Searching Your Soul for the Forgotten Word

So last night we had, as some of you know, Obligatory Payday Dinner Party where the president invites all the workers except for the girl to go out for dinner and drinks and then karaoke.  Remember way back when I had a whole octopus head?  Well, we went to the same restaurant.  It's the president's favorite, actually, so we go there nearly every time he's in town.  This time, the dinner theme was whale.  There were all sorts of assorted whale cuts, from the unrecognizable whale parts to the dripping-blood-pretty-sure-it's-whale-steak parts.  It was actually quite delicious, I thought.  I was told that even amongst the Japanese, not everyone likes whale meat.  But I sure did.  I filled up on raw whale so I wouldn't be tempted by the raw octopus heads that accompanied the whale.  From the beginning of dinner, by the way, I was racking my brain for the translation of "whale."  That is to say, I was racking my brain for the ENGLISH translation of "kujira."  Right at the onset, everyone was talking about it being a "kujira" themed dinner, and I immediately thought "I know THAT word!  I wonder what it means!"  Then about halfway through dinner I remembered, and even though it was delicious I did one of those movie moment stops where someone finds out what they're eating is actually something disgusting and they nearly puke.  Then I stopped myself and was like "get a grip Nikku, you eat whale all the time."  Little did I know I was lying, that was the first time I'd ever had whale!

After dinner, like I mentioned, we went to the karaoke bar Snack Funny.  It's also the president's favorite.  I was pressured into singing a bunch of American songs like the Beatles (get it?), while everyone else was pressured into singing at all because I told them I would beat them up if they didn't.  All in all, a good time was had by all.  One of my coworkers even imbibed so much that he was pretty much worthless at work today!  What fun!

Now, on a more serious note, did I mention that my bank ATM also doesn't open until 8:45, which is conveniently right exactly when I'm supposed to be at work?  Well, it's true.  I'm pretty sure my bank contacted my company right before I started working here and said "We're afraid of Americans.  What are your operating hours so that we can schedule around them?"  But here's one service that Japanese banks provide that American banks don't and I sure wish they would.  You can insert your bank BOOK (similar to your check balancing book) into the ATM instead of your ATM card, and not only will you be able to access your account but the ATM will balance your books for you!  It even prints all of the transactions you've had between the last time you inserted the book and this time.  For example, mine only had one entry to begin with--my opening balance.  Then I used my card to withdraw money, and there was the 105-yen fee for that, and then my direct deposit from the company, and then some weird $100 charge that I don't know what it's for, and THEN I used my bank book to access the account and it printed ALL of those transactions right into it!  It even turns the page once it's full!

Ok, that's it for today.  Sorry for the lack of photos...it was actually warm AND sunny when I got off work today but it was also The Day After Payday Shopping Time and by the time I left the grocery store it was dark.  I might have taken photos at the grocery store but I was racing against the clock to get to my ATM before it closed.

Trivia from this post:

• My spellcheck does not recognize spellcheck (ok ok, I know) or amongst, but seems to think betempted is a real word.
• I do actually know what the $100 charge is
• The front of my bank book is REALLY cute
• I'm pretty sure up to 4 people had heart attacks at the grocery store when this white-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired foreigner approached them and asked them, respectively, "Do you have business-card holders?", "Do you have wi-fi routers?", and "Where are the eggs?" (One question was asked to 2 people simultaneously)
• The FritoLay Japan slogan is apparently "Pop Your Time."

Now I'll NEVER Know How Far Away McDonald's Is

Many side streets in Japan are so narrow that you might not actually realize one is a street until you pass it and say out loud to yourself "Whoops, I should've turned there."  Once you have said that about eight to ten times, you just turn into the next gap between buildings hoping that it, too, is a road.  It usually is, but after the first four feet or so it usually takes a turn at a steep angle away from the direction you were hoping to go, narrows down to a 1.25 lane street, and dead-ends at a very large and probably several-hundred-year-old stone wall.  That being said, it's still usually helpful to at least know what street your bank is on if you're going to try to take a shortcut to your bank on the way home from work.  Sadly, my shortcut did not pay off, and I got to the bank an hour and a half after they closed.  But, unless my shortcut involves time travel, I'll never get there on time on a work day.  I think I mentioned before that they close at 4:30 and I get off at 5:45.  Also, they close for lunch.  And they don't open until 10am, so I can't zip in real quick before work.

