Road Trip to Ohio and Back

The Road Trip is an integral part of American society. Since the advent of the car, Americans have been roaming the highways and byways of our vast and diverse country. It's part of us, part of our mindset. When people in most other countries think of a car trip, they think of a couple hours in a car and that's it. In Europe, people drive two or three hours and they are in another country. We drive a couple hours and we're lucky to leave our own state. America is one of the few truly sprawling countries (others being Canada, Russia and Australia to name a few). Being raised in the States has imbued me with the love of travel especially car travel.

Another American tradition my family subscribes to is that of being spread out. I have family in about seven states. My brother lives in a small city in North-Western Ohio called Norwalk. Our father lives in an even smaller town about four miles away called Milan (Milan is where Thomas Edison was born). I live in Memphis, Tennessee. It's roughly 12 hours from where I live to where my brother lives by car.

I've done long car trips before. I've driven to Florida and back several times and more than once did I do that trip alone. I've driven to Texas and back and to other states in my region. This was the first time for me to be driving North in the winter. I had made the trip three previous times and once alone, but that was in the summer. I worried about getting stuck in the snow and ice. I was also a bit nervous because my car is new and I'm still paying the loan off. I did not want to wreck due to inclimate weather. I packed some emergency supplies and some food for the trip. I left pretty early, about 5:30 am.

The trip through Tennessee went very smoothly. I went through Nashville with no problems and began the long trip North. Kentucky was nice. It looks a lot like Tennessee, but with one difference: it was snowy. It wasn't too bad. Just a nice white layer to the scenery. I actually started to lose interest in it. That is until I crossed over into Cincinnati and Ohio.

When you're driving North into Ohio from Kentucky on I-71 you have to cross a river into Cincinnati. It's a bit of a tricky maneuver. You have to get immediately over to the right once you cross the bridge in order to make it onto the off ramp to Cleveland. Cars often zip and shoot through this area. More than once I came close to getting clipped on previous trips. This time, however, I had no problems. Only one car was getting onto the interstate where I needed to get over to make my turn.

I made it through the dreaded area and headed North-East towards Cleveland. I had a pretty smooth trip up. I caught some traffic outside of Cleveland, but other than that I was okay.

Once at my brother's house I started pounding back Cranberry and Vodkas like nothing else. I got drunk and went to bed. I would've stayed up longer, but I had yet another trip to take the next morning.

My brother is an avid outdoorsman. He loves anything to with the outdoors; camping, boating, fishing, hunting, snow mobiling, etc. To help facilitate his passion he bought a large trailer in order to haul his vehicles and gear. It was located about 4 hours North in Midland, Michigan. We left early in the morning and headed up. It was pretty mild. Once we got up to Michigan the scenery steadily got whiter and whiter. We got the trailer and headed back home.

On the way we grabbed a bite to eat at "Big John's" sandwich shop. It was pretty decent. I've had better sandwiches, but I can't complain too much about it. Our next stop was at Cabela's.

For those of you who don't know, Cabela's is a huge huge outdoors store. I was absolutely surprised and delighted by this place. It truly is a one stop outdoors shop. You can get anything from hunting to camping to boating. The prices are nice too. On top of their normal good prices they have a bargain cave where returned items await repurchase. Usually it's a case of not liking the item and then returning it. None of the items I saw had visible damage.

The rest of my visit was pretty low key.

The ride home was much nicer than the way up. For my return to Tennessee I purchased a couple audio books. I got World War Z and Shit My Dad Says. Having those on board made my trip go by in no time at all. It kept my mind busy and was constantly changing. A problem I had on the way to Ohio was having to listen to the same music over and over again. If you're traveling long distance in a car (especially alone), I highly recommend audio books.

Next trip

I recently bought a car. Actually a SUV. I didn't really want to, but the city where I live makes it hard for cyclists or non-traditional transportation users. So I broke down and bought a car. I figure since I have one and am paying good money each month for it, I should use it. And use it I shall. I've decided to start a series of car trips. My first one will be in mid-December to Oklahoma City. I haven't really thought of what I'll do, but I do know I want to try out some Oklahoman food, namely steak. Unfortunately I've heard the beer isn't anything special. I may have to bring my own. I think I'll check out the cowboy museum and maybe...well actually I think that might be the only thing I want to see. I have a buddy out there and so I'm sure I'll be able to get into some sort of adventure. Only time will tell.

The wandering bug has bitten again.

It's only been about 2 weeks since I went to Montreal and already I've been hit with the wanderlust. I've been finding myself fantasizing about my next trip and I've been scouring travel sites and airline sites looking for a cheap outlet for my traveling bug.

I'm bound to go to Ohio during the Christmas time, so I won't be able to go anywhere new during that time. However, I may try to shoot over to Pennsylvania for a day or so to check out Primanti Brothers' sandwiches. What I really want is a week or two hiking trip. I'm really wanting to go check out some of the Rocky Mountain states such as Wyoming or Colorado. I haven't been hiking in a few months so I'm aching to get on some trails. Unfortunately there aren't many good hikes in this part of the country. You can do some mild trails over in Shiloh, but really it's nothing but wandering through fields. I want to go up and down hills and to see some fantastic sights.

I'm seriously toying with the idea of going to California next summer and do some hiking in the Yosemite/King's Canyon area. It will be particularly nice since my uncle will be living in that area at that time. Also, I can hit up one of my favorite cities: San Francisco.

San Francisco is a great city. I truly believe it to be one of America's greatest. There is abundant culture and history, great food and just an overall atmosphere which promotes relaxing and calmness. I really enjoy the international feeling I get when I'm in SF. There's a little bit for everyone there.

Till next time, keep trekking on!

Montreal

Well today is my last day here in Montreal. I've had a really good albeit short trip. I actually made contact with an old friend who lives here shortly before leaving. I ended up staying at his place and without him, I doubt I would have had as great of a trip.

One thing about this trip is that nothing has really gone right. It's not a bad thing, but most of our plans went awry. First off, my plane from Atlanta to Montreal was delayed. There was a gate change and then no one really knew what time it was going to depart or when it would arrive. Finally about 30 minutes late the plane leaves. Once I met up with my friend we headed back to his house only to encounter construction and confusing detours. After about an hour we finally made it back to his place.

