Here are pictures of the Rayner house under construction up in Gunma, Japan.

Urawa Fireworks Aug 2007

After a long absence, the Urawa fireworks festival at Urawa Keiba-jo (Racecourse) were back this summer. My camera has a special fireworks setting which makes the fireworks seem like some funky underwater creature.

Fireworks in Japan are a huge summer event and we went to this one with Matt and Yoshiko Setterfield and little Hugo Setterfield.

Miyuki's friend from university, Minami-chan got married in Kyoto so we popped down there for a few days to re-visit some of the famous sights. I hadn't been since 1999, but it was still as beautiful as ever. Forgot to charge the camera the first day, so no pics of Sanjusan-gendo or Kiyomizu Temple...

Christmas in Japan can be a bit of a let down...unless of course you have lots of mates over for a huge turkey and many bottles of wine!
This year we had Matt and Yoshiko, Matt and Yuko, and Hideyuki and Kana over for the annual Rayner feast. Of course the Saitama Jets also had a Christmas party, this time held at Spiders Cafe in Urawa.

A Watanabe family trip to Suwako. Nice Ryokan, nice autumn leaves and nice lake!

Hamariyku with Sally

Our friend Sally was over from Australia, so Miyuki took her to Hamarikyu - one of the most famous Japanese gardens in Tokyo.

At the end of summer we headed up to Hakone for a relaxing weekend. We always seem to end up rowing on these trips, although when you stop for a micro-brew beer and German hotdog lunch on the lake it is worth the effort! No photos of the said beer or bratwursts as I was too busy eating.

English OK spent our summer trip up in Kawaguchi-ko for a BBQ, some fireworks and lots of beer.

This was the big one - the Saitama Jets 10 Year Anniversary End of Season Party on a traditional Japanese canal barge called a yakatabune. There was the return of Matt Chunk to England, Gary Garner's supposed retirement and Matt Setters Subway Line hi-jinks (stabbing people with a plastic sword from the luggage rack). The girls and guys put on their yukatas and a good time was had by all except Midori who was puking after 5 minutes on the boat!