I got up early this morning and jogged around the block a couple of times. The area around Ito Yokado is illuminated and flat, so I’m going to run around there for a while and see how it goes. It was just after five in the morning and I ran past a guy standing in the middle of the street practicing golf swings with his driver. The things that go on when everyone else is asleep.

Today was nice because the Board of Education was sending someone to pick me up at 8:30 in the morning. Usually I’m already at work and sitting through a teacher’s meeting at 8:30 a.m. I used the extra time in the morning to practice kanji and stay warm inside my kotatsu.

At 8:25 a.m. my doorbell rang, and a very nice man walked me down to his car. I got in, and we started driving to Yashiro. We talked along the way entirely in Japanese, and it was a great chance for me to practice without any safety nets. He told a funny story about how at breakfast that morning his kids had asked him what he would do if I didn’t speak any Japanese. They taught him a few English expressions to use, like “How do you do?” and “This way, please.” He was very relieved to be able to speak in his native tongue during the one hour trip.

At Yashiro they gave me hot coffee, plenty of Japanese tea, and kept me busy throughout the morning. Things went really well, and we wrapped things up at 11:15. There was a bus leaving there at 11:30, so Mr. Hasegawa drove like a madman to the bus station to send me off.

On the ride back, I was wondering what my work situation the rest of the day would be. Mr. Hasegawa didn’t mention anything about whether I should go back to work, and I had told them that I would be gone the whole day. I sat there and did the logistics in my head, and it turned out that if I went straight to work and skipped lunch I’d arrive about halfway through the last class of the day. I made a judgment call and decided to not go to work in the afternoon.

It worked out just as well, since although the car ride to Yashiro is about an hour, the bus ride was almost an hour and forty five minutes. By the time I had lunch, it was too late to head to work anyway. Tomorrow I’ll go in and see if anyone missed me.

I used the extra time this afternoon clean up the house and do a little bit of studying. Dinner was a simple vegetarian rice dish with a Korean sauce, and I had some yogurt for dessert. Tomorrow’s day is a normal one for me, with an evening lesson for Azusa. The week is just flying by.

One of the funny things I’ve noticed while riding the trains in Japan is something I call “rushing the train”. Sometimes a train is just getting ready to depart the platform. Usually, the guy in the back of the train checks that the doors are clear, he blows a whistle, then he closes the doors. Then he rings a little bell twice, which tells the driver up front that they are cleared for takeoff. The driver has no control over the doors, so it’s a pretty safe way to prevent injuries to passengers.

When I first arrived in Japan, I figured that once the doors are closed, you’re out of luck. But there is an option. You run right at the closed doors, and if you manage to catch the guy in the back of the train before he rings the bell, he might just open the doors up again. Then you can jump on and you’ve saved 5-7 minutes of waiting for the next train.

A failed rush is pretty embarrassing, though. The person runs up to the door, while all the people that are safely inside watch with mild curiosity. The train starts moving, and the poor person is left standing on the platform.

I’ve rushed a train only one time, and I got on. The key is to look like you are serious about getting in and clearing the doorway fast. Old ladies and people with big bags are usually out of luck.

Work today was fairly busy – four classes, and all of them were fun. I had some great conversations with my first year students. I swear some of these kids are fearless. I really enjoy speaking with them, and I hope I get a shot at teaching them next year.

I worked with Mr. Hayashi on reading and translation this afternoon, and then after school I met up with Tsuji-san to do conversation practice. I studied a bit of Japanese after dinner, and I’m all ready for my third secret mission tomorrow. It’ll be a nice way to break up the week.

This weekend was a lot of fun. On Saturday I hit the books pretty hard, but I squeezed in time to watch two of my favorite TV shows on my computer, Lost and Battlestar Galactica. I did a little jogging in the afternoon, and then killed off the last of the Mexican food leftovers for dinner.

Kuniko came in around 10:30 Saturday evening, and we worked together on some exams that her students had to take.

The next day we slept in late, had some spam and eggs for breakfast, and then went into Kobe to meet Tamura sensei and her new boyfriend. We met them at the station, and he was really nice. He even said “Nice to meet you” in English, and shook my hand.

We went out to the theater inside the Oriental City hotel, near Kobe’s bullet train station. We were here to see the Acapella group Takarabune (Treasure Boat). It’s the same group that we saw during the New Year’s Eve party at the theme park. Kuniko has two friends that are members of the group, and they had arranged some great seats for us.

