Bolton @ the UN?

The debate in the American Senate about the nomination of John Bolton as Ambassador to the UN is not over yet... The final vote on his appointment is now delayed for three weeks.
Check Steven Clemons at The Washington Note, where he provides very up-to-date information on the proceedings.

もんじゃ焼き (read: monjayaki); a Tokyo specialty - Hilde, we'll be eating this in June! - p.s. it isn't nearly as horrible as it looks in the unfinished state that the photo shows!

And a last one.... view of Tokyo across the Harbour Bridge; my city for another three months!

It's been a while....

... so I won't bother you all with comments on the political situation in Japan - a few things going on though, but I really can't be bothered to start on the China/Korea vs Japan apology/textbook issue, so you're in luck!

So, what have I been up to?
I've uploaded a few pics from the last few weeks to give an idea. The day in Kamakura ages ago has remained one of the few tourist events I've done here. Although I have some places to check out sometime soon, like the John Lennon Museum! It's supposedly quite fun :) Oh, and I did almost go to the China Food Museum in Yokohama , which I mentioned a while back. But, after wandering around Yokohama all day all we wanted was some good food. So, we didn't really feel like paying extra to see kitschy shows while being in the middle of some excellent Chinese restaurants anyway! Maybe on the next Hama-gourmet trip...
This weekend was spent doing the traditional hanami. The cherry blossoms/sakura were finally out all of last week, so the parks were PACKED with silly Japanese people. Saturday was Yoyogi-park, and Sunday was Yanaka Cemetery. Imagine, a couple of weird gaijin in the middle of a graveyard.... With tons of Japanese of course. Quite a strange sight! We managed to get a spot next to a group who had brought along guitars so we even had live music. And, we almost had pizza delivered! Sometimes the Japanese do come up with smart ideas. A PizzaHut guy was handing out flyers to whoever wanted to order pizza's with him. "Two large pizza's please; we're the group underneath the sakura tree on the right hand side next to Mr. Suzuki's gravestone". Hihi. Have a look here, for some reflections about what hanami (i.e. drinking lots of sake and eating lots under the pretense of enjoying nature!) means to the Japanese people. I especially love the comments about how hanami is the essence of Japanese culture and represents the Japanese soul. I wonder what the Dutch equivalent of this would be... What event or activity represents 'our' soul?
In any case, pictures of sakura coming up soon! After I fix my phone that is. I finally went out to get a memory card and related digi-stuff to be able to upload my photo's but that idea has back-fired. :S Need to get it fixed asap, but at least I'm still connected to the matrix as I can still call and email. :)

Another big thing in the last few weeks was the wedding of Aki and Kinya. An amazing day, but I need a bit more time to write that up properly!

Praying for unborn babies, and giving your very own touch to your individual Jizo-statue!

A touristy day in Kamakura: the Daibutsu.

The view from my office (well, pretty much anyway...): the marvelously ugly Tokyo Tower.

St. Mary's Cathedral in Bunkyo-ku; I'm not much of a church-person, but this place is incredibly impressive!

My Wednesday night entertainment: Uchikoshi Taiko in Nakano!