Rappasident and Krispy Kreme

About a month ago, we went on vacation to Osaka. It took me this long to upload videos to youtube and post this blog. It's just been long enough that I am interested again.

After consuming some okinomiyaki, Will and I were just walking around the city. We noticed a street performer about a block away and decided to go make a video of him. Waiting at the light to cross the road, I noticed two very eager-looking policemen. They were on their way to shut down the show. So instead, we got that on video! Also, there is Will saying the name of the street performer into the camera so we could remember it.

His name is Rappasident, which I think must be a combination of rapper and president. So he is the president of rap music! Here is his official website www.rappasident.com/

This is Rappasident. I am sure getting shut down by the police gives you street cred as a rapper, even in Japan.

Also, we saw a krispy kreme! We even had lunch there with two people from Austria. We came back the next day to record a shot. Earlier that day there was a half an hour wait, but at 9 P.M only a 15 minute wait.

Halloween Week

Here are some videos of our Halloween activities. This is a month ago now, but it took William this long to upload the videos.
The first one is my favorite because it has Konoka the five year old howling like a wolf.


This video is just some general clips from halloween at Let's English. There is the eyeball spoon race, and the jellybean guess game, and constructing Halloween cups. Also, there is Konoka the five year old pretending she is a wolf.




This is the spider walk. Each time had to get as many beads to the other end of the room. It never went quite as planned but everyone had fun!



This is a pretty common Halloween game. Spaghetti = brains, grapes or quails eggs = eyeballs, kiwi skin = human skin, sausages = fingers.



Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, for Halloween we did this. They have a game like this in Japan, so everyone knew what to do.

Nara, Japan

On Nov. 1 we went to Nara with my student Ikuko. She is also our Japanese teacher. We went to go see the biggest Buddha in all of Japan. The thing that shocked me the most about Nara were the hundreds of tamed deer strolling down the streets like they were people. As you can see it was also a dreary and rainy day.

You can even buy deer cookies to feed them. It cost 150 yen. This woman was selling them. Also what's really awesome is that the deer bow for the cookies. It's custom in Japan to bow when saying "thank you". I guess these  really are Japanese deer. I wonder how they learned it.

150 yen deer cookies

Will feeds the deer!

The temple was quite amazing. The Buddha was huge! I couldn't really get a good picture of it, because it was so dark in there. I am still trying to figure out my camera. Maybe next time!

outside of the temple

At the Vatican many people light candles and say a prayer. At a temple many people burn incense before entering.

Also at the temple you can buy these wooden things and write a request or I guess you call it a prayer. Then you hang it on this wall. They are mostly in Japanese, but we found one in English. I am not quite sure what the English one is saying, though.

Hang your request and prayers here.

I was told that you can get certificates in each temple that you visit in Japan. These certificates verify that you have indeed visited. I've heard that many people make a book with all the temples that they visit in Japan. Here is one worker making the certificates. They do come at a small price, but it goes to pay for upkeep to the temple.

When we went outside of the temple I noticed tons of little pieces of paper tied all over this rail and post. I asked what they were. Ikuko told me that they were fortunes. You can buy fortunes in the temple. After you have read them you tie them up.

Here we are standing in front of a strange wooden Buddha wearing a crazy red outfit.

Lastly, does this not look like what you imagine Japan to be?

Beer vending machines

 That's right, a drink machine that is devoted to vending beer. It says you should be 20, but there is nothing to actually verify your age. I can't forget to mention the nuts, because everyone should eat nuts with their beer.

Lemon chu-hi which is alcoholic soda. 

The prices aren't to bad, considering it's selling alcohol.

I tried Natto

Natto is a foul substance. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto

It is rotting beans with mustard and soy sauce. 
I have loved every bit of food I have had in japan. Sushi, miso soup, takoyaki, its all good! But this stuff is horrible. Even Will doesn't like it, and he eats everything. I don't care if it is healthy and good for you. I would rather die young, fat, and oozing disease than to have to eat this stuff ever again.

Mamma Mia!

This blog has no pictures. Last night, we spotted an Italian restaurant while driving back from the curtain and yo-yo store. It is called 'Mamma Mia's Italian Buffet' in Kitagata (a town next to Mizuho-shi where we live). We weren't sure what we were doing when we got there, it was bewildering. The waitress told us some things in Japanese....not sure what she said, except for the word "90" or 'kyū jū'. Luckily there was a couple from Switzerland visiting their Japanese friends. They explained it to us....

here's how it goes:
You've got 90 minutes to eat what you want for 1300 yen (about $15.00). This includes drinks of a large variety and a dessert bar. The food was good, although a long way from Italy. Will's favorite was the squid pizza with mayonnaise. He also liked the asparagus pizza with extra mayonnaise. The pasta was good though.

