(All these photos are through multiple layers of glass from outside the studio, so sorry about the quality.)

Anthony did a solo radio show today for "Funky 802" (FM802, a popular Osaka pop radio station). It was his first time on the radio, and though he started a bit rough, he quickly warmed up to it.

( Either that, or we went to KidZania for the day. )

Continued here...

As I wrote in yesterday's post about the doggy funeral, we had lunch at a great cafe. In the southern part of Shiga Prefecture, perhaps an hour's drive from Kyoto, is a private business called Sunainosato (寿長生の郷), which consists of a restaurant, a cafe, and a confectionery, all on 50 acres of wonderfully wooded land in the countryside.

The grounds are open as if it were a public park, and they're very nice.

The little drop-off shelter near the parking lot illustrates the simple, understated class of the entire site.

From there, one enters a small orchard that has more [...]

On the first day of our mini late-April trip to Awaji Island a few hours' drive south of Kyoto, we saw the sunset from a beach on the south-west part of the island, as I posted the following day.

I had my recently-acquired Sigma "Bigma" 50-500mm superzoom, and had fun playing with its long reach.

Most beaches I've seen in Japan are full of trash, either left behind by a throng of uncaring visitors, or blown in from the ocean over the years and left to collect. This one was much better than most -- perhaps a local association cleans [...]

Anthony's hair has been getting quite shaggy, so we finally took him for a haircut today.

Today's cut was a smoother event than when he was younger...

I'd done that one myself, and perhaps the next one as well... his hair grew slowly but unruly...

A year later we tried a place that he and I have been going ever since, Deco, a small shop down the street. The first time we went there he sat on Mommy's lap...

At three and a half he got his hair cut at a different place, but mostly since then it's been Deco.

Today is Children's Day (子供の日), a national holiday in Japan that wraps up a series of holidays collectively called Golden Week. Fumie's folks got a special cake that we could all enjoy...

I think Anthony was with them when they picked up the cake, and they asked him what wish he wanted written.

I completely missed it at the time, but looking at these pictures now, I realize that the overall shape of the cake is that of a traditional kabuto samurai helmet. It's a symbol for boys that they grow up strong and healthy, and a small version is [...]