Sarah, my friend who was in Toyama last year, was recently nominated for a prize at a big film editor's award ceremony. She entered a student editing contest, and was one of the three finalists. She didn't win the prize, but she got to dress up and go to the award ceremony. She said it is like the Oscars for film editors. Too bad she didn't win. But I am sure it is still great for her to be a finalist.

Recently there has been quite some buzz at school because the neighboring junior high school, Oizumi, had a teacher arrested for some sexual incident with a student (apparently he has confessed to it). I don't know the details, but apparently she got into his car, and something happened. The teacher is in jail now, and the whole school is very embarassed about the whole thing. Apparently the girl lives with her father but didn't tell him because he works all the time. Instead she told her best friend's parents. They told the PTA chairman, who told the father. Supposedly the PTA chairman wanted to try to cover up the incident somehow, but the father didn't want to, and went to the police. One of my teachers from last year is teaching there this year, and it's one of the schools that Sarah worked at last year, so I've been to the school a couple of times. It's write down the street from me. Chinita, the ALT at the school, says things are very uncomfortable in the teachers' office, for obvious reasons. Graduation is coming up in a couple weeks, so I think the mood will be very strained.

Here are some comments I wrote to a friend recently about Japanese banking. I thought it might interest some people, though I've written about some of the stuff before.

I think the biggest problem in Japan is that no one lets a company fail. It seems like there are some ghost companies that don't make a profit and are constantly getting loans from banks. The banks know the loans can't be repaid, but they give them anyway, because they don't want people laid off, since that might worsen the economy more. But then the banks end up losing money, and the central bank of Japan gives them money so they don't collapse. Recently the prime minister has been urging banks to dispose of bad loans, and some of them are cleaning up their act. If they let more companies close down, it would be better for them, because at least the bank system would remain healthy. Then the banks could help fund healthy businesses and new ones.

Also, some companies have been propped up by government regulations. To give the car manufacturers a lift, there is a really expensive registration process every two years. However, if you have a new car, you can wait three or four years before renewing it. Instead of keeping an old car and paying over a thousand dollars in registration, most people sell it and buy a new one. A lot of the cars end up shipped to other countries and resold there. One of my friends, Amir, from Pakistan is in the business of shipping these cars around.

Japan is really strange about banking, I think. First, banks always close at 3pm, so it's really hard to go to the bank here. Second, there's almost no internet banking at all. Third, ATMs close between 6pm and 8pm, depending on the location. I do postal service banking, which is in english and closes later, at 11pm. Fourth, you are charged money for depositing or withdrawing money after 6pm or on Saturdays or Sundays (about a dollar each time). I can't understand why they have such limited access to cash. During the New Year's week, all the ATMs are closed (for a whole week!). These things pretty much operate themselves, so I don't know why they lock them up at all. Maybe after midnight for safety would be good, though. The ATMs aren't connected to networks like PLUS or CIRRUS. Instead, they have agreements between some banks in Japan, but it is really difficult to tell if your bank card will work at any given ATM in Japan. It won't work at all anywhere else in the world, which is a real pain. You can also take any amount of money out of the ATM. I took out 6,000 dollars one time to send home!

Credit cards are just starting to be popular here, but almost all of them have annual fees, which pisses me off. Only large stores take them. Most people carry around some 300 dollars or more at any given time. They don't have personal checks, either, so it is a cash only society.

People save a lot of money here. They won't invest in the stock market because a lot of people lost money when the stock market crashed in the 90s. They are frightened of it, so they only invest in savings accounts, which all tend to lose money due to the low interest rates. I always see Japanese people shopping, but the newspapers say that demand in Japan is not as high as it used to be. I guess they used to buy things like crazy. Instead, everyone saves their money which worsens the economic problems. The only thing helping them now is a large trade gap between America and Japan. So, they are quite concerned about the dollar going down against the yen. It is making their products less competitive in America. Recently the yen has gone up again by 4 cents, probably because of intervention by the Japanese central bank.

