Today I went in at my regular time, but I was the second person at school. I turned on the heater and settled in for a little desk cleanup to start the new term.

Gradually people came in, and I gave then the traditional post-New Year greeting, “Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!”. It’s a mouthful, and hard to say really quickly when someone walks into the room.

Mr. Hayashi came in and was brought me some omiyage from Korea. I had asked about some cookies, and he brought the exact ones that I had requested. He said that his trip wasn’t so good, but everything he told me about it sounded like fun.

I had been gone the last few days – one I had requested the day off, the other one was my secret business trip. Unfortunately, Mr. Hayashi wasn’t let in on the secret trip to Yashiro, so he got himself (and maybe me) in a little hot water.

Mr. Hayashi caught the vice-principal as he was walking by and told him (in English!) that since I have worked so many hours during the regular schedule, I had been working short days all this week. The vice-principal was perhaps a little confused, and also he was using English which he’s not really comfortable with, but he asked if I had come in every day this week, and Mr. Hayashi told him confidently, “Yes! He’s been leaving at 10 a.m. every morning.”

I’m not a big fan of lying, and I wasn’t ready for this. Here he is lying about my attendance in front of the vice-principal. Then the vice-principal asked me, “Weren’t you on a business trip yesterday?” Now I was stuck, I could lie to him to try to bail out Mr. Hayashi, or I could tell the truth and maybe get Mr. Hayashi in trouble. I had to think quickly, and so I told the vice-principal that yes, I was doing a business trip yesterday.

Mr. Hayashi recovered quickly, and said that besides yesterday I’ve been in all week. Probably his only saving grace was that he was speaking English and not Japanese. It was a really complicated situation that I didn’t appreciate being put in.

Right after the vice-principal left, Mr. Hayashi asked me to help teach a class that he is doing, so I went upstairs and we did a lesson on preparing for the STEP test. As soon as the bell rang, Mr. Hayashi told me that we had to leave, and he dropped me off at the station before speeding off to Kobe to have lunch with a girl.

I went from a full workday to heading home at ten in the morning. What a weird day.

Luckily, I could use the day to study, although here I have to pay for the heating, where at school it is free. I heated up my kotatsu, and while I was sitting there reviewing old vocabulary I kept thinking, there has to be a better way.

I got on my computer and went to a site that I had visited in the past, called Katango. You can enter vocabulary words and kanji, and the site will automatically generate quizzes and flashcards based on the words that you are learning. I decided to take the plunge, and I filled the database up with about 850 terms that I’ve been reviewing. It took almost three hours, but now I can retire all my old flashcards and log into the computer anytime I like. The quizzes are a little slow, but once they load I can flip through the flashcards like crazy. So cool. I haven’t given up flashcards, though. I’ll still use them for the initial memorization, and use the Katango site for review.

It’s just as well that I was inside all day since it started raining on my way home. I’m hoping for some good weather this weekend – I’m dying for a vigorous hike.

Dinner tonight was steak. I found steaks on sale at Ito Yokado, and I marinated it in chipotle hot sauce and a bit of oil, and then I pan fried it and served it with green onions on top. It was quite good – when they are on sale, the steaks are the way to go.

I gotta hit the sack. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be at school for most of the day tomorrow. We’ve got one of those “consciousness-optional” meetings in the morning to urge us on to educational greatness in the coming year.

I still haven’t been back to work yet. Today I got up early but instead of going to Takasago I took the bus with Chelsea to Yashiro to help out the Board of Education again.

This time around we were putting the final touches on the entrance exam, and we did a low quality recording so that they could present it to some VIPs on the board. Once they get final approval they’ll take it to a professional recording company, who will do the recording that students will actually hear.

We spent all day on the project, only breaking for lunch. We went out to a sushi restaurant with a couple of other teachers on the project. They were pretty excited to be hanging out with us, especially when they found that we could speak a little bit of Japanese. One of them even bought our sushi for us at the end of the meal – she was so happy to spend time with us.