Luckily, the ATM is open until 7.  All I really wanted to do was check my balance, because tomorrow's payday and I was casually wondering whether my direct deposit would hit before payday like it always did in the US.  Unfortunately, my bank in the US usually got my direct deposit around 7 or 8 pm, and the ATM here isn't open that late and my bank doesn't offer online banking.  Oh well.  As they say in Japan, "You get paid on the 27th."

Now, I don't know if you can get these in the US, but did you know in Japan they have toilet covers and toilet floor rugs that mach in such a way that they create a beautiful picture?  This I took at my friend's house:

Isn't that just absolutely adorable?  Of course I wouldn't do it without also getting a matching toilet paper dispenser, shown here on the right (sold separately).  But just think of all the possibilities!

It's rainy and dark outside today, so I'm still in a holding-pattern for taking after-work adventure photos unless I find a good indoorsy place, but I'll get around to it soon.  Until then, here's a picture I took on the way home:

Festival of Lights

Today I slept in super late and did my laundry, as is typical for a Saturday morning here.  The weather was great so I opened up the patio doors and bedroom window and wallowed in it.  Then a friend of mine from work called and invited me to the last day of a month-long festival in Nagasaki City, which is about 45 minutes from here.  He brought his 8-year-old son with him.  I love that kids at that age have no concept of personal space or physical boundaries, because t was just like walking through town with one of my own kids--he sometimes grabbed onto my jacket and talked to me about everything from video games to bugs to static-electricity-punch, which is where you put your jacket hood up until the static builds up in your hair a whole bunch and then you put your hood down and while your hair is sticking up like crazy, you punch your dad or your dad's friend in the kidneys repeatedly until someone grabs your hand and says "ok, the light's green, let's cross the road!"

On the way to The City, my friend was talking about the amazing lights put up for this festival.  Then we arrived, and walking from the parking lot we saw this LED Snoopy.  That blurry child silhouette is my friend's son.  Anyway, I saw this Snoopy and I was thinking "hmmm...if the light displays are going to be like this, I'm curious why they were talked up so much."  But like I said, this was just outside the parking lot, so rather than say "I've seen enough, take me home," I decided to press on in case there was something more.  Of course, I was not disappointed.  Right around the corner, I saw a crowded street with crowds of people pushing in from all sides and lit by red paper lanterns, with street vendors all about.

This is probably what a lot of my friends in America picture when they think of Japan.  Of course, with it being dark and the paper lanterns being so bright, it's a little hard to tell that that's what they are.  It just looks like a busy, brightly lit city at night I suppose.  But this festival is actually a festival to celebrate, amongst other things, a lot of the Chinese influence in Japan and particularly in Nagasaki.  So luckily, this picture was only the beginning.  Actually, Snoopy was only the beginning.  But Snoopy has little to do with China or Japan.

And just in case you've never seen dozens of real severed pig's heads on platters, now you can cross that off your bucket list. 

Birthdays All Around the Globe

Ok, I know I'm always going on and on about how beautiful the sunset is on my drive home from work, and how I'm coming down a narrow mountain pass and I can see the whole city, just beginning to really light up, and beyond that the sea, and beyond that the sun glowing red and looming large on the horizon with shadowy mountain silhouettes here and there in front of the purplish haze of dusk.  Here's another photo I took during my drive home, in case you missed the previous one.

Isn't it just beautiful?  Aren't you jealous?

