GO Shopping

I've taken up playing Go as a hobby over that last few months. After all that time, we still don't have a home set to play with. I've always been fascinated with the big thick go boards and the traditional slate and shell stones since I saw a set in the Japan exhibit in the 1974 World's Fair. I figured that since we're living in Japan, this was the opportunity to find such a thing. I've been researching on line and found that the truly traditional go board like I'd seen in the World's fair can cost on the order of $15,000 or more. Mainly because it is made from a huge block of a rare old growth tree called Kaya. They do make cheaper versions out of more easily harvested (and renewable) trees that look and act almost identical to Kaya such as Katsura or Shin-Kaya (which is actually spruce). I'd found a set on line that was 120,000 Yen ($1,100). I hadn't seen one in person yet, so I figured I needed to go look at some of these sets in person to see what they look and feel like before paying that kind of money.

I'd looked around in bazaars and furniture stores, but I never saw Go stuff. I eventually asked one of my Go teachers, Mori-san, who lives up in Tokyo about where to go look at Go equipment. He was very generous and offered to meet me outside the Tokyo station and we'd go look at a few places. So, yesterday I headed out to Tokyo on this adventure.

I actually met up with him without too much problem. He'd sent me a map in Japanese which was some help, but I ended up talking with a guard in one of the buildings in the area and asked him where the building was that I was looking for on the map. He spoke no English, but with my very basic Japanese and a bit of showing and pointing, we figured out that I was just one building over. That was good. It was truly possible that I was on the wrong side of the Tokyo train station which is probably close to a kilometer wide.

We headed down into the Tokyo subways headed for a Go shop that had been in business since 1866. We were going from the Tokyo station to Edogawabashi. Can you find it on the map? Can you figure out how to get there? I'm not sure how we did it, I just followed Mori-san and even he stopped to ask directions a couple times. We talked about the web site that I'd looked at with the set for 120,000 yen. He said that it was most likely from China and one issue is the shipping which might add another $300 to the price.

We eventually found the shop which was a block and a half from the Edogawabashi subway station. It was a very nice little shop with some fascinating Go gear. We looked through the Go boards in the display. If you look behind me in the picture, you'll see most are 300,000 yen ($2800) or higher. There is even one that is 740,000 ($7000). In the case in front of me, there was one that was 1,330,000 yen (around $12,000). It was pretty nice. I really didn't think I'd see anything at my price in this little, high class, store. But Mori-san showed them the page from the web site, told them what I was looking for, and they went to the back of the shop and brought out a big 17.5 cm thick Shin-Kaya board like I'd been looking at on line. They pulled out some slate and shell stones and some really nice bowls and they said that they would compete with the on-line price and even throw in free delivery (I was wondering how you'd carry a 60lb block of wood on the subway...). I was shocked. I was unprepared. I was just going to look at stuff, I wasn't prepared to buy anything. It was a great deal, though, so I agreed.

It was a good enough deal that they didn't want to do a credit card and most Japanese deals are made in cash anyway. They asked about personal money transfers and cash withdrawals, but I wasn't set up to do any of that. We eventually agreed that I'd come back with the cash on Monday or Tuesday. The bowls that were the right size were on back order, so it was going to be a week or more before they could deliver it.

So, in the next day or so, I get to navigate through the subways of Tokyo by myself, find the store, give them the money, and hopefully arrange a day and time for delivery. They don't speak much English and my Japanese is very limited, so it is easier to figure that out with a calendar that you are both looking at rather than over the phone.

We'll see how that goes.

Warning

We were awakened at 3:30 in the morning by the public address system. It kept saying stuff in Japanese. As I dragged myself towards the computer to check what might be going on, the last message was in English. There is a flood warning in Yokohama due to all the rain.

Every day, at 5 p.m., there is a lovely tune that the public address system uses to check itself out. At home, the worker/driver bus from the shipyard was my 5 o'clock bell.

It's nice to know it works, and in English, too! The Japanese here are very hospitable and work on being friendly. Either that, or the neighbors who happen to speak some English are tired of being woken in the middle of the night by distraught Americans wondering what the heck is going on. :)

We are having quite the lightning show, but no thunder, yet. I am rapidly typing, thinking I'd better shut down the computer, just in case.

I was told by my Japanese teacher that 'rainy season' ends when the thunder and lightning season begins. The light, rainy days give way to downpours.

So far, the last bit of August has been nice.

Boom... there's some thunder! Wow!

There's no flooding here, yet. We'll hunker down and put on our raincoats!