The next day my friend, his girl friend and myself went to the Tibetan restaurant that was mentioned in the last post. We work our way through China town and even more detours and we cruise around the block a couple times before finding a decent parking place. We arrive at the restaurant to find it closed due to an emergency. So after a quick walk around we choose a sandwich shop called Dagwood's. It's not too bad, but there is nothing really worthy of writing. After Dagwood's my friend and I headed to the old part of Montreal. There we saw the Basilique Notre-Dame. It was nice, but we encountered another problem: the area in front of the chapel was under construction, limiting good photography spots. I did manage a few good shots though. We bought tickets for the evening light show and then embarked on some souvenir shopping. I picked up some hockey shirts for myself and my roommate. I also got my girl friend some nice Canadiana stuff. I also toured the riverfront area and got some really nice pictures.

Evening brought poutine. Poutine is a really simple dish and I'm very surprised we don't have it in the United States, something I want to change. It's french fries with gravy and chunks of white cheddar cheese. It makes for an awesome side dish or meal. I first had it in Toronto a few years back and had it once in Memphis (not very good I might add). What I had here though was awesome. I chose to get something a little different and opted for the Italian poutine. It basically substitutes tomato sauce for the gravy. It was nevertheless great. After dinner my friend and I headed back to the Basilique Notre-Dame. We watched our show and I took some shots of the Basilique. We left the building and I, feeling a bit thirsty and unwilling to give up the chance to enjoy some Canadian beer, asked to find a nice quiet bar in order to enjoy some beer. We found a place nearby and grabbed a couple beers. I had a nice dark ale, unfortunately I forget the name of it. The company was called Sleeman's though. If you ever have the chance you should try it. I asked the waiter if I could buy a glass to take home as I collect them and was told no. I unfortunately felt back to steal one even though he said it was ok. I left empty handed.

Saturday saw a late start. I was perfectly happy with that as I was tired and the whole point of this trip was to relax, which I did. We went for a late lunch to Schwartz's deli. It's famous for smoked meat sandwiches. I got a large plate which was a bit too much food for me, but it was pretty good. I was a bit surprised at the mild taste of the meat. I was expecting something more flavorful. I still enjoyed though. Be prepared to stand in line for a long while. We waited for about 30-45 minutes just to get a seat. We then headed to the Montreal Botanic Gardens. I've been to botanic gardens in the past, but this was definitely one of the best I've ever been too. They had a very large green house filled with various plants from around the globe and an insectarium. I found both very interesting. They also had a Japanese garden and a Chinese garden. Both were very nice and peaceful allowing for more relaxation. The Japanese garden was particularly nice as the last one I had been to in the Philippines left something to be desired. I really felt like I was back in Japan at some points. The evening finished with a great steak dinner at Baton Rouge. This place is classy and a bit expensive. Steaks range from $24 to $32. But they rock and are well worth the money. The only bad thing was that they seemed to run out of stuff fairly early. I originally wanted the prime rib, but had to get a sirloin instead. One of my friends wanted seafood linguini but they were out of the red sauce. A quick ride after dinner and we were at our last stop for the night: The Comedy Nest. It was a pretty cool place. The drinks were slightly above average for bars, but pretty decent on their booze level. The opening act/host was really funny as was the second act. The third act was sadly from the US and wasn't as funny as the others. Her stuff mainly revolved around sex jokes and race jokes. It was nothing I hadn't heard from junior high school students. The headliner was awesome. He was very funny and did some great stuff. If you ever get to see Winston Spear, you should.

Today was another slow start. Again I just rested up and got ready to return home. We ate a great breakfast at Tutti Frutti and are now back at my friend's house preparing to go to the airport.

All in all the trip has been awesome. One complaint that I have is that I brought too much money. I didn't come close to spending everything at all. Oh well. I guess it's better to have too much than not enough.

And that wraps up this adventure.

One more week until Montreal

So I have only about a week more until I head off to Montreal. I'm pretty excited. I've been biding my time looking at stuff to see and do there. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be doing, but at least I have a rough idea. I'm definitely going to be hitting up a Tibetan restaurant that I've read about. I know I know, why eat Tibetan while up in Montreal? Well, I love that type of food and I haven't been able to find some where I live yet, so I've gotta take it where I can find it.

I booked my hostel today, so I'm all set in that aspect. It's down in Old Montreal so I'm pretty stoked about it. I hope that it gives me a great experience.

New trip is in the works.

Well, I've been sedentary for almost a month now and that's far too long. I found out that I have a small "fall break" from work in October. Actually it's the day before my birthday, so I decided a trip was in order. My destination? Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I will be there for the better part of 3 days.

So far my trip will entail me eating delicious French-Canadian food, drinking awesome beer and just trying to relax. One thing I really enjoy about traveling is seeing the architecture of the place I am in. For instance, I loved seeing the old Japanese temples and shrines and how the Japanese incorporated their culture into western design styles. I'm looking forward to seeing similar sights in Canada.

I've been to Canada, but it was for about 2 days for an interview. I really enjoyed my time there, so that is what is fueling my decision to go again.

I'll post my further preparations later.

The Univeristy of the Philippines

Yesterday I had the unique experience of going to the University of the Philippines as a guest I attended two classes with my friend and I also hung out with some students and ate lunch there.

The university itself is rather large. It looks like an American university, maybe somewhere down in Florida. Most of the common, socializing areas are outside. The classes are a bit small, but they are air conditioned. I really couldn't tell much difference between here and the States. I guess the biggest thing is that the classes are conducted in both English and Tagalog. Other than that I could have been sitting in a classroom back home.

The food was pretty good too. They have a BBQ pit where they cook up fresh skewers of meat. It was pretty awesome. They have a canteen too that had several very tasty looking options. Something that I really liked was the fresh fruit shake. I had an avocado one. Yeah it sounds weird, but it was good. I'm glad I had it.

So far this trip has totally destroyed my deformed image of the Philippines. I am very glad to have come here. It's been a very great experience and I have grown and learned a lot because of it.

Public transport in the Philippines

The Philippines have 4 main modes of public transport: jeepney, tricycle, train and taxi cab. I was fortunate enough to be able to ride all 4 while here.

Jeepney is by far the cheapest. Most places cost about 7 pesos to get to via the jeepney. Basically jeepneys are a long, truck looking vehicle with a rear entrance at the very back. You board the vehicle and pass your money forward using other passengers. Don't worry, everyone is very honest and no one pockets your change. One fellow passenger actually counted out my change for me to make sure the driver didn't cheat me (drivers cheating the passengers is extremely rare, so no worries).

