tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644Sat, 07 Sep 2024 19:50:36 +0000FriendsOur house by Hamana LakeHamamatsuFood and CookingHolidaysVideoBirthdays and FarewellsCamping and HikingAnimals and NatureStudentsTravelWackiness in JapanFestivalsSports and ActivitiesWeddings and AnniversariesLilyJapanese RelativesNagoya homeTemples and ShrinesElectronic toys etc.Fireworks (Hanabi)BBQCherry Blossoms (Hanami)University eventsBlog relatedFall LeavesMusic FestivalsSakeSumoTravel-CanadaVisitors to JapanMt. FujiXtra stuffTravel-KyotoTravel-TokyoTravel-OsakaLiving and teaching English in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)Blogger374125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-3558463007604132461Sun, 23 Mar 2014 02:40:00 +00002014-03-23T11:40:09.223+09:00Nagoya homeVideoVisitors to JapanHere's a video of Lily dancing with her great-aunt Elizabeth: http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2014/03/dancing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-697680442097326405Fri, 03 Jan 2014 05:44:00 +00002014-01-03T14:44:48.823+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideo Here's a video of Lily wrapping rice in nori (laver/seaweed).  After putting the rice on, she says Big and then (in Japanese) I made it.  When she puts it in her mouth she repeatedly says (in Japanese) I wrapped it.  At the end, she says (in Japanese) More! http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2014/01/making-norimaki.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-9170851452832721022Sun, 17 Nov 2013 03:18:00 +00002013-11-17T12:19:26.063+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoLily loves singing songs and is often demanding that we sing songs with her.  Here are two videos of Ayako singing some songs with Lily.  Since Lily has only recently learnt the songs, she's not so good at keeping the actions up with the words, but it makes for some cute videos. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2013/11/singing-songs-with-actions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-6959259213735533650Thu, 15 Aug 2013 02:35:00 +00002013-08-15T11:36:06.559+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideo Here's a new video of Lily playing with Pooh Bear and some wooden blocks.  The character on the wooden blocks container is called Anpanman, whose name Lily says a couple of times. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2013/08/with-pooh-bear-wooden-blocks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-4541894588559004872Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:54:00 +00002013-08-15T11:37:54.595+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoJust thought I'd show how Lily is coming along with her walking skills these days.  She definitely has more confidence. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2013/02/walking-for-month.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-6043433386860158120Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:02:00 +00002013-01-31T08:56:36.297+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoThis week, Lily started taking her first steps.  Each day she's gaining more confidence and practising more often.  Here is a video of one of the first times she starting taking some steps. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2013/01/first-steps.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-3758069311129744901Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:57:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.793+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoHere's a video of Lily getting a present for Christmas. (Lily at 14 months old.) http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/12/heres-video-of-lily-getting-present-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-1278465634061345927Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:07:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.789+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoHere's a video of Lily playing with her friend, Yuiri. (Lily at 13 months old.) http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/12/playing-with-friends.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-2886402766483639179Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:10:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.790+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoThis is a video of Lily after she has woken up and crawled off of the futon.  She knows how to open the sliding door, so we can watch her come to us first thing in the morning. (Lily at 11 months old.) http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/10/good-morning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-7935311913081259221Sun, 28 Oct 2012 05:07:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.796+09:00LilyNagoya homeVideoHere's Ayako and I singing Happy Birthday to Lily on her first birthday. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-birthday-lily.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-4090998474359888718Sun, 23 Sep 2012 04:49:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.795+09:00LilyVideo Today, we went to a parents and baby event at a local hall.  We sang many songs and played some games.  Here's a video of Lily being toss gently in a parachute, which it seems she half enjoyed. (Lily at 10 months old.) http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/09/baby-parachute.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-3724512999240102718Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:18:00 +00002012-12-27T21:01:46.792+09:00LilyVideoAfter dinner, Lily enjoys playing the imaginary piano that is our kitchen table, and was enjoying it more than usual this night (Lily at 6 months old.) http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2012/04/lilys-laughing-piano-video.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-4589330044453573189Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:11:00 +00002011-09-25T06:11:59.359+09:00FestivalsHamamatsu Ayako found a craft fair that was happening at Garden Park on Saturday, so we head down there and first enjoyed a picnic in the park.  After, we enjoyed wandering around the fair.  It was a beautiful fall day and there were hundreds of sellers from across Japan.  I think this may have been the best craft fair that I've been to since it was free, there was a great selection of http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/craft-fair.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-520715753725035859Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:01:00 +00002011-09-22T07:01:20.911+09:00 September is typhoon season in Japan and we had our second big typhoon so yesterday.  This one though actually made landfall in Hamamatsu, so it was the biggest storm that I've felt here.  Luckily I didn't hear about any major damage in our area.  We had our recycling box fly down the street but that was about it.  The winds started coming from the north-east at first.  http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/typhoon-15-roke.