Cash or credit card or debit card (blog by Luis)

It's OK.. it's alright..
Is it ok to carry over 100000Yen (roughly 1000Eur/$) in my pocket??
Some people feel more powerful and important whilst carrying large sums of money with them. I got used to carry and pay mostly with my debit card even for the smallest amounts both in Europe and America.
Here in Japan everywhere you go the payment is rarely made with card, either for small or large bills. You can even pay with your mobile phone. Not sure shops want to save on bank charges, just because Japan is most likely the safest country I have ever been, or some any other reason. But, it is alright around here to carry huge sums of money, especially for tourists who will surely find it difficult to spot an ATM which accepts foreign cards!
So far I only bought most things with cash, whereas my Japanese cash card is quietly resting in my wallet.

Miyakojima (Part Two)

A typhoon arrived in Miyakojima the same day I did. Below are photos from the first day. I wrote some comments above them today. Yesterday I forgot to do so. Sorry! About yesterday's photos please read below.
The first pic was of "Souki Soba," which is a kind of Soba made in Okinawa. It has pork in it. I love Souki Soba, and it kind of reminds me of a mix of Soba and Ramen.
The second pic was of the beautiful ocean on the third day, after the typhoon had passed.
The third photo was of the lobster I ate. It was good, but not great, and a little overpriced. To be honest, I think the lobster in America is ten times better than the lobster in Japan. Really, there is no comparison. FYI, in America people usually eat lobster boiled with melted butter sauce and lemon. Simple is best!
The fourth picture is of yours truly snorkeling on the third day. I was very happy and enjoyed it a lot!!!

View from the hotel room. The room was great!!

A light tower on the coast. Exquisite ocean scenery!!

You can't tell from this picture, but the wind I felt at this moment is the strongest wind I have ever felt in my life!!!

Miyakojima, laptop trouble

I bought a new laptop last month. It is really good and I like it a lot. But there was one problem with it. When I used email, sometimes the cursor jumped around. It was annoying, but I don't do so much email on that pc, so I tried to ignore it. But, finally, I couldn't stand it anymore!! So I asked explained the problem to Mr. K, who is a systems engineer, and he told me "I think the problem is with the touchpad. Maybe the touchpad and the mouse are both activated(on), so when you type on the keyboard your hands inadvertently hit the touchpad and this causes the cursor to jump. You need to deactivate(turn off) the touchpad. It is in the control panel..."
I am not good with computers, so I felt relieved when I heard his advice. And then yesterday, first thing in the morning, I called the customer service number of Fujitsu, and in a few minutes, everything was fixed. It was easy!

Below are photos from Miyakojima! Please enjoy!

Sunday (blog by Luis)

On Sundays I enjoy taking time to do things and turn on my relaxing mode. Italians have a typical expression for that "Dolce Fare Niente." Basically it means enjoying and having pleasure by doing nothing!
This Sunday, I think it will be a good time to study Japanese, especially Kanji. I have a test coming up soon. Do you study English at home on Sundays too? If not, maybe you should :)
I might go to the park and have a picnic with my wife if the weather allows. Later in the day, we'll have volleyball practice and I am thinking of doing some running too if I still have some energy left. How about you, how do you enjoy your Sundays?

Osaka Pizza

Below is Osaka Pizza, or as we say in Japanese "okonomiyaki."
If a foreigner asks you about it, can you describe what okonomiyaki is in English?
Can you explain how to make okonomiyaki in English?

The 1st day of the rest of my life (blog by Luis)

I woke up around the same time as usual, and had the same breakfast too. I didn't feel nervous or anxious. It seemed like just another ordinary day. But it was not.
I put on a suit and my favorite red tie. We left at 10am and headed to the City Hall. We had all the papers filled in and signed. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. Simple and quick.
In the afternoon, I went to scholl but couldn't avoid becoming the topic of the day. In the evening, we went to "Les Saisons" at the Imperial Hotel and even though it was very expensive, we had a delicious dinner and a great time. In the end, the only difference between before and after is a small extra weight I carry on my finger. (I am sure it will be different next May in Church and the following party.)

Glenn: First of all, I would like to congratulate Luis and his wife on the marriage! For those of you who do not know, they got married last Thursday. Secondly, I don't have a glass of beer or wine or champagne in front of me right now, so it is strange, but I would like to propose a toast to the both of you. Can everyone please raise your glasses. Here's to the Luis and Ms. S, good luck and take care of each other! I wish you both all the happiness in the world! Cheers!!

Good morning.
How was your weekend?

I did something different than usual last weekend. On Saturday I went out with a friend of a friend for dinner. We met by chance on Friday night, when I went out with my parents' friends. All of his colleagues were going to Tokyo first thing in the morning on Saturday,
so I asked him, "If you are free at night, and you want to go out for some sushi, let's do it."
He said, "In the daytime I am going to go to Kyoto, but after that, I am free. I'd love to go out for some sushi. Thank you."

And, it was a date. We met for some drinks at happy hour where another friend of mine joined us, and then we headed to my favorite sushi place. We had a good time and and and drank a lot.

Then, on Sunday morning, I did my usual routine and went to the spa. I wanted to buy some gloves so on the way back home I took a different route than I usually take. On that street there were many police and blue sheets surrounding one house. And then it hit me(=I remembered/realized), "Ah, this is the murder scene." (Last Thursday or Friday a couple was murdered in Nishinomiya. This was their house. Terrible...) Anyway, I got new gloves, headed to the bakery to buy some breakfast, and then took it easy all afternoon. But, around 2 pm I went for a jog. I only ran about 4k but it was nice. It was the first time I went jogging in a long time, but since I decided to run a half-marathon next January, I have to jog as much as I can.