The tricycles are a bit more expensive, but faster as they go directly to where you want to go. Think taxi but a motorcycle with a large sidecar. This is a very bumpy and sometimes harrowing experience. Drivers in the Philippines are quite skilled, but it seems very chaotic to the inexperienced. You also have to check how much the price is before riding. I've been told you can haggle the price lower if you think it's too much.

The train is very nice. It's quiet, fast and pretty cheap. It is also very uncomplicated. There are three lines in the Manila area and they are all very easy to read (i.e. they are in English). However, some of the stops can be dodgy, especially Recto. I've been to Recto both in the day time and in the night. It is definitely scarier at night. I highly recommend against being in Recto at night alone.

The fourth and the least used by me is the taxi cab. In Japan I use cabs a lot. They are expensive, but they will usually get you where you want to go safely. In the Philippines they are the most expensive mode of transport and the can be very dodgy. I have been told several times that I should not trust a taxi cab here. Mainly they will try to take advantage of their customers. It's not only foreigners who should watch out, but Filipinos too! If you absolutely must use a taxi confirm that the meter is working before getting into the taxi. You should also ask general price. If the meter is broken do not get in. My friend's parents have driven me around Manila several times in order for me to not use the taxi. It was their idea not mine. That's how worried they are about it.

Overall public transport is awesome in the Philippines. It allows you to see another culture and to meet more locals.

The Philippines Day 1 and 2

I was feeling pretty apprehensive about the Philippines before I started this journey. Although it's different from my home country and of my adopted country it wasn't necessarily bad. The people have been very friendly and I haven't been plagued by what travel books and websites made it sound like the hordes of touts. I was asked a few times about taxis, but one no was all it took for them to leave me alone. One surprising thing was that the cops were even asking if I wanted a ride.

My first few hours in the Philippines went very fast. I arrived, found my friend and then went back to her house. Her dad fixed us up some really good Chinese style noodles and after that we went to bed. I must say it was a pretty strange night. I kept hearing strange, scary sounds and had a kind of unrestful sleep.

The next morning I was treated to a great breakfast with tons of great food. I was really digging my friend's dad's specialty: a spicy bacon and vegetable dish. It was awesome. After breakfast we headed to one of my friend's other friend's house. This guy turned out to be really nice and he drove us (me, my friend Tiff, and 2 Japanese people) to the city of Tagaytay.

Tagaytay was really nice. It overlooks the Taal volcano. It was very picturesque. The only bad thing was that it was crowded and pretty rainy. We would've gone to the island in the center of the crater lake, but the adverse weather put the kebosh on that. Still it was a nice time. After Tagaytay we returned to Manila for our last activity of the day.

As we drove back to Manila my new friends decided to go to karaoke. We made plans to meet up with another Japanese guy in order to have a larger and thus funner group. Everything was going good until we hit Manila. The main highway we were on was closed. We had to get off in a section of town that the two locals didn't know. We wandered for over an hour looking for familiar ground. Finally we collected our friend and went to karaoke.

I've gone to karaoke before many times. I've gone to karaoke in several cities in Japan and ranging from small dingy places to magnificent hostess bars. All of those experiences differed from last night. First off we got about 5 different kinds of food and 10 beers for about 1,999 pesos. That's for everyone for two hours. You'd be lucky to get that in Japan for one person. It was awesome. Everyone could sing really well and we just had a blast.

Today was much quieter and slower which was fine with me. Tiff and I went to the University of Saint Tomas and quickly learned that the University was open to visitors from Tuesday to Friday. So we headed over to a mall near her house. This mall was straight out of America. The shops were nearly identical to anything in America. It was pretty amazing. The strangest part was that you are briefly frisked before entering. Also, armed guards are everywhere. The supermarket was very close to an American one. There were tons of American foods. It was pretty great. After browsing around we ate at Jollibee. This is a chain fast food restaurant. It's everywhere in the Philippines. It's pretty good and very reasonably priced. I bought Tiff's food and mine and it was only about 5 bucks. It was very nice.

After that we went over to a massage place. No, it wasn't one of THOSE massage parlors. No, this place was reputable and very professional. The girl who massaged me was very good and worked out the tightness in my shoulders. It was a very relaxing time. The other workers were very friendly too. They all chatted me up after I was done. It was fun.

Now we're waiting to go see Inception. Apparently movies are super cheap here.

More tomorrow.

Nara

This year marks the 1300 year of Nara. It was founded in 710 as the first capital of Japan. It only had this distinction for less than a century, but it still holds tons of important cultural treasures. The most significant of those is the Giant Buddha. It truly is a sight to see. The statue is huge. It is one of the largest statues of Buddha in Japan. This was the second time for me to see it, but it was still awesome.

Another major draw to Nara is the deer park. Hundreds of deer wander about the parks looking for people giving out deer crackers. These deer can get pretty aggressive and won't hesitate to snatch anything they can. I saw one deer grab some leaves from an old man's bag. It was pretty amusing. You can buy a stack of deer crackers for about 100 yen. It's worth to do once, but if you have small kids it's probably better not to.

The only bad thing about this trip is that my camera bugged out. It actually started freaking out the previous day. The pictures would come out all distorted and oddly colorful. I thought that it was overheating, but found that if I squeeze it it goes back to normal. I have no idea what's wrong with it. I just know that it picked a horrible time to finally die on me. I guess I'm lucky that it has lasted as long as it has. I bought this thing in preparation for my trip to Guam back in 2006. It has been a good and loyal piece of equipment, but now it's retirement time.

One interesting thing about this was that it was one of the very few times that I rode in a private car on a Japanese highway. My girlfriend drove and I navigated and admired the scenery. It was overall a nice drive. Had I been driving we would've stopped several times for picture breaks. Through most of the cities there were high walls which prevented some views, but outside the urban areas you could see mountains covered in trees and valleys and far off cities. It was neat. I definitely want to do this again.

Nara is just absolutely gorgeous. I really wish that my camera hadn't messed up on me. I won't have to opportunity to go back there for a long time. But when I do, I'm going to have a new and awesome camera to capture the beauty of this great city.

Pre-trip jitters

I'm going to the Philippines in 2 weeks. I wasn't very nervous or gave it much thought until today. I realize now that I'm nervous as hell about it. This is my first time to a so called "third world nation". I'm starting to hear all these warnings about it and such. It's freaking me out. I have a friend there, but she's going to be in school during my trip so I won't get to see her much at all. I'm going to be by myself. This is the first time that I've gone on a trip internationally by myself to somewhere I'm totally unfamiliar with. Sometimes I think I messed up and I shouldn't go, but I've committed to this trip. My friend and her family are expecting me.

