Okonomiyaki, Geisha Photos, and Eco Center Fun.

This week we were able to go to dinner with Miyazaki san and his son.  He selected the restaurant in Utsunomiya for us to go to.  It was a Okonomiyaki restaurant.  Okonomiyaki is a mix of different ingredients, batter, egg, cabbage, etc...  You cook it at your table to your liking and then put the bulldog sauce and Japanese mayo on it for extra flavor.  There are two main places the Okonomiyaki comes from and both are slightly different.  One is the Osaka area and the other is Hiroshima.  We tried both types at the restaurant.  They were both very good.  Miyazaki also schooled me in the art of tako yaki making.  It was evident in the final result that he has more experience then I do.  Looks like I need extra training before opening up my tako yaki stand.

Below is Miyazaki san displaying his mad tako yaki skills.

Miyazaki sans son behind the Osaka style Okonomiyaki.

Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki.  I think one of the main differences is that the Osaka style comes in a bowl and you mix it up and put it on the grill, similar to a pancake.  The Hiroshima style comes in with pre-layers and it is cooked more like a patty.

For the weekend Kate headed to Tokyo for a farewell celebration for Amy Boeck.  She will be going back to the US next month.  As part of the trip they went to a photo studio that specializes in Geisha portraits.  She said it took about 1.5 hours of preparation before the photo shoot.  Below are a few of the better pictures from the event.  I have trouble recognizing her in these pictures.

From the behind the scene pictures it looks like a pretty big ordeal.

First is the application of the white pasty make up.

The the detail work.

And finally getting dressed.

This is both Kate and Amy (Kate on the right)

Reiko and Nadine went along for moral support.

After the pictures a number of other women went down to join in the evening festivities.  We got a chuckle out of the guy in the middle of the photo.  He wasn't with the group he just photo bombed the picture.

One of the evening events involved a drag show, not the car kind.  Below Kate is pictured with two of the dudes from the event.

While Kate was away the children and I went to the Takanezawa Eco center.  We met up with an old friend Yama chan.  He was at the kite building activity I posted a number of months ago.  This activity basically involved getting out into the woods and fields to explore the different animals and bugs that are around us.  First we explored a little in a wooded area and then we walked to a rice field and the children were then armed with nets.  They tried to catch as many different things as they could in about 30 minutes.

Liam was really excited to catch and hold a huge dragon fly.

Yama chan tried to eat the dragon fly, it was really disturbing...

After the time was up all the specimens were collected to be shared.   The gentleman in the picture was very knowledgeable about the different bugs and animals and shared interesting facts about each.  The children found various bugs, worms, frogs, salamanders, crayfish, etc.  Maybe 1/3 of them I had never seen before.

It was nice to see all the children listen intently as he talked.

Colleen was super excited to find and catch a lizard.  She wanted to keep it, but we don't know how to take care of them.  In the end we ended up letting it go.

Once all the exploration was finished we played a number of fun games to finish out the day.  One of those games was to see how many people you could stack on two legs.  In the end we resorted to using the children as they are much easier to hold than full grown adults.  I think the record was 8...

Almost since arriving in Japan I have been using my bicycle to get to and from work.  The increased activity has also promoted weight loss.   Below is a picture of me with one of our wicked rides. 

When I got here I was about 180 lbs.  This week I bought a scale and found out that I now weight 71.7 Kg.  That is 158 lbs with clothing on.  The reason the picture is 1 Kg higher is because I am holding the camera.  At this point I think I need to modify my eating a little to stop the loss.

The interesting product we found this week is yogurt with aloe.  I am used to putting aloe on sunburn not eating it.  The yogurt actually has chunks of the plant in it.  Kate likes it, but the after tasted reminded me of lotion.  Not one of my favorites.. 

Hope everyone has a good week..