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      • Afternoon Snack
        03/31/08
        Convenience stores equal convenience food. Hence, grilled-ham-on-a-stick:

      • Traditional Clothes
        03/30/08
        Earlier today, I had lunch with my koto teacher and her other students. After the lunch, the Japanese students showed the three foreign students how to wear kimono, the traditional Japanese robe. Getting into full kimono is an elaborate process, so they only did simple kimono for us.

        He

      • One Year Later
        03/29/08
        It was one year ago today that I woke up for the first time in Kitakami. I'd arrived the afternoon before, met some co-workers, and gone shopping for a handful of essentials a futon to sleep in, a towel so I could take a bath. I had a busy day ahead (orientation at work and more shopping), b

      • Voices
        03/25/08
        A couple of months into our stay here, a friend from America called to chat. I answered the phone: "Moshi-moshi?" The line was silent for a minute, then our friend started laughing. "You answer the phone like a Japanese person!"

        No one would mistake us for native s

      • It's Rice!
        03/21/08
        Because we eat rice for breakfast most mornings, we like some variety in our toppings. Matthew usually eats some combination of nattou, soy sauce, and aonori (finely ground seaweed that comes in a shaker), maybe with an egg, while I have umeboshi or milk and honey. Now, thanks to one of his studen

      • Taboo or Not Taboo?
        03/19/08
        According to a common stereotype, the Japanese are a reserved, unfailingly polite people. They are loath to disrupt harmony, and consequently refrain from saying things that could offend someone, even to the point of talking completely around a possible point of contention. So it's always sur

      • Make It Stop!
        03/17/08
        Hey, remember this bit of bloggery from way back?

        One particular type, however, strikes fear in me as an American: loudspeaker trucks advertising candidates in upcoming elections.

        Well, the campaign trucks started making their rounds yesterday morning, driving back and forth ac

      • Day and Night
        03/16/08
        Here is Geto Ski Area as seen from our house, day and night. (They offer night skiing and snowboarding on some of the slopes.)




      • White Day
        03/14/08
        Matthew went off to work the past two days bearing cookies for girls. Why? Today is White Day in Japan, the day when men reciprocate for gifts women gave them on Valentine's Day. Women don't have to be involved with someone to give him a gift; they can give gifts, frequently of homemade

      • Santa Claus's Regular Job
        03/12/08
        Contrary to what you might have heard, Santa Claus runs a perfectly respectable cleaning business in Oshu City, Japan, during the offseason:



      • Is It?
        03/09/08
        I'm no businessperson, but it seems to me that the name of your establishment should answer more questions than it raises:

      • Ooh. . . Foxy Noodles
        03/06/08
        Last night, I made kitsune udon for dinner.



        Kitsune is the Japanese word for "fox." Legend has it that foxes love aburaage, or deep-fried sheets of tofu, hence the name. I think it's because the triangles of aburaage look like fox ears in the bowl.

      • Karaoke: Competition and Workout
        03/05/08
        We've experienced karaoke in Japan enough times now to think that it's substantively different from karaoke in America. In America, it seems that people usually do it as an ironic or goofy thing. Here, it's a sincere form of entertainment. Or possibly sport people practice, and so

      • Festival Street
        03/04/08
        The colorfully lit street of vendors at Inukko Matsuri.

      • Kikuzakari
        03/03/08
        A few weeks ago, our friendly local liquor store owner / school landlord invited us to take a tour and tasting at a local sake brewery, Kikuzakari. It's a small brewery that has been in the same family for generations. The current president is the founder's great-great grandson, and he t

      • Freezing Our Butts Off
        03/02/08
        Spring is coming. Now we sometimes get rain instead of snow, and most days the weather goes above freezing. And soon, photos like this will just be a reminder of what to expect again next winter.


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