Today was my coworker/friend's daughter's 3rd birthday.  I got her a teeny tiny gift, hoping that I could get away with giving the gift and not making the father feel indebted or obligated to me in any way, as can be customary in Japan.

I got the daughter a velour purse emblazoned with Hello Kitty.  I thought that would be an easy gift for a three-year-old, because they love to put things into things and hide them around the house never to be seen again, especially important things.  Also, it's pink and she's a girl, so that's important.  And it says all kinds of stuff on it in Japanese, which she'll think is cute because she's Japanese.  Unfortunately, I've only ever met her once in a grocery store when I barely even knew her father, so she'll probably open it and be like "Who is this from?  I don't know any "Nic from America.  Oh well, I'm three.  I barely know anyone!"

But the thing I really wanted to brag about was my gift-wrapping job.  I didn't know where in Japan to go for wrapping paper, because I think after The War [Gulf War] the government reclaimed it all in order to rebuild various war-torn regions.  But luckily, I do know where to find origami paper--EVERYWHERE!  So I wrapped it in purple paper, made a rainbow "ribbon" to go around the middle, and three origami cranes to perch atop.  Three is a significant age in Japan because of the whole 7-5-3 thing.  You're welcome for the link. This particular child was born under auspicious signs because the year 2010 in Japan is also the year Heisei 22, so her birthday was 2-22-22.  Actually I don't know if that's auspicious, but it's a heck of a lot of 2's!  You might say she had a lot of number 2's on the day she was born.  But then again, who didn't?!

Lastly, I would like to post a congratulations to my friend who I won't name by name but it starts with an M and ends with an elissa Gonnerman.  This friend of mine also had a child on this very day, this very year.  Very.

This photo has been reproduced without permission.

If you or anyone you know is in this photo and wish to

have it removed please contact the blog owner.

Just a Couple of Pet Peeves

You know, I don't like to complain a lot.  But sometimes you just gotta let it out.

I get off work every day pretty much JUST in time to beat the after-work rush.  But when I go to the store on my way home, sometimes I get caught up in traffic.  Also when I take what I think is a shortcut and go WAY out of my way I sometimes get caught in traffic.  But when I'm waiting to turn across 2 lanes of nonstop traffic, and RIGHT when the light turns a flock of 20+ high school girls slowly rides across the cross-road single-file, I get angry.  Fifteen minutes later, when I was finally able to turn right, I was back on a little teeny windy road (one of the ones that is only just wide enough for two cars to smash into each other).  However, one block down, there was a van parked partially in the street.  Actually, it was running and the flashers were on, and the owner and presumably the gentleman who lived in the house it was parked in front of were talking to each other.  Now I would have had enough room to barely squeak by, because half of the van was parked inside the house, but the two gentlefishermen talking decided that in order to get out of my way, they would stand on the side of the street opposite the van but close enough to the van that as my side-mirrors dragged across the van and then men's bellies, I could smell the fish spittle on their brows.  I think I even heard one say, as I scooted past, "I say, I believe that bloke just ran over my toes".  They were British Japanese fishermen gentlemen, I forgot to mention.

The other thing that makes me so angry is that there are two brands of canister potato chips at the store: Pringles and Chip Star.  Pringles has like 10 different flavors, including ones I might like.  Chip Star has some lesser-known flavors but is less than half the price. So tonight, as I type this, I'm snacking on butter-flavored potato chips.

That's actually all that happened today.  It's staying lighter longer in the evenings,  but if I keep taking shortcuts home I won't ever get home in time to take photos in the daylight.

Football Plays or Hugs and Kisses

Today we had quite an adventure at work.  First of all, we were rolling stainless steel through the machines at work!  Then we taped it to copper foil.  Then where we taped it broke part-way through the machine, so the whole experiment was cancelled.  But boy was it fun while it lasted.  And I even got to press all the buttons!  Including the "Sever Tape Seam - Abort Experiment" button!