Somehow we managed to have two incredibly warm days this weekend. It was 20 degrees (Celsius) on Saturday over 20 on Sunday! Today it is back to rain, a little snow, and a cool 7 degrees. The rain is the most annoying thing, but it seems to have paused a little right now, so I'll go home soon. I was actually a little upset at the hot weather for two reasons. One, I just got back from these temperatures in Okinawa. Two, I wanted to go skiing this weekend. However, we got up and decided skiing in slush wouldn't be that great. At best it would be 12 degrees in the mountains, which is a bit too warm. Maybe we can go next week if it snows in the mountains again this week.

The teachers are in a good mood right now, mostly because they can hang out or go home early, because there are no school clubs today. The students have tests Wednesday to Friday, so they have to go home and study. Normally teachers are forced to help out with a school club, despite having no interest in that particular club. Luckily, they had an English teacher help with English club, as opposed to some random teacher. However, one of my English teachers who hates sports is in charge of the boys basketball team. This happens because clubs are year round and there aren't enough gym teachers to run all the teams year round.

Supposedly my bike is going to be taken to a bike shop and repaired this afternoon by the guy who hit me last week. I have been a bit bikeless recently, so I would like to have my bike back. I will try to borrow the school bike again today, if they will let me. Luckily the maintenance woman likes me a lot, so she always lets me do what I want.

Yesterday, I had a little adventure. I was biking home from Victoria's house in the morning before school. All of a sudden a car came out of a side street and did a rolling stop at the stop sign. The driver was looking to the side while accelerating right at me. I hit the brakes, but it was too late. I jumped off the bike somehow, but I don't remember doing it. I just remember seeing the bike continue forward without me and getting hit by the car.

The guy stopped (he didn't have much choice since my bike was under his car) and checked to see if I was alright. He got my name and phone number and I got his. I was fine, though my back hurt a little from jumping off my bike. I think I overstretched my bike or something. Anyway, he said it was his fault and that he would pay for everything, which is good. My bike was not all that damaged, surprisingly, but I think the wheel is a little bent, and the tire is rubbing against the frame. In addition, the gear seems to be a little messed up, since the chain is hitting the frame now.

Once I got to school, I told my supervisor and she called the guy and talked to him. He said we would arrange a time to fix the bike. Afterwards, she told my kyoto-sensei, and somehow every single teacher in the school seemed to find out about it after that. My kyoto-sensei is a little paranoid and he was worried about me suffering injury (despite not being hit by the car), so he forced me to miss my fifth period class and go to the doctor. It was a bit silly since I wasn't feeling bad and I would've rather gone today if I had to go. Yesterday I had four classes, while today I have none.

Anyway, he insisted I go, and told this other poor guy that he would have to pay for my doctor's visit. They took x-rays of my back at the doctor and then the doctor told me what I already knew, that it was just muscle pain (good thing we can't break out backs jumping, or we'd be in trouble as a species). They told me not to use my insurance card for the doctor's visit, which means this poor guy will have to pay all the costs out of pocket for my unnecessary medical exam. Oh well, I guess it will encourage him to drive safer in the future.

I don't know when my bike will be fixed, but I am borrowing a school bike every now and then when I need it. Hopefully that will allow me to get around okay. I'm just thankful I wasn't under the car with my bike.

During my trip I found out my family had to put my cat, Whitefoot, to sleep. It is sad, but he lived a long time for an outdoor cat (almost 15 years?), and he reached the point where he was having seizures and unable to walk or eat properly. I'll miss him.

Okinawa trip continued...

Thursday we met up with Will and Michi at a monorail station near their car rental place around 9. We drove to the Underground Japanese Naval Headquarters from World War II. Apparently they built it underground during the war using picks and hoes. They wanted to build it underground because the U.S. Air Force was superior and had bombed many other military facilities around Japan. About half of the tunnels were renovated (to add support) and opened to the public after the war. The tunnels were pretty barren and there wasn't much to see. However, there were some pretty gruesome things there, like shrapnel marks in the walls from where officers had committed suicide with grenades. Almost all of the commanding officers committed suicide there as they were losing the Battle of Okinawa.