I’ve never really been into acapella, mainly because the only time I saw it live was with a bunch of barbershop-quartet-looking gay guys. This group was all women, and they put on a great show. Also, when you have a connection with the members you also have a little more interest in how the show goes.

The lead vocalist was raised in the United States, so a lot of their songs have pieces of English inside of them. They did covers of some old American tunes, and really did a great job. Even though most of the audience couldn’t really understand the lyrics to those songs, they got really excited. They also had lots of songs with Japanese lyrics, and even a traditional type song called Kono Michi (This Road) that was really great.

Afterwards we went out for cake and coffee, and then Tamura sensei and her boyfriend went back home. Kuniko and I walked through the shopping centers and looked at clothes. Kobe is a great place to people watch, and conversely, to be watched.

We decided to have dinner at a ramen restaurant that Kuniko was familiar with. It was really good. I knew it was a good sign when they have bowls filled with garlic cloves and a garlic crusher at each table. I ordered up a ramen filled with chunks of slightly sweet roasted pork, onions, a boiled egg that was somehow infused with garlic, and of course lots of noodles. The restaurant was a hole in the wall kind of place, so we were sitting with lots of other people, everyone slurping their noodles like crazy. I’m starting to slurp my noodles, too – it’s a lot of fun to make loud noises like that in public.

We headed back from there, and we’re both getting ready for a busy week.

It was a busy day today at school, and not only did I have four classes, but I also got another call into the principal’s office. I guess the Board Of Education wanted me to come in and help them out again on short notice. They requested next Tuesday, which is one of my busiest days. I had been planning a Martin Luther King lesson that day, so it’ll have to go into the shoebox for next year.

Hasegawa sensei called me from the Board of Education office, and he was really happy that I could make it out to help them. He was actually giggling about it. I think sometimes he enjoys throwing his weight around. They’re even sending a car to pick me up in the morning, so I don’t have to take the long bus ride into Yashiro. Unfortunately, I’ll have to take the bus back.

After school I took the train into Suma, the beach time a little east of Akashi. I met Antoine, and we visited an izakaya to have lots of little dishes of food and lots to drink. We talked and talked about the first week of real classes, and we were both tired out, despite it being only a short week.

I was really tired heading home, and I went right to sleep when I got back. Saturday is supposed to be rainy, and Kuniko is planning to come into town late at night, so I have something to look forward to. We’re going to try to book our plane tickets this weekend for our trip to California in March. Woo-hoo!

Today the temperature in the morning finally hit the big zero, sitting there at the freezing point right when I had to leave the house to go to work. Actually, it wasn’t so bad once you got out and got moving. I took advantage of a couple of hand warmers that I had sitting around the house – they kept my extremities nice and warm for the walk to work.

Definitely the highlight today was the ESS club activity. We had a big turnout today – I was drumming up support by telling students in the hallways how exciting our club meeting was going to be. Everyone showed up, and I told them about a treasure hunt.

Earlier in the day I spent time hiding little clues all over the school, always making sure that one clue led to the next. It was fun to hide things around the school – there’s lots of great places to stash stuff.

At first my students were complaining. We have to run all over the school looking for this stuff? What’s the point? It’s cold! I managed to get them motivated though, and they ran off in search of the first clue. I followed them around to make sure they didn’t get into any trouble. Remarkably, they finished the whole thing in about twenty minutes. The prize was a small box full of candy, and it was great to see them take it carefully back to my classroom to divide it up between them. There was a definite pecking order, too. I’m not sure how it all worked out but everyone felt it was fair.

Some of the students went home to study, and a couple stuck around to hang out and chat. I spent almost an hour chatting with Iku-chan. She told me about some of the history behind the kanji I’ve been learning, and I gave her some advice on her homework. With the help of the chalkboard, some illustrations, and some Japanese, we were able to communicate just fine.

I came home tonight and Yasu came over to help me out with my leftover situation. We ate tacos and talked about everything from music to girlfriends. I ended up burning him a CD of The Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”. He gave me some good information on Japanese bands to watch out for. It was really fun.

Yasu had a new phone that he showed me – a tiny little Sony Ericsson that was cool. I don’t think I’d like to send text messages with it – it seemed a little too small for comfort. But it was nice to just clip on your keys and go.

