Devenish

Today started badly with a rejection of my BU abstract: I guess I won't be going to Boston this November, once again. My disappointment was offset by the fact that the reviews were mostly fair and helpful (if I ever think of redoing this piece of research), but was heightened by the consideration that my success rate with conferences and papers in recent years is woeful compared to a time when I was more research active, and when anything less than 80% seemed like failure. So at 9:30am I was feeling pretty flat. Less than two hours and one class later, however, it's clear to me that I don't actually care that much and that there are things that matter much more than a line on my cv. (I'm happy for those who can do both life and career advancement equally well, but I'm not one of those, and I'm happy with my compromise.) The twist is that if I did care more, I'd put more time and energy into writing more, and better, abstracts and my success rate woul

As the outside world gets ever uglier and less secure, I am increasingly aware of how lucky I am to be living in a tranquil and beautiful place —and that it is important to draw attention to this in my posts. Here are some pictures from yesterday's walk with the dog around Okamoto: the spring blossoms may have gone, but it still looks wonderful.

Today we visited Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Shinkobe (on the recommendation of our friend Caroline Heycock). I was expecting to be interested but to have to leave early with fractious children (the younger two, at any rate). Not so: not only was the museum a beautiful piece of architecture full of stunning craftsmanship, but the workshops kept Julian and Sean occupied for a good two hours on a damp Saturday. Well worth the visit, right beside Shinkobe Station, admission 500 yen for adults.

It's the Sakura (cherry blossom) season, where every other Japanese person with a camera is out taking pictures of the sakura. And they are indeed wondrous, as these pictures show. But it's Spring for other flowers and blossoms as well, which most people seem to ignore. So while out with Mutley for his afternoon walk — after rain — I took some pictures of the overlooked, but no less beautiful spring shows:

Today, I had an unexpected day off—term, it turns out doesn't start till Thursday, and Julian is still on his winter vacation. For a long time, he's wanted to do the Mentos-in-Coke experiment, which was easy to grant and to facilitate. But I didn't want to mess up the garden, so we took the dog and headed off to the beach at Ashiyayama. It's a beautiful Spring day and the first of the many sakura are out. So everything worked well: not only did the experiment yield the desired result, but we got stunning shots of the blossoms, a near empty beach, and pizza on a terrace afterwards.

Last Saturday, March 11th, Justin had his leaving ceremony from his nursery. All dressed up—yes, they have a uniform which they wear at some time everyday—and after rehearsals in the previous week, Justin and all the other 'graduating year' took turns to wish another student well, or to recall a highlight of their years there, and then to receive their diploma. As you can see from the videos, Justin signed, as well as spoke, his valediction: I can read Makaton better than most, but only understood 20% of it. Still, it's clear, as always, that he knows what we wants to say. The first video shows that he can sing along, too. Needless to say, there were many tears, of pride, on mothers' part. '松尾正義 おめでとうございます！　 Congratulations, Justin Matsuo!