Groundhog Day

What a Groundhog Day it was! Lots happened, beginning with Hiroki's first pair of shoes. The little guy has been walking so much, Michiyo decided it was time to protect his feet. He seemed perplexed yet amused at the new material on the two parts of his body farthest away.

He spent a few minutes looking at them and touching them, trying to comprehend the additions.

Then he looked right at the camera for a nice pose. He and Mommy had a play date to get to!

While St. Louis is not exactly a bastion of transplanted Japanese folks, Michiyo has been able to build up a solid network of friends here. Everyone is in a different situation (sort of like the JET Programme, where Every Situation Is Different), from mixed couples who have settled here to families that are here temporarily for a year or two or more. Generally, these families have been transferred here because the Father is doing some medical research at Washington University, or something similar. Generating these friendships has really made our life in St. Louis a lot more comfortable, especially for Michiyo. Of course, getting together with these families produces scenes the cuteness content of which would be hard to top.

From left: Hiroki, Maya, Yuki, Aoi, Kouta (boy with Mom), Shyota (little guy), and Keita (smiling boy in front).

Unfortunately, the reason for this "play date" was the sayonara-party for some friends. Hiroko, her husband, and their two kids Maya and Keita, are moving back to Japan tomorrow, which explains the empty room in the picture. We will miss them very much, but both of our families will now have friends to visit in the future!

After the party, Michiyo and Hiroki stopped at a nearby park to take a picture of the incredible snowman we worked on for hours!

Just kidding, I WISH! This picture is not an optical illusion. Some ambitious folks in Maplewood, using ladders, put this amazing creation together. I learned about it earlier in the day and insisted Michiyo go see it. Hands down, it's the most impressive snowman I have ever been aware of in St. Louis. (St. Louisans, in case you're wondering, it's the park several blocks North of Manchester and Sutton. Go see it before it melts!)

Basketball with Grandpa Joe

We have been spending a lot of time lately with Hiroki's Grandma and Grandpa, my Mom Julie and Dad Joe. If you have spent any time around the Fingerhuts, you know we love basketball, and Hiroki has picked that interest right up. He has a nose for any ball, no matter the size, shape or color.

Mom and Dad met at Benedictine College, and Mom pulled out a bib for Hiro to show his Ravens pride. I wonder if Benedictine (near Kansas City) has a crawling race?

Papa Joe has always been a basketball coach. He coached high school teams before he had kids, then he coached or assisted with all four of us kids in not only basketball, but practically every sport we played in grade school, and even some high school rec teams. These days, he doesn't have any kids young enough to coach, but he has stuck with several teams at St. Paul School in Fenton through their grade school years. Since the beginning of the season, Dad has requested that Hiroki get to meet his eighth grade girls team. So on Friday, we went to their practice, and Sunday, we went to their game. Hiroki had a blast.

Papa Joe held him for a bit while the scrimmage was going on, and Hiro was riveted!

Then Coach Grandpa called everybody together to wrap things up, and Hiroi was surrounded by bunch of smiling teenage girls. He was more interested in the ball, and I'm sure he will laugh at this picture someday.

Sunday, the girls played a league game at Holy Redeemer school. Hiroki watched the whole first half, then enjoyed lunch fed to him during the third quarter. The St. Paul girls fought hard against a tough Holy Redeemer team, but were down in the fourth quarter. Hiroki would have been into it I'm sure, but he was under the Hooter Hider drinking dessert from Michiyo. We cheered as Papa Joe shrewdly called a timeout to get his girls to focus on a full court press and as many 3-pointers as they could handle. They cut the score to 19-16 with about a minute to go, but ended up with a 23-16 loss. They were not too down about it, nor was Papa Joe, who got to watch part of the next game with his grandson.

Michiyo noticed that Hiroki had matching colors with Grandpa.

Funny moment: While this young women set up to take the first of two free throws, somebody's cell phone went off, but she swished it. Right as she was launching the second free throw, however, Hiroki decided to unleash his own ring tone, letting the entire gym know he can say, "DaDa!" in a very loud voice. The poor girl airballed the free throw. Sorry, chica!

