I don't think I'll require nine separate posts to cover the third day of our recent trip to Japan's Ishigaki Island in the East China Sea, but we'll see.

I'll start out Day Three with a little quiz....

A few miles off the south-west coast of Ishigaki Island is the tiny Taketomi Island, known for its quaint culturally-unique village. Most lanes in the village are lined by three things: coral walls, pretty flowers, and ugly utility poles.

Construction is under way to bury all the wires and get rid of the poles, so I've taken the liberty of doing so [...]

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Our short trip to Ishigaki Island in the East China Sea last May was very photogenic. In covering the second day, I've posed no less than eight times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) and still didn't cover it all.

This time, I thought I'd post some of Anthony's shots from that day, from the cell phone he carries to school for emergencies, but is otherwise not allowed to touch except when we're out and about and allow him to use the built-in camera.

The day through the eyes of a six-year-old....

Hill and Finger Mid-Island Road [...]
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This is #6 in a series on our visit to KidZania in Nishinomiya, Japan, where Anthony's day to this point has consisted of working as a gas-station attendant, getting some banking done, a short stint as construction worker, and enrollment in driver's ed to get a driver's license.

Then it was time for a bit of journalism.

We had no idea what this job involved (nor did Anthony, for that matter), so we were a bit surprised when they came out and took off. We followed as they wound their way through the crowd, and although they were just a [...]

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In preparation for our annual trip to visit my folks' place in Ohio, Fumie realized that Anthony's Japanese passport had expired, so we had to get him a new one. (We renewed his American passport last year, so that was fine.)

While we were at it, we got a passport for Curious George as well. Traditionally, plush toy monkeys have been permitted to cross international boarders without a passport, but post 9/11, one can never be too careful, especially the troubles we've had in the past. So, exercising the oft-cited "abundance of caution", we went ahead with all the paperwork [...]

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I occasionally post desktop-background-sized versions of pictures that I think might be good for that use, and so my blog's desktop-background photostream and category of desktop-background posts are full of them. I don't actually use many of them myself, though... I think I'm too lazy to bother changing them.

For the last year and a half I've used "Destination Unknown" (a mountain stairway), and for the year prior to that I used "The Color of Kyoto" (funky pastel-effect fall foliage), and for the half year before that "Daigo Temple Cherry Blossoms". But I switched recently (like I said, first time [...]

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