You learn something new every day.

These directions are even available in braille.

WHY?

For the past two weeks I have been spending a lot of time with a four-year-old who asks me "WHY?" about everything. Well, I have more than a few WHY questions of my own since I've been in Japan.

Why does Kaori's dad cover everything in this house with a doily?





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WHY would I want to wear special shoes while using the toilet?



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Why would anyone go out in public dressed like this?



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What's with the toe socks?



Tomorrow I am spending the day in Tokyo. I will probably have a lot more strange fashion pics after that trip.

foods

A couple more days, and I am on my way back to the U.S.A.

Here are some foods I have encountered on my journey.

A pastry with cantaloupe cream filling.

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Lavender flavor ice cream.

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Fried Octopus Balls.

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My lunch has eyes. Lots of little eyes.

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Green eggs & ham anyone? There are actually chickens here that lay eggs with green shells.

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The hotel called this the "American-style meal." One of the goodies on a stick there is an octopus leg.

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This is more what I'd call an "American Style" meal... HAMBURGER sushi!

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For over ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS you can buy this melon in a wooden box and give it to someone as a gift.

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I got a free sample of Coffee Jelly. I thought it was just a weird translation of "frappuccino," but no, this is a Starbucks made-for-Japan-only specialty. It's a frappuccino with brown jelly floating around inside. There is a reason it has not been exported our way... as an American taste-tester, I can say it was yucky.

Japan has it all.

PINK dandelions.



There are ACTUAL cartoon cars here.




Need help with exfoliation? These little fishies will be happy to nibble all the dead skin right off your feet.



Don't want anyone to hear you using the toilet? Press the music button and flushy sounds will drown out any unwanted noise.
(Notice the volume can be adjusted).



cute cakes.



cute drinks.



cute directions.



A cute FRYING PAN.



I think we should "the friend it" and exist for a long time.

more from Japan

Hotel Carrot.

The Easter Bunny has stayed here on many occasions.

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This is exactly the way I feel this morning.

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It is important to teach the little children to put their swords away after playing with them.

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For a small fee, this underwater green poof ball can go home with you and become your very best friend forever and ever.

in all seriousness...

I suppose everyone should support some kind of a cause.


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I do not eat animals that are neat or methodical.
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For some reason I think airline security would want to look in here.

Mood Socks

Not sure how to express your feelings? Let your socks do the talking!

After the brutal realization that he was butter, and would always be butter, Butter would go on either to accept the truth and do something meaningful with his life, or face a complete and irreversible nervous breakdown.

update

Yesterday we went to a city called Hamamatsu. I got a short Starbucks coffee there for 280 Yen, which is about $3 US. For the first time I was able to stay awake the entire day. The 13 hour time difference has been rough to get used to!



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We went to a factory where they make the famous eel pies.

They aren't really pies, but like cracker/pastry things. And they don't taste like eel to me. They really are very good.



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A Japanese-style toilet. This really is not as difficult as it may seem.

The real trick is to remember to bring your own toilet paper, because it is not complementary in most public places.



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Maybe someone can explain to me what this is trying to say:



Are they promoting second-hand smoke?

A Japanese cartoon for potty training

A lot of strange things can happen in this country... like your toilet could start talking to you.

I'm online...woo hoo!

Hey, my computer is online now, so I can post pictures on here!

A Japanese-style airplane meal.

We were greeted by this cartoon character.

And a Starbucks with COFFEE JELLY.

Tokiwa ate Cheerios and fish for breakfast this morning.

im here

im here now! And the apostrophes do not work on this computer. This keyboard is covered in Japanese characters.

The entire trip took 26 hours. I will post pics if I can get my computer online... because this one is too weird for me.

I need to go to bed. Im not sure if Im thinking straight... time to hit the futon.

Agenda

Ok, so here's the deal.

In 1994 I went to Japan for 5 weeks with my college friend Kaori, and I always thought I'd go back someday. Over the years I pretty much concluded that was not going to happen. It's too expensive, George can't take too much time off work, etc, etc...

Then a couple of months ago when Kaori said she's going back to visit her family in April, I suddenly got an itch to go... a really big itch.

So here I go... without George, just me, Kaori, and her two little kids. I'm staying for two weeks, April 16-30.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off at 9:40 to Detroit, where I will meet up with Kaori, Yashima, and Tokiwa. I'm looking forward to a relaxing lunch there and my last cup of Starbucks before I enter the land of green tea. (Actually, they have Starbucks there, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's $6 a cup).

Then we'll be on a 13 hour flight to Tokyo. After we land around 3am US time, we'll take a four hour train ride to their house. Kaori said her last trip to Japan was a total of 30 hours of travel from her house in Missouri to her parents' house in Yui.

I am going to take tons of photos and video and buy funny souvenirs with Engrish, and draw stuff, and hopefully blog some of it while I'm still over there.

George will be missing me, but he's been working over-time a lot. I sent my fur boy to stay with his grandparents and dog cousins. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with plenty of green tea and Hi-Chew.

Sayonara Minasan!

misc.

Why is it so hard for me to come up with something to blog about these days?

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Why is it that I go in to the mall to buy a new pair of flip-flops, and I come out with a bag full of bath towels?

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Sometimes I actually enjoy the sport of looking for a good parking space, especially when I win.

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When I was in college, it was very geeky to wear your backpack with both straps. We called those people "two strapers." I was glad when that stigma ended, because my one shoulder was starting to hurt real bad.


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Sometime I will post another doodle.