Japan (日本) Week 12 - Last Week

Well here it is, my Japanese Adventure is coming to any end.

I've really enjoyed it!

It's been tough being away from home, but what a great opportunity this has been!

Since Kathie's visit, I noticed they are using her likeness at a shop next to my apartment.

Kathie's favorite treat

My favorite treat

They even have cane holders at banks and hospital counters to make sure

When we would see a fruit tree (from the car), Kazuyo would say it was a Pomegranate- it seemed like every fruit tree was a Pomegranate.  But I realized as we got closer views of these trees, some were Apples, Oranges and yes even Pomegranates. Now to tease her, every time I see a fruit tree I point and say "Pomegranate" we laugh and laugh.

The cloudy white drink is called "Cow Piss" (literal translation) is actually quite good (a lot like Fresca or Squirt)

Eating at a traditional Udon Noodle House - you heat your own noodles. This place was famous for it's baby squid (I was thinking of the little guys that we get with Calamari) their baby squid are about a foot long. You then take scissors (no lie) and cut into bite size chunks. But it was delicious!

Another place we ate at was a traditional Soba (dipping) Noodle House -

Had Yaki-niku again - this was a little different with a portable flaming pot

I was able to eat another type of cooking called Monjayaki, you order these various dishes (including desserts), they all come in a bowl with the liquid at the bottom. You put all the stuff on the grill (except the liquid) and use two large metal spatulas to cook and chop up everything on the grill into small pieces. Then you make a ring with the food and pour the liquid in the middle. As the liquid (sauce) renders down it thickens a little. then you mix and chop it all again and flatten it all out on the grill. After it cooks for a few more minutes, you take your little metal spatula and scrap off a small chunk (cooking it as you do) then into your mouth. Very different and very delicious!

Christmas lights are everywhere, how beautiful

Before I leave, I wanted to really explore all the underground tunnels. Like the explorers of old it has been very interesting.

Some things I've learned here in Japan:

The people:

The people are Awesome
The food is great, I loved almost everything
They don't smile or laugh a lot
You can't stare down an old Japanese lady in a Kimono on the Metro.....however, you can more over and sit next to her to get her to stop staring at you :)

And one of my all time favorites: As I made comments to Kazuyo (my translator and friend), I would say things like. . most Japanese don't eat or drink on the street, but every once in a while I see somebody doing it. . or, most Japanese don't spit on on the street, but every once in a while I see somebody do it (there were several of these type of observations) and her response was "Oh, those are Koreans". So the next time I see somebody do something that is not quite polite or proper, I'm going to call it "Pulling a Korean" :)

Japan (日本) Week 11

It was a really long and busy work week this week. I Left the apartment on Tuesday and didn't return till late Friday night. Did I mention that these guys work from about 8:30 am to about 9 or 10 pm?



First Kazuyo and I took the Shinkansen south to Osaka where we met Minami-san. A little hazy, but was able to get another picture of Fujiyama.










In Osaka, Minami-san took me to a famous open market (so you could see the size of the fish, I had Kazuyo stand in). There was also lots of Billiken (you rub their feet for good luck).

I saw a Sumo picture I couldn't resist. This was all by Tsutenkaku Tower (like the Tokyo Tower), evidently it has been featured in movies as a robot monster.

We saw many hospitals all week as we drove west to Hiroshima then on to Yamaguchi. I was able to get some great pictures of Mt. Daisen and we were also able to see another Ji (Temple) and Jinja (Shrine) along the way.

We then doubled back through a mountain pass to Okayama. Going up and over the mountain pass there was a snow storm - while the snow was slushy and mostly wet, it caused chaos over here as most were chaining up?

In the Okayama prefecture we went to the Kurashiki, which had beautiful canals and very old traditional Japanese homes as well as the only Roman Architecture in Japan I have ever seen.

We spent the last couple of days in the Shikoku area which is the only part of Japan I had not been able to see. Now I can say I have officially been all over this country - Literally!

In the Kagawa area we went to the Kotohira-gū-Jinja that seems most of the way (literally half way) up Mt. Zozū. To see it all, you have to climb about 1,400 steps (now I see why some people get carried). This is one of the oldest (First Century) and most popular shrines. But it was well worth the climb, as once again to my amazement there are horses there (That are sacred of course) that BOW!! Check out the "bowing horse in Japan" video below - the video isn't great, but believe me it would bow back when we bowed. I still can't believe a horse that bows in Japan!

All in all it was a busy work week filled with a lot of really interesting things to see.

Utah & Japan (日本) Week 9-10

What a great couple of weeks.

First, I was able to go home for the week of Thanksgiving and spend some much needed time with family.

My parents had a "Thanksgiving Like" family dinner on Sunday where almost everybody on my side of the family showed up - I was so great to see and catch up with everybody!

Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner was with Kathie's side of the family and they all came to our house. It was so great to reconnect with everyone.

I really had a great time playing and wrestling with Clark, he's growing up so fast and had a lot of personality!

The week went by so fast, but was fantastic!

There was a little hiccup on the way back to Japan, I was delayed getting out of Salt Lake by four hours because of a snow storm - so when I got to LA, my flight to Narita had already left (there is only one a day). I would rather have been stuck another day at home, instead of on the 14th floor at the airport Hilton watching plane after plane land.

I was able to leave the next day with no problems.

On Friday night, Jun Fujikowa (Teleflex Country Manager), took me out for a night in 六本木 - Roppongi. It is a very happening place at night. When we first stepped out of the cab, we were approached one after another by African men that are really trying to drum up their business (if you know what I mean). They are everywhere, and followed us all the way to the restaurant. Jun took me to a place called Inakaya. They serve your drinks and food on a large wooded paddle. The food was fantastic. We then went to the Hard Rock, which was only about a block away . After the Hard Rock we came back to where Inakaya was and upstairs was a place called the Bauhaus - There is a live Classic rock band there each night. The place was small and the music was loud, but it was a lot of fun listening to the Japanese accented Classic Rock songs being cranked out. Check out this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9JsJqNES4&feature=related

We got home way past my bedtime, but what a blast!

On Saturday, I went back to Yoyogi park and walked around the beautiful grounds again.

I saw a couple of funny things that gave me a chuckle, and had to post them. My favorite is "The temple explodes the chicken cube".