This Week's Post Co-Written by Food

And the cycle continues. Sun goes up, sun goes down. Tide comes in, tide goes out. And so it is, another week in the world's Fujioka-i-est city, another blog post. You can't explain that.

In the foil is yakispaghetti (grilled spaghetti), because Japan.

I'm usually one to scoff or roll my eyes when the start of a meal is impeded by someone with a camera, all too eager to take pictures of what I'd really rather be eating at that moment. But NO. Not this week. Lots of food pics for you. I've had too many amazing meals this past week to let them go...undigested.

This place was pretty much food heaven.
Be sure to check out all my pics via the link
over on the right sidebar. I have a lot of great
food pics from this place.

Tabehodai. Just take a minute to appreciate that word. Tabe...hodai. It means all you can eat. Last week I went to a sushi and yakiniku (grilled meat) tabehodai restaurant, accurately named STAMINA-Tarou. And it was magical. They had sushi and meat, yes, but they also had so much more: a fried foods bar, a full salad bar, a sweets and dessert bar, a full ice cream freezer, melon and orange Icee machines, a grill to make your own crepes, and even a freaking cotton candy machine. For the yakiniku, there was a whole refrigerated section complete with dozens of different thinly sliced cuts of meat. I loaded up on the essentials, headed back to my table, and cooked the uncooked items right there at a grill built into the table. That was probably the best meal I've had since returning to Japan. And it was just $20 a person! This place could prove to be my undoing.

This was, like, a shichishoku donburi
by the time they were done making it.

Let's move on to meal two. This one was at a local izakaya (what does that translate to--like pub?). It's kind of a place for drinks but they serve good food too. It was late and I was hungry, so I didn't put too much thought into my choice and ordered a sanshoku (three item) donburi, which is like a rice bowl with three kinds of fish in it. The person taking my order told me that they were out of one of the three kinds of fish. Whatever, I thought. Nishoku don, then (two items). What I did not expect was for the cook to go nuts with my food and make one of the most elaborate donburi I've seen, (I guess as an apology for not having one of the ingredients, or maybe because I'm just cool and foreign?) I felt really bad; it was delicious, but I ended up leaving about half uneaten just because it was so filling. Sorry, super nice izakaya lady.

It was so nostalgic being back in their house again.
I already miss them all again.

My host sister displaying the double
yolks of an egg she cracked open. 

Meal three I actually ate all the way over in Saitama with my old host family. I got in contact with them a while after coming back here to Japan and had been trying to find a time to meet up for a bit. We eventually settled on that weekend, and they actually let me stay back at their place again for a night, so I was there Saturday and Sunday. My host mom prepared a delicious sukiyaki meal for everyone (like meat, veggies, noodles, and all kinds of good stuff all cooked together in a broth). It was great to see everyone there again. I got to meet their newest host student as well, who's from France and just a few years younger than me. He's their 15th host student, I believe. I was number 10. Like I said, I stayed the night there and returned the next day after attending my host brother's soccer game, visiting the Tokyo Skytree landmark with my host dad and sister, and getting totally lost on the trains. I'm so happy I was able to stay in contact with them.

The 100% Full Power Final Form of my okonomiyaki.

Fourth and last notable meal for now was at an okonomiyaki restaurant. I...don't even know how to attempt to explain okonomiyaki, so just look at my pictures. It's like a disc-shaped grilled veggie/meat/egg/sauce/noodle thing. A lot of people call it a kind of pancake, but it's really really not. I ordered Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki because I had had that before when I was visiting Hiroshima and it was delicious. Just my luck, it also turned out to be the most difficult to make. So while most of the friends I was with just had to mix and egg in with a bowl of stuff, then throw it on a grill, I had to: 1. lay down a circular layer of batter on the grill, 2. start the noodles cooking as a separate disc, 3. throw the veggies and meat on the first one, 3. beat some eggs and start a third, eggy disc, 4. flip and cook all that stuff, and 5. assemble it all into a marvelous food stack. It took a few attempts and a while to make, but it actually turned out pretty great. I was surprised.

Work at my school has kind of started unofficially now, but I'll save that for next week's post when I can include some more details. For now, it's late and I should sleep. Thanks again for keeping up with me, and again, if you like my posts here, spread 'em around like okonomiyaki batter and like and share them online. I always love getting feedback in the form of comments too.

