Fuji-san

On our way home from Baba's the weather was very clear and we enjoyed great views of Fuji-san from the train.

From Shuzenji station.

From Shuzenji with more zoom

I also like this interesting rock formation above Ohito just outside Shuzenji.

Fuji-san from just outside Ohito

And from the track between Izu Nagaoka and Takyo

New Year with Baba

We had new years at Babas with the whole family.  Hannah enjoyed all the attention.  

We all gave Baba an IPad.  This is Ma-chan showing her how to use it.

As always,  we ate really well.  The tradition at New Year is to prepare food in advance so the ladies can relax and don't have to cook so much.

The bentos are mainly boiled vegetables and mushrooms, fishcakes, and pickles.  Very nice and healthy.

 Makoji-chan made charcoal-grilled rice-cakes on the hibachi.

As well as catching-up on family gossip, it was a great chance to relax

The kids played games on the Wii.

I went for several runs up and down the valley and enjoyed the fresh winter air.  This is one of the temples near Ikadaba.

Tokyo

After the Onsen we went back to Tokyo and stayed 2 nights before going on to Ikadaba.

In Tokyo we did some shopping...

Had a really good Italian meal in a posh restaurant at the Kieo Plaza hotel that I had wanted to go back to...
  

Hannah had spaghetti with cheese sauce made in a huge parmesan cheese.   

We went out for Dinner with Kyo-chan to our favorite local Chinese restaurant in Sangubashi

And to Fumi's Grill in Ebisu, which we used to go to many, many years ago, not long after it first opened.

For christmas Kyo-chan gave me a cool tea-maker so I can make green tea at work.  Here it is in operation.

Thanks Kyo-chan!

Shichigosan

For our day in Tokyo we spent an afternoon at Studio-Alice having a photo-shoot for Hannah's Shichigosan (7-5-3).

Shichiogsan is a tradition of celebrating and taking photos of children when they reach the milestones of 3, 5 and 7 years old.  Rika tells me this dates back to times of high  infant mortality.  Wikilink (here).

Hannah absolutely loved dressing-up with her choice of kimono and dresses, being made-up, and having pictures taken.

Of course Hannah chose the big pink princess dress.

Studio Alice has an interesting approach.  The photographers spend plenty of time and take lots of great photos with different costumes and props.  You are not allowed to take your own photos during the shoot although video is OK  (the images here are all stills from my I-phone video).

At the end you can choose the best couple of dozen photos and buy a disk of the files.  But the catch is that you have to wait a year for the disk.  In the meantime they will sell you prints, memorial books, key-rings etc.  at eye-watering prices.  We bought the disk and a dozen prints including a set for Granny and Grandad, for about JPY 50k in total.

Video:  Shichigosan photo-shoot