Halloween Demons and Canadians....

We went to the Halloween Party tonight with many of our co-workers/friends. This was a really good party - and, having decided to drive there, all I drank was club soda. Luckily it was pretty easy to convince everyone that I was actually drinking shochu and soda - with made them much happier to chat with me!

As you can see from the photo, Brian was a suave vampire, and I was a devil! (I used Photoshop to eliminate as much as possible the messy, distracting party background):



This one I merely cropped a little (and don't worry - Brian's wearing a mask):



Here I am with our friend, Larry - he is, of course, dressed up as a Canadian. Considering that he is B.C. born and bred....not much of a stretch. Unless you know his very anti-Canadian sympathies! Gotta love Lar:



It was a lot of fun - and now I'm home and indulging in a post-party alcoholic beverage while Brian (who was not driving!) snores beside me...

On another sobering note - tomorrow I'm off to run a short 6.7 km race. It will be good to not be hungover when I run:-)

Woo Hoo - Friday!

Friday evenings have got to be my favourite - a few hours to wind down after the week, and looking forward to the weekend.

Tonight it's raining hard, and being home it's nice to hear the rain's rhythmic pounding on the pavement is one of the most relaxing sounds I know.

I'm also enjoying some sweet tunes from Pandora.com thanks to Tor and Brian's ingenious ability to properly configure it!

Naturally I'm not feeling very Zen today because I'm totally multitasking, which is very anti-Zen. But at least I'm getting things done - rocking out to Pandora, listening to the rain, cooking curry, blogging, updating Facebook and sipping red wine - all at the same time!

And as I utter these words proudly, I realize that my Fridays are slightly tamer than they were a decade ago, which then brings me to various existential questions, which I really don't have time to ponder just now:-)

On a more exciting note - Brian and I are going to a Halloween party tomorrow; I'm totally looking forward to getting dressed up and will post photos of both of us in costume ASAP.

Japanese Wild Monkeys

The week is passing incredibly quickly, and the later-rising sun means slightly increased laziness for Brian and me. Where we had been getting up at 4:30 or so, we now frequently sleep past 5:30; this, of course, means reduced quality time spent with our Single Speeds.

However – we did manage to get motivated yesterday morning, and hit the road then the trails at around 6:30 in the morning. We did one of our old favourites – a short but invigorating ride that took us into the mountains, through some fields, over some obstacles and back down into town.

During our rapid decent through a particularly overgrown part of the trail, I heard a squawk, which I thought might have been a boar, and not worth calling to Brian to stop, since the boar would surely have been gone in a flash. However – about a hundred metres later – Brian had to come to an abrupt halt in order to pull a large spiderweb (and its resident “very large spider”), off of his face. While stopped, I heard the squawk again, and some large animal movement in the forest around us. As Brian freed himself from his spider mate, I looked around and spotted a large monkey in a tree only about 10 feet away from us. I pointed him out to Brian, who then quickly saw that we were in fact surrounded! There were three more monkeys in a tree just two feet or so to our left, and more monkeys higher up in the tree tops.

Here in Susono city we've seen monkeys several times, but each time is just as thrilling as the last – I mean, how often have you seen wild monkeys? However, they can be dangerous (I've heard), so as soon as we felt we'd enjoyed the wild life enough (no camera of course!), we continued our rapid descent and left the monkeys behind us.

This is a photo of a Japanese macaque like the ones we saw, but since we'd left the apartment without a camera (which is really the only guarantee that we'll see something interesting), I just got this image from a web search:

Mt. Fuji - First Snow (初冠雪)

This Saturday morning, apart from dawning crisp and clear, also brought the first snow to the peak of Mt. Fuji. In Japanese, this is called hatsukansetsu （はつかんせつ）, which literally translated means "first snow-capped peak".

We got a couple of photos of this year's first snow-capped peak from our balcony here in Susono city:

Gotemba Riding

I always do enjoy business trips - it's a little variety, and it's nice not having to cook. Seriously, even my cockroach encounter was not what I'd term "bad", since I did get to chat with a couple of locals anyway.

However, much as I enjoyed staying in a hotel and not having to do laundry, it was very nice to come back home. And luckily, the weekend weather was nearly perfect、and we spent both days riding and enjoying the fine weather.

Saturday took us winding through the fields of Susono and Gotemba, where the rice was ripe and ready for picking.



Rice, close up:



We also stumbled upon a little horse in a yard of sorts; this was very unusual as people around here simply do not have horses. In fact, this was the first time I've seen a horse anywhere on this side of the country.


Of course, we also made a pit-stop at our favourite beer vendor and savoured a pint while soaking up some of the sun's warming rays.

Convenience Stores...

The town I'm staying in is not big, but it has a few conveniences - one of which is a convenience store. Conbini's (as they're called here) carry just about anything you might need - from katsu-don bentos to boxers and panties (I'm not kidding). Lucky for me, they also carry portable cell phone chargers.

