Arachnaphobia

There was a meeting of the minds tonight at the Toraoka Mansion. Logan heard the voices of all his friends out in the parking lot tonight and so we went to see what was going on and to say hello. When we got there we found that all of the fuss was regarding the largest spider any of us have ever seen. The spider was seriously the biggest one I have seen. I think that this spider was the mother of Shelob. It was not quite the size of a tarantula, but the body was about the size of a gumball. a big gumball.

Sweet dreams Emily. I tried to take a picture but it was dark and it did not photograph well. But I will try again tomorrow when it is light.

くも
(kumo)
spider

Japanese Wedding

Saturday we went to the wedding for our friends Mark and Minako. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, which is fortunate because the rainy season began on Friday. The sun was shining though on Saturday and there was not a cloud in the sky. They were married at the base of Mount Hachiman in the shrine where most of the festivals in town are held. They both wore traditional Kimonos for the ceremony. All three of us went to the wedding. Logan was in a good mood for most of the time but he did get a bit excited and at other times a bit cranky. But that is neither here nor there.

The wedding itself was very interesting. It was a very traditional Shinto style ceremony. They both drank some sake and there were speeches in Japanese, then they were married. And it was on to the party. The reception was held at a hotel close to our home and we went from the mountain to the hotel directly. There was a long wait between the ceremony and the wedding, but Logan had a lot of fun running around the small room and entertaining all of the waiting guests. He did get a bit cranky during this time, but it was because he was hungry. Jenny and he went down to the lobby to get some cake to snack on and while they were gone we were all called to a room to get our picture taken with the bride and groom. Logan had not finished his cake and was very upset and did not want to get his picture taken, but eventually he calmed down and I hope that they now have a nice picture to remember the day.

The party was held next. We were served a wonderful dinner. There was elegant sushi, tempura seafood, and the best roast beef that I have ever had in my life. The beef was perfectly marbled with fat and it practically melted in your mouth. It was so good that I had two servings of it. I am fairly sure that it was Omgyu, which is local Omi beef. The cows are given daily massages and feed beer to ensure that the meat is extremely tender. If you have ever heard of Kobe beef, Omi beef is regarded in Japan as being better.

The wedding was an amazing experience and we are very grateful to have had the experience. Not only of seeing a Traditional Shinto wedding ceremony, which is a bit rare these days because people here like to have more western style weddings, (most churches that one sees here are actually only wedding chapels) but being able to participate in a reception party as well.

おめでと
(omedeto)
congratulations

HOOORAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A car just pulled QUIETLY out of the parking lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO noise!

with out a sound!!!

YIPEE!!!!!!

Logan and the Clunk-Clunk Noise

There is a parking lot right next to our apartment building. Now that normally would not be a problem, but...

there is the, "clunk-clunk" noise.

In Japan there is a drainage gutter that runs along the side of the road. In some places it is covered, but in many places it is not. So it is with the street that runs along the parking lot next to our building. There is an open gutter that is maybe two to three feet deep, and about a foot across, running along the side of the road between the street and the parking lot. To bridge this gap there are four steel plates that cover the gutter at the entrance to the parking lot. Every time a car drives across the planks there is a loud CLUNK followed by another CLUNK as the metal hit the concrete. The little fraction of an inch that is between the steel and the concrete is enough to create a loud noise as cars pass over it. This should not be a problem, except that it seems that the cars all decide to leave the lot at one very inconvenient time. Falling asleep time. There is a car that leaves the lot at about the same time as Logan is getting ready to go to sleep for his nap. Then there are two cars that habitually leave at around 11:30 every night. This is just as Jenny and I are nodding off for the night. It is very frustrating to be awoken from that space in between sleep and awake by a loud noise. And very frustrating when it happens to a little boy who REALLY needs a nap.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix the problem myself. I figured that the thing to do was to place something under the plate to cushion it as the cars drove over it. My first inclination was to use an old garden hose cut to length. But I am not the owner of the abandoned hose that sits under the stairs leading up to our apartment. now using it does not cause much of a moral dilemma for me, but still. I had a few old bicycle inner tubes sitting around. and i thought that they might be a better choice to use. I cut them into short pieces and placed them under the metal plates. Now all we have to do is wait for 11:30 to see if it works.

Jenny's Flowers

In an effort to beautify our somewhat drab apartment building Jenny decided that we should get some flowers. We decided that the best place to go would be the local DIY store, Kahma Home Center. Early Saturday morning (10:30ish) be began the long grueling hike (about 2-3 Kilometers) to the Kahma Home Center. It was a nice walk to accompany a beautiful day. It felt hotter than it was because the sun was shinning so bright. We grabbed some bottled tea from the vending machine to stay hydrated on our arduous journey. We walked for hours (30min.) through the baking sun to find beautiful flowers. Our feet dragging and our throats parched we reached the Kahma Home Center.

We wandered around the air-conditioned oasis for a while to replenish our energy for the return trip. Then we returned to the comfortable shade under the awning to choose some flowers and some planting boxes to put them in. Jenny chose a long rectangular box and two raised urns to plant the flowers in. Then she proceeded to pick out some beautiful flowers to place in the boxes. we also bought two bags of soil. We loaded all of our purchases into our trusty car (stroller) and began the long trip home.

Jenny then planted the flowers and placed them on the landing that is on the way up the stairs. When all of the plants were planted there was still a bag of potting soil left. Jenny decided that the best thing to do would to be to return to the store and buy some more flowers and another box to put them in. So early in the afternoon (5:00) we packed it all up and headed back to the store to get some more flowers. But the best part was that on the return trip we stopped at the grocery store to buy food to Bar-B-Que for dinner. But that my friends is a post for a different day. Ahh.. the Japanese BBQ, a thing of beauty!!!

Shopping at the AL Plaza

The story goes like this. At the end of Febuary our favorite grocery store, Daiei, closed its doors. They went bust, out of bussiness for ever. This made us very sad. On our first night here in Omihachiman, Daiei was the store that we were brought to. We liked the store for many reasons, one was that the grocery part of the store was wide open and easy to use. Another reason we liked the store is for packing groceries. Here in Japan they do not have bag boy/girls that pack your groceried into bags for you. The cashier puts all of you purchases into a basket and places a few plastic bags in too. And you have to go to a little table and bag your own groceries. We loved shopping at Daiei because they had a nice big table to pack your bags at. (I know that this is a boring story, but it is not really going anywhere.) They also had a few products that we loved. They also had one of the best 100 yen shops in town. So lots of reasons to love Daiei. So we were very sad when they left town.

But yesterday a new store opened its doors in that location. Now Omihachiman has an AL Plaza. It is just another department store. Not much different than most other department stores. Bottom floor of food. Middle floor of clothes. and a top floor with a book store, toys, and a new 100 yen shop. We went for the opening day celebration to see what it would be like. I think that the best word to describe it was "busy". It was a very nice store and we will probably go there often. We bought some lawn chairs for about half price, so I am happy about that. Logan is very happy about having his own Bar-B-Que chair.

The most interesting thing that we saw at the store was the bugs. No! don't worry the new store is not crawling with bugs. they were selling them. Yes there was a display of giant beetles. There were little plastic aquariums with a little divider down the middle, and inside there were two of the "fighting beetles". I was very tempted to buy one, but then I remembered that I am afraid of bugs. And I also thought about how they give me the creeps. Those two reasons and the fact that Jenny said "NO", lead me to not get the bugs. I still think that it is cool that stores here sell bugs. I will go back some time so that I can get a picture of the bugs. Then I will post it here.

またね！！
(matane)
(see you)