Gone, Baby Gone

Whatever could make her smile so?

Yes, my girls are gone, off to the US and I am now home all by my lonesome. Without my wife, or my baby, or a TV.

Whatever is a guy to do?

In most situations such as this, most modern men would consider seppuku, or at least finding a sports bar and neanderthal companionship, but I've got something better.

Yes, I have the blog and all of you, of course, and so I can occupy myself by posting many of the photos that have been taken over the course of yesterday (Sunday) while Sarah is unable to blog on account of not having Internet access while in New Jersey (well, actually, she does through Jack, but we'll see if she can figure that out).

Could it be her Daddy behind the camera?

As you can see from the photos, Margaret knows how to flash a smile. But is it to her Daddy who loves her so?

No, not so much.

It's to another one of her new Japanese friends. This time, a Japanese Monkey.

Of course not. It's Mr. Monkey

We've found that she just loves puppets. Whether it's Ducky, Monkey or her other new one, Cookie Monster (also from Japan). You don't even have to do a silly voice (though I do, since that's one of the unsaid rules of puppets as far as I know). You've just gotta' move the mouth and make sound and you get a guaranteed smile from the little M.

I'm not quite sure if she knows that it's not a real being, but I really don't care. The smile she gives whenever she sees it is enough to keep me going and carrying on like a blathering idiot, desperately trying to come up with new and funny things to say in character.

It's NOT as easy as it looks!

Here we are trying to test her "scooching" skills

You may be able to tell from the photos that Margaret is developing in leaps and bounds, and it's not just the overly proud, unrealistic parent in me talking (though I'm in a constant running battle with that guy ).

Just in the past few days, she's developed the ability to scooch down the bed to get objects that she really wants.

As you can see, we're not above a little shameless manipulation to get her to demonstrate this new skill for the cameras (and thus you, the audience).

Unfortunately, however, her little horsey was not quite incentive enough yesterday, and she got a little fussy. We therefore decided to snuggle instead.

Aaah. Much better than performing like a circus animal.

After snuggling and a brief nap, there were, of course, that constant afternoon joy with Margaret, SWINGS!

Really enjoying herself

Today there was even a new twist. Not only did Margaret get to swing on her own, but with her parents as well!

I have a feeling that we enjoyed this more than she did, but we'd at least like to believe that Margaret enjoys our company as much as she does.

I have a further feeling that this will be a constant delusion until well past her teenage years.

Daddy trying not to fall off the swings carrying Margaret

Quiet swinging with Mommy and Margaret

Of course, after the swings and before her bath was that other safe family activity, "playing with electrical wiring that poses a strangulation risk!"

Fun for the whole family!

Who and WHERE are her parents?!

We managed to head off any actual strangulation, though she did manage to get the cord wrapped around her neck at one point (thankfully, no photo as Daddy and Mommy were busily trying to disentangle her).

So she managed to survive despite the best efforts of her parents.

Whew.

Of course she did. Otherwise, there wouldn't be photos for tomorrow's post!

Conversations with Duck Puppets

During my trip to Japan, I bought several puppets for Margaret. Below, are her reactions today, to the duck that quacks "Old MacDonald" when you open and close its mouth.

"Why, what is this?"

"Who's that, Daddy?"

Acting coy around a new friend

"Pacifier caps are delicious!"

"Most certainly!"

"Would you like one?"

"No? Then I hope you don't mind if I eat this one."

"Look! He quacks songs!"

"Uh-huh. I see."

Duck eyeing her pacifier cap

Some pics from our Shanghai trip

In the cab on the way to the airport

A new expression

In her very own seat on the plane

Happy trails for a happy traveler

In her Sunday Morning Best

Little Miss Manners

Late night out on the town

Three Course Dinner

If food is good, then more food is better, right?

That was our reasoning, tonight, as we topped last night's two dinner feat with a three dinner fiasco that left me light headed.

Starting with Sushi, we each had an appetizer of assorted types of raw fish.

At conveyor belt sushi

(L to R) Wayne, John, Laibond

After round 1, we decided that, hey, we're in Japan, after all, and we should spend our last night having some real Japanese food.

So we headed right down half a block from conveyor belt sushi to...


Makudonohdesu. "I'm rovin' itu."

Here in Japan, they've got two entirely different and larger burgers. One is the Mega Mac, which, in addition to the normal ingredients in a Big Mac (two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun) contained two extra patties. The other, the Mega Tomago is basically a Big Mac with an extra patty, bacon and the egg from an Egg McMuffin.

