Its not a editing trick, she really is that beautiful

May I present the newest addition to the Montgomery Clan Mrs. Kae Montgomery. Last week we had a wedding party in downtown Hamamatsu, unfortionatly when Kae walked into the Hotel she was so stunning she caused a five car pile up, no one was seriously injured but may hearts were broken.

The Latest kids game sweeping Japan

Yes yes I know that educational games for young children are all the rage, math games and language development games and such, but recently I discovered a children's game that makes pointing guns at your head fun. Yes Russian roulette is not just for Russians and Christopher Walken any more, now Japanese children can join in. Although you don't actually shoot yourself, you still get to pop a balloon right next to your ear. If you are interested in joining in on the fun you can purchase your own at any Toys R Us in Japan.

Obon in Hamamatsu

Well its that time of the year in Japan known as Obon, which if you do not know already it is a Buddhist holiday in which the ancestors of the living cross over from the realm of the dead to spend a week on our plain of existence. This season is usually celebrated by going to the ancestral home village and making offerings at a temple, praying, as well as by having a big feast where our guests from the netherworld can join in, and in the case of Hamamatsu the departed souls of our ancestors also get to see some Bellydancing. Yes the local celebrity Kae along with her proteges Hiroko (not pictured) as well as her sister Maho (the one in the background) performed at Act City, in downtown yesterday. The dead as well as the living were quit impressed.

Well it's the most wonderful time of the year, yes this is the season when Henna Clause comes to our apartment and gives the gift of henna, as only she can, to all the good little girls and boys, that means only Kae. In case you didn't know henna is it's the ancient Indian art of temporary tattooing usually done before important events such as a marriage or of even greater importance Kae's upcoming belly dance performance this Sunday. Before you deluge me with emails, the show is already sold out. And the true identity of Henna Clause is infact Mika Enatsu (insert round of applause here.)

Just to let you know this is not as easy as those Bazooka Joe temporary tattoos you may be used to. First Mika had to travel all the way to India to learn this ancient art, then she had to come all the way back to Japan. Then Kae and Mika spent several hours planning and drinking coffee. Then today they spent seven painstaking hours applying the henna, drawing detailed designs by hand. Next it had to dry, and finally they had to peel off the dried henna leaving only the beautiful design on Kae, and flakes of henna all over the apartment.

In case you have never experianced World Cup fever it is kind of strange, from an American point of view. I'll admit that I living abroad has broadend my world perceptions, exposed me to the beauty of different cultures, and yadda yadda yadda but I must admit I still am no closer to understanding why any one would care about this game. It must be noted at this point that the opinions expressed are those solely of J.P and do not reflect the opions of Kae or any of our affiliates.

Have you ever gone to a party that a friend invited you to and at this party all of the other people are your friend's co-workers, and you have never met any of them before? And at this party all subjects discussed are things that you have absolutly no frame of referance to, and more importently you couldn't care less aout these subjects discussed. And then you try to pretend to fain interest in the topics of discussion by repeating things you overheard, only to end up looking more out side the herd than you did before. This is kind of what its like to be an American surounded by people in the grips of World Cup fever.

At work co-workers of mine have worked out an intericate time table that of games and places to see them, for example "on Monday we can see Swaziland verse Hati at 3:00am at the Sports bar." Due to the time delay most of these games are played in the middle of the night. Granted I love (American) Football, but I'm not going to stay up until 5:00am everyday for a month to watch it.

More rants and rave about soccar to come
And the virtual tour of our humble abode coming soon

Ok for all of ya'll who have been waiting, and for those of you who are still unaware here she is, Kae. This is actually a fairly old photo from Kae's birthday, and in case your wandering what I'm holding it's her birthday cake, a white chocolate, Zen rock garden cake.


P.S you can also see our photo at Beka and Matt's website