I'm pretty sure I have nothing to worry about. I'm going to leave all my valuables here in Japan and keep just a little bit on me. I know I won't need much there since it's cheap. I'm also cultivating my beard and hair to give me the "crazy man" look. Hopefully that will deter touts and thieves. I'll just keep my head about me and I won't have problems.

A friend who went there a few years back didn't have problems. He even ventured away from Manila. I'm not sure if I'm going to do that, but we'll see.

Worries aside, I'm really looking forward to this adventure. It's a new place with new experiences. I hope I'll meet some cool new friends with whom I'll have great new adventures.

Planning trips

I love to daydream and to imagine what my future exploits will hold. I have many many places that I want to go. The problem is is how to see them all. My answer is to try to combine destinations. For example, I am planning a trip to France next year. I've been there once before, but that was years ago before I really could appreciate the finer aspects of life and art. I therefore intend to do a few of the same things that I did before, namely the Louvre. After that I will bum around with a couple French friends to other parts of France. Now there's no reason why I can't hop over to Germany (another place I want to go, but have never had the chance) after my France trip. So that's exactly what I intend to do. I'll spend a week in France then go to Germany.

I have no real itinerary set up yet, just a vague idea of what I want to see and do, but basically I'm going to just get tickets to and from Paris and see where the wind takes me. That's the style I like. I don't like being bogged down by deadlines and time tables. I'll wake up in the morning and see what I feel like. I may not necessarily want to leave the area I'm in, or I might meet someone with a good recommendation. And traveling is more fun when it's up in the air. When I was 16 I went to Scotland and Ireland with my mom. We had plane tickets, our suitcases and a couple travel books and that was it. We would get to a city and start calling places to see if they had rooms. We did that for the entire 10 day trip. One night we actually stayed at this British couple's house. They were very nice and hooked us up with food and stuff. Very awesome experience. It's stuff like that that make me want to just go and not to make plans. I don't know what's around the corner.

I'm going to the Philippines in July. I'm basically following my formula for that trip as well. I've got a list of places and things I'd like to see, but no real plan. I have a place to stay, but other than that, nothing. I'm going to see what happens and just live day to day, in the present.

Trips that are in the works:

Philippines July 2010
France and Germany Summer 2011

Setting goals

A good friend of mine is embarking on an awesome journey of a lifetime. He's backpacking around Japan and will then go into China and eventually wind up in Southeast Asia and beyond. I've kept up with his adventure and really long to do my own. As such I've decided I should set some goals.

My first major feat will be no ordinary backpacking trip. No, I intend to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro before I turn 35. As such I have decided that I will climb it the summer before. So in Summer 2016 I will go and climb that mountain.

I've already begun thinking of some things which I will need to do to prepare. The first and most obvious is to start practicing mountain climbing. I've done 2 mountains in the last few months. I've got some plans to do more and will incorporate this goal into future trips. I really want to do some hiking in Wyoming and in New York state. I will use those trips to practice my skills. I also need to start collecting equipment. I have a lot already, but I need to go through and prepare what I have and replace what I can't use.

I'm also confident because I have 6 years to prepare and to plan. I think this goal would be very unlikely of reaching if I were going to go for it in the next 2 years or so, but as it stands now I should be able to do it with few difficulties.

Also, I hope that either before or after Kilimanjaro, I can hit up Kenya as well. I've wanted to go there for years and I see no reason why I can't hit both. If time and money permit I would like to also go to Ethiopia on the same trip. But for right now, I'm setting my sights on the mountain.

Rainy Season

It is said that Japan actually has five seasons; spring, summer, fall, winter and rainy season or tsuyuu). Rainy season falls between spring and summer proper. During this "season" it rains. And it rains and it rains and it rains. I've been told of times where it has rained the biblical period of 40 days. I've lived in Japan for five years. As such I've experienced the rainy season 4 times (I was gone for one rainy season). Of those 4 times 3 have been non-stop constant rains for about a month. Until today I thought we were going to have a dry one.

However annoying the rainy season is, it's necessary for Japan. The rice which is typically planted in May needs the rain in order to grow properly. If the rainy season is bad so will be the rice harvest.

My first year in Japan the rainy season was bad. It barely rained at all and consequently a lot of rice went bad. I remember friends lamenting the loss of their crops and thus having to buy from stores. One guy gave up his entire field for that year because of the lack of rain.

So even though it's annoying, I put up with the constant shower. It's just another day living in Japan.

Festival Weekend

This past weekend was a whirl wind of activity.

On Saturday my friends and I went to the Atsuta festival. It was pretty awesome (like all Japanese festivals are). I wore a jinbei, a traditional male summer outfit, and bought a bottle of sake to keep costs down. We wandered around best we could in the huge crowds. We did the obligatory shrine visit and bought some food from one of the many many vendors. My group then retreated to the nearby park in order to watch the fireworks and drink our booze. It turned out to be a very nice fireworks display. It wasn't as awesome as some Fourth of July demonstrations, but it was nice.

This wasn't a crazy festival like the Penis Festival up in Komaki. It wasn't one filled with dancing or karaoke like previous festivals I've been to. There were no effigies aflame. However, for some reason this festival felt more festive than others. People were enjoying their time and practicing ancient rites. It was a very inspiring time. I enjoyed it and I am glad that I got the experience.

Sunday was another festival. This one varied from Atusta in that it was much smaller and felt more homelike. There were more kids running around and people meandering around. I enjoyed it a little more than Atsuta. I guess it was the smaller crowds or the neighborhood feel or the place, but I just liked it.

One interesting thing was a display talking about old Nagoya and how it was in the past. It's amazing what 100 years will do to a place.

After these festivals I began to feel as if I wanted to stay in Japan longer. I know it's hard to stay here and not teach English, but it's starting to feel more appealing.

If any of you are in Japan don't miss out on these festivals and always check out the local ones. They are usually diamonds in the rough.

Sudden kindness

A friend recently showed me a Brazilian grocer who among other nice things sells very cheap yet delicious meats. Since being shown that place about 2 weeks ago I've gone 4 times. It's not too far and like I said they have cheap meat.

