A Run Around Rokko Island

Most people who live on Rokko Island have a love-hate relationship with it.

I love that my kids are safe and can move around pretty independently.  I love that we have used our bikes as our main mode of transportation for the past 7 years. I can get to the grocery store and to work within a 10 minute walk or 5 minute bike ride.

Rokko Island has seen our family grow.  Our babies have grown up here to be little people. At this point,  Rokko Island is home. We are closing a chapter on a big stage of our lives. A stage that wasn't always easy.  Raising two energetic kids as two full-time working parents is no short order, as many of you can attest to.

But, life "on-island" can be boring.  I can't easily get a gift or a new pair of shoes or buy a shirt a few hours before Maximo's concert because I realized he has outgrown everything since the last time he had to dress up. You often run into the same people on island and most days it doesn't feel very Japanese.

There are some decent restaurants on island.  But, we've eaten at all of them and you can only go back to Ritza so many times (their Salty Dogs will continue to draw me in with cool hand-chipped ice and fresh grapefruit juice).

When they were little, the kids were pretty happy just roaming to different playgrounds and hanging out at the River Mall.  While, they still are entertained with this, it's harder to fun tons of fun on island.

But, this post is about The Greenbelt. The greenbelt has been my unlikely oasis for the past 7 years. It often provides me with the only time I have for myself all week.  Sometimes it's only a 5k run once a week.  On a good week, in a good month, I'm lucky to double or triple my kilometers.

It's my sanity, my space, my time to meet with friends or rock out to my running mix and figure things out or just breathe.

I have made some of my best friends through running.  I am a much more consistent runner with a running buddy.  I love that so much can be shared on those runs or nothing at all.  I love that one of us could have the best run in years and the other maybe struggling to put one foot in front of the other, but we are all glad that we did it when we are done with our run and we are ready to start our day.

Today, I got out early for the first time in a long time, on a work day, which doesn't happen that much anymore.  I stopped to take pictures and enjoy my favorite views on my run because I will only run this loop a few more times. I may never run this path again after June 12th.

And I don't ever want to forget what it has given me.

Overgrown path - only scheduled mowings here, regardless of rain or season

Shipping cranes guarding the island

Palm trees!  Living somewhere with palm trees is always good for my soul.

Beautiful view of early morning on the South end of the Island

More Wild Cranes

Early Bird Bathroom Break

Our train stop (facing the opposite way due to the sun).
Usually my last sprint of my run.
Often the starting point to really fun nights out and adventures in Japan.

My cool down walk home

5K Greenbelt Loop on Rokko Island

So, I'll enjoy my last few runs on Rokko Island to keep my sanity and enjoy the beautiful weather over the next few weeks... And hope for a new running oasis in Beijing.

Saturday Night Dance Fever

We just put on a little music, sit back and watch them move.

7-5-3 Ceremony

Shichi-go-san: 7-5-3

This year, we went to the Ikuta Shrine for the 7-5-3 Ceremony.  七五三 is a traditional rite of passage in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys, held annually on November 15 to celebrate the growth and well-being of young children. (Source: Wikipedia).  Read more about the history here.

We tried to do this our second fall here, but 3 year old Maximo would not cooperate.  We even resorted to bribery with lollipops, but he wouldn't even put the kimono on.  It was beautiful with a big dragon on the back... after about 45 minutes of begging, we finally looked at each other and figured the distress was not worth it and left to find a taxi home.  I was 7 1/2 month pregnant with Lola, so it was a fairly easy decision, as I was not really supposed to be moving around tons.

I was scarred by this event, so we stayed away from the ceremony when Maximo was 5, but figured this year would be perfect since Maximo was 7 and Lola was 3 for a few more months.

It was a beautiful fall day.  The kids were great, especially with the amount of sitting around time between the "dressing" and the actual ceremony.

June in Lola's Notes

We're getting ready to fly to Savannah in a few hours.  As always, the end of the year has been crazy.  Here's our June through Lola's notes from her daycare.  Enjoy!

Two Fun Videos

It's that time of year, full of events, meetings, writing comments and trying to get outside because it's beautiful!

We are counting down (4 weeks!) until we fly to SAV.

Here are two videos.

The first one of Lola singing her Onigiri (Japanese rice ball and her favorite lunch) Song.

The second one is the 7 inning stretch at a Hanshin Tigers Baseball game!  So much fun.  Lola was a bit sad about not getting her balloon back, though.

Where are you from?

Maximo is learning about Journeys for his Unit of Inquiry at school.  It has been great, because we have been able to participate in this unit quite a bit.  John went into Maximo's class last week to share with the class his journey to Aomori on the 8th grade ski trip.  They've had a lot of guest speakers who have shared their journeys with them, and they also had a travel agent come in as well.

Next week, they have their final "assessment"/action for the unit.  All the students will be travel agents and I get to be a prospective client.  Where do you think I want to go?  Definitely somewhere warm.

This unit has also opened a lot of discussions lately at our dinner table about journeys and why people take them and we've talked about different places around the world.

Today, Maximo started to scratch off places he's been on the map that Nana sent him.

After scratching off countries he's been to, he said, "Mom, I've been to eight places."

"Eight Countries."

"Yeah, eight countries.  I want to go to all the countries in the world.  I want to go to Antarctica and play with penguins and ski EVERYDAY."

"That sounds like fun, Maximo.  We'll go to a lot of countries together."

"Mom, where's Korea?"

"It's right there, Maximo."

"Yoonseo is from Korea."

"That's cool, Maximo."

"Maximo, where are you from?"

Pause.

"Peru."

"Yes, you were born there, but you aren't Peruvian."

"Are you Japanese?"

"Yes, a little bit."