The below photos are compliments of Mr. S. They are of the Cosmos flowers near my house on Mukogawa river.

ohagi

First, more from my parents's friend Ms. J:
The below is out email correspondence.
Me: I am glad to hear everything is going well and you like the city. The forecast is for sun tomorrow, so it should be a nice day for Nara. I used to live in Nara (for 3 years when I first got here). Nara Park is beautiful with a lot of temples and shrines and deer. Make sure you bring your walking shoes, or even better sneakers! Let me know how if goes when you get back.

Ms. J: Thanks. Went to an incredible sushi restaurant last night. I think the name is Sushi Kaiba.....a family run place. Got my photo taken with the sushi chef. Now it's off to Nara.

Does anyone know Sushi Kaiba? I have never heard of it, but maybe it is famous? expensive?

Anyway, below are "ohagi," which are Japanese rice cake ball covered with red sweet beans. Ohagi are one of my favorite Japanese sweets! Have you ever tried them? If yes, do you like them? What other Japanese sweets do you recommend?

Milk jam

Have you ever tried Milk Jam? I got it as a souvenir from Ms. N and I tried it the other day. It was my frist time to eat it. I have never tasted anything like it, so it was a new taste for me. And it was good. I like milk, but usually don't drink milk so much. Also, I like jam, but usually don't eat jam so much. The concoction of milk jam is brilliant!

To chnage the subject, a friend of my folks is presently here in Osaka. This is what she had to say about the city and her stay:
"Arrived in Osaka yesterday by train after a weekend in Kyoto. The Osaka St Regis is amazing.....great rooms, food and unreal service. Walked to Osaka Castle and Takashimaya today. Your Dad recommended the food court . Was great. > This is a wonderful city. Sort of reminds me of a combination of NYC and Chicago. Off to Nara tomorrow."

Mr. K's Half marathon, TV, cable, cosmos and baseball

First, I want to say Congratulations to Mr. K because he finished a half-marathon. I honestly didn't think he could do it because of two reasons. The first reason is that he only trained about 2 months. The second reason is that he injured his knee two weeks ago. So, when he called me on Sunday night and said "I finished!", I was surprised.
Our dialogue after that went like this:
Mr. K: My time was 3 hours and 5 seconds.
Me: Good job! The time isn't important, the fact that you finished your first half-marathon is most important!
Mr. K: Thanks for saying that. I know. But I really wanted to finish under 3 hours. I missed it by only 5 measly seconds!...ah, and my knee is killing me!
Me: Listen, you should be proud of yourself! Take it easy this week and ice that knee tonight!
Mr. K: Alright, that's exactly what I am gonna do. Talk to you later.
Me: Ciao.

Next, after much deliberation, and many trips to the electronic goods shops, I made some big purchases recently. I got a new laptop computer, a new tv, and cable tv. And, I got 26,000 ECO points! Concerning the ECO points, applying for the points was easy. But I was surprised to learn that it takes up to 4 months to actually get the points...
Have any of you gotten ECO points yet? If yes, what did you use them on? Now I am thinking about what to use mine on...Any ideas?

The laptop I bought is made by Fujitsu. The maker of the huge 42 inch plasma tv I got is Panasonic. And with cable tv, now I can watch a lot of tv shows and programs which are from America. It is like a new world of tv and I am excited about it. If you have cable tv, are there any shows, channels which you recommend?

Some random notes, I saw some beautiful Cosmos flowers in Nishinomiya last Sunday. I recommend anyone and everyone to go see them. They will definitely make your day and feeling brighter!

Oh yeah, before I forget, I watched the last baseball game of the year last weekend. Luckily, I could watch it on my new tv. Both games, which went into extra innings, were very exciting and nail-biters!!! And this is an interesting excerpt from and article from "The Japan Times" about Game 6 of the Japan Series.

"Saturday's Game 6 of the Japan Series was aired on Fuji Television across the nation. Due to the length of the game, the audience witnessed some rare things they don't normally see.The station was prepared to show the game until 10:54 p.m. in case the game ended late. But it went longer than Fuji had expected and ended up being the longest game in Japan Series history (5 hours and 43 minutes).Fuji had not sold commercial spots after 11 p.m., so it showed the game without any commercials for nearly an hour until the end of the game.As a result, other programs were pushed back after the baseball game. For example, a Japanese movie that was originally scheduled to start at 9 p.m. began at 12:10 a.m."

For the whole article read here please:
"Batting center hit hard by recession"
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/sb20101108n1.html


Below is a beautiful night view!!! I hope to be able to see such views soon too!!

Good morning.

I went to Okinawa last week. I still haven't had time to download all the photos I took, so I can't put any up on the blog yet. I plan to put some of those photos on the blog sometime next week when I have time.

When I arrived in Miyakojima, so did a typhoon! Great Luck, huh!?
But I am an optimistic guy, especially when I am on vacation, so I didn't let it get to me. (=I didn't let it bother me.) Anyway, that was the worst part of the trip. After that, it only got better. I will write more about the trip later. In the meantime, please enjoy some of Ms. C's photos from her late summer vacation!

From Ms. C:
"The first and second photos are Nice city. I took them from the viewing spot. I can see very beautiful Mediterranean Sea and colorful roof."