January in Hong Kong

When we returned to Hong Kong we immediately noticed the smog.   Pollution seems to be especially bad in January as the factories in the Pearl River delta crank-up before the Chinese new year break.  At times it was bad enough for Hannah's school to ban playing running games outside.  And we turned-up the HEPA air filters at home to clean our air.  

Sometimes the weather condition in town didn't allow the traffic pollution in town to disperse, and for a few days central Hong Kong air quality was worse than Beijing (scmp link).

But the smog sometimes makes for nice sunsets.  This is the view from ICC towards Lantau.

Despite the pollution the weather has been generally sunny and pleasant.  Winter in Hong Kong is actually a bit cold although I find that a pleasant change from the heat the rest of the year.     It is generally a good  season for exercising outside, especially running and hiking.   We have started playing tennis every weekend.

Hannah's focus has really improved since November.  She now enjoys practicing tennis coached by Rika, and she gets better every week.

Video :  Rika coaching Hannah 

Hannah is also focusing much better at school and enjoying it more.   

This week she brought home a the cup for the best swimmer of the week.   For being an open-minded risk-taker, listener and inquirer in swimming.   She gets to keep the cup for 1 week!

I was very pleased by this because I think Hannah will get a lot out of swimming if really she gets into it, just as I have done.

Minimi was also very interested in the cup, especially after Hannah put cat-nip in it!

Minimi has been suffering in the cold and keeps asking to have the heater turned up or sit in my lap.   At breakfast he likes to have a cuddle on my warm chest, and at night he cuddles up next to me under the futon.

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

Snow Monkeys

We visited Korakukan onsen because it is is located inside the Jiokokudani nature reserve, which is populated by a large troop of wild Japanese macaque monkeys or 'snow monkeys'.

Video:  monkeys in the snow

Jiokokudani is famous as the only place in the world where monkeys get into the hot-springs to warm-up (as you can read at the official website).  It is very popular with american tourists.   All day long a steady stream tramp along the forest path,  many with shell-shocked "this is much further / colder than I expected" expressions.

This is the monkey's hot-spring bath, surrounded by tourists.

Video:  Snow monkeys in the hot-spring bath.   Notice the pairs of monkeys grooming each other.

They say that if you carefully observe their behavior for long enough, you will have a profound sense of how little difference there is between you and the monkeys.  

Watching this monkey scratch his bum, Daddy had to agree.

While we were taking photos of the hot-spring, the monkeys suddenly got-out and raced to pick-up food that was being scattered in the snow by the staff of the nature reserve.   So I realized that the monkeys are not exactly 'wild' but rather 'salaried' or perhaps 'tenured'.

Thinking about it further,  I suspect the reason this is the only place in the world where monkeys get into the hot-spring is because the monkeys pee and poop in the water.  The hot-spring would soon become a health-hazard unless it was regularly cleaned out - probably by the same staff who distribute the food.

So perhaps Jiokokudani is a beautiful example of natural symbiosis:  tourists visit because the monkeys sit in the hot-spring.  The monkeys can sit in the hot-spring because it is cleaned by the nature-reserve staff.  And the nature-reserve staff clean the bath because the tourists visit.

Lookalike (10)

The Snow Monkeys and Hannah's family must surely be related...

Snow Monkeys                       

Hannah's Family