Being in Japan for as long as we have, we start to take for granted meetings like that. For us, it’s another new face, another name to remember, and more food to eat. For them, it’s a rare opportunity to talk to someone from another country, someone who has a cultural background so much different from everyone else you meet. It’s a lunch that they’ll be talking about for a week. Today was a nice reminder that in Japan you are always on stage.

We caught the bus back to Akashi, and headed straight home. I picked up a couple of things at Ito Yokado and had a salad for dinner, along with some koyadofu and some lightly fried things that I’ve seen before and never tried. Turns out they are vegetables and quite good. I made a smoothie for dessert – banana and cocoa flavor.

I got in a couple hours of studying tonight, and the new study area is working really well. I can’t believe I went so long without a nice big desk to use. When I was walking through Ito Yokado earlier today I saw the kotatsu I bought at a higher price – they have some more in stock and the price jumped to 15,000 yen – up 30%!

I gotta hit the rack soon – I’m going to school for the first time in a long time tomorrow, and I have to dream up a couple of lesson plans for next week. The nice thing about going back to school is that weekends will mean something again – the other day Kuniko and I couldn’t figure out what day it was… a sure sign of too much vacation.

Well, I’m back from my two day trip to Tottori, a two hour train ride northwest of my area. It sits on the Japan Sea, and generally a lot colder than my part of town this time of year.

Kuniko and her co-worker Risa planned the trip as a way for all of us to meet each other’s significant others, and to eat lots of crab. We accomplished both.

Kuniko and I met up in Himeji for a quick lunch, and then we went to the station to get ready for the train trip. Risa and Anthony came a little bit later and met us at the station gate. It was the second time that I’ve met Risa, and the first time that either Kuniko or I have met Anthony.

Anthony is from the country of Brunei, which is located on the island of Borneo. He is a very interesting guy – he’s been living in Japan for the last five years, so his language skills are great. He’s working as an engineer for a Dutch firm in Kobe, and he met Risa a couple of years ago. They are engaged to be married this year back in his country.

We got on the Super Hakuto 7, which is a very space age name for the really fast special express train that takes you north through the snow to Tottori. The coolest part of the trip for me was the chance to watch a special TV feed from the camera mounted on the front of the train. There was also a long tunnel that we went through – 5.6 kilometers long. Also, plenty of snow – the landscapes were beautiful.

Although there was a lot of snow on the trip there, Tottori itself didn’t have any snow – it was just really cold. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and that made it seem even colder.

We got to the station and our ride wasn’t there yet, so we went into the local convenience store and bought alcohol there, since we figured it would be a lot cheaper than what the hotel would sell. As it turned out, we were quite right.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. It was a really nice hotel, and they set us up with some tea and told us all the rules and regulations; what we were expected to do and where we were expected to be at what time. We picked a time for dinner and they set it up for us downstairs in a private room.

Dinner was crab – it’s what the Tottori area is known for. I ate lots of crab – hot crab, cold crab, crab salad, you name it. We smuggled in our beers and had a toast, and chatted the evening away. We were using English, which I guess is to be expected with two native English speakers and two Japanese English teachers.

We headed up to our rooms after the long dinner and got ready to try out the baths. They had a couple of “public” baths, and a couple of private ones, too. We set out to visit the outdoor private bath. It was really cool – we walked through a forest on the side of the lake and came to a gate. Beyond the gate was a wooden structure, and inside the structure you could take off all your clothes, wash up, and jump in the bath. The water was super-hot – Kuniko took a guess that it was around 115 degrees Fahrenheit. No kidding – it was way hot. Once you got in it would take a minute for your body to cool the water around it. If you moved, then it would be super-hot again.

It was very relaxing, though, and the patio was open to the fairly large lake. You could make out the lights of other buildings on the other side, and occasionally ducks would fly overhead.

We also tried the indoor bath, which was actually two baths, one that was inside and one that was outside. We spent a long time in that one using the built in shower to wash up, since our room only had a toilet, no bath or shower.

