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    • November
      • Haircut Chronicles
        11/29/07
        Right before I left Washington, I paid one last visit to my fantastic stylist. My hair never looked so good until I started going to Vera (although I had much better stories about the abusive French stylist I saw prior to her), so it was with much sadness and apprehension that I got my last trim.

      • Christmas Cake
        11/27/07
        Sponge cakes with strawberries, whipped cream, and placards
        Cheesecakes with gold dust for holiday snackers
        Chocolate yule logs with Santas and sleighs
        These are a few of the cakey displays . . .

        Here in Japan, no Christmas is complete without a Christmas cake. Christmas

      • Shambling Tree Monster
        11/25/07


        I have no idea what those "targets" are there for, but they sure make this tree look like some kind of monster from Doctor Who.

      • Winter Wonderland(?)
        11/23/07
        Based on the earlier-than-normal snowfall, it seems that we're in for a long, cold Tohoku winter. At home, we're living under the kotatsu, small space heater at our sides. We wear long underwear to bed and burrow deep within our doubled duck-down kakebuton. The dogs seem to appreciate t

      • Thankful
        11/22/07
        What we're thankful for:

      • Kitakami Yakyoku
        11/20/07
        One of the charms of small, rural towns in Japan is the public music. In Kitakami, music plays from a central location every day at noon and then again at five, seven, and nine o'clock in the evening. We are told that the music may have been used to help farmers to tell time in the days befor

      • First Snow
        11/18/07
        We've gotten varying stories on when the snow comes to Kitakami. Mostly, we'd been told the first snow is usually near the end of December, or not until January. But another local said it usually snows around the end of November or beginning of December. So we didn't really know wh

      • Music to Shop By
        11/16/07
        "Okame, kame, kame, uma nat-TOU!"

        The music in Japanese grocery stores is insidious. It's not like the Muzak/adult contemporary/soft rock stuff that plays in American grocery stores. It's more like 1970s game show music interspersed with 1950s product jingles, on con

      • Wall in Bloom
        11/15/07
        Chrysanthemums are in season now, and some people are very serious about cultivating them.



        These ones are part of an array that runs the length of the house behind them. They're a welcome shot of color on a gray day like today.

      • Saturday Night Cooking Club
        11/13/07
        Since our first trip to Father Hige's restaurant, we've kind of become regulars there. We'll drop by after work every so often for a drink, some really good cooking, and an animated chat at the bar. On Saturday night, we went there again with some friends.

        After a couple

      • Laundry Day
        11/09/07
        On sunny days, everyone hangs their laundry out to dry and their futons out to air. We're no exception.



        The kakebutons (like comforters) are very fat and fluffy because we've put both layers in the set together for the winter.

      • Music of the Night
        11/06/07
        I'm afraid of the dark. It doesn't take much to freak me out at night, especially here, where the streetlights are few and far between. On my way to meet Matthew for dinner after work one night, I had a frightening experience that I recall even now, whenever I hear a specific sound.
      • Manhole Covers
        11/05/07
        In America, manhole covers are a largely ignored part of the urban landscape. They are quite plain, bearing little more than a note of what utility it serves and a tread pattern so that pedestrians won't slip.

        In Japan, though, each municipality has manhole cover designs that reflec

      • National Pastime
        11/05/07
        Matthew and I finally got around to doing some karaoke together this weekend at a pub/snack downtown. As I understand it, most karaoke in Japan these days occurs in small private rooms (or "boxes") within clubs, rather than out in the open like in America. This pub/snack owner loves musi

      • Something's Missing
        11/04/07


        We've had some beautiful weather lately, perfect for taking the dogs on long walks. Whether truly clear or decorated with wispy clouds, there's something that makes the skies here special: no contrails. There have been a few days when planes are flying over (we aren't fa

      • Best Seat in the House
        11/02/07
        Behold, the kotatsu:



        A kotatsu is a low table frame covered by a blanket, which the tabletop sits on. A heat source is located somewhere under the table; ours is electric, and is bolted to the frame. You sit with your legs (or more, if you like) under the blanket, which trap

      • Someday
        11/01/07
        Is there anything you're planning to do "someday"?

        Last May, we traveled to northern Japan. It was an amazing experience, and afterwards we sometimes talked about the possibility of moving there. Then, in October, we decided we would actually do it "someday".
      • Leap of Faith
        11/01/07
        "If you're gonna jump, then jump far." Natasha Bedingfield, contemporary British philosopher

        Having a comfortable life means having a place to stand, and room to maneuver. It means walking around, dodging obstacles, and sitting down with a drink in your hand at the end o

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