Japan In A Week

My dad came to visit this last week for a fast and furious tour of Japan. We started in Tokyo...

Takeshita Dori

Kaminarimon Gate

Tokyo Sky Tree

Then we took a quick detour to Kamakura...

Daibutsu (Great Buddha)

After Tokyo we visited some other sights around the area...

Fukuroda Waterfall (with 6 inches of snow)

Oarai Beach

monkey sculpture in Nikko

He also came to one of my schools to help teach English...

a lesson about the weather

It was a lot of fun and now my dad has at least 7 new pictures of himself. The only question now is which one should be his Facebook profile pic.

A Family Affair

Our families came to visit us over the Christmas/New Years holiday. Though enjoyable, it was like taking 4 illiterate children on vacation. We have become somewhat accustomed to living in Japan, but to be responsible for someone who is new to international travel is exhausting wonderful.

We were always trying to get them to try new foods...

chicken kebab

okonomiyaki

gyoza dogs (meat dumpling in bao dough)

real crab soup

Japan also has a lot of history and many sights worth seeing...

famous monkey sculptures in Nikko

Oarai beach

Ushiku Daibutsu (Ushiku Buddha)

Fukuroda Waterfall in Daigo

To relieve some stress and look awesome we took shopping breaks...

H&M

and spent one night at the happiest place on earth (besides Krispy Kreme when the red light is on), Disney Sea in Tokyo...

Under the sea

Carousel on the Arabian Coast

We also spent time with the Kajiyamas. They have helped us so much and have basically become our adoptive parents in Japan...

breakfast with the Kajiyamas

New Years Day

and now I present the only photo with all of us...

Hope you had a good time in Japan. Come back anytime, but call first. 

Christmas In Japan

We had Christmas parties with some friends and English volunteers from Staci's school.

Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, but most Japanese people can agree this is what a Christmas meal should look like...

This delicious meal could be yours for only ¥3880 (about $50)


It should include fried chicken, a Christmas salad and a Christmas cake. Having fried chicken and cake on Christmas is supposedly an American tradition. I guess the holiday does celebrate a birthday...

Apparently, you must reserve a Christmas meal 2 months in advance and then stand in line to pay for and receive that meal. We missed that window so we had to make our own fried chicken.

After a delicious feast of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes and rolls it was time to play dirty santa...

Then we had a friendly competition of picking up beans with chopsticks...

And of course, Christmas cake...

Merry Christmas!

Lazy Sunday

I got a message from my mom this week.

She said I should not call my students weirdos like I did in this post.

She believes I should have said goobers.

I think she is wrong.

I also found it odd she wasn't more concerned about me hitting children.

*Disclaimer* I don't actually hurt the goobers.

Favorite Note Ever.

I just wanted to share this little gem...

I found this on my apartment door with a sack of groceries sometime last year.
I think she might have been referring to the time she said this.

Yuko: *pulling Dan's underwear out of the drawer* O! Look at these big pants!

Best Adopted Family EVER!


We wouldn't have made it this far without them.

But really...