Baby Race Excitement

The big day arrived, and Mommy and Daddy couldn't sleep. With the help of a little middle-of-the-night fussing, Michiyo and I were awake around 3 a.m. Around 4:30 a.m., we both looked at each other, and asked, "You're still awake?" I told her, "I'm kind of excited about the Baby Race." She laughed, agreed, and somehow we got to sleep for a few more minutes until our racer woke up.

Nothing brings people together like a group of babies crawling around for five minutes. Because of the Billiken Baby Race at halftime that Hiroki was competing in, the entire Fingerhut clan was coming, and bringing a big crew: Not just Papa Joe and Mama Julie (or PJ & MJ, as christened by soon-to-be in-law Mike), but Lynn & Rob, Mark, Katie & Mike, plus a few dozen family and friends that had let us know they would be in the stands cheering Hiro on.

Before halftime, Michiyo, Hiroki and I joined eight other families, grabbed Uncle Mark (to be the cameraman), and headed into a back room to have the ground rules laid out.

Mark led the way.

The rules were pretty simple: one parent at each end, at no time could a parent approach or touch their kid to assist them unless at the very end and permission was given, and there would be no disqualification for babies moving out of their lanes or off the mat. The mood in the room, with a bunch of smiling parents and a few grandparents, was light and happy--kind of like that first lap around Babies R Us when you find out you're gonna be a parent, before you get stressed by the obnoxious number of insignificant but desirable accessories and trinkets.

We had Hiro decked out in a St. Louis Rams onesie, then slipped a red St. Louis Cardinals sweatband around his head, and headed out to the court. Hiroki was assigned Lane 1, and Michiyo joined all the other Mommies at the finish line; the Dads held the kids at the start, about 30 feet of racing mat between parents. Funny, we all knew the best strategy: the Dads provided moral support, while the Moms waved the baits and bribes of balls, blankets, and in Michiyo's case, the Hooter Hider (that's actually the brand name of a cloth-and-wire contraption that hides the baby for public breast-feeding). We hoped that the lure of a potential feeding opportunity would trump all other motivations, and draw Hiro to the finish line like a moth to a flame.

The contestants were introduced over the speakers while an adorable picture graced the Jumbotron. I think Michiyo was most thrilled about that, and remains hopeful that someone snapped a photo of it.

The race started, and after a few seconds, Hiroki squirted out a few feet, and the crowd roared. He veered left, blatantly crossing a bunch of lanes, boldly exploring this new, empty surface alone, then came to a stop. Hilariously, no other kids had left the gate. He turned and located Mommy, then an interesting twist took place. One of the other Moms, like Michiyo, was holding a basketball. Somehow, she fumbled it away, and it rolled to Hiro. He picked it up immediately, and was content.

Without giving away the big finish, here's the race from start to end:

If I had put big money down on my son, I probably would have been yelling at someone, but this was so much fun, everybody on the court and in the stands was laughing, including Michiyo and I. One other little guy came crawling toward Hiro, then another little boy realized where his Mom was, and made a beeline to her, claiming first place. Hiro began tossing the ball and chasing it down, eventually making it to the finish line and placing second. Michiyo and I greeted him with big hugs and smiles.

The SLU people did a great job with this event, from gift bags to certificates.

Afterward, the mascot(s) joined us for a group shot.

Michiyo and I had never asked about prizes or anything, we were thrilled that Hiro could participate, and happy that the gift bag included a Billiken onesie, a bib, and a gift card. We were very pleasantly surprised when we were asked to sign papers to receive a $500 Savings Bond in Hiroki's name. Michiyo had two reactions: first, she said, "He's made more money than I have this year!" followed by, "We need to find more baby races."In all the excitement, I barely had time to enjoy the game, which turned out to be pretty good. SLU and University of Massacheusetts played a tightly contested game, pulling out a 69-64 victory. We heard the final score in my Dad's car, with Papa Joe driving and Hiro completely zonked out. Another great night, and another set of great memories!

