Henington Hiroshima Christmas Extravaganza

As Christmas Day was Monday we decided to have our Christmas Dinner on Christmas eve so we could have a few friends over and feed them wine box wine- an old Henington tradition. As there was six of us we embarked on a rather nervous process of trying to cook a 4 legged chicken with all the vegetables to match.
It was quite Chaotic but we even managed to squeeze in starters, homemade stuffing and homemade cheesecake as well- so far no reports of any food poisoning although Kiyoshi did seem to spend a long time in the bathroom before he left- too much box wine we think- as you can see from the photos- he's the one pulling all the face...I imagine translating at Mazda the next day was fun!

Whilst putting the presents on display Aiko discovered that The Henington Seniors has also sent a Christmas cracker kit so it was a full on hat wearing dinner..that disintegrated into a wine fuelled Jenga session that The Heningtons emerged from with a Played 3 lost 0 recorde- all that practice is paying dividends...
















The next day- Up early as usual by the Archie Alarm clock- John nursed his sore head for as long as we could before a quick breakfast and then onto the presents.
Archie still hasn't got into the unwrapping yet but did enjoy destroying our careful piles of paper afterwards. One of Archie's star presents was a bike which is a little too big for him (He'll grow into it) and the only person who has ridden it so far is Aiko- John also can’t touch the pedals!















Archie's other present is a speaking computer 'thing' which he likes to turn off so he can say ‘bye bye’ to it!

Anyway for those we haven't spoken to in person Merry Christmas and we hope you have a great New Year. We hope to see you at some point but if anyone happens to be coming to Japan on the off chance you are always welcome!

Yoi otoshio as they say here!

Yamaguchi Trip 16/17th December

First off in the seasons busy schedule was a trip to Yamaguchi-ken (County) for Aikos running club reunion.

On the way we popped into a rather sad looking, small town zoo which was extra grey as it's December anyway. The animals were in quite small cages but the staff seemed to care a bit which doesn't quite justify it's existence but at least leaves you with a reasonable memory that the animals are looked after a bit.

Archie had lots of fun running up and down slopes and looking at the animals. One of the monkeys did throw something at John- not sure what that means- animals often don't like looking at their own reflections....

As you can see AJ never wastes an opportunity to make his Dad look stupid- or is that the other way round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJe0SGiwAc

Aiko's reunion was held at a small Ryokan (Japanese Inn) in the countryside. 5 Ex-runners with 8 children...needless to say it was bedlam! Lots of gossiping and screaming kids- John took refuge with his beer....
Whilst at the Ryokan John had one of his 'I don't understand what this sign means' moments whilst visiting the baths- Shared variety: lots of naked men walking around and washing far too thoroughly! Thought the sign must mean Jacuzzi bath but what it actually meant was cold bath (with bubbles) but once committed didn't have the nerve to pull out! Anyway here a picture of everyone standing out in the rain before we left.

Hakushima Headline 15 Dec 2006

This week has been quite a bit busy for AJ.

On Wednesday, Aiko’s old friends were over to ours with their children. As always, AJ comes up in front of a girl’s face and gives his best smile, but she was more interested in his toys. Poor old AJ….He tries…


On Thursday, we had another mother and baby gathering- this time we were invited to Saki-chan’s house, a Hakushima Gang Member. As there were seven of us all with children there was lots of noise and crying. Archie was one of 3 boys heavily outnumbered by 11 girls…As you can see the children look like they are starving animals waiting desperately for some food. Snacks came along and Archie tried to grab as many as he could and then show off how much he could eat at once…but the others weren’t too happy about that.While the children were stuffing their faces the mums tried to squeeze a quick cuppa in the brief moment of peace and quiet.



Archie’s main moment of fame and popularity came when his nappy was changed and all the girls went to watch……

Jenga cup

As you may know the competitive Heningtons always like playing games. We try to collect games when we go somewhere new as a souvenir or when we find something interesting.

We’ve recently got a very exciting game, Jenga, and are now having a game most of nights. For those of you who don’t know about Jenga, it is a game that you slide a piece of wood out from a tower and pile it up on top (as you can see in the picture) - the person who makes it collapse is the LOSER!!!!!.

We had our first game and John won but Aiko thought this was just a warm up.Yesterday, in our second game, we managed to pile up 29 stories ending with Aiko with the winner.

Aiko: Hooray!! I told you! I am warmed up now! But I have very sweaty palms….

As we try next game, our score will follow!

Bonenkai Marathon

Wow, it’s Sunday night after another busy weekend in the world of H. We’ve managed to squeeze in two Bonenkai and a 10km run and are pretty tired- despite Archie being at the In laws.

A Bonenkai is an end of year party and needless to say it involves a bit of eating and a bit of drinking - In our case we do as much of each as we can but we seem to have different strength.....

