Back to Japan

Japan the 2nd time around is completely different. My last trip was in February and while the snow in northern Japan was beautiful, most of the country was fairly grey. Now in April it is like a totally different country. The Cherry Blossom trees (sakura) are in full bloom along several other brightly colored flowers. Right now we're based in a district named Omiya which is greater Tokyo about an hour north of downtown. Omiya literally means 'Big Temple'. This morning I just finished a quick jog to the park for the 'Big Temple' . It was amazing. The were hundreds of cherry blossom trees around a lake and nearly 100 elderly Japanese people doing their morning calisthenics at about 6:30AM. They finished just as I was running past and they all started shouting 'Good Morning!' to each other and me. I'm sure they were wondering who the heck the tall lanky Caucasian was running through their park.

At the start of the park is a very large temple. I'll go out tomorrow morning and get some photos.

Anyway, here are some photos of the area around our hotel:

Sakura tree:


Typical Japanese Shopping street:


Palace Hotel Omiya. Omiya has a network of elevated sidewalks so the people can avoid traffic when walking(running) to work or shopping. You can see one in this picture by our hotel.


Sakura Blossom:


I almost forgot about the earthquake! Last night we were in the seventh floor of this restaurant building (the sign that says 7F) at a Shochu Style Restaurant. Shochu is a distilled liquor that can be made from potatoes, rice, sugarcane and basically anything else. Its very smooth. This restaurant had about 400 different types and served various appetizers as well. We each had about three different glasses of shochu and fried whole fish, yakitori, squid, pork cutlets, and fried cartilage from pig ears.

At 7:02PM Japan time there was a 5.0 Magnitude Earthquake. Since we were on the seventh floor we probably shook about 5" in each direction. It was pretty exciting!


I'll get some more pictures up later but I have to go get some breakfast at Macudonudsu (McD's) before work.

Bowling = Awesome

I should have been studying Japanese but I figured I'd post a few pics from our evening at the luxurious Gainesville Bowling Center Thursday night. Its quite the place if you want to enjoy $10 unlimited bowling and $1.50 Corndogs. That's right - $1.50 Corndogs!!!

The evening was part of our Operation English Improvement. We take some of the new Japanese guys at work and throw them into normal situations to work on their English skills. The other event is English-Only lunch where they have to eat a Jalepeno slice for every word spoken in Japanese. Apparently the Japanese really don't like Jalapenos so I think they prefered the bowling night.

Anyway here are some pics and please check out the final shot of the score at the end that I think shows the true skill level of some of the players.


Some of the guys worked on their bowling vocabulary but Mr. Tachiro went right to his pick-up chicks vocublary -




And explaining how he broke his belt?





Koiso after one of his only open frames.






"Who is this Japanese Guy that is taking all these pictures of me?"




Nice gutter ball dance Katie.




Yosh after a strike:



Who was the groom?

This is a picture of the final score (This photo has not been altered in any manner or fashion. Its a fact - some people have bowling skills and some don't. Ann Marie - if you get at least a 10 next time we'll let you play with the people that can really bowl).

For Jackson and Will

Coco's BirthDay Camping Trip

Here's a map for the planned location for Coco's b-day camping trip (aka coup de cha-cha's). I zoomed it out real far - if you can't locate the USA then maybe you shouldn't be going camping.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Demolition Derby

According to Patrick - "There's No Sex in the Funshine Room"













Burlesque Half-Time Show













































Nothing like a homemade t-shirt













THE END!

The Sumo's Revenge

I left out a little tale from my trip to Japan that at the time I thought was too inconsequential to mention. I have been looking for a quality knife for some time and I knew that Japan produced some of fairly good repute. During my boss's mad hunt for his wife's prune juice I casually mentioned this to him. Instantly we were off to parts of the city rarely seen by 6 foot+ white guys from Snellville, GA. He led me into a small shop on a small street where inside worked a small Kiebler elf, wait, I mean a small Japanese man who showed me some very good knives. After viewing several I noticed one that he had not shown me and inquired about that one.

"That one has too many rules and its not for sale" my boss translated the man's response.
"Such as?"
"Never wash it in the dishwasher. Always cut with a slicing motion. Never feed it after midnight. Never expose it to direct sunlight."

Sounded perfect. So after a little finagling and threatening to raise Nimitz, MacArthur, and Truman from the dead and send them back over I was on my way home with a good new knife. The storeowner is still laughing I bet.

The knife lay in wait for many weeks as I found multiple excuses to avoid cooking. Finally one night P-Melt and I decided to cook up some brats. Sounds good eh? And how about some green peppers with those brats? Perfect! And I have my new amazing can-cutting Japanese knife I can try! Look how easy it cuts through this pepper! Look - I just cut off a piece of my thumb too! AGGH!! Ok, no big deal, shake off the pain. Oh look a little blood. Better wash it off in the sink. AGGGHH!! AGHHH!! Why the hell does washing something hurt more than trying remove an opposable thumb??? F&C#$%!!! Oh, crap my roommates mom is here - better watch the language.

This was about when Patrick turned into a CSI team-member and discovered the Kill-Bill scene I had caused. You know how normally when you cut something it takes a good few seconds before the bleeding really starts? Not this time. Apparently when I shook off my thumb I released an arc of blood across the room. Think elevator doors opening in the Shining. On the blinds, on the ceiling, on the cat.

We got most of it cleaned up before Mrs. Tait saw the evidence and Matt the friendly neighborhood fireman was able to provide some freebie gauze and bandages to stem the bleeding. So if you see me wearing knife-proof gloves in the future I hope you'll understand.

Here's a pic of me and the Gremlin Knife:

What?

What's a nice quiet beer? What the heck does that even mean? Well.....

Those Crazy Asians

Here are some typical bad Japanese/Chinese translations:



























































































































































I saved the best for last. Simple and to the point.

Japan 2007 Pics