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World Samantha Day 2009

Sam is in the habit of reading the NY Times every morning. What a surprise she had when she opened www.nytimes.com and saw this page under the NY Times URL.

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Yes, Samantha Day (aka Sam's Birthday) is finally upon us. Let the rejoicing begin.

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This year's theme: Nothing too material, but a nice relaxing day away from the busy lights and tight spaces of Japan. We're spending it at the local Grand Hyatt.

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Compared to our cramped quarters, the Grand Hyatt is a football field. Moreover, it's next to a trendy strip of restaurant and movie theaters. We decide to go see "The Time Traveler's Wife". We both give it a big thumbs up.

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We even had cake, complemented by Sam's favorite ice cream.

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And of course, in true Samantha fashion, she gave me an "un-birthday" present. It was a super cool and uber manly Gorillapod, which I used to take this time-lapse photo from our hotel room. It's sooooo cool.

Happy Birthday Sam! Hope you enjoyed Samantha Day

Welcome to Fukuoka, Dr. Farley

We had a special treat -- we got to meet up with another Topekan in Fukuoka! Dr. Farley, the President of Washburn University in Topeka, told us he was here on a business trip. Washburn and the University of Fukuoka are sister schools and have an exchange program among students. (But we know, of course, that he just came here to visit us.)

Before meeting up with us on this trip, Dr. Farley was part of a symposium, received an honorary doctorate, and also spoke to a group of some 1,000 people. Apparently he is the 5th person *ever* to receive an honorary degree from the University of Fukuoka. What an honor! To celebrate, we took him to a yatai stand for dinner and ice cream crepes for dessert.

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Japanese Tea Ceremony

Our school took a few students to a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. Jake was in class at the time, but I was able to go. It was in a traditional Japanese-style room, and before the ceremony started, they put us in traditional kimonos.

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The ceremony includes lots of formal gestures. For instance, there is lots of bowing, and the level of respect you're showing in your bow depends on how your hands are placed in front of you and how deeply you bow, and maybe how long you bow. You are served a small sweet while your tea is being prepared. Then, when you receive your tea, you say to the person who received before you, "I will join you," and you say to the person next to you who hasn't received tea yet, "Excuse me."

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Just one cup of tea is prepared at a time, each cup going through an elaborate preparation process that looks more like a dance than tea-preparation to me. Everything is incredibly precise: the movements are smooth and calulated, every item is placed meticulously in its exact place, often with a graceful hand gesture of presentation. For instance, the preparer pours half a ladle of water into the boiling water pot, and in the same movement, removes a full ladle of hot water from the pot. She then pours half of that ladle into a cup, and pours the other half (from a few inches above, so you can watch the water fall in) back into the boiling pot. She places the bamboo ladle in place over the pot in a graceful hand-swirl movement and then picks up the whisk to mix the tea. And on and on, the whole thing is precise and rehearsed and beautiful!

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There are important rules for the guests, too. For instance, you hold the tea with one hand underneath and the other around the cup. Another important thing for the guests to know is the magic phrase to tell the tea preparer that your group is finished. Until you say it, the tea preparer is supposed to continue preparing tea forever and ever. Unfortunately, I forgot it already. It's a good thing I like tea...

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For me, the kneeling was the hardest part. The guests are supposed to kneel in such a way that they kneel with their weight on their feet for the entire time... and that can mean hours and hours. Holy moly!

Fortunately, our ceremony was less than an hour long *and* our guide was very thoughtful about allowing us weakling foreigners to relax every so often, but my feet fell asleep anyway. I noticed that our teacher had no problem kneeling for the full time, but I cannot imagine sitting like this for hours. If I were forced to, I'm sure I would be the worst conversationalist in the world since I could think of nothing but my feet having fallen asleep. No wonder modern Japanese women seem to be able to wear high heels so effortlessly, even when walking long distances: they've had many years (generations!) of practice. I'm not sure it's that they have developed stronger/more flexible ankle/foot muscles, or if they're just better at tolerating the discomfort. Maybe both. Regardless, I have enormous respect for them.

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The Search for Indoor Skiing

We heard there was an indoor ski center in Fukuoka, so we went looking for it.

