Swimming Pool on the Top of a Building

Sweltering summer weather continues for recent days in my city.

Despite the hot humid weather, citizens enjoy current summer days by their own way.
There is a swimming pool on the top of a building. That can be seen from my home living room.
Boys and girls definitely seem to be enjoying their moment of the summer.

In my case, I play tennis as usual even in the glare of the sun .

Modern Art Exhibition

My wife and I went to Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts to see a modern art exhibition by Tamura Satoru.

All exhibits were moving. Some were going forward and backward, some were rotating and the others were moving up and down.

The exhibits were quite strange for all generations; many kids were visiting there.

The Exhibit Represents Chinese Character 'LOVE.' 

Miya-Matsuri Summer Festival Has Come

The biggest summer festival in my town is Miya-Matsuri that was held on the first weekend in August.

All traffic was shut out from the main street of  the downtown and hundreds of people were dancing, singing, carrying portable shrines and playing festive music.

There is a jinx that they would have evening thunder storm during the two-day festival.

But this year, the jinx was broken and all participants seemed to be enjoying every moment of the festival.

It Has Been Very Hot These Days

It's been very hot these days in Japan.

The best dessert on the day like today can be anything very cold.

My wife and I had a bowl of shaved ice with sweet bean paste, rice cakes and sweetened green tea syrup at a Japanese-style confection store called Okano.

First Summer Festival in My Town is Held

The first summer festival in my town is called miyaichi-sai.
The festival was held in the time between rainy season and hot summer season expressing people's joy of coming summer.

I happened to take some pictures of the very final scene of the festival.
They thanked the success of the festival and prayed their future happiness by clapping hands together.　
This 'clapping hands' is a common way of closing a festival in Japan.

Cafe Visconti

My wife and I went to a Italian cafe on our way back from Utsunomiya Museum of Art.

We had a pasta lunch and a sweets combo.

Espresso coffee was perfectly matched with their Italian dishes.

I drunk three cups of espresso at the cafe.

Green Tea and Japanese Sweets

Right :rice cake covered with bean paste and toasted soybean flour

Right :rice cake covered with bean paste and ground black sesame

Ichijyu-Issai is the name of a cafe, to which we went the other day.

They served delicious Japanese sweets and green tea.

Not only were the taste good, but the contrast of the color and  pattern of cups, dishes and covers of forks between the two plates were beautiful.

It's sometimes hard to find this type of top-notch Japanese cafe in my town.

Canadian Friend, Michel Comes Home

Michel once lived in Utsunomiya for about two years as an English teacher in 2006.

We used to drink beer with other friends at a nearby Irish Pub.

He and his Japanese wife have gone back to Canada, but visit Japan every two years since then.

It was the year 2012 when he and his family visited my home last time.

I remembered many fun moments at that time and the year 2006 to 2007 we spent.

I want to go to Canada someday and visit his home town.

I Go to Marc Chagall Paintings Exhibition

'Les Amoureux en bleu' is the name of the painting

Sculpted by an Italian Artist, Sandro Chia

I went to Utsunomiya Museum of Art to see Marc Chagall paintings' exhibition with my wife the other day.

It was a rainy weekday morning, so it's not crowded inside as I expected.

We were able to spend a quite couple of hours watching awesome paintings there.

The Day Has Come in the Tennis Tournament

Takeru is sixteen years old now. He is far far larger than nine years ago.

Takeru on the right was seven years old.

I was defeated in a prefectural tennis tournament one week ago.

The opponent was a little bit different from usual at that time.

He was the son of my former tennis coach.

I remember that I told him nine years ago,
'You'll be able to become a very strong tennis player. '
'I'm sure you'll beat me at a tennis tournament in the future.'

The day had eventually come to us one week ago.

Poppy Flower Fields Near Tennis Courts Are Full-Bloomed

I got up a bit earlier than usual before heading to tennis courts to take photos of poppy flowers.

Since poppies are full-bloomed  these days, seeing flowers are sometimes more fun than playing tennis. lol

I Drink Beer at Japanese Pub Shusse-kaidou

I went to a Japanese pub called 'Shusse-Kaido' to drink beer and eat sea food with my wife.
It's good to drink beer on such a hot day as temperature goes above 30 degrees centigrade.

a bowl of rice covered with sliced tuna, scallop, salmon caviar and cucumber

a bowl of rice covered with sliced tuna, grated Japanese yam and green horseradish paste

A New Bike Has Come

I go to and come back from my office by bike everyday, yes, everyday even it's sunny, rainy, windy or snowy.

The bike I used to ride ran pretty long distance; I guess it ran more than 15,000 km.

So I decided to buy a new one.

The new white bike came to me the other day; I bought it on the web.

It runs very good and I'm very happy to ride it everyday now.

Restaurant of Steam-Baked Dumplings Is on Fire

More than ten firetrucks arrived nearby streets and firefighters battled against the blaze.

No one was reported injured by the fire.
But,  the site is still off limit and police are investigating the cause of the fire.

I Go to a Cafe 'Tough Door' for Dinner

I went to a cafe 'Tough Door' with my wife the other day in the evening.

We ordered minestrone soup, egg soup, sweet-and-sour pork, salad and rice with sesame.

Every dish was delicious and the atmosphere in the cafe was perfect.

My Two Daughters Love Foods

Elder Daughter Emi at a Meat Festival                         Younger Daughter Rina at a Noodle Shop

I haven't thought that my two daughters look similar.
But recently, when I visit their web sites, I found that they have similar smiles before foods.
Don't you think so?

In the Middle of Golden Week

I don't know the name of this white flower.

It's in the middle of Golden Week now.

Golden Week is the period from April 29th to May 6th when there are four national holidays in Japan.

I haven't gone on a trip this year's Golden Week.

When I went to tennis courts by car, I caught a glimpse of milk vetch flower fields yesterday.

I stopped my car and took some snap shots.

a milk vetch flower field

After coming back home, my wife and I went out for lunch.

'Asian Bistro Gift 239' is the name of a cafe which opened in front of my home several weeks ago.

It was our first visit there yesterday. 

Foods were nice and the owner of the shop was very friendly; we enjoyed talking about foods.

Golden Week national holidays are followings.
　
　Day of Showa; anniversary of the late Emperor Showa,
　Constitution Memorial Day,
　Greenery Day,
　and Children's Day