Have you seen a Noren (store banner) outside of a public bath in Japan? Usually these three letters are 'men', 'hot water', and 'women'. Well, this one is not for the public bath. My hairdresser in Hayama, Mr. Y., made this special Noren for his barber shop (it says 'men', 'hair', and 'women') which sometimes confuses people.
My husband came back to Hayama after a one-week stay in the U.S. (he's kept the Japanese standard time pretty much whole week in Charlottesville). My daughter arrived also (from New York). She will stay here only for 10 days. I want her to enjoy the Japanese summer (hot and humid?) as much as possible.
Have you ever eaten Japanese peaches? They are juicy and sweet and bigger than the American peaches. You will love them!
St. Louis reunion (with Mrs. F. & Mrs. S.) at Shinagawa Aquarium. The dolphin show and the sea lion show were cute but modest if you compare with the Shamu (killer whale) show of Sea World in San Diego. The most impressive display was the aquarium tunnel you can walk through under water.
My husband's former classmate Mrs. T. and I played table tennis together. Oh, what a great player she is! Thank you, Mrs. T., for setting up and teaching me the special techniques!
My daughter turned 26 yesterday. When she was born, we were still living in Japan (we moved to the U.S. when she was 10 months old), my parents were both alive, and I was 26 years younger than I am now! Wow!
We can see Mt. Fuji (3776 m) from our window but I've never climbed Mt. Fuji until today. This morning, for the first time in my life, I was at the Fifth Station (2305 m above sea level -- the paved road ends here) of Mt. Fuji. In fact, the bus took me there so I didn't have to walk. Although we couldn't see the mountain top due to the bad weather, it was an awesome experience. Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. K. (resided in Charlottesville from 1999 to 2001), for giving me this wonderful opportunity!
Dr. I. was a research scientist at UVa from 2002 to 2003. After coming back to Japan, she opened her own clinic near Mt. Fuji (about 60 miles from Tokyo) two years ago. Mrs. K. and I visited this wonderful facility for the first time. It was a beautiful place! Thank you, Dr. I., for sparing your precious time.
My husband needs to be in Charlottesville next Monday for his graduate student's thesis defense, so he left Japan today (if you see him at Harris Teeter, that's why). For one whole week, I will have this beautiful house, great view, and the cool car all by myself. 
Quite a few people throughout Japan expected to observe the 6 minutes 25 seconds "total solar eclipse" (or at least a part of it) today but the weather didn't cooperate for everybody. Here in Hayama there were thick clouds and the sun didn't show up so the eclipse was not observed.
Atami is a famous place for Onsen (hot spring). After the reunion/rehearsal, we spent one more night in Atami to enjoy Onsen. There was a huge steamer which cooks vegetables and eggs just outside of the hotel utilizing the heat of the steam jet from Onsen.
The 5th annual high school orchestra 3-day reunion/rehearsal in Atami was over. Oh, what fun it was to play music one after another for 3 days. On the second day, my mother-in-law (violin) participated also for the first time. She knows almost all the participants from our high-school days and was a huge help in our violin part this time.
A total of 15 people came (some stayed the whole time, some didn't) and we are already talking about what music we want to play at our next year's rehearsal.
Every morning my husband and I walk down to the ocean (or at least try to do so). From our ocean-view residence it takes only 5 min. to go down the hill but of course when we come home, we have to climb up the steep hill so it takes more than 10 min. The tide was low this morning and there was a person who seemed to be collecting some turban shells (they are tasty!) with a huge hydroscope (sorry, the picture is so small).
My mother-in-law, one of her violin students, and I performed at the Tokiwa-cho neighborhood association's meeting today. My mother-in-law played all six pieces (two Kreisler solo pieces, two duets with oboe, and two more duet pieces with her violin student, Mr. K.) plus one encore piece.
My parents-in-law's newest family member, Lulu. She is incredibly adorable.
All these ladies and children have once lived in Charlottesville (not everybody at the same time though). At our annual reunion we talked about the life in Tokyo, nice memories of Charlottesville, difficulties of raising children, and everything else. Thank you, Mrs. N., for organizing another wonderful reunion!
Prof. O. of UVa is spending the summer in Seoul with his family. His wife J. is from Korea and her parents still live there. We decided to visit Seoul to see Prof. O's family (and of course to eat great food).
What a wonderful town Seoul is! It's an exciting mixture of old and new, with beautiful rivers and mountains and of course with lots of delicious food.
Our hotel was located in Insadong (one of the northern districts of central Seoul) where you can find many interesting antiques and handicrafts, and numerous street food vendors that reminded me of old Japanese streets (sort of...).
With only two dollars, you can take a picture in a traditional Korean dress like this (don't laugh...). I made a new pair of glasses because eyeglasses are very cheap in Korea and it took only ten minutes! (No, not the reading glasses but a pair of near-sight eyeglasses.)
Prof. T. of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (that's what's written here) used to be a postdoc in my husband's lab (1997-1998, 1999-2000). Now she is also a mother of a 6 year-old girl. Time flies!
I went to Tokyo Dome for the first time to watch a ball game Yomiuri Giants vs. Yokohama Baystars (with a free ticket!). It was a lot of fun because the game was exciting and the fans were loud. I remember the last time I came to this ball park was in 1971 (38 years ago!) to attend Grand Funk Railroad's concert (the dome was not there yet so we all got soaked to the bone due to heavy rain!).
This summer we have no plan to register our residency in Hayama town (we are living as tourists) so I cannot make the library card. I'm using the library with Ms. M.'s library card pretending that my name is M. Thank you very much, Ms. M., for your kind arrangement! 
It's been raining off and on since we arrived but this morning we could see Mt. Fuji for the first time for a very short period of time (5 min.?) from our window. Beautiful!
My husband's elementary school class reunion. I didn't go to that school but who cares? I had a great time together with his former classmates. Thank you, everybody, for letting me be there!
Our high-school friend cellist A. didn't go to music school nor majored in music, but that doesn't matter! His annual recital was another great success. Thanks for the high-quality performance again, A.! You are very special!
My sister, my cousin and I visited our family graveyard in Tokyo. After cleaning the tombstone, we bowed our heads and prayed. 
Professor O. of UVa Psychology Dept. (his children are in my Japanese school) has published this book last month: Shiawase wo Kagaku suru (a scientific approach to being happy). Reading this book doesn't automatically make you feel happy but you get a lot of tips and hints on how you deal with your happy or unhappy feelings.
Our landlady Mrs. S. is (the nicest landlady we've ever had!) growing vegetables in the backyard. She and her gardening friends gave us beautiful, fresh vegetables which tasted so good!
This summer I am determined to drive in Japan (well, this wonderful house is located on top of a mountain and there is no stores nearby, so driving is a necessity)! Can you imagine driving on the wrong side of the road (I looked for the shift lever on my right many times today...it's on my left side)? I have to be very careful not to scratch this beautiful MINI Cooper Convertible. (Who said the car and the driver don't match?)
Today's ocean from our window. It's cloudy. Isn't it nice to have such a nice view during breakfast (or lunch, or dinner...)?