There was also a coffee/tea bar. We got cappuccino's that had the cutest pictures in them. I got one with a rabbit design, will got a rabbit too. Our second was a cat and seal. Wish we would have had our camera.....next time! We will go again.

This is a picture of Will's new Yo-Yo. That's the only picture

Refills (10.10.10)

So, I've noticed in Japan that they seem to sell refill packs for a lot of things, such as: dish soap, laundry detergent, fabric softeners, shampoo, conditioner, and bath soap. I am sure there are others too. It's a pretty smart idea, it cuts the cost and probably reduces the amount of large plastic bottles being tossed.

Here are some pictures of the refills for laundry detergent. I paid 248 yen for it (about $3.00). It pretty much fills up the entire bottle. What a deal!

Ono Clover Kindergarten Sports Festival Day 2010

On September 26th, we went to the Ono Clover Kindergarten Sports Festival Day, which was a Sunday. Will works there once a week for four hours. It was a lot of fun and the children are extremely cute. They did dances, gymnastics, races, and songs. At one point, Will had to wear a rabbit hat and dance around with them. I had fun taking pictures of it all. I already posted some of these pictures on facebook, but here they are as well. We also have a video with a compilation of a few of the songs and dances and races. There was a lot more going on than that, though.

This lady was in the adult relay race. Will was also in this

I love this little girl and am currently drawing up plans to kidnap her so she can be my very own

This is the girl who had a dream, according to her t-shirt

Will was trying to get this girl to smile for the camera. She wouldn't do it though

Kappa Sushi video

Here is a very uninteresting video of Will and me eating cheap sushi. It's the cheap type of sushi, like the Mcdonalds of sushi but it is very good. Just don't eat the sea urchin one, even Will didn't like that and he likes everything.

"Set Breakfast"

We are happy to know that if you go to a coffee shop before 11am they will give you a free breakfast if you order a coffee.I am not sure what the Japanese word is for it, but we have heard it called 'set breakfast', because the menu is set. It's quite exciting and you really never know what each coffee shop is going to offer. We have heard that this set breakfast only happens in central Japan, and we have heard it happens all over Japan. Not sure which one is true, but as long as you are in this area it is!


Coffee is a bit expensive to compensate for the allegedly free breakfast, about 330 yen (give or take 10 yen) a cup of regular coffee. 330 yen is around $3.50. Now, that's an expensive cup of joe! However, if getting a free breakfast makes it OK to pay the ridiculous price for mediocre coffee. Coffee in Japan so far is not good. But that's ok, they have great green tea and other beverages.

SO, as you might have guessed it, we've been experimenting with different coffee shops. Here's a glimpse into a few places we have gone.

This V.I.P Coffee lounge. It's next to Piago (the grocery store) and very close to work and home. We got a piece of toast with red bean paste, and butter. We also got a salad and a boiled egg. It's quite delicious and so far it has become one of our favorite places to go. Our coffee cost 760 yen for the both of us. It's not bad for all you get. Plus the server is awesome and is always ready to refill our water!

Another place we have been to once was just off the road on our way to church. I am not sure where it is now.Will says it is on route 23.

Karaku Coffee. It was nice we got a pretty good breakfast. The coffee was the best we have had in Japan.

We got two pieces of toast, one had some sort of black seed in it, sesame maybe. We also got flan and egg-salad. I believe this cost was around 800 yen ($8.00) for the two of us, not too bad.......


Komeda Coffe Shop is also very close to school and Piago. It's not bad if you want a little more privacy, and if you like really big restaurants.

I think one visit was enough for us. We got a large piece of toast with jam and an egg. The price was 680 yen ($6.80) for the two of us.

It did have a really cute cup and little creamer....I guess that's a plus?

Will discovered Sent George on a walk one day and insisted that we go try it. It was quite cute and odd all at the same time. We enjoyed the atmosphere, however it was a bit too smoky for my taste.

It was neat because there were a couple of choices on which set breakfast you got. I thought I heard cheese and something about chocolate, so I said yes to that! Will heard butter and went for that.

We got some little pasta salad and an egg. I got a piece of toast with chocolate spread (yum!! what a good choice, it might have been Nutella). Will just got a piece of toast with butter. Also the thing in the bow was some sort of weird slimy gooey souffle. I didn't really eat to much of that but everything else was very delicious. I can't remember the price, I think it was just a bit more than V.I.P Coffee Lounge.

Our weak attempts at learning to write and read Japanese. We practiced this at Sent George.

Will's short lived obsession with Yo-yoing. He bought this yo-yo at Seria the 100 yen shop. For a while he couldn't walk with out it. This is him on the way to the V.I.P Coffee Lounge.

edit: he has informed me that this is not a short lived obsession, he has plans to get back into it once he purchases a new yo-yo. The 100 yen shop yo-yos are not built to last, as he has gone through three yo-yos in a month, and he wants to invest in a better yo-yo.