Note: If you haven't seen Hiro's training montage, go to Youtube and look for "Baby Race Rocky."

The Baby Race

St. Louis University Basketball has always been fun for our family. With no professional team in town since the Hawks left decades ago, the Billikens have provided us our fix for high level ball. The Fingerhuts have been to countless games, with my Dad holding season tickets for several years, not to mention my brother and sisters graduating from SLU (and my brother was the mascot for a while). One of the highlights of the season is the Baby Race. Once a year at halftime of a game in January, a row of tots lines up with their parents on either end, and they all crawl toward a finish line. The crowd really gets into it, and Michiyo and I have been thinking about this race since Hiroki was born last February. As always, all it took was a few phone calls and emails to the right people. I received this email right at Christmas:


Joe and Michiyo,

Congratulations! Your baby has been chosen to crawl in the 5th Annual Royal Banks of Missouri Great Baby Race! The Race will take place during halftime of the Billikens game on January 14. Game time is 7 PM.

You will be provided with two complimentary tickets and Hiroki will get in free of charge. Additional tickets will be available at a discounted price.

Check-in will be before the game at the main entrance and there will be a designated spot to meet before halftime.

We will contact you with more information in the near future.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at the game!

WE ARE IN!!!

And before anybody asks, yes, the training has begun in earnest. I don't know the layout, if there is a prize, or anything, but we are excited and Hiro's getting ready. Go to Youtube right now for a laugh. The race is on January 14th, and we'll keep everyone up to date. Feel free to leave an encouraging comment for Hiroki!

Touching the Hand of Basketball Jesus

This story has little to do with Hiroki or Michiyo, but it was a great family experience for Hiroki's grandpa, Papa Joe Fingerhut. On December 7th, my brother Mark and I took Dad to Indianapolis for a Pacers-Celtics game. Not only that, but through some crazy wheeling and dealing, I got Larry Bird to call my Dad at work, and invite us to meet him at the game. NO JOKE! Here's a few pics. For many more photos, and every bit of this interesting tale, go here.

12/7/08, Indianapolis, Indiana: Pacers vs. NBA Champion Boston Celtics

Mark and My Dad

My Dad and me

Score at the end of regulation after a Paul Pierce 3-pointer.

Final Score after Ray Allen owning overtime.

Dad enjoying T.J. Ford's head, and Roy Hibbert's arms.

Yes, Dad got to meet the Larry Bird, aka the Basketball Jesus.

Merry Christmas, Papa Joe! Thank you for all of our great memories, basketball and otherwise!

Once again, for more pics, videos, and all the details of this phenomenal road trip, click here.

Sayonara for now: The ride home

Wedding Anniversary

Michiyo and I had our Japanese wedding ceremony four years ago on November 20th, 2004. Our plane flight home was on that day, but a few days before that, we enjoyed some anniversary memories. We stopped by the restaurant where our ceremony took place, called Kiraku. Michiyo's sister, Masae, still works there part time, and the staff was excited to see us and the new family addition.

Sakae-san and his wife, Sayumi-san, are the owners of this family business. Sakae-san (left) was the Master of Ceremonies for our Japanese Wedding Ceremony, and did a phenomenal job of staying reverent while keeping things moving along. He threw in plenty of jokes, too, keeping the mood light and enjoyable. About 90% of the content was incomprehensible to me at the time. I told him about my own successful foray in the American wedding industry, and after I explained that I am a reception DJ in St. Louis, I told him, "You were my inspiration." Not entirely an exaggeration. He broke into a HUGE smile, stuck his hand out to shake mine, and said, "Thank you!" They spoke highly of our wedding ceremony four years ago and how much they enjoyed it. I wish I could say this was the room where we were married, but this room is brand new--they renovated a supply room, expanded a little, and debuted this spectacular room four days before we visited them.

