Debauchery

Here's my belated announcement of "Let the debauchery begin!"......Joey and Trish left for Malaysia last Saturday. So far, zilch. Nada. Tame as a pussy cat. Watched a Judo tournament, ate a juicy burger at Outback, stumbled onto an outdoor concert that was awesome but rained out, arranged Trish's toys and sleep. Lots of sleep. Sleeprvana. Oh, and study Japanese in a Starbucks while surrounded by nubile young people (noticed that I've successfully transitioned into the non-young generation).

Going to Hokkaido for a couple of days for work. Will post some photos when I get back. Hopefully the temperature is lower up there. It has been a sweaty-I-can't-breathe-humid last couple of days. Urrgh. Now I really miss the Michigan winter sludge and Chinese food. Believe it or not, I can't find Chinese food as good as the ones we left behind in metro Detroit. Submit that to Ripley's.

Picasa web albums

If you haven't noticed it, in the Picasa Web album where our pictures are stored, each album has a "View Map" link. Clicking on it will display the map of the area but what's really neat is that we can mark spots on the map with tiny versions of our photos. So, you can actually see where the photos were taken. Just thought I would share that. Google rocks.

Pearls are a girl's best friend

With Joey and Trisha's 3 week trip back to Malaysia looming, we decided that it would be nice to take a mini-trip somewhere close to Nagoya. So, we decided to take a drive down south to the Ise Peninsula. This little jutting piece of land on the south west side of Nagoya is well-known for several things, chief among them the cultivation of high-quality pearls.

Since we didn't make any advanced hotel reservations and it turned out to be impossible to get a room at a decent rate, we took a chance and booked a room at an unknown Japanese-style inn (ryokan). Thanks Val for the travel books! Anyway, this ryokan is located in a little sleepy fishing village called Daio. And believe me you, it was a quiet little town. Quite amazing since everywhere we've been in Japan is jam-packed with people. We were walking around at 6:30 pm and the streets were virtually deserted. Felt like we were in some kinda of zombie movie where everyone had been devoured.

We had lunch at inconspicous restaurant and they had the best fried fish I've tasted in a long time. Incrediblely fresh stuff. Joey went to town on a seafood bento box (most of you know that I'm allergic to shellfish and so she doesn't get to eat seafood often). After that we drove to Ago Bay and took a boat ride in a Spanish-type galleon. The view is awesome and it was interesting to see all the pearl cultivation as well.

The next day we drove up to Mikimoto Pearl Island. It is a tiny little piece of land that had been transformed into a tourist trap, showing off Mikimoto's finest pearls and assorted jeweleries. We also got to watch a demostration of the "ama"s (women divers) diving for oysters. It also has a nice museum that has everything you ever wanted to know about oysters and pearls.

It was a great trip...the weather was gentler than it was when we were in Kyoto. And I took Monday off to spend more time with the family at home.

A busy week

It has been a busy week for me and Trish. We were all over Nagoya. We went to Nagoya Castle in the north, the aquarium in the south watching dolphin shows and went to a cultural exchange meeting in the east. Other than a little tired, I think Trish actually quite enjoyed the excursions. Mom certainly did.

A group of Japanese guides led a few of us gaijins for the Nagoya castle tour. There were 6 of us foreigners but I think well over 30 guides. The tour was meant for the Japanese guides to practice their English on us. That was the second time we were there, but the first time that I actually know what I am looking at and the history around the castle, like how the stones of the wall were carved with specific symbols representing the Lords who built them. It was quite interesting actually. Other than that, it was the most relaxing tour I've had having Trisha by myself. The guides were helping me carrying her, pushing the stroller, taking my backpack, fanning us and even had umbrella over us at all time that we were under the sun. Talk about VIP treatment.

The aquarium was an impromptu trip suggested by a friend that I met here. Set against the port of Nagoya as the backdrop, I'm sure the sunset or sunrise there will be stunning. The dolphin show was the highlight. We were at the very first row. With the weather so hot, I thought a few drops of water splattered by the dolphins wouldn't be too bad. Apparently, Trisha had a different idea. She was startled when we were splattered and started crying. Hmmm... you'd think that I should know that by now considering my one year experience of being a mom.

Today we went to a cross cultural exchange association meeting. It's a group made up by half Japanese and half gaijins. There was free baby sitting, the main reason I joined:))) so I left Trish to fend for herself while I slipped down to enjoy the "Rakugo" - traditional Japanese story telling. It was pretty hilarious; it was like stand up comedy other than the performers was kneeling down on a cushion. Having enjoyed myself, I went and picked up Trish to find that she was playing nicely. I might do that more often now....

Typhoon

Here's our second brush with a typhoon. The first one veered off and didn't do much damage. This was back when we first arrived in Japan (and after experiencing our first earthquake). It looks like tonight's typhoon is headed straight for Tokyo and will probably affect us in some way.

気象庁 台風情報 or http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/typh/070924l.html

The typhoon didn't materialize after all. Kinda anti-climatic, just like the previous one. I now have to move my junk back onto the balcony.