Japan Week 33

March 15-21, 2010

On Monday Eric started an electric shock and massage combination type therapy. There is a clinic in our town (thank goodness) and our tutor took us for the first time to explain the problem to the doctor and the process to us, we were so thankful for that! Eric has a lot of tension in his back and we are hoping that by reducing the tension, the headaches will subside. So far, so good! We're hoping this means we have an non-surgical option to headache free living :)

On Tuesday afternoon we went to Hirosaki to have the CT scan done at the hospital. This time Eric wasn't a new patient and we had an appointment. We went down the radiology department and got checked in and since we got there about 30 minutes early they were even able to get Eric in early. The appointment was supposed to be at 4pm and we were leaving the hospital at 4:05! It was a much, much better experience! After the appointment, we killed a little time and had an early dinner, at our favorite Japanese Curry restaurant, and then we went to the movies :)

It was our 3rd trip the movies in Japan, and yet we are still learning valuable lessons each time. Fortunately, Tuesday is date night so it was cheaper than normal, although not cheap by any means. We got our tickets to see Sherlock Holmes in English (with Japanese Subtitles!) and we waited for our turn to enter the theater. It's amazing how organized everything is, even getting into your seats at the theater. Before we went in we treated ourselves to popcorn and soda (p.s. it's our "birthday week" so we do what we want!). Ordering the popcorn didn't go so well. She gave me a couple of options for popcorn flavors, one was salt, one was soy sauce and the other was some special flavor that's only available this month and I didn't quite understand her rapid Japanese. I was pretty certain she understood my request for salt and butter, but when Eric and I tasted the first bite we were certain she couldn't understand me, or that she grabbed the wrong one. The flavor we actually got was powdered soy sauce and shrimp covered in liquid butter. . . if only the cameras were rolling! We actually ate a few bites trying to figure out what the flavor was, but we just couldn't. I was quite bummed, but I asked politely if they could exchange it, and they did, and we ate our salt and butter popcorn happily ever after!!

I am currently working on translating the menu for the restaurant & bar down the street, called Bun. It has an "American" theme to it with some of the old classic signage decoration, like old 76 signs and old airline signs. It's very fun! We have our monthly Eikaiwa meetings there and Eric and I offered translate their menu. It has been quite a task, but on the bright side it is really teaching me how to read menus in Japanese :) I took the menu to Toshiya on Thursday and he helped me the items that have Kanji in them and with the foods that I couldn't figure out/hoped I had translated wrong. . . stick salad?? It's vegetable sticks, like Carrots and Celery (not really a salad) and Raw Cow Liver, nope, not an error! They also have slightly seared beef and horse tatar :0 Glad we didn't learn that by trial and error!

On Friday Night Eric and I stayed at the hotel at the Ski Resort. It was a fabulous little vacation, without the terribly long journey home that is usually included :) Eric's season ski pass came with a free 1 night stay, so we gladly took advantage of it. It is always nice to have a vacation, especially one that is free! We did decide to partake in the fancy buffet dinner, which was not free, but very very delicious! They did have a few items on the buffet that did not sound very appetizing that we passed on; such as, "curdled fish guts" and raw squid. There was a small snow storm on Friday night and it was so amazing from our room, we were near the end of the building so there was quite a bit of cross winds and the snow was twisting and twirling and it looked very much like a visualizer for music. We took a video of it, but it's definitely not as cool as seeing it in person, but it is posted below anyway. This is a picture of the view from our room. It was so pretty once it got dark and the ski trail was lit up!






Saturday was my birthday and Eric took me shopping in Goshogowara to try to find me a birthday present but we were unsuccessful, mostly because the malls are filled with clothing stores that are of course tailored to Japanese women. It wasn't a total loss though, we did enjoy a very talented mall performer!!

And of course the interesting things we always encounter in the mall. . . Although I didn't find anything from Japan, I did however find a beautiful antique bracelet on eBay that will arrive in the coming weeks and I'm very excited for it to arrive! Eric and I made my all time favorite birthday cake together! Thanks to my parents who mailed us the cake mix, frosting and crucial sprinkles :) It WAS a delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting and the tiny ball sprinkles. MMMM

On Sunday we decided to venture out and try a new onsen! We have passed an old rusted sign for an onsen up in the mountain several times and we finally decided to check it out. When we arrived we discovered that the onsen also has a few cabins (that we think lack plumbing) and a fish hatchery and a Mom & Pop type restaurant. When we got there it practically empty, when we left however it was over capacity! The water was the hottest we have seen at 52 degrees C (That is about 126 F), it was so hot we could only stay in about 5 minutes but afterwards we both felt so rejuvenated and wonderful! It was great!
It's the first day of Spring!! Can't you tell?? After our nice hot bath we continued on to Hirosaki (we were already about half way there) and we did some gift shopping for a friend who is getting married and walked around the downtown area in a beautiful early evening snowfall for a bit while our pizza cooked. Then we brought Pizza Hut home and had pizza and a movie :) It was a great way to finish off week # 33 in Japan!


I had to include this too, this is the most expensive melon I have ever seen, 6,300 yen. $69.71!!!! For a small cantaloupe!!