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-2501737446752447394Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:15:00 +00002011-09-06T17:15:14.572+09:00Travel-Kyoto I recently traveled to Kyoto for two days to attend a teaching conference about extensive reading.  There were many well-known speakers in the field attending, so it was one of the better conferences that I've been to.   Since I was in Kyoto, I also made sure to do some sightseeing to places I hadn't visited before.  My first stop was the Kyoto Imperial Palace.  This is http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/work-play-in-kyoto.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-8947171726469399421Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:58:00 +00002011-09-06T17:17:59.739+09:00Food and CookingTravelAt the beginning of the summer, Ayako entered a radio show contest by writing about what kind of trip she would do with some prize money if she won. Her essay was one of the six chosen, so she won a ¥10,000 ($120 CAD) gift certificate from a travel agency. With the money, we got a free hotel room in the centre of Nagoya for a night. During the 2 days in Nagoya, we looked around at some areashttp://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-trip-to-nagoya.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-930773116330682924Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:07:00 +00002011-09-06T17:20:46.826+09:00Wackiness in Japan Yesterday was one of the 'hot' Midsummer Days in Japan according to the Chinese Zodiac, although it was actually cool and cloudy. Nevertheless, it is customary to eat eel on the 2 Midsummer Days since it helps give you energy to cope with the heat. While I was in Korea, the same days were observed, although it was customary to eat dog there. Ayako and I enjoyed having eel on rice for lunch http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/08/unagi-pie-factory-tour.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-5625948957773343863Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:32:00 +00002011-09-06T17:20:56.819+09:00Weddings and AnniversariesIt's near the end of the semester for me and so I was lucky to have Friday off this week. We had decided to go for lunch to celebrate our fourth-year anniversary. We went into our local town where there is a famous eel restaurant. Eel is my favourite Japanese food and so we were both looking forward to this meal. We arrived at the restaurant 10 minutes after it opened and it was almost full.http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/07/anniversary-lunch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-6995676381170816324Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:54:00 +00002011-09-06T17:21:11.178+09:00Animals and NatureFestivalsVideoLast Sunday, Ayako and I drove up north of Hamamatsu to watch a festival celebrating sheep. Actually, the reason we found out about the festival was that we knew that they serve handmade soba (buckwheat noodles) and we wanted to try them again. The only problem is that you can only get them during the fall when the leaves are turning and everyone flocks to the area or when a festival is on. http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/04/sheep-festival.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-5423745042892036872Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:40:00 +00002011-09-06T17:25:55.115+09:00Our house by Hamana LakeRecently, we went to a local tourist spot that we had yet to visit called Ryugashido. It's a cavern that takes about an hour to walk through. Here's a photo of me outside of the entrance with a scary looking dragon behind me: They had a good path with many explanations along the way and lots of interesting formations to look at: I liked some of the mini-lakes that formed underground: It was http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/03/stalactites-stalagmites.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-1237246779245372061Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:21:00 +00002011-09-06T17:25:44.350+09:00Today is day 6 since the earthquake in the Tohoku region. Life in my area has returned to it regular ways and I haven't seen anybody stocking up on food when I was at the supermarket. There is increased helicopter activity since there is an air rescue squadron at the self-defense base in our city. There was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake near Mt. Fuji last night. Since we can see Mt. Fuji from http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/03/earthquake-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-8889826751759077890Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:37:00 +00002011-09-06T17:25:31.255+09:00As you've probably heard, there was a large earthquake and tsunami in the north-east part of Japan yesterday. We definitely felt a lot of shaking during the initial earthquake which lasted a couple of minutes (very long). Since then, we've probably felt about 7 aftershocks. The earthquake took place about 500km north of us and so that's where most of the damage has been. The nuclear station http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/03/earthquake-and-tsunami.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-221190463059287253Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:18:00 +00002011-09-06T17:25:20.173+09:00Birthdays and FarewellsUniversity eventsThere was a retirement party for three university professor from my department last Monday. We went to a traditional Japanese restaurant for the event. You can see the three professors below: It was a formal meal with many small servings. It was the first time I had been to a restaurant like this with each person sitting against the wall with their own tray in front of them. It was a delicioushttp://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/03/retirement-party-at-traditional.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-3139368059461696597Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:40:00 +00002011-09-06T17:25:09.735+09:00Animals and NatureOur house by Hamana LakeI've been lucky living in our house by the lake since I can sometimes get some good photos of the birds that live in this area. I was surprised when I looked through my blog that there weren't any of these photos, so I'll start putting some up. The first set is of birds catching fish. Last week I got a couple of good shots of a Black Kite, which is a common bird of prey in this area: About http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/02/birds-with-their-prey.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14257644.post-2514599257907960978Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:13:00 +00002011-09-06T17:24:59.022+09:00Our house by Hamana LakeWell, I guess we did get another day of snow this winter. On Sunday, it snowing on and off during the day. Since it was cloudy all day, some of the snow even stayed on the ground: And when we woke up on Monday morning, there was quite a bit of snow (for Hamamatsu) on the ground: On Sunday night, Ayako made a yuki daruma (Japanese snowman - made with 2 spheres): By the morning, he had lost his http://wanderinginjapan.blogspot.com/2011/01/snowy-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Andrew / Andy)1