Category: Uncategorized

I had a really nice father’s day! Ocean and her two BFFs took their fathers to Escape Osaka. The girls planned it as a surprise and they were so excited! The idea is to use clues to figure out codes for locks that open up further clues. You need to go through a series of these to escape two rooms. It was very clever and a thoroughly enjoyable hour with our daughters. It really is a team effort, each of us making a different contribution.

After the escape room, we found a nice burger restaurant in Namba. Osaka city has so many great neighborhoods with thousands of restaurants and shopping areas. I will definitely miss this city.

In the morning I did some errands with Nadia as we continue to clear out our house in preparation for our move at the end of the month. I also did a quick workout of rowing and swimming.

There was also some excitement in our part of Osaka. In the suburb next to Minoh, Suita, a man attacked a policeman and stole his gun. A manhunt has been taking place since it happened this morning. As I write this at 9:00 PM, he still has not been found. The city has ordered schools to close tomorrow. This is a rare event in Japan and the city was empty today as people are staying home. Sunday is a big day for driving and usually we get lots of traffic, but there were much fewer people downtown. Japan is a risk-averse culture and people are quite cautious here and are staying home until the gunman is found.

Both of my sons performed in the Senri Osaka International Schools Spring Concert on June 12, 2019. Music education is a focus of the school and is one of the best programs for international schools that I have seen. Many families in the community take classical music seriously and the school has produced many professional musicians through the years.

Owen and Oliver play brass instruments (trumpet & tuba respectively) in the winds program. The strong music program did not inspire them practice all the time, but they can sight read, play reasonably well and they have a stronger appreciation for music. The schools have different level of bands and both play in the intermediate levels. If we would have stayed, Owen would have been in the top level next year. Oliver took some time to find the right instrument, but eventually found the tuba and he likes it.

Nadia annually leads an after school program called “Girls on the Move” (GOTM) with upper elementary girls. The idea of the club is to help girls build self-confidence by discussing issues that can negatively impact the lives of girls and women like body image, traditional feminine roles, discrimination, relationships, etc. They also train for a 5 kilometer run which is the culmination of the club. I see that the girls in the club learn they can overcome both physical and emotional challenges. This should help them as they move into adolescence and adulthood.

We hosted our final GOTM last Saturday at the school. It was nice weather for a run, cool and cloudy, but no rain or cold wind. The course goes through the beautiful Kita Senri Park to the Suita Fire Station and back. All the girls and some boys, too, made it back. It is a family affair with Owen, Olver and I playing support roles. This time I was the photographer and all of us were “running buddies” for the boys that wanted to join the run.

Nadia got a bit emotional during the award ceremony, which was good to see! She does a lot of good work for female students at the schools that we work in.

The warm weather I think is hear to stay and with the longer days, I’ve been getting outdoors as much as possible. This is one of my favorite times of year with lots of fresh new green leaves, cool breezes in the evenings and mornings and bright sunny skies.

May ended yesterday and our time in Japan is winding down. We are leaving at the end of this month. The thing I will miss most about life in Japan is the ease of cycling here. Almost every morning I get out on the bike, at least for 45 minutes and it is so refreshing and a great way to start the day.

In going through my photos to upload to Flickr, I notified photos from Ocean’s PYP Exhibition that took place in mid-May. She got a migraine during the performance portion and had to go home. After the performance, her classmates continued with their table demonstrations. Without Ocean there, her table was empty, but her brothers, Owen and Oliver, stepped in and explained her booth to visitors. It was so cute how they helped their little sister!

We are also saying our goodbyes to the community. Last Sunday our friends Sharon Almog and Cary Mecklem organized a farewell picnic in Kita Senri Park. I really enjoyed playing Ultimate Frisbee with the kids and laughing at some good conversation in the park. We walk through Kita Senri Park often to go to the train station or on Nadia’s run and we have a lot of fond memories there. It was also nice to spend the entire day outdoors!

This is my last trip to Tokyo, the largest metropolitan area in the world. During my five years in Japan, I’ve visited Tokyo on numerous occasions, both for work and fun. The immense size of the city, both in area and number of people is hard to comprehend. It is a nice place to visit but would not be a good place for me to live. It has a much different vibe than other world cities like London, New York, etc. In many ways, it is much quieter and closed due to the highly rigid and contextual Japanese culture. They do get a lot of tourists, but essentially, Japan is extremely homogenous and it gives the city and nation, a distinctiveness that you do not find in other places.