I know, I know, I thought it was a breakfast sandwich, too, but I assure you, they had it tonight at dinner.

(L to R) Wayne, John, Laibond
Now reeling and half blind from the grease, we stumbled our way down to Family Mart where we had "desert."

Convenience store fried chicken.

Here's to you, Mr. Convenience Store Fried Chicken Man!
I think I'm going to die.

Thank God we're going home tomorrow. I wouldn't be able to take four dinners.

Those Crazy Japanese!

It has become clear to us that, the Japanese have not been forthcoming about their recent technological advances. And I don't mean just with cool electronic gadgets.

I wonder when they were going to tell the rest of the world about this (and where they're going)!


I also wonder where they're hiding the Starship Enterprise.

In order to show our displeasure, Laibond decided to savagely beat a national icon.

Japan Day Two - Greater Tokyo

A cake shop we passed in Harajuku

On Culture

Walking around Tokyo, it became clear (as it does to everyone) that the Japanese have a strong aesthetic sense that borders on, and often crosses over into, the exquisite. From cellphone stores to the trucks that ply the roads, there's just a certain sense that form and function played were considered.

Things here simply look clean, and not just in the hygienic meaning of the word. There is little extraneous on anything and there's just a certain sense of style to it all.

However, clean doesn't mean unembellished, as the photo from the cake shop shows. It's just that even their complexity reflects a certain organized beauty that goes beyond simply complication for its own sake.

Everything just looks great.

Window at a shop called "Commes Ça" using Japanese rice cakes
At the same time, Japan is extremely ordered. Beyond the quietude that I talked about in the last post, people simply follow the rules.

They stand left and walk right on the escalators without exception. They keep left on the sidewalk, allow big groups to go ahead of them on elevators and even when in a completely packed and crowded situation (such as in the subway during rush hour), continue to politely avoid contact and file with the flow of traffic in a seemingly organically organized manner.

It's incredible to experience.

In neat little lines waiting for the subway

As if they weren't polite enough, the government posts reminders
Japan is one of the world's busiest and most densely populated cities. However, walking around here, it's hard to understand how that is possible, after seeing the teeming bustle of places like Shanghai, Hong Kong or New York.

There, people, when crowded, literally bump into each other like compressed molecules, making noise, making heat and making tensions flare.

However, walking in some of the supposedly most crowded areas of Japan, Ginza, Harajuku and Shinjuku, we found crowds, yes, but also, as I've said, quiet. It's not that people aren't having conversations, for they are. However, they're watching where they're going, and what they're doing and making sure they're not impinging on others in any physical or even spiritual way.

It's almost like each person or group is an island separated from each other group in an invisible forcefield that they build through their conduct. In photos I took of crowds, it doesn't look any different than a crowd anywhere, but it looks, smells and just feels different.

Shady quiet streets even in supposed "crowded" shopping areas
At the same time, there's an incredible tolerance of some things that we would find completely extraordinary.

Women dressed in French Maid outfits pass out flyers for sex in front of train stations. Porn stores seem to outnumber newstands two to one and toy stores are full of female action figures so scantily clad I would be loath to walk a child by them.

I suppose they need somewhere in their lives to let loose.

Like I said yesterday, it's just incredible contrasts all day long here.

In more than any other place I've been to, I feel like Japan's people have simply negotiated their relationship with each other and with modern life in a different way. And while it's a modern society with all the physical trappings that I'm used to, what's under the surface is often completely to what I'm expecting.

Even having lived in Taiwan, New York, New Hampshire, Michigan, Vietnam and Hong Kong and traveling to places as far flung as Samoa and Cayman, I have never felt more like a foreigner.

A mother out late with her son dressed to the nines
So, of course, being in Japan, foreign land that it is, home of such delicious delicacies as sushi, Wagyu beef, noodles and more, where did we decide to eat lunch?

That's right. Wendy's.

Hey, they don't have it in Hong Kong.

Laibond and Wayne enjoying lunch at Wendy's
Our Day

The day itself was phenomenal.

The subway system was not nearly as complicated as it seemed. Because of the difficulty in locating places by address, last night, we went online and mapped out where we needed to go and discovered that all our destinations today lay on one subway line, which simplified matters greatly.

There were even English labeled subway route maps in the stations to help us find our way.

In addition, at the start of the day, while standing helplessly in front of the ticket vending machines, we were approached by a helpful local who spoke good English and essentially taught us how to use the system.

