Hobbies. Life. Philosophy. Japanese culture. Otaku culture. Science Fiction. Anime. Manga. Video games. Plastic models. Photography. Fish named Steve. Enjoy.

Ulan Kate was born on May 5th, 2008. May 5th is Children's Day in Japan. She is extremely cute. Half of our time is spent taking care of the baby, and the other half of our time is teaching people how to pronounce her name. It's really not difficult at all. It's like that dumb Disney movie Mulan, but without the M of course. Everywhere we go, people stop us to tell us that she's the cutest girl they've ever seen.

Pictures of the 2012 Shizuoka Hobby Show are now added to the Greg's Life section!

After moving to Japan in January 2012, we've moved from the freezing winters of Nagano-ken to the hot summers of Shizuoka-ken. Mount Fuji can be seen from the windows of our apartment, rising majestically over the city. We've found a beautiful place to live.

In February, just a few weeks after I began teaching, my dear Mom passed away. She was 69 years old, and she was battling leukemia for about 10 years. In the end, it wasn't the leukemia that killed her. She's had problems with a lack of an autoimmune system, vertigo from her inner ear from infections and such, sudden loss of blood platelets, diverticulitis of her colon, reactions to the antibiotics she was on, and so on. A week or so ago she was admitted into the hospital yet again due to the antibiotic junk in her system. For a while, she made a recovery and was moved from the ICU into a regular hospital room. Then she picked up a bacterial infection that gave her a fever of 106. They gave her this powerful fever medicine, then later figured out that it was the port she had for her bloodstream they had grafted into her skin because she had collapsed veins. When this was removed, the fever went away. However, the side effect of the fever medicine is that it collapsed her colon. She was too weak for the doctors to really do anything. Her body was poisoning itself and she was in agony. After a day or so, she was no longer lucid and couldn't remember anyone. Eventually, Dad had to turn off the life support machine.

She battled so many illnesses, but this one stupid little infection snowballed into a huge problem and led to her death. It's just not fair. But at least she is no longer in agony. She was always happy when she slept a night without pain. Now she sleeps, free from pain forever. Mom, you were always there for me, both growing up and as an adult. You were a loyal, loving, and caring mom, and I miss you. I love you, Mom. Rest in peace.