The other day I went there just to pick up some ground beef. As I was looking around at random stuff an older lady who was stocking one of the coolers caught my eye. She started speaking to me in Portuguese and was trying to hand me a package of chili peppers. I responded by asking if they were hot (in Japanese) and she says yes. I really didn't want to spend 3 bucks on them right then, so I said I'd get them some other time. She then points to something on a shelf in another cooler. I pick it up and it looks like a type of salsa. She tells me that the peppers are in there as well. It's only 190 yen, so I decide to buy it, but then she tells me that it's a gift and I don't have to pay! I'm totally blown away by that. I graciously accept it and boy it was great. I can't wait to make something with it tomorrow.

It's moments like this that make me love living and living in a country where I stick out. People go out of their way to make you feel at home. I will never forget that old lady. I look forward to seeing her again and telling her how much I liked that salsa.

China: Day 4 and 5

I awoke knowing that today would be less exciting as the previous two. I had done research on the Beijing area before leaving and I knew that we had basically seen all that there was to see in that great city.

After breakfast we loaded up and went to a famous bridge on the western outskirts of the city. I'm afraid I don't remember the name, but it wasn't very impressive. However, I did get some nice shots of the early morning.

After the usual photo shoots we headed on. This time we went to the site of the Peking Man, a early human ancestor. It was pretty interesting and had some neat little canyons and stuff. The biggest thing that stuck out to me though was the blatant propaganda. There were numerous mentions of the great Chinese state and how beautiful and great China is and the government party is. I thought it was funny. I don' t think I had actually seen stuff worded like this before so I got a kick out of it.

This day seemed more rushed than usual and before we knew it, we were on the bus again heading back to Beijing. Lunch was definitely better than the previous day. Today we had Chinese noodles. There were several types of sauces and noodles and of course tons of side dishes. I was very satisfied by this meal and was ready for a nap rather than more sight seeing.

Our last real destination was the old summer palace. This place was really neat. I enjoyed roaming around the garden area and seeing the old courtyards. I have to say that I think this place was nicer than the Forbidden City. I guess it must be it's close proximity to nature that lead me to that viewpoint.

The summer palace is home to the longest wooden passage in the world. It made for some great pictures. I scampered about taking pictures and talking with the other travelers. But soon I was tired and opted to sit down and relax. We were eventually called back to the bus for our last dinner.

Dinner was Cantonese food. Boy was it good. Lots of rich, spicy foods and just all around goodness. I spent dinner with the others, talking about our trip and plans after it was done. It was strange. I had only known these people for about 4 days and already we were pretty close.

After dinner Aaron and I went to the convenience store and loaded up on 30 cent beers and some snacks. The girl was much nicer since I used a bit of Chinese with her. We spent our last night in China drinking and watching movies.

The next day was basically us just going back to Japan. I had a little trouble because I look different now than I did when I got my passport (I was 20 when that was done). The Chinese immigration agent almost seemed like he wasn't going to let me leave. I was pretty nervous about it, but finally after about 10 minutes he let me through. I've thus decided to wait to go to China again until after my passport is renewed.

Sorry that this post is so weak. It's been almost 3 months since I went and I've been very lazy to post this.

The Tennessean Ninja

Every since I first came to Japan I have been wanting to go to the Ninja museum at Iga-Ueno in Gifu prefecture. Like many boys growing up in the 80s I have been deeply interested by ninja for most of my life. I was a rabid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan. I loved all the campy ninja movies like 3 Ninjas, Surf Ninjas and American Ninja. It was just cool. So when I finally got to go to Iga-Ueno, a little bit of my childhood came back.

My school hooked everyone up with ninja costumes. Not everyone was excited about wearing them, but we all did. I enjoyed getting to wear it and creep around like a ninja. It was a bit uncomfortable though. The elastic cut into my legs a bit, but I do have really big legs.

The museum was pretty nifty. We got to watch a ninja show wear two actors/martial artists demonstrated some typical ninja weapons and moves. It was awesome and the lead ninja was hilarious. After the show we got to pose with the ninjas and got to throw a couple ninja stars. One of mine bounced off the ground and hit the target. It was cool. One guy sank a star into the target so deep that only about an inch was left sticking out.

The icing on the cake was when I got to hold an authentic samurai sword. This sword is dated from the Warring States Period and is over 400 years old. I'm a big history nerd and I was extremely stoked to be holding it. Makes me want my own.

After the show we rushed through the museum and ninja house. The house was cool because it had all sorts of trap doors and other secret areas. I wish I could have seen more of the museum, but we were being hurried by our chaperons to get back to the bus. I was a bit disappointed by this.

Our next stop was Futami-Ura. This is a famous pair of stones set not far from a beach in Toba. They are supposed to bring luck to marriages and are actually said to be wed themselves. This is symbolized by the ceremonial rope tied around and connecting each. The area was fantastic. It was really windy and the waves kept threatening to splash us. It really made me want to live by the sea again. Unfortunately we were only given about 20 or 30 minutes to see this great site. We were herded back onto the bus and headed to our hotel.

The hotel was great. It commanded a great view of the ocean and gave us many luxuries such as internet, karaoke and a large public bath. Dinner was a buffet and we were welcome to eat as much as we wanted. I stuffed myself because my lunch was rather small. Afterward we all took a long soak in the bath and then proceeded to let loose. We all gathered in one room and started in on our drinks. I had bought a local beer called Sinto Beer. It was pretty good. The pale ale was a bit too hoppy for me, but the brown ale was fantastic. I wish I could find it up here.

At some point in the night one of the Alaskans declared that he was going to go jump into the ocean. A bunch of us decided to join him. So about 15 people walked down to the little harbor and mainly just hung out. The wind was brutal and people were starting to lose their determination to jump into the water. However, they soon got it back and were in the water. Soon, too more guys wanted to go. Then one of the Japanese students and another exchange student wanted to go. I decided to join them. The water wasn't so bad actually. I felt warmer there than I had dry and on land. After about 3 minutes we climbed out. Soon after getting out I realized that my vest had blown into the water (my friend hadn't realized that I gave it to him). My old coin purse was in it. I'll miss it, but I'm glad it went out like it did, a true sailor's death.

The walk back to the school was a little harder than it was going down, mostly because I was freezing at this point. My hands were numb and I was overall just miserable. Immediately after getting back to the hotel all who had gone swimming took another bath. It was also during this time that we noticed a couple guys had gotten cut by something, most likely barnacles. One guy was bleeding pretty badly, but is ok now.

After the bath we all went to bed.

