Golden Tokyo

I took this photo from our roof balcony last month, on a Sunday in mid-July. Masashi and I took advantage of a cloudy and not-too-not afternoon to ride our bikes to Shinjuku Gyoen park. On the way back, it rained just a bit, and then when we got home and went out on the roof (which we often do on nice summer evenings, with the cats), the setting sun under the rain clouds made the city glow!

Now, we are into the season of insanely hot weather. Today the high is expected to be 36 degrees (about 96 F); that's bad enough, but at night it sometimes only gets down to 27 or so (81F), so there's no chance to really cool down, except with the air-conditioner, which I hate...

Have you lost weight?

For the longest time, this question was bothering me...I had stayed at more-or-less the same weight for quite a while, and in fact, it was the most I had ever weighed, but whenever I would get my hair cut or get new glasses, people would look at me and say, "Have you lost weight?"

I realized that the real meaning of this question was something like, "Vicky looks a little different. Maybe it's her weight. She's still a little fat, but not as much as I thought."

The funny thing is that recently, I have lost some weight, and almost no one has noticed! (I haven't had my haircut recently, and I am still wearing the same glasses!) I have lost 6 kilograms (15 pounds) since my all-time high last September (at my yearly physical, the doctor for once did NOT say that because I was an American, it was O.K. that I weighed a little more than the average for Japanese women. He simply said "You have gained almost three kilograms since last year. That's not good.")

Anyway, some of the reason for the weight loss is probably the Wii Fit (see last posting), in that I can use it to do a little exercising on days when I otherwise wouldn't (because the gym is closed, or because I have to go to work and it's raining so I can't ride my bike). Another reason is probably because Masashi and I are both eating less, especially at dinner. I've just cut down on the amount I cook, or we just order a little less than usual. We are still full, but not stuffed. (The owner of our favorite Italian restaurant actually noticed this and said something to us the last time we were in there!)

Masashi has starting running, usually three or four times a week, and he has lost quite a bit of weight too. We are both able to fit into clothes we haven't worn for awhile! (But it also means that a few of my favorite articles of clothing,one skirt and one pair of pants, are just too big.) The strange thing is, though, when we got together with his friends a few weeks back, they didn't notice that he has lost weight either. Weird...

Anyway, many of the people in this circle of friends have been running for a few years. One couple is planning to get married in Okinawa this December, and the next day, they and many of the guests will run in the Okinawa Marathon. Masashi is probably going to try it too. But I am not planning to take up running--I don't like the bouncing-up-and-down part. I will just stick to my bicycle, the gym, and taikyokuken (TaiChi), oh, and the Wii Fit aerobic boxing and hulahoops!

Wii Fit!

Back in early April, we bought a Wii game set, together with the Wii Sports and Wii Fit software. I had seen some commercials for Wii Fit, and somehow, it seemed fun, especially the balance games.

Well, I LOVE it! It turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. I like the balance games, but also the yoga, muscle exercises, and especially the aerobics. Before we got it, I was sceptical about the muscles exercises (what can you do
I guess some Wii games have been available in the U.S. for awhwithout weights) andthe aerobics (what can you really do in the living room, with than small board), but it turns out that you can do quite a lot. I still will go to the gym to lift weights, but the Wii is good for days when I don't have time to go to the gym. The balance games can also be a way to relax in-between stints of working at the computer.
I guess some Wii games have been available in the U.S. for awhile, but Wii Fit is just going on sale there now. The New York Times has an article about it.

I'm surprised to find that one of my favorites is the boxing aerobics. Somehow, it is really fun to punch at the screen, and it works up a sweat.I set it at the advanced level, which is a 10 minute workout, but it is so fun that sometimes I take a short break--drink some water, and do a balance game--and tehn come back and do it again. (Note: Wii Fit is set up like many video games--when you first start, you can't try all the activities. You only get to have some of them after you have spent some time with it. You don't get to do the boxing until after you have done some of the other aerobics first.)

