World-wide Adventures of Bluey

Hi Aya:

After spending several weeks in Japan I finally returned to the U.S. with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Cubby.  Last week we all visited Cayla, David and Aveny in New Orleans.  One of the highlights of our visit was the crawfish boil that David and his father (Felix) hosted.  The crawfish in New Orleans are huge!  Much bigger than the ones you can find in West Virginia.  They were almost as big as I was.  One of them pinched my hand and also my ear!!!  Aveny is growing up very fast… she is now smiling, laughing, sitting up and almost begining to crawl.  I really had a lot of fun being with Aveny.

Hello Aya,

genki?

The cherry blossoms are blooming so beautiful.  Japanese people love cherry blossoms (called sakura in Japanese).

People go on picnic to see sakura. It is called “ohanami” in Japan. Mayuko took me to ohanami with her friends, but unfortunately it started raining at the begining…….. we had to go home.

Schools start in April in Japan. So sakura make people feel starting a new year. Very fresh feeling!

Have you seen sakura before?

I think you can see a bunch of sakura if you go to Washington DC, can’t you?

Love,

Bluey

Hi Aya,

I saw your Google Art at the Bon Air Elementary web site.  Congratulations for being selected as the 2nd grade representative!!!!  Great Job!!!  I loved your art work!

Love, Bluey

Hello Aya-chan:

Mayuko again went to another friend’s wedding. All her friends seem to be getting married now.

The bride and Mayuko has been good friends for 23 years, which means they met when they were 3 years old!

The bride was so beautiful in the white dress.

Mayuko and another friend, who also has been a friend of hers since they were three, made a speech. They were so nervous!

Mayuko wore “Furisode”(specific kind of Kimono). Japanese girl wear kimono when they celebrate “Coming-Of-Age”.

Mayuko asked me “What do you do when you turn 20 years old in your country? Is 20 years old not special for you? If so, what age is special for American kids?”

Love, Bluey

Aya chan-

Mayuko took me to her hometown in Nagoya. Did you know your cousin Cayla used to stay in Nagoya for a while?

I’m in the Mayuko’s parents’ garden. This is the typical Japanese style garden.

Can you find me?

Love Bluey

Hellooooo Aya!

It’s getting warmer and warmer here in central Japan.  Mayuko took me to “Mikawa-bay trip”.

What color of flowers do you like? Do you like field mastards?  We went to field mastard festival in Irago-cape. See how beautiful it is!

We had a row oyster, fried oysters, and cram miso soup for lunch.  Look! How big the row oyster is!! It was big enough to fit my half-body in the shell, I guess.

The miso soup was amazing, too. There were almost 20 pieces of clam in the soup. Do you eat miso soup? What kind of filling do you like for miso soup?

The hotel was located on the top of the hill. The view from it was so beautiful.  Especially the view from the “roten-buro”(open-air spa) was amazing.  We turned off all the lights, so that we could see the stars and the town lights clearly.

Do you like taking ofuro (bath)? You should experience the open-air bath! I promise it makes you feel super! After the bath, Mayuko and her friends wore “yukata”(cotton kimono). Japanese girls usually wear ukata for summer festivals. Isn’t it cute? I want to see you in yukata someday!

The next day, we went to Takeshima Island. It is very very small island. Mayuko and her friends were so lively after taking nice bath the night before. We had lunch at seaside Italian restaurant. Everything was so delicious. For desert, they served cute cappuccino. A bear in cappuccino!!

Ah! Mayuko has eaten a lot of delicious foods recently, hasn’t she?  Tell her not to eat too much or she gains a lot of weight!

Love Bluey!

Hello Aya-chan,

Do you ski or snowboard? We went to Rusutsu in Hokkaido to ski and snowboard. The snow in Hokkaido is famous for its quality. It’s soft and light.  So it wouldn’t hurt you even if you fall.

We stayed at cottage. It’s located along the slope.  What a nice location! We dind’t have to walk with heavy skis. The veiw from the top of the mountain was so beautiful.

Love, Bluey

Aya-chan!

Today I was introduced to the delicious foods of Hokkaido.  Hokkaido is famous for its delicious foods.  Crabs, salmon caviar, potatos, and corn are especially famous.

Mayuko had urchin and salmon caviar rice bowl.  It was a very luxurious breakfast. Do you want to try urchin?  Most kids in Japan don’t like it, but kids like salmon caviar. 

As of recent curry soup is very popular as Hokkaido food.  Chicken leg and vegetables(pumpkins, carrots, and potatos) are in the curry soup. Curry soup makes me so hot. This is why curry soup is popular in cold Hokkaido.

Love, Bluey

Konichiwa Aya-chan!

Is your place still cold? It’s getting warmer here in central Japan.

I went to Hokkaido with Mayuko and her friends. Hokkaido is the popular sightseeing place, northernmost part of Japan. Why did Mayuko and I go to Hokkaido? To go to Mayuko’s friend’s wedding ceremoney.

The wedding was so wonderful. It was snowing outside of the glass-enclosed hall. The Japanese-style garden was all coverd with the snow.

Bride wore white dress and red dress. Both were so beautiful. The groom, Mayuko’s friend, looked sooo happy and it made me happy too!

Do you have dreams of your wedding?

 Love Bluey

Konnichiwa  Aya-chan.

Do you like the sea? Riding a boat?

I went to Saku-shima (Saku Islans), which is located off the coast of Aichi Prefecture, with Mayuko and her yatch clew by yatch.

You know, Japanese love seafood.  They look gross to some people in US, don’t they?

We had boiled octpus, row oyster, grilled oyster, clam, and some sashimi(row fish) for lunch.   I think I prefer eating carrots more than anything else!

Everything was fresh and delicious.

What kind of seafood do you like? Have you tried an octpus?

After the lunch, we went cycling.

There are the “nap house” on the coast side. It has 9 spaces in which you can lie about. The view from it was awesome.

Though it was chilly day, crusing was so fun. Mayuko promised me to have me ride Bengal7 next time, the yatch team Mayuko belongs to. Mayuko told me Bengal7 is much bigger than the yatch that I board today. I’m so excited!

Love,

Bluey