First up was John’s company Bonenkai which was held in the biggest hotel in Hiroshima, the Righa Royal. All 3 of us attended and after an initial period of relative calm Archie was off and running around the hotel. The hotel didn’t seem to mind but we didn’t hang around to find out.This was Archie first experience to see Father Christmas and he seemed to take it all in his stride as you can see!

On Saturday night we had the Cross Nihongo (Japanese) School and Get Hiroshima Party. Cross is where I “try” to have lessons from my Sensei (Pictured on left with her younger Sister) and GH is a website (http://www.gethiroshima.com/) run by a some other Gaijin (foreigners) who do so much for Hiroshima in general- organising parties, events and just letting people know what is going on.Again more food and drink was consumed and we had the usual speeches to go though but as GH Paul is from the North of UK his initial effort was simply a brisk Cheers! The party had a special guest from a local Sake brewery; Miho, who is the chief brewer, had brought various types of sake with her so a lot of tasting went on- it should be noted that in the competition John was a winner- wonder how he managed that!

Now with an early start the next day and a 10km road race in cold December weather the sane thing to have done would be to go home early and not drink too much…….well as Archie was elsewhere for the night those wise words soon got lost and at 12.30am (after a Simon Special at Spud love ) we got home and John then ‘unset’ the alarm clock so we slept in.

We were meant to get up at 5.20 as the race was in the middle of nowhere about 100 miles away and we woke at 7.30!!! Registration cut off at the race was 9am so we just jumped in the car and John drove like a mad man (like normal?). Aiko firmly gripped the dash board for most of the journey and somehow we got there at 9.30 and were allowed in.

Despite the bad hangover and no food John managed to huff his way round the cold (but thankfully flat course) in 44 minutes and 40 seconds- broke the 45 minute barrier mainly because some fat 60 year old sprinted past him as they entered the stadium and there was no way that was ‘OK’ . John also beat the 94 year old woman who had entered!! 94!!!!

After the race John was able to have a free portion of some Fugu miso soup which was very welcome indeed- Fugu is a (highly) poisonous puffer fish but it’s OK if handled and cooked properly- besides after all the sake the night before its likely that John was immune to further poisoning. Aiko had her portion (at a cost of 100yen=50p for non runners) for breakfast and also had some noodles for lunch (45 minutes later). Both of us abstained from the fish that was sale- can’t imagine that fish being for sale at a running event in the UK somehow!!! Cuppa tea and some biscuits maybe….

Wow- what a weekend and to think Christmas is just around the corner….can it get any busier?

Hakushima Gang

Close to our apartment is a park so Archie and I (Aiko) go there almost everyday to see our ‘Hakushima Park gang’ and of course to try and make Archie tired!

Archie already seems to have a girlfriend or maybe girlfriends?!? His current favourite is called Lin-chan who is super- active girl and they are getting on very well.

Usually Lin-chan follows Archie wherever he goes and tries to copy everything although this sounds like Archie is the stronger character but, in fact, he is not. He is the one who often ends up crying - not just because of Lin-chan but also by most other children.

Come on Son! grow up! but he is only one year and 8months…

Here are two picture of Lin-chan and Archie together- One having some time chilling on the bench and the other when Archie is escorting Lin-chan to the next game- or maybe she is pushing him!

Although sometimes children plays together, most children at Archie’s age are quite happy to play individually or with their own mum. Archie's current craze is kicking the ball which is his own word is called 'dudu' and he would rather do this than go on the swings or play in the sandpit...

A lot of mothers are surprised that he kicks very strongly and correctly every time. Yes, of course his very proud dad is teaching him everyday to make him future England football player!!!- or perhaps for Japan? John??

About us: John, Aiko and Archie Henington

The main reason for setting this up is to keep everyone in touch with what we do, where we go and probably most importantly what Archie is up to.

Before we get to him lets just remind you who we are.

Just so you can't see what married life with a young child has done to us here's a photo taken 5/6 years ago- with any luck you probably won't recognise us these days.

The photo was taken at one of Hiroshima's beer 'gardens' no doubt after a few drinks and marked the start of our time together- actually it was our second time together after a bit of a false start but the rest as they say is history.

For those who don't know a beer garden in Japan is usually the top of a department store where you buy entry and have free drinks and lots of unhealthy food- as a Brit its just like being at home- apart from the high humidity and sweat!

That's enough about us; what about our son Archie?...

Full name is Archie John Henington- sometimes called AJ, Arch, Archie-kun, Ar-kun, Ah-zi, mate, spudhead....

We'll post a more complete history of Archie another time but so you can see him today in full glory here he is in a happy mood!

Archie was born at Masaoka Hospital in Naka-ku, Hiroshima at 3.30am on the 16th April 2005- Exactly on his due date. As we write this, he is about 1 year and 8 months old.

As we're so late in doing this many of the major milestones have already been achieved for him- crawling, walking, tantrums but we're sure as he is beginning to speak there should be some good moments to talk about and who knows maybe we'll have another offspring soon....

Welcome to the modern world

Thought this might be a fun thing to do so people can keep up to date with what we are up to!