The next day we were up early for breakfast. We had hoped to get up even earlier and take another bath, but we didn’t get up in time. We had a pretty traditional Japanese breakfast, and then went over to a Chinese garden that was built near the hotel.

We walked through the gardens and enjoyed seeing some Chinese artifacts. We happened to be in time for a special show, and it turned out to be Chinese acrobats doing lots of different tricks. When the show first started, we were the only ones in the room, but later more people showed up. The whole thing only cost 500 yen – it was a pretty good deal and it didn’t feel too “touristy”.

Finally we went into town and had lunch at a place known for it’s rice cake (mochi). Kuniko and Risa ordered up a special mochi dish that was really good – I stole a lot of Kuniko’s food from her plate. It was so good that I bought some mochi home to have for dinner later.

We wrapped up our trip by catching the Super Hakuto 8 back to Himeji. We were lucky enough to get seats – our tickets were unreserved for the trip back, but it was no problem.

Now I’m back and getting ready to get back into a working schedule. This has been a really relaxing holiday. Tomorrow is another secret trip to Yashiro for the Board of Education. Thursday I’ll make my first appearance back at school in more than a week. I hope they remember me.

Sleeping in is so nice, especially on cold mornings. I woke up around 8:30 this morning, and then got organized and headed north to Carrefour and Midori to look for a desk lamp and a kotatsu cover for my study desk.

I found both, and I got a great deal on the kotatsu cover, and I think I overpaid for the desk lamp but it’s plenty powerful. I took everything home, hooked it all up, and it works great. I sit in my chair and I can study and stay warm without distraction. It works so well that I spent the next four hours studying Japanese grammar rules, and writing kanji.

For dinner I made up some yakisoba with some of the cabbage that Kuniko’s family gave me, and watched The Village on my computer. That was a strange movie, but I liked it. Good entertainment.

Tomorrow I’m meeting Kuniko in Himeji to go to Tottori, a town northwest of here that sits on the sea of Japan. We’re going with Kuniko’s coworker Risa and her fiance, so it will be fun to spend some time with other people.

Today is New Year’s Day in Japan, a holiday akin to Christmas in the States. It’s a big deal – the biggest holiday of the year, and usually everything is closed and deserted as families stay home to celebrate the day together.

Apparently over time more and more stores have stayed open on New Year’s Day, as families that stay home tend to get on each other’s nerves – now there are a lot of people that go shopping. Ito Yokado was open today, and it was packed. Kuniko and I could see all the cars going in and out from my apartment window.

Kuniko’s folks had invited me over for the day to celebrate a traditional Japanese New Year. We went over in the afternoon, and I am happy to report that I was a lot less nervous than the last time I was over to visit. Kuniko’s sister was there, and I got a chance to deliver lots of goodies to Kuniko’s mom. She was excited to get so many things from America, so I hope they enjoy trying them. I gave her dad one of my big bags of peanuts that I received from Nancy and Lynn, and that was a homerun. Peanuts are available here, but they aren’t cheap, and the ones in the shell are pretty hard to find.

We started by eating “osechiryori”, an old-fashioned type of food that was originally created to last for a long time. The idea was that people shouldn’t be cooking and working on New Year’s Day, so they prepared “osechiryori” to last through the holidays. We had four big trays full of different kinds of food. They were like the elaborate bento boxes that I’m used to getting at work occasionally, but the food varieties were a lot different. Everything I tried was delicious, and I could identify the stuff I didn’t want to eat very easily. No surprise flavors!

I got a chance to speak more with the family, but I can’t believe how wimpy I am when it comes to trying out new Japanese that I have learned. There comes a time where you have to just lay it out and see what happens, but I don’t think that time is with your future in-laws. I stuck to the safe stuff, and I feel like I could understand more of what everyone was saying. Overall I think I did a little better than last time, but I’m a far cry from full-on conversation.

