The Christmas and end of Year Buzz...

Phil finished work on the 22nd and had a Bar-B-Que lunch which the company put on. The kids have been off school for the week already.

Christmas day was great. We went to our sister's place for lunch where all her kids turned up. Now that a new generation has got married it is now there turn to determine where we meet for Christmas. It isn't possible to go to Yoko's family for Christmas dinner so we went to Phil's parents. We visited our friends, a younger Phil and Yoko in the evening. All great fun.

Birthdays...

We have just returned home from attending my older sister's 50th Birthday party. Lots of people there who I haven't seen in years. A nice time. But soon it will my mothers birthday (on the 21st) and Nathaniel's on the 30th.

We have enjoyed the pleasure of our Japanese friend's visit this week. Tomoko first met Yoko in 1990 and our paths has often crossed since then. She has been happy to simply take time to rest. The weather hasn't been too good but she has gone for walks about our pretty little town.

"Good to be back?"

Not too sure how to answer a question like that. Visiting Japan was excellent and a month wasn't too long but coming "back" to NZ the reality of life has hit us (ME) again. I have been at work for just over a week. The children have still got school holidays so the reality won't hit them till next week... and then Yoko will probably start to miss Japan even more.

Family

So... we had a very nice visit with Yoko's parents and older brothers family.

Yoko's dad is 80 now but is still busy either in his rice field, which is surprisingly big, or helping with volunteer groups. Yoko's mum keeps busy with visiting neighbors.

Hiroshi (Yoko's brother) is a civil servant and is very busy with the water department. His office has responsibility for a large area where there is a hedge demand, residentially, industrial and agricultural...

On Sunday we visited Takaoka Church in Fuji. They happened to be celebrating their 12 year as a church thought the pastors, Bo and Kerstin have been in Japan for almost 35 year.

Friends for many years.

Sachie and Takashi have known us since we lived in Kawagoe in '94

We were very kindly looked after in Kawagoe for a week. And Talo (taro) the cat who we've also known for 10 years. I was a busy time and the weather was probably the hottest on our trip. Takashi allowed me to use his car a couple of days too which meant we could visit Yoko's sister very easily.

Old Friends, New (Life) Church

We hadn't seen Fuyuji and Naoko for 5 or more years. They were on the mission field in central east Asia. They had many funny stories and a few difficult situations but it has brought a lot of wisdom to them that they were able to share with us. Yoko first met Fuyuji in '86 when she did an outreach at his home church then I met him in '88 when we did a YWAM DTS together.

Yesterday we visited Yoko's older sister and family. Their boys are adults now! We have always had a great time when we've visited. They lived the closet to us, in Saitama. It was too hot to go out so we sat a chatted the afternoon away.

The realities of life in Japan.
Running around the banks we have accounts at and then visiting the city office to reinstate my "residence" status, even having to pay the National health insurance for a month! so.. Yoko and I have gone for check ups. The doctor was an older man and had some very "interesting (?)" ideas.

I have bought a cell phone which I am very pleased with. The New Connection fee and first months fee for the basic plan cost more than the phone it's self. It can also receive and send email so please request this if you'd like to email me. We might not always have a computer to work at.

It is fantastic to have so much time to catch up and I'm appreciating my job in NZ all the more now I'm actually receiving holiday pay. We are going to visit friends in Kawagoe today. They have known us since 1995 and have been very kind to us over the years.

There will be more news to come...

It's so wonderfully warm here!
You are right. I can't be talking about the weather in Feilding, New Zealand. The family and I have just arrived in Japan for a four week visit.

We are at the YWAM training base in the west of Tokyo for the first few days, getting the business finished... checking our Japanese bank accounts and visa stuff and then move to visit friends in Kawagoe where we lived for two years in 1995.

It has been so great to be reunited with old friends. They've had some adventures in their lives while we've been away, just as we have, so there has been a lot of catching up. It is amusing to see that some things haven't changed yet other things are so different... the children have grown so much!

My and Brian & Teruko's children.

There will be more news to come...

Machiko is 11!
And a fun party was had by all. Phil made pizza and Yoko made sushi so the food was great. (if I say so myself. I really like my home made pizza!).

However the travel plans are only slowly coming together. Many of our friends and family members too are happy for us to give them a call once we arrive in Japan and to arrange visits then. though only 5 weeks away from now... the last minute arrangements seems to be the way people want to work.
We will make our last home, Ome City, our base of operations and will manage to see most people from there. I am hoping the YWAM has a car we can use also. There are the old "hunts" we'll ant to visit, Okutama dam and maybe a drive to Hachioji where I (Phil) often went to do weddings.

Though it was two weeks ago, we have finally bought our air tickets for Japan and we will be leaving August 26th from Wellington.

The weather is VERY cold now. We are looking forward to having some warmer weather in Japan.

Yes I know. It is May already but I haven't mentioned that I almost lost my job . The company I am working for has been going through so though financial times. The whole industry has been hit by high fuel costs so the transport industries demand for new equipment (trailers) has fallen off. The "partners" decided it needed to shed 30% of all staff. This was announced on April 27th just one day before we learned who was going to lose their jobs. Mine was safe, as it turns out, but what a shock to see who had in fact lost their jobs.
Three weeks on and it still seems strange not to see many of the men who have been let go.

More recently however it was Yoko and my 12th anniversary. It fell on Mothers Day so it was difficult to make much of a fuss but.... I'll get to it.

The weather is cold now. It may be nice during the day but I'm stuck in doors.

It's the Easter holidays and we are staying at home. The children haven't received a single Easter egg yet but we are about to go to my sisters for a "Welcome Home" party for Tim who has been working in Australia for a couple of months. - - - Back now. Tim bought an Xbox 360 with a little of his earnings, what fantastic graphic.

As it happened a friend in Japan sent the children the Japanese version tamagotch, which is shaped like an egg, so they are more than happy.

It's Monday and Yoko has gone to an event at church for the morning. I continued to work on the new back steps and the children and I made our own pizza for lunch and eat it 'Cafe' style out the back.

The weather is great, sunny and warm. Have a nice holiday!

Nothing like a day at the beach on a public holiday. I was only actually a couple of hours but... that was hot/wet enough. There was a cool breeze blowing as often does here so Yoko and I sheltered behind some driftwood the kids played in the water. They love the water...