After four days away and lots of playing with my cell phone, my battery began to fade. So I went to the Sunkus conbini and picked up a USB powered charger (figured it was better than the battery powered one, since I actually did have my computer with me). My phone is now charged up and ready for another day of use. As a bonus, the USB charger has a "double" fitting - one fits my (and Brian's) Softbank phone, and the other would fit Brian's AU work phone, so I think the charger will remain useful.

(I took this photo with my cell phone):

Kuretake Inn's Ganbanyoku

The hotel I'm in - Kuretake Inn Hamanako - is a fairly new hotel that had to close of "renovations" almost immediately after it's initial opening due to some construction scandal. Now the renovations are done and the recently reopened hotel now boasts a "gan ban yoku", or "stone bath". I mentioned the ganbanyoku a while ago - these very popular hot stone "beds" that warm you from the inside out.

Last night, after my ill-fated kara-age (of which my stomach constantly reminded me today!), I went to try the Inn's ganbanyoku. My verdict: it was ok. Just ok. It's really just a hotel room converted to have two stone beds, and while the beds were comfortable and hot, I sadly missed having a nice hot bath or even a shower to complement it.

Ganbanyoku at Kuretake Inn:

Honto no Izakaya

I'm away on business all this week. Being alone is great for catching up on some reading, but makes for some solitary eating experiences.

The hotel I'm staying in - the Kuretake Inn, which is part of a chain - is a nice, simple business hotel straight across from little Washizu station, and they provided a "meal map" of the area to let customers know where to find, well, meals. I followed that map last night to a local izakaya, which labeled itself on the map as a "honto no izakaya" (real izakaya). I figured I may as well enjoy some of the local flavours - but got a little more (and less) than I bargained for.

I had a kara-age and beer. The beer was good - cold and refreshing. The kara-age however was kind of...not so good. Too greasy, too fatty...and, of course, I had to eat it while a particularly persistent cockroach kept nibbling at my shibori (hot hand towel). By the time the third cockroach arrived on the table, I figured I'd better make my escape!

I took this pic with my cell phone - one roach who just wouldn't get away from my shibori...


I like local places, but sometimes, you just gotta know when to say "when"!

Reading

I'm working out of town this week with four nights alone in a hotel - this translates into plenty of time to catch up on my reading. I intend to finish "Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace" by Hiroyuki Itsuki which provides insight into Shin Buddhism. So far it's very interesting and informative, but I think I'll stick with Zen for myself...

I'll also be able to keep up with my net-surfing, since the hotel here has, of course, high speed access in the rooms, which is something that a few years ago would have been unheard of. I'm not going to criticize progress...

Liver Sashi with a little Raw Horse on the side...

I and two friends indulged last night in another bit of a "girls night", this time just at a local izakaya to unwind and have a relaxing chat. Our favourite izakaya - Ryoba- was closed, so we sauntered over to a true local place. Yuzu (the izakaya) is also in Susono and only about a five minute walk from home, but it is not part of a chain (like Ryoba), so it really did have more character. They're also less accustomed to gaijin guests, and when we three women walked under the noren and into the bar, the only customers at that hour, three older men, gaped openly and began chatting in Japanese about how interesting it was that some gaijin women were there. They continued to talk when we started drinking shochu and nihonshu, and then, noting our gentle laughter, they figured out that we understood what they were saying! They were very pleasant, chatted with us a bit and really, that's something I really love about going out to the local places - meeting the locals!

The highlight of the evening came when we finally decided that we ought to order some food, so we opted for a variety of sashi (raw) food - tuna sashimi, basashi (raw horse meat) and reba sashi (raw liver); this of course was not exactly keeping a low profile and lead to more conversation and really, in the end, a good time was had by all.

As for those who are wondering what raw liver tastes like, I can say that I genuinely enjoyed it -dipped in a lovely sesame sauce, it was cool, refreshing and perfectly complemented by the imojochu I was drinking. It's also worth noting that I detest cooked liver - the smell alone is enough to drive to the the porcelain throne, but raw liver, now that I can eat every day!

Autumn Rice and the Gotemba Sen

Our staff meeting on Friday went very well; we all gathered at the exquisite Kanaya Ryokan in Izu, which is rightly famous for its huge (mixed gender) bath and delicate Japanese meals. The meeting was stimulating, and the after-meeting socializing equally so. Although, I have to admit, we had a bit of lubrication! Brian and I there fore spent yesterday (Saturday) driving home and recovering from the previous day.

Today dawned sunny and glorious, and knowing that tomorrow was going to bring rain, we took advantage of the morning and took out our single-speeds for some excellent riding. As we were winding up our ride, we stopped to get some photos of the harvested rice, mount Fuji and, luckily enough, our infrequent train on the Gotemba line.

Not much

Sad to say it, I hate to say it...we haven't had much to say recently.

We've been busy at work for tomorrow's overnight staff meeting - at least that should give me something to blog about.