The Americans wanted to capture Okinawa to use it as a permanent air base for a future invasion of Japan. The Japanese pretty much decided to wage a war of attrition in Okinawa and do everything they could to hold off the Okinawans for as many days as possible. The end result was a bloody about 90 day struggle for the island where about 12,000 Americans died, and more than 240,000 Japanese military and civilians died. The problem was that they Japanese had been told that the Americans would rape and enslave everyone and do all sorts of horrible things if they surrendered to them. In addition, many Japanese were told repeatedly that there was no chance they would not win the war, so they were unwilling to surrender.

After the underground headquarters we went to the Himeyuri Monument in the south of Okinawa. At least, we tried to. We followed the satellite map computer which was in the car, but it caused all sorts of problems and took us around in circles. Eventually we figured out how to use it better, but the road signs turned out to be a more effective method of navigation. Eventually we did get to the monument. It is a big white stone next to a cave. We didn't really understand what it was about until we went into the Peace Museum next to the monument. The army drafted junior high school boys and girls and high school girls into several nursing corps to help treat the soldiers during the invasion. Their basic jobs were to run errands for the doctors, get food for soldiers, etc. They lived in caves in the center of Okinawa until the troops retreated to the south. Then many of the kids were abandoned by the military and told they had to survive on their own. Most of them died after they were abandoned because they hid in the caves and refused to come out when the American soldiers surrounded them. The injured soldiers told them to stay quiet, even though the soldiers said they would gas the caves if no one came out. Many of them died because of gas or grenade explosions. Some of the girls were moved down to this cave in the south where almost all of them died. There was a section of the museum which had testimonials from the survivors. It was really horrific stuff. A big high school group went through the museum, but many of them didn't seem to pay much attention or be that affected by it. I think it would be a good museum for them to pay attention in.

One testimonial dealt with a group that was pushed to the beach. The American ships told them to come out with their hands up and surrender. One soldier did and was subsequently shot, by his own comrade. It was such a shame that so many of soldiers and civilians had to die pointlessly. Of course, the Americans won the battle of Okinawa, and helped all the survivors instead of hurting them. Some of the museums had pictures of the American soldiers providing aid and treating the sick. It was certainly a lot better than the Japanese treated the Okinawans.

Here's a little history lesson: Okinawa actually used to be an independent kingdom which paid tribute to China. Then the Japanese took it over and enslaved it. In the 1870s, it became and official prefecture of Japan. During the war, Okinawa was pretty much abandoned by the Japanese. They didn't send any reinforcements over, despite implying that they would.

Somehow our guidebooks didn't get the facts right about the Himeyuri Monument. They said it was to commemorate 200 student nurses and their teachers that had committed suicide at the end of the war by jumping off a cliff. Well, 200 students and their teachers died, but their deaths were spaced out during the battle, not all at once off a cliff. I wonder if they even visited the museum. I'll probably write to them about the mistake.

After the museum, we headed to a less serious place, a tourist trap called Okinawa World. We saw a traditional Okinawan dance there, Okinawan techniques for making glass, refining sugar, and making awamori alcohol (it includes a poison snake in the bottle sometimes). It also has a huge limestone cave, which is over 890 meters long. That's over half a mile. Unfortunately, the beauty of the caves were slightly disturbed by the fact that they had to cut a lot of the stalactites in order to make a walkway from one end to the other. Not only that, but there were lots of people in the cave, and many of them touched the crystals near the walkway. In Australia we went to a really nice cave and they warned us that touching the crystals would cause them to turn black. Hence, there were lots of black places near the walkway.

Will and Michi also went to a part of the park called the Habu Museum. The Habu is Japan's only poisonous snake and is only found on Okinawa. We read in our guidebooks that many places have Habu vs. Mongoose fights were the habu snake is killed. This museum mentioned in its brochure that they held a fight. However, they recently outlawed the practice, so instead they set up a race through a tunnel with water in it. Will told me each animal had a separate tunnel. The mongoose doesn't like water and pretty much shot through the tunnel. However, the habu snake is a water snake, so it didn't care and basically took its sweet time. Seems a bit silly to me...