We ate all day long – I’m still stuffed. We had takoyaki, cake, rice, pineapple, snacks, it just kept coming. I wanted to be polite and try everything they offered, so I ate a lot.

At one point we got in the car to drive to their property in the countryside. They have a medium-sized garden out there. Lots and lots of vegetables, and I enjoyed getting a tour. Radishes, carrots, onions, lots of stuff growing. I got to see how they grow shitake mushrooms, and they were even growing hot peppers. Kuniko’s dad was nice enough to give me a whole bunch of shitake mushrooms, a handful of Chinese red peppers, a head of lettuce, and a head of cabbage.

Finally after eating some cake that Kuniko’s sister had made, I decided to hit the road. I didn’t get out of there without a tray of takoyaki, a box of cookies, a bag of oranges, a bag of kiwis, 4 packages of wakame (seaweed), and a dozen bananas. I have more fresh food in my house than I’ve ever had – maybe that’s ever been in here. Combined with all the food I bought the other day in case Ito Yokado closed, well, there’s a ton of food here. And the clock is ticking.

I’ve got an idea to maybe make up some smoothies with all the fruit, especially the bananas and kiwis. The oranges I’ll eat pretty quickly, and the rest I’ll just have to gradually work in to the next few meals and hope for the best.

Kuniko’s folks were really nice, and I felt a lot more comfortable around them. Both of her parents seemed more relaxed, and that might be because they both spent some time in the hospital recently, and that can sometimes change your perspective a little. Her father especially seemed downright jovial, and I really enjoyed talking to him.

After Kuniko dropped me off I came inside and put all the supplies away. I was getting set up to do some studying, but it has finally become a big pain to set up. I usually study either in front of my computer at my “dinner table” or in the living room. The bad news about the “dinner table” is that it is easy to get distracted by the internet or e-mail or the website or something. The bad news about the living room is that it’s too cold, and it’s really not comfortable to sit on the cushions for a long period of time.

I decided then and there to do whatever I had to do to create a comfortable study area. I walked out the door and across the street to Ito Yokado, and found a kotatsu on sale for 10,000 yen.

What’s a kotatsu? It’s really just a regular table, with a heating element built into the bottom. It’s surrounded by an apron, and you sit at the table with the bottom part of your body inside the heated apron. My idea is to use that as my study space, and set it up in my bedroom.

I was walking through Ito Yokado just to do some research on prices, and most of the cheap kotatsu were around 17,000 yen or so ($160). This one was an advertised special, while supplies last kind of thing. They only had the display left, but it was in great shape so I picked it up.

Three employees helped me with my questions, and they showed me all the options I had. One broke down the kotatsu and wrapped each piece in bubble wrap, and then pieced everything together and presented it to me. Another walked me through the different choices in aprons, and even used quite a bit of English. I also bought a really comfortable chair that sits on the ground and tucks underneath the kotatsu.

I carried everything home and set it up, and it seems really comfortable. I ended up not buying an apron tonight since they didn’t have one that grabbed me. I’ll pick one up later on.

I’m off to bed now – it was a long day. Later in the week Kuniko and I are taking a trip with one of her co-workers to Tottori to eat lots of crab at a hotel that may or may not be buried in snow right now.

In the afternoon I went over to Mr. Komuri’s house in Akashi to have a New Year’s soba party. He met me at the station and told me that unfortunately his sister and her family had fallen ill and couldn’t attend, so it was just me, him, and his son.

It was my first time meeting his son, who is a third year high school student at Akashi Nishi high school, the school right next to my apartment where Jane works. He was pretty good at English, and we had some good conversations.

Once again we brought out the soba noodle making materials, and this time it went really well. The soba was delicious. We also made gyoza (pot stickers) and cooked them right there on the table. By the time it was time to leave I was full – Mr. Komori kept trying to give me beer, and I didn’t want to turn him down.

