Sazanamikan Hamamatsu

... 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!

... the way, due to the bad directions I probably gave her about where I 'thought I was'. By the time I got into Nagano prefecture (lol!), I got a call from her, that went like this: "Jordan...where are you!? Call meeeeee". Lol hardly formal for Japanese, but I starting liking her in that instant. I pulled over (no cell phones while driving now), called her back, and met her on the way. No one told me my first day was actually going to be at a school-meeting, with everyone from the ...

... smart. They didn't budge, and took our prodding with patience, and eventually we gave up. We came back to test their alertness a few times, but they were always smarter. Of course, we thought we had them beat when we worked together to attempt to move the boulder. No such luck there. We had a good laugh about that after. Oh and I only fell twice, that got some laughs too.
The day was only getting started...for my weekends always have something going on. The Next entry explains the rest.

... 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 ...

So this is going back a few days from the festival, but after staying about a week in Toyone, I felt like I had to explore more of it, rain or shine, farther than the nearest convenient store.
So grabbing my trusty wendy-basket mickey-mouse-locked Jidensha (Bicycle), I took off on what was a downhill journey one way...and a terrible return trip up the steep road that leads to my mountain apartment. In Japanese, they say Iki yoi yoi, Kaeri koway (The way there is good ...

... temple (because I'm sure there are many) is huge. The grounds are well swept, everything is spotless, and the architecture, layout and craftsmanship is truly admirable. I can't remember how many shrines I throw 10-yen into, but the most memorable part of the walk was the flag-led path into the garden of foxes. Words can't really describe how this place felt...watch the video. But I can only imagine what Plato would say about videos being removed from reality...
In ...

... was just starting to break. It was a hot one, but not hot enough to rid the chill of the mountain river we waded into after we set up the nets. In Hikkake, you must first plot out strategic spots where the water rushes through to hold up the Ayu, an oversized sardine-like fish. When the Ayu can't get through, they sort of wander their surroundings, trying to decide to go on farther or to find a good hiding spot. When the nets were set up, we'd go in and find them all just sort of dancing ...

... of a Smart car except a bit larger) was fogging up something terrible. I had to use a newspaper to wipe the constantly fogging windshield until the rain subsided and I could use natural-air-conditioning to get it back to normal (mine needs freon). For the fam and Niecia: you know what I'm talking about, minus the scraper.
Anyways, I stopped by at like 4 convenience stores (called Combinis, for future reference) to find my way to the station. Had like 3 different ...

... all, but we got on well, partially due to our mutual appreciation of alcohol - we certainly sank lots of sake that evening! He then gave me a physical demonstration of Shorinji kenpo, a Japanese form of self defense that he`s been practicing for 37 years, and I think it proved that I would come off worst in the event of a confrontation. We had an early start the next morning as we were going to see Mt Fuji, although a quick glance at its webcam before we set off didn`t fill ...

... when someone is generous and kind. (you did teach me that, mom.. (-: ) I always feel like i need to do something in return. I keep asking if I can pay rent, but Michiyo won't let me. So I've taken to buying (or rather, trying to buy) things for her house. I took her to dinner once, and hope to do it some more later. Today she asked me to help out at her Buddhist church. So I crawled myself out of bed at 8 (which is early for me), showered, and biked around the corner. I had ...