Fake Bacon = Facon

First we have vegetable root stew and honey bread (which had a type of honey spread in the center). There’s also cheesy potatoes topped with facon (fake bacon = facon)...

Japanese Meatballs

Japanese meatballs in an ankake sauce coupled with some pickled cucumber. The soup is filled with vegetables, gyoza, and may or may not contain some type of fish...

A Fruit Amongst Vegetables

Curry is a popular dish in Japan and few are better than a summer vegetable curry. It is often eaten with rice but can be eaten by itself. It includes many vegetables including eggplant (which apparently is a fruit), carrots and mushrooms. This meal also comes with a seaweed salad topped with goma (sesame seed) dressing...

Minestrone?

The minestrone soup and chicken patty are reminiscent of home but here they combine the chicken, corn salad and sauce into a type of sandwich. Polish it all off with a small carton of milk...

Itadakimasu!

Living in Japan has afforded me the rare opportunity to regularly eat kyūshoku, which is the school lunch program. It is eaten by a majority of elementary and junior high students and is carefully planned by the school's nutritionist. Every day I take a picture and translate the menu into English to find out exactly what I'm eating...Itadakimasu!



The noodles are topped with vegetables (carrots, bean sprouts, etc.) and the sauce, all of which are very cold (I used my chopsticks to pick out the ice). There is also a spring roll and frozen mandarin orange...

Dinner, Dinner, Dinner and a Show

Last weekend we went to Hitachi Seaside Park with friends, family, church members and the Kajiyamas. It was filled with exciting attractions that you more than likely can’t find anywhere else...

Like a bell that you can ring for happiness...

An older model rice cooker that was actually in use...

Old-fashioned recreation in the form of a wooden top...

A picture with some kappas...

And an egg forest...I think this one was rotten...

That night we traveled to Tsuchiura for its famed fireworks show. Though we mostly ate extremely fatty foods...

We did see some great fireworks...

They were quite impressive...

And getting on the train to go home was no picnic...

Octoberfast

***Edit***
Sadly, the district asked us to remove pictures with our student's faces in them. That said, this post may now seem choppy. Sorry!

It's been a month since our last post and October has already started so here is what happened...

A few weeks ago I had my first Sports Festival (Undokai). It was a day filled with wacky competitions and races. My main job was to distribute prizes (with PTA moms) for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th place finishers. I was also volunteered to participate in a few races (only one of which required a ridiculous costume). Still waiting on those pictures, but here are some others...

The morning ceremonies...

giant ball races?...

1st graders playing something resembling basketball...

the 6^th grade performing a traditional dance...

one last game with these...

That weekend we took a trip to Tokyo with Chelsea. We first visited Harajuku where we saw some interesting fashion. Places not pictured include the Ginza district, our hostel (which was really great) and Krispy Kreme. We also went to...

the ever-crowded Shibuya Crossing...

the Asakusa district...

and the Sensoji Temple...

We ended our trip with a last meal at the Hard Rock Café...

More updates soon...