After leaving him to prepare to entertain another set of New Year’s guests, I went to Akashi station and met up with Kuniko. She and I drove to Portopia Island, a man-made island where I had my mid-year conference. It’s just south of Sannomiya, and there is a theme park there. Theme parks are popular places to go for New Year’s Eve, especially with people in our age group.

We got there early and walked around a bit. It was interesting to see a Japanese theme park – it wasn’t owned by some American company like Universal Studios Japan or Disneyland. That being said, there was a distinctive European feel to it – and the whole place seemed like it was designed like somebody’s vision of an eastern European country.

One thing that was tough to deal with was the wind. It was pretty cold, and the wind was blowing hard enough to really chill out any exposed body parts. We kept our hands and faces buried in our jackets as we walked around, and during the rides it was particularly cold. Occasionally we would stop in the arcade to warm up. There were really interesting games there, including a horse race game where you actually ride a mechanical horse.

Finally just before midnight we gathered in front of a stage. They had an acapella group performing just before midnight, and one of the members is a friend of a friend of Kuniko’s. Sometime in January we are planning on going to see them in concert, and this was a free preview. They were pretty good, but Kuniko said that didn’t sound so great this time around.

Finally the moment of truth came, and they did a one minute countdown. At the stroke of midnight they let loose with 30 minutes worth of fireworks. It was great – fireworks in Japan are a little different than what I’m used to. Some of them seem a little more dangerous.

Freezing from head to toe we went back to the car to take off, and thanks to a good parking spot we got out of there quickly.

We came back to my place to spend the night, and tomorrow we’re going over to spend time with Kuniko’s family on New Year’s Day. It should be fun!

I was puttering around this morning on a rainy day and when I looked outside I observed that it is snowing! Not enough to collect on the ground, but it’s beautiful to watch the snowflakes fall. Did you know that there is no Japanese word for snowflakes?

All right, back to my breakfast. You can tell I’m from California, can’t you?

Kuniko and I woke up late this morning, and had a big breakfast of bagels and donuts. I had a little surprise when my donut was actually stuffed with shrimp and mayonnaise – it wasn’t really a donut, more of a pastry. Unexpected, but delicious!

We gathered her stuff together and I walked her to Tsuchiyama station – she was heading over to Hoden station to meet up with her sister and go visit her folks for New Year’s. I’ll be over there on New Year’s Day, so it’ll be fun to catch up with everybody.

I went home and hit the books most of the day. In the evening I watched a couple of Seinfeld episodes from the DVD that my brother sent. Dinner was leftover patrol – fried rice, kimchee, and a quesadilla. Weird combination, but that’s leftover night for you.

Tomorrow I’m going to head over to Akashi for Mr. Komuri’s soba party. He said that it will be noisy party, but I’m not sure what he meant by that. It should be interesting. Afterwards Kuniko and I are planning to meet up and look for a good place to have a midnight party.

I had just written a long update about my trip yesterday to Kobe with Antoine, and another website caused my browser to crash, and I lost the whole entry. Now I’m left with an empty feeling and I don’t want to rewrite the whole thing. Instead, here’s the brief abstract:

Went to Sannomiya, bought lots of cheap warm clothes at Uniqlo, played pool with a semi-sick Antoine for a couple hours. Had a tiny diny at the Mexican restaurant (way too expensive for the portion size). Had another dinner at my favorite ramen place, and then I gave Antoine his Xmas present – a bottle of Wolf Blass Cab Sauv. Finally headed home, and Kuniko came over a little later. I hooked her up with more Xmas presents – a Japanese DVD and a Starbucks card.

There – boiled down into one paragraph. It’s so depressing when I write all that stuff and then I lose it. Ugh.

Today at work I showed up a little later so that the heater would be in full operation when I arrived, and that worked out just fine. Everyone was in a good mood because today is the last day of “work” for us before the New Year’s holiday.

The history teacher made a stop to catch up with me. He asked about what I did over Christmas weekend, and I told him “oh, lots of things. I went here and there. It was fun! How about you?”

