Welcome to ITO NEWS

Sorry for not blogging lately--haven't had much I could write about. One new thing is that Akihiro started a new part time job. He will be working two Saturday mornings a month at Tokyo Medical Surgical Clinic near Tokyo Tower. He found out about the clinic when he went to have a physical to get his green card. The clinic is run like an American clinic and lots of foreigners come there. On his first day he saw people from UK, Australia, France, America, Japan, and a lot of "halves" (that is the term they use here for children with parents of two different countries). He really likes the fact that he can use his English and medical skills at the same time--said he feels like he is in America--charting in English, prescribing American medications, etc. I am really happy for him!

We also have another job in the works...There is a cable TV channel here that is for medical people. In the past, Akihiro did a program for them on his residency at SIU, but now after they saw our book, they would like us to do a program for their program--also to make a DVD. So, I am writing scripts--"I have a burning pain in my stomach.....I have a burning pain in my stomach." I guess I will probably be the patient and Akihiro the doctor for the program--unless any of our readers wants to come over and be an actor/actress for us:)

We have been having some lovely fall days here lately. One day we took a walk by the river and enjoyed the beautiful cosmos. I've got a beautiful picture, but the problem is that my computer isn't working right now--waiting for a part in the mail--so I am using Akihiro's and I can't read Japanese Windows! Maybe later!

Well, after one short-lived revival, I finally laid to rest my dear laptop. It has served me well for three years and Akihiro for one year prior to that. The short revival, interestingly enough, happened after I put the laptop in the freezer for several hours. I had heard that sometimes computers can be salvaged in this way. Well, at first when I got it out of the freezer, it started up for about 8 seconds rather than the previous 2 seconds before whirring and shutting down. We decided to let it thaw out a bit and try again. Low and behold, the thing worked! Thankfully I had backed up my pictures and Word documents, but hadn't gotten very proficient at backing up my email program. So, Akihiro helped backup my contact lists and calendar. We breathed a sigh of relief when that was accomplished! It kept working until late this am when it refused to go on. I tried the freezer trick again, but it didn't work. So, may it rest in peace! I am keeping busy putting my "brain" (calendar reminder system) on Google on the web instead of on Outlook. Hopefully that will be safer. I'm stealing Akihiro's laptop now and enduring those awful Japanese messages. I know the choices are yes and no--I can read that--but what is the question. Oh well, I'll just hit yes. So far it is still working, so I guess it is ok!

Akihiro has his real estate test tomorrow. I pray he can pass it. He has been studying very diligently--about six to eight hours a day recently. He said it reminds him of his medical student days.

This last Sunday was the last Sunday for Willis and Lois. We will surely miss them and all they did for our Shioda church. It will seem strange not to have anyone to greet us with Ehnle-san’s standard, “Have you ever seen such a wonderful day in all your born life?”
On Monday we went to pick up Akihiro’s grandparents—two grandmas and a grandpa and Akihiro’s mom. We headed about one hour north of Tokyo. Our main goal was to see Akihiro’s sister who is having a clinical rotation there. She is in training to be an OB/GYN doctor and loves her work. Akihiro’s grandpa said he can imagine Akihiro as “Ito Sensei” (Dr. Ito), but he can’t quite imagine his sister Kayuko as “Ito Sensei”. He wanted to see her at her hospital in her white coat! We visited a beautiful flower park on our way to the town. Hopefully later I can post a few samplings of the flowers we saw. I remembered how my former coworker Laura said that being in a beautiful flower garden refreshes one’s soul. Indeed I found this to be true!

Even a bonsai chrysanthemum display!

We then went to a small hotel where we stayed. Many hotels in Japan include a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. The food was very good, but Grandpa was so happy to be with his grandkids that he couldn’t stop talking to eat it all! The next morning we had arranged to go to Kayuko’s hospital to see her in her white coat. She was busy, but we stole 30 seconds of her time for a picture. How proud the grandparents were!

We also visited the first international college in Japan—built almost 700 years ago, but recently restored. Here is a picture of their classroom—sitting at low tables on tatami (rice straw mats).

The grounds were beautiful too!

We stopped to get gas and were impressed with their service—most Japanese gas station employees will bow to you when you pull up and when you leave, but not many are wearing neckties! We drove north to Nikko--a mountainous area and saw some good fall color and a beautiful waterfall. It was a nice trip!

I’m getting excited about our trip home to America—November 10th through the 20th! Hope to see some of you then!