Here's a warning label on a little thing we have at work.  The top left picture says "You're sure to laugh hysterically when your packages fall off this cart".  The top right picture explains how gravity works.  The middle-left picture shows how to crush your enemies with the lift.  The middle right button depicts old-timey "wheelies," and the shoe is passing gas.  The bottom left picture either shows a couple of different football plays or might be showing how to use this machine to get hugs and/or kisses.  The bottom right clearly shows that this machine has three different maximum capacities, based primarily on which graph you decide to read before using the device.  This highly informative label has saved many lives in our workplace, but I am fortunately the first to have captured a still image of it in its natural habitat.

While we're on the subject of pictures taken at work, I'd like to apologize for yesterday's Emergency Emo button picture.  It as a little misleading.  What I should have said was "Where was this button in the year 2000 (or the mid 80's depending on who you're talking to)?"  I feel like a lot of bands could have been saved from a wasted effort if this button had been around back then.  And also a lot of band genrifiers (I just now made that word up!) would have been saved a lot of time from classifying the myriad (literally 10,000) bands who ultimately cried a lot for no reason.

I may or may not have mentioned that I get lunch at work every day.  Immediately following our morning meeting, the secretary takes count of how many people want the catered lunch, and then the lunches come late morning and we eat them at lunchtime, oddly enough.  This is a picture of a typical lunch.  The soup on the left comes with 2 glowsticks in the bottom for the post-lunch rave we have every day.  The items in the lunchbox are, from top-left, clockwise: yellowish, pink, brown and green, pink, brown and white with ketchup, and dark brownish-green.  Also I get rice.  It's nearly delicious nearly every day!


In the famous last words of Jon Stewart: Here it is folks, your moment of zen:

Emergency Emo!

Today was another long day at work, rolling more plastic and copper back and forth than you will ever see in your life even if you get hired at my company because I'm blessed and they save the exposition and spectacle of that much plastic and copper just for me.

Here, by the way, is where I work.  That is to say, this is my desk, and I don't actually work from it until the last 15 minutes of every day when I write my daily report.

Tonight I'm going out to another dinner.  Not Nagasaki Champion this time, but Zaru Soba, or as I like to call it Saru Zoba.  Ahahahahahahahahaha!  Japaneezu joku.  Anyway, soba is another noodle dish and I love me some noodles.  Plus it's nice to get out of the apartment once in a while by being forced to go out to dinner because if it were up to me I'd probably decide it was too cold and dark.



So I suppose I'll probably end up posting tonight's dinner shenanigans on tomorrow's blog.  But my closing words for today are: Where was this button when I really needed My Chemical Romance?

Nagasaki Champion

Tonight a coworker (actually a division manager) took me and the guys out to dinner.  We went to a little hole-in-the-wall place called Ringer Hut that serves a dish called champon, for which Nagasaki is colloquially famous.  But every time I hear about champon or see it written in English, I think "Nagasaki Champion," which I consider myself to be, so I feel like there are a lot of restaurants out there heralding my arrival.

On my way home from work, there is a billboard that I always see and always want to take a picture of and tell all of my friends that all billboards in Japan are like this one.  And if you believe that, then I should also tell you that underneath the silhouette of a samurai, it says simply "Watch out for ninjas."  Because really Japan has twice the population everyone thinks, it's just that the other half are ninjas.

Actually the billboard is for (as it says in English down the left side) Karno Japan.  I have no idea what sort of company that is but I can only assume the employees are called Karnies.  Which of course makes me want to eat cotton candy and buy tickets to ride rides but lose most of my tickets while I'm playing one of those game where you can't knock the milk bottles over because they're actually made of lead and the ball you're throwing is made of foam rubber but if you could somehow manage to knock them over you'd probably shut down the carnival for good because the giant stuffed bear they have for a prize costs more than all the carnival rides put together.  Which, by the way, is a great idea for a new carnival ride.