Usually this works to change the topic, but he was pretty persistent.

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“Oh, various places. East of here,” I replied, looking for some breathing room.

“Which places did you visit?”

Finally, I said that it was a little rude to ask so many times, and maybe it’s a sign that the person doesn’t want to tell you. He understood then. He apologized, but I said that it was no problem. He really was onto something, which makes me think that he saw me somewhere, or just wanted to confirm a guess. Weird. I’d love to be able to tell the truth, that I spent time with Kuniko in Osaka, but we’re still in secret mode for the time being.

I jetted out of there after an hour or two and went home, where I did more studying through the day. I took a break to grab lunch at Ito Yokado, and the makings for a big pan of fried rice for dinner later on.

When dinner time rolled around I brought out the ingredients.

The most important ingredient is beer, and I picked four types of Kirin, and I had a leftover Suntory winter beer. Once I broke into the beer I could properly cook up the rice.

The rice had egg, grilled pork, mushrooms, snow peas, kimchee, and green onions in the mix, as well as plenty of garlic and good dose of seasoning salt. It turned out really well – I made enough for three or four meals, because it stores really well. I only drank two of the beers, actually, so I’ve got some extras for later.

After dinner I cleaned up and continued reading a book that I borrowed from my tutor Tsuji-san. It’s a kid’s book in Japanese, probably about third or fourth grade elementary school level. It’s still really tough – I have to have the dictionary right there to figure things out.

I think reading is definitely the best way for me to study Japanese. I’m always challenged by grammar and words that I don’t understand, but I’m also forced to recognize words in kanji that I’ve memorized a long time ago. I’ve got probably 15 or 20 sets of 100 flashcards that I’ve memorized in the past, but it’s getting to the point where it’s unwieldy to keep reviewing them. Reading is good because I will bump into these words a lot and it keeps them fresh in my mind.

I read for about an hour and a half, and then hit the rack. Tomorrow is a full day off, the start of many lasting until after the first of the year. Antoine and I are planning to meet up to shoot some pool. He’s been sick lately so we’ll be taking it easy. We might go catch some Mexican food at the restaurant in Kobe that I’ve been wanting to visit.

I went to work this morning, and I was the second person there besides the janitor, which is pretty damn early. Actually it’s the regular time I always go – the schedule is pretty light since we have no students. This week I only really have to show up twice, and then the official holidays start.

We got the heaters going and I sat down to do an hour or two of studying. Unfortunately, the heater nearest me ran out of kerosene, so the temperature started dropping again. The janitor promised to take care of it, but then I didn’t see him again for 40 minutes.

As people came in they all commented on the temperature, and everybody (and I mean everybody) asked me if it was OK to turn on the heater. It got to the point where I wanted to make a sign and put it on my desk.

Mr. Hayashi finally booked his flight to Korea, and is living tonight around nine p.m. He’s looking forward to the trip, if only to sit in a coffee shop all day and read Newsweek. Actually I think he’s hoping it will increase his family’s harmony – his solution is always to throw lots of money at his problems. He tells me that his wife and daughters will be happy after getting the chance to go shopping in Korea.

The history teacher had enough of the cold room and brought in the kerosene himself, but just at that time Mr. Hayashi and I made our move out the door, and I was home around lunchtime. I stopped in at Ito Yokado for a bowl of ramen, and then went home to study. I put in a couple hours, and also spent a little time playing Half Life 2, a game for my computer that my folks got me. It’s pretty fun – I haven’t played computer games in years.

I made up some potato and chive soup for dinner, with a lot of chipotle flavor thanks again to my family who have kept me well supplied in hot sauce.

I’m off to bed – tomorrow will be another short day at work, and then I’m hoping to get together with Antoine and find something fun to do.

Not much to report on this fairly quiet day after Christmas. I spent almost the whole day inside cleaning house. I did just a little of studying, but I’m waiting to go to school tomorrow to really get some work done.

