2mの身長のルーツ Where I got my height from

2010.03.31: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

With my Dad, Uncle, Li'l Brother and Cousins

我々は2年ぶりにシアトルに戻ったということで、私の家族の皆が集まってくれました。私の身長は2メーターと言うことで、日本でとっても目立ちます。まあ、アメリカでも目立つのだ。しかし、うちの家族が集まれば、普通になります。家族の集まりの写真を提供しますので、どうぞ、私のルーツをご覧になって下さい。
As it was our first time back in Seattle for 2 years, all of our family got together for a mini-reunion. When I'm in Japan, my 6'7" height really stands out. It even stands out while walking around in America. But when I'm surrounded by my family, my height really blends in. By seeing these pictures, I think you will see where I get my height from!



With the wives and kids


Andy, Kenny & Misaki with their 2nd cousins


バンクーバーへのドライブ Side trip to Vancouver

2010.03.30: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

Outside the Richmond Olympic Oval

今年の冬のオリンピックでバンクーバーの事をテレビでよく見ていました。うちの子供たちは特に、興味しんしんでした。せっかくシアトルから車で約3時間ですから、うちの親と一緒に、旅で良い思い出を作る目的を込めて、三世代ということでドライブで行って来ました。旅行を通じて、家族のスキンシップを取るのが最適です。バンクーバーへの旅の写真です。

While watching this year's winter Olympics on TV, we saw so much about Vancouver. Our kids, especially, were interested in seeing Vancouver in person. So, since it is only 3 hours by car from Seattle, and as we wanted to make some lasting memories for them with their grandparents, all three generations of our family piled in the car and went on a road trip to Vancouver. There's nothing like a vacation together to create some good family bonding! Here are some pictures from our trip.



In front of the inukshuk


UBC's anthropology museum


The very hospitable Coast Plaza


信州の青い目の若旦那のルーツ My Roots -- How I became an innkeeper in Nagano

2010.03.29: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

この写真を見て下さい。私の母親と本人の作ったジャパニーズキルト。そして、緑のシダに包まれていた我が息子。

そのキルトを見ていただけたら、うちの母親は器用だと思いませんか?尚且つ、着物の生地を使って金閣寺のキルトを作るということは日本に憧れているという事ですね。

私はきっとその影響を受けています。日本に憧れているし、亀清旅館で所々に手作りのものを作っています。(母親ほど器用だったら良いけど・・・)

そして、息子の写真。その緑を見て下さい。私はその緑の中で育ってきました。そのせいか、周りに緑がないと苦しいです。だからこそ、自然で恵まれている信州で、ほっとします。

その意味で、私の現在の立場のルーツになる写真でございます。

Take a look at these two pictures. My Mom holding up a Japanese quilt that she made. My son surrounded by green ferns.

If you look at that quilt's use of kimono fabric and images of Kyoto's Golden Temple, you can tell my Mom is captivated by Japan. And you can tell she is very skilled in making things with her own hands.

I must have inherited much from my Mom, I, too, am captivated by Japan. And I have a knack for making things by hand around the inn here at Kamesei. (I wish I were as talented as my Mom!)

Then there is all that green surrounding my son. I grew up with ferns and trees all around me, and if I don't have that now, I feel suffocated. That's why I fell in love with Nagano, with all of its mountains and rivers and spectacular nature.

Perhaps these pictures show some of the reasons I ended up where I am -- working at a ryokan in Nagano, Japan.

お母さんの作ったジャパニーズキルト



緑に含まれている


里帰りの必点:お料理 A Necessity of Visiting Home: The Food!

2010.03.28: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

Mom preparing a Turkey Dinner

毎日毎日にアメリカのお料理を食べたら、厭きちゃう(尚且つ、きっと太っちゃう)。しかし、2年ぶりのシアトルの里帰りで、せっかくだから毎日に懐かしい料理を食べました。我が子供にもアメリカの食文化も見せたかったし。その時の写真のいくつかを提供しま~す。

If one were to eat American food every single day, you would probably get sick of it (not to mention, probably get fat, too!). But on our trip back to Seattle, we made a point of enjoying as much American food as we could. I wanted to show our kids some of America's food "culture", too. Here are some pictures of our endeavors.



Enjoying Grandma's turkey dinner


Adobo at a friend's shop in the Pike Place Market


My brother and his baby back ribs


Pagliacci Pizza and Mac 'n Jack's Ale (There is a God!)


Cousins eating Mom's super spaghetti


DONUTS! (Cupcakes were getting popular, too.)


Kenny finally getting Fish 'N Chips


Grandma helping Misaki with her Fatburger


Greasy breakfast at a Greasy Spoon


Andy eating a bagel in Granville Island


里帰りの楽しみ:地元で観光 Being a Tourist in your own Home Town

2010.03.26: その他 Miscellaneous

With Mari on Queen Anne Hill overlooking Seattle's Space Needle

里帰りの楽しみの1つは普段に出来ない観光が出来る。今回はシアトルの代表の塔:スペースニードルを眺める公園からの景色を見たり、ダウンタウンの元中心地のアンダーグラウンドツアーやフリーモントのトロールなど、思い切り「観光」しました。

時々、自分の地元を観光するのは大事だな。

One of the fun things about going back to Seattle is it's a chance to do the touristy stuff that you never get to do when living there. On this trip, we went on the venerable (?) Underground Tour (picked up some tips for my own Obasute Night View tour!), saw the Space Needle, and climbed the Fremont Troll.

It's important to be a tourist in your own home town sometimes.



