Finally... a February update. I apologize for not updating this month. Seems like time is going by so quickly. We have been preparing for our first prototype build at work. We had business trip members here for two weeks. The whole family has been sick - including me - which has kept us somewhat house-bound.



Early in the month, Honda had a work sponsored event - strawberry picking. Interestingly enough, strawberries come into season in February in Japan. They are grown in greenhouses. A lot of the local fruits and vegetables are seasonal. You can usually get them year-round, but they are expensive out of season. Strawberries have been cheap for the last few weeks.

I thought the poster read that it would be 500 yen per person (maybe $25 total), but after I signed up, I was told that I have to pay double since I am not part of the union. So it was a little more expensive than I expected, but we had fun.





Opening ceremonies... well one of them at least. We had planned on arriving early, but I slept late.







When you signed in, you were assigned a greenhouse to go to. Our number was in the 90's so they had a LOT of greenhouses. This is obviously a picture from inside the greenhouse.






I don't remember seeing this before, but many of the strawberries end up growing together making one big berry.








Savannah and Denny amongst the berries.

















Elin showing off her berry picking skills.













Denny with the biggest strawberry ever. He picked it and then of course refused to eat it. I think Elin had to cover for him.













Savannah and Denny again in the greenhouse.









Denny with his big strawberry.













These pots were hanging inside the greenhouse. I asked several Japanese people what these were, but they were about as confused by them as I was so I let it go. I never did find out what they were for. I was thinking they were for bugs, but it was so cold that the bugs didn't seem to be out yet.










After you ate as many strawberries that you wanted, they fed us soup and mochi. Mochi is pounded rice and is typically sweet. The texture is a little difficult - it is kind of chewy - and none of us are fond of the texture. These were the kitchen workers serving everyone. I thought the bandannas were funny looking so I took their picture.




Savannah eating her soup.

In February, we had good snow twice. It started snowing one morning and every time I looked out the window at work, it was coming down hard. It snowed through the night and we still only ended up with 2 or 3 inches. It seems like it doesn't get cold enough for the snow to stick around long. This snowman only lasted a day or so and he melted away.

On the second snow, the kids made more snowmen. We forgot to get their pictures so Savannah and I went out at night an got a few. You can see that they barely made it through the day before they started melting away. This is Savannah trying to salvage her snowman.

This is Denny's snowman.

Savannah posing with her snowman.

Savannah again striking a pose as we made our way back to the house. You can see that the streets are clear. They don't have snow removal equipment so they just let it melt away.

This was the little bit of snow that was left in our yard.

Elin heard that these little fish are a good source of calcium so she bought them to add to our rice. I think we ended up eating about 25% of the package. I think the decision was made to stick to milk instead of little fish.

Similar to what happened with Savannah, Denny got on his bike one day and pedaled off... no help needed. If you are a follower, you probably saw him opening his scooter at Christmas. I think the scooter helped him learn balance so the bicycle was a logical next step.

Denny posing with his bicycle. It was a hand-me-down from one of the members who returned to Canada. We are planning on getting him a new one for his birthday.

Valentine's day is a time when girls give chocolates to boys. Japan has White Day on March 14th when boys give gifts to girls. This is Denny with his Valentine's present. I received chocolate and chocolate beer. I haven't tried the beer yet, but I will soon.

Savannah showing off some of the chocolates we received from friends.

Ladies' night out was at the German restaurant in Utsunomiya. I haven't been there yet, but many of the people who live in town go there and they say it is pretty good.

Yep... Elin had a few drinks... It doesn't take much...

Elin invited her friend Mitani san to the party. Mitani san actually had the second portion of an English test the next day so they couldn't stay out too late.

I meant to take a picture of our Pizza Hut pizza but I forgot and it didn't take long to make it disappear. This was the first time we had Pizza hut since we have been here.

A medium pizza is 2000 yen - $25. They had coupons for 1500 yen mediums so we bought two for about $35. The kids knocked out a whole pizza themselves. It was soooo good. We typically don't get Pizza Hut at home due to the grease, but I am thinking the floodgates have been opened.





Denny riding his bicycle.





I explained February 3rd holiday in a previous blog. Basically, someone dresses up as an evil spirit (Oni) and everyone throws dried soy beans at it. We had beans everywhere...





Denny using the mask he made at school.





Elin as the Oni.




The kids strawberry picking.




Mochi making. The man rotating the rice about had his hand taken off by one of the kids. He was resting it on the side of the bowl before they started and the child just about whacked him with the hammer.




Swing and a miss...