All Good & げんき

The above title refers to pretty much everything in my life right now....all good. Let's start with the All Blacks - what a great performance to beat the 'Boks. I don't want to jinx them, but things are looking pretty good for the World Cup. When we win the WC, Henry will look like a genius for his call to rest the team earlier this year. Meanwhile, the same (but late) move by SA will backfire as they lose their continuity which was looking ominous. While I'm talking rugby I better mention the other game last weekend between the Junior ABs and Japan. The mumurs through the crowd mentioned a few late nights by the Kiwis leading up to the game and it showed in the first half, but the second half showed the vast gap between Japan rugby and NZ rugby. By the way, the haka was performed after the game when most of the crowd had gone......maybe the boys were too hungover to remember it at the start?
A few weeks ago I went to the Tokyodome to take in a nice little concert...some group who call themselves the Red Spicy Capsicums or something......oh yeah...the Red Hot Chili Peppers!!! Awesome concert and the venue is amazing. I'll try get some pics off Brad and post them. RHCP won't be the last summer concert though, as I'll meet up with Brad and Stan again for Fuji Rock at the end of July. Fuji Rock is Big Day Out x 5! Something like 100,000 people will attend the 3 day festivities at a huge outdoor area. We'll just be staying one night, but will be entertained by the Beastie Boys and much more!
Our Wedding plans are well under way and we are getting very excited. We'll probably be home for about a week either side of the wedding so it will be a very busy 2 weeks doing the final plans and also showing Aki's family a slice of Aotearoa.
Steve and Roshanna arrive in Japan this Sunday, so we're all pretty excited here. Aki and I will also go to Okinawa for a few days....it will be my first time to swim at a nice beach for over 2 years!!!!....so yeah, you could say I'm looking foward to that! After my holidays I'll be working at a new branch in Tsunashima with weekends off. Can't wait to enjoy real weekends for a change!
Finally, we bought a new digi-camera so we can take some decent pictures. You can expect to see plenty in the next couple of months.
じゃまたね！

A few shots from my neighbourhood....the middle one is Minatomirai

JAB's score another!; Who is that Dark Mysterious Boy?; The post game Haka; Boyz 'n da Crowd

Warm-ups; "God Defend New Zealand" (Nobody wants to hug Ma'a...time he lost the makeup!)

Some of the kids I taught at Omori and Yaguchi no watashi.......after one year I got them to say "Hello Brendan"