Picture album

Last year in Izu

Izu peninsula is located some 60 km west of Tokyo, south of Mt. Fuji. Shimoda, near its southern tip, is where Admiral Perry first landed to open Japan to the outside world. The village of Anjiro where much of Clavell's "Shogun" is set lies in eastern Izu.

This picture of Shintaro and me was taken in Iwachi Onsen, a fishing village on the Matsuzaki coast in southwestern Izu, my favourite part of the peninsula. It's a very quiet part of Izu, offers some stunning scenery and breathtaking sunsets over the Pacific in the west and good views of Mt. Fuji in the north.

The bath towel I'm wearing here bears the inscription "One square metre of Bavaria" and was a gift from one of my uncles when I got married.

Shigeko in Maui

In September '92 Shigeko and I travelled to Hawaii where we visited Oahu and Maui. We particularly liked Maui and the area around Lahaina where we stayed. Our favourite beach was Kapalua Beach. We also drove the long and windy road to Hana, up to the peak of 3000 m (10,000 ft.) Haleakala and took a hike into the lush tropical rainforest of the Iao Valley.

Whenever we can find the time we'd like to go back and also visit Kauai and the Big Island.

Yukiko, 4 days old

This little princess here is Yukiko, Shintaro's little sister. Initially he was quite jealous of her, but gradually got used to her. Now she can even have some of his toys.

You can find more pictures of Yukiko at her website.

My mother, with Yukiko

My mother, with her fifth grandchild, Yukiko. Shigeko says they look very much alike, especially when they smile.

Günter with Yukiko

My younger brother Günter studied music at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is a music teacher.

Wedding party

This picture was taken out our second wedding party, the one in Japan. It was one of the rare occasions where you can find me in a suit and Shigeko in a kimono.

My grandmother at my house in Germany

Anna Wein, my father's mother was still in pretty good shape in her eighties. She passed away at 94 in 2008.

Shimpei and Yukie

After the wedding I took Shigeko and her parents, Shimpei and Yukie to Neuschwanstein castle, the creation of mad Bavarian king Ludwig II. Shintaro shares his first kanji character with his grandfather as Yukiko does with her grandmother.

Field Trial

Shimpei's passion were field trials for bird dogs. He trained pointers and setters and took them to competitions. These pictures are from a trip to the U.S.A. in 1989 where he competed in a trial in Florida and won, as the first Japanese competitor ever.

Running

Big Sur marathon grizzled vet Tom Rolander started me running a few years ago. It helped to keep down the pounds.

In 1982 I bought my first car, a VW Passat. I decided to call him Max and painted him in the Ethiopian colours, red, gold and green. Yes, the guy sitting on the roof is me, some 13 years ago.

I had only been growing my hair for two years then and I didn't cut it for a total of seven years. The original Max was followed by Max II, Max III, etc. up to Max VI, none of which shared the unusual paint job of their predecessor.

This was my favourite car ever. Max VI was an Audi Coupe quattro 20V, which has a 170 PS, 2.3l four valve per cylinder, five cylinder engine, permanent 4WD and is capable of 220 kph (137 mph), where legal.

I did well over 100,000 km in it and was very happy with it. In November 1989 I drove this car to Prague in then still communist Czechoslovakia, to witness the revolutionary weekend that lead to the end of communist rule in the country.

After 7 seven years with a Honda that my father-in-law let us use after I moved to Japan, this was the successor to my old Max. Its automatic gearbox was more suitable to Japanese traffic than the Audi Coupe quattro 20V I had driven in Germany. My main regret with th A4 was about the fuel economy of its 2.4 litre 5 valve per cylinder V6 engine. Most of our trips were short runs to a nearby train station or shop, where the engine barely warmed up, but even so, filling up with 50-odd litres of unleaded premium fuel every 300 km or so was too much. An average fuel economy of only 6 km per litre (17 litres per 100 km) is not really appropriate any more. After about 8 years and 90,000 km I sold Max VII, my seventh and perhaps last VW / Audi car. I now drive a Toyota Prius.

Old friends

These guys here are Fritz and Herbert, two old friends from Germany, sitting in a beer garden. We once did a music video together.