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Why didn't the whale cross the road? The light was red.
We live in the Ningyocho (doll town) neighborhood of Tokyo,
traditionally known for marionettes. In the past balene was used for
the puppet strings, so the community has installed this whale sculpture
as public art. It's carved from beautiful black granite with a small
amount of water bubbling out its blow hole.
News & Notes
Makiko
Ogawa invited J to the Tokyo/Washington DC Women's Club luncheon at the
elegant Okura Hotel. Members, including the American Ambassador's wife,
have lived in both cities. The ambassador's wife couldn't make it, but
J said the other ladies more than made up for her absence.
Chika, one of J's students, was in town and the ladies spent a delightful day with lunch, shopping and tea.
Julie and Chika at tea
Tokyo is filled with amazing museums! This lovely container was
displayed at the Crafts Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art.
The stick bug and the lid are made of iron. 
At the Tokyo Edo museum J and Makiko saw a special exhibit of ukiyo-e
(Japanese wood cuts) from the Boston Art Museum. Boston Art Museum? Yes. Almost immediately
after Admiral Perry's arrival in Japan (1853), the art buyers came, and
began building Boston's extensive collection. As a result many valuable
old works were out of the country by the time of the Great Kanto
Earthquake and fire, and World War II.
We visited Omiya, a suburb northwest of Tokyo, to see Yo and Sayoko
Ogawa, Tomoko's uncle and aunt. Omiya is a town known for its bonsai
trees. It became the bonsai capital of Japan after the great Kanto
Earthquake and fire in 1923. People who had saved their ancient bonsai
from the disaster decided it was too dangerous to keep them in Tokyo,
and took their trees into the countryside. We visited several sites,
including one that was started the year Admiral Perry came to Japan.
The trees were spectacular, as was the Ogawa's hospitality! 
The Ancient Forests at Omiya
Dan's community service this fall was teaching the Boy Scouts of Dublin GA about geology. He gave a talk on the subject
and then took the boys on an field trip. He had a blast ... we hope the Scouts did, too.
After
three half days spent trekking back and forth to the Chinese Embassy,
we finally have our visas for next week's trip to Beijing.
Dave leaves this week for a month at the Jentel Artists Residency in the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. Lucky for him
he doesn't need a visa for Wyoming (yet).
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