A New Found Flavor

Ron and I have discovered a secret that many may know, but may not have used it's mighty powers. I'm talking about BENTO! Bento is a Japanese lunchbox, filled with rice, meat, and various veggie goodies rather than the sandwiches, Oreos, and apple drink that we have in the States. Since this discovery, Ron and I have been dining on skipped breakfasts, instant noodles, bread snacks, and 10pm dinners. (you know, college diet) We have not felt very good about ourselves. But lo and behold at our local bookstore I found かんたん弁当　（easy bento) and that's where our story begins.

This week was the mock trial of this new found power. On Sunday, we cooked from 6 to 9, trying to cook for the entire week. We shopped and bought three times the amount of food we usually buy, and buy the time we were finished with cooking, our refrigerator was filled with chicken, macaroni salad, spinach, and steamed veggies, rather than ketchup and miso paste. Day 1 to 4 of the trial has been a success. Every morning I now wake up 10 minutes earlier to prepare my bento, and make a quick breakfast. I now have energy from when I get to work to when the lunch bell rings. Instead of slurping my instant noodles and still feeling hungry, I'll eat my bento and be full with half. I eat the rest at Ron's work and by the time we get home, we're not hungry, but nosh on a little bit of rice and the yummy Japanese toppings that we have. On top of everything, walking has been the main mode of transportation since I've learned that ice and bicycles don't mix (see previous blog). So in a day, we can get about an hour of walking. I think through this experience, we are starting to understand the power force that is behind the Japanese structure and why 80 year old grandmas can still walk faster than me.

The Beautiful Views for the Shivering Foreigners

Yet another vacation for the Okeya-McCormick corporation.

This beautiful February weekend led us to Sapporo for their annual Snow Festival (Yuki Matsuri). This is one of the biggest things to see in the winter time and there was no way we were going to miss it. We were able to travel with our friends from Tokyo, Kunino and Shizuka.

We took the rest of that day to look at all the beautiful statues of snow.





Pretty huh? Not to mention getting to eat yummy festival food(sausage lollipops)and beer.


The next day we went to the seashore town of Otaru, 30 minutes away and now, one of our favorite tourist spots. This place is really made for travellers. We got to walk through their famous canal, make glass cups, and walk through the incredible illuminations.

The next and final day was quite a relaxing way to end the vacation. Kunino and Shizuka had to leave to catch a 22 hour boat ride (ganbatte yo~) so we had our last meal in Sapporo's finest... THE REPUBLIC OF RAMEN!


We also went to the winter wonderplayland of SATOURANDO. We played in a maze and played mini snow golf.






This was an experience worth happening. We realized that this is the fourth big vacation we've had in the 7 months we've been here. I like those odds. We can't wait for the next one. Possibly... a bike trip from Osaka to Hiroshima. YAY!

Koiwai Snow Festival

On the 4th of February, our little farm of Koiwai opened their annual Snow Festival. It's not as glamourous as its Sapporo cousin of the North, but the ever neglected prefecture of Iwate wanted to show that they too have enough snow to make a 10-foot elephant. On this Monday, Ron and I met with his co-workers as they showed us around the park that was once filled with grass, sheep, and cows. Now, no animals would dare show and all the grass has been blanketed with a beutiful layer of ice. Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the sculptures and eating lamb and beef in an igloo (no joke!)



Look Ben, an ice GUNDAM!!




SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!

Happy Setsubun!

Getting Licenced

So you wanna drive in Japan, huh?

Well in order to do something as simple as that you must endure…. The Bureaucracy Gauntlet!!!! Ok, so I went down the AAA of Japan (JAF) and paid 30 bucks for some guy to “translate” my California license. After receiving the “translation” (a paper that was hardly a translation and hardly worth the money) I took it down to the driving center were they promptly pointed me in a different direction because I am from America. If I had been from any other place in the world they would have just given me a Japanese license no problem, but that would have been too convenient. So Mayumi (our company president) called up and got me an appointment at the driving center.

Here is where my adventure began.

I had to take a 40 min drive down to the boonies and get ‘interviewed’. Interview my bum, I was questioned by a freakin’ cop! In English I would call that an interrogation not and interview ha ha. They wanted to know everything about my driving history, including: what driving school I went to, how long, how many tests, my test results, how much it costs, how they taught, how I leaned, etc. then they wanted to know all other types of things- oh and this was all in Japanese. So if you want a picture of how our conversation went just think of a police officer interrogating a five year old as to why he needed to use the bathroom. So after filling out a bunch of forms, they told me to come back on Wednesday.
So I woke up early on Wednesday (my B-day) and headed for the practice course. yep, a practice course. The officer that interviewed me HIGHLY recommended it. I took the course and actually had a great time. My instructor kept crossing his arms like an X after doing things incorrectly and would say zetai(absolutely) out-o out-o out-o (out out out). So yeah, went to the driving center, and took the written test at 9 am. The test consisted of ten poorly written English questions (sometimes they weren’t even in question form but required a true or false answer). If it wasn’t for the pictures they had next to the question I would have been screwed. So after taking the written, I had to wait until 12 for the results. Yeah, I had to wait three hours for them to tell me if I passed or not. I couldn’t go anywhere either on the account of them holding my passport and foreigner ID card hostage.(if caught without those… the Japanese police would spank me :( ) so at around 12 I learned that I passed and that I could take the driving test at 2. yes, more waiting. So after waiting 5 hours I was finally allowed to take the driving test. Oh yeah, there were only about 5 people in the whole place that day and maybe 10 or so people that were working there.
So I took the test and received a nice 20 or so minute lecture on how I drive to fast and that I passed just barely! Yahoo! I passed, but yeah one more point and I would have been out- out-o out-o! So yeah, I thought I would write just how painful the experience was to see if you have what it takes to get a Japanese license. If you are able to read through this without going crazy then you too may have what it takes to endure “The Gauntlet.”

Brain stimulation

Happy February!

Well, recently we've been enjoying days of work, eat, and sleep, with the random adventure of skiing. Things are starting to slow down at work since school will finish in a month. So, to keep everyone (including myself) entertained, I've found some interesting facts that left me scratching my head. Hope you enjoy.

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television. (Yes! Getting healthy just got easier)

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from each salad served in first-class. (Maybe they should give that olive to coach.)

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married. (ouch!)

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.

A duck's quack doesn't echo

Turtles can breathe through their butts. (hee hee... butts!)

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

No word in the English language rhymes with 'MONTH.'

All polar bears are left handed.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. (WHy would you research that?)

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Are you still trying to find a rhyming word for 'month?'