Playing with my nieces
I have an older brother. He has three daughters, Yuna, Haruna, and Ayana.
They actually got Kiddo to crack a smile. Sort of.
My brother and his family live upstairs from my parents. About 17 years ago, my parents did a major renovation and at the same time, built a house above them for my brother’s family. Or rather, my brother, with their invitation, had the house built. (The cost of land in Tokyo plus the cost of a mortgage is astronomical, so this was a great help to my brother and his growing family.) So the thing we do when we visit is to just go up there most evenings to hang out.
On this trip, this was particularly important because we had to practice our music for my parents’ anniversary party—which was the very reason we went to Tokyo.
OK, a little bit of back story. About a hundred years ago, when my brother and I were teenagers, my mother, out of the blue, suggested we all play some music together. At the time, I played the guitar, my brother played the trombone, and my mother played the piano. This was so very sudden and random that we rolled our eyes and told her that it was lame and we didn’t have any music in common and it wasn’t going to work. My mother didn’t have a clue on how to approach teens, and we were snotty teenagers. As a result, my mother was very hurt. For nearly thirty years, apparently. So a year ago, in planning this party, my mother said to my brother and I that she would very much love (translation: do this or you will be disowned) to have all of us play something.
I could write a whole book on my mother but she can be incredibly persuasive, and when a thing needs to get done, she will get it done. She has worked for a number of women’s international non-profit organizations as Chairwoman and President (still does at age 82) and has earned a reputation as someone who can get anyone to come out to major events to help raise money — including the Empress. As in Her Royal Highness. Seriously, she's total BFF with the Royal Family and she knows the heads of everything. You simply do not say "no" to her. We know that now. So we said "yes."
Anyway, After much discussion and much changing of minds (okay, mostly just Philip's) we put together a little concert. Ayana played a piano solo, then Yuna played her guitar and sang, then my brother and his wife played “Take the A Train” (on trombone and piano, respectively) then our hastily assembled, poorly rehearsed, absolutely brilliant group number was the big finish.
Dadoo played a mean tambourine.
Yuki even joined (unplanned) and played the maracas and stole the show we actually worked hard to put together.
Kiddo held it together pretty well.
Though we think she was terrified.
Mother (mine) was pleased.
When Janet is happy, we are happy.
The party was in the middle of our visit, so we still had another week after that to visit upstairs and play Wii. We did karaoke, Mario Kart and a symphony game, during which I chose to conduct and seriously aggravated my tennis elbow. Hmm. Yuki still says "Want to go upstairs" every night and we can only reply, "We do, too."
Minnie Mouse Headband/Bridal Veil, courtesy of the cousins.
If we ever do the first communion thing, I want her to wear this.
The Pig Park
Not even 5 minutes from my parents house is a playground where I used to play. It’s a very small playground that is nothing special, but it has three long, cement pigs that you can play on.
Sometimes "play" means just sitting. Don't you judge me.
We took Yuki there a couple of times. She particularly enjoyed the slide that was a bit like a conveyer belt set up. Because the bottom of it rolled, many of the older kids were standing or kneeling on it and Yuki was very intrigued. Jet lag or not, you get a kid to a playground and they are instantly excited. She giggled and ran and went down the slide many times. She didn’t seem to be afraid of the fifth-grade boys tearing around the place.
Her expression rarely changed in the two weeks we were there.
Sometimes, if you watched her eyes, you could tell when she was having fun.
Yes, that is the "fun" face.
Ah yes, the kids are the same everywhere. The place was packed with elementary school kids just doing all sorts of things, screaming and yelling. The only thing that stuck out to me that was very Japanese was that they seemed rude until they came up around Yuki—then they stopped, waited patiently for her to finish sliding, then went back to tearing around the place. It was almost weird. Then 5 o'clock rolled around and as if there was a school bell, the place just cleared. I guess that’s when they are told to get home for dinner and homework. For the most part we had the park to ourselves after 5:00 except for a few middle school aged kids who showed up ("the night shift").
When in such neighborhoods with a white man, you get to see kids’ reaction to a foreigner. Two boys were flying their paper airplanes, in a rather nerdy aerodynamic physicist kind of way, and one accidentally hit Philip. He reacted in an animated, Philip Smith/King Kong way and was then their target for the next 5 minutes. It’s the uncle impulse.
Then there was another boy who stared at Philip for a second and uttered, “Yes, we can.” I think the Obama catch phrase made its way to Japan and what with his visit to Tokyo while we were there suddenly provoked this young lad to say what seemed to be the only English phrase he could put together. What was funny was that he didn’t say it directly to Philip. He kind of said it near him. I think he didn’t quite have the guts. But nonetheless it made us laugh pretty hard.
This picture has nothing to do with anything. She just stopped one morning and clutched this pole for a few minutes. Then it was over and we went on with our day.
