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Checkin to Starbucks
Starbucks has for here glasses for cold drinks now as well. Niice -
Checkin to γγ« Jimmy θ ε ΄ηΊεΊ
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The Week #155
by James- We went to the Nissan dealer so Yumi (and Leo) could see the car and we could test drive it as a family. The main reason we're even changing cars is so that Yumi can drive and not be dependent on me. She tried the automatic parking in the big box electronics store next to the dealership. Driving around it seems like the right size car for us. We've decided to buy it (in blue) and next week I'll go to negotiate a price.
We also made a contract to sell our current car and our last day with it will be the 30th. When we were car shopping originally, the Freed, while nice, it always felt a little too big. But we wanted something with sliding doors that didn't look like a shoe and that was the option. There were also talks of being able to take everyone out, but those never really happened. We did use the seating capacity once or two to shuttle my sister-in-law and her family down from Tokyo to the family home during the pandemic...but really we had a 7 seater for 3 people + 1 dog.
Kei's are definitely easier to drive around these narrow streets. With an EV there isn't this feeling of betraying my beliefs each time I use it β especially in the middle of the ever hotter summers. - I joined Leo on his last "Oya-ko Ensoku", or Parent-child field trip of his kindergarten years. This time we went to Tatara-hama beach in Yokosuka.
Having fun at the beach
At the beach kids can play in the water, but mostly go hunting in the rocks for crabs, fish, and jellyfish. We captured a jellyfish that fit perfectly into his little bucket, saw some crabs, and even a baby shark. Unfortunately the baby shark got up into the rocks, I guess at high tide, and couldn't get out before the water receded and died.
After playing at the beach for a couple of hours, everyone ate our bentos on the beach, then we had 30 minutes to pack up and visit the museum next to beach. The museum had a lot of information about the local environment and the fish. And for some reason a section with a lot of Godzillas.
Godzilla over the years
On the bus ride back to the kindergarten the bus driver played some Tom & Jerry onΒ entertainment system in the bus to keep the kids entertained. - Our blueberries are starting to turn blue! Not too much longer and I'll have at least a 50 dollars worth of berries from this plant. Yum π
Blueberries turning blue
- We went to the Nissan dealer so Yumi (and Leo) could see the car and we could test drive it as a family. The main reason we're even changing cars is so that Yumi can drive and not be dependent on me. She tried the automatic parking in the big box electronics store next to the dealership. Driving around it seems like the right size car for us. We've decided to buy it (in blue) and next week I'll go to negotiate a price.
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Checkin to Kannonzaki Nature Museum (観ι³ε΄θͺηΆεη©ι€¨)
Quick run through before we have to leave. -
Checkin to γγγζ΅
Field trip with Leo and the rest of his kindergarten! -
by JamesGot a couple more quotes for selling my Honda Freed:
140 from Nissan π (dealer)
130 - 150 from Autobacs π
180 from Big Motor π
10 less than what he said as a potential last week, but weβll have it through the month. And 2 months sans car.
Exciting times in the Van Dyne household! -
by James#BanCars and such, but I am excited to test drive an EV for the first time today.
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The Week #154
by James- The rainy season has arrived in Kanto...which means it's been rainy the majority of the last week and will be rainy the following week(s) as well. I generally like the rainy season as, while it's humid, it's the last days of the year before the summer heat really kicks in.
- Depending on the severity of the rain, Leo soccer match had the potential to be canceled. We'd find out if it was cancelled by 7am when we'd need to leave by 7:15 to arrive in time.
It wasn't cancelled and Leo had his first soccer match at Nissan Stadium...in the rain! It was a friendly with a bunch of other Kanagawa pre-schools and football clubs. The uniforms were supposed to arrive by the friday prior, but they didn't, so we received them at the stadium and changed there. Each kid could pick their own number, so we have a couple of duplicates π€£Go number 1!
The game itself was as you'd expect a game of football with 5 year olds to be, they looked like a swarm of bees chasing after the ball. The important part though is they now know what it means to be on a team and know what it's like to play a game, so they'll be ready for a real game this fall. In the mean time, they train. - While we were at the soccer match, my wife was at the Japanese archery grounds, taking the test for her sho-dan. She's been working towards this for 2 years and passing this would allow her to practice by herself, whenever the archery grounds are open. Until now she's always had to practice as part of a group when a teacher is around under their supervision.
They don't tell you the results directly after the test. First, I reckon they deliberate a bit, but then they tell your teacher and your teacher tells you. Come Monday morning, Yumi comes downstairs crying and my first thought was "oh no, who died..." but they were happy tears! Yumi passed her test and, once she pays her dues, will be able to practice whenever she wants. - We started looking at perhaps selling our Honda Freed and getting something smaller / easier to drive on the narrow roads around (most of the roads in our neighborhood are only wide enough for 1 car). Also something that's easier to park/back into the small parking spots. As it is now, I'm the only one that drives our car. I don't like driving it much because...narrow roads aren't fun, but also it burns gas, which literally goes against everything I'm working for at work. It's actively making things worse.
The main (only) contender is the Sakura, the EV Kei car from Nissan. Kei cars are small 4-seaters perfect for driving in the city. At the upper grade, it also ProPilot, so it will be able to automatically park (head first, back in, and parallel), which will solve the main blocker for my wife driving our current car.
I went to the dealer to get a quote and with all the bells and whistles it's about 360-man ($25k usd). We can sell our car for between 190 - 200-man (not to the dealer) and there's an EV subsidy for 55-man, so that would bring our cost down to 105-man.Nissan Sakura
While at the dealer, I got to inspect it and do a demo of the automatic-parking and it's pretty great. It's so quiet inside the EV. Since it's electric, too, it will cost us nothing / near-nothing for fuel because of our solar panels...
I'm sold on moving forward, but now I've got to convince my wife that we should move forward with it...after all, it was her idea!.
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Checkin to Nissan Stadium (ζ₯η£γΉγΏγΈγ’γ )
Leoβs first soccer match is at a pro stadium!
