November 15-19, 2010:
For work I went to Osaka, Japan. I had one had day of sightseeing in Kyoto, the ex-capital of Japan. It is one thing going to a country where they don't speak your language, but quite different if you can't even read the letters. My hotel room was small and the bathroom tiny. The toilet filled with water when you sat on it and also had a bidet. I thought, "a bidet - I would never use one in a public place, but...I could just see how it worked." Well you need pressure on the seat, so I put my foot on the seat and hit the button. Talk about water pressure. Water shot out and all over my shirt! Nasty toilet water!
The first night after work, I was taken out for authentic Japanese food. First I stopped to play Pachinko. I Japanese style slot machine of sorts. This took 2 restaurants, all very local, and all dives. No tourists would step foot in these places. First we had food on a stick - chicken, pork, veggies. It was all very good except for the chicken skin and fat. I tried it, but it was nasty, chewy; I had to swallow it whole. The second place was for the best sushi I have ever had. I tried eel, but had a tough time eating the bones. And we had some Saki. The last place was for Japanese dumplings. Yummm... The second night after work, I had the best meal of my life. We went to eat shabu shabu. This is a boiling pot of water that you cook your food in. The best of this food is Kobe beef, aka pampered cow. I was told that this cow was fed beer and massaged every day. After doing some research, I find this in not true. This is still, however, the best beef I have ever eaten.
Thursday, I went sightseeing with a tour group. I met up with 2 ladies, one from Portugal and one from Italy. We hung out for the day while we were sightseeing. We visited several temples. The best of which house 1001 Buddha statues! It was a grand trip. Interesting culture, but not a place I would live or want to vacation.
Top 10 Interesting Things:
10. Japanese meat loaf is nasty, don't eat it.
9. Everyplace I went to sight see was very crowded. I wonder if all of these people work. And you thought there were a lot of Japanese tourist in America....
8. The Japanese are very superstitious. Bow, clap, hope on one foot while putting on your shoe...
7. Japan is expensive, more so than Europe and it is quite clean.
6. Little kids ride the train by themselves. Little as in 5 years old!
5. Starbucks doesn't open until 7AM! Although I was very glad that I found a *$
4. Everywhere is decorated for Christmas with lights and trees even though only about 1% of Japan is Christian.
3. Everyone wears a suit to work.
2. Vending machines are everywhere and they sell everything from cold drinks to hot drinks to beer and wine, food, cigarettes, you name it. And where there is one machine there are 3 or 4.
And the number one most interesting thing about Japan.....
1. The toilets play music. This is because research found that on average the women flush the toilet 3 times while using it to cover up any sound they may make. In an effort to save water, they added music to the toilets. The alternative to the western musical toilet is pictured below: The hole in the floor toilet with not toilet paper dispenser. I avoided these at all costs. I would rather use a tree.
Even though I finished my New Year's Resolution last weekend, I just had to squeeze one more adventure in for the year. I headed south for a leisurely stroll around Lake Waccamaw. On the way I saw a number of funny things: a kid riding a horse down main street, a lady in her night gown trimming shrubs in the front yard, way too many guys with mullets, and mini-horses.
The joy of road tripping in North Carolina is displayed in the picture to your left: Car on jacks in the front yard. "Yes indeedy! Ya'll know dat dare needs to be a broken down car in that there yard on jacks." To counter that I saw the a beautiful sign on a windmill. Isn't that lovely. I drove down through Carthage and Jackson Springs. Everyone I passed waved at me; friendly little towns.
I continues on to The Berry Patch. To my delight is was open. The second World's Largest Strawberry has an ice cream shop inside of it. Of course I had to get some ice cream. And of course it had to be strawberry. I snapped some pictures and head back north. 
My favorite dental hygienist got us tickets and find the Elusive 400 Mug. Well, actually she got us tickets to the Penn State vs. Michigan State game. The last game of the season and one we had little hope of winning. We started our day by donning our winter attire - gloves, hats, layers and layers and layers. We dropped by The Waffle Shop for breakfast. Oh how I miss State College sometimes. The Waffle Shop was delicious with a Belgium Waffle, bacon, home fries, and fresh squeezed OJ. Then off to the game we went. We had great parking and our seat were about 50 rows up on the 20. Not too bad. 
We love our Joe
We sat down and saw a guy walking around with hot chocolate in mugs. The mugs were the Elusive 400 Mugs. I commented that I would like one, but would wait a bit. This was the first sighting of the Elusive 400 Mug! We watched Penn State loose there own game with penalties in the first half, but still the score wasn't ridiculous. At half-time we visited the potty and got a little warm and then stood in line for some hot chocolate in the Elusive 400 mug. We waited for 15 minutes and the line went no where. The game was back on and we were missing out. So we headed back to our seats. By the 3rd quarter, people were filing out. My favorite dental hygienist had the bright idea of picking up a couple Elusive 400 Mugs if people left them. So the plotting began. The people next to us had one sitting under there feet. They got up to leave. No wait, they moved a few rows up to some empty seats. There sat an Elusive 400 Mug. We were going to have one. Nope, try again. The lady came back for it. We spied 4 Elusive 400 Mugs beside us. They were under the seats of a bunch of young punks. They definitely looked like leavers. We waited. They got up and left without their mugs. Now were were each getting 2 mugs. Nope, try again. One kid came back and yelled at the others to get their Elusive 400 Mugs. We spotted 2 more mugs that were left under the bench. No people in site. It was a few rows up and to the left. When we left, we would simply walk by and pick them up. We kept tabs on them for about 10 minutes. Then someone else came and stole them. We werent' the only ones after an Elusive 400 Mug. And so we left Beaver Stadium with a loss in our hearts and no Elusive 400 Mug in site.
For work I went to Osaka, Japan. I had one had day of sightseeing in Kyoto, the ex-capital of Japan. It is one thing going to a country where they don't speak your language, but quite different if you can't even read the letters. My hotel room was small and the bathroom tiny. The toilet filled with water when you sat on it and also had a bidet. I thought, "a bidet - I would never use one in a public place, but...I could just see how it worked." Well you need pressure on the seat, so I put my foot on the seat and hit the button. Talk about water pressure. Water shot out and all over my shirt! Nasty toilet water! 
The first night after work, I was taken out for authentic Japanese food. First I stopped to play Pachinko. I Japanese style slot machine of sorts. This took 2 restaurants, all very local, and all dives. No tourists would step foot in these places. First we had food on a stick - chicken, pork, veggies. It was all very good except for the chicken skin and fat. I tried it, but it was nasty, chewy; I had to swallow it whole. The second place was for the best sushi I have ever had. I tried eel, but had a tough time eating the bones. And we had some Saki. The last place was for Japanese dumplings. Yummm... The second night after work, I had the best meal of my life. We went to eat shabu shabu. This is a boiling pot of water that you cook your food in. The best of this food is Kobe beef, aka pampered cow. I was told that this cow was fed beer and massaged every day. After doing some research, I find this in not true. This is still, however, the best beef I have ever eaten. 
