About Me

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I'm an American living in Japan for three years while my wife is on assignment here. (Three years has come and gone so I should probably say three years and counting.)

Monday, December 10, 2007

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!



Santas unwind after a hard day! (That's me in the middle.)


Santa gets lucky. (Also me in the middle.)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

These photos are from a Japan MTV music video I was in: "Hurry Xmas" by L' Arc-en-Ciel (a very popular Japanese band). Someday I'll write about my fledgling modeling/acting career.

My New Year's resolution is to find more time to keep my blog updated!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Gary, Where have you been?

I've been doing some intensive training for some volunteer work that I will be doing in Tokyo which is taking a lot of time. For those of you who are in the USA, ask me and I'll tell you what I'm doing. For people in Japan, it has to remain confidential. And I'm still trying to learn Japanese, which is a constant reminder of how difficult it is to learn a language at my advanced age. Anyhow, I've been really busy commuting to Tokyo and studying Japanese. So this blog will be short on my usual patter.

A few weeks ago, our neighbors from upstairs, the Hodges, called and said, "You have to come do karaoke with us and David's sister and her husband." Well, it was pretty late and we were already in our evening lounging clothes (Me in T shirt, underwear and socks. Marcia in elegant color coordinated pajamas.), but we decided to get dressed and give it a shot. Marcia has experienced karaoke in Japan but, I have not. Karaoke is very different in Japan from what I have experienced in the USA. In the USA, everyone is in a great big room and the person performing, sings to a large group. In Japan, you rent a private room for your group. So you don't sing to strangers, only the people in your group. So... you rent a room with a television screen and 2 microphones and a song book. I forgot to mention, included in the rental of the room is an unlimited supply of drinks. There's a phone in the room and when you need more drinks, you call and order. Great system! Well, we had a great time and here's what it looked like.


Kimberly and brother-in-law, David.


Kimberly and David, also known as "the Hodges".



Gary and David get romantic?


David and his wife, Shannon. (The other David's sister.)




And now for a couple of embarrassing pictures.................











Kimberly gets down!


Gary falls asleep?


Anyhow, a fun time was had by all!!!!!

Next blog coming soon......Japan celebrates Halloween.

Ja mata,

Gary

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I'm Back

It's been a long time since I blogged, so let's see if I can do a high speed catch up. I was back in the States for most of the month of August and had absolutely no time for blogging. While in East Aurora,Marcia and I visited friends, worked on the house, celebrated my birthday and got to play a gig with the band. Marcia returned to Japan and I flew to California, via Reno, to visit family. I returned to an empty house in Japan as Marcia had already left for a week long meeting in Nagoya. Quite a change from a busy schedule of visiting as many friends as possible in the States, to an empty house in Japan. But within a few days, I was back on track and into my Japanese life. I signed up for a conversational Japanese class that meets three times a week and is very enjoyable. I went on a couple of auditions for my struggling modeling career and have started training for some volunteer work that I will be doing in Tokyo. (The volunteer work is English oriented.) So with that as a backdrop, I'll add some photos to give a slightly more complete picture of the month of August.
One side note: I want to say hi to Ken and Ken and thank them for faithfully reading my blog.

Warning! These pictures will be in no particular order. Just a stream of consciousness of a whirlwind trip.

This is Maggie, our last remaining pet in East Aurora. Stephen says that since the other pets have passed on, she has blossomed and likes not having to share her house. She has become very vocal and enjoys spending time with Stephen and Jeff (Steve's roommate). She was happy to see us and seems to be thriving.


Marcia visited her great aunt and cousin in Niagara Falls.


Marcia's great aunt, Aunty Bea, is amazing! Ninety-seven years old and going strong. Lives at home by herself and leads a very active life.


Marcia's cousin, Duaine, is Aunty Bea's daughter. What a wonderful person. Duaine lives in nearby Lewiston, NY and shares many adventures with her mother.


One of my projects when I was home was to build benches for our deck.


What can I say? It's my idea of a "fun" vacation.


The deck benches in progress and our hard working son coming home from work.


The finished benches.


Wining and dining with our good friends, the Kujawskis.


Our band was able to get together and play a gig while we were home. From left: Marcia,Don,Mark,Larry and me.


Neighbor, friend, and fellow band member, Larry.


Drummer Al. Al may sit in the back behind his drums, but he certainly makes his presence known.

