A few nights ago we went out to dinner with some of Chris’ office staff to welcome “the new guy” who just arrived from Alabama.  People ordered various items to share – like this for example.  The picture on the menu looked good and this looks just like the picture on the menu.

After we ate it we learned it wasn’t beef or pork – can you guess what it was?  Turns out it was WHALE!!!  Can you believe it?  What a shocker.  Apparently whale is very controversial here in Japan nowadays.  “The International Whaling Commission has banned commercial whale hunting since 1986, making an exception for scientific research.  Japan obeys the letter, if not exactly spirit, of the ban by saying the 333 whales it plans to kill each year are purely for research.”  So I guess this was just on the menu in the name of research.     ~ ~ ~ hmmmmm ~ ~ ~

Continuing on with our dining experience, Chris, who will try anything once, had the pleasure of trying  –  HORSE!  –  sashimi style (very fresh raw meat or fish sliced into thin pieces).  (In foreground.)

Can you believe it?  What a night!

Thank goodness for Sake!

Back on the home front, I just thought I’d give you a glimpse of a little issue we’re dealing with right now.  For some reason, our shower isn’t getting as hot as it used to.  You’d think we could figure that one out but here’s the problem.

We just can’t quite figure out what these buttons mean since the up arrow is not doing the trick.  I called the Housing Office who sent out a guy from the gas company (not sure why).  He came over and chattered in Japanese the whole time.  The shower seemed to work great after he left  –  for about a day  – and then back to where we started.  I’ve just gone through the whole process again so we’ll see how that goes.

And, I’m also open to any suggestions on how to get our clothes dry in less than 2+ hours.  Similar problem.

Of course the Japanese hang everything outside.

Enough of that.  Check out this tiny shrine we just happened upon.  It’s right across the street from the grocery store we usually go to and we’d never noticed it before.  It’s tucked in between two tall “modern” buildings.

And finally, here’s a little Japanese happiness to share with you all.

Enjoy!