That's about all that happened today.  I was going to walk around town this evening trying to get some more good photos, but it was dark and rainy by the time I got home from work and then I got invited to the champon dinner, so I don't have anything but this billboard.  But trust me, all billboards in Japan are silhouettes of samurai.

What to Do on a Day Off

It seems that lately my days off are spent indoors with a TV marathon of my own choosing limited only by what's available on the internet.  It's not that I don't WANT to get out and explore the town some more, but it's cold and I don't really have anything pressing, and I have laundry to wash and baths to take, so I just stay in most of the time.  Once the weather is nicer I'll definitely get out more.

Last night after work I went out to dinner with some friends.  We went to a Japanese-style  restaurant where there's a big hot plate in the middle of the table and then you order some dinner sets of your choice that usually come in a big bowl that you mix up and cook into something like a big vegetabley and meaty pancake.  We ordered an all-you--can-eat set which was really interesting because the all-you-can-eat places in Japan usually give a time limit.  So we had about an hour and a half to eat all-we-could-eat, which we certainly did.  I was so stuffed by the end that I could barely move.  But it was all delicious.

Out of sincere kindness, one of my friends at dinner said that while I'm here, if I'm ever in ANY trouble, or if there are places in Japan I want to visit or events I want to see, any time I'm more than welcome to call the other guy who was there.  And, since the guy doing the talking was the other guy's superior, he couldn't very well say no.  So it sounds to me like somebody's going to have quite the credit card bill once I leave town.

The sun stays up later and later each day as often happens when winter melts into spring, so I should be able to take more pictures around town even after I get home from work in the upcoming days.  Hopefully that will make for good blogfodder.  But for now, I have to go.  There's a 30 Rock marathon on!

If You Lived Here You'd Be At Hogwart's By Now

First and foremost I'd like to apologize for the short post yesterday.  I was really tired and hardly anything happened at work.  Our company president was in town, and after work he invited me to dinner so we went to a traditional Japanese pub-style restaurant and had many wonderful and raw things to eat.  I can't be certain I ate a raw octopus head, but I don't know what other portion of an octopus is spherical an crunchier than the legs.  There were no beak, ink sac, or eyes, but the texture was kind of like eating a baby's head.

Today we did a lot of cleaning and maintenance at work.  That is to say, I did a lot of cleaning and most everyone else did a lot of maintenance, until I finished with the cleaning and had nothing else to do but maintenance; then I got assigned an easy job.

After work I went to the grocery store and finally got my point card.  It's like a Marsh card or Kroger card, I suppose.  I scan it whenever I buy something and rack up points I might never use or receive coupons I hope not to lose.  It's a really cute card though.

The store staff was unsure how to sign me up for it.  I gave them my alien resident card, but they had never seen one before and were afraid it wasn't sufficient.  They asked if it was an insurance card, even though it clearly doesn't say anything about insurance and at the top says "Alien Resident Card" and "Ministry of Justice" and "Government of Japan" and has my picture and says I'm here as a Specialist in Humanities/International Services. Finally, though, they accepted it and then gave me the information sheet about the card saying what it's for and how to use it.  And they said "If you can read this, please read it at your leisure."  I thought to myself "ouch."  Then I thought to myself "Hmmm...I don't think I can read this."  Then I thought to myself "I wonder if bacon is still on sale."

I forgot to mention that the other day while I was out and about and discovered another temple at the top of another mountain, I also ran across a high school.  Now don't think that all high schools in Japan are like this just because I say "Here's a high school in Japan!" and show a picture.

But it does remind me of a wing at Hogwart's or maybe a lesser satellite school directed by Hogwart's but ultimately tended to by it's own administration.  I'm sure back in the ancient Harry Potter times, Japan had schools of wizardry too, and they probably looked a little like this one or possibly more Japanese than this and much more hidden, like at the top of a mountain or something.  I tried to make it a really artsy picture too, by capturing the lone woman sitting on the bus stop bench out front, but I think the artistry was lost somewhere in my inability to take artistic photographs.  However, the car in motion, frozen forever in time and space, added a nice touch in my opinion.







