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?

Jasmine Tea Kit Kat!

Every time I go to 7-eleven, I seem to find a new limited version Kit Kat flavor! Sometimes, their experimental flavor tastes flat-out nasty, but a lot of times, it tastes pretty good. This one I found was Jasmine tea...probably hard to imagine, but it tasted pretty good.

Honey, I shrunk the....salad?!

They have GOT to do something about the size of salad plates over here.

The plates are the size of saucers, and you just can't make a decent salad when there's only space to pile a few leafs of lettuce. It's almost like a balancing act, trying to get a good mixture of veges on the plate so that your salad has something other than lettuce on it.

I understand people aren't that into salads over here, but gosh, I feel like a cow or something when I'm the only one who keeps going back to the salad bar 'cause three bites just wasn't enough.

Get bigger plate, get bigger!

Mysterious things in the mailbox.

I don't know how many times a year people do this over here, but there are certain times in the year when you're supposed to offer gifts to the neighborhood gods.

One afternoon, the lady next door (the classroom I work in is in a residential neighborhood) rang the doorbell and asked me if I wanted to make a donation to the local god. She asked me if I "wanted" to, but she wasn't exactly "asking" me you see, and I had no idea what she was talking about, so I gave the 500 yen ($5) donation to her.

About an hour later, I hear these chants outside and I got curious, so I peeked out the window and saw the monk(?) waving those white papers around chanting. I know this custom is a part of the Japanese culture, but I must say, I don't get it at all.

A couple of hours after that, I checked the mail and found a bag of stuff in it (pic). I looked inside and had big question marks in my head. What'd I find? A small packet of bonito shavings, two slices of squid, a piece of seaweed, and two rice cakes. Whaaaat??? I thought it was a prank at first, but then I realized they must be from that chanting ceremony that was happening earlier, and the neighbors divided up the things they presented to the gods.

I didn't know what the two white strips were so I smelled them....whoa, they were stinky! They were dried squid...

I wonder what people do with these...are you supposed to make soup or something? Since I had no idea, I just microwaved the rice cake and ate it with soy sauce...was pretty good =).

My mom's birthday

My mom's birthday was in January, and this is from when we went out to eat at a nice Japanese restaurant. I really liked the atmosphere of this place 'cause it's out in the middle of nowhere, so it's really quiet, and you can enjoy a quiet conversation while gazing out at a beautiful Japanese garden.

If you're not vegetarian, then they have a ton of selections from seafood to dishes with meat, but if you're a vegetarian, I'd say your main purpose of going to this place is for the atmosphere, not the food, since your only selection is udon (and that wasn't even on the menu, I had to ask for it) and tofu. Even then, I'd say it's totally worth it.

Trip to Utoro, Hokkaido

Made a stop at a rest area ... there was a Sponge Bob snow statue.

On the way to Utoro.

So peaceful.

Half the waterfall was frozen.

This half was frozen.

My friend from jr. high did all the driving for me...thanks!

Breathtaking view

See the sea ice in the distance?

There were lots of wild deer.
Unlike the deer in Nara though, they don't come close, but they don't run away either.

It was snowing from the ground-up!

Walking on the sea ice and swimming.
I'm wearing a "dry suit" so unlike wetsuits, you stay dry (some water seeped in from my sleeves), but after an hour of being in the freezing water, I felt like I turned into ice myself.
Cool experience though.

The sea ice finally arrived!

Animal tracks.
I was so into following the tracks that I wasn't looking where I was walking, and fell hip-deep into the snow after I took this picture.

Love walking in the snow...the only sound you hear are your own footsteps. There's something really relaxing about that.

I felt like I stepped into a different world when I came to this spot.

I wish I could live in a log house in a place like this.
It was absolutely beautiful.

More wild deer.

The sea ice finally reached shore.
This last day was the coldest of all the days.

By the sea.

Had a great time.
I think Hokkaido may be the one place in Japan I could actually live in and feel like I belong.
Hope I'll get to go again someday!

Eeew!

I just don't understand who would wander about shopping, and suddenly think "oh! look here! This is JUST the drink I wanted to try!"

Interesting....

So this is a drink called...

"Gun Gun Gurt"
HOW did they come up with a product name like THAT?!

Kyoto Jan. 26 or was it 27th?

Took a visiting lecturer from the States to Kyoto back in Jan.

The Japanese gardens are so pretty!

Love the bamboo forests! They make this really pretty sound, like wood chimes.

Went into a temple we came across...

...and it had a really pretty garden.

Amazingly, they let you walk into the tatami mat rooms, except there was a little sign that said "no sleeping." Ooh, come on, let us take a nap!