Hochner Family Blog

We have to go there before it is over, and the deadline is December 4th. 

Akiko got the tickets a while ago, but we were waiting for the good timing to enjoy the Ueno park at the same time as this exhibition of Hokusai work at the National Museum.

The information we got about the color of the leaves was outdated, and there were not much leaves left.  It is still a nice park to walk around.

It is full of museum, shrines and temple, is host to Japan's first zoo where one can see giant panda bears.

Anyway, our purpose was the Hokusai exhibition…. but there was already a 30 minute queue to enter and we gave up the idea, at least for today. We’ll try again tomorrow, earlier.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 7:52 AM 0 comments

Our French blog started to act bizarre with the utility I am using.  Actually, the blog looks OK when I check it online, but I can’t use BlogJet to manage it or access it.  Wasted a couple of hours on this today and I am feeling a bit down…

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 5:39 PM 0 comments

We talked about visiting this place for a little while and we were just waiting for the right time to enjoy the changing of the autumn color.

Too early! Not  yet! Akiko has been monitoring this on the Internet as we certainly didn’t want to miss one of Tokyo's most popular koyo (autumn foliage) spots.

Today, Sunday is the day! 

So we woke up early (well, kind of) and took the Keio train from Shinjuku for the 45 minutes ride to Takaosan  (Mount Takao). This place is still located within metropolitan Tokyo!  We took the cable car (featuring the steepest slope of all Japanese cable cars, with 31 degrees!), walked around a few temples and reach the peak at 599 meters. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t allow us to see neither Tokyo nor the Mount Fuji.

The various leaf colors were amazing. Lots of beautiful spots, each with numerous photographers around — after all, we are in Japan. I started to use my new tripod while Julien enjoyed using “our” Nikon D100 and my tripod…. 

Had a quick look at the monkey mountain where we shot a few nice pictures.

Mount Takao (Takaosan) is considered a sacred mountain and has been a center of worship for more than 1000 years. The attractive Yakuoin temple stands near the mountain's top. Visitors pray there to Shinto and Buddhist mountain gods (tengu) for good fortune. Statues of the gods, one with a long nose and one with a crow beak, can be found at the temple and all over the mountain.

We knew that this place could become crowded, mainly at this period, but . . .   Well, we had to wait almost one hour to get a car to go down the mountain, and were able to catch a train right away for Tokyo.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 5:51 PM 0 comments

I am working on our web site and testing/trying numerous programs and utilities for this purpose. I need to find an easy and fast way to create and post photos on our web pages, in galleries, in slide shows, etc. Some good stuff. Some useless crap, as usual. Today, I posted our first photo page at http://www.hochner.com/food.html.

I am also working on the French pages which I hope to have ready and up in a couple of days. More tomorrow.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 6:35 PM 0 comments

Wow….I found out that this Summer, during the Shareware Industry Conference, I was inducted into the Shareware Hall of Fame. And can you believe it — I didn’t even know about it!  Nothing is mentioned on the SIC web site (www.sic.org). I actually found out accidentally by discussing with a friend.

Here is the official text…

Shareware Hall of Fame 2005 Inductee:

Patrick Hochner – created P. & A. Inc, along with his wife, Akiko, in May of 1984. At that time it was strictly a translation company, but in 1991 Patrick entered the world of software distribution. He used his contacts, experience, and knowledge of software to present high-quality programs to Japanese computer users. And, while providing good programs, he also provided good Japanese instruction with each and every product he sold. In 1992 his company was the first ASP approved shareware vendor in Japan and he distributed some of the most popular products including games such as Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, and more. Patrick has gone on to distribute a wide range of games, applications, and utilities taking care of the translation and localization in Japanese. Patrick has worked hard to promote shareware not only in Japan, but around the world as well. As a member of the shareware community, Patrick has become known for his honesty and integrity. In his dealings with shareware authors around the world, he always puts principle before profit. In view of his contributions to shareware and the shareware community, the SIAF board of directors is proud to induct Patrick Hochner into the Shareware Hall of Fame!

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:40 PM 0 comments

Again, things are moving in the right direction.  After years of thinking, months of procrastinating.  Days of work…..

 We have finally posted the English version of our family web site!

   Have a look at: www.hochner.com

         And be sure to let us know what you think.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:27 AM 0 comments

  It took us quite a while to select the 300 pictures from our South American trip that are featured in this album.

We were supposed to receive the album in 7 to 14 business days, but after waiting for almost one month, we were close to give up the idea of ever getting it. 

Needless to say that we are now very happy that it arrived.  It’s really great!  

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 7:17 AM 0 comments

Of course, as soon as she saw what I was doing, Akiko wanted to give it a try.

Here on the right is a picture taken at the Mont Saint-Michel.  This was really a great trip and an incredible location.

Let’s post this.

Now, of course, she was not happy with this first post and had to modify it.  (Actually, we're testing our tools, Namo WebEditor 2006 and BlogJet.)

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 4:39 AM 1 comments

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

Hopefully, this will enable me to get an easy to manage, good looking Blog.

Voilà , j’essaie un nouveau programme pour me faciliter la vie avec le Blog.  Nous allons voir comment ça marche.  J’espère que ça ira mieux que la dernière fois.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:45 AM 0 comments

Tori No Ichi

Today, we took our bicycles and went to Hanazonojinja, a Shinto Shrine in Shinjuku, to have a look at the Tori no Ichi Fair "festival of the rooster" (open-air market). This is a famous annual event held in November on the days of the Tori (Rooster). In the Japanese traditional calendar, modeled after the Chinese one, the years, days, and hours are represented by a repeating cycle of 12 animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar. In most years there are only two days of the rooster in November, but sometimes there are three. It is said that in such years, there will be many fires.

There are numerous food stands around and we enjoyed the customary yakisoba and yakitori for lunch.

This event started during the Edo period and still continues today. These fairs are held at various Shinto shrines around the country where many people come around to pray for good health, good fortune and good business. They buy colorful kumade, or rakes, from the many vendors who set up stalls in and around the shrines (see picture below).

These Kumade are decorated with good-luck items such as masks, replicas of gold coins, and miniature treasure ships and chests.The good luck only lasts for one year and one has to buy another Kumade every year -- many people or shops buy a larger one each time to increase their good fortune.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:43 PM 0 comments

Et voila... We have finally started our family blog. We'll try to post here regularly and always add  lots of photos.

This Blog is being written from Tokyo, our new home.

Here is a view near our train station, Ichigaya, located just a couple of minutes away from the apartment.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 7:34 AM 0 comments