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On the weekend we went to Kasamatsu No Minato Koen, beside Kisogawa River. It`s smaller than Ichinomiya Tower Park*, but I like it - it has a big, open grassy area, a nice view of the river, and Owen loves watching the trains cross the bridge. Me too - it`s kind of relaxing.
There`s also a row of cherry trees. When we went, the cherry blossoms were starting to come out, but as you can see in this photo, a lot of the buds were still closed.
Have you ever been there?
* You can see Ichinomiya Tower in the background, on the right.
These are some pictures we took recently at our school:
1. Big, smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller... BIG & UGLY!!! Eriko, Aoi, Tsubasa, Risa, Rei, Otto.
2. Shimon, Otto & Kosuke, just before heading off to the park to fly the kite that we made.
3. Otto & Student of the Month for March 2011, Risa. Well done, Risa!
Can you guess what these 3 things have in common [mitsu no kyoutsuu ten]? Think!
Clues:
The frog is from a pharmacy/drugstore in Kirio shopping centre.
The orange is from a bar-restaurant in Gifu.
The little ceramic dog is from a shop in Tokoname.
If you think you know, please write your idea in the `comments` section below! I`ll tell you the answer soon...
*** ANSWER ***
All these things were free give-aways:
The lady in the pharmacy gave the frog to Owen when we bought something.
A customer gave a bag of oranges to the master of the restaurant, & he gave one to me.
When I bought something at a shop in Tokoname, the owner gave Owen the dog.
Thanks everyone for your interesting ideas. Some of you were close, but only my mum got the correct answer. Well done, mum!
One of Ichinomiya`s most popular places for people of all ages (besides my school, Teragoya, of course) is Ichinomiya Tower Park, next to Kisogawa River.
The weather was pretty nice today, so there were a lot of people there, especially kids. My son really enjoyed the adventure playground. After he played on that for a while, we went & had lunch in front of a stage where a big band was playing jazz music. Cool.
If you live in or near Ichinomiya, I`m sure you`ve been to Ichinomiya Tower Park, right? What do you think of it? Have you been to the top of the 138-metre tower? I haven`t. I heard it moves a lot on windy days like today... yikes! I`m happy enough just to walk around & enjoy the open space, flowers, & fresh air.
I`m sorry I haven`t posted anything on my blog recently.
It`s difficult to maintain a light-hearted blog after the terrible events in north-east Japan.
But I`ll continue from today.
We stayed the night in Tokoname on Saturday, & the next morning we drove south along the coast of Chita Peninsula. Have you ever driven along the coast of Chita Peninsula? It`s not so pretty I think, but eventually we found a sandy beach (near Noma Lighthouse) & went for a walk.
I was disappointed that there was no wood to collect. As you know, I like to make things from recycled wood, such as birdhouses that birds don`t want to live in, toys that my son doesn`t want to play with, & furniture that my wife doesn`t want in the house.
But it was nice to walk on the beach again, & Owen seemed to enjoy it too.
On the weekend we went to the town of Tokoname, near Nagoya Chubu Airport. In the past this town was famous for producing ceramic goods such as pots, jars & pipes, and there were lots of kilns (ovens for ceramic baking) there.
Now there are only a few working kilns, but there are lots of other interesting old buildings to look at & there are various shops selling not only ceramic goods but also antiques, plants, glassware, & other things.
There`s also a small bakery where you can buy bread & then eat it at the tables outside, right beside a big old kiln. Nice.
Click on the above picture (twice) to see it better. If you like what you see, then I suggest you visit Tokoname!
The creek near my house is not very pretty to look at, but even in winter, you can see a variety of birds & animals there, which makes it interesting to me. Today I decided to take photos of them to show you.
As you can see, there are LOTS of turtles in the creek, but most of them are red-eared sliders, which are not native to Japan.
Nutria are not native to Japan either. They are originally from South America, but were brought to Japan & farmed for their fur. I read that they are a big problem in Tottori Prefecture, so the local government there pays ＼2000 for each one killed. Hmmm... I think I just decided my next holiday destination!
Are you familiar with the animals in these pictures? Have you ever seen a Nutria? Do you or your parents own any Nutria-fur items? Would you like to go to Tottori with me & make some fast money?
My birthday is also in February, on the 24th.
To celebrate, staff & teachers at Teragoya Ichinomiya bought me a birthday cake. Thanks, guys!
No thanks Parren for telling students to ask me how old I am...
This year I turned 40.
February 7 was Owen`s Birthday. He loves the cartoon character Anpanman, so we got a cake with that design on it. He also likes strawberries, so he got some of them too.
Happy Birthday, mate!
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PSPINC JP 
yukio 
田仲なお美 
KUMA 
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birdy 
エメラルド 
内倉憲一