Afterwards Will and Michi dropped us back off in Naha before heading up north to their new hotel. We had the same hotel for the first two nights, but then we decided we want to stay there for four. However, they were booked on Friday and Saturday, so we asked several different places on Thursday until we found a place with a free double. It was in a slightly different part of town, so that was nice. We also called about whale watching for Friday. We reserved a place, but it wasn't a problem because only weekends are really that crowded. That evening we were tired, so I got some McDonald's and brought it back to the hotel room and we ate in. We watched a really bad movie, The Core, on TV.

Friday morning we woke up and dragged our stuff to our new hotel. No one stayed in their double the night before, so they let us check-in at 8:30am. It was convenient for us. Then we walked 10 minutes over to the port where the local ferries are. We got an express ferry to Zamami Island, which you can see from Okinawa on a clear day. It took about an hour on the ferry. The man in front of us saw a whale during the ferry ride and tried to show us, but it was gone when we looked. After we got to Zamami, we went to the whale watching association building for the whale tour. The man who was in front of us on the ferry was there. He said he wasn't going to go whale watching, but he was so excited by the one he saw on the ferry that he decided to go. Before we got on the boat, there was a Japanese explanation about whales. We could follow some of it (Victoria more than I), and the guy threw in some English words for us, too. Then we headed out to sea. It took 15 minutes to get to our destination around a deserted island. We immediately ran into another whale watching boat, which pointed out three whales to us. We didn't get too close to them since one of them was probably a baby whale. Instead, we saw another big whale in the ocean, and went over near him. However, he kept staying under for 20 minutes at a time. No other whales showed up, either. Even the other three disappeared. So we kept waiting for 20 minutes, then he would come up, blow air out several times, and dive back down.

After awhile of this, we went out to sea away from the island, but didn't find any more whales. Instead we came back, and the original whale became more active. His nickname was "Singer" because he made a lot of noise (we listened on the microphone). Apparently he often comes there. Then he started coming up for air every two minutes or so, which was much more exciting. One time he came up right in front of our boat, headed for us. Then the boat rocked as he went under us. Then all of a sudden a man screamed, and we all turned and looked. The whale was on the other side of the boat and had jumped straight out of the water. It was very impressive. I got to see a lot of the jump, but Victoria only saw the splash since she was on the other side of the boat. Then we followed Singer for awhile as he headed out to sea, towards another whale we could see in the distance. The tour was supposed to be two hours, but we stayed out over three, until someone needed to go back and then we went home. It was very cool. I was a little disappointed after the first two hours, but the last hour was great. Victoria wasn't as happy since she was a little seasick, and then the tour lasted longer than expected.

When we got back to Zamami town, we were a little sunburned on the face. We both had covered our arms, but forgot to put sunblock on our face. I think in winter, I just don't think about it too much. We put some on afterwards instead, but still are red in the face. We ate at one of the few restaurants in the village and walked a kilometer over a mountain to a nice beach. It had clear water, and a great view. Best of all, we were the only people on it. Instead of sand, it was mostly dead coral that we were sitting on, but it was still nice. I went swimming (it was about 20 degrees Celsius, but the water seemed as warm as the summer at home). I wish I would've had some snorkel gear.

Eventually it was time to take the ferry back home, but we wished we hadn't made hotel reservations in Naha, and instead had just stayed on the island (we had talked about it). That would've been really nice at night.

Saturday we got breakfast in bed, courtesy of our new hotel. Then we slowly got up and decided to go to American Village, a group of stores and restaurants near some marine bases north of Naha. We took a bus there, which took about an hour. We ate at a Mexican cafe, which was more of a Japanese-Mexican cafe, than an American-Mexican cafe. Then we went shopping for a bit, and finally saw "Love Actually" in the movie theater there. Victoria really wanted to see the movie. One of her sister's old schoolmates is Colin Firth's girlfriend at the beginning of the movie. The movie was pretty good, but could have been better. It tells the story of many different characters. I tend to think it tries to follow too many different characters at once. Still, it was funny and enjoyable.

