Posts Tagged: present

Family — 10 Comments
12
Jun 08

Ramsay Ramblings 6/12/2008

Here’s another installment of Ramsay Ramblings so you can keep up with all the exciting happenings in my neck of the woods…

Guns in Japan? Maybe so…

In response to the shocking attack in Akihabara over the weekend, some people were calling for guns to be made legal. I don’t know what the current laws are regarding firearms in Japan, but I was surprised to see this sign at my local lake. I can only assume that some areas do allow gun-hunting, so some people are allowed guns. Just seeing a sign like this gives me the willies. :???:

No Gun Hunting

Pondering the affect of TV-enabled phones

You know how most new Japanese cell phones play regular TV? Well, I was wondering what affect that might have on society when everybody has a TV-enabled phone. Can you imagine riding on a crowded train where every few minutes, half the passengers burst out in simultaneous laughter? What if you are watching TV on your phone and realize half a dozen people are watching over your shoulder? How about if you go out for drinks with a friend, and they suddenly pull out there phone so you can sit at the bar and watch TV together, or worse, make you wait till their favorite show has finished!

I bought my wife a present!

I recently bought Mami a present. This is quite a rare thing, but she does have to put up with me 24 hours a day now so it’s the least I could do. It’s not particularly romantic, but she was thrilled I got her a hedge trimmer. :-D

Taking Rikuto around the lake

It’s amazing how many great places there are in my own town that I haven’t been to before. I saw the above sign at Ogase Ike, a big pond in Kakamigahara, when I took Rikuto for a walk. Here are a couple more pictures.

Rikuto at Ogase Pond

This next one was taken on real grass! Yes, we actually found somewhere soft to kick a ball around when Rikuto gets bigger!

A little park with real grass by the pond.

More Rikuto…

Rikuto tried on his new outfit from a relative. Look he’s Pingu!

Rikuto in a Pingu suit

Here’s a video of Rikuto dragging himself along the floor as he improves his crawling skills. Watch him stand up and avoid being electrocuted!

Uninvited guests

We have a few uninvited guests staying at our place at the moment. I usually wouldn’t put up with a bird’s nest outside the front door because of all the poo, but they seem to keep the strange Japanese bugs away so I’m not complaining too much.

Birds Nest

That wraps up this episode of Ramsay Ramblings, but stay tuned for another one sometime!

Technology — 4 Comments
28
Oct 07

Crazy Egg-Laying Chinese Pop Duck

My wife took our new baby, Rikuto, to visit his grandmother and other relatives today. For most of them, it was the first time to see him so he got lots of new clothes and presents. Now, this is where it gets interesting, my wife’s uncle married a Chinese girl half his age, and she already had two children from her previous marriage in China. Now, both children have joined her in Japan, and one of them gave Rikuto the best gift any 3-month-old baby could wish for, a crazy egg-laying Chinese pop duck! Have a look at this:

Can’t see the video? Watch it here on YouTube.

Family — 3 Comments
9
Sep 07

Rikuto’s New Clothes

Rikuto’s grandparents in England sent him some nice new clothes, which should fit him perfectly by the time Christmas comes around. You can see how happy he was in the photo below. The card that came with them read:

Dear Ricky,

I have sent you this little outfit. I know you will look so cute in it. I have loved looking at all your photos and videos. You have grown such a lot in one month. I do wish I could see you and hold you in person. Perhaps next year. Your grandad and uncle Mark send their love.

Lots of love and kisses,
your very proud granny
xxx

Rikuto's new clothes
Japan — 1 Comment
23
Jan 07

I (kind of) won the Japanese lottery!

Okay, so I didn’t win the “Nenmatsu Jumbo”, but as a teacher I get sent quite a lot of New Year cards from my students. These postcards, from the post office, are marked with a number which if you’re lucky could be picked as the winning number in the post office’s New Year lottery. Here’s some background on “Nengajou” from Wikipedia:

The Japanese have a custom of sending New Year’s Day postcards (nengajou) to their friends and relatives. It is similar to the custom of sending Christmas cards. Instead of sending Christmas cards, Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on the 1st of January. The post office guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards on the first of January if they are marked with the words nengajo and are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month. In order to send these cards on time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters. The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post office.

So, it turns out that I was a winner! Sadly I didn’t win the big-screen TV or the holiday to Hawaii, but I did win some…erm…stamps.

New Year stamps

The writing reads “Heisei 19 Year”, equivalent to the western “2007″, and below that it says “Otoshidama” which means New Year’s money. The stamps themselves (worth a bit over a dollar) feature a boar because it’s the Chinese Year of the Boar.

So while I’m thrilled to win the lottery, I figure these are collector’s items and should belong to someone who cares more about stamps, or pigs, than I do! So if you want them, start bidding in the comments section (no need to register)!