Kenny and the Fremont Troll


Skylights for Seattle's Underground


Drinking Fountain at the Pioneer Square Pergola


Andy / Kenny / Shoma totem pole


at the Market


シアトルでの最初の日 新鮮さたっぷり Our First Day in Seattle -- So Many Changes

2010.03.25: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

Seattle's new light rail

シアトルへの里帰りの最初の日。2年ぶりです。その間、色々と変わりました。まずは、シアトルの空港からダウンタウンまで、電車が出来た。シアトルでは、まだまだ「無駄だ」と文句を言う人がいます。その人に日本へ行ってみてもらいたい。電車がどれだけ便利になれるか、見てもらいたい。アメリカは本当に車の社会だ。

電車から降りて、親と一緒に私が卒業したワシントン大学に行った。目的は桜。満開で綺麗でした。うちの母親は始めてみた。自分の学生のころ、冬学期の最後の試験が終わって、精神的に疲れているときに、外へ行って桜を見て、よくほっとしました。今日はこの美しさはお母さんとうちの子供たちと一緒に見れて、嬉しかった。

その日のもう一つの新しくなったことは親の住んでいる町、Mukilteoの海岸に新しい後援ができて、最新の遊具があった。うちの子供といっぱい遊べた。

久しぶりのシアトル。

嬉しい!

It's our first day back in Seattle -- our first time back here in 2 years. There have been lots of changes in these 2 years. One of the biggest was being able to take the train from Seattle's airport to Downtown, on the recently finished light rail train. There are still people in Seattle that think light rail is a waste of money. I'd like those people to come to Japan, and see how convenient trains can be. America relies too much on cars. It's great to see Seattle has started improving its public transportation with this new train!

After riding the train, we went with my folks to the University of Washington, my alma mater. Our goal: to see the cherry blossoms. It was the first time for my mom to see them, so I was delighted to be able to share them with her and our kids. I have fond memories of shaking off the post-finals depression of winter quarter by enjoying the beautiful blossoms at the U-Dub's Quad.

One more new experience on our first day was going to the town where my folks live now, Mukilteo, and seeing their new park down on the beach. It was my first time to see the new generation of playing equipment. The kids and I had a blast.

It's great to be back in Seattle!



U-Dub Cherry Blossoms and Kenny


Ahh, the memories...


Newest playground equipment


Mukilteo's ferry and lighthouse -- and Andy


シアトルへの里帰り On Vacation to the States

2010.03.24: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

Andy, Kenny and Misaki, getting ready to depart Narita

Hello Everyone! Our family will be travelling to Seattle for about 10 days, so I won't be able to update the blog as frequently as normal. But we are collecting quite a few tales to tell and am looking forward to sharing them here, so keep tuned!

From Tyler in Seattle.

シアトルにいるタイラーから。

皆様!我が家族は10日間ぐらい、私の地元のシアトルに帰っています。ブログの更新が異常になりますが、色んな話は集めていますのでここで今度、提供します。宜しくお願いします!





お猿の温泉 写真800枚 800 Pictures of the Snow Monkeys

2010.03.23: その他 Miscellaneous

ノルウィーからの滞在のお客さんが志賀高原の手前の地獄谷野猿公苑に日帰りで行ってきました。マリアスさんはごついカメラを持っていたので、「写真は何百枚を撮りましたか」と冗談で言ったら、「800枚」と言われました!ここでそのベストの何枚かを提供します。

マリアスさんのこの8週間(!)の日本の旅のブログは下記です。北欧の目で見た日本。

We have a guest from Norway staying here at Kamesei Ryokan for the better part of a week. Marius-san made a day trip to Jigokudani to see the snow monkeys. Seeing his huge camera, I jokingly asked how many hundreds of pictures he took. His reply: 800! He shared some of his best with us for our blog.

To see more about Marius and his 8 week (!) trip here in Japan, check out his blog:

Marius Risting Andersen マリアス・リスチング・アンドソン
2samurais.blogspot.com







まさかな姨捨夜景 A Whodathunkit Obasute Night View

2010.03.22: その他 Miscellaneous

Night View? What night view?

夕べの姨捨夜景が最悪でした。昨日の天気は一日変でした。前日は暖かい23℃でした。昨日の朝は起きたら、今まで見た中の一番ひどい黄砂で、周辺の山が見れなかった。お昼は風がすごくて、そして温度が急に下がった。夜にお客さんを連れて姨捨夜景・伝説ツアーに行こうとしたら雪が降っていました。(前日は23℃だったから、まさか雪が降ると思わなかった!)姨捨駅に着いたら、雪で真っ白でした。夜景は何も見えなくて、最悪でした。
まあ、伝説の話で勝負しましたのでお客さんは楽しんでくれましたが、またいつかは行きなおさんとあかんですね。まさかな夜景ツアーでした。

The night view from Obasute last night was the worst. All day long the weather had been so weird. The day before was an unseasonably warm 23 deg C clear day, but we woke up to the worst "yellow sand" (dust blowing over from the Gobi Desert) that I had ever seen. Then we had strong winds in the afternoon, followed by a dramatic drop in temperature. At night, when we took the guests to go see the night view from Obasute Station, it even started to snow. (Mind you, the previous day had been 23 deg C -- we certainly didn't expect snow!) Then when we got to the station, it was totally covered in snow, and we couldn't see any of the lights of the valley down below. The worst night view tour ever!
Well, I entertained our guests with stories of local legends, so I think they enjoyed the tour anyways, But we'll have to have them come again to see what the night view usually looks like!



Snow in late March? This is what we woke up to this morning.