He brought lots of beer, and his mom sent over some snacks. I retaliated by sending some of the lemons and apples that were given to me yesterday, and also some taco leftovers. Sometimes it seems like the huge pile of food at my house isn’t getting smaller at all.

My schedule today was really light, because the students have to take tests today to check to see if they have been studying during winter vacation. The first day back for them is full of exams – four periods worth of written tests. Ick!

For my part I had only two classes today in the afternoon, so my morning was pretty easy. I prepared for my new lesson for the first years, and did a little bit of studying at my desk.

At the morning we had two extremes of life and death. One of the teachers got up and received an envelope full of cash from the principal of the school. His wife had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and so it was the official present from all the teachers – cash! He made a short speech, cracked a few jokes, and then sat down. A weird thing happened when another teacher got up and as his voice cracked and tears formed in his eyes, he said that his younger brother had died unexpectedly the day before, and that is why the teacher had been gone the day before.

It was a very strange thing for me to observe. Here this guy lost his younger brother and the next day he’s at school when clearly he needs some time to deal with it. I’ve sometimes put credence in the idea of going to work to get yourself out of a depression cycle, but this seemed a little early to me. Also the emotion was something that I’ve rarely seen in the teacher’s room.

I was sitting at my desk during third period when Tsutsumi sensei came down to talk to me. She told me that although the second and first years had exams today, the third years did not, so I went upstairs and dropped in on my own class.

Normally that would be a big problem, but my third year class is doing a presentation project. They are working on their own on different things, and really they just need someone there to help out and make sure they don’t jump out the windows. Still, a little embarrassing! Ms. Tsutsumi wasn’t too concerned – she apologized for not filling me in on the schedule. Anyway, we are on a regular schedule starting tomorrow, so I should be just fine from here on out.

The history teacher nailed me down for about 45 minutes today, asking me all kinds of questions ranging from the use of the word “tsunami” by Americans to asking about a zit I recently got just to the right of my nose. I gave him as detailed an answer as possible on all the subjects.

After school I went out to Azusa’s place to do a lesson for her. It was my first time to see her since New Year’s, so we caught up on all her adventures. We had a lot to talk about, and the lesson flew by. Her mom served us some coffee and cheesecake after the lesson, and then packed a bag full of home-grown lemons and apples and sent me on my way. I bought a juicer on the way home at the 100 yen store. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Back at home I got started on my leftovers, and then packed up a bunch of stuff and gave it to Jane to help out. I also gave her some booze and dessert – a well balanced meal or two in there.

Tomorrow it’s a regular day at school with three classes. I’m hoping to have a treasure hunt for the ESS club, and then hopefully meet up with Yasu and push some Mexican food on him, too.

I had a pretty easy day at school – just the opening ceremony, and no classes. I got the opportunity to leave early because there were no classes, so I came home to get ready for the gang at the yakitori coming over.

At 6:30 the master gave me a ring, and I had all the burners going plus an additional one that runs of cans of gas. The master came in after I gave him directions, and he had a couple of the yakitori guys with him.

Unfortunately, there were only three of them, so the party of six to nine people ended up as a party of four. No problem, though. We started out with tequila shots, and then hit the beer and Chu-hi. The guys had brought lots of alcohol, enough for another eight people to drink.

Everybody bravely tried the tequila, and nobody had the “tequila face” that you see every once in a while. One of the guys really got into it, and had a couple of shots with me.

I served up tacos for everyone – corn and flour tortillas, and let everyone sample from the wide array of hot sauces that I have now. I had made guacamole to go with everything, and there was plenty of chips and salsa.

Jane made paid us a visit and everyone said hello to her. She was on her way to meet someone, so couldn’t stay, but she gave us some chocolate to finish us off.

I stayed up late cleaning up, and it felt good to go to sleep with a clean kitchen. It was a lot of fun, and I hope that we can do it again sometime. Now I just have to eat Mexican food for a week!

This morning I caught a train home from Shin-Osaka, but it was a long trip. There was a car accident somewhere along on the train line, so we were delayed about half an hour. I’m glad that I wasn’t going to an important appointment!