Along the way, we found... a boat race gambling facility! It seems that the races were out of town that day, but there were a few hundred people there watching the races on the facility's big screens anyhow. We stayed to watch for a little while.

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And then we discovered... a building and some trucks that someone apparently mistook for the city of Chicago. Too bad they bought the signs before anyone was able to correct them.

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Then we found... Hakata Pier. Although there were some people fishing here and it has a bunch of palm trees on it, the pier is not what I'd call glamorous. But! It does have a cool little 1-room museum that explains the basics of international trade by sea, and Hakata Port's role in the system.

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Next, we discovered... a neighborhood in the Hakata-side of Fukuoka that where several shrines, lots of beautiful traditional-style homes, and even a Buddhist Temple stand. This first picture is a shrine: make sure to zoom in and see the raked gravel "lawn!" The second picture is the Temple, and the third is an ordinary road in this area.

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Unfortunately though, when we finally found the indoor skiing facility, we discovered that it seems to have gone out of business.

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Oh, well. We had a great day exploring anyhow. Isn't Japan lucky to have us here to discover all these interesting places? Otherwise they'd probably go undiscovered for years, or centuries maybe. Clearly they need us.

Yatai Stands

Fukuoka (our city here in Japan) is famous for its "yatai stands." These are portable ramen shops. Every late afternoon, their owners cart these to busy sidewalks all over the city. Every evening, thousands of people sit at little stools and enjoy ramen that was cooked inside. And every night, the owners pack 'em up and carry them away again. Here's one on its way to being "unfolded:"

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And here are several, in full swing.

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We've only eaten at one so far, but the ramen and gyoza there were great!

Eating in Japan

Japan has many, many, many great eating experiences to offer. The sushi is fresh and delicious, the ramen is yummy, the green tea is comforting (and free with many meals!), the yaki-niku is fun and tasty, and the ethnic food we've tried here (Indian, Mexican) has been amazing too. Even the convenience-store food, which I'd expect to be a little stale and icky in the US, is usually great here. At first I wondered how an egg sandwich from a convenience store could be "confident" (as the label reads), but then I tasted this one, and then I understood. It deserved to be confident:

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But. Not every food here is great. So let me pay a quick tribute to a couple of the most unpleasant eating experiences I've had here so far. Consider this a warning, and please refer to this if you ever decide to visit Japan, so you can make sure you do not try these things.

First, possibly the greenest drink ever, certainly the greenest one I've ever had, this Fanta variation looks a bit like it came straight out of a chemical experiment. And it tastes a bit like that, too. It's not quite as bad as Coca Cola's Beverly drink, but it's not particularly good, either.

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And finally, the two worst dishes I've had here yet: daikon with pickled plum sauce, and "natto." The pickled plum sauce looks a bit like strawberry or raspberry flavor, but don't let it fool you! It's not at all sweet, in fact it tastes like something went very, very bad. And in the case of natto, which you can smell from a mile away, something really did go bad: it's actually fermented soy beans. Sometimes we'll walk down the street and smell the waft of natto coming from a local restaurant or yatai, and make a mental note to never, ever go there. Having said that, many Japanese people, and even some (cough, crazy!, cough) foreigners seem to enjoy it.

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So if you come to Japan, be adventurous and try what you must, but don't say we didn't warn you!

Kimono Wearing

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We took a 1 hour journey to Amazuki and participated in the kimono-wearing-festival.

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We went with a handful of students from the school.

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Sam is the star of the show. Jake takes the role of lead cameraman and backpack-dude

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Amazuki is a remote little village. The main attraction is a 400 year old castle. It was the perfect place to walk around in a Kimono.

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We enjoy walking around, soaking up all the history and culture Amazuki has to offer.

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Of course, who cares about history and culture when there's a Coke Zero within reach?

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Corn-Flavor Ice Cream, followed by Horse

Sam & I are connoisseurs of many types of cuisine. The other day, we decided to try a new first: Corn Flavored Ice Cream.

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Sure enough, it looked like and tasted like corn.

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What goes well with corn? The answer is obvious: horse. After all, horse meat is a traditional and uniquely rare delicacy here in Fukuoka.

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Of course, this is Japan, so why not raw horse?

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We check it off our list of things to try. We appreciate the local cuisine, but we probably won't be opening any fast-food-horse restaurants anytime soon.

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