The 'S' word

As you probably noticed from the previous post, there isn't much snow around any more. In fact we have had, by Hokkaido standards, a very mild winter of it. My Met Eireann approved means of measuring the severity of our winter is to add up the number of times I have had to climb on the shed roof and shovel off the snow. And this year's total? Approximately zero. Which has been great as let's face it folks, I'm not getting any younger and Cian is taking his own sweet time about growing older. The weekend saw the temperatures come tantalizing close to double figures and some of the more irresponsible amongst us are already bandying the S****g word around.
Hush now. Have we so quickly forgotten what happened last year - remind yourselves here.
Still, the signs are there.

St. Patrick's Day

We had a visitor.



One of the wee people, a Japanese leprechaun came to visit.



However, as she didn't bring the traditional pot o' gold with her, Cian and myself told her to "feck off and be on your way!" as we don't want any hairy vagrants lowering the tone of the neighborhood.

Thirty something

It was Sanae's birthday last Saturday. I am not at liberty to say how old she is but I can say she is not forty. Yet. (But Lord, how those remaining two years will just coast by...)
We celebrated by going out for a meal in a rather nice restaurant we hadn't been to before. Mind you, if Cian has any say, we won't be going there again either. Anyway, the adults enjoyed their meal and the child contented himself with looking at the chef brulee-ing spits of meat. Back at the house we unveiled the birthday, eh, pig, and Mammy put on her new anti-wrinkle sunglasses. And then Cian ate a bowl of cereal because he was "still hungry".

The Deerhunter part II

Hokkaido has a deer problem, specifically 144,000 of them, which is approximately 143,000 too many. And they are increasing year by year. They have no natural predators as all of the island's wolves were hunted to extinction by the beginning of the 20th century and the bears are more interested in eating salmon (or Cian, depending how bad he has been). This wasn't such a problem when the majority of the island was still wilderness but as the land was cleared and cultivated over the past 100 years, the deer developed a taste for vegetables. And fruit. And corn. And pretty much anything that wasn't tree bark. They also developed a habit of wandering out onto roads and causing some pretty serious traffic accidents, which is why most of Hokkaido's motorways are lined with 2 metre high fences.
The only way to contain the deer population is by culling them but like the rest of Japan, Hokkaido's hunters are both aging and declining in number, and really would you trust an octogenerian with a high powered rifle? But you would trust the army, sorry, the self-defense forces, right? Which is why last week out in Shiranuka-cho near Kushiro, the army, sorry, the self defense forces turned up with some heavy weaponry and helicopters to "reign fire upon these goddamn deer!", as Colonel Kirugore of the 8th Airborne Division put it. You can see them in action here (sensitive viewers should note that there are disturbing images of a dead bambi). Unfortunately, after 2 hours of a classic 'Nam-like search-and-destroy mission, they managed to rack up a body count of exactly one deer. And apparently he was getting on in years anyway.
They are thinking of trying this next.

We need a deerhunter

Last night 7 deer wandered onto Shin Chitose Airport's main runway and succeeded in shutting down Japan's third busiest airport for 8 hours. How they got onto the runway remains a mystery. There is a 2 metre high security fence around the whole perimeter of the airport and after a hasty inspection this morning no holes, tunnels, or skillfully lock picked gates could be found.
These deer were good. Very good. Most likely the A-team of the Cervidae world.
That or, as Cian claims, they were Chinese special forces deer who parachuted onto the runway in order to test the airport's security.
Anyway the A-Team from Beijing managed to delay 33 flights, including a 17 hour wait for some very not amused travelers from Seoul, and cancel 8 more.
Finally, at 3:00 this morning Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and a big guy called Axel managed to shoo the deer off the grounds of the airport.

The Lolling Stones!

This blog is a bit like the number 16 bus in Dublin; you wait nearly a month for a post and then two come along in succession. Last week was parent's day in Cian's school. Cian's class put on a variety show with music, quizzes, dancing, stand-up comedy, and general merriment. The group Cian was in kicked off proceedings with an incendiary performance that was reminiscent of U2 at Live Aid.
And yes, of course, you can watch it here.

Ski Saturday

We are thinking of making Cian's youtube channel pay per view such is the quality of heart-stopping action on display. Last weekend we headed back to Rusutsu after Cian had 4 consecutive weeks of ski instruction since our previous visit. The difference is clear to see. Breathtaking I think you will agree.
It was a smashing day there; blue skies, a slight breeze, not too crowded so we ended up spending the whole day there.
Sit back, take a deep breath and enjoy the action here.