Oregon T-shirt! I saw this in a grocery store near my classroom 

Fishing in a manmade pond?

Today one of my students and her husband took me fishing and then sightseeing. We went to a small manmade pond next to a fish farm and rented fishing rods(which were just bamboo sticks with a line and hook). I don't know if I would classify it as 'real' fishing, but I caught 4 fish! Yay!

After fishing, you take your fish that you caught to a restaurant nearby where a little old Japanese woman cooks your fish for you. The restaurant was awesome- we sat outside on an old wooden deck with low Japanese tables and ate. Our trout was so good! We caught 8 fish total- so 1 was made into sashimi(raw sushi) , 3 were baked, and the last four we chose breaded and fried. Then we ate rice and miso soup with it. It was probably the best lunch I have ate in Japan so far! We were in a beautiful area in the countryside- surrounded by mountains, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Sunny with clear blue skies!

Afterwards, we visited the Akiyoshidai Plateau- which is an area with green hills covered with limestone rocks.

I had an awesome time- and it's experiences and days like these that really make me appreciate being in Japan. I'm off to do some karaoke!

Yep, I'm a fisherman 

Fishing in action! 

Me & Junko 

my cooked trout 

My cooked trout and sashimi(raw sushi) 

Akiyoshidae Plateau2 

Akiyoshidai Plateau1 

Nao & Junko 

Nao, Me, and Junko 

Yay for Costco!!

Yes, they have them in Japan.

Last Sunday I went to Costco- which was about a 2 hour drive from my house, but totally worth it! I was amazed that it looked exactly(except for the J-people) like a Costco at home- free samples and all. They sold some Japanese products there too, but mostly American stuff. I bought some bagels and a big jar of pickles- things that I can't find in this area.

You try going 7 months without eatin' a bagel!

Karaoke, again

Have I mentioned how freakin' fun karaoke is? Cause it is! What's better than getting drunk and belting out tunes? Nothin. Well, maybe it's a tie with the fact that you can pay 800Y per hour for unlimited drinks- and all you have to do is pick up the phone inside the room and order them!

Emma, Michelle, Abby, and Christine 

Karaoke3 

Karaoke2 

read me

Click on the link above to read the article from the guy who hacked myspace.

Tonga

No, not the island. On Saturday night a big group of us went to Tonga- which is a Filipino transvestite club. It was so much fun! It was Y2500 all u can drink for the night(why don't they have this more often in the US?)- which I have no idea how that club made any money, 'cause we definitely got our money's worth.

The Filipino dancers(all men) put on a few dance shows for everyone, and the rest of the night there was karaoke. I was so surprised that a club like that exists in conservative Ube, Japan.

(Rizal, I thought of you on Saturday. If you want to move to Japan and work- let me know, and maybe I could hook you up with a job).

Entrance 

He looks cuter than I do 

Yep, all male 

Emma & Michelle 

Christine, Saori, & I 

Virginia, Jasmin, Rhonda, & ? 

Me & Terumi & ? 

Masami, Koichi, Saori, & Jim 

Mike & ? 

Atsuko & Abby 

Another BBQ

While the weather is still warm, why not have another BBQ? That's exactly what we did on Sunday night. After drinking we snuck over to the Kirara Dome near my house to play on the obstacle course. It's awesome- it's a huge playground with a slide, a zipline, a big maze of rope nets, and balance beams and things that would be impossible to get through without touching the ground, even if we were sober! Good times!

Michelle, Jenny, Mike, & Christine 

Jasmin, Mike, & Jim