We got root beer floats (no ice this time) at an A&W restaurant there and then headed home. It was a relaxing and fun day, but American Village didn't remind me much of America at all (I wasn't that surprised). Saturday night we went to a place called the 50's Cafe, which had lots of adverts from the 50's, and other things. It was pretty cool, though I think Victoria was getting sick of hamburgers, and they didn't have many other things. It was my fault for dragging her around to so many hamburger and Mexican places. We couldn't find a good Italian place that night, despite searching. Then we went to karaoke for an hour, which was fun. Since it was Valentine's day, I snuck off and bought her some roses, which have made the long journey home to Toyama mostly intact, and she gave me some chocolates (Japanese tradition: women give men chocolates on Valentine's Day; men give women chocolates on March 14, White Day).

This morning we checked out of the hotel, and headed over to Shuri Castle, a 1992 reconstruction of Okinawa's main castle. Like most everything else (including the Okinawa railway), all the castles were leveled during the war. They rebuilt the main castle where the King of Okinawa used to live. The castle is interesting because it is part Japanese and part Chinese in architectural styles. It was the most unique castle I have seen in Japan. The museum inside the castle was in English, so that was also better than most of the castles in Japan. All the wood in the main castle building is red and covered in lacquer. It is very impressive and colorful. Even at 800 yen a person, I think it was pretty worthwhile. Victoria is not as big a castle buff as I am, so she read in the castle park while I was in the museum.

After the castle, we took the monorail back to the hotel, got our stuff, and checked-in for our flight at the airport. The flight was pretty uneventful. The only exciting thing was that they said our flight might be diverted to Osaka due to bad weather. Luckily, it wasn't. It would've meant a much longer journey home if that had been the case. Instead we landed in Komatsu, and took a limited express train home. The limited express train ended up almost twice the price as the local train, but due to bad scheduling, taking the local train would've taken one and a half hours longer, so the extra money seemed worth it.

We made it home around 7pm on Sunday, and of course, it was raining in Toyama (only lightly), and it was much colder than Okinawa. On the way home, it even started snowing. We both wished we had been placed as JETs in Okinawa instead!

Our trip to Okinawa has been good so far. We left Tuesday night and went to Komatsu, the city we flew out of. We could've taken an early morning train, but we didn't want to get up too early. Komatsu is an interesting city, because it is not that big, but has a nice airport, and a brand new train station. I wonder if it was used a lot during the World Cup or something.

When we went to the airport on Wednesday we ran into another JET from Toyama, Will, and his girlfriend Michi. Will's birthday is also next week, so they are doing the same thing as us. The flight was uneventful, but totally full, which we didn't expect. There was a large group of old Japanese men on the plane, most of whom had golf bags and were part of a tour. We mostly stayed on Okinawa island, the central island of a large chain of islands (many of which are so far north or south that traveling to them would have been inconvenient for us during our 5 day trip). At the airport in Naha (the capital city), we found an A&W restaurant, which we ate at. It was quite nice, because we could get root beer there and you can't normally find root beer in Japan. I got a root beer float, which was good, except they put big ice cubes in it, which meant almost no root beer.

We took the new monorail into Naha and got to our hotel (also new) easily. It is quite large with a big bed, and belongs to our favorite chain, Toyoko Inn. A note about the monorail: it is Okinawa's only rail system. All the rest were destroyed during the war. This made traveling in Okinawa a bit strange for us, since the rest of Japan practically lives on the railways. We wandered around the main street, Kokusai-dori (International Street) for awhile and then stopped to get some tacos. Of course, Will and Michi walk into the tacos restaurant right after us. It was pretty funny. So we talked with them and found out they were going to the same place as us the next day, except they were going to drive. They offered to take us with them, and we graciously accepted. Then we split up and we went shopping for a bit, before going back to the hotel and resting. Our flight left at 8:35am, so we had to get up early that day. After our rest, we went to dinner at a steak restaurant. It was one of those restaurants where they cut up and cook the food in front of you on the table. We normally call those Japanese steak houses, but they called it an American-style steakhouse. Go figure. Victoria had never been to a restaurant like that before, so she liked it a lot. Her eating pleasure was enhanced by the cute little Japanese boy who was seated at our table and kept smiling at her. Afterwards we were really full and went back to the hotel and collapsed.

