Trip to Izu (Aug.2009)

So two of my friends and I went to a place called Izu for a trip back in August.
It was the first time for me to go to a real "ryokan" so lot's of surprises were in store for me!


I hadn't eaten lunch that day, so by the time we arrived in Izu, I was starving. I think we arrived somewhere around 4pm, and my friend suggested we eat a light snack so that we'd have room for dinner. At this point, I was so hungry I didn't heed to that warning, since I didn't know what it was supposed to mean, and I kept snacking on whatever I could get my hands on.

Around 6pm, dinner got served in our room, which was the ryokan style.

They serve the food in small plates, but then the plates all add up. They kept coming back to the room over and over again to serve more food! After about the 4th time they came back, I was asking my friend how much do they think we can eat?! It felt like a 20-course meal. My friend then tells me "what? You didn't know they serve lot's of food at ryokans?! I was wondering why you kept snacking away when we had this huge dinner waiting for us!"

So now I know, when you go to ryokans, they serve a 3-person meal for each person, so it's best to go in with an empty stomach!

I'm going to faint...

Some of the food in Japan, boy, they are barbaric!
This one time, I went to a welcome party at one of my new workplaces, and this fish that was sliced open and sticking up as in the above picture, with a nail to it's head and tail, came out on a plate. Then one of my co-workers started to poke the fish....and guess what???

IT MOVED!!!

I really thought I'd faint. I'm vegetarian, but I don't mind other people eating whatever they want to eat, but when things get THIS barbaric, I lose my appetite. I guess for people who eat fish, this is as fresh as they come, but no thank you for me!

Some yummy food

Food, is always presented so artistically here in Japan. It's quite amazing.

Piece of my birthday cake from a while ago.

This restaurant had vegetable sushi! Never seen such a thing, so it was interesting.

I don't remember where I took this, but I'm sure it was pretty good!

Time to upgrade the computers at work!(Last May)

So I have a whole backlog of pictures I've been meaning to post...
This one is from my previous workplace, where we needed to setup new computers.

Yes, it was quite a task!
But of course, I like doing this kind of stuff, so it was fun.

After all the moving and packing of new and old computers, I found a hole in my socks!

Awesome game!!

I didn't realize I'd get so caught up in this WBC game, but boy, did I get into it! It was SOOOO exciting. During the semi-finals, I happened to be in Tokyo and had time when the game was playing, so my friend and I went to a sports bar to watch the game. The final game was against South Korea, and was it an exciting game or what!


Ichiro, although he'd been in a major slump during the games, was the one that hit the winning ball that brought in 2 points in the 10th inning, giving Japan victory over South Korea. I was so happy for him!


This guy, Iwakuma, he was the starting pitcher for Japan and did such a good job that he was able to pitch all the way up to the 8th inning, with the 100-pitch limit the WBC had. He was calm throughout, smiling, and was in total control of the ball most of the time. Quite amazing that he could pitch so well under so much pressure.

Say what?!

Oh dear...if you're going to sell something and you ABSOLUTELY need to have English on the packaging, why oh WHY not spend a few extra bucks to have the English checked?! Makes me cringe.

"99.9% is shut out pollen.
'Nose Mask Pit' supports your comfortable life.
Ad-justable
Free season
Entering by 3 pieces
Mask inserted in nose of not seeing."

Reminds me of this one time I went to use the restroom in a department store and it said "toilet shower" on all the doors, and I had no idea what to expect on the other side! Turns out they were regular bathrooms with those high-tech seats.

Children's Day (national holiday)

Went to the store last weekend and saw a bunch of these samurai style helmets on sale. Must've been close to the National Children's Day, which is a day of celebration for boys and is a national holiday. They have another day called Doll's Day, which is a day of celebration for girls, but that day isn't a national holiday. Yes, that's right. NOT a holiday! How wrong is that?!

Anyways, the helmets were all made quite exquisitely, down to every little detail. This one was on sale for about $1000?! There were probably about a 100 on display...I've yet to visit a home with this kind of decoration up though. Wonder who buys these?