Moving Day

We've completed our third move since coming to Japan last September. From our overpriced, yet undoubtably convenient apartment in downtown Nagoya, to our 6 month stay in Freebell, the apartment building more commonly known as gajin central, to our newest place in Yagoto. The move from Freebell was fairly easy, as we hired a moving company to do the dirty work. Though Marlow and I have prided ourselves our 'ghetto solutions' (we're the crazy foreigners you might spot dragging 3 futons or a small refrigerator on the subway) we opted for the moving company because our new apartment building doesn't have an elevator. As it turns out, there is a price you can put on not hauling large pieces of furniture up 4 flights of stairs, and it's about $370. Our apartment agency scored us about a $100 discount, which sweetened the deal. We basically sat back and let these two guys do all the work. With 30 minute travel time included, these fellas were done in less than 3 hours. Thanks guys!

Caramel Pudding Kit Kat

During our Halloween lesson at school, I managed to get my students to taste test Caramel Pudding Kit Kat. Now, this particular flavor is one of my personal favorites. As a matter of fact, I came across it last winter in a 7-11. The thing about this Kit Kit, like many of the flavors I've tried so far, is that it is seasonal--you can only find them in the fall. So by the winter time, all that was left were a few scragglers. I remember Marlow and I tried it, and really liked it, but when I went back to get more, there were none left. Since then, I've searched for them, until I found them about a month ago--yep, they were released again for the fall. Seeing as the packaging had Halloween decor, I thought it would be fitting to use this flavor for a Halloween taste test, and here you have it:

Halloween

Halloween in Japan isn't quite the extravaganza it is in the US, but it's slowly gaining popularity. I would think it impossible that kids, no matter where they're from, could resist dressing up in costumes and getting candy. At school we teachers are required to wear Halloween costumes, and most, if not all of the kids, usually dress up and have a great time. But outside of school(and the club district) you will be hard-pressed to find anyone else wearing Halloween costumes as it just isn't really that popular here...yet. Though the Halloween sections of those select stores with Halloween sections are typically small, they have grown a bit since last year. As for the future of Halloween's popularity in Japan, we'll just have to see. But this year I had a great time with my kids.