Camping at Lake Kizakiko and Matsumoto Castle

Fall is here in Japan and a few weeks ago we escaped into the mountains with some friends to do some camping. Here are a few thoughts:

Not only were we getting out of the city, but we were doing it by car that were actually driving. This was the first time in my four plus years of living in Japan that I've driven. And for all my attempts to play it cool, I turned on my headlights by turning on the back windshield wipers, and signaled my intention to turn left by flipping on the front windshield wipers. The Californian-Car-Dependence gene inside me kicked in and became more and more convinced we needed a car.

I remember when I would camp as a Boy Scout and I could carry on my back everything I needed for a week's worth of camping in the High Sierras. But on this trip we filled the car full of odds and ends from hot plates and sauce pans to coolers full of food and pillows.

Japan is an incredibly beautiful country when you're actually in nature and for as densely populated as Tokyo can be, rural areas can be equally as remote. It was a great time to photograph nature.

I think Anthon found his first camp girlfriend, a daughter of a family we just met. He sat next to this girl who's his age and she reached across the camp chair and was tickling his knee. For about a minute they stared at each other giggling. It was really cute. The whole rest of the day they couldn't be separated playing hide and seek, building airplanes with logs and just being the best of friends.

Bonfires, hiking, fire-jumping and even a quick trip to Matsumoto Castle - the second time in two weeks for me - were also highlights of the trip. Click on the pictures above for more pictures, or on the picture below to see a short video.

A note about the financial crisis

Everyone has been impacted one way or another in this subprime crisis turned financial meltdown turned economic recession - from lower 401k balances to greater difficulty in getting loans to tighter budgets and perhaps even losing a job. It's hard to say when this will end or if even the worst is behind us. While it seems the government has a determination to deal with the financial crisis, there is still the issue of a sluggish economy that could last a while.

To that end, I've been devouring any and all information about what's going on, trying to deepen my perspective on our times. I thought I'd share some great resources that have helped me along the way.

This American Life - Giant Pool of Money. An audio download of a great discussion about the subprime mortgage crisis and how it got started.

This American Life - Another Frightening Show About the Economy. Another audio download of an interesting, and fascinating, look into how the financial crisis spread from subprime to other parts of the financial system.

These same guys do a daily podcast on NPR called Planet Money that is worth your while to check out.

Charlie Rose - PBS conversationalist. Check out interviews with Warren Buffett, Nouriel Roubini, Paul Volker and the various roundtable discussions.

RealClearMarkets.com - an aggregator of features and op-eds about the markets.

A cure for Japan's bad demographics

While Japan is a crowded place to live, it will only getting less and and less crowded. Japan's population is shrinking, and has been getting smaller since 2007 when births fell below deaths for the first time. If things don't change, Japan's population could halve by the end of this century...a pretty amazing event with severe economic implications.

While Japan still remains the second largest economy in the world, it is still recovering from its late 1980's economic bubble. And demographics as they are, it may continue to muddle along without a fresh injection of labor. With low birth rates, it certainly won't be home grown. Immigration is another route, but Japan is not a very immigrant friendly country. As technologically advanced as Japan is, you'd think that greater automation and perhaps even the use or robots would be the solution. But I never thought in a million years that the Japanese would turn to monkeys to help solve labor shortage. See the video below of my new favorite restaurant.


I want to go there. Who's coming with me? If anyone knows where this restaurant is, please let me know because I want to take my family there and let my son freak out over the monkey bringing him a hot towel and orange juice.

Anthon turns 3!

Our big little guy turns three years old today. While on the one hand Shelley and I find it hard to believe that he's been in our lives for just three years, we can't really remember life without him.

Anthon has a good sense of humor, which he first exhibited minutes after his birth. Shelley and I read a baby book that suggested we introduce our child to its name. So I held Anthon and said, "Your name is Anthon Steffensen Cannon IV...what do you think about that?" Upon which time Anthon proceeded to cry. Apparently he didn't like it very much. But he quickly identified himself as Anthon and despite it being an oft mispronounced name, I can't see him being anything but Anthon.

Anthon has been blessed with a sharp mind, good memory and an extensive vocabulary. I taught a family home evening about the different roles of Christ. I listed that he was our Savior, and our brother, etc. I didn't do a very good job of teaching to the level of audience because I then launch into this thing about Christ being our advocate. Rightfully, so I get made fun of by Shelley. Fast forward a few days and we're in the car talking to our neighbors, the Ames, on the way to church and Anthon says this to Evelyn, "Grammy Ames, Jesus is our advocate." Sweet redemption.

