Christmas Tree made from dolls

How was your Christmas?

I went to see a movie with my friend in Roppongi.

There was a cute Christmas Tree made from small many Santa Clauses!

It's been warm recently in Tokyo.

Take care friends♪

Mother's Watch

On November 10th 2009, I surpassed my mother's age.

I never can imagine finishing my life so early...

Now, my mother in my memory is younger than me.

I read an article in a newspaper before my birthday,

The article introduced about an old broken watch story.

Before a few month of the article, a watch repairer read an article about the watch coincidentally.

The article said the owner of the watch had wanted to fix it, but no one could so far.

The watch repairer Mr. Shimizu called the newspaper company,

and said "Could you tell the owner to show me the watch? "

Mr. Shimizu fixed the watch!

Then, the newspaper introduced this whole story. And I read it.

I've wanted to fix an old watch which is a keepsake from my mother for a long time.

The watch is over 30 years old and It has not worked for about 15 years.

So I went to Mr. Shimizu's shop (fortunately, the shop is in Tokyo!!).

He was an old gentle man. And he promised me that he would fix the watch.

One week later, the watch started ticking again when I surpassed my mother's age!!

I never thought there was such a big difference in my feeling between it works and doesn't work.

Now I'm very happy.

I really thank Mr. Shimizu and Sankei news paper.

Hakkeijima sea paradise

We went on an annual trip of our orchestra.

There were cute "white" dolphins in the aquarium.

We were healed by these dolphins, penguins, sea otters and a lot of fish.

The Second Tokyo Tower

The second tokyo tower is being built now.

I can see the tower from my living room and it's growing up a little by little!

So I've been taking pictures of it from a same point.

Can you see the change?

Mt.Fuji from my apt.

I've lived this apartment for 4 years.

I didn't know I can see the Fuji-San from here~~~~~!!!

Though I've looked for the Fuji-San many times, I couldn't find it.

I was sure that was because of buildings between my apartment and the Fuji-San, but it was wrong.

I knew the front door side faces north west. But it was more north than I thought.

So I should've seen left side more than I did so far.

Then I noticed that my apartment's stairs was hiding the Fuji-San!

When I looked for it from a little right side of my front door,

the Fuji-San appeared in my sight!

Welcome my friends!

These children's mother is one of my best friends Sono

who studied music together when we were university students ♪
They came from Kochi prefectur because her husband conducted a high school band

in a competition held in Tokyo.
While he was working, we hung out in Ikebukuro.
Sono is not only wonderful musician but great mother,

I really respect her. And her kids are so cute! !

We spent a wonderful time.

TOKYO DOME!

After a rehearsal, I came to TOKYO DOME to see a baseball game.
I'm surrounded by Giants fans even if in the 3rd base side area(-_-;)
But I'm sure that CHUNICHI will win!!
The game is starting soon!

Hibiya

It was beautiful and warm day today!
I didn't need to wear a jacket.

Today was my day off. And Wednesday is "Ladies Day" !!
You can see movies for only 1000 yen if you are a lady. Fufufu...

There is a famous statue near the movie theatre in Hibiya.
It's not "Hachi" but "Godzilla". Small cute Godzilla♪

After I saw Villon's Wife, I took a walk in the Hibiya Park.
It was beautiful, but the park was filled with smell of "Ginnan
(ginkgo nut)"....
I like eating Ginnan very much, but it was too warm to smell Ginnan.

Long time no see!

My Australian friend Adam is traveling Japan with his Japanese wife Megumi now.
They came to Tokyo today and stay a few days.

I saw him after 3 years and had a wonderful time with them!
Adam used to play in the police band in Sydney, and now he's been teaching kids trumpet and conducting some wind bands.

BTW, I didn't know that It took about 10 hours to flight from Australia to Japan. That was longer than I thought...
But there is no time difference, so it's easier♪
I've never been to Australia. I really want to go there.

He's coming to see our orchestra's rehearsal on Monday, and having
lunch together!

Thank you Mr.Tatsunami.

It was the last game of this season in the Nagoya Dome (the home stadium of Chunichi Dragons) today.

And also, it was the last game for Mr. Tatsunami who is my favorite player.

He announced he would retire after this season.

The reason he said was the decline of his strength.

Although he's not been in a starting lineup recently, he's been playing an active part in the team as a pinch hitter (He always get hit in important scenes even though he only has one chance to step to the plate in one game).

However, he thinks that baseball players should be able to make hits, run, and defend.
So he thinks he can't continue playing only as a pinch hitter.

Today, he was in a starting lineup after 3 years, and he got 3 hits!!
That was amazing.

His uniform number [3] might be retired. This number is his number forever.

He's played in Chunichi Dragons for 22 years since he graduated high school!!

Thank you Mr. Tatsunami.

You are my hero.

comedy show@Osaka

We finally finished this year's Japan tour the day before yesterday!!
The final place of the tour was Osaka.