Probably the funniest thing is the "zazen". I guess that it is probably called Zen Meditation or something like that in the English version. It's offered as one of the balance games, and I guess it's meant to be more silly than anything else. You sit on the board without moving, looking at the candle on the screen, while your hear noises in the background meant to distract you. If you move, you get whacked! I've tried it a few times, and once I was really distracted, by a friendly cat rubbing up against me to be petted. I had to laugh, and I got whacked!

Anyway, I love Wii Fit, and I am hoping that in a few months or so, there will be a second edition with more exercises and games.

There are lots of Wii Fit videos on YouTube, including this parody. It's not quite doing nothing; "Leaning-side-to-side" and "sticking-out-you-leg" are not at all as easy as this suggests!

The Wii Sports is kinda fun too. It has bowling, baseball, tennis, golf, and boxing. Masashi has used this a lot more than I have, but we recently bought a second control so that we can play against each other. We've just done the bowling so far, but I have teased him about wanting to try boxing!

Typhoon and Earthquake

The news both from Myanmar and China is hard to imagine. But at least in China, we know what is going on, and we can see that the government is doing something.

I always donate money after big earthquakes, in Japan and in other countries. It's a kind of superstition--if I donate the money, the big earthquake won't hit here. And of course, I donate for other reasons...tsunamis, and this time, typhoons. But this is the first time I have made so many donations in such a short time. First, because of the sudden rise in food prices, then for typhoon and earthquake victims.

For international situations, I usually donate through Mercy Corps, because they have partnership with local NGOs in many countries, and they are also rated very highly as a charity for which a relatively low percentage goes to overhead and a high percentage to actual aid.

For donating to disasters within Japan, there is always something set up through the post office (actually, for big international disasters too). Almost no one has checking accounts here, so postal money orders are a common way to send money. They always announce the postal accounts to send money to on the news, both for domestic an international emergencies; I used to try to quickly write them down, but I them discovered that the post office has a list of them. All you have to do is go there and say "I want to send money to X", and they'll show you the list of organizations collecting money.


It's really depressing to have so many natural disasters in such a short time...and the situation in Sudan getting even worse, with a possible war between Sudan and Chad.

Starting again...

I stopped updating this blog for awhile, and when I went back to it, I discovered that the photos had disappeared... (There is an explanation, but not interesting enough to write about here.) So I lost motivation to blog. But then I got an e-mail from a friend I hadn't heard from for awhile, and he mentioned that he had read the blog, so I've decided to start it back up again.

The first thing is writing this message. The next thing will be to put a few pictures back up.

Saipan

Masashi was feeling beach-and-snorkeling withdrawal--we hadn't been in the water since Hawaii in December 2005! So we took a short trip to Saipan--compared to Hawaii, Saipan is closer (3 hours by plane), cheaper (even during Christmas), and there's no jet lag (only one hour time difference). And on top of all that, Christmas isn't the peak time, so we didn't have to plan months and months ahead, like we would for Hawaii.
We stayed just for four nights and three full days (with one day to get there and one to get back). It was wonderful--warm, even hot at times, with beautiful skies, and lots of bright, colorful fish. Since all we wanted to do was to relax in a warm place, it was perfect. And the food was good too, much better than Hawaii, where everything is too sweet. The picture above shows the beach in front of our hotel, Aqua Resort, and in the background you can see the small island where we went for snorkeling. On the left, you can see one of the main scenic spots on Saipan, overlooking Bird Island (which didn't have any nesting birds at this season.) It was also fun for me to be in a Christain country at Christmas time, to hear all the Christmas music on the radio and in the hotel lobby. We'll probably go back some day...

Hisashiburi (It's been a long time...)

I had a busy, busy semester, and so I didn't update my blog for a long time. It's almost the end of 2007, and so I thought I'd better put up at least a bit of news in case anyone ever reads this...

Everything is still fine here in Tokyo. It's the winter break, and I'm suffering with a nasty cold that I picked up while in Saipan (just a clogged head). Masashi and I are settling in for a quiet New Year at home with the cats, who are very happy we're back after 5 days away.
More about the trip in the next posting...