Only mostly 'd'ead

It's been ... a very long time since I've done any sort of blogging. I don't suppose it wasn't because there weren't things to say. Mostly life just got in the way and I didn't have things I felt worth sharing. Pictured above is still Lovely Wife along with our youngest. Not that young any more. They're walking along an alley to the first place we really stayed on our recent trip to Japan. Our son spent two years around the Nagoya region and we'd wanted to go pick him up and spend some time in the country and call it a 30th anniversary trip, but the timing wasn't right. So we waited a year and then my wife and I and our son and middle daughter took the trip. Happy 31st. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip because of the light, and catching a moment of the two of them.

We're Grandparents now. Our oldest and her husband have a lovely baby boy. He was born premature and spent eight weeks in NICU, but is doing fine now. We were very ready to enter this next phase of our lives and love to spend time with him. That infant phase is probably still my favorite. The cuddles and smiles and cute sounds. It really is the best. His arrival meant they had to stay home this time around. Will there be another trip? Don't know. Would love to do it again though. Maybe not quite so many places.

At any rate, the trip was absolutely amazing. Two weeks in Japan, starting in Tokyo around the Shibuya area, followed by Kyoto, Nagoya, Kanazawa and then back to Tokyo around Akihabara. So many amazing sights and meals and experiences.

My favorite meals were probably in Nagoya - Miso Katsu and Maze Soba. Although we didn't really have a bad meal while we were there. My son took us on a tour of all of his favorites, although we did have to skip Yakiniku this go round. And Shabu Shabu. Too many meals and not enough time. We got to enjoy Konbini life, especially in the mornings - an onigiri here, some melon pan there.

We spent a good portion of the trip on the stellar mass transit system in Japan. Mostly trains, although we did take the bus from Nagoya up to Kanazawa. We rode the bullet train a handful of times across the larger distances. It's amazing how efficient it is and I kind of miss it here. I used to take the bus years ago, but current job location combined with travel times, even with the front runner don't make for much time at home, so it's back to the car commute. I at least have a hybrid now and love that car a lot.

We got to see a festival while we were in Kanazawa. I can highly recommend sitting in front of Kanazawa castle while Taiko drums are being played, or at night when a Noh play is being put on. Magical. Plus getting to see all of the stalls with various food/game/souvenir vendors was a real treat after seeing that scene play out in various anime over the years.

We did a lot of shopping while we were there. Mostly clothing, but I managed to hit Yellow Submarine to look at Japanese board games (they were out of Gachapon Trick which was the one I was looking for, but I came back with Masquerade Trick Party). We spent time at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, the Nintendo museum in Uji and hit the famous five way crossing in Shibuya along with the Hachiko statue.

Will I continue to keep this thing alive? I have no idea. It'll probably still be a mish mash of random semi-personal stuff with thoughts about books/shows/games being read/watched/played. I haven't changed that much. Older now. Grayer. Longer beard. Heck, a beard in the first place. But your welcome to come along for the ride.

Oh and one final amusing bit, we did celebrate our 31st anniversary in Japan. At Baskin Robbins. You do the math. Worth it.