R. and I have recently started on a new project, which we will call Codename: Micro Cooper. The story starts about four months back, when R. complained of feeling sick in the morning and tired. A quick trip to the hospital, and we found the reason: an as-of-yet unmet new member of the family. We don’t yet know much about this little person in the making, but for now we will address the person as (micro) Cooper.

We’ve been going to a hospital in Hiroo called Aiiku Hospital. Hiroo is a kind of stylish neighborhood and Aiiku Hospital is a well-respected hospital that is popular with expats. It is convenient for me because it is a quick 5 to 10 minute bike ride from work, and maybe fifteen minutes from home on the bike. It is about a thirty minute train ride with one transfer, or a quick 10 minutes in a taxi. So we are set on that front.

Yesterday, we decided that we needed to get some additional backing on the safety front, and we visited Suitengu Shrine, a Shrine renowned for the worship of the deity of Safe Childbirth. Walking around the area there are lots of Maternity shops and lots of pregnant women. We planned to make a day of it, so before going to the shrine, we went to have a very nice Unagi (freshwater eel) lunch.

In July Japanese people traditionally have a Summer Unagi meal, which is supposed to be a meal to help you get over the oppressive heat and boosts your stamina. So we headed over to Asakusa’s Unagi Maekawa for lunch. The cute little restaurant is right on the Sumida river, in a small three story building with Tatami-mat seating. You can actually see Tokyo Sky Tree from the Tatami room in which we ate on the second floor. The other thing about this restaurant is that it has been serving up Unagi over rice for a long time. A very long time: about 200 years. So they have had a long time to perfect their art. I really enjoyed the meal, and highly recommend the place. It is a bit pricey though (I think we paid about $80 for the two of us for lunch.)

After lunch, we took the train to Suitengu Shrine. It is a pretty small place actually, which surprised me. We washed our hands, and headed to the Shine sales shop. If you aren’t familiar with Japanese shrines, they usually specialize in one sort of thing (with a specific deity to back it up) and then sell a variety of charms to help you attain your goals. There are traffic safety charms, charms for doing well on tests, and so on. This particular shrine specializes in safe childbirth. We asked for an order of “Have the priests pray for our safe childbirth”, but it turns out that we were too late for that (they were all sold out – or more properly booked up) so we just got the safe childbirth womb wrap.

The safe childbirth belt includes a nice cloth wrap (with some blessings on it) as well as a charm that you wrap up with the cloth. That should really help. R. tried it on, but we’re still a bit early on in the process so she thinks it can wait a while yet.

We still have about four months to go before Project: Micro Cooper is unveiled, but there are lots of big changes coming up in our lives. We’re going to have to see how we can fit more stuff in our little apartment, and start looking at baby carriages and child seats. We’ve also been checking out new cars, with a chance we’ll trade in our Mini Cooper for a Mini Cooper Clubman or possibly a Mini Cooper Crossover. We’ve got to send in our Mini Cooper for the bi-annual inspection this month, and then it will be licensed for two more years. Once that is up though, it will be 8 years old, a veritable octogenarian in Japan.

So friends and family, we’ve got big changes coming up, and definitely welcome any advice and pointers. The release date for Project: Micro Cooper is currently 2011-12-15, so check back around Christmas time to see what new super cute features we’ve got coming!