Lauren and I decided to do a bit of window shopping and karaoke today after work. We walked around Kaihinmakuhari and made our way to the new karaoke center that just opened up near the station. It was my very first time doing karaoke, and I must say, that I enjoyed it! Lauren did a really great job singing along to some Japanese songs. I, on the other hand, tried my best with the few Japanese songs I knew. I recognized and could sing along with the tune but it was difficult for me to read the at the appropriate speed. In terms of me studying Japanese, it was very good practice. We sang some a few songs in English too.
Lauren and I like eating ice when it's hot outside. Recently, Lauren discovered this flavored ice dessert that you can find in just about every convenient store; the one above is Sicilian Lemon flavored. The taste is strong but refreshingly crunchy.
"There's an Ice Box where [her] heart used to be. [It's] so cold..."
This is a picture of the karaoke room. I apologize for the poor image quality.
Lauren singing along to one of her favorite Japanese songs. :)5.18.08
Today, Sunday, Hiroko invited me on a bus tour to the Yamanashi Prefecture along with her daughter and mother (She is 92 years old and still in amazing health!). I woke up around 6am and made my way to Tsudanuma station. We agreed to meet there around 7:15am. We boarded the bus promptly at 7:30am and were on our way. I was one of the youngest members on the trip as well as the only foreigner. Despite this contrast, I still enjoyed myself. By the end of the trip, I felt like the entire bus was one big, happy family.
For our first stop we went to this Japanese pickle factory.
One of the factory's specialties was kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage). Since living here in Japan I have learned to love Korean food--kimchi included. Lauren also shares this passion for eating kimchi so I decided to buy a bit to fill our fridge at home. In this picture you can see a big Tupperware container of spicy kimchi sauce. The lady in the background is carefully pealing back all each cabbage leaf and brushing it with this liquid.
Hiroko is telling me that the pickled daikon (Japanese radish) is "oishii" (delicious). :)
Lunch Time
This area of Yamanashi is famous for hoto--a type of noodle--and some other foods. In this picture, I'm standing next to a giant vegetable dumpling.
Just a few minutes walk from the giant dumpling was this shrine.
Inside the shrine there was a beautiful waterfall.
Roses
At our final and most important stop we picked cherries. We took this old van halfway up the hill. I was a little bit nervous but the driver very kindly returned my wave as we were leaving to go home.
The cherry trees are kept inside netted greenhouses to keep the birds from eating the berries.
The area of Yamanashi that we visited is also famous for it's grapes and wineries.
We were allowed to eat as many cherries as we wished. Of course, we also bought a few packages to take home. It was Hiroko's job to pick cherries for her mother. After spending about a half an hour in the greenhouse, Obaachan was still asking Hiroko to pick more.
From left to right: Megumi, me, Hiroko, Obaachan (grandmother)
Japanese cherries are very light in color compared to American cherries but just as sweet. When I first looked at them I thought they were unripe and sour, but I was very wrong.
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