For this visit I stayed in Akihabara, the district famed for electronics and manga/anime. Walking through the streets to my hotel, I passed many young girls dressed in maid or cosplay outfits, advertising various manga-themed restaurants and clubs. There were also many bright lights advertising gaming stuff. I had a quiet night, walking over to Ryogoku kokugikan, the sumo wrestling arena. A grand tournament is taking place there this week. I was rewarded for my efforts by seeing three sumo wrestlers getting a bite to eat in a restaurant district. In Japan they build restaurants and bars often underneath elevated train lines.

I love hosting meetings in Tokyo. Kwansei Gakuin University, the foundation that owns our school, rents offices on the 10th floor of Sapia Tower, a huge building that overlooks Tokyo Station. The offices are like a corporate board room and with the luxurious meeting space and huge windows overlooking the city, it gives educators the rare opportunity to see what it would be like to be in the corporate world instead of the non-profit sector. The school heads also appreciate the convenience of meeting steps away from Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station however is only the fourth most busy station in the metro area with “only” over 900,000 passengers daily.

I am leaving Japan next month forever, but will remember fondly my time in the nation’s capital and all of the people I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with during my five years.

Warm temperatures, flowers galore and sunny blue skies mark the arrival of spring after a long and cold winter. I spent as much time as I could outside the past two days. It is hard to be in a bad mood with such perfect days as this weekend.

I took Ocean and Oliver to get some photos done for our Uzbek visas. Our neighborhood of Onohara Nishi is so pleasant. With the sun setting and us laughing and talking, I just didn’t want the moment to end. It is such a privilege to be a father and I love my children so much. They are so funny and entertaining for me.

Japan has thousands of narrow walking paths between houses. The path above leads from our house to Onohara Park #4 and our school. The neighbors maintain the path, picking up leaves, planting flowers, etc. It makes for a delightful commute to and from school. I am trying to savor the best of Japan as we only have 2 and 1/2 months left here before we leave forever.

My current obsession is cycling. I can’t get enough of it! I would bike for hours every day if I could. I went for a 25 kilometer ride on Saturday morning. The fresh air, blue skies and fresh, new green leaves made for an exhilarating ride through the Minoh Quasi National Park. My distances are getting longer and my times are getting shorter. Love, love, love biking and Japan is a perfect country for it. There is always a risk when cycling, but the drivers here are courteous and cautious, the roads are in mint condition and there are many bike lanes. I don’t think I will find better cycling conditions anywhere.

Of course, we had to make a stop at a conbini a staple of Japan. It seems like 1 of every 5 times I leave the house, I end up at some time in a convenience store. Today we needed passport photos and cold drinks.

Other activities this weekend were a 5 kilometer run with Nadia, the grade 4-5 dance and a passover celebration with friends. I will be blogging more about them soon.

It is peak cherry blossom (sakura) season in Osaka this week. I followed the Senri River yesterday on my bike ride to enjoy the blossoms and see the many picnics and parties taking place around cherry trees.

Hanami, or “flower-viewing” is a long tradition in Japan. The change of seasons and the ephemeral nature of these changes plays a prominent role in Japanese culture. I saw hundreds of people holding picnics and playing in parks under the cherry trees.

There are thousands of cherry trees in Osaka. Most line rivers and canals, but they are also found alongside many streets and parks. We are finally having some nice weather after a cold March and so it was so pleasurable to ride a bike yesterday.

I appreciate the ease of cycling in Japan and our location so close to the Minoh Quasi National Park. With safe drivers and well-built roads, cycling is so easy here! I don’t think I will live in a place again where I can ride daily just about anywhere. There are many dedicated bike and pedestrian paths. The infrastructure is better than in the USA with no broken glass, pot holes, garbage and other barriers to a smooth ride. I greatly appreciate being able to ride daily.

Cycling is good exercise and stress-relieving for me. It is also a time to spend with my children when I can convince one of them to go with me. Oliver and I did a ride at sunset on Friday to enjoy the sakura blossoms that are all over the city this week.