I have an older brother. He has three daughters, Yuna, Haruna, and Ayana.
They actually got Kiddo to crack a smile. Sort of.My brother and his family live upstairs from my parents. About 17 years ago, my parents did a major renovation and at the same time, built a house above them for my brother’s family. Or rather, my brother, with their invitation, had the house built. (The cost of land in Tokyo plus the cost of a mortgage is astronomical, so this was a great help to my brother and his growing family.) So the thing we do when we visit is to just go up there most evenings to hang out.
On this trip, this was particularly important because we had to practice our music for my parents’ anniversary party—which was the very reason we went to Tokyo.
OK, a little bit of back story. About a hundred years ago, when my brother and I were teenagers, my mother, out of the blue, suggested we all play some music together. At the time, I played the guitar, my brother played the trombone, and my mother played the piano. This was so very sudden and random that we rolled our eyes and told her that it was lame and we didn’t have any music in common and it wasn’t going to work. My mother didn’t have a clue on how to approach teens, and we were snotty teenagers. As a result, my mother was very hurt. For nearly thirty years, apparently. So a year ago, in planning this party, my mother said to my brother and I that she would very much love (translation: do this or you will be disowned) to have all of us play something.
I could write a whole book on my mother but she can be incredibly persuasive, and when a thing needs to get done, she will get it done. She has worked for a number of women’s international non-profit organizations as Chairwoman and President (still does at age 82) and has earned a reputation as someone who can get anyone to come out to major events to help raise money — including the Empress. As in Her Royal Highness. Seriously, she's total BFF with the Royal Family and she knows the heads of everything. You simply do not say "no" to her. We know that now. So we said "yes."
Anyway, After much discussion and much changing of minds (okay, mostly just Philip's) we put together a little concert. Ayana played a piano solo, then Yuna played her guitar and sang, then my brother and his wife played “Take the A Train” (on trombone and piano, respectively) then our hastily assembled, poorly rehearsed, absolutely brilliant group number was the big finish.
Dadoo played a mean tambourine.Yuki even joined (unplanned) and played the maracas and stole the show we actually worked hard to put together.
Kiddo held it together pretty well.Though we think she was terrified.
Mother (mine) was pleased.
When Janet is happy, we are happy.The party was in the middle of our visit, so we still had another week after that to visit upstairs and play Wii. We did karaoke, Mario Kart and a symphony game, during which I chose to conduct and seriously aggravated my tennis elbow. Hmm. Yuki still says "Want to go upstairs" every night and we can only reply, "We do, too."
Minnie Mouse Headband/Bridal Veil, courtesy of the cousins.If we ever do the first communion thing, I want her to wear this.
The Pig Park
Not even 5 minutes from my parents house is a playground where I used to play. It’s a very small playground that is nothing special, but it has three long, cement pigs that you can play on.
Sometimes "play" means just sitting. Don't you judge me.
Her expression rarely changed in the two weeks we were there.Sometimes, if you watched her eyes, you could tell when she was having fun.
Yes, that is the "fun" face.
Ah yes, the kids are the same everywhere. The place was packed with elementary school kids just doing all sorts of things, screaming and yelling. The only thing that stuck out to me that was very Japanese was that they seemed rude until they came up around Yuki—then they stopped, waited patiently for her to finish sliding, then went back to tearing around the place. It was almost weird. Then 5 o'clock rolled around and as if there was a school bell, the place just cleared. I guess that’s when they are told to get home for dinner and homework. For the most part we had the park to ourselves after 5:00 except for a few middle school aged kids who showed up ("the night shift").
When in such neighborhoods with a white man, you get to see kids’ reaction to a foreigner. Two boys were flying their paper airplanes, in a rather nerdy aerodynamic physicist kind of way, and one accidentally hit Philip. He reacted in an animated, Philip Smith/King Kong way and was then their target for the next 5 minutes. It’s the uncle impulse.
Then there was another boy who stared at Philip for a second and uttered, “Yes, we can.” I think the Obama catch phrase made its way to Japan and what with his visit to Tokyo while we were there suddenly provoked this young lad to say what seemed to be the only English phrase he could put together. What was funny was that he didn’t say it directly to Philip. He kind of said it near him. I think he didn’t quite have the guts. But nonetheless it made us laugh pretty hard.
This picture has nothing to do with anything. She just stopped one morning and clutched this pole for a few minutes. Then it was over and we went on with our day.
Comments
xo
gibs
how commonplace was this sight while you were there? seems like a really apt social commentary.
Japanese people wear masks in the winter, h1n1 or not. It's been that way since I was a kid and probably before then. People wear them so as not to spread their illnesses but also to prevent getting them. There are so many different kinds of masks there as well--like ones that won't fog up glasses, etc.
xo
la