with it. They were running up and down behind our linked-neighbour's house.

The only way to rescue whatever it was they were after was for Rhiannon to squeeze through the hedge separating our gardens and chase the cats away. I wouldn't fit. So I went down the other side of the houses armed with a plastic bucket to head the cats off and discovered a mole! Alive and unhurt, thankfully. I retrieved a scared little girl from the narrow alleyway and she helped me guide the mole into the bucket. This was the first mole she's ever seen, so we had a little natural history lesson, said a very firm no, we couldn't keep it as a pet and asked her where did she think it would prefer to live?

Just down the road is a route to an ancient, unused and dry waterway circling Shinjuku-Gyoen garden so we took it down there where Rhiannon scrambled down the bank and set it free in the little wilderness.

I must admit to being surprised at finding a mole in the middle of Tokyo! And I was very proud of Rhiannon today, hence the certificate.

Extra Aikido

Saturday 9^th June 2007

Pacific Aikido - the group who run the childrens' classes at school - have set up some Saturday sessions for those kids who wish to progress quicker through the grades.

Rhiannon is enjoying aikido so much, she insists that we sign her up for them, even though we usually prefer to keep our weekends free from school / sport related activities. But it's only for a few weeks and means Rhiannon will get her yellow belt sooner rather than later.

Who are we to curb such enthusiasm?

We drop Rhiannon off for her hour and a half session and then Tim and I wander down the delightfully named Cat Street to the nearest Starbucks. It's very pleasant for us to spend this rare grown-up time together, talking with each other without a kid interrupting or eavesdropping.

It's very easy to lose yourself in the parenthood trap and ignore each other's feelings and needs, so this short "us" time is valuable and very enjoyable.

Transporting Trees

Thursday 7^th June 2007

Tokyo is a surprisingly "green" city.

By this I mean there are a lot of plants and trees around. The roads are lined with trees - normally Ginkgo or Willow - and every building has several potplants outside.

Each year, the trees are pruned. Not in the brutal, ugly, top-lopping way it's done in Britain, but carefully and artistically. Think about how bonsai trees look, then imagine that on a larger scale.

Tokyo provides unexpected sights on a daily basis. But this one was the best I've seen so far.

A fully grown tree being transported to its new home! The roots are carefully bagged up ready for replanting.

 

It will be well looked after, that's for sure.

Red Hot Chili Peppers in Tokyo!

Don't get too excited - look at the date... remember I'm writing an incredibly backdated blog!

Wednesday 6^th June 2007

Tonight's the night! The night I've been anticipating for about twenty years!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have rescheduled their cancelled gig. Woohoo!!!!!

Shortly after we first arrived I forced Tim to get tickets to see one of my favourite bands in concert. But as seems to be the case whenever I try to see this band, circumstances got in the way. The concert was supposed to be in March but cancelled because the gorgeous Anthony Keidis developed pneumonia. I offered to travel to the States to rub his chest, but Tim didn't think it was a good idea…! *Sigh*

But now it's on again! I am so excited I could burst!! We made our way to the Tokyo Dome for the gig.

Where sadly my bubble burst.

Perhaps it was too soon for Keidis to return after his illness, maybe there were disagreements in the band, but whatever their reason the performance lacked energy and va-va-voom. The Tokyo Dome is just too big and the acoustics are dreadful.

Flea and John Frusciante were geniuses as ever, though. John made us laugh with his very sweet falsetto version of Abba's "SOS" and Flea played a trumpet solo to a Boney M track, of all things!

But overall, I was rather disappointed. And they didn't play "Under the Bridge". Humph.

The set list is here, with links to some of the videos and solos.