a foggy Sunday morning

This was the view from our balcony just after 7 am this foggy morning.  Unusual for Osaka in the winter.  It had mostly blown away or burned off by 10, but the mountains were shrouded in white all day.

100 days!

Shinryu is 100 days old today!  In Japanese tradition there is a small ceremony performed at home for the baby to encourage healthy eating and never going hungry.  We'll perform the ceremony Sunday, since Saturday is just way too busy, and i'll post the photos below afterwards.

Here, as promised (posted Jan.22).

 His "first meal" (not really - it's just symbolic).  Sweet bean rice, miso soup, picked vegetables, and sea bream fish ("tai" in Japanese).  It was delicious (usually the parents go ahead and eat it afterwards, so as not to waste anything.)  Shinryu was far more interested in sucking his own fists.

  The stone is also symbolic.  You "feed" him the stone so that he may grow up to have strong, healthy teeth.  The cute little dish set was provided by our local shrine when we went for his first shrine visit, back near the end of November.  Ever try picking up a smooth pebble with chopsticks?  I don't recommend it. Seems like a choking hazard to me.  And yes, you can choke on a symbol.

Shinryu and his name banner, given to us by his Japanese grandparents at his birth.  There is a space to write in the date of all his traditional ceremonial milestones - first shrine visit, 100 day meal, etc.  We haven't written them in yet because neither of us have particularly nice handwriting.

dragon in a snowsuit...

yum

Ulala cooked up this beautiful and delicious chicken, veggie, 

and cheese one-pot meal tonight.  Fantastic!!

初詣 ・ Hatsumode

Happy New Year!  We took Shinryu down to the local shrine (Ikutama Jinja, same place Ulala and i got married) for "Hatsumode" (pron. ha-tsoo-moe-deh), the first shrine visit of the year.  We had tried to go earlier in the day, but the line stretched out into and down the street.  With a two month old baby, we decided just to come back later. So we came back in the evening.  It was a little cold, but not too bad.  Here are the pictures.  

Enter The Dragon

Happy Year of the Dragon!