Happy Friday, indeed!
This picture pretty much speaks for itself, I think. It was taken in Bali, near the pool at our very first hotel in Ubud. Aaron and I simply couldn’t resist taking a picture of the guy. Classy!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
This picture was taken when we visited the Osaka Aquarium. All the small children were running around screaming “Santa san!” It was nuts and we just couldn’t resist having our picture taken with scuba Santa.
More accurately I should probably call this post an Igo update. I have still been playing Igo, both at my school and outside it. I really enjoy this and I always come home very excited and wanting to talk all about it. Danielle, however, as much as she may love me, can’t seem to fain interest quite long enough for my liking. So this time I am going to bore you with my igo stories. (Actually, I don’t think they are boring at all, but when I started talking about it at a dinner party this weekend the room emptied faster than I thought possible. woe is me…) The first part is at least a bit interesting. I have been playing go with a buddist monk
When you see someone standing on the streets of Tokyo holding a big old sign offering free hugs, how can you pass it up?
Well, I didn’t. Pass it up, that is.
As I mentioned in the throwing out the TV post, recently we received a new (old) TV from my supervisor. This TV has the ability to play the english language audio tracks on shows that are simultaneously broadcast in both japanese and english. This means that we can now watch the news and hollywood movies, when they are played on broadcast TV. (I caught The Bourne Identity which we own on DVD but it was novel to watch on tv in japan.)
Since coming here I have only watched a small amount of TV. Some of the shows have been fairly normal. I also watched the last two games of the nippon series Japans equivalent of the world series (Chunichi dragons came out on top, Gambate doragonsu!). Probably everyone has heard about the crazy TV shows that make it onto the air here in japan. Some of them are just plain crazy, but uninterestingly so, if you really want a burst of japanese craziness you are better off watching some commercials and calling it good. However, I have seen a few real gems on the TV as well.
During our time in Tokyo, we were graced by the presence of a typhoon along the coast. As a result, two entire days (Friday and Saturday) were filled with rain from morning to night. We had to find indoor venues to spend time, and a lot of that time was spent shopping.
One of my favorite stores that we visited was Kiddyland. Kiddyland is one of the largest toy stores in Tokyo, and it was quite a phenomenon. It had enough cute in it to make anyone smile. And smile we did.
We walked around the store for almost two hours. Ooohing and Aaahing over some of the neat products we found, laughing at some of the strange ones, and staring, completely befuddled, at others. Like, the humping dog. This one was a real gem and had us laughing for a good, long while. And, lucky for you, you can see it for yourself. Thanks to the magic of YouTube.
The title of today’s post is not just a clever ploy to get your attention. I am sorry to say that it actually happened. I actually dropped my shoe into the toilet at school today. I am sure some of you, like my husband when I told him the story, are wondering what on earth I could have been doing in the bathroom that would result in the shoe going into the toilet. I assure you, the images in your minds eye are a lot more fantastical than the event actually was, but I will explain and let you judge for yourself.
I apologize, in advance, if this post gives a little too much information. I assure you it is necessary for you to understand the full story.
Back on that weekend we went to kyoto, danielle and I spend the long hard day walking. Including a long walk back to the station that, unfortunately, didn’t leave us enough time to grab dinner. before we had to be at the station. Both of us were tired, maybe a little crabby, and we had only a little time to find some food before an almost two hour train ride home. We spent time looking through the little mall attached to the station, to no avail. In fact we had given up, gone through the turnstiles and headed down to the platform. That is when we saw it. The curious little noodle shop with the vending machine outside. A golden idea (cuz they were raking in the dough), and perfect for us in every way.
Thus we ate at the train stop noodle shop. This was an awesome little shop, not very wide and packed with people scarfing down noodles. Outside you buy a ticket for a dish from the vending machine, for anywhere from 300 to 500 yen ($3 to $5) depending on the noodles and toppings. Once inside you hand them your ticket, they flash boil you some noodles, add some soup stock and your chosen toppings, and BAM! your eating. The whole cooking process took less then a minute. Once eating you have to stand at the counter, as the noodle shop is too narrow for stools, eating as the trains outside rush by. You finish eating and your on your way. It was awesome, the whole process took us maybe 5 or 6 minutes. After which we were well fed and ready for the long trip home. (well… We were wtill crabby and tired, but well fed anyway. Which helps.)
So as Danielle was so kind to point out last week on her side it was my birthday on the second. The day it self was fun, but a little bitter sweet. Danielle got me a go board and stones, so now I can play at home. Also, since my parents sent me my go books, and I can study up, someday I will defeat the girls in my schools go club! The other high point of the day was when a student in one of my classes remembered my birthday. I walked in and he clapped pointed and yelled “Happi berthuday” However, I was a bit sad being so far away from the people I would usually celebrate with.
The real day of celebration was, however, friday.
Here in Japan beauty is important. SO important in fact that they are willing to enforce it!
These signs were everywhere in kyoto, beats the no littering signs any day.