Category Archives: Winter

New Year’s Day

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It has been a tradition now for quite some time that Chie and I take a walk to the shrine not far from Chie’s mother’s home in Tokorozawa. Since Coco was born he has joined us.

This year was no exception. We all walked, enjoying the crisp air and the sunshine.



At the shrine we bought tigers for the three of us. As you may recall from last year the tigers bring protection from evil and illness during the new year. And so far it has worked.




Many people had come to the shrine to wish something for the new year and to add tigers for protection. I think that not many Japanese people are particularly religious, so they do not come to pray but rather to ask for health, wealth good grades, or whatever they need at the moment.

I kind of like the tigers because they are cute and it is a nice walk. Also they shrine is peaceful and has a nice garden with a lot of nice statues and trees.



On our way home we could get a nice view of Fuji-san as well. What a perfect way to start the new year!



At home again, we rested. And for dinner we had what is traditional Japanese New Year’s Day food. In old times the stores were closed for 4 days or so. This meant fresh food could not be bought during this time. So preserved food was bought and eaten during New Year.



New Year’s Eve

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Today is the day when 2009 becomes 2010 or maybe 2009++ would be be the correct way of expressing it in C++ (a programming language). Anyway, the weather was again great, though a bit chilly in the wind.

Coco and I spent part of the day in a long walk in the sunshine. And the rest of the day we spent resting together with the rest of the family. And preparing the New Year’s dinner. In order to prepare the dinner Chie and I also went to buy groceries. To get the kani (crab) and shells and some other fishy 😉 things we went to the fish market.

As always on a New Year’s eve the fish market was chaos. People are so afraid they will not get the things they want for dinner so the fight their way around. I walked around as normal, while Chie was fighting 😉

As you may have guessed, we had kani (crab), grilled scallops, and hand rolled sushi for New Year’s dinner.

After dinner Coco was tired and fell asleep at once. While the rest of us was able to stay up for the new year.



Taking Coco for a Walk on the Wild Side

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Went to Tokorozawa for the New Year today. Once we arrived in Tokorozawa I took Coco for a long walk (on the wild side). When I take Coco for a walk I let him do almost anything a dog wants to do, which I think he is a bit unused to since his mother is a bit protecting.



Back home again Coco and I had a rest before Coco helped Chie prepare dinner. Tonight was shabu-shabu, think sliced meat that is dipped in hot bouillon together with a lot of vegetables. Delicious 😛



After dinner we all relaxed some more before it was time to go to bed. The time to go to bed in Tokorozawa is much earlier than in Tokyo… For some unknown reason 😉

Christmas Evening

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An ordinary Christmas Eve. Wakeup 6:30 am to go to the office. Work as normal until 5:30 pm. Then hurry home to have dinner with Chie.

Chie had prepared a delicious Jansson’s Temptation. And we had chicken club and white asparagus too. Not what you have on a Swedish Christmas dining table. But better and no risk of overeating a lot of unnecessary food.



After dinner it was the traditional Christmas gifts opening time. Santa Claus had visited us even here in Japan 😯 I got a pair of pants to chill out in, and a matching sweater, some ginger bread cookies, a Rubick’s cube, and some table cloths. Chie got handmade slippers, coffee, some table cloths, and an Apple TV.



We love Santa! 😀 Thank you all Santas in Sweden (yeah, sorry all you from Finland out there but Santa is from Sweden 😉

Last Day in Kanazawa

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Stayed in bed for a while in the morning before we went out for lunch. Today we had reservations at the Komatsu Yozuke sushi restaurant. 3 weeks ago Chie got the last two seats… For lunch time 😯



Once we got the first sushi piece in our mouths we could understand why a lunch restaurant can be fully booked 3 weeks in advance. Delicious!

Walking back to the hotel to get our bags and do some final omiyage-shopping before we entered the bus to Komatsu airport.

Today as previous day the weather was some sun, snow, hale, thunderstorm, rain. But once we boarded the plane it was mainly snow/hale and thunderstorm for 1.5 hours. Which was our delay, waiting for the weather to get better.

Oh, I almost forgot. When Chie and I had dinner at the restaurant at the airport in Kanazawa we got a big surprise… At the table next to us was Takeuchi-san. A friend of Chie’s and a girl that use to go with Mash-san on the ski trips I join once a year.