We had a nice weekend with Inoguchi sensei and his wife coming over for a barbecue, and a very successful meetup with Antoine in Sannomiya on Friday night.

Friday night’s drinking session with Antoine was after work, and we managed to drink in four different places – the Belgian (which I am much more aware of now that we have plans to go to Belgium), an underground yakitori, the Ebisu bar in motomachi, and finally the New York – facing Sannomiya station.

Antoine broke the big news that Miwako is pregnant and a baby boy is due in September, so we celebrated that for the evening. He looked very happy, and we’re going to try to arrange some kind of couples meet in the near future. It is a major change in his life – it will be interesting to see how things go for them. I can’t wait to meet the “junior” as Antoine calls him.

Saturday was spent lazing about the house, but Sunday afternoon Inoguchi sensei and his wife came over for lunch. I grilled some chicken and vegetables outside and over a meal we talked about maybe taking a trip to Singapore together. We are looking into flights and time schedules – by the far the most difficult part is finding time when everyone is free. The target month is July, so hopefully we can work something out.

Hanging out with them was fun – they are really some of the nicest people I know. They are very patient with my broken Japanese, and are very gracious guests. I’m sure we’ll have a chance to meet up again soon – and it would be great if it was in Singapore.

OK – I’m off to work – now it is back to my regular schedule. This week is the last regular week before Golden Week, so after Friday I’ll have five days off in a row. That is always a good thing.