Hamamatsu Meitetsu Hotel

... high-tailed' it outta there, leaving his hapless victim (not his dinner, mind you...they're herbivores right?) on her own.

So, having disturbed this lovely display of primal roots, I burst out laughing, feeling awful for having taken part in playing the breakin-father. But heh, if I'm not allowed to have fun, neither are the bloody bunny-rabbits!

Kinball rocks!

... trails that lead to nowhere in particular.
One of the hottest spots in this town is their "Guest-house". I'm not sure exactly what this is, but the other day I was invited to a yaki-niku (Yaku is to fry, and Niku is the word for meat = BBQ) after school on a Friday. I wasn't going to go, but when i arrived I was surprised with...well, you'll see if you read the next entry I make titled "Yakiniku". It was a night of Yakiniku, that needs more than just this small entry to do it justice.

... and its advantages. Of course, since I'm not accustomed to it, I'm both awed and slightly bored by it. I always disliked standing and saluting people I don't know, and haven't found a reason to give respect to when I was with Air Cadets; it was simply understood that they were to be respected. At first, this was how it was, and I wasn't pessimistic about it at all because I simply knew this was how it goes. As I got to know the principals, and some of the senior staff, I both ...

... this time was that I had a much better rod. My vice-principal makes the hooks himself, and the rod was in pristeen condition. All five hooks were there.
So this time, I managed to catch 10 (where only one was a net-caught fish!). With my newly founded bragging-rights, I set off that day on a full stomach of delicious and freshly made Onigiri (surprise-center wrapped with rice and Nori, dried seaweed ...

... up along the mountain is the road I take to get to Tomiyama, the smallest village in Japan and my other school that I teach at. This road is SCARY. They are narrow, and constantly winding around the mountain and river edge, offering side-mirrors to give you hints about the oncoming trucks carrying lumber, or the speedy k-cars/trucks timing how fast they can reach their destination on these death-bends. Recently, this road was just re-opened because of a recent land-slide ...

... The climbing rice paddies that a particular view affords (you'll know which one I'm talking about...) were apparently all traditionally planted and maintained--by hand. No machinery used there, and I doubt you'd be able to given the width of the roads that separate the fields up that winding path.
On our way through some various towns, Derek took me to Hirajima (forgive spelling), a nearby mountain and temple. Promising ourselves that we'll take the hike someday, we ...

I was all excited this week because a friend I met at the Nagoya orientation -one of the few who could hold his own- invited me (in my first Japanese keitai text message) to a tour of the area. Not having much planned yet, we agreed to tour around Saturday and maybe Sunday.
Less than a day or two later, my gym teacher (a personal favorite) brought up a BBQ he was hosting with his friends and family on Saturday. It being my first 'official' invite to any sort of co-worker outing, I didn't ...

... draw me maps indicating different landmarks, but the best was the one gas station where this grubby looking mechanic gave me a huge handful of "maple candies". They were just caramel (a Canadian could tell the diff), but they were delicious and appreciated nonetheless. I didn't eat for another hour. Eventually I found the grocery store, and some cool farmer's market that had some deep-fried potato nugget things (called after the French Croquette), bought a bunch of ...

Nothing like getting drunk and flying a kite. That's what our second matsuri was all about, on the way back to Fuji. We stopped off in Hamamatsu city (our first ever visit there) to check out the big kite festival! Many international events are also going on as the city has many different communities, including a large Brazilian community. Despite the rain, thousands of people gathered near the beach to fly giant kites that are ...