Until next time!

Week Two A-Go-Go!

Oh man, I've had so many adventures. How many? So many. Well, you know, a few, at least.

I'm starting to get settled in over here in my itty bitty li'l apartment. I've picked up a lot of the essentials like trash cans, garbage bags, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, plates, cups, silverware, and a few cooking utensils. Oh, and like a weird ground chair thing, because chair legs are for dorks.

A veritable banquet of deliciousness and nutritiousness.

I made my first trek out to the super market here, and now that I think about it, I probably should have taken some pictures of that. Huh. Well anyway, when I was here before I didn't really have to do too much of my own cooking because of host parents and such, but that's not the case anymore. I went with the intention of picking up enough stuff to get by for a few weeks, but here I am less than a week later and it's pretty much all gone.

Most of the stuff there I didn't recognize, and brands have a tendency to write all the relevant information on packaging in kanji because it looks cooler. Oh wow, you know that actually does look a lot cooler that way--EXCEPT NOW I CAN'T READ IT! I came away with some bread, non-distinct cheese, what I was pretty sure was cooked deli meat, some orange juice, a lot of probably yogurt, some salad mix that I couldn't find the expiration date for, and mysterious dressing. I didn't have any pots or pans at that point so my options were pretty limited. Anyway, so I had sammiches and salad there for a while. I want to figure out how to make some basic Japanese stuff like curry and miso soup so I'll be better prepared for next time.

Gunma-chan! He's a horse! I think!

I had another orientation a bit ago that took place in Maebashi, which is the capital city of Gunma. The info there was a lot more specific and relevant than last time. I got to meet Gunma-chan, which is ostensibly some sort of horse-thing. There seems to be a lot of debate surrounding that red dot on his face. Is it a nose or is it a mouth? No one can seem to agree.

Everyone stayed at a hotel in Maebashi that night, as it was a two-day orientation. I was surprised to find out that I had my own room. That was certainly a nice twist. I got a good sleep that night--but not before going out for a night of karaoke!

I really don't know why this is
Quarterback Karaoke. Do people
sing football songs? Do those exist?

I lived here for a year before, but never actually did karaoke. Well, no more! It was pretty fun. I sang along with a lot of songs, but didn't actually get up in front of everyone to do so. Maybe next time. There was a lot of love for '80s and '90s music, which I suppose isn't particularly surprising given the ages of most of the people here. What Does the Fox Say? of YouTube fame was probably the highlight. What are the odds a Japanese karaoke bar would have that in their roster? Good enough, I guess. It was an all-you-can-drink event over there as well, so I suppose that helped loosen everyone up a bit.

Good thing I played so much
Koto Hero in high school.

I attended a few cultural workshops the next day. I got to see a whole
bunch of nice old ladies playing the koto, which is a Japanese string instrument, before getting to try it myself. It was pretty cool. They put these weird fingernail-pick things on their fingers and then waggled them threateningly over the instruments to scare music out of them. There was like black magic going on there or something.

Who's that Pokemon?

I also got to attend a Japanese tea ceremony workshop where people served me food, called me lord, and bowed to me a lot. I could get used to that. What else...--oh, the calligraphy workshop! I think I was supposed to be practicing kanji there, but I kind of just wrote stuff in English and drew Pokemon. It's all good. They turned out pretty cool.

It was just a couple days ago that I got back. I haven't  been up to too much since then, just exploring the town and getting a few more things for my place. Two of the girls who are here in the program with me are out of town at the moment, so it's just two other guys and myself in our little foreigners circle. We've been playing some board/card/video games these past few days. Lots of Mario Kart, Munchkin, and Catan so far.

That's about it for me as of now. I go in to the Board of Education on the 25th to meet my JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) and some more of my coworkers. School actually starts on the 29th, so that's when things are really gonna get rolling.

Again, if you like these posts, let me know. Leave me a comment, or share these on Facebook. It would be nice to hear back from you guys. A few people have asked about my apartment, so I'll be sure to include more about that in future updates. Until then!

Somehow managed to lose despite
my glorious and undefeatable army.

Back for Round Two

Back in Tokyo.
Do you know where this is?

