Beijing from my Westin suite

Family Dinner

Naomi and I had a short weekend in Izu. When we got back we took Anton and Thor to dinner at La Jolla in Hiroo. They love their nachos!

Great Cherry Blossoms this year

We made the pilgrimage to Yasukuni for a night of frivolity and flower viewing.

The Maldives

A week trip to the Maldives included some quality time with Norm Quinn and four days at the Sheraton Full Moon Resort. Lovely....

Properties of Tequila

It removes anguish
It makes you forget
“It loosens the sock”
It makes roughness go away
It gets friends closer
It makes you forget you’re hungry
It causes blushes
It tunes up your voice
It fosters romantic relationships
It makes godfathers
It closes business
It makes paths easier
It helps you celebrate the company
It increases happiness
It kills worms
And for those reasons and more…
It erases blame
It makes you talk
It takes you away from the office
It mends broken hearts
It is a good appetizer
It hastens outcomes
It eliminates shyness
It cheers you up
It gets you hot
It makes midwives
It opens doors
It shortens waits
It cures sadness
It improves digestion

The photo above is of a famous Australian race horse whose name I did not write down.

Ume Hanami in the back yard in the Jacuzzi

It's that time of year again. After the plum we wait for the magnolias to bloom and then boom! The cherry trees launch their attack on the blue tent covering us. They win for a week, but then we're back to the same old captivity...

Here's an interesting stone carving of Avalokitesvara

You usually see her on a lotus pedastal, but here it's some kind of bird.

Fish Tacos Tonight!

We couldn't find any tacos between Shimo Uma and Ito, so we bought genmai paper at Aoki in Ito. It's made from brown rice and a host of additives, but used in replacement for flour or rice paper for harumaki. It very tasty and served the purpose of wrapping bbq'd kinmeidai or my prawn/okra stir fry with pineapple/persimmon salsa and chopped new onion.

It must have been pretty appetizing judging from the smile on Naomi's face!

43 Things Quiz

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Lifelong Learning Traveling Extrovert

W Seoul and Barry's Seoul Memorial

The W in Seoul is quite a ways out of the center.  The rooms are retro.  But there is a 25m pool.  

I went into Kwangwhamun on Friday night to meet Ken and Hank for dinner at the new Kamchon to toast Barry.   Ya gotta have the suntubu chigae at the Kamchon.  

Shanghai Sheraton 2009

I got back on the road as soon as the New Year Weekend was over.  The first trip of the year was to Shanghai for meetings of our joint venture and with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.   Out with the old, in with the new!  I also had to pick up Naomi's tailoring at the fabric center.  I made a couple coats and trousers.  But it ain't Saville Row.  Should I do it again?  

Seeing in the New Year

Every year we go to the Yawatano Norizomeshik but the fun is going somewhere's after the ceremony.  This year we went to the Kawana Hotel to swing!  Just like in the old days.... This time with a class breakfast too.  Naomi was home in bed.

Entering the Year of the Ox

I BBQd a turkey and we took it over to Tsunaoshi's house as part of a pot luck dinner. Anton and Thor got everyone stuck into a Downtown special on TV that lasted for hours. My favorite sketch was on a bus. A foreigner gets on with a large bag and when he turns around there is a head sticking out of a bald man who stares open eyed at Matsumoto and Hamada. He doesn't say a word. Even when the man with bag/man in bag get off the bus, the man in bag continues to stare at the Downtown team. Hilarious....

Videtto Family came to dinner

The Videttos were in Izu doing their Jogasaki hikes.  Paul cooked a paella.  Thor let everyone play Guitar Hero.  There were Christmas Cracker Jokes and paper crowns.  

I love food at Tamarind Springs

Just outside of Kuala Lumpur is a restaurant which has done a great job of putting groovy food on the table. The cinnamon sticks wrapped in mince chicken were awesome! For main courses we had soft shell crab, lamb and prawn rice. With a Penfold Shiraz you couldn't ask for anything else.

Sandra and I went out there after a long day of government pension meetings. The next day she was off shopping for her daughters' Xmas presents.

Thor has turned 16

He wanted sushi for his birthday dinner so we went over to Sushiko. Had lots of fish!

A new member for the Tokyo American Club

Tomi wants to become a member of TAC. He is semi retired and enjoying all the rug rats his kids are producing now. For some reason he has decided to get a membership at TAC and asked Jack Spillum and I to be his sponsors.

It's a good idea. He's a great guy and really, seriously gets involved with everything he does. He'll be a great addition to the club.

We had dinner to sign his application papers at the club. He was loving it.

YIS Concert

There were a number of musical presentations at the YIS concert on Friday night. We enjoyed seeing Anton in a tux. He got into the choir this year and is also playing basketball. The big question is will he get into NYU?

FTSE Tokyo Staff Year End Party

A mostly very well behaved group had dinner at Il Mulino in Tokyo. Expensive, tasty, large portions, dark, and serving a delicious grappa with wild currants. Cheeky Naoko was having a blast!

High School Reunion

Through a little snooping on the Internet I found high school friends Steve Sterner and Des Surles, married (!) with a couple of girls out the door. We finally got a chance to get together when I stopped in Minnesota on my way back to Tokyo.

Steve is an ER guy and has reduced the hair on his head, while Des has been taking care of the horses and obviously chopped her hair short in sympathy to Steve's reduction. Ha!

We have agreed to meet up in the summer when I go through Minnesota with Thor.