This evening I made a trip to Okubo to do some shopping, and stopped in at Carrefour and Midori on the way home. Carrefour was really busy – I was surprised. Everytime I go in there it’s dead.

I made a simple rice dish with some meat that Ms. Miyake had given me last week, and it was really good – a flavored beef sauce that I heated and poured over the rice. That and a side of kimchee and I was all set.

My headache was much better today. There’s still the edge of it in the background, so a day of rest might have been a good thing.

Tomorrow I’m off to work, but it should be a short day. Mr. Hayashi recommended a short visit only. He’s going to be in Korea, so it’ll be Bryan on his own tomorrow. I need to remember to ask for a day off after the new year. Kuniko and I are planning a trip to go eat lots of crab at an inn she knows. Should be fun!

Merry Christmas! I woke up this morning around 11:30 – actually barely still in the morning category. I was dead tired after the late night pool antics.

I got cleaned up and organized, and then decided to open Christmas presents. My family had sent lots of stuff, so I got started tearing stuff open. I received a lot of cool stuff – DVDs from my brother, some new artwork from my parents, the Two Towers DVD from Nancy and Lynn, gloves from Kinsey, and lots of other stuff.

My parents had sent a light outer shell jacket to replace the one that had been stolen a while back. It was wrapped up in a small box – I was very surprised when I opened it. It’s a nice jacket – lightweight, but big enough to wear layers underneath. It’ll be great once the rainy season hits. The jacket Kuniko got me is great for the cold weather we’re having, so now I can finally stay warm during winter.

After opening presents I talked to my family on the phone, and we talked about the last couple days and all the great presents I got. Tomorrow they’ll open their presents, so I hope everything I sent made it OK.

For some reason I got a serious headache, and I was swallowing aspirin like candy trying to fight it off. I think it was caused by my glasses, because they are so old and the frames a slightly warped. Anyway, I struggled through, but I thought for a while that it might be time for a trip to the hospital. Ouch.

Later on that evening I went over to the yakitori to attend the softball team’s end of year party. There was a good turnout, and we toasted the year’s team and also a wished a very loud “Merry Christmas!” to everyone.

The master had created quite a spread of fish, meat, and soup. We made two big bowls of nabe, had lots of sashimi, and plenty of beers, sake, and sho-chu. The master also contributed a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. He handed the opener to one of the guys, and it was the Thornton Winery opener that I had given him a while back. Free advertising in Japan!

We all drank lots, and there were lots of questions about how strong I was at drinking, how I reacted to different foods, and once again they called for me to join the softball team. I declined – that’s the last thing I want to do – throw my back out running around the bases.

Finally we wrapped things up and went our separate ways. They wouldn’t let me pay for anything, which was nice. I’m planning on having a party at my place sometime in January, so everyone is invited to have a Mexican meal.

It was a different Christmas for me, but a good one. I had a traditional Japanese meal and was able to participate and converse with seven drunk people in a foreign language. I’m sure next year’s Christmas will be just as interesting.

I took Christmas Eve off so that I didn’t have to report in to school early. That paid off big time because I could relax with Kuniko Friday morning and then pack up all my gear and leave. Kuniko was off to an interview, and then to serve her “prison term”, an in-school four day live-in seminar. Ugh.

I caught a train home, and had a painless trip back. Once I got back I spent the day relaxing, catching up on e-mails, and doing laundry. I got to cook up some leftovers from our Christmas feast, which was really nice.

For dinner I made Korean pork and rice, and then a little later I went over to the yakitori to have a beer and check to see if our Christmas party was still on. The master was in a good mood, and spent a lot of time with me trying to speak English. He’s been watching an English learning TV program, and he asked me a few questions. We chatted for about 45 minutes, and then I headed home.

Around 10:30 at night the master called me and asked if I was tired. I said that I was OK, so he invited me to join him and his part-time worker playing some late night billiards. I said sure, so I went over to the yakitori at around 11, and the master closed early for some recreation.

