my kid, the celebrity

So Joseph is a huge hit in Japan. People tell me it's because he has light skin and hair, and he's therefore a novelty in Japan. There is no stranger danger with him; he says hi to everyone. Even more, he blows kisses to everyone! Just last night, we were having dinner at a restaurant, and as we were leaving, he ran up to our waitress and gave her a big hug!

Another recent example was at another restaurant; all the line cooks were making funny faces and waving to him while we were sitting down for our meal.

We'll be walking down the road and an older lady or gentleman will say, "konichiwa!" and make googly faces at Joseph. Joseph, the biggest ham, will be all over that. I think that Christian and I are chopped liver whenever we're in the presence of Japanese nationals.

And on a tangential topic, I took Joseph to a little toddler gym class yesterday. It was taught in half English/half Japanese. Anyway, Joseph happened to be on the only non-Japanese kid there. He was very shy at first, but then he was really going crazy on all the play equipment. Joseph seemed to be a bit "rougher" than all the Japanese kids. Maybe it's because he's a boy, maybe it's because Japanese kids are a little more reserved than he is. Anyway, the Japanese moms just laughed and thought he was funny.