For all of my millions of friends in Vancouver, I would like to mention here and now that I will actually not be in Vancouver after all this spring/summer.  That is the one trade show my boss is not sending me to.  I'm not sure why--he said it would be kind of a waste, but the company is still going to have a booth there so I guess it's just that he doesn't want me to get into any Vancouver Trouble.

I tried to take a photo of the Nagasaki sun setting over the Nagasaki Bay over the Omura cityscape so I could show you what I get to behold on my drive home from work every day, but the photo turned out like this.  But I did nearly run off the road and tumble down a mountainside getting this shot, so please appreciate it.

PS - Mom if you're reading this I DIDN'T actually almost run off the road and tumble down a mountain; I almost veered into the other lane into oncoming traffic and then down a mountain.

PPS - Mom if you're still reading I didn't do that either; I was at a dead standstill in traffic when I took this.

I think I just ate a whole raw octopus head.

I think I just ate a whole raw octopus head.

Step 1: Completely Assemble Product

Remember when I told you I got a basket and light for my bike?  Well, really the company got a company basket and company light for the company's bike.  But I picked it out and paid for it with the company's money.  But because of the style and age of the bicycle, there was only one style of basket in stock that would work with it.  It seems simple enough, and really it was simple to put together.  But I'd like to say that for anyone who doesn't already have a mind for assembling products, the photos were not very helpful.

Allow me to interpret what the Japanese part should translate as (but doesn't):

Photograph 1: Here are some parts (but not all the parts that are included).  Also, they're already partially assembled even though this is photograph 1.

Photograph 2: Here are all the parts, fully assembled, and taken from an unflattering angle so you cannot see how they became fully assembled.

Like I said, I got it all assembled, and just in time too because I was tired and wanted to sit down, and right when I finished assembling the basket, boy did I EVER sit down.  Right then and there, on a chair in the living room.

Oh, if you are interested, the Japanese labels only label the parts.  And with really obvious names too, like "Metal Fitting A," "Metal Fitting B," "stopper," and "plate".  It's not like they give away some steps I'm not mentioning.

Really, that's all that happened today.  At work we did roll some plastics back and forth, but it was incredibly tiresome.  Today it was a roll with 4500 meters of plastic!  Imagine walking the length of 50 football fields, only you get too tired before the last one and stop.  Because 4500 meters is about the length of 49 football fields.  Now imagine all of those football fields rolled up really tightly onto a 3-inch cardboard core and shipped to Nagasaki.  Now imagine my joy when I open a box to find 49 football fields rolled up, sent to me from my friends in America!  I would be able to play a game of football a day for 7 weeks and just throw away each football field after one use!

I Think It Enhances Their Dongles

Ok, I'll be honest.  It was easy to forget to blog yesterday because I did hardly anything.  I had the day off, and I barely even left the house.  It did cross my mind once to blog about laundry and dishes, but then I decided not to do those either.

Even when I did leave the house yesterday, it was only to walk down this twisty, narrow, high, dangerous path toward the grocery store.  I like to think of it as a short-cut of sorts, because it's almost a straight-ish line from my apartment to the grocery.  Even though there's about a 4-foot drop-off on the right to a shallow, rock-bedded creek and a couple of feet drop-off to the left into a rice(?) field, and I don't fully know whether or not I'm allowed to walk on it, I like to walk on it and feel important.  Also, it's not really a shortcut, because the road that I have to cross once I get to the end of the shortcut is so busy that I have to walk all the way to the crosswalk which is nearly halfway back to my apartment.  But in the end, I always make it to the store, and they always ask me if I have a point card, and I always say no, and they always say thank you and ring me up, and I skip home on my treacherous path.