"Kiddy Land"
We had an absolute blast making the rounds of toy stores, buying samples and snapping secret spy photos.

We visited two, what I can only describe as, mega toy stores. Multi-storey behemoths with floors split by theme.

The first store we visited, KiddyLand was six stories of pure fun. We had such a great time running around that, after spending an hour and a half there, we had still only covered two floors.

It was at this point that we decided to pick up the pace.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, we finally got out of there, our bags full of purchases and wondering how we would get through the rest of the day.

We were so exhausted, we could make it no further than a block before collapsing at Wendy's for lunch.


Hakuhinkan Toy Park in Ginza was next, with five stories more stories of toys which left our bags even fuller.

After Hakuhinkan Toy Park, we went to the electronics district and visited more toy stores, including two called Asobit City (five stories - each different from each other) and numerous electronic oriented stores and arcades.

We didn't get back to our hotel until about 6:30 with heavy bags and sore feet.

Conveyer belt sushi
We didn't get out for dinner until about 9:00, but it was worth it, with us acting like Hobbits and having not one, but two dinners.

First, we started at a conveyer belt sushi joing which, we quickly discovered wasn't going to do the job.

After some sushi, we quickly vacated down the street to a noodle joint where we had a second dinner of dumplings, Japanese ramen noodles and plenty of beer to celebrate Laibond's birthday. Delish!

What with the food and beer, we felt a bit like locals - salarymen ending a long day with a couple of brews and a bowl of noodles.

Second Dinner

Toy Show is tomorrow and we're excited.

More then.

Tokyo Day 1 - Shinjuku

Our hotel, the Shinjuku Prince
Asia is big.

So big, in fact, that in order to get to Japan on business, I had to get up at 5:15 in the morning to catch a 5 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan, to connect to an hour and a half train ride that only got me in to the hotel with my colleagues at around 4:00 pm today.

And it's a trip.

Learning the places to avoid while looking for dinner a spot
Tokyo is definitely different than the Japan that Sarah and I saw in Kyoto. At least where we are is edgier and much faster paced.

Where Kyoto saw us walking through traditional neighborhoods with wooden streets and kimono clad women, where we are, in Shinjuku, is a completely "new" city with practically no history. A concrete and neon jungle punctuated by the constant visual jarring of women and men on the bleeding edge of fashion. Whereas Kyoto was the city of the geisha, our hotel borders on "Kabukicho" - the red light district. Their faces are ornately painted, but definitely not in the same way.

We ate fried curry pork chop tonkatsu instead, ordered from a vending machine
To call any city a place of contrasts has become a complete cliche. However, the six block radius around our hotel (as far as we've gotten) is so textured and varied that for once, I'm willing to risk the cliche.

A row of "love hotels" - ours is a real one, don't worry.

The well dressed and impeccably shod clientele of Gucci and Barney's mix readily with the pimps and working girls just as easily as their storefronts do.

Homeless men bed down for the night in front of high end boutiques while policemen saunter past a cluster of what can only be yakuza with their glam-rock hair and cocky demeanor; wearing expensive pin-striped suits like Halloween costumes.

A Japanese indie rock band belts out rockin' lyrics at a sidewalk concert while Nigerian hustlers pester us to give us their cards for services unknown.

On one stretch of street, we walked by, all in a row, a Western Store selling cowboy boots, dream catchers and other "western" paraphernalia, a skate store selling both snowboards and skateboards and a boutique selling high end jeans. It felt like someone had cross pollinated Ann Arbor, MI, Burlington, VT, Hong Kong and New York.

All the while, all around, the streets are surreally quiet and clean for being chockablock with people. Nary a scrap of litter is to be seen and cars and buses seem to whisper as they drive past. I got the distinct feeling of being conscious of my voice and of not speaking too loudly on the street to my companions so as not to disturb the quiet conversations and thoughts of other pedestrians. It felt like being in a large, quiet church, only outdoors and more garishly lit.

Homeless settling in for the night at Barney's doorstep
It's a crazy mish-mash that makes even Hong Kong or New York, now that we're used to them, seem like a faraway dream of normalcy.

Absolutely exhilarating.


Tomorrow, we're off to work.

Another seeming contrast is that, for as efficient as the Japanese are reputed to be, their street address and subway systems are arcane and esoteric at best. Buildings are numbered in the order they were built and the subway system is run by multiple companies whose stations and routes don't link up.

Finding our way tomorrow will be a whole new adventure.