I awoke the next day feeling slightly hungover. That was soon cured by the breakfast buffet. This stuff was good, but not as good as the dinner had been. I also realized that I missed American breakfast buffets. There's something about biscuits and gravy that fixes a hangover like nothing else. We had a little free time after breakfast which I spent packing and checking emails. Soon the time came and we all piled back onto the bus for our next destination.

15 minutes after getting on the bus we were getting off again. We boarded a sightseeing boat and cruised around the bay for about an hour. It was nice because I got to converse with my friends and just enjoyed the scenery. After the boat, we were off to our last destination of the trip: Ise Grand Shrine.

Ise Grand Shrine is the most important shrine in all of Japan. It is the main shrine to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and also the mythological founder of the Japanese Imperial thrown. It's massive and extremely beautiful. The only downside is that pictures are not allowed in the main shrine area itself. But in other areas it's permitted.

I wandered the shrine with various groups of people and eventually left and began my pursuit of lunch. This turned out to be quite difficult as most places were one, expensive and two, not very impressive visually. My friends and I settled on soba. I've had soba many times and this was probably the worst I've ever had. It was ok in the taste area, but the size was tiny for the 700 yen we paid. After lunch we had about an hour and a half to kill before needing to be back on the bus. We hunted for cigarettes (one guy was jonesing for one badly) and bought some gifts for girlfriends and family.

Finally we got back on the bus and headed home. I slept most of the way back home. The rest of the time I spent talking.

Overall this was a great trip and I highly recommend Mie prefecture as a good place to go if you want to get off the beaten path.

China day 3

This day was again an early one and again I stuffed myself at breakfast. This day was promising to be another full day of sight seeing and fun. However, today, most of Beijing was resting under a nice blanket of snow. It proved to be a very cold yet great day.

Our first stop was to Tiananmen Square. I was actually expecting something a bit different from all the pictures I've seen, but it was still great. We were told by our tour guide that there were many undercover police officers in the area so we should be careful not to say or do anything stupid. We all paused and took the obligatory photos and such. I marveled at sheer openness of the place. It truly is huge. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't going to Chairman Mao's mausoleum, but I guess we already had tons on our plate.

After about 20 minutes or so of photo taking and slowly freezing we headed into the Forbidden City. On our way from the square to the city itself we passed by army personnel doing drills with brooms. It was pretty interesting and I felt a bit bad for them.

So we enter the city and boy was it huge. I have truthfully never been in a building that large before. I've been to castles, both European and Japanese. I've been to huge cathedrals and temples, but never have I been somewhere like this. This place was expansive. We spent most of the day there. I think we were there for just about 4 hours. After a while I was getting tired of the constant march and the seemingly same scenery. We did see some interesting things though. There were several beautiful gardens and walkways and other places, but I was pretty cold and just wanted to get warm again.

Something that I enjoyed the most was getting to go to the traditional wall scroll workshop. There were a lot of neat pictures and I really wish I had the money to buy one, but alas I didn't. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going to make sure that I have the money to get one. That was the only thing that I saw while there that I really wanted.

Actually I'll take a little time now to make a little gripe. Because we were on a tour we were taken to several areas to buy souvenirs. I like getting something from my travels, but this time it was all ritzy crap that I didn't care about. I never saw anything that said China to me. We were taken places that would appeal to Japanese, which was fine as we were on a Japanese tour, but it seemed like the same mass produced junk that I could buy just about anywhere. I was just a bit disappointed that there weren't more items that had a more traditional feel to them.

After the long, cold and tiring trek through the city we finally emerged on the other side and quickly headed to a nearby park. This was pretty cool as there was a huge hill from which you could get a great view of the Forbidden City. I took some pictures and headed to the rendezvous point. I was by this time tired and pretty hungry and just wanted to get some food in my belly and to sit down for a bit.

This lunch was to be yamcha style food. I wasn't quite sure what it was and actually I still don't know why it was so special, but I wasn't impressed. I ate my fill and was happy, but the taste just wasn't as good as the other places had been.

Once lunch was done we shot over to The Temple of Heaven. It was nice and very picturesque but we were there too long. I got bored quickly and wanted to see other places. Sadly, we were done for the day. Dinner was next on our agenda and then rest time.

Dinner was another disappointment. It was Shanghai style and was sweet. I dislike sweet foods. I also felt that the stuff was all pre-made junk. I ate and was happy, but I felt a bit cheated.

Once back at the hotel Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure. I had seen a McDonald's a little ways from our hotel and since we were both unsatisfied with the dinner we had, we decided to pop on over. The walk was less scary than the night before, but we had to walk through a tunnel and I was a bit apprehensive about that. I come from a big, pretty dangerous city and tunnels are not fun there. So when I saw the volunteer cops I felt better. We got to McDonald's and that's when we realized that we don't know any Chinese outside of greetings and other simple phrases. We basically ordered by smiling, pointing and nodding. We both got Big Mac meals with Diet Coke. It was good. It was basically the same as Japanese McDonald's and thus better than what you get back home.

We crashed at our hotel and just watched movies till sleep called our names.

Hamamatsu Festival

So last week was Golden Week, a week long holiday in Japan where almost everyone goes traveling. As to not feel left out I decided I needed to go somewhere too.

I had originally planned to go to Koga in Shiga prefecture. Koga is famous for ninja. I figured since I'll be going to Iga ninja town I should probably get the other famous place out of the way as well. Well I was vetoed by the girlfriend and we settled on Hamamatsu.

I had been to the outskirts of Hamamatsu years ago for some mandarin orange picking. I didn't really get to see the city in depth. On our list of sites were Hamamatsu castle and the Unagi Pie factory (unagi pies are famous in Japan and are made in Hamamatsu).

We took local trains into Hamamatsu and arrived around noon. After a brief stop at the local tourist information center where we learned that there was a festival going on, we decided to to scrap our plans and head to the festival.

Festivals are almost always fun be it a penis, kite, or rice festival. This turned out to be a kite flying festival. In the old days people who had a newborn baby would donate money to make a kite to be flown for the child's sake. The tradition remains today.

It was pretty amazing to see all the kites in the air and to see how big some of them were. Some were about 2 meters in length. I've never really been one for kites, but I enjoyed this festival. I also got to see the ocean. I realized that it's been nearly three years since I stood on a beach. It made me a bit wistful and I immediately got the itch to travel to a tropical beach somewhere.

