Near the Train Tracks

This is another lost post. Dated 2-20-07. I'm sure it still looks like this, though. That's an apartment building hugging the tracks. A little too close for my comfort! Don't you know that it's noisy!

A train crossing in my neighborhood. An apartment building on one side. Fields on the other.

Sewing Machine Practice (Junior High School)

Little Brother is in ninth grade and is taking high school entrance exams. While cleaning his room for him, I found this. It is a cloth practice sheet from his seventh grade sewing class. He had to follow these lines on a sewing machine. The white thread he used doesn't show up in this photo. Click to enlarge the photo.

Anyway, on the far left, he folded over the cloth and sewed it following a straight line. Next to that, he had to go down a straight line and then make two corners and continue upward. Click on the label below for other posts about school sewing projects.

J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo 1965

J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965, a middle grade novel written by Shogo Oketani, has been translated into English by SCBWI member Avery Fischer Udagawa. It will be available this July. It sounds really interesting and I can't wait to read it!

Click here to find out more about it and how to pre-order it. Click here for a website devoted to the book.

Covered

Uncovered.

Ume

This section of Jindai Botanical Gardens is devoted to ume or plum blossom trees.

This poor tree needs help to stand.

It's split,

but it still blooms.

Tree Cover

Not sure what is under these.

Winter Shelter

At Jindai Botanical Gardens, some of the plants were covered with straw.

This little hut shelters a peony.

Here's another hut under a bigger hut. There were peonies on display.

This blocks the sun on some pansies. I'm not sure why except that the sun is pretty warm sometimes even in February.

Mame for Setsubun

This is a bag of mame (pronounced mah-may). In Japan, February 3rd is setsubun and people throw beans, mame-maki. Click on the labels below for past posts and links to more information about setsubun.

Kids Web Japan-- setsubun

Ume and Chestnut Trees

This field of ume (plum blossom) and chestnut trees (photo below) is on a busy street. We used to have a big field of ume down the street from our house.

Chestnut trees.

Guardrails for Construction

Along this street, these orange monkeys and frogs hold guardrails to alert drivers about construction. At night, their faces and the strips on their legs reflect headlights.

This one is winking.

Frane Lessac and Mark Greenwood

Frane Lessac is an author and illustrator. She has illustrated books with other authors including her husband Mark Greenwood.

They came to visit our SCBWI chapter here in Tokyo. Frane Lessac talked about illustrating and writing and their travel and research on projects. I love all the small details in her illustrations, and I especially liked hearing the story behind Simpson's Donkey, a book she and Mark Greenwood worked on together. Have a look at Frane Lessac's website and blog and Mark Greenwood's website.

Street Repair

They are tearing up the street along the curb in my neighborhood.

I was getting worried about the azaleas. In some places it looks like they are going to tear them out to make the road wider. That would be really sad because the azaleas bloom all along the street in early spring. Besides being pretty, according to a Nasa study, azaleas clean the air.

Walking further down the street, I realized what they are doing. They had replaced the middle of the road and now they have to bring the curbside up to the same level. See the drop off? They have to get rid of it.

We'll be glad when they are finished. They do most of the work at night when there is no traffic. Little Brother is studying to take high school entrance exams next month. He needs good sleep! He hasn't complained, though.

Ume Bonsai

Great-grandfather's ume bonsai are blooming. He has been gone for 17 years but his trees still bloom.

Daphne

Our daphne hasn't bloomed yet.

Tulips Rising

Coming-of-Age Day 2011

Big Sister and Little Brother and Papa have strongly suggested in the past not to take pictures of people on the street because of privacy issues. So instead of going out to the shrine to take pictures of young women in kimono, I decided to post another catalog cover. It's a public publication and it gives the company, Joyful Eli, publicity. Check out their website. Check out the labels below for more posts about Coming-of-Age Day. I did sneak a photo of a young woman a few years ago. It's one of my favorite photos. See it here. Also check out the website Kids Web Japan. Big Sister will dress up next year.