Getting my “life in Japan” blog back up and running has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Figured my birthday was as good a day as any to check it off my list – especially since my wife, daughter and I have been having some fun today – and took pictures.

Thought I’d start by sharing a bit about my day – celebrating not only my 35th birthday, but the start of my 7th year in Japan.

Morning:

Yuko was kind enough to make me a batch of her powdered coconut tofu donut holes for breakfast. Don’t laugh – they’re awesome.

After chugging down some coffee, I also bagged some of my beans for customers and brewed an extra pot. (I home roast and blend organic coffee and even sell and trade a bit of it with friends and neighbors.)

Then we took a ride to nearby Otowamori park where Yuko’s friends were meeting.

It’s cherry blossom season in Japan now, and this week, the blossoms are in full bloom – so everyone has been coming out to enjoy them. We visited our friends at the park for a few minutes and dropped off donuts and coffee for everyone. One of our friends gave me a potted red tulip for a birthday gift.

Usually we’d hang – but we decided to spend some family time together today by ourselves, so we split after a few minutes.

Above: Otowamori Park, Yuko and Her Friends Chilling, H-10 Climbing Cherry Trees

Mid-day:

I wanted pizza for my birthday. Unfortunately, the nearest pizza parlor that makes anything near decent pizza is an hour away by train.

Luckily, we had canned tomatoes, oregano, shredded cheese, ground pork and bread at home so, I made us pizza toast for lunch!

After lunch, we took a walk around the village, over to the library and past our town shrine:

Afternoon:

A couple of old friends posted birthday suggestions on facebook for me today. Both involved Japanese rice wine – sake. So next, we hopped in the car and drove to Ohara, the next town down the coast, to the local sake brewery – KidoIzumi Brewery.

My neighbor, Mr. Sugiyama works there. When we showed up and announced I was there to buy a big bottle of local sake for my birthday, he took us inside the brewery to sample some freshly brewed sake,
then sample a 20 year old sake…
then sample a 30 year old sake…

By the time we left, 20 minutes later, I was already feeling it.

As you can see from the brewery pictures above, I now have a very large bottle of fun to celebrate the rest of my birthday with!

After coming home from the brewery, I set up this blog and made this post.

It’s 5pm now – and I have to get the BBQ pit in front of our house going. I’m cooking myself a steak for my birthday dinner – a rare treat here in Japan – and chicken for the girls. (They’re not big fans of red meat.)

Post a howdy in the comments if you read this. Maybe I’ll be motivated to post more.

James in Chiba

8:40 PM Update

Took a while to get the charcoal going in the BBQ pit, but once she was hot, I tossed on a big Australian steak (can’t get USA beef around here at all), and a piece of chicken.

Yuko cooked up some seasoned potatoes and made a sweet potato salad with carrots and snow peas. Heck of a birthday dinner.

Wrapped up the evening with a hand rolled cigar from Nicaragua. (Friend of mine recently “bombed” me with a fresh box of them – Oliva Serie V Liga Especial for any aficionados out there.)

Took an hour and a half to smoke the thing – delightful.

Girls wrapped up their day meanwhile with the traditional evening ofulo (bath). I followed suit afterwards.

Read H-10′s favorite new book to her at bedtime (Pa Lia Vang’s First Day) and tucked her in for the night.

Next, time to crack open that giant bottle of sake with the wife and watch a movie or two. We watched Tropic Thunder last night – but wifey fell asleep half-way through. Will probably have to run it again. Fine by me – found it amusing enough first time around. Doubt I missed any subtleties though…

Also have Desperado and Once Upon A Time in Mexico waiting in the wings (unfortunately El Mariachi wasn’t available – 2 out of 3 ain’t bad considering I found these at our DVD rental in rural Japan though).

Should go good with the rice wine!

And my favorite birthday gift of the day?

Volumes 1 and 2 of Bakabon – an old and very absurdist Japanese manga (comic) in English!