Hanami Boating

Dick, Bob and I went boating on Sunday to do some hanami and ended up far out in Tokyo Bay beyond the Haneda Airport. There was this big container ship there, calmly floating without a ripple.

We also checked out the Sky Tree from the Sumida River which is in its final phase of construction.

Later Kaoruko's admirer Mineo came over to a bridge on the Kanda River and lowered a bottle of sparkling wine to her. That made us all happy.

More boating planned.

Chinese Carpets

Great carpets from the region Gansu bordering on Tibet.

Cherry Blossom Viewing 2011

The mayor of Tokyo is impinging on the lives of Tokyoites with his pronouncements on how to react to the earthquake. One of his ideas is for everyone to go into an austerity mode and refrain from many common Japanese practices, like viewing the cherry blossoms. More than 70% of the Tokyoites polled believed his ideas are incorrect. Rather than austerity, every effort should be made to stimulate spending to power the economy so that the earthquake recovery can come about in the context of a strong business environment. I decided to protest the Tokyo mayor's imperialistic pronouncements and went to a popular cherry blossom site last night, where under the light of a very thin moon I drank a beer and admired the full blossoms - as I usually do at this time of year.

Mr Ishihara! You are wrong!

People of Japan - enjoy the seasonal beauty! Hanami Banzai!

Happy Birthday, Bob

It was Bob Peterson's birthday this week. We went to the Beacon Chophouse for steaks, seafood and a couple of New York size Manhattans.

The robowatch made a guest appearance.