Observations

We arrived back home this weekend from a week-long vacation in the US.  A few observations I made on my first trip back since we moved here:

1. America really is a "melting pot".  So many different ethnicities, nationalities, accents....Japan, on the other hand, is a big pot full o' Japanese people. 

2. Moe's and Target really need to expand into Japan.  I'm seriously considering a letter-writing campaign.

3. The flight (and jet lag) from Japan to the East Coast is tiring, but tolerable.  The flight (and jet lag) from the East Coast to Japan is a miserable, miserable experience.  You somehow lose a whole day and spend 24 hours awake.  It's like achieving time travel but in the worst possible way.



Also, yesterday (Monday) was another national holiday here.  It was Health & Sports Day.  This holiday was created after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to commemorate the opening ceremonies.  At some point it was moved to fall in with the Happy Monday System.   Poor jet-lagged Chad had to go into work for a conference call even though the offices were closed.  I noticed one of my neighbors playing ball with some of the neighborhood children in the street....could have been coincidence, but I've never seen her out there before so I'm going to believe she was celebrating. ;)

What Took You So Long?

Fall finally arrived in Ota this past week....I was beginning to think it was going to be summer forever.  I documented it whilst biking to the post office.  And for those of you who care about such (I myself am a disgracefully lazy photographer) these were all taken with my 55-200mm VR lens--a lovely going away present from my former co-workers. :)

limes, anyone?

if I were taller, you could see more mountains

still not harvested

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover....

....or a Japanese eating establishment by it's facade.  On my trip to the mall the other day, my fellow expat wife also recommended one of the little mall vendors.  I had noticed it before but had written it off because it's somewhat "rustic" appearance signaled to me that it was probably the kind of place that sold scaly and/or tentacle-y things.  Come to find out, I was sort of right.  It's a "taiyaki" vendor.  Taiyaki are very traditional dessert cakes that are shaped like fish, made of a waffle-ish batter and have sweet fillings.  According to my research, the fillings vary from shop to shop and can be a little gimmicky.

I didn't get one that day, but I went by later in the week and picked out a couple to try.  One that I had hoped was double-chocolate turned out to be filled with a sweet red bean paste that is popular here.  I had a pretty good idea that it wasn't chocolate based on the limited conversation I was able to have with the girl behind the counter but I got it anyway just to try.  I'm not a fan of it (it tastes exactly like "sweet red bean paste" sounds) but the other one I got was filled with a custard that was pretty tasty.

no, I don't know what the shop is called....I can
sound out some of it but it means nothing to me

I had always kept on walking to the yummy
smoothie shop next door

I think they are definitely best when hot and fresh

the top one is the chocolate/bean, bottom is vanilla custard