Fair Cousins

We have the wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of time on Uncle Arnold and Aunt Diane's farm. William likes his 'chores.' He collects the eggs (haunts the hens) and helps pick blueberries, raspberries, and green beans. He loves his jobs. His favorite is going with Aunt Diane to milk her cow.

He's been loving the cousins to hang out with. Anna has been exceptionally nice to him. Evan and James are the big guys, and William feels a part of the circle when he gets to hang out with them.

Yesterday, we loaded the cow, pigs, and a pickup full of stuff and headed to the fair. Today, William and I will go visit Alexis, the purebred Jersey cow that Aunt Diane milks.

This morning, Diane took all the eggs in one of the refrigerators to the fair with her to make breakfast for all the 4-H kids. William only got one egg for breakfast. He went around whining, "Who would steal eggs from a 4-year-old?" I guess he feels a particular ownership of the eggs, if he's the one who collected them! Aunt Diane 'fessed up, but claimed she thought there were more in the other fridge.

All Aboard

My mom lives at the Chehalis exit where the steam train is. So, for $3 and a part of an hour, you get to experience a real train ride!

William loves visiting Grandma and especially when we go on the train. My mom endures the event. She is 83 and uses a walker, but the ramps are excellent, and she gets aboard really well.

This year, the distance is shorter, as the big flood last winter took out much of their trestle at one place. They'll be fixing it this year.

Boy Toy

My brother has a fork lift and 2 semi trucks for hay. William was so stoked to help run the fork lift and go help make a delivery in the yellow truck. I have too much video of everything, so instead, we'll just show you the glee on his face as he gets to 'help' Uncle Arnold.

Hangin' with the Cousins

We went and played with Aidan and Thayer. They were AWESOME!!! They let William follow them everywhere. He LOVED being their shadows!

We all went to the zoo and became bugs.

Best of all, their driveway is on a slope, so it is easy to have hot wheel fun!

Crosby Days

William and I went to Crosby Days, a local parade and car show and logger exhibition. William got a ton of candy thrown at him, and when he saw the T said, "My Uncle Noel drives one of those!"



We met up with my friends, Donna and Barb. They are always at the parade, and it was fun to hook up and have a blast with them.

Okay, you may be saying to yourself, "That doesn't sound like that big of deal." And you'd be right. But, it is fun to support all the locals. We even had a band show up this year. They were having a lot of fun, as well.

A Different Kind of Birthday Party

We went to a different kind of birthday party. Mummi Kay (Finnish Grandma) turned 70!

We had to let William know that this wasn't like a kid birthday party where they throw water balloons and get treat bags!

He got to hang out with the neighbor kids who go to a Japanese immersion school in Eugene, so they can speak Japanese. William was really funny about it. He would use some of his Japanese words to impress them. They played along and 'oohed and awwed' over him knowing 'sayonara.'

We got to visit the piano! The piano player was excellent, and I thought it was cool that he played some of the songs that are in Tim's repetoire.

The funnest part for me was meeting some of the characters. Shuug (left) and Anne (third from left) were hilarious. Anne comes from Winlock but left in 1938. My grandparents showed up in the area in 1944 or so. She is also a Washington State College (now WSU) alum, and is a hip and with-it 92. Who else would claim to be having a 'good wig day?'

Cousins

I was looking for my good pictures of the 'cousins playing,' and realized that I'd gotten them on my sister's camera!

My niece, Lauren has the children closest in age to William. My sister got them all together to hang out while I went and 'played' with a friend.

They had a tractor ride, played with rocks, went on a picnic at a local park, trampolined, went swimming, played in the dirt, watched Thomas DVDs, and squabbled. It was fun to see them form family bonds.

I figure since William is an only child, he needs these types of relationships so he has alliances and friends with family later.

William got Odin to run around the circle drive with him. Now, that's good fun for a 4 and 3 year old. My sister got them to pick up rocks and put them in the largest of the driveway's potholes. They did a really good job of filling it up! Then it became clear to me what my sister was up to...

Reunions

William LOVES camping! He was ready to go and belted in and waiting for the rest of us!

Aunt Diane took care of us. We had s'more makings, and good food, and most importantly: good sleeping bags!

Each evening, William was one big dirt ball. He loved playing in the dirt. Not being one to risk the dread disease showers in camping grounds on a regular basis (yes, I'm sure they decontaminate and hose them down, but EWWW!), I used baby wipes to get the sediment layer of filth off of him before putting him in the nice sleeping bag.

Our camp site was the family fire campsite. When I put him down for the night, we were technically 6 feet away, laughing and talking and stoking the flames for heat. He would yell things like, "I need some dark in here!" "Can I get a little peace and quiet, please?" It kept the folks on that side of the fire pretty entertained.