Friday, January 29, 2010

Utsunomiya-shi


Walked around Utsunomiya and took a bunch of pictures when I was still staying in the hotel, trying to work out some settings on my camera, but I think I got a few good ones. This photo was my favorite though. This gyoza restaurant is pretty good, and they use these big steamers outside for the steamed buns like in chinese food restaurants. The picture of the building with big eyes on top is a main department store right outside the train station, I thought that was funny. There is a main shrine here in the city that has a ton of stairs to climb up to it, but the best part is that there is a topless hostess bar about 1 block south. I tried to show that in the pictures, and they are in order so look at the group of shrine stair pictures, the last one with the red donation box, then the next picture is looking down the street away from the shrine and above the blue car there is a sign with 2 girls faces, that is the hostess bar. in picture number ... where the Big Echo is on my right looking towards the shrine again, the hostess bar is just out of the frame on my right. Then there are these huts near the shrine that only seat about 8 people max, but they have awesome food, sushi, gyoza, yakitori, and booze. Click on the picture below and it will take you to the picasa site.
Utsunomiya 1/29/2010

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Oya



Went all over Utsunomiya today to see some historical sites with my new friend Misato (in the picture). Oya is the site of the big statue. Then we went to a cavern type place where a lot of stones have been mined to use as building material, but the caverns were used to store military artillery and now there are concerts held in there. Went out again this weekend both Friday and Saturday nights. The bar closed down at 3 but they dont kick you out until you want to go home, so we stayed until about 4 I think. I found some new restaurants near my apartment and tried out a few that didnt have pictures on the menu this time. Omakasei means "whatever you suggest" so thats my new saying. Check out picasa or facebook for more pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/greg.stratton/Oya#

Things I like about Japan so far (no particular order) cont:

1! No tipping, but great service. this is really number 1
12. Daikko... taxi with two drivers so when you get drunk one drives you home, and the other follows in your car so there is no drunk driving!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Things I like about Japan so far (no particular order):


1. Drinking is considered a hobby
2. There are chimes at work when you should arrive, exercise, break, lunch, break again, and go home
3. Slurping hot food/tea is perfectly acceptable
4. Heated toilet seats
5. Hole in the ground toilets
6. Not having to listen to conversations I dont want to, ie people on the phone
7. Trying to understand Japanese
8. No need for a car
9. Walking to lunch (similar to 8)
10. Skype with parents
11. Bars dont close...at least I dont think they close before 7 am

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Glass is never empty when you are in Japan


Its Suntory time. Typical vending machine that are all over the place. Got my alien registration set up this week, and still going strong in the hotel. All my bags made it, with only minimal damage and my hotel is just about filled to capacity. Friday night I went to a coworkers friends birthday party he turned 61, but he still loves to party. I found out that bars dont close here....I dont think they ever close because I didnt make it home until 8am on Saturday morning, slept all day on Saturday and went out again and met some nice Japanese people at a party Saturday night. The party was for them to practice English so they like to practice with foreigners. I made a few friends that are willing to show me around Utsunomiya. My Japanese is getting a little bit better, I can recognize some more symbols now but still have no idea what it means. The English speaking party happens once a month so I am going to practice my Japanese when they practice their English. Work is ok too.