I’ve been swamped with projects for awhile now, but last week was not all work.
Highlights:
1-2 New 28-inch television! Not HDTV, or “hi-vision,” as they say here, but still widescreen and go-ji-us. Some suspense as I stumble through the Japanese menus and buttons. A few days later, the multi-region DVD player, ordered from TheFlyingPig.com arrived.
3-4 Okonomiyaki at Happy Tsuwane with Teppei, Keiko, their friend Kikuchi, and the very genki “Supa-baba” restaurant owner/cook, who also read our palms and sang. Then, fireworks by the Kamo river. About the tiny quiet sparklers, Mari said, “These are Japanese style. It’s very intimate sense.” True. While American ones burn a rasping hot shower of sparks that you hold at arms length, these gave off a gentle pretty fizz best observed by crouching down and holding them in front of your face.
5-6 Shisendo gardens, just down the street from here. If the rounded bushes were like miniature mountains, then the little ants crawling across the sand were like people.
7-8 Hearty meal of ramen, gyoza, kim chee and beer in a very brightly-lighted place a short bike ride away.