I'll write about today later, but tomorrow we are planning on going to Zamami Island, where we will go to the beach and do some whale watching.

The snow looks really cool at my school. During the day the melting, the wind, or something sculpted the field into small dunes of snow. There are also a lot of giant mounds of snow that are over 6 feet tall at some of the corners of streets that were plowed. Luckily, it looks like the snow has moved on for at least a week. This will mean the trains should be working fine to get us to and from the airport.

Well, the snow seems to finally be stopping. I think we got about two feet in two days, which is quite a lot. I feel a little buried, and I can't wait until Okinawa on Wednesday. Okinawa is about 19 degrees now, and should be much nicer than Toyama!

On Friday Victoria had a rough day in Japan. Thursday night the roads were pretty clear, but then Friday morning it snowed a fair amount, and the roads were frozen in the morning. She goes to Hirota elementary school on Fridays, and it is the only one of her schools not serviced by public transportation. However, it is also the closest, and she normally can bike there. Because of all the snow, she couldn't bike there, so she called her base school and asked them to call the elementary school to see if someone could pick her up and take her there, which they had done last year several times when it snowed. When they asked the elementary school, they said all the teachers were too busy, so she should walk to school instead. It's about an hour's walk in the snow, so Victoria really didn't want to do that. This is the same elementary school that Victoria left from the week before to go to the doctor's, so she thinks the principal was sore over her leaving school (apparently they weren't happy about that the week before). Really, the school should've had someone like the nurse or handyman who could've come pick her up. The drive would've been ten minutes at the most.

Instead, a teacher at Victoria's base school called an unemployed temporary teacher from the last year to come pick up Victoria and take her to her elementary school. Obviously, this was really nice, especially since the woman had been sleeping. When she got to elementary school, the principal asked her how she got there so fast, and Victoria told her that an old teacher picked her up and took her there. The principal then reprimanded Victoria for bothering someone else, and told her that next time she should walk there. Victoria told her that she wasn't going to do that, because it is a long walk and she has a lot of things.

I should note that teachers never really question the principal. They are a bit of a god in the school, someone who should be revered and obeyed all the time. I may have mentioned this before in my blog, but several times while I was having a conversation with one of my teachers about an upcoming class, the principal would walk past and say "Hello" or something, which I wouldn't hear because I was focused on the conversation. The other teacher inevitably got a consternated look on their face, interrupted what I was saying, and said, "Brian, the principal said hello to you!" like I was being really rude by not answering him. Of course, I told him "Hello" after all that fuss. The strangest thing about the principals is that they don't seem to do anything. They mostly wander around the school, make speeches once a month, meet with visitors, and are well-respected. Because they are so well-respected, keep in mind that Victoria's disagreeing with the principal is not really done in Japan, despite their seeming lack of purpose in the school.

The principal went on to argue with Victoria about how she could walk her, and leave her stuff there (she can't, she goes to two schools), carry it in a backpack (which she was doing, but still had several handbags), etc. The argument went one for a little while. Eventually Victoria just gave up and tried to imagine if the principal's car broke down or something if she would just walk one hour in the snow to school or if someone might possibly give her a ride.

Then she told the story about getting stranded at the Mizuhashi train station on the 22nd (read about it in my blog below) to the principal. She seemed quite appalled that no one at Victoria's school had offered her a ride home. She said Victoria should've asked directly at the school. Victoria had to bite her tongue on this one, but told me she was thinking, "Well, I tried that this morning, and see where it got me with you." Kind of strange that the principal could fault the other school for not giving her a ride, hen she wouldn't send someone to give her one, too. Then Victoria excused herself and went to prepare for lessons.

Victoria said she was pretty polite throughout the whole thing, which is more than I would've been. I think she was probably furious inside though, as I would have been. It is really frustrating to be in a strange country and then when you need help, have people who are normally friendly to you refuse to give it to you.

