Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

I've been meaning to post this since early last month but never quite finished typing the last few sentences...wow, does Shatner ever look a lot smaller in these pictures!

Here in Japan, the government has decided that merely giving people extra money for having kids isn't enough incentive to increase the dwindling population: now you get a free large flat-screen tv upon the birth of your first child! Hah, no, not really. Well, you do get a monthly allowance for having children, something around $100 I think, but no tv.
 The story behind our new tv: it is customary for coworkers to give money for births and deaths here, with some of that money coming back to them in the form of 'return gifts'...basically, a thank-you gift for the gift. Yuki's kind coworkers didn't want us to have to spend the time buying return gifts, so they decided to pool their money and get us a present instead. And, when asked what we wanted/needed for the baby, Yuki half-jokingly replied 'A new flat screen tv'.
 So, in a nutshell, there you have it. I'm pretty sure that his male coworkers were just as excited to buy a tv as Yuki was to receive it! We're very thankful for their generosity...and it really has been nice to be able to watch a show on a screen larger than a paperback when I'm on the couch nursing Keila! Thanks again, everyone!

                                        
                   
                                          Keila posing with the new tv

                                 William Shatner and Arnold Schwarnenegger