But mostly Anthon is my little guy and I can't imagine loving him any more than I do. I've felt this way at each stage in his life and I'm finding my capacity to love grow bigger as they grow older. I like that. I truly am so lucky to be Anthon's Dad. He brings me so much joy and happiness. He's getting so big and doing so many thing that I'm proud of - going to school, saying his prayers, being a loving big brother to Ella. Though I have very limited interaction during the week with Anthon because of my work and his sleep schedules. But weekends are our time to throw the ball around, wrestle, watch family videos and just be together.

After I type this, I'm off to have a McDonalds lunch in the park with Anthon and the family. They are coming down to see me during my work day so we can celebrate as a family. I'm tasked with buying McDonalds cheeseburgers, shakes and fries - the birthday boy's lunch of choice.

Blind runners

Japan is a nation of runners. If you're up early and head to Yoyogi Park, one of the major parks in Tokyo, the pathways will be filled with runners getting in their morning exercise before work.

On the weekends you'll see a large group of blind runners descend upon the park and take to the paths. There usually is a large collection of seeing eye dogs lounging together as their owners get their exercise. These runners partner with someone who can see and run in rhythm thanks to a tether that both runners hold. This not only guides the runner down a safe path, but ensures both runners maintain the same pace.

I've been critical of what I sense as being a lack of charitable spirit in Tokyo. But this is a great example of a grassroots effort to meet the needs of a small population in need. What a selfless and efficient way to help someone with a disability to more fully enjoy his or her life, while at the same getting exercise you would probably get anyway.

To that end, Shelley and I are in the midst of looking for a cause or organization to get involved with - something that we could do as a family. For my Tokyo readers/friends - any ideas, suggestions, recommendations?

The fruit in Tokyo...

When I was in the fifth grade, I went on a class trip back to Washington D.C. to tour some of our nation's historic landmarks. At about the same time my sister Liza went on a European study abroad. One night, some months later after we had all returned, our family was sitting around the dinner table and Liza was regaling us with stories of how great various things in Europe were - the food, the people, the sites, etc. I remember feeling jealous that here everyone was listening to her stories, but no one cared about my trip. The problem was that while Liza was talking about things that were really quite interesting, the only thing that I could come up with was how great the bread was in Washington D.C. I mean, it was true. I had actually thought the bread we ate was quite good and memorable enough to mention to loved ones! Nevermind the fact that we only ate at cafeteria style restaurants our whole week. Nevertheless I was mocked, and still am, for my feeble attempt at drawing attention my way. But such is life when you're the youngest.

So it's with much trepidation, coupled with a desire to take a mulligan on that conversation, that I bring up how great the fruit is in Tokyo. I know that Tokyo isn't what comes to mind as a place to get high quality fruit. But I'm telling you, I've never had so much good fruit in all my life as I've had in the last 9 months in Tokyo. It's that good.

I think part of the reason why the fruit is so good is that there is true seasonality to what you can buy in the stores. So every three months you're treated to new fruit. If it's not in season, typically you cannot buy it. Second, it's been said that the Japanese will pay up for fruit since very little is grown locally and that end consumers will pay higher prices for good fruit. And boy do they ever! As you can see from the picture, at a high end grocery store you can buy two melons as gifts for 26,250 yen, or $250.

The pinnacle of our fruit eating experience has to be a fruit called nashi. It's technically a pear, but is shaped like an apple and has texture somewhere between an apple and pear - not too hard and not too mushy. It's got the smooth flavor of a pear with the tang of an apple. When it's at its peak ripeness, it tastes so good you actually want to shed tears of joy and happiness in gratitude to that Supreme Being who thought to create such a delicious fruit. All this from a fruit that we bought for 100 yen, or $1. Can you imagine how great the nashi would taste if we were to buy the ones pictured below for $10 and $20 a pear? I mean, the fruit would probably cure cancer and the juice would renew life like a fountain of youth. And don't get me started on the grapes. There isn't enough hyperbole to describe my feelings about grapes in Japan.



So, if you've stayed with me this far, you're probably wondering what I think of the bread in Tokyo...and does it live up to the standards set by those run down D.C.-area cafeterias? And would you believe that in a rice country such as Japan the bread is fantastic too? It is...but that's for another post.

