River Play and Kana-chan’s First Bike Ride
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The last day of Anthony's school before breaking for the summer — the Japanese school year starts in April, so summer break is during the middle of a grade — included a sleepover for all the first graders, right at the school. I went to pick him up at the appointed time on Sunday, but he ended up playing with some friends for a while.

First we piled the kids into some cars and headed over to a nearby river play spot, one that Anthony played at last year. This year, though, he wasn't really in the mood to play in the water (which totally shocked me), but he amused himself taking pictures with the phone he carries during his school commute (as described here).....

Documenting the Day -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Documenting the Day
Getting The Angle -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Getting The Angle
Chimping -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 360 — map & image datanearby photos
Chimping

Eventually he remembered that he had some sandals in his sleepover-school stuff, and decided to wade in a bit.

Getting His Feet Wet ( so to speak ) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — 1/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Getting His Feet Wet
( so to speak )
Bit Deeper -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 220 — map & image datanearby photos
Bit Deeper

Of course, he ended up getting all wet.

Eventually we ended up heading to Mizuki-chan's house, along with Akiko-chan and Kana-chan.

Chased by Kana and Mizuki -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Chased
by Kana and Mizuki

(They were playing on a dead-end street with no traffic, but still, I wish they would have had a helmet.)

I stepped away for a bit to take some picture of a nearby rice field, and came back to witness the end of Kana-chan's first ever bike ride...

Glow of Excitement upon completing her first bike ride all by herself -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Glow of Excitement
upon completing her first bike ride all by herself

As I clarified that she'd never ridden a “big” bike without training wheels, Anthony was more than happy to claim credit for just having taught her to ride. She gleefully then proceeded to do it again... (I guess once you learn, after that, it's like riding a bike)...

Second Ride, Like a Pro as I run along and try to get a shot -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Second Ride, Like a Pro
as I run along and try to get a shot
U-Turn And Again -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 66 mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
U-Turn And Again

I eventually suggested that they return to the house to get a helmet, at which point everyone retreated inside for cool drinks and inside play.


All 3 comments so far, oldest first...

Looks like Anthony is becoming a mini-Jeff with his camera!

Kana-chan definitely has the missing teeth of a first grader! I remember that age range – losing a tooth every other month.

— comment by Eric Mesa on July 20th, 2009 at 11:42pm JST (15 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

‘CHASED’ could be deemed another one of your infamous ‘consummate Japanese photos’. You could call this one Consummate non-city Japan. You’ve got:

1) Narrow street w/ guard rails
2) Brown Houses that could be almost anywhere in Japan.
3) Wind Banners advertising stuff
4)Random vending machine/garden lot ->right between to buildings
5) Ugly utility poles.
6) Fashion forward Japanese women (nice glasses)
7) Hurried and stressed salaryman on a granny bicycle.

Last 2 things: A. The rice plants (and orange banner) look brilliant, is that straight away or post-op? B. I’ll be in Himeji come August. It will be fun to read your blog as an ex-pat even if only for 2 weeks.

— comment by Ron Evans on July 21st, 2009 at 3:30am JST (15 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

I can’t believe you were watching over Kana-chan’s first bike-ride, then failed to take her to an emergency room when she knocked out her front teeth under your supervision!

— comment by Zachary on July 22nd, 2009 at 9:08am JST (15 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink
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