Fireworks at Tokyo Bay…
I have several other posts I know I need to do- like my update for July 101 things in 1001 days which I am pretty sure I have nothing to cross off. Also need to take photos of the apartment and upload them. I took a couple and then stopped because it would involve cleaning up…maybe tomorrow?
We did go to see Tokyo Bay fireworks on Saturday and I already uploaded the photos to computer and flickr so they will have to suffice for now. Since getting the net back I do not seem to have much blogging mojo- I am sure it will return though. At the moment I blame the heat and the amount of downloaded TV I have…Brothers and Sisters and The Cleaner are the shows of choice at the moment.
I only had my little pocket digicam on Saturday since I went straight from work (I have work on Saturday afternoons for August) and already had an extra bag with English teaching stuff (which Shun kindly carried once we met up!). I did not take any photos of “us” though- ie friends that had gathered on the gravel ground to watch the fireworks. We all congregated because Cat`s little brother Andrew was in town from Scotland and this was the only fireworks on the past weekend that were kind of central- his other two weekends in Japan were out of town so it had to be this weekend) It is a shame I got no pictures though because all the girls (except me) were in Yukata and funnily enough in most cases it was their brothers that had done their obi`s while watching youtube video explanations!
Okay I am blabbing on and on- here are a couple of photos.
We can see Disneyland fireworks from our veranda every Saturday and Sunday nights at the moment and other assorted fireworks have been sighted from our balcony and the open space on the other side of the apartment (communal courtyard?)- even Sumidagawa fireworks a couple of weeks back could be sighted from there.
Ps: Goma chan likes The Beatles and Lenka it seems- he goes nuts in my belly when he hears either. Especially Lenka. I guess he has ecclectic taste in music just like me- thank god he doesn`t seem to be taking after his father and developing a “punk” obsession.
Pps: Thanks to everyone for their comments on the last post announcing goma-chan`s sex. We think we have a name sorted (with a couple of back ups in case he doesn`t look like the name we have picked out). I am dissapointed though that it seems Aussie`s living in Japan can not put middle names on passports as we had a family middle name picked out for the middle name since before we even got pregnant…..
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oh no! that’s a bummer about middle names! we americans can sign a paper declaring separate names (so, for example, hiro is hiroyuki inoue on japanese documents, but hiroyuki james inoue on american documents.)
love the pictures!
That’s too bad about the middle name. Even though you can’t make it official on the passport maybe you can use it with family and friends?
The pictures are awesome, I love fireworks!
Fireworks look pretty! We’re yet to see any, hope we can get out this weekend.
Ash has a middle name on his Aussie passport and the Japanese one also has his middle name, when you fill out the form explain it and they’ll just write it all as one word. I thought it was going to look like ‘Ashtontoba’ on his passport which would have been kind of weird, but they put a space in and it reads ‘Ashton Toba.’ So yeh, i was worried about it too, but it turned out fine. At the city office you have to register the kanji so his name reads アシュトン飛羽 but nothing that official really comes from the city office…? We had the middle name debate but it’s turned out fine so far.
Thats strange about the middle name. Like the above poster said, we will have a middle name on her American passport but I don`t think we will do the combined kanji/katakana on Japanese documents. I`m a bit worried about her getting teased when she is younger because she will be different from the others already even without an extra name.
But then again, thanks to my husband, my name on all important documents ends up being メラニーリン since he made sure they added the middle name. Grrr…..makes me sound like some kind of hillbilly.
Illahee- Yeah Australians used to be able to do the same as Americans, ie have two names on Aussie passport and one on Japanese passport (sometimes with middle name in brackets also on Japanese one) but the embassy here has changed its rules now and unless that is a middle name on the Japanese passport/birth certificate they will not allow it.
Tiffany- Yeah I am thinking a legal name change when they are olde if they wish?
Corinne- Did you give birth in Japan or Australia? I know those that give birth in Australia have an easier time as the original birth certificate is there. I have also heard that we can do it here if we combine the name as one making it look like ローラアシュリー （for example) but it would be Kanji followed by Katakana in our case…it depends on which embassy you end up going to as well- some are really strict on spelling having to be the same as the Japanese katakana which would also be a problem. Hopefully we can work something out like you have.
Melanie- I wouldn`t enroll the child at school with the extra name- which is why I like how it is for Americans. Ie, one name on american passport and shortened name on their Japanaese documents. I wish I could do that so that their middle name was only on their Aussie passports and documents.
My name on all my documents is 丸嶋 ローラ アシュリー which includes the space? I ususally have to have all my documents with my middle name here but they usually even like to have it the same as my gaijin card which is all in English. Ie, my bank book has my surname in kanji but my other two names in English and so does my license. It is a bit weird…
Huh? You get a space between your first and middle name? I wish I got that, technically I think I am 佐々木, メラニーリン (yes, with the comma) because thats how my husband had it listed on the koseki.
Yeah, I just checked and I have a space!
I think it is because we did the Koseki with our Australian marriage certificate that was translated in Australia at the Japanese consulate and they put the space maybe? I am not sure!
I don`t have a comma. On some documents I have a . between my first and middle names indicating a space but not a space- the dot is like a dash, in the middle of line if that makes sence ( I can not get my computer to make the mark I mean)
That sucks about not having a space or at least an indicator that shows your first and middle names are seperate.
It’s just too bad that Americans and Australians have different policies. Like you said they could do a name change if goma-chan wants to when he is older. Since I haven’t been to Japan yet I can’t really give much input but I find all of this very interesting
My bf listens to pretty much nothing but punk, when we have children I don’t think they will have much of a choice lol
I just blame DH for the lack of space as I wasn`t around when he did it. I thought my gaijin card had the comma listed on it but just checked and it doesn`t.
I know which little dot you are talking about, its been awhile since I`ve used it for anything though. I think before marrying DH, I might have had it separating first and last name at the bank.
And something similar there?