2010 Sports day

It's Sya's sports day!
We were very excited, mainly because this year was Sya's final year at Umenohana nursery. Another reason was, we knew how hard my son and his friends had been practicing for this occasion. So we wanted to make sure every event was well captured. In order to do so, we had decided to divide our jobs. Me in charged of photo taking while my hubby was in charged of video taking.

The Umenohana nursery's 63rd sports day

Such a fine day!

Participants' site

Sya belonged to the most senior, 5-year-old class (orange cap)

Chit chatting with good friends

Waiting anxiously

Sya's ehem...girlfriend

Lining up for their first performance

Sya performing a group dance

Kids with yellow caps (4-year-old class) with their 'daruma' race

Kids in red caps belonged to 3-year-old class, showing here was a performance with their mothers

Some parents had to be real patient with their small kids who tend to get anxious, who would suddenly cry and stop their performance. (Pink cap= 2-year-old class)

1-year-old toddlers in green cap performing with their moms

Beautiful mommy volunteered to help out in races

There were events for parents or grandparents

There were even events for nursery kids' big sisters or brothers

It was really enjoyable to see, not only the nursery kids were having fun...even the family members who came to cheer the kids were also given chance to take part in their events. What more, they were given prizes too!

The 5 yo combined with the 4 yo for this race which they were divided into red group and white group. The group with the most balls in the basket won.

The 5 yo with a race where they were given missions to complete like this hula hoop before running to the finishing line

5yo class with another dance performance...Aikk, did my son just forget his steps?

Sya waiting in anticipation for his favorite race...the relay race

Faster, faster....

The button was passed to Sya

Run Sya...run!

Good job, boy!

Sya's class wrapped up the sports day with another dance performance

Everyone was given a gold medal

Everyone was a winner! The kids' must have felt proud of their huge achievement

While listening to the headmaster's closing speech

A group photo of the most senior class members.
Each of them made the crafts which were used to decorate the polls above.

All of them were required to bring back their crafts as souvenirs

Sya's portrait of himself (left)

Proud of you, boy! You are the big winner today (just like any other kid)

Shocked, but happy!

My son goes to Kumon twice a week. We encouraged him to join Kumon when he was 4 years half. All this while, we had to beg him to do his homework, every time. Today, as usual, I told him that he still had not done his homework and his Kumon class was the next day. I added that his favorite TV program would start soon too.


He obediently went to his study desk and started to do his maths questions. I was quite surprised to see that he wrote the letters nicely and there was no rushing (most of the time, he would try finish it fast and scribbled untidily). Wow, that was a first I thought.

When he's started to feel comfortable with the homework, I then started to engage myself with house chores. As I started vacuuming the carpets, I heard my son shut the door and shouted, 'Mama, urusai yo. Shuuchuu dekinai! (Mama, noisy! Please, I can't concentrate!)'.


What?! I was scolded by my son for being noisy?


But I actually swallowed his complaint and waited him to finish his homework before I continued with my vacuuming. But to tell you the truth, I was kind of relieved! At least he has started to learn what his responsible is. And hopefully he has inherited his father's two strong points that I admire most... the power of concentration and the hunger for knowledge.


Hmm, I may seriously need to look for a new vacuum cleaner that can go on a silent mode. *wink*

Autumn goodies

Autumn in Japan equals to delicious good food.
It's this time around when people start to gain weight and the fat would stay until the end of the winter season, like what we see in American black bear, with exception that we don't hibernate.

The Japanese autumn seasonal foods are, matsutake (Pine mushroom), kaki (persimmon), sanma (Mackerel pike), kuri (chestnuts) and satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potatoes). Among all these, the most expensive one would be matsutake, the reason for why we haven't had the chance to taste it. The price of matsutake can go as high as $1000 for half a kg. Matsutake are hard to find (though simple to harvest) and therefore they are expensive. What Japanese love about matsutake is their intense spicy/cinnamony aroma.

Matsutake mushrooms

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant yesterday. While looking at the menu, we decided that it's time for us to try the matsutake mushroom for the first and probably the last time, regardless of the price.

松茸釜飯セットMatsutake rice set (my choice)

A closer look at matsutake rice

松茸小鍋セットMatsutake hotpot set (Hubby's choice)

Just add the ingredients into the pot until the fire goes off.

Ingredients of the hotpot

Matsutake hotpot

Side dish 1: Sashimi

Side dish 2: Tempura

Side dish 3: nimono

Side dish 4: radish pickles

Sushi and fried shrimp set (Sya's choice)

So, what's our impression of the dish? The dinner course was delicious (especially the side dishes). The mushrooms had a strong aroma, which was unique. But to be frank, both my hubby and I concluded that it may be difficult for foreigners like us to fully appreciate the taste. It was actually so so for us. We might not come back and pay this expensive price just to enjoy the matsutake mushrooms. We would just go for our favourite dishes like sushi and sashimi.

Soothing moment

One of my soothing moments is while playing with cats.
I am a cat lover, so is my hubby.
Is our son a cat lover too? We never really know of my son's status because he is brought up in Japan ever since he was at the age of one.

As everyone know, Japan is a clean country. And we hardly can find stray cats. Once in a while we would go to pet shops and play with the displayed cats. But if you notice, most of the time they would be sleeping. So, the chances of exposing my son to playful yet gentle cats were slim.

Last weekend, while strolling around, we came across a young slim black cat. She was quite tame and had been following and teasing my son. Sya, actually was game enough, approached her and played with the cat. We were so relieved! Haha...it's probably a little strange to hear that parents are OK with the fact that their son is playing with stray cats! We kept telling ourselves it's OK because we were here in Japan. In Malaysia, we would probably have to think twice because the cats may carry parasites. (Trying to make ourselves feel better...hahaha)

My hubby actually took a video of Sya's first experience playing with a cat. We were lucky we brought a videocam along that day. Attached is the video, in Japanese unfortunately.

The translation is:

After playing with the cat, Sya came approached daddy for handkerchief.
Sya: 'Ayah, can I touch her with handkerchief instead of using my hands?'
Ayah: 'Naah...just use your hands.'
Then Sya said excitedly: 'Wah...she can go round me like this, like this, like this....(with gestures)'



So my son who obviously is Japanese brained washed, who thinks everything outside the home is dirty, could actually touch and play with a cat using his bare hands. Not bad for a starter, right? *wink*