Japanese Killifish

Last Monday I took my oldest daughter to the pet shop to buy more hamster food, and was quite taken by the idea of keeping some fish again (we'd killed the last goldfish off after introducing some fish won at a masturi, or summer festival.)
For those of you looking for a pet shop in Tokyo then a visit to ZOO is a real eye opener (have branches accross Tokyo including Shinokubo, Yotsuya, Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya.) The selection of pets always amazes me, not just in the variety but also in the legality!
So while my daughter was checking the hamster selection I took a look at the fish, with the general idea of getting some more goldfish. Swimming in the tank next to the goldfish were these little fish called medaka, or Japanese killifish. Not knowing much about them I asked my daughter, who then persauded me that killifish were a much better option than goldfish. So it was that we returned with three of the little fellas to put in our waiting aquarium.
So far so good, but there's more to this story...on Thursday evening I took a look in the tank and noticed that two of them were laying eggs (is laying eggs the correct expression for fish?) So after seeing them attach the eggs to some of the articial plants and semingly eat them overnight I colected a few of the remaining eggs and put them in a separate container. Of course it's two early to say if they'll progress to baby killifish but I'll keep you posted.

Sorry for the low resolution of the picture, but it's the best I can manage with my webcam pressed to the aquarium.

Sport's Day

My eldest daughter entered Japanese elementary school this April so today was our first Sport's Day, or undoukai. Actually it should have been yesterday but as it was raining in the morning the school cancelled it.

So it was another 5:00am for my wife as she had to prepare bento yet again. I crawled out of bed about 7:00 and tired to look lively. Actual Sport's Day started at 8:45am, although the first 45 minutes were taken up with a rather boring introduction ceremony and what can only be described as a call to arms event, which consisted of much flag and fan waving, shouting and students mimicking what I believe was a militaristic ritual from early in the last century.

Then at 9:30 we actually got to see some sport. As someone who grew up in the UK during the 80s I don't have many memories of sport's days as our teachers were locked in battle against Thatcher's government and refused to do any extra-curricular events so it's difficult to compare.

But what was evident today was the focus on involvement for all the students, the school was split into 2 teams, red and white, with points earned for each event. The events were split into about 50 percent races of various forms and 50 percent dance and movement which really took the focus off the all out sporting battle I remember from school. Also there were none of the boring heats leading to finals that I seem to remember from sports day in the UK.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day, just as well, as we worked out with the three kids we will have another 12 years of Sport's Days to attend!!!