genfab

This weekend, we (ok - “I”) hid our first geocache!

Frustrated with the lack of caches within walking distance of our place - I decided to fill the void and introduce cachers to our neck of the concrete woods.  There’s plenty of interesting sites to be seen around Akabanekita 3 chome… at least I think so!

Just a couple blocks east of our place takes you to a massive set of downwards steps, only half of which are seen here…

The base offers a unique locale for our first cache…

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Keeping our holidays as Japanese as possible - we decided to visit a temple on New Years Day in Tokyo. Conveniently enough, there’s half a dozen temples within walking distance of our place. We decided to do our Hatsumoude (New Years temple visit) at Nanzuin temple - about a 20 minute walk south east of our place. It’s located on a particularly busy street - but like many things in Tokyo you wouldn’t know that once you’re inside! Join us for our 2009 Hatsumoude…

Happy new year! Bring on the cows. Moo!

(If that didn’t make any sense to you - you may not be aware that 2009 is the year of the cow… and yes - in Japan it starts on January 1st - unlike our lunar obsessed friends over in China!)

And of course with every new year comes new challenges… like constant diaper changes, 1000+ more kanji characters, and understanding what the heck some people are trying to say with Engrish:

Yet Even More Engrish

In a sly plan to get more decent shots of Naoki, we held the first “Naoki Photo Competition” last night with some friends as part of a pot luck. Good cameras do make a difference - as you will see! We find that often his photos don’t do him justice - but these ones come much closer than other photos we have of the little guy.

So, without further adieu - first place from the photo competition, by MJG:

Read on for the rest of the results and entries!

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Keeping with the tradition of previous Christmas’s away from home - and being back in Japan - it seemed appropriate to make it another KFC Christmas! This year we had a full array of KFC designed Christmas dinners to choose from. It’s not what you think - there’s much more to it than a plain old bucket of chicken and coleslaw. We pre-ordered a full roast chicken with stuffing, biscuits, salad and cake! Call me crazy - but I was as excited about this meal (if not more so) than a traditional home cooked turkey dinner.

Want in on the action? Just press play…

The verdict? Read on for spoilers…

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