Ready to go

I am packed and ready to go. Anita, Jonathan, and I are headed to Hong Kong for 5 days. Thankfully my anti-rice/anti-bicycle diet of the past three months has ensured that my butt fits into my summer clothes. And hopefully I will get a little color on my ghostly white skin. I cannot wait to see another part of Asia. I am equally as excited to wear open-toed shoes. Catch you next week! :)

You'll sail alone forever
If you wait for the right time...

--Jimmy Eat World

Becky's Birthday

Last week we celebrated Becky's 25th birthday at Jolly Pasta near Karato. The food and company were excellent. Good times had by all.

Happy Cock Night 2

Regardless of the fact that Becky, Selena, and Laura all posted pictures of this night, I could not resist adding them to my blog, as well, since it was an evening to remember. After making it all the way back to my town from Fukuoka about 12:30pm, I started feeling a little sad and depressed since my brothers just left. So I figured, "Hey, why not go to the big St. Patrick's Day party." After a long nap I got myself together, threw on a green shirt, and barely caught the bus out of town and made my way towards Shimonoseki. There were so many people at Happy Cock that night. But it was my favorite Fukuoka trip to date.
Thanks to all who came and made it such a fun evening.

Fukuoka/Happy Cock Night 1

I promised Brock I would take him to Happy Cock while he was here. One of his goals in life was to dance with a Japanese girl. We made it to Fukuoka in fine shape only to get lost trying to find our hostel. Luckily some half-drunk Japanese men stopped to help us. They spoke enough simple English/simple Japanese that we understood, and they pointed us in the right direction.

Mr. Fujino drove us to Shinshimonoseki and said goodbye to my brothers.

Here we are at Shinshimonoseki awaiting the Shinkansen. The sucky thing about having friends/family with the Japan Railpass is that they can ride the Shinkansen for free, but you, unfortunately, cannot.
Here is Chad, attempting to look happy even though he is miserable. Soon after, Brock and I walked him back to the hostel so he could get some sleep and breathe clean air.
Brock, achieving one of his life goals! After this he danced with a Ukranian girl.
The whole night everyone thought we were dating. I didn't mind, though. At least all the military men left me alone. It was after this photo was taken that I said to him, "So, how about you come back to Asia and do some traveling with me?" Planning for summer trip/possible Christmas trip to Thailand or China is underway!

No Happy Cock trip is complete without a late-night/early-morning trip to the conbini. A very fun evening with Brock.
On Saturday morning I bid them farewell. They headed back to Osaka and I came back home. I was quite sad to see them leave. We had such a lovely time together.

Office Enkai

On Thursday night the members of my office cluster had a small "welcome party" for my brothers. Unfortunately one member could not join us. They chose a very Japanese-looking izakaiya on the far outskirts of town. We were so far in the inaka that my supervisor and I couldn't even get reception on our cell phones.

The before. Such nice squid, unassumingly swimming in a tank at the restaurant.

The after. Squid on a plate. The creature was not even completely dead yet, as one of its tenticles waved hello to us as we were eating it's raw flesh. Oh so tasty, though.

Here I am with my wonderful office folks. As usual, I stick out like a sore thumb, me with my bright shirt and them with their dark clothes. From left to right: Yayoi, Mr. Fujinaga, me, and my kind supervisor. Bless him.

You can see all the wonderful food that was purchased for us. Brock and Chad had their first nomihodai experience.


After dinner we were driven to PC, the Kikugawa local karaoke bar. Surprisingly this karaoke place has the best selection of English songs that I have seen yet.

Brock and Chad were a bit apprehensive to start belting out songs right away, but a few more drinks in them and they loosened up quite a bit.


I wish I had recordings of some of the songs we sang. My favorites were Chad and my harmony on Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" and the hymn "I'll Fly Away." My office friends were amazed at us. One of them kept saying, "This is great! There are three of them!"

Chad and Brock both said that this was their favorite night of their entire trip to Japan. My office spent a fortune on us; nothing was too much. Brock and Chad were able to experience the wonders of Japanese karaoke as well as feel the kindness and generosity of the people I am surrounded by.

Rainy Day in Shimonoseki

Walking to Kyushu



Ah yes, my favorite restaurant! What a better way to spend a rainy day than eating okonomiyaki for lunch.

Brock is getting impatient that his food is taking so long to cook.


Look once.

Look again.

Day at the Sea

My wonderful neighbor, Mr. Fujino, drove us to the ocean for the day.

First we had to stop off to see the largest some-kind-of tree in Japan. Huge!






Brock's first bite of sashimi. Yummy!

Hiroshima and home

We left Kyoto for Hiroshima but not before snagging a photo with one of the guys who stayed in our room at the hostel. The other sleepers were not so friendly.


I did not want to have another photo of me infront of this historical site. But a Japanese man approached us, asking if he wanted us to have him take our photo. How can you say no?



Kikugawa is here.

Welcome to my home. It is freezing. Chad and Brock didn't really believe me when I told them that the inside air of my apartment is the same temperature as the outside air. After setting foot in the door, then they believed me.