Yesterday, I went sightseeing before I came back to Tokyo.
Osaka is a interesting place. The culture is very different from other
prefectures.
For example, most of funny Japanese comedians came from Osaka.
Osaka is a mecca for Japanese comedy.

I went to "Nanba Grand Kagetsu" to see a comedy show.
I burst out laughing at their 'Manzai'

A Lotus Flower @ Jyoruri Temple

This beautiful flower come out from a marsh.
Lotus is the symbol flower for Buddhism.

Gansen temple & Jyoruri temple

Historical place Nara has a lot of beautiful old structures.
There are a lot of tourists everywhere, but I was luckey! 

My friend who is from Nara took me to some amazing "unknown" temples.
There were no tourists. It was quiet and there were many statues of
Buddha which were national treasures and beautiful gardens.

Nara

I'm in Kansai area (west Japan) for a concert tour from this thursday.
Our orchestra had a concert in Nara yesterday. The hall was huge and
interesting.

Zucchini

A tuba player in my orchestra has a big farm.

He gave me a splendid fresh zucchini and thyme from his farm.

I  grilled them simply with chicken, tomatoes and sweet peppers.

That was delicious!!!

Thank you so much!!

brass quintet

I was in Asikaga Tochigi for the educational concerts for 4days.

5 brass players had rehearsals after the concerts.

We played a lot....

AJISAI

This is rainy season's flower.
Cute♪

HAIR SPRAY in Tokyo

They are starting in 5 minutes!
I'm exciting !!

The main tower of Kumamoto catsle

A general Kiyomasa Kato who was born in my hometown Nagoya in 1562 worked for Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa.

He was given this area from Ieyasu, and he built this castle.
It was said impregnable castle!

Transcending the time

A scene today viewed from a building 400 years old.

An original tower of Kumamoto castle

All the buildings were rebuilt exept for one which remains original.
It's amazing that such a building made of wood and soil 400 years ago can be seen even today.

fresh SASHIMI !

I'm in Hiroshima.
Our friends who play music in Hiroshima took us to a nice restaurant after our concert.

Kirara!

I'm mooving to Matsuyama by highway bus from Kochi prefecture.
She is my friend's daughter Kirara!
Cute!

Niigata=Rice!

What a beautiful rice field!

These rice baby grow up and become delicious shining white rice!

Niigata bland rice is the best in Japan.

this week's stages

I was in Niigata prefecture this week.

Our orchestra played in gymnasiums of elementary schools for educational concerts.

We had 3 concerts a day~~!!!!

1st stage 9:00am~ 2nd stage 11:20am~ 3rd stage 2:00pm~

I became healthy because I woke up at 6:00~6:30 every morning. hahaha...

Gran Torino

It was a beautiful movie.

GREEN TEA

My grand mother sent me the first tea of the season.

The tea leaves are softer, and the tea tastes fresh and the smells good.

You can enjoy it only this time of year.

Fukushima

We had the last concert for TKWO's northeastern tour today in Fukushima prefecture.

I drove to Fukushima last night. 

After the concert, I stopped at the Nasu highlands rest area on the highway.

There are farms near there, so you can buy milk, cheese, bacon, beef croquette, etc...

And I saw beautiful sunset!

Onsen!! (Hot Spring)

Dai Onsen in Hanamaki Iwate. I went there with my coworkers after a concert.

I like a rural hot spring resort like this.

The onsen was great!!

TKWO concert tour

I've returned from a concert tour of northeastern area last night.

We played in Hachinohe Aomori, Hanamaki Iwate, Kurihara Miyagi, Sendai Miyagi.

I thought it was colder than Tokyo, but it was hot there!

This is a road in Sendai. The main roads in Sendai are wide and there are a lot of zelkova trees on the both side of the roads. Those fresh green leaves were so beautiful.

BBQ~~~~~~~~~!!!

Yes! Texas=BBQ

It's overflowing...

Hotel at Austin

It was nice room!

The hotel is on the premises of the university, and the conference center which the CBDNA was held is in the same building.

that means I only was in the university for 4 days!

That was OK! because I went sightseeing for a few days after finished CBDNA:-)

By the way, we went to Austin right after Japan won the WBC final 

A big Ichiro's picture was on the USA TODAY that was reached my room. And the newspaper said [Congratulation the championship for Japanese team] in Japanese!

Austin Texas

CBDNA(College Band Directors National Association)was held in University of Texas from March 25 - 28.

My main purpose of my visit USA was participating CBDNA.

So I flew to Austin after adjusted my jet lag in NY and joined my colleagues.

What a huge university!!!

It's almost a town.

It's snow today

Asukayama Park is old beautiful park in my neighborhood.I took a walk in the park this morning.

The cherry blossoms are at their best now!

I went to there first time today.

I wonder why I didn't go there so far???

It was soooo beautiful!

It was pink snowing around the cherry blossoms when a lovely spring breeze.