I did finally manage to get a couple of mangy cats caught on film as I've promised so many times.  And by film, I mean microSD card. Unfortunately, the really mangy ones ran off before I snapped the picture.  You see, there were four. And it was very clear that these two loved each other, and pretty clear that the other two were fond of PDAs and thus watching.  But as soon as I walked up the other two ran off in embarrassment and these two turned back to back like "What?  We were just standing here."  So I took this picture before they had a chance to run off, and then I thought I'd make that "chk chk here kitty kitty" sound to try and get a better photo.  Well, they both turned and looked at me and started inching toward me licking their lips, so I high-tailed it outta there before they could get me and my groceries.

We have a new guest at work, and he's staying in the apartment next to mine.  I've been told that he's really nice and lots of fun, and he'll probably take us all out to dinner at least once before he leaves and he might even come knocking on my door more than once and take me out for dinner because he loves hanging out and taking people out to eat.  My coworkers keep telling me to play dumb if dinner comes up so I can be like "Sushi?  What's that?  I think I've heard of it before, but I've never tried it..." and then he'll take us all out for sushi.  But I feel more inclined to say "Dinner in Thailand?  What's that?  I think I've heard of it before, but I've never tried it..."

As a final note, I think everyone who is or has a BF should have one of these installed, even though I'm not yet sure what it does to them:

There's Always a Temple at the Top

I went cabbage-garden hunting.  I must have just missed the peak of cabbage season between when I posted about cabbage the first time and now, because I found a lot of decimated cabbage gardens.  And by decimated, I don't mean that 1 in 10 heads of cabbage had been executed by its comrades.

But let me back up.  On my way to find the cabbage gardens (which run rampant around here, as previously mentioned), I took a wrong turn.  I thought I was taking the normal path (not even a "shortcut"!) to the road I had seen so many cabbage gardens on before.  But, as always happens when I take a wrong turn, I ran into an amazing sight.

Seriously, this was just right at the end of the road.  And of course, those ancient stairs lead up the side of a mountain, and of course at the top was a temple.  Well, a shrine really.

And partway up were some side steps that led to a perfectly-groomed stone pavilion.  There also didn't seem to be anyone in sight anywhere in or around any of this, although there were fresh gifts and decorations in and around the shrine.  I took a different path back down the other side of the mountain, and discovered an older shrine, which upon closer inspection seems to indicate that this may have originally been a shrine to Yoda.  At least as far as I can tell from the carvings.

This is not too surprising because Yoda seems to have been rather Buddhist in nature, and also seems to have been around for a long time.

Here you can more clearly see the carving of Yoda hold an old-timey light saber.













Anyway, on the way back to Cabbageland, I turned a corner and found another spectacular sight.

You can't actually tell from this picture, even if you can read Japanese, but the store that this road T's at has a big sign that just says "Flowers & Alcohol".  That's all they sell.  I can just guess that this is a frequent on-the-way-home stop for many many forgetful husbands and significant others.  I just want to know who the lucky recipients are!  I'm surprised this kind of store isn't super popular in the U.S.

In conclusion, I don't even think this is cabbage.

Radio Nagasaki - The Thirtieth!

Every day on my way home from work, I listen to the radio in the car.  It's kind of a cool-down exercise for my brain, because I can just listen all in Japanese but not be expected to respond, so my brain's not on it's toes the whole time.  But there's a soundclip they play sometimes between segments that says in very clear American-sounding English "Radio Nagasaki...the ____." Except I NEVER catch the last word.  It's either 30th, dirtiest, earliest, girliest, or it's not in English and my brain's just not expecting it.  But I also always forget to turn the radio up when that sound byte starts.

