Happy Halloween!

I bought the smallest bag they had!

Hand and computer for reference.

I just ate a wasabi and uni pizza....

Uni means sea urchin.

I have nothing else to say.

The cause and solution to all my problems...

Last week, Donna and I took a day trip to the most sacred shrine in all of Japan:

The Asahi Beer Factory! (Don't call it a brewery, no one will know what you are talking about). Clearly, this was cause for celebration:

It was a great tour, and in English! And FREE! We got to do a lot of fun things, such a mingle with the local celebrities:

And see the area where the sweet sweet nectar of beer is made, from hops to the "whirlpool" vat that mixes the sweet sweet ambrosia to completion (a whirlpool full of beer...Japan does so many things right!):


Finally, our lovely guide took us to the "beer drinking" room, and proceeded to tell us drink as much we possibly could in 30 minutes. (For free!) Her exact words: "Please drink as many as you can of the Asahi beer." It brought a tear to my eye. Here she is, the purveyor of all that is holy:

She was so nice and sweet it was all I could do to oblige her (for no money!):


Our lovely guide also gave us a plate of beer snacks to eat with our FREE drinks: smoked duck and cheese. I didn't question it, I just sat back and enjoyed it:

Afterward, thoroughly content with our tour, we decided to stop next door at the official Asahi restaurant:

There we ordered some meat to grill and beers as big as our heads (it was especially great to combine the two):



The funny thing about Japan is that when you order something, its pretty much a guessing game. I sure as hell don't know how to read Kanji. So our plate of meat came and we set to grilling, not sure what animal we were eating (or what part). There were several different things on the plate, including these white square chunks of SOMETHING. "Huh," we thought to ourselves, "this looks different." But being adventerous and tipsy, we gamely put the chunks on the grill and continued cooking. After five minutes and somemore sweet sweet beer, we decided to go for it and bit in.....to SOLID FAT. Sweet Mary on a bicycle I have never spit something out in public before, but I didn't hesitate to do so here. It was beyond the pale disgusting, and although we were glad we tried it, we were a little aghast that the Japanese would consider this good eating. It wasn't until later in the week we discovered that they actually don't. The fat is supposed to be put on the grill to help keep the meat from sticking and is strictly for cooking purposes. Hm. I guess give a girl enough beer and those little details will escape her. Japan redeemded itself in my eyes with that knowledge. Another reason I love Japan? The bibs! Did you see my bib? You get bibs when you eat at places! For anyone who has ever had the misfortune to dine with me, you know what a god-send this is. I can eat and my shirt will escape unscathed! Its amazing! All in all, this was pretty much my favorite day in Japan, and Donna and I are planning another pilgrimage quite soon. Why wouldn't we?!

Hiking in the Rain

A few weeks ago my boss, Simon, took Donna and me on a relaxing hike through Mt. Bandai. Bandai is pretty cool....its beautiful from the front, but you go around to the back of the mountain and...nothing. The whole backside collapsed into itself during an earthquake many years ago. I was specifically promised relaxing hiking, but what I got more closely resembled a forced death march. Seriously, a light hike to a beautiful waterfall turned into a 300 meter descent into the utter depths of hell. The waterfall was accessible only by stairs, yet many of them had been washed away by the rain. You got though those rough patches by shimmying down a thick piece of chain bolted into the rock. Now, I'm not so much what you would call a "hiker" per se, but um, this was not fun. As much as it sucked going down though, it doubly sucked climbing back up! I just silently chanted, "Try not to die, try not to die," over and over again. However, hindsight is 20/20, and I do think the "hike" was worth it. It was absolutely gorgeous and green and a great representation of how beautiful Japan is. Also, its kind of hilarious that I made it up and down the death-stairs unscathed, but walking back to the car on the perfectly even pathway caused me to trip over a root and fall FLAT on my face. Hilarity ensued.





Proving once and for all, paper covers rock.

After a hard day hiking, we went to an onsen. An onsen is a hot spring, but they are considered sacred places to relax. So you gotta go in nekked as the day you were born. Sweet Mary on a bicycle it was a day of firsts! First this "hiking" nonsense, then public nudity, and lastly, the grill your own meat place where I ate gyutan for the first time. What is gyutan, you ask? Why, its cow tongue, my friend, and its surprisingly oishe (delicious).

I did need to pick up a beer to help the gyutan do down, though.

All in all, a good day!