After leaving East Aurora, I flew to the other side of the country to visit my mother and sister in Cedarville, California. What! You've never heard of Cedarville? Don't feel bad, most people haven't. Cedarville is in the very notheastern corner of California. It's a small town in the high plains desert almost on the border of Nevada. The small population includes ranchers, cowboys, and all sorts of interesting people including my mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece(and her family). Obviously, you can't fly direct to Cedarville, so I flew into Reno, Nevada. Reno is about a 3 hour drive away from Cedarville. My brother, Jim, lives near Reno so he met me at the airport and we enjoyed the nightlife there before driving to Cedarville the next day.

Reno at 5:00 AM in the morning.

Visiting with my family.
In front: my lovely mother, Clare.
From the left: My (fraternal) twin brother, Jim, me, and my brother-in-law Michael


Four generations of my family. My niece, Carmen, her son, Dayton, my sister, Virginia, and my mother, Clare. By the way, today is Dayton's first birthday. Happy birthday!

I have a wonderful family and I was very glad that I was able to visit some of them while I was in the States. My one regret was not being able to visit with my other sister, Joy, while I was there.


All in all, the trip was quite a success with many things accomplished. Now that I'm back in Japan, I'll try to keep everybody a little better informed of our adventures.

Ja mata,

Gary

Thursday, August 02, 2007

A Sad Goodbye

Last Monday was a sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to my favorite teacher at Bayside Academy (the school where I study Japanese). She told me last Friday that she is leaving Bayside Academy and Monday would be our last class.
Hayashi-sensei had a teaching style that was a perfect combination for me. She pushed me and kept me from being lazy and she made class fun at the same time. She also taught me many things about Japanese culture. I truly enjoyed our time together and will miss her.

林先生、どうもありがとうございました!
じゃ、また。。。

ガーリ

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Stephen Visits

Here's a blog that's long overdue.

Last May our son, Stephen, came to visit. He stayed for about a week and a half. Marcia took time off from work and she and I (with some help from our friend Chigusa) became tour guides. Stephen got to see Yokohama, Kamakura, Tokyo, and Kyoto. We took day trips to Tokyo and Kamakura and spent two days and three nights in Kyoto. Marcia and I had never been to Kyoto and enjoyed the trip immensely. We also went to a home game of our local baseball team, the Yokohama Baystars. Having Steve come visit was a complete delight. It's one thing to tell someone about where and how you live but, it's so much better to be able to show them. Stephen wanted to document his trip for his friends so most of the pictures you are about to see were taken by him.


VIEWS FROM YOKOHAMA:

Stephen discovers the stairway to our house.


View from our balcony.



Our train stop. A rare empty moment.

Notice how clean this subway is.


Our local park.

Yokohama bay.



Chinatown.


Around town.


A local video arcade.


STEVE VISITS KAMAKURA:




Steve performs purification rite before entering temples.



Steve and Daibutsu (The great buddha).



Hachiman-gu Shrine.


Hase-dera Temple.

QUICK VISIT TO TOKYO:



Dinner with friends at a very nice (upscale) restaurant in Tokyo.


Fujinori and Stephen.


Chigusa (Fujinori's wife).

The meal. Delicious!







Most importantly, the sake.

Steve digs in.


Marcia after some sake.

KYOTO.

Kyoto is famous for its many shrines and temples. We had a wonderful time here.

Chigusa came with us and was a wonderful traveling companion.


Kinkakuji temple.
The four adventurers.



Various temples and shrines including a Shogan's castle.



















Steve makes new friends.

A not so fancy restaurant in Kyoto.
The preceding picture isn't that good of a picture, however, there is a story here. Notice the menu on the table. Looks like an ordinary nice menu right? Well, this restaurant is like a fast food restaurant, so the items in the menu are somewhat limited. In fact, when you open the menu, this is what you see....





A picture of the one item that they offer and the price. That's the whole menu. Marcia still took a long time deciding what to have.

GOING TO A LOCAL BASEBALL GAME.


Luckily, the local baseball team, the Yokohama Baystars, were in town so Stephen was able to experience Japanese baseball.



Baseball was pretty much the same. Cheerleaders...


fans.....

young and.....
old......


souvenir venders....

and, of course, beer venders.
Although the Baystars lost, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.


We share a last dinner before Stephen returns to the States.

Well, there you go. A whirlwind tour of Steve's first visit to Japan. He said he had a wonderful time and wants to come visit us again. We, of course, were delighted to have him visit and can't wait for him to return.

Ja mata,

Gary