Anyway, I say all that to say this: usually when that clip plays, I'm just passing the entrance to this shrine.  It's hard to see in this photo, but the entrance is the little stone gate straight across the crosswalk.  Every time I hear "Radio Nagasaki...The Thirtieth!" I think "Oh yeah, I need to visit that shrine sometime."  So today I finally did.  You cross this road, walk down a little hill, up some stairs, and then you walk up a bunch more stairs, then cross a stone bridge over the highway, then up some really rickety stairs in the side of a mountain and at last at the top is a little shrine.  I meant to take a picture of the bridge and stairs, to show you how treacherous it was.  I had to use a leather whip to swing from one side to the other and I also had to outrun a giant boulder when it was time to leave, but the pictures I thought I took turned out to be pictures of my fingers.  But here's a pretty good couple of pictures of the shrine(s) at the top.

This one on the left had some bloody tufts of bird feathers laying on the steps, and after hearing about there being snakes in the area, even though today was super cold I ducked out pretty quickly.






What I originally set out to do today was photograph some of my favorite cabbage gardens.  As I've mentioned before, they're all over the place here.  For example, here's one:

I was also going to return something I purchased last week, and I thought the returning merchandise experience would allow for paragraphs and paragraphs of endless entertainment.  However, what happened was more like this:

Me: I bought this light last week and it doesn't actually work with my bike.

Clerk: Do you have the receipt?

Me:  Yes, here it is.

Clerk: Oh boy, that's just barely under one week.

Me: [chuckle]

Clerk: Ok, here you go.

Me: Thanks.

Two final notes on today's experiences.  1) I finally broke down and bought frozen pizza.  It's small.  My had is shown here for size comparison.  While you might not say this pizza would fit in the palm of my hand, you also might.  I bought a package of 3 pizzas for around $6.  It's no Totino's, but it's cheap for pizza in Japan.  Also, the flavor and texture of the crust was not exactly what I expected, and the sauce wasn't great.  I'm not a big fan of corn on pizza either.  And the pepperoni was definitely not real pepperoni (salami, at best).  Plus my toaster oven was JUST small enough that the one end of the pizza had to rest on the back of the oven and thus got burnt.  Otherwise, though, it was still pizza, and you can see it is pre-notched to show you how to cut it in 4 pieces.  All in all, I'd eat two within 10 minutes of each other and then wait 25 minutes and eat the third.  If it were up to me, that is.

2) You can buy individually packaged soft-serve ice cream cones in the freezer section in Japan.

Three Day Weekend!

It's great when you're working along, monitoring oven temperatures, winding copper foil and/or plastic, lamenting the fact that you had a 1-day weekend last weekend, when suddenly, lo-and-behold, you find out you have a THREE day weekend starting at 5:45 today!  I am so blessed.

Monday is National Foundation Day.  On this day in history, some 2673 (+/-) years ago, the first Japanese emperor was crowned.  According to the best records I can find, that was probably a Thursday or Saturday.  So I have a WHOLE three-day weekend to get into some real trouble.  I will be sure to charge my camera before leaving the house every time.

After work, I went to the post office (again) to mail a surprise secret package.  I won't tell you who it's to, but I'll give you a hint: it's for the kids and Mikey.  Let me tell you something about the Japanese post office, in light of the recent Post Office Blight in the U.S.  The post office here is open until 7pm and has a 24-hour staffed service counter as well.  Additionally, whenever you mail a package, they ask if you have any trash in your car and whether or not you want your windows washed!  Just kidding, but they are open a lot of hours.  Unlike my bank, which opens just after I'm supposed to be at work, closes for lunch, and then closes an hour and a half before I get off work.  Also they charge me 105 yen (about $1.50) to withdraw money from THEIR ATM.  And when you put your PIN in, a foot pops out and kicks you in the teeth!

After the post office, I stopped at the grocery store.  I hadn't noticed this before, but this guy looks a little like the fatter, not-nearly-as-classy cousin of Mr. Peanut.

Am I right?  In this particular juxtaposition, he's even looking at Mr. Peanut hoping for approval while Mr. Peanut keeps Himself® Aloof® and Distant® from his lower-class, less-highly-educated-because-he-couldn't-afford-private-school-or-Yale cousin.










As a grocery-store side-note, I would probably not ever eat something called Cream Collon, even if it does have two L's.