Concorde Hotel Hamamatsu

... back into that calmness of familiarity. But does the fish really know what's outside the deep, dark blue of his home until he hops out for a peek, or gets caught by a hook? I'm sure I've swallowed the bait, hook and all by now. But I think the less I've struggled to get free of this feeling of awkwardness, the easier it's become to adjust to it.<br><br>Oh and on a side-note: I've managed to make my very first, solo-sushi this evening. Freakin' delicious!<br><br>

... the most tense part.<br><br>In onsens, you wear nothing. They don't want you contaminating the pool with your germs, or the germs on your clothes; the whole idea of onsens is that it's natural. So, au-naturel I went. When I sat down next to these two older guys, I struggled to keep my bandage on. It was already coming off within seconds of contact with water. Damn lying labels (or maybe I just couldn't read it properly).<br><br>Holding it to my chest, I ...

... by foot. Now, whether or not it was a sport, or whether they claimed bragging rights is a different matter (I'm no historian), but I have to admit that I'm ready for the next one.<br><br><br>But really....doing what I did again today, and then twice that, is something I should at least train for this time. My time was 1 hour and forty minutes. Two 60 and 64 year old men beat my time by about 20 minutes. Now there's motivation.<br>

... where you pass around a wireless microphone, and take turns screaching out tracks from the Beatles, The Carpenters, Michael Jackson, or any of the hundreds of artists they have stored in these machines. You do it in a small but comfortable room filled with sofas, tambourines, and a telephone for easy food and drink ordering.<br><br>Genius.<br><br>I hope I did this day justice, as I'm sure the photos and videos will explain more that my words can.<br><br>Adieu!<br><br>

... or talked me into confusion--joining their local team), and on my way back home on the winding road, when I spotted something moving on the road. Now in this area, this is a common occurrence. Wild boards (Unoshishi), deer (Shika), and all other forms of life find their way onto the half-wild half-tamed highway that runs through these parts.<br><br>"Wild" would describe the ...

... br>After we finished helping the two gentlemen who were clearly in need of hospitalization into the backs of two Ford pickup-trucks, we set out to Taeko-san's place for another Yakiniku party. You can never get enough of these things. The food is always absolutely delicious, and it was no exception in this case. She had freshly caught Ayu, gohemochi (pounded rice on a stick that you cover with sweet miso-paste and fry for a short time on the fire), various meats (chicken, pork, beef ...

... mixed with various types of sliced meat (usually beef or pork), and traditionally dipped into a small bowl of raw egg while still pipping hot. VERY delicious. In fact, I've grown so accustomed to having raw egg, that I'll crack one open for breakfast, letting it slide into a bowl of rice with some soy sauce and maybe a little bit of wasabi. Tasty!<br><br>So I spent the evening playing guitar for his family, which includes an adorable and deceptively shy (meaning he came out of ...

... after helping serve everyone lunch. And, shortly after lunch, we have 15 minutes of our daily-cleaning routine, where students and most teachers take to their assigned rooms and dust, mop, sweep, windex, and scrub anything that needs the attention. I'm sure that they do this all over Japan, and you can only imagine the trade-off in discipline and education costs. I don't particularly feel sad when I realize that this doesn't create many jobs in the janitorial field; most of those ...

... had barricades and it didn't look at all like sand dunes. At night there was a float festival. Families young and old pulled the lit up floats along the road. There were children on the floats playing flutes and drums. We sat next to the drain, and it was super smelly, but the view was too good that we put up with the stinkiness. Back to school tomorrow, thank goodness it's going to be a 2 day week ...

... into discs the size and shape of a large half grapefruit, hard as a hockey puck, but several times as heavy. The announcer would call off rounds of 30 seconds to 1 minute where they would hurl the beasts into the crowd, a dozen in the air at once, again and again. The object for the crowd is to catch one because it ensures conception success. So prized are there that Ryan was asked to trade one of his afterwards for a branch ...