We closed up the shop and drove to a bowling place in south Kakogawa – I’m not sure what the name was, but it had the word “Funky” in it. It was a strange place – definitely the biggest bowling alley I’ve ever been in. They had five pool table for rent, and also some games and amusements. The setting was pretty shabby, though, and the late hour added to that feeling some hour.

We played a quick game of nine ball, alternating players. It was fun, but I taught them how to play “cutthroat”, and we played that the rest of the night. Three players can play at once, and it can be a good-spirited mean game. The part-time worker had been boasting of his ability all night, but he didn’t do any better than the rest of us. We all won our share of games, though.

Finally around two a.m. we left, and stopped at a 24 hour udon restaurant for some late night food and beer. After that, the master dropped me off at home and I went right to bed. I’m looking forward to the next pool game night. The part-time guy was already saying he was preparing for a “revenge game”.

Since Kuniko is stuck at school from Christmas Eve until the 27th, we decided to do our Christmas today. We got up this morning and Kuniko cooked me “medamayaki” (fried eggs in the Japanese style), and then we headed out to Umeda.

We’ve both been having lots of trouble finding gifts for each other. I had been looking for a bathrobe for Kuniko for the longest time, but size was a problem – I couldn’t find the right size anywhere. Kuniko was also having trouble coming up with something for me. Christmas is a little different in Japan, more of a romantic holiday, so she hasn’t had a lot of practice buying Christmas presents. In the end we decided that we’d go shopping together and find something for each other together.

We looked at jackets in a couple of stores and it was tough finding one that was my size. Also, there were some pretty expensive jackets out there – with Gore-Tex they can get pretty pricey. I knew what I wanted specifically, so I was pretty picky. Finally, I saw the one I wanted in a Timberland store. I tried it on and it fit well. It had all the features I wanted and wasn’t as expensive as some of the others out that we were looking at.

Kuniko insisted on buying it for me as a Christmas gift. I thought it was too expensive for her to pay for the whole thing, but she insisted – pushing me physically out of the way to pay for the thing. She had the clerk wrap it as a present, and we took it out of there.

Now as you are reading this, remember this point in the story. This is the point where I screwed up. I’ll explain later. Remember this point. OK?

Next we went to buy some of the ingredients for our Christmas dinner. We went from store to store. We got a cheap fondue set, some fondue cheese, a roasted ham, a bottle of champagne, and a couple of salads. We had to jump from store to store to find them, but eventually we collected everything.

Next stop was to pick up the Christmas cake. Like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Christmas cake is a big Christmas tradition in Japan. Kuniko had made a reservation for a cream cake, and we picked it up at the store. They were set up for volume – just about everyone was going to come pick up a Christmas cake in the next couple days.

Now that we had our arms full of stuff, most of it needing to be refrigerated, I suggested that we head back and put it in the fridge.

Well, as you see, we still hadn’t gone shopping for Kuniko, and we both misunderstood each other. We talked it out later, and really I should have taken her shopping at the point mentioned above. We rarely have miscommunications, and this was a big one. Her feeling were a little hurt, and I felt really bad.

Once we dropped everything off at her place, we went back to Umeda to do some shopping for her present. As luck would have it, we found a great bathrobe at “Mujirushiryohin” (No Label Goods) store. I also got her a sweater that she picked out. Later she tried out wearing the bathrobe and it worked out great, so I think it was a pretty good gift.

We took our gear back to her place and started on dinner. The dinner turned out great. The fondue was awesome – we used French bread and Dutch crunch, and it was definitely my favorite. The ham was good too. We tried dipping it in the fondue as well, and it was a good match.

We opened our presents, from each other (not a big surprise) and also Kuniko opened presents from my family. She’s never really had a Christmas like this, and I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the gifts. She was really happy with everything she got. For dessert we ate the Christmas cake, which was rich, creamy, and delicious. It was a good match with the champagne – finally we crashed out with full stomachs.