We went up to "our" room, which looked quite sparse without any decorations. We posed on the same spot where we were married in 2004, before Hiroki was but a gleam in our eye!

Speaking of four years ago, have you heard about the pink bike lock? At the top of Mount Kinpo, which overlooks Kumamoto, and from which you can see Nagasaki, I proposed to Michiyo and used a pink lock on the railing to seal the deal. (That's the short version--I'm proud of the whole story, feel free to check it out here.) We took Hiroki to see the weather-beaten and discolored--but still solid--bike lock.

What a beautiful day it was, and what a tremendous four years it has been!

Just a bunch of cute Hiro photos

What can I say, I'm partial to this picture.

Hiroki is sitting next to Kyoko, Michiyo's former boss at Jelly Bean preschool.

This guy is Isaac, Kyoko's son and present owner of Jelly Bean. Hiroki digs the purple T-shirt, which says, if you cannot see it, "Cheer Princess." Isaac has an appreciation for odd English T-shirts in Japan as well.

At a local mall called Hikari no Mori, we went to the arcade and took some pictures of Hiro on some of the rides. I love Japan!

Here he is on the "AnPanMan" train. AnPanMan is a character made out of bread, with rosy red cheeks not unlike Hiroki's.

I don't know these other characters, but they're quite interesting.

Hiroki got to re-enact a scene in one of the greatest films in the history of man. You know, the scene where officer Jack Travin puts the throttle on the subway train to "Maximum" and runs it through a construction site, soaring onto a Los Angeles street, and saving his woman in the process. Give up? SPEED. Fortunately, Hiroki is all ready a better actor than Keanu Reeves.

Hiroki peeks between the seats on the plane ride home.

More fun people

Michiyo keeps in touch with some of her former students at the English-speaking Jelly Bean preschool. One day in Kumamoto, we had lunch with two of them, Mina and Nana and their Moms.
Mina is on the left, Nana on the right. Nana's English is very impressive, and she won first prize in the city-wide English competition. She herself calls Michiyo when we are in town. We encouraged both of these girls, like we did so many of our friends and family in Japan, to come stay with us in America sometime. Hiroki was showing off his huge baby biceps.

Nana's Mom Kazumi, on the left, and Mina's Mom Rina, on the right, invited us out to join them at a great Chinese restaurant in downtown Kumamoto.

Can you see the cockroach on the table? I brought this fake cockroach with me, and got a LOT of mileage out of it. Nana and Mina were disgusted, but could not get enough, constantly asking me in Japanese, "Where is the Goki buri?"

Michiyo studied in Eugene, Oregon for two years, 1999-2001. One of the friends she made there was Yoko. She and her husband Koji came down to see us from Saga on the last weekend.

We had fun meeting each other and catching up. They have been married four years, and really want to have kids. They had been living in downtown Kobe, and Koji was a 'salary-man' for about 18 years. However, the goal of having kids is so important, that they uprooted their lives to live in a less stressful, more natural environment. For the last year or so, they have been studying and preparing how to run a farm. They are now living in the countryside as farmers, evaluating exactly what to grow in order to make a living. Listening to their situation and their life choices was fascinating.

Yoko's hope is to have Koji do the main work of farming, and she wants to provide a place for people to experience a homestay in the Japanese countryside. She envisions foreigners, especially kids but families too, as well as Japanese kids from city areas, living for a bit in the country. She also wants to have foreigners teach English for short periods in exchange for meals and accomodation.

They asked what I did for a living, and naturally requested to see some magic tricks. Koji really enjoyed my world-famous finger-in-the-box surprise, which countless folks in the Midwest have been shocked by.

We met Aki, a former roommate of Michiyo for tea one day.

In the same cafe, unbelievably, one of my first co-workers in Kumamoto approached me and said hello. Fukuda-sensei helped me teach English for three years at Jonan Junior High School. She is retired now, and when I asked her for her email, she said she doesn't use a computer. Oh well. It was great to see you Mrs. Fukuda! I'll have to write her a letter.