Christmas Time!

There was a dress-code for the Christmas party this year: red, green, silver or gold. Here's Masa-san was trying to figure out what to wear to the party. This one didn't make the cut.
It was a good night full of great food, wonderful people and of course, too much cake!!
The little man here, Evan, was so excited by the Christmas log his mom made.
Then there was a lovely chocolate pudding cake from the local chocolate/patisserie shop. Yum!!

KIT Annual Bonankai

This year's bonankai was at one of Japan's most renowned onsens- Kagaya. It is an annual one-night retreat where the KIT staff goes to celebrate the school year, network and of course, enjoy unparalleled service that the hotel offers.
We arrived in the afternoon, slipped into our comfortable yukatas and relaxed in our tatami rooms while we were served clementines, green tea and Japanese sweets by lovely kimono-clad ladies.

Pictured above (from left to right: Carolyn, Hye-Young, Makiko, Ksenyia, and myself) in our yukatas.

Afterward, there was time to take a dip in the onsen (the natural hot baths). Then, the multi-course all-you-could-eat dinner began, after a few words from KIT's President.

This year's entertainment included a performance from a Okinawa based group. They sang, danced and were dressed in traditional Okinawa style.
Pictured below is the front page of our menu. Unfortunately for me, my kanji is poor, so what I was eating was still a surprise. The many courses included crab, sea cucumbers, abalone (which was still alive and cooked in front of us), sea urchin, sashimi, beef, noodles, soup, rice and French pastries.

Our night of food was followed by a night of karaoke, first in front of the 400 members of the KIT staff and then in the privacy of our own karaoke booth. Ah, it was a wonderful weekend.

First Turkey in Japan

Yes, folks. I had my first turkey in Japan... it was deeeeelicious. Turkey is quite rare here, so to have it was a real treat. Please don't let the date of today's blog fool you... I had the turkey for Thanksgiving.

While I'm on a fowl topic, I'd like to touch on the Christmas chicken phenomenon... It's customary for people to get chicken for Christmas here, and it's not just any ol' kind of chicken will do, it's gotta be Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sound strange? I thought so too, but there is a reason for it.

Since turkeys are hard to come by here, ex-pats would eat chicken for the holidays... so then KFC thought of a marketing scheme... Westerners eat chicken for the holidays, Christmas is a Western holiday, voila... Christmas Chicken. My oh my, KFC did a good job of their marketing because people line up for their buckets o' chicken and family packs. Colonel Sanders in lookin' good sportin' his Santa suit.

Happy Halloween!

My co-workers and friends at a Halloween Party/Baby Shower.
It's Kiki from Hayao Miyazaki's film: Kiki's Delivery Service.
It's a frog, move over Kermit!
Ready for the party.
It's Gachapin, one active, little, dinosaur.
Life of the party, it's a (scratch "Power") Party Ranger.

Toroko Densha - "Train"

For some reason (and I'm not complaining about this) this semester has been peppered with holidays and long weekends. So, over a four day weekend, Hye Young, Ksenyia and I headed out to Kurobe Gorge for some fall foliage viewing. On Sunday, we left Kanazawa and headed to a little town called Unazuki. We spent the day exploring the town, doing some light hiking and of course, indulging in the public foot baths and our hotel's hot bath. Did I mention that this area is famous for its natural hot springs?

On Monday, after a beautiful and relaxing day, we awoke to...rain!!! C'est la vie! We still took the train into the mountains where we hiked, explored and had a great time.
Pictured Above: Hye Young (left) and Ksenyia (right) are ready to roll! Notice the windows on the train, yup, there are none. The trip was a little chilly and wet but nothing dampered our spirits.
Here's a shot that will hopefully give you an idea of what the train looked like.
The river was a gorgeous emerald green, which was in striking contrast to the red bridge and lovely colors on the mountain side.


Pictured Above: Some of the colors in the mountains.
One of my favorite moments from this weekend was coming across some natural hot springs. We hiked beyond a sign that had warned about construction (as long as we wore construction helmets, we were allowed to go). Besides, there was an onsen (a building where folks build baths and fill 'em with the natural hot springs) that we had wanted to check out. We got to the onsen and just a little ways down the river, steam and smoke billowed into the sky. So we went on over to check it out.
A hot spring flowed into the river. The rocks were marled black and white from the sulfur and other minerals floating around. We dunked our toes, and got blasted alternately by cold and then boiling currents. It was my first time being able to dip my toes in the natural hot springs, so I was happy to have gone.
Another fond memory of this weekend was the onsen that we visited on the way back down from our hike. It was an outdoor tub... beautifully situated beside the mountain. From the tub we had a gorgeous view of the changing colors. Also, being in the hot tub while having the cool rain on our shoulders was a lovely, lovely feeling.
All in all, it was a fun, relaxing and beautiful weekend.

Running

I'm what you'd call a fair-weathered runner. I'm on again, off again. But irregardless of my poor training habits, I do love to run.

For the first time since being here, I ran in a 5k race and it's inspired me to start training. Next weekend, there is a Kanazawa 5k, so here's to running for the fun of it and not just "running around" at work.
Above: The 5k race was in Komatsu. That's me, front center, in black.

A Day of Natural Beauty

I had the pleasure and good fortune of visiting Tojinbo Cliffs in the Fukui region. This cove is renowned for its breathtaking views, sheer cliffs and surrounding beauty.

Pictured below: Photos from along the coast.

Pictured Below: Fantastic aerials provided by a number of hawks.
Pictured below: As some of you know, I had wanted to be an entomologist, so naturally I find insects, spiders and most creepy crawlies beautiful. I've got to get a camera with a setting for these little guys, but I realized I could get some nice silhouette shots. I have MANY more, but I figured one would be enough!

Pictured below: Various rocky outcrops. Along the main cliffs pictured directly below are many, many tourists. This spot is of course famous for its beauty, but also for the tragic stories that enfold it; many have taken their lives from these cliffs!
Pictured below: You can walk along the coast for miles until you come to a little island. Before reaching the island, we passed many a fishing boat. The bridge was a red painted in the Shinto fashion to denote sacred places. Upon crossing the bridge, we wandered through groves of gnarled trees.
Pictured below: Dusk!

O Sumo, Oh yeah!

The wonderful thing about having friends come to visit is
a) you get to see your friends and
b) you get to do things that you normally wouldn't do otherwise.

For me, that was sumo. I wasn't too terribly interested... until I got there. Tournaments last for weeks and often start at 8:00 a.m. with the the lowest-ranked wrestlers. As the day progresses, the more powerful and the more famous wrestlers come out. We arrived at 3pm to start our viewing of the more powerful wrestlers. Yes my friends, we were there for the best! We stayed until the best of the best fought and then, with dismay, left when they had finished at around 6pm.

I was impressed by the ritual and tradition, the sportsmanship as well as showmanship and of course by the wrestlers size, power and... grace. They were wonderful athletes as well as gracious losers and winners.

All I can say is this, if you get a change to check out a live match, DO IT, you won't be disappointed.