Bounenkai time!

O-hisashiburi everyone! Today's japanese word is "bonenkai." You'll usually find it translated as an "end of the year party," but a better, and a more literal translation would be "forget last year party." It's a time to drink and forget the troubles of the last year, and it's a great part of japanese tradition. So, tonight I'm having my own little bonenkai. Forgetting all the bad things from last year, and going over the past 20 days of not posting. Well, well, well... what's been happening...? I guess I'll take a look at some pictures and see what I've been up to...

I guess we'll start here:

A couple of weeks back I sent home some presents for the kids to celebrate the first annual "Uncle B Day!" The presents got there on Dec. 23rd, only 5 days after I sent them, a bit faster than I had anticipated. The kids all said that they liked the presents, and that makes me happy :) It was sad that I couldn't be with them all for christmas, but it seems that they had a good time.

Next, we have this:











Just a couple of pictures of food I made... that's all...

Next, I've been on vacation now for a few days, and god, let me tell you, it's been great! I love vacation! I've taken a couple of walks around the neighborhood, and taken some pictures, here's a couple of them:

The last one there is a picture of a Japanese cemetery, just thought maybe some people might be interested in seeing how different they are from western style ones.

Lastly, hubun and I made a trip down to Roppongi to see "Letter's from Iwojima." At least I think that's the english name. The movie was pretty blah, but the acting was good. Both Watanabe Ken, and the little guy (can't remember his name, but he's from the singing group "Arashi") gave great performances, especially the little guy, who I think was in his first big role, maybe only role? But anyway, it was my first trip to Roppongi Hills, and only my second trip to Roppongi ever. Although I must say there were more "gaijin" than I could have imagined there, the buildings around there are freakin' beautiful! Really really superb architecture! I was very impressed, especially at night. Here's one of the pics I took that night:

Anyway, it was pretty!

So, here I am, hanging out in Tokyo, hunbun went back to her hometown for New Year's and so I'm just relaxing and chillin' out. I hope everyone had a good christmas, and I hope everyone has a great new year! Rock it hard! I'll let you know if I do anything special for the holiday, I have some ideas...