It's Matsuri Time

We recently celebrated the fall festival, or matsuri, in our neighborhood. This festival, and many others, are an interesting expression of ancient agrarian Japanese culture rooted in the planting and harvesting of rice. Not unlike most religions and cults, the rice is harvested and sacrificed/offered to the God of the field (or perhaps shrine), so as to ensure continued prosperity. This matsuri, celebrated on the autumnal equinox, has evolved into its modern and urban equivalent - neighborhood leaders and businesses sponsoring rituals for the continued prosperity of their businesses and neighborhood.

Each neighborhood sponsors a mikoshi, which looks like an arc from the Old Testament, and houses the Kami (God-like spirit of Shinto religion) of the neighborhood. Men and women get wildly inebriated and carry this mikoshi around the neighborhood, chanting and drinking along the way, for the prosperity, health and well being of those in the neighborhood. The day’s events culminate in a large gathering of people at the Shinto shrine where there are booths set up for games and food. People will then pay their respects to the Kami (God) of the shrine and make offerings, usually of money.

Shelley grew up in Indiana, in a town very much tied to agriculture, and they too had a huge fall festival to, I presume, celebrate the harvest. While the fall festival in Shelley's home town boasts culinary delights such as deep fried twinkies, frog legs and alligator jerky, the festival food in Japan is not far behind -- chicken skewers, fried chicken, breaded balls of octopus, fire roasted whole fish, Japanese style pancakes, candy, shave ice and chocolate dipped bananas. There are lots of games too, including a game to catch goldfish. Anthon came home with four. A week later we had killed them all. One jumped out of the bowl and dried out over night - we've ruled it suicide. The other three, who were named Nemo, Nemo’s Father and Dori have all gone to “heavenly father” as Anthon put it. I think we starved two of them. The last one may have starved but seemed a bit too stupid to eat. He kept getting close to the fish food, but couldn’t ever get it in his mouth. Anthon, ever the optimist, has asked to go back to the festival for more fish. Shelley may need some convincing.

In the morning there was a child’s mikoshi and drum procession - each child was invited to participate. Run by older community leaders, it was a nice way to transmit important parts of the Japanese culture and history in a fun way to children. We thought Anthon would enjoy it…we thought wrong. We couldn’t get him out of the stroller. He rebounded and at least took some pictures in his matsuri get-up.

Festivals are a great time. Even though Japanese modern society has evolved from its agrarian roots, people still celebrate the spirit of the festival - being grateful for their well being, health, etc.

I’ve uploaded some pictures (as seen above) and a short video of our day (as seen below).

6 Hours of Trains, 1 Hour of Work, 30 Minutes of Sightseeing

I’ve been traveling more for work, which is actually VERY nice. I love getting out and meeting the people who sell our mutual funds and to hear what they're going through. I’ve been heading into more rural areas lately as well. Last week, I went to a town called Matsumoto, home to a 400 year old feudal castle - one of the most famous in Japan because it is the original structure. Matsumoto is a 3 hour train ride from Tokyo. We had a few minutes before our meeting so my colleague and I played tourist.

This is the kind of town where foreigners aren't aplenty if you catch my drift. In Tokyo, as odd as it may seem, I can actually blend in quite a bit. But in towns like Matsumoto foreigners are either English teachers, tourists, or Mormon missionaries. And in the course of our brief visit, we actually ran into all three. With my colleague by my side as we walked around in our dark suits, ties and white shirts, carrying heavy bags, I felt like we were missionaries. But instead of talking about religion, we were preaching to our audience (financial advisors), "Invest for the long-term, be patient, don't panic!" Unfortunately, as it was when I was a missionary, our words seem to fall on deaf ears.

As an aside, I was a missionary in a similar town to Matsumoto with a similarly old castle. Behind each castle is usually a large park. We would regularly come to the park and throw around a Frisbee as a way to meet people. We would throw it to each other for a few minutes and then pick someone to talk to and throw the Frisbee "inadvertently" in their direction and strike up a conversation. This usually was an effective way of getting people to interact with us, but not as effective once we switched gears to introduce the Mormon church.

Anyway, I digress. Seeing the castle made me really happy. I mean, it’s not everyday you sightsee during your work day, right? And yes we did actually do work. After our our of work we had to run as fast as we could back to the train station to catch the three hour train ride home. The tally for the day? 6 hour train ride, 1 hour presentation, 30 minute tourism. Not bad.

And for those interested in Los Angeles, on the way home, our train took us through Chino. I mean, I knew Chino was in the 909, but I didn’t know it was THAT far away from civilization.