Finnish Food

Hiroshi invited me to go eat Finnish food with a few of his friends. I had never had Finnish food and had not seen Hiroshi since October, I gladly tagged along. =D

The contestants!

Finnish Sausages.

They were quite tasty. It was probably my favorite dish.

Smoked Salmon. I tried it...it is not my thing.

The salad. It was good ^_^

This is reindeer.

This is me eating reindeer.

I did not know it was reindeer, until I had swallowed. It had a funny after taste but was still edible. But I could not help think "What would Santa think? What reindeer is it?"

Santa still came, though. He brought me cake!

Finnish bread. It had milk in the middle. It was quite good =D.

Mashed potatoes with lamb. It was very good.

And for desert:

In conclusion, I prefer Japanese food. However, it was a good experience, so I am glad I went.

Thanks for inviting me, Hiroshi!

Christmas Illuminations

So, Japan loves it some pretty lights. These are what I have pictures of. I could have sworn I had more...I'll probably find them in July or something.

Anyway, here are some of the illuminations.

Connected

Ok, so I got the internet in my apartment! So let's catch up on what I have been doing!

November was pretty awesome. I climbed Mt Takao! It is a mountain about 30 minutes away with a shrine and monkey park on it. We went on a day where it rained most of the morning, so not very many people were there. Usually the place is packed since it is the closest nature spot to the city of Tokyo.

This is Satoon, our brave Japanese guide. No, no one really wanted to come since they all thought it would rain, but he came. Yay for Satoon!

At the top! Silly foreigners!

I love Japanenglish! We saw it on the way down.

I also visited Yokohama and made a triumphant return to Kamakura =D.

Nissan has a headquarters in Yokohama, so I tried out a few of their cars. I likey this one. =)

Christmas decorations and illuminations started on November 1st. This was on the way to the Queen's building in Yokohama.

Back in Kamakura ^.^

This is the main shrine in Kamakura, the Hachiman-gu shrine. It is dedicated to the first shogunate (or bakufu) family. Anyone know who the first shogun family of Japan was?

Did I hear Minamoto?

You're right!

On my birthday I went into Tokyo with Abbie and Kasper later joined us in Harajuku.

When I got home, I found cake on my door step! It was from the Yoshida's.

嫌だこと

An unpleasant experience:

So, Japan is a relatively peaceful country, but every country has its weirdos. And I had the 'pleasure' of meeting one.

I was riding the train on my way to Yokohama, when at one of the stops on the way, a young man entered the train backwards. A bit strange, right? Well, it gets weirder.

He started talking to me. That normally does not happen. When people see a foreigner, they usually move away, give you more room, and never approach you.

Anyway, it was a normal conversation (in Japanese of course). "Where are you from? Where are you going? What are you studying?" he asked me.

But...

Then he asked me why my boobs were so small. He said foreigners have large boobs and demanded to know why mine were so tiny. (I am using boobs cause he used a term that is only used for women's breasts).

Pretty funny, huh? A little rude, but funny, right? Well it doesn't end there...

While he was complaining he tried to reach for my chest, so I smacked him, but he tried to reach again. So I used the knowledge that Dave and Stef bestowed upon me, and grabbed the pressure point in between the thumb and the pointer finger, dug my nail in at the same time and watched him take a knee.

I then answered his question. "I am skinny. If I had big boobs, my balance would be off."

It is amusing now because 1) it is over, and 2) he did not touch me.

Anyway, he is still whole only because I thought he was mentally ill.