After we had our fill of kite viewing we swung by some of the food vendors. It was of course overpriced, but I always like festival food especially when it's meat on a stick. I had a tasty Asahi Super Dry and a skewer of beef. Once lunch was finished we decided to head back to the station and then to the castle. Little did we know that our plans would not be fulfilled.

The line for the return shuttle was just under an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the station any chances of going to the castle were gone. So we decided to take in some of the local area before heading back. I liked Hamamatsu. It's not a huge city, but it's no village either. It seemed like it would be a nice place to live, but I'm a long way away from settling down.

We wandered around the streets and got to see many festival participants wearing ancient Japanese attire. Finally the parade started and things took up a lively atmosphere again. After about 45 minutes of watching the floats go by and listening to taiko drums and shamisen, we headed back to the station to get dinner.

Dinner was disappointing. It took almost an hour to get our food and it was just so-so. But what do you expect from a chain restaurant?

With dinner digesting in our bellies we headed back to Nagoya. I got home and hit the hay.

This wasn't a big, stress inducing trip. I highly recommend Hamamatsu for anyone in the Nagoya area who just wants to get out and see something new.

Something I learned on this trip is to ask the station personnel if they have any deals on tickets to my destination. I was originally going to pay about 30 dollars for a round trip train ticket, but once the guy learned I was only going for the day he changed the discount I got a ticket for roughly 24 bucks. It was a nice way to start the day.

China Day 2

The wake up call was right on time, 0630. It took me a minute or two to realize that I was actually in China rather than home in Japan. It was a bit disorientating. Aaron and I headed down to breakfast and man it was a treat.

There was just about every breakfast food imaginable down in the restaurant. It was a buffet. For those of you who don't know me, I throw down at buffets. It's like I go into a "I'm never going to be able to eat again" mode. I had bacon, sausages, steamed buns, stir fried vegetables and tons more. Finally it was getting time for us to head out for the day.

Aaron and I both decided to pack lightly. We took with us our backpacks and just enough clothes to get us by for five days. So we basically took our entire luggage with us wherever we went.

The first stop of the day was to get some pictures of the Olympic buildings. The stadium itself was only so-so in my opinion, but the cool dragon building across the way was really neat. After our picture break we were taken to a jade store where we could buy jade on the cheap. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

45 minutes of wandering around later and we were on the bus heading to the Great Wall of China. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. I had seen pictures of it before, but nothing can compare with actually being there and seeing it for yourself. The scope of it is amazing. Standing on something that was built so many centuries ago was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have spent the rest of the day just walking around and looking at the wall from different aspects. We wandered around the wall, trying not to fall (it was cold and some parts were icy). We also avoided the numerous souvenir vendors trying their hardest to sell us silly hats.

We hiked around a couple of the more nearby hills and took our fill of pictures. And then our hour and a half was over. Aaron and I headed for the rope way and actually ended up with the same group of people we went up with.

Shortly after descending, it started to snow. The snow continued for most of the day and gave the area a nice ambiance. The Great Wall would have looked amazing with the snow, but sadly, I was not to see it.

The next stop was lunch. After the huge breakfast I had I was a bit surprised to find myself hungry. But hungry I was and greatly welcomed the Chinese lunchbox which had been prepared for us. There were several items in there and the only thing I didn't eat was the fish. Also during lunch we were treated with some Chinese alcohol. I'm not sure if it was meant for drinking or cleaning engine parts, but it did the trick and after only three shots, I was feeling nice and warm. After lunch we had another, shorter shopping break. I decided I needed to get something for my girlfriend so I hunted for something to get her. The place was obviously geared for Japanese people of means. All of the vendors spoke Japanese and would hurry around trying to get people to buy stuff.

Once back on the bus we headed to the Ming Tombs. That was also a very pleasant area, but I think that it was made more attractive due to the freshly fallen snow. It gave the entire area a nice charm that I am glad I got to see.

The tombs were of course very elegant and I marveled at the detail of the place. However, I was pretty cold at this point so I was having a hard time keeping my mind focused on the scenery. To actually enter the tombs we had to pass a security check where all bags had to be in the left hand. I thought it was a bit excessive for something that isn't very famous or popular. The inner areas of the tombs didn't hold much. There were some thrones and then a "tomb" section which had nothing but large, red, metal boxes. I didn't find this as interesting as the outside.

Mr. Lee hurried us out of the tomb and back to the bus to begin our drive back to Beijing and dinner. Dinner was simply amazing. We had Peking Duck and it was just great. I've had Peking Duck in the States, but there's no comparison. The chefs made a big production of cutting the duck and we all got to take pictures. The duck of course went fast and I ended up a bit disappointed at not getting to eat more of this delicious bird. The side dishes, though, were awesome too. I filled up on the many stir fries and other concoctions that came throughout dinner.

We headed back to the hotel and Aaron and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own. We grabbed our money and went into the night.

That was an experience. It was still part of the Chinese New Year so people were shooting off fireworks and such. That coupled with the falling snow made me feel like I was in a war movie. Every time a firework shot off, I would jump. The steam and mist in the cold air gave an eerie atmosphere to the entire place. After walking for about 10 minutes we decided that we did not want to get lost or stabbed so we headed back. I of course wanted beer. So we popped into the little convenience store down the road and proceeded to buy snacks and liquids. The girl working there was mean. She literally tossed our change at us and just came off as being rude. Outside we ran into some nice Japanese guys who were on our tour and they bought us beer. That made me happy.

Back at the hotel Aaron and I ate our snacks and watched some TV. We finished our stuff and decided to go to bed to prepare for our third day: The Forbidden City.

China Day 1

About a week and a half ago my roommate, Aaron, and I left Japan and headed on a 5 day whirlwind trip of the Beijing area. It was a great trip and I got to experience a lot of stuff that I had wanted to for years.

The first morning I wake up and was surprisingly not hungover from the previous night's fun. I toss some stuff into my pack and we head off towards the nearest train station with a line to the airport. We get through the airport stuff, get some Chinese money and finally we get onto the plane.

Once we land in Tianjin (both me and my roommate thought we were flying into Beijing, shows how much we paid attention to the brochures) we went through the Immigration stations. I was a bit worried since my stuff had been slightly misspelled (my passport has my middle name misspelled and even though it was corrected on an amendment page, no one ever pays attention to it so I'm constantly having problems). My worrying was for naught as nothing happened. I went through and met our tour guide.