Oh hey, hello there. Wow, it seems like only a few years ago that I was on here posting all kinds of cool and exciting adventures. How time flies...

Well, if you haven't been keeping up with me (or if you have no idea who I am), I should say that I'm back in Japan. And not as a student this time--no, no, no--I'm done with that chapter of my life, at least for now. I'm back over here as an assistant English language teacher through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

It's taken so long to get to this point. I think I began applying for the position almost a year ago now, and it's been nothing but paperwork, essays, letters of recommendation, interviews, passport photos, and orientations since. I finally took off from the States about a week ago, so the wave of excitement is still washing over me.

After the 10 or so hour plane ride back to Japan, the program put the other JETs and me up at the all-too-ritzy Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I was rooming with two other guys, so I suppose it was a bit cramped, but hey, compare it to places like those capsule hotels and I'm not complaining.

The JETs start to trickle into the auditorium for orientation.

There was an absurd number of us staying there for those first few days--I would guess somewhere between 800 and 1,000. We were all there for two days of orientation and workshops before heading out to our placements on the third day. And oh man, those first few days were packed. In the first two days I had about 24 hours of orientation. Most of it was pretty general information, but there were a few panels with alumni who shared their advice and experiences. Those seemed much more worthwhile.

The thing I was struck most by was the sheer diversity of people who are part of this program. I met JETs from all over the US, from Canada, the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Italy just to name a few. Everyone was very friendly and outgoing, so it was easy to make friends and latch onto others' late-night dinner plans :P

I also got to meet up with a friend from the east coast I hadn't seen since I was last here in Japan. He's part of JET now too, so we had a lot to talk about.

Soup, salad, and pasta for lunch. Not very Japanese :/

I can't talk about my hotel stay without mentioning the food, because holy shnikies did they feed us. I was surprised after all the free meals they didn't slice us up and put us between a couple slices of rye. Just cultural differences, I guess.

After all of that was over, I headed out to Maebashi in Gunma prefecture for some more Super Fun Orientation Time happaneings, and from there I headed out to Fujioka (same prefecture) with my newly-acquainted supervisor. Taka...taka...something-sensei. I'm bad with names, particularly foreign ones. He took me to the board of education, introduced me, took care of some paperwork, and then showed me around town. He's a super nice guy, but he's definitely still new at this. He brought me to my apartment and gave me a couple bottles of wine as a housewarming gift.

On the bus to Gunma. Didn't take the train, unfortunately.

After speaking for months online with the other language teachers who are out here in Fujioka--in the same apartment building as me no less--I finally got to meet them in person. Everyone has been extremely warm and welcoming to me. I'm really happy that I've already got a little community of friends out here. There are six of us, including me. They took me out to dinner my first night here at a local izakaya (pub-kinda deal--I'm not exactly sure how that translates). We all got to know each other better that night, and I've hung out with pretty much all of them individually since then.

Went out with some buddies for parfaits.

Most of my time here in Fujioka has been spent unpacking and setting things up in my apartment. Usually a new JET will replace an old one, which means they get their old apartment with all the accessories and furnishings, but I'm not replacing anyone out here, so my place is pretty bare-bones. I'm slowly accumulating the necessities like dishware and furniture, but I've still got a ways to go. I figure I'll wait to do anything too drastic until I get my first paycheck on the 21st.

It's rather late and I'm fading over here, so I apologize if this post has been rather general. I know I'm missing a lot of the details, but a lot has happened. Now that I'm here all safe and sound things are starting to slow down, so next time I should be able to cover things a bit more in depth. School doesn't start until the 31st, so I've got until then to prepare myself for the kiddies. I'll be teaching junior high most days, by the way, so that's my demographic. Do junior high kids still like Pokemon cards? I brought some over from the States for them. Hmm.

The view from my apartment.

Well thanks for staying with me this long. I appreciate you taking an interest in my life over here. I'm going to make a request though. Last time I was blogging over here I turned out to have way, way more readers than I thought. I figured there were just a few people because I only ever heard from a couple. It turns out most of you are just the silent type, I guess. So if you like what I'm doing over here, let me know. Leave me a comment, like my post, or share it on Facebook or something. I'm curious what all you people back home think of this, so let me know what you're interested in hearing about or ask me some questions.

That's it for now. See ya laaateeer~