Enkai

This is actually from last weekend when the teachers at one of my schools had a (belated) New Year's party. We went to a yaki-niku, which basically translates as grilled beef. There's a burner in the middle of the table with a grill on top that gets replaced periodically by the wait staff as they bring out more trays of meat.

Here I am enjoying raw beef mixed with raw egg:



A bigger picture:



Not pictured: grilled cow stomach and liver that the vice-principal made me eat.

Himeji Castle

I had Thursday off from school (Constitution Day apparently) so I went to Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle is widely considered the best in Japan and it is one of few to be more or less in its original form. Other castles have been rebuilt since WWII and are mostly made of concrete, instead of the wood and stone of the originals. Himeji was designed to confuse invaders, with multiple false entrances and hidden passages to sneak in behind the enemy. It also has really high walls, with correspondingly steep hills. I'm not sure of this, but it appeared to be the tallest building in town even today.


Here's me in front of the castle, to prove I was actually there.


Closer picture.


Most Japanese castles have some kind of fish at the top like a gargoyle. Sometimes it's a dolphin. It's supposed to keep out bad spirits. This is from the 6th or 7th floor, after several steep stairs with low ceilings.

More impulse buying

Once again I bought something I didn't need at a konbini:



It's chocolate soda and it wasn't bad. The flavor wasn't as strong as I expected and it went down pretty well. There's also a chocolate flavored beer that is absolutely awful.

Lessons from direct democracy in Japan

Last Sunday there was an election in my town. I'm not sure what for or who won, but I definitely knew there was an election and the names of several people running. I don't read the newspaper (mostly because I can't read the newspaper) and nothing on TV talked about these local elections. So how did I know about this election?

Someone drove by in a car and told me.

Actually several people drove by in a couple of cars and told me constantly for the past week or two. My understanding is that soliciting door to door isn't allowed in Japan. So instead people put loud speakers and billboards on top of their cars and

The other night I had a closer encounter with one of the candidates, or at least his supporters. As I was walking across the street a car flashed on its lights and turned towards me. The windows started to roll down, hands covered in white gloves came out waving, and a loud speaker started spouting out the candidates name. The car looked something like this:

Impulse buying

Too often I come across something in a convenience store that I just can't refuse to buy.



It tastes exactly how you would imagine it.