Our tour guide Mr. Lee was a very nice guy and spoke great Japanese. Yup the entire tour was done in Japanese. That proved to be quite interesting. Once everyone was together we headed to a "cultural shopping center". Boy, was that a learning experience. This was the first instance where I could really see the difference between Japanese and Chinese people. I looked over in time to see a woman spit right on the floor. Now I don't mind spitting (usually), but inside? I mean that was pretty gross. After that we headed to Beijing.

By the time we got to Beijing it was dark and everyone was pretty tired. I was beat even though I slept most of the way from Tianjin. We make a quick stop at this shopping center with this huge television screen. It was pretty neat. I got a Starbucks coffee in order to make change. I made it back to the bus in time to make it to dinner. Dinner was good. It was Sichuan food. I think this was my favorite of all the meals we had. It was simply amazing. Everything was nice and spicy.

After dinner we were taken to our hotel. It turned out to be a Best Western. Now the Best Westerns I've been to in the States have been nice, but this place looked to be a 3-4 star hotel. There was a nice chandelier in the lobby, all the staff were wearing nice uniforms. I was pretty stunned. There was even a dance club on the third floor. So we check into our rooms and due to the stresses of traveling all day, we just lazed around.

Sake (酒)

Sake, the traditional alcoholic beverage of Japan, is something that is somewhat unknown back home in Tennessee. Of course a lot of people know about it, but it seems that they only know that it's a drink and it's from Japan.

There are tons of different kinds of sake. Almost every region in Japan has its own special brand and in many cases more than one. I've decided to use this blog to give people more knowledge of this great spirit.

The first one I tried was Yoshinotomo (よしのとも). It was very nice. It had a nice smooth flavor and didn't a strong after taste as a lot of sake does. It goes very nice with fish, especially tuna. I drank it at room temperature, but the nice old man at the liquor shop said you could drink it hot as well. I highly recommend this sake.

The Onsen

When people think of winter they usually think of bundling up and staying in a nice, warm room with no desire to take a bath or otherwise get wet. Not so the Japanese. In Japan one of the greatest parts of winter is taking a dip in a steaming hot hot springs. Speaking from experience, these are great.

Generally an onsen is rather large and almost feels like a hotel. You walk in and pay the entry fee. The lobby is usually adorned with several chairs or sometimes sofas and other sitting areas. There is also often a restaurant on location as well. You can also buy towels if you did not bring your own before you enter the actual bathing area. In most cases the sexes are separated (co-ed ones are extremely rare). You go through a curtain, blue for men and red for women. You enter into a locker room where you must strip down. Yes, you are naked as the day you were born when you go into the onsen. Some foreigners might feel a big embarrassed doing this, but most Japanese won't pay any mind to a naked foreigner (most of the time).

Once you're done stripping you move into the primary washing area of the onsen. You see at ano onsen or other traditional Japanese bath, you don't use the bath itself to clean off, you do that before you even get in. So you sit down at a shower stall and begin to wash up. There is usually shampoo and soap provided, but you can bring your own. It is important to make sure that you rinse off any and all soap from your body. It is extremely bad manners to enter a bath with either soap or bypassing the washing stage entirely. After your clean up you can finally enter the baths.

The baths are generally extremely hot, often close to 30 degrees or higher. Some baths are infused with minerals or other helpful additives. You soak in these baths to relax and to aid in healing (some baths are renowned for their curative abilities). You can move around and try different baths. A cold bath is also provided for a cool down if you so desire. Another feature of the onsen is the outdoor area. This can be a bit intimidating especially in winter, but these are among the most relaxing of baths. The mixture of hot water and cold air is invigorating. A favorite of mine is the shallow water area in which you lay down and allow the water to barely cover your entire body. This is quite refreshing especially when you have someone to converse with. One of my most recent times at the onsen was with my host father and we talked about everything from philosophy to volunteer work with the Peace Corps.

After you finish your bath it's time to go and get changed. Before leaving the bathing area it is often a good idea to take a quick shower. Basically you want to cool down a bit and to wash off any mineral or what not that you might have on your body. Once back in the changing room and dressed, the traditional thing to do is enjoy a nice, cold bottle of milk. This is my favorite thing about the onsen. After being subjected to hot temperatures for an hour (and sometimes longer), cold milk is very comforting.

As awesome as onsens can be there are some possible downsides. One example is the glaring old folks. I don't know about women's experiences, but I've had a couple times where an older man often glared at me and I could feel the loathing from him. However, don't allow this to deter you. Angry, anti-foreign types are the minority. Go forth and enjoy a hotspring.

Great places to try onsens are Gero, Kurama and Takayama.

A Japanese New Year

This year I took time off of my typical New Year's partying and clubbing scene to spend a more traditional time with some of my friends in Osaka.

I learned a lot this year like if you're going to travel somewhere in Japan for New Year's don't wait for New Year's eve to go. The trains and subways were extremely busy and it made traveling very difficult. Also, when you go home don't wait for the day before everything starts up again because you'll run into even heavier crowds and will thus have an even more hectic trip than before.

Aside from the crazy traveling and manic crowds I had a great time. I met my friends near their house and helped pick out that evening's dinner and beverages. Once back at their house the feasting began. We had kimchi nabe (a dish where everything is cooked in a large pot and everyone takes what they want, similar to soup). It was awesome. There were tons of stuff in it, sausages, tofu, pork, green onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts and cabbage. On top of that we had traditional New Year's food made by my friend's mom (who is an excellent cook). So we ate and watched K-1, drank, ate more and finally passed out around 2am.

The next day we went to the local shrine to pay our New Year's respects to the gods, but when we got there the line was too long and my friends didn't want to wait as it was pretty cold. After returning home we ate more of the New Year's food and watched more tv.

Around dinner time my friend decided he wanted to go to yakiniku. Back home in the States we usually refer to this as Korean bar be que. Yakiniku is one of my favorite things in Japan. It's just so good. The place we went has just one type of sauce (other restaurants may have several different kinds you can choose from) and it was delicious. We loaded up on beer and tons of beef and pork. After dinner my friends and I decided to hit a local karaoke box where we sung out hearts out for about 3 hours. It was great. Our designated driver took me and her husband back to their house and we promptly went to bed.

The next two days were much more sedate and I just lounged around with my friend and watched wacky Japanese New Year's TV. I finally packed up my gear on the 3rd and headed back to Nagoya.

Overall it was a pretty great time. I had a great time with great friends and I feel that I got a good view of Japanese tradition and home culture.