Christmas in Japan: Year II

Unlike last year--in which Marlow and I celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple alone at Outback Steakhouse in downtown Nagoya--we have been fortunate enough to have made some great friends in 2009, and were invited to a great, big, awesome party hosted by the Sheppard family. We had a fabulous time with terrific people, and were so happy to have been invited. Here's a short video of our 2nd Christmas in Japan:

Miso Kit Kat Blind Taste Test

So we sent our friends Tara and Mike in Chicago some gifts for Christmas, which included a snack size Miso Kit Kat bar. I didn't realize it until I saw the awesome video they made for us, that I hadn't told them what flavor it actually was. But they were great sports, and surprised us by tasting it on video! They are so cool.


Oh, and by the way, we didn't send them real penises (you guys are gross) we sent them small gold ones-- key chains from the penis festival of course. And check out Marlow's blog marlowg.blogspot.com/ for the penis festival video, if you haven't seen it already.

Ode to an Oven

Unlike in America, Japanese homes do not come equipped with ovens, as is the standard back in the States. For over a year we managed without one---and in the meantime got pretty creative---but after trying to make biscuits in a fish broiler (don't ask) we made up our minds. We got this beauty at Eiden near Ozone Station Exit 6, for about 27,500 yen (roughly $275). It's electric with a rotisserie and oven combo and it is awesome! We use it all the time, and I wanted to post some pictures of all the stuff we make with it. Though we did without it just fine, it was something we came to want more and more. However much we enjoy living in Japan, there are things about America we will always miss...but this shortens the list.

Fatblueman on iTunes

Fatblueman's newest album is now available on iTunes, and the album cover Marlow designed is up as well! Pretty stinkin' cool eh?

ECC Poster #1

Here's one of the posters that have been released for the new campaign, this is the one that is on most trains. There are four posters in the series, each with a different teacher. So far I've seen it on some JR trains, but almost all the subway trains have it. Pretty cool.

As far as Takeshi and I, we didn't shoot this photo together. Behold the miracle of Photoshop. This kind, understanding and welcoming look of mine was directed not at Mr. Kitano, but at the storage area of the studio...a red ladder to be exact.

ECC Commercial

My school has recently launched a new series of advertisements featuring various teachers from across the country and Takeshi Kitano, a famous Japanese actor and filmmaker. I, along with three co-workers were chosen from Chubu (the Nagoya area). We went to Tokyo and met up with top executives within our company had photo and commercial shoots all day. About a dozen teachers total are in posters that have been released nation-wide, and among that dozen 4 were chosen to be in the TV commercial, also to be aired nation-wide. Marlow has beat me to the punch and posted it on his blog before I did, but Rocky has kept me so busy that I haven't had as much time until now. Anyway, here you go.

Rocky

We did it. Finally. Among the reasons we moved to this apartment specifically is that it is pet-friendly, AND it has zero tatami mats--only linoleum. By the way tatami is a traditional Japanese flooring of woven mats that are a @#$%& to clean, if I may say so. Anyway, the plan from the beginning was to get a puppy, and so it happened on the last day of winter vacation. We found him online, at Puki Pet Shop (which has great prices on pets--they are so much more reasonable than inner-city malls and other pet stores) and our awesome friends Nate and Emi called the pet shop for us (after we found out they didn't speak any English) and we trekked to Hamamatsu (about 2-3 hours by train) where we made our final decision. That night we came home with a 7 week-old blue Italian Greyhound puppy. Our boy, Rocky.

Salsa From Hell

This cracks me up--found it at an imported foods store around Fujigaoka. I'm gonna get this for Aries and my grandfather, both of whom eat lava for fun. They'll probably brush their teeth with it.

3-D Glasses

We went to see Avatar in IMAX 3-D at 109 Cinemas near Nagoya Station along with Rachel and Juan and it was awesome. For a whopping 2,300 yen (over $20) per person we got these enormous 3-D glasses at the door of the theater (but we had to give them back). As for the movie, papa put it the best: the acting is juvenile, and the story is infantile, but visually it is astounding. Enough said. Go SEE Avatar...don't worry too much about listening.

Inuyama Castle: Take 2

We also took Rachel to Inuyama Castle, which so far is our favorite yet. The view from the top is nothing less than spectacular. Though it was really cold and windy that day, so we're all bundled up, but it was a good time.

Hikone Castle

While Rachel was visiting, we made the trip to Hikone (less than 2 hours by train) to see one of "The 4"--being the four original castles that are most famous in Japan. Please someone correct me if this information is totally wrong, but as of now we have been under the impression that there are four major castles in Japan--their importance being that they are original castles that are still standing: Inuyama (seen it), Himeji (seen it), Hikone (just saw it) and Matsumoto (workin' on it). So as of now, We've got three of the four down. Anyway, Hikone was pretty cool, but as of now I'm putting it on the bottom of the list--Inuyama and Hikone castles were way cooler. I'll let you know the final order once we see Matsumoto.

Please Refrain From Drunken Behavior

Found this gem of a public service announcement in a Tokyo subway station, and couldn't pass up the chance to snap a picture of it.

Santa Try-Outs

Wow, sorry for the nearly month-long hiatus, I'll explain later. Here is one of many overdue posts. For the Christmas lesson we made Santa beards with paper and cotton balls...wouldn't call it the best of designs, but it made for a pretty cute picture.