I haven’t blogged recently because Genbo and Zoe have had an unexpected week-long vacation from daycare thanks to the un-kosher flu and concomitant predictable Japanese over-response. It’s actually been a lot easier looking after both of them for a week than I expected, which probably says a lot more about their (relatively) increasing growth and maturity than mine own.
Today Zoe and I ended up waiting for a train together, since Genbo was off with his mom (who had the day off from work). I sat down on one end of a three-seat bench at the station, and she, to demonstrate her growing independence as a newly-minted two-year old, sat down at the opposite end. She got a little bit more than she bargained for, however, because this old guy with a great, weathered face sat down between us. She was a trooper, though, and despite obvious misgiving held her ground against the intruder.
He was actually an interesting guy, though. Started up a conversation with me in a casual, friendly way that I didn’t expect from someone of his generation. It turned out he has traveled extensively in Peru and other parts of South America, which explained it.
“Daddy seems to think he’s OK, but I better keep my finger in my mouth just in case.” 
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Zoe turns two today, although we had a party for her on Sunday since Maki keeps irregular hours on weekdays.
Here is the cake, a likeness of Anpan Man, a Japanese cartoon character made out of sweet beanpaste who lets people eat his face to help them recuperate from the scourge of Germ Man. All kids here LOVE Anpan Man, and Zoe is no exception. She make me draw his face over and over again. When I went and bought the cake at a local bakery up in the hills that is surprisingly excellent, I asked if they were paying a copyright fee for the likeness. The lady laughed, only a little nervously, and asked me not to turn them in. So, it’s a pirated cake, but it tasted great nonetheless.
Zoe doesn’t know about blowing out candles, so Genbo is about to help her out
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Zoe’s present was a “big-girl chair” to match her brother’s, which she has been wanting to use more and more of late.
Of course, her favorite seat remains Mommy…
And she still crawls into Genbo’s chair besides him often as not. Here they started a game of “Peek-a-Boo” that quickly degenerated (especially on Genbo’s part) into general silliness.
Zoe is turning two tomorrow, and I just came across this photo of her when she was only a couple months old. We were attending a local festival near our house. Hard to believe, looking at this, that it hasn’t even been two short years since then
The other day we went back to our old stomping grounds in Fushimi for a great festival held at Fujinomori Shrine (藤森神社). The shrine is supposedly over 1800 years old, and was probably originally situated where it is because of a spring with delicious water; I used to bring a bunch of big water bottles there to fill up once a week or so. The shrine is, among other things, dedicated to horses as a symbol of victory and success (which is why you see guys making offerings there every Saturday morning on their way to the race track).
This particular festival involves exhibitions of traditional Japanese horsemanship: both tack and tricks that military horsemasters would perform to taunt the opposing army.
Japanese festivals of course always offer lots of stalls with scrumptious squid pancakes, octopus balls, and french fries for the kids. Not to mention lots of games where they can win plastic junk to take home and annoy their parents with.
I love the fact that these guys are so macho, they are not embarrassed or self-conscious about their traditional attire. Well, maybe the guy on the left is.
I truly admire the fact that one could wear that and still appear so totally humorless
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I’ll save the actual trick riding for later, but leave you with a little teaser….
Old guy sketching on the bank of a river while two young guys walk by with cold beer and snacks.
Dang, I cannot believe it’s been an entire month since I wrote what I thought was the first half of a two-part post describing our trip to Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms. I can’t even claim to have been busy with work, since the Great Depression of the Late-Naughts is still taking its toll on that front. I even have a bunch of other good posts I’ve been meaning to make, but they’ve all been butting their heads against this one, which has remained stubbornly 15 minutes away from posting for the past thirty days. Ah well, such is life.
Zoe and Maki in the setting sun against some cherry blossoms
Have no idea where Genbo picked up this quirky expression
This style of exterior is an old Japanese form of weather-proofing, where planks are charred to keep out the elements. It looks beautiful here in the setting sun.
Japanese equivalent of a red barn
Meanwhile, this bald tree offered an interesting study of lines and color.
We visited a nearby park with our friends Anthony and Jeffrey.
Anthony and Genbo riding off into the sunset. 
“Hey there, Pardner”
Zoe sits at the top of the slide contemplating the ride down
It’s easier with mommy. If only they had thought to put a blossoming cherry there instead of that ugly light pole.
Whee!
Three (4?) little munchkins
If you stuck around this long in the hopes of seeing some beautiful pictures of cherry blossoms, I’m sorry to disapoint you. We ended up going back home before it got dark and they were all lit up gloriously. Jeffrey, however, did stick around and took some excellent photos. He also has a great post of some pictures of Zoe that you should check out here.
A little anti-climactic