We are in the middle of another blizzard today. On Friday most of the snow melted during the afternoon, leaving lots of streets clear. When we woke up this morning, there were about 5 inches on the ground. It had snowed quite a lot, and it kept snowing fiercely throughout the day. I think we got over one and a half feet in 24 hours, which is a lot. Victoria and I wanted to go skiing today, but when we left the apartment, there was a strong wind and lots of snow. We knew it wouldn't be much fun, since it is normally worse in the mountains. We are going to try tomorrow morning also, but I am not too hopeful. It looks like it is supposed to keep snowing all night.

The snow hasn't been too bad so far. It comes and goes in flurries, so the roads have stayed pretty clear.

Victoria and I are going to Okinawa next week for my birthday. There is a birthday discount when you fly inside Japan one week before or after your birthday. It costs 10,000 yen one-way, so about 190 dollars round trip. This is much better than the regular price which is about five or six hundred dollars. We are excited because it is about 19 degrees celsius there, which is much better than the 2 degrees here.

The weather gods of Toyama are fickle creatures. Now that most of the snow has melted from the roads, another snow storm has come upon us. It will snow heavily for the next 5 days. Blah!

Yesterday we went over to the house of an acquiantance of Victoria. Victoria has met this woman several times at international events, and she always suggested Victoria come over to her house and try on kimonos. However, Victoria had never done it until yesterday. I was invited along for the ride, and Mr. and Mrs. Takimoto came to pick us up at Victoria's apartment. We talked for awhile at their house about international travel. Mrs. Takimoto has been to tons of foreign countries. She really likes travelling. Her English has improved in the last year quite a lot, apparently. She stays at home and takes care of the house, since their kids are 23 and 27, and live far away from home. However, they don't go on trips together because her husband has always been working. Instead, she heads off to some great foreign country while he is working. I think it's really funny.

Anyway, she got Victoria into a kimono and took lots of pictures of her. She looked very Japanese and elegant. She also gave Victoria a really fancy coat, worth a lot of money. It was very nice, and apparently was a gift to her daughter that didn't fit.

After the kimono session, we all made tempura together. It was a lot of fun. Tempura feels healthy when you eat it, but it is really deep fat fried foods. I think I feel it is healthy because it is mostly vegetables and seafood. After dinner we were stuffed, and talked a little more before heading home. It was a fun afternoon, but a little draining.

Apparently I had the flu last weekend. I have gathered that a mild strain of the flu is going around the school, with the same symptoms that I had. Unfortunately, Victoria got it last week, too. They sent her home from school on Thursday because she had a temperature. On Friday she went to elementary school, but felt really bad when she was there so she went to the doctor after she arrived. The doctor said that she had the flu and should stay home for 5 days. Normally this might be good advice, but this particular flu strain is not very virulent so she was feeling great by Sunday. The doctor also gave her about half of a pharmacy, including many drugs for symptoms she wasn't having. She has about 10 different medicines at home, I swear.

Today the doctor's note said she was supposed to stay at home, but she wanted to come to school. So this morning she called her school and they said it was okay for her to come in since she felt better. Then, after she arrived at school, they changed their mind and decided she should be at home resting. So then they told her to go home. She argued with them for awhile, and apparently they have grudgingly decided to let her stay today. Anyway, the whole thing seems very silly. She has to fight to do work!

Apparently I had the flu last weekend. I have gathered that a mild strain of the flu is going around the school, with the same symptoms that I had. Unfortunately, Victoria got it last week, too. They sent her home from school on Thursday because she had a temperature. On Friday she went to elementary school, but felt really bad when she was there so she went to the doctor after she arrived. The doctor said that she had the flu and should stay home for 5 days. Normally this might be good advice, but this particular flu strain is not very virulent so she was feeling great by Sunday. The doctor also gave her about half of a pharmacy, including many drugs for symptoms she wasn't having. She has about 10 different medicines at home, I swear.

Today the doctor's note said she was supposed to stay at home, but she wanted to come to school. So this morning she called her school and they said it was okay for her to come in since she felt better. Then, after she arrived at school, they changed their mind and decided she should be at home resting. So then they told her to go home. She argued with them for awhile, and apparently they have grudgingly decided to let her stay today. Anyway, the whole thing seems very silly. She has to fight to do work!