Exploring The Rising Sun: Ketchup

The last two days have been busy, so I'm hurriedly writing so I can crash and be rested for another eventful day.

So we'll play ketchup.

I had the best burger of my life today... who would have thought? We made a pit stop off the Japanese cuisine path for some Western food with an Eastern twist. A burger and fries with a side of yogurt and salad wrapped up with a tall glass of green tea.

I really couldn't tell you what was different about the western classic, other than the chef managed to make the meal without grease, without salt and without the need to take a nap afterward. If American chefs could learn to master this, we'd be in a totally different place.

I noticed today that despite the exorbitant amount of dining out I've been doing I haven't felt like I've been "eating out." You know when you go to your favorite restaurant, grab your favorite meal and stave off the urge to sink through the pavement for the rest of the day? I haven't had that here, not once. It's actually very difficult for me to eat enough. I'm starting to take serious caloric intervention because I'm just not getting enough. Portion sizes are where they should be, and it seems everyone here is full off of half a helping.

From the land of super-biggie-sized, this is a first: eating out twice a day and losing weight. That would be nice if that was actually my goal.

We had planned to visit two museums today, but a late start changed our plans. It was nice to just lay around and relax for a change. It's kind of a running theme: changing plans at the last minute for one reason or another.

Yesterday, the plan was to climb Mt. Tsukuba ("Tsukubasan," pronounced "Scuba-saun," the grandfather of Scuba Steve...) However, cloud coverage had us head on a different hike. Climbing 3 hours to the peak of a mountain to see nothing but fog just doesn't sound appealing.

So, we adventured to our childhood dream of space travel. Tsukuba is home to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency... I guess JAEA doesn't sound as cool). The tour was in complete Japanese, so for all I know they discussed how funny the white people look in their sweaters and scarves. (Side note: the Japanese don't dress their children in warm clothing during the winters as a means to toughen them up. I'm in eight layers and I'll see babies in tank tops and 8-year-olds in shorts. It's disturbing.) The advantage to taking the guided tour was that we were able to see the astronaut training center. Basically Tsukuba is the Cape Canaveral of Japan, so all their testing and research happens right here.

I always wanted to be an astronaut. I used to draw these horrible pictures of rockets and sit in my back yard moving my thumb back and forth over the moon. I mean, if Tom Hanks did it, it must be valid. It was a sad day when I realized to be an astronaut I'd have to climb up a million stairs to get inside the rocket and then fly up into the air. Between that and learn calculus, I decided to go another route.

Anyway, it was bitterly cold with a disgusting windchill and we were thankfully able to hitch a ride with the shuttle bus provided by Ray's lab. Today wasn't as cold, but the wind is still strong.

It ended up being a clearer day than anticipated, and we were able to see Mt. Fuji (Fujisan) from the top floor of Ray's apartment building. Typically cloud coverage prevents the peak to be seen, but we got an amazingly clear view today.

Taking yet another step off the Eastern Path we're on, we had taco night and went bowling with some friends. Ray had a record-setting night, bowling 5 strikes in his last game to come from behind in the 3-game, international tournament. I clearly bowled the best game of my life.

We went to a game-complex, similar to what you would find at a Dave & Busters, but with a full bowling alley, movie theater and onsen (Japanese hot spring.) You could basically move in and be set entertainment wise for a long time.

Tomorrow calls for an early start as we hope to climb Tsukubasan, an all-day affair. I really hope it's not cold and windy. Basically everything closes down tomorrow through January 3, as the New Year is the big celebration for the Japanese.

We finally got an adapter for our camera, as I left ours back in the States, so here are a few things that I missed uploading from our adventures since I've arrived.