Today is a holiday – “Coming of Age Day”. The holiday is the chance for people that turned twenty years old in the previous year to step out and make their “debut”. The girls wear beautiful kimonos, and the guys wear cool suits. Akashi station was full of young people excited about going out today. I was particularly impressed by all the kimonos, and not just because they were all being worn by 20 year old girls. I comtemplated taking some pictures but didn’t want to look like a sex offender.

I came home to a cold, empty house. On the way into my apartment I saw a sleepy looking foreigner come out of Jane’s apartment. I recognized him from a party that Jane threw when she first arrived. He smiled sheepishly at me and said hello. No wonder I haven’t heard from Jane much lately.

My place is pretty clean – I just did a few touch ups for the big Mexican party I’m throwing for the yakitori guys. We’re all set for tomorrow. I’ll try to take lots of pictures – it’ll be fun!

I talked with my family on the phone, and then made a big shopping trip to Ito Yokado. I bought all the tortillas that they had save one package, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, chips, onions, ground beef, beer, the works.

For dinner tonight I cooked up some Spam and eggs. Susan and Dave from Hawaii had sent the Spam as part of a food exchange/care package that we did around Christmas time. It ended up being Spam, egg, onions, cheese, and chipotle sauce. I made a small caesar salad for a side, and dinner was served. Oh yeah.

After dinner I put on some running clothes and walked out to the park/island to the south of Futami. I went running out there once before on Saturday, and this time the wind was really blowing and it was cold. There’s a big set of 51 cement stairs, and a short loop that you can run around. I did three laps and went up and down the stairs a couple of times, and then came home hot and sweaty. Good exercise – I don’t know if I’ll be willing to keep it up as the weather fluctuates, but for now it’s a good time to go.

I’m off to bed soon – it’s going to be back to work tomorrow.

The Japanese word “kengakusuru” （見学する）means to go somewhere for study. This weekend I went to Osaka initially just to meet up with Kuniko, but I ended up staying through Sunday to do some studying while Kuniko went to a seminar.

I got in on Saturday evening, and Kuniko had cooked up a seriously delicious meal. It was a tofu dish with a spicy sauce, and along with a side of rice it turned out delicious.

Kuniko asked me if I wanted to join her and her coworkers for a seminar for teaching English to junior high and high school students. The bad news was that it was all in Japanese. Another bad point was that I had only brought one set of clothes, scrubby ones. Instead I stayed at her place and hit the books hard while she was gone.

Her place was a good place to study. It was really quiet, pretty warm even without the heater on, and plenty of space to spread out and read.

Once she got home we went out for Indian food at our favorite Indian restaurant – their specialty is cheese and garlic nan bread. They recognized us there and the server was really nice. I think it was a slow night there, so it was good to send some money their way. In the end, Kuniko insisted on buying dinner.

We hit the convenience store for some dessert, and then went up and went to sleep. Tomorrow is a workday for Kuniko, so we got to bed early.

Today we had a mandatory meeting at work at 10 a.m., and most people showed up at 9:50 or so. Everyone went into the meeting, we chatted for about 20 minutes, and then we left. People started drifting out of the staffroom for “lunch”. I stuck around to have lunch with the gang, and then I was out of there by 2 p.m. Now I’m gearing up for a three day weekend. I’m starting to feel guilty about taking a paycheck.

Talking to other ALTs it becomes pretty apparent that I have one of the most casual schools out there. Not only is it laid back and relaxed, but the staffroom environment seems a lot different from other stories that I’ve heard. In our staffroom you’ll often find people speaking English to each other, not because I’m around, or because they have to, but because they like to do it. It’s a big contrast from some of the other schools where the ALT has to learn Japanese or starve to death.

I’m really comfortable in my staffroom, and I have all the teachers to thank. The ALT that takes over for me will be one lucky person. I hope they realize how lucky they are.

This evening I began organizing my closets. I’m a little shocked right now that I’m sitting here in Japan writing in my journal about how I organized my closet on a Friday night. I’d like to make up stories and say that I went rollerskating with a cheerleading squad in Himeji, but really… who rollerskates in Himeji?

Kuniko did give me a call which was a nice treat – I’m hoping to go visit her tomorrow evening. It’ll be a good closet-organizing break for me.

Finally, I saw this website this evening and thought I’d recommend it to you. It’s a musician’s site, and I had lots of fun playing around with it.

http://www.billyharveymusic.com/

Enjoy!

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.