Sumo Wrestling

This weekend Annie and I went to the Sumo tournament in Nagoya. It's a two week long tournament. The sumo with the best record in each division wins his division. The top dude in all of sumo is called the Yokozuno. It's a lifetime title complete with a snappy white belt. Here's a video of sumo wrestling. Information in the video is from http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/ticket/honbasho_ichi_nichi/index.htmlYou We hope you enjoy the show.

Visit to the USA!

Aaron and I headed to LA to join in the celebration at our friends', Jason and Karen, wedding. We had a very fun time in LA. Thursday we arrived a few hours late, after some delays in Tokyo, but still had time for a nap before the evening festivities. I've never been so thankful to see a real, king-sized, comfy bed! I love the Marriott. That night we met up for wine in the lounge with the crew, it was great to see friends! Then we helped stimulate the local economy by tallying up large bar tabs.

Needless to say, Friday morning it hurt to go get our haircuts. But, we needed to get haircuts in the USA! Saturday we worked on our tans in the morning, which was disastrous for Casper-like me, but good times anyway. The wedding on Saturday afternoon was beautiful. Congrats to the newlyweds! Aaron was a groomsman. Holy yummy bakhlava at the reception too!

Then on Sunday Aaron headed back to Japan for work, and I headed to Des Moines to spend a wonderful week with family. I stopped in to see grandma and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. I even met my newest cousin, adorable Sam. Look at my mom just wishing for grandkids. Yikes!

I was also able to admire lots of green fields, although some of the fields showed signs of flood damage.

Then it was on to Clinton, my hometown, for time with mom and dad. I was able to play golf with dad, and a miracle occurred. I got an eagle on a Par 5 hole that I would normally get a 10 on! My parents also made lots of yummy Iowa beef and pork for me, and I got to check out the farmer's market. Then my sister and my dear friend Katie and her sister, Nicole, all came home for a 4th of July party! It was a good time, complete with sparklers, my second parents, and Heineken light.

I was also able to head to DeWitt to see Uncle Dan & Aunt Patsy. It was a great week of hugging family, enjoying being surrounded by English, and having fun! Thanks everyone!

Kelso's Life in Japan

After several requests, I've decided to give an update on our dog, Kelso, the schnoodle. It seems he has a lot of admirers who want an update on how his life is in Japan. He and I had a very long flight to Japan and I don't think he exactly liked flying in the cargo area, but the important thing was that he made it ok. He is enjoying getting several walks a day, and he has a little bitty yard to enjoy too. Aaron built us a little fence so that Kelso can have a little place to sit outside. He has gotten us in trouble for barking at a neighbor, but overall he's being good and having fun.

His first hobby is sleeping:

He also enjoys chewing on the plastic flower pots (I'm making another attempt at growing flowers):

He also continues to guard the house very well:)

Weekend in Tokyo

Last weekend we headed out to Tokyo with a group of about 15 people from around the world (Australia, UK, Belgium, US, etc.). We also had a friend from TAPG, Gavin, here on business from AZ, so it was very exciting. The drive from Toyota City to Tokyo was actually quite nice. It's amazing how green things are and how many trees there are when you're on the freeway. The best part of the road trip was that the rest areas are actually scenic. There are lots of restaurants, shops, flea markets, and always a scenic view to take pictures at. Here is a view from the first stop, with coastline and lushness all over:)
There was another rest area in the Mt. Fuji area with great views of Mt. Fuji. There is a belief here that only those who are pure of heart can see Mt. Fuji. I guess this means we are fairly pure of heart? Then we arrived in Tokyo! It is a pretty amazing city when viewed at night with all of the lights and signs. We hopped on the subway and checked out Akhibara, the electronics district. There were entire stores dedicated to power cords even. We stayed at the Hotel La Foret (http://www.laforethotels.com/tokyo/tokyo/idx_conteng.html) which was a good location for getting around. Saturday night we went out to a BYOB Indian restaurant as a group: Next on the agenda was hitting the bars. We went to Icebar Tokyo in Roppongi, which was amazing. The bar, chairs, tables, glasses, etc. were made of ice and we all wore silver parkas.

After leaving the ice bar, we headed out to a club in Shibuya and then to Ageha, the biggest club in Tokyo. The sound system was amazing but the 1 hour line to get in was frustrating! But, it was a great night out!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to Senso-ji, the largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo and located in Aksuksa.

You can also click on my link to my Shutterfly collection to see all of the pictures from the weekend!

TAO Drum Concert

Last night Aaron and I went to see Tao, which is a touring group of Japanese drummers. The group tours worldwide and it was a great show. As a souvenir, you could buy a drum for about $32,000, so we didn't get that souvenir. You can click on this link to hear Tao: http://www.drum-tao.com/. I have never seen someone's arms move so fast. Needless to say, it was very entertaining.

Sites in the Nagoya Area so far

So far we've done a little bit of touring around and are busy trying to decide where all we want to go while we are here and how to get there. There is a lot to see! Here are some tidbits:

We went to a tour of the Asahi brewery. Our tour guide was very nice and spoke Eigo (English)! This was a fun day, and we got to sample delicious varieties after the tour. I think the plan was that they wanted you to drink plenty of Asahi beer and then hit the gift shop. To be a good citizen, I did just that and so did Aaron.

We have also checked out Nagoya Castle. This is a rebuilt castle (much of Japan was bombed during WWII and has been restored). We went for a samurai reenactment that was fairly cheesy, but there were still swords and throwing stars so what more does one need for an exciting day?

Aaron scared everyone when he got a hold of a sword:

We also went to a Fire Festival in April in Gifu. This was a popular event and definitely not for those with any claustrophobic tendencies!

Basically, sake fueled men carried these shrine type things through the streets of Gifu. They looked very heavy and they also had giant bells to ring. Then once all the different villages had their shrine into the main area, the madness of fire starting began. It was pretty neat, and scary all at the same time. I'm not used to the fireworks being quite that close to me:)

Our Townhouse in Japan

We have a sort of 3 bedroom and 1.5 bath townhouse here in Toyota-shi. By Japanese standards, it is very large. it is about 1200 sq ft, so not huge by US standards but plenty of room for us. The biggest challenge for me has been learning to use the washer, dishwasher, and especially the microwave/ roaster/ oven thing as everything is in Kanji. I'm learning though!

The front entrance:

The appliances:

The view from upstairs: