Beijing in 2005

I headed off to Beijing last week to attend a FTSE Xinhua day away - a time to review business and plan for the future.

I stayed at the New Otani, aka Chung Fu Kung, rather than the St. Regis. Mark and Donald were in the St. Regis and the meetings with Xinhua Finance people was there. As the international business recurring income is now over US$1mn p.a., the contrast with domestic is pretty good.

After company visits and launching the China Life benchmark index, I had a day to sightsee. I visited the ancient Beijing observatory to take some photos. I had tried to go there in 1985 or so when I visited Beijing with my mother and Naomi. Then I headed off to the Dashanji area to see the art galleries and event spaces around the Factory 798 area. My friend Anne Py joined me for the day's journey and we saw some interesting art. We had a little Italian lunch in the midst of the galleries and then headed back into town.

From Beijing I headed down to Hong Kong and had a couple of very busy days there before coming back to Tokyo to attend Anton's high school application information meeting at NIS.

Izuvian Golf

Roger Marshall and I decided that the best way to handle the three day weekend was to go golfing. We packed up Friday night, had a meal that Naomi prepared for us, and drove to Akazawa. The harvest moon was coming up and it was an easy drive on a Friday night. Once we got in the house we set up the new deck chairs and tried them out.

Saturday we had some breakfast and drove down to Roger's place on Iritahama. The sky was clear and the water was so inviting that we went for a swim before lunch. Then headed over to Shimoda Country Club for nine holes. Back at Roger's that evening we bbq'd a rack of lamb and share our dinner with Roger's tenant, a college professor who lives on the beach and commutes to his tenured teaching position in Kanagawa. An ex-SEAL, he filled the evening with stories of his past.

Sunday, after another swim, was 18 holes at Inatori Country Club . We played the Mori and Yama courses. It was a long day, with many missed shots, lost balls and practice, practice, practice. Roger was trying out his new Lynx clubs and getting into the mood of playing golf. I made him practice a shot for getting out of the rough and on to the green. Later we took a few minutes to check out the three wind power generators on a ridge above the golf course. It was a great spot with views south to Shimoda, north to Akazawa and Futo, the ocean and Oshima.

For dinner we bbq'd some shrimps and scallops for an appetizer, and mained it with steaks. John Owens and Right Wing Inoue came by later to share some cigars and nashi on the deck.

Roger has headed back early, and I'm just enjoying the sunny day. Late afternoon I'll pack up and head off to Tokyo.

Thirtieth Anniversary

Today was my thirtieth anniversary of living in Japan. On 9 September 1975 I was in Busan with Ham Young Wu who I spent a year with in the Ham residence in Yongdu-dong, Seoul. He came along to send me off after my Peace Corps tour.

After a dinner of fugu cooked in a hot pot, I boarded the Kampu Ferry and traveled overnight to Shimonoseki. From there I took a train to Kyoto and checked into a guest house for travelers in the north of Kyoto. From there I moved to Kansai Gaidai and stayed with Harriet and Charles Mason while I looked for work in Osaka. I got the Time Life job and was on my way back to Seoul on 6 October to apply for my work visa. I had also already found my apartment in Hirakata, not far from Naomi's home.

To celebrate we had dinner at Le Piatta near the Shim Uma house. Thor got to make his own pasta, I had a big antipasto misto, Anton had lasagna and Naomi ordered a special dessert for me. It was a very good meal and lots of fun with the boys. (I got to critisize Anton for sitting with his chin on the table all evening!)

I made a point of telling Anton and Thor the story of my coming to Japan. They were asking lots of questions about the places we have lived in Tokyo since they were born.

On the way home we stopped in the local coffee shop/wine bar and chatted with the guy running it. Lacking a stool, I went home and brought in the stool I had broght back earlier in the year from Minnesota, originally from the science labs at Johnson High School in St. Paul. I'm going to collect it this week to take to Izu.