The goodness of Japan

Well on the way home I kept telling myself to check for my umbrella that I left at the convenience store this morning. I did remember and low and behold it was still there. I have to admit that this is one of the amazing things about Japan. I've run into this a couple of times, once when I lost my drivers license it somehow showed up at the police station and they told me to make sure that I contacted the lady that picked it up and thanked her. The other time I left the church's computer on the train. I thought for sure that it was gone for good, but the station staff called ahead and were able to pull it off the train at the end of the line. I just had to go pick it up. Why is it that if the same thing happened in America you could pretty much say good by to your things, even if it was just my cheap umbrella, but here in Japan the chances of getting your things back are fairly good.

Forgetfulness

This must not be my week for remembering things. I have been waiting for an email with a message that I am supposed to translate and last night I looked on my desk top and saw a word file that was saved there, I wondered what it was so I opened it. Low and behold it was the document I had been waiting for. As I tracked down the email that it had come on I realized that it had come last Tuesday. I think that I came home exhausted after the one day trip, opened my mail but really didn't look at it. But I had downladed the file.

Then this morning it was raining so I rushed around to catch the train, grabbed my umbrella and headed out. Stoped at the convenience store right at the station bought a small snack and then headed into the station. I actually had some time to spare. Got the commuter express and was on my way. I got off at Jiyugaoka and as I was walking down the stairs I thought, "Where's my umbrella?". It was then I realized I had left it in the umbrella stand outside the convenience store. Well the good thing about living in Japan is that it will probably still be there tonight when I get home, that is as long as I remember to look for it.

Sunday in Fukaya

I was asked to come and sing at Fukaya church. I'm a little embarrassed to put this up, but oh well.

It went well and we had a great time.

Trip to Gunma

We took advantage of the national holiday and took a short trip to Gunma. We stayed at Kanedaya, a very nice little inn.  We had the healthy meal plan and they said that between dinner and breakfast we would be having a total of 50 different vegetables.  The food was really good and not that heavy, although we all did leave the table stuffed. Here is our dinner.

And the breakfast was just as good at least for me, I think I might have been the only one that finished everything.

Zori

Yesterday we fled school and took an overnight trip to Gunma.  Stayed at a great little inn "Kanedaya" and then went to Takuminosato and made Zori.  Here is my finished pair. It was a lot of fun and it was really fun chatting with the two older ladies that helped make these. 

Sakura

Was out shopping and ran across a new artist I had never heard of Scott Murphy. He has done some interesting things to some Japanese songs.

Day off

Spent the morning, getting train tickets, & rental car set for next week, then off to the softbank store to see if they could straighten out my access for their HP. I also up'd my plan. Then this afternoon I headed to Yokohama for a soak and a massage. Walked to World Porters for an early dinner, and this my view.

Yakatabune

Clip from the cruise on Sunday night.

SNL Politics

I love the line, "I can see Russia from my house."

Yakatabune

Alina and Ryoko sharing a good laugh probably because I couldn't get my camera to take the posed picture, but this shot turned out really well and is indicitive of the evening.



This is the first time that I had taken one of these cruises and it was really fun. The Karaoke was a blast even though I was really wanting to sing something from Grease, and there was not a single one. What's that all about? We could have rocked "Summer Nights". Miuraya was the company that we used, it was nice but I wish they would have had better service. But that was probably par for the course since most of the people were of the Gaijin persuasian.

Festival

Yesterday we played in Jiyugaoka again, and this time we only played once in the parking lot. The rest of the time we got to play in front of the station. The last time then they said come up on the stage, but sadly to say refrained from lugging the big drum on stage so I had to be content to play from below.

Thanks to Mr. Miura for the pics. I'm completely out of the video on this one.