I often make the short drive up to the Shogunzuka overlook to catch the sunset or just enjoy the nice view, but it's usually to the public overlook, and only a few times to the actual Shogunzuka gardens next door (500 yen to enter... about $6). I should go more, because it's quite pretty in its own right, and the views are wonderful. Last time I went was about two years ago when my friend Ram was in town. I went today, and though it was quite pretty, you could definitely tell it was two weeks deeper into spring than [...]

Anthony returned home from school yesterday with a little pill bug he'd found and carried carefully in his hands for the half-hour bus ride. He thought it was extremely cute and wanted to keep it as a pet, so we put some wet dirt and grass into a Tupperware dish for the bug's new home.

I am not a bug person, and perhaps even less a "terrestrial crustacean" person, which is what these things apparently are. But a pill bug is better at this stage than the puppy he's been asking for, and we want to encourage the responsibility of [...]
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Because I know everyone is so excited at the prospect of hearing even more about the Towel Museum, I'm following up right away to yesterday's "The Towel Museum in Imabari Japan, Part 1" with Part 2 today. Be forewarned, though, that today's post is more of a gluttony of Moominanalia mixed with unabashed "my kid is so cute!" self indulgence.

As I commented in Part I, the "Towel Museum" could well be called the "Moomin Museum" (Moomin being a Scandinavian cartoon character), and of course we caved in to Anthony's sudden and wholly expected desire for his very own pricey [...]

Anthony started third grade this morning, which means that we had one free day yesterday after our recent short trip to Imabari, so we paid a visit to his kindergarten friend, Monet, who also starts third grade, but at a different school. Monet's sister, May, starts first grade tomorrow.

We all then took a walk through the woods to the next village down the mountain, to visit one of Monet's current school friends.

The first stop along the way was a check to see whether a tepee that Arthur had started to make with Monet and May last fall had [...]

Just as last year, Anthony's class made their own yearbook, with the cover composed of self portraits by each kid and the teacher. The Japanese school year runs April to March, so now they're in the spring break between grades. Anthony starts third grade in a couple of weeks.

The quality of many kids' self portraits made a huge leap from last year. Especially noteworthy are the girls' drawings, all of which display higher artistic merit than anything I could draw.

Anthony's innate talents, like me, appear to be elsewhere, but unlike me, he makes up for it with cuteness...