Wednesday Blurgh

 Yay for lazy blog day! Here's a small collection of some random Japan.

Walking through Kitakami, there's this great covered street full of all kinds of clothes shops, produce vendors and some really great restaurants including a Thai place of all things! Some stores have little wooden windmills over their doors so on breezy days, the alley echoes from the hollow rattling.

What are Laurel and Hardy doing in Kitakami, you ask? Beats the hell out of me, but here they are, hanging out in front of a restaurant. For my parents' benefit, note the clear glass bottle in front of Laurel and Hardy: my parents have one just like it, only blue. And they didn't get it in Japan!

More Hachinohe seagulls: they make their nests just about anywhere...including right out in the freaking middle of the walkway. So little green frames are placed around some of the nests so tourists and visitors don't step on the eggs. Really, though, it'd be hard to miss the large, angry bird ready to snap through your Achilles tendon.

Why yes. Yes it is. Just so there's no mistake: this was a hamburger sandwich and it was a snack food. A delicious snack food.

Oh, Ninohe Mama-san. Your food is so amazing! For the record, a mama-san is a woman who owns a bar who makes it a part of the business to socialize with the patrons. This mama-san in particular takes very VERY good care of the foreigners who stop by for the occasional drink and snack. Every time I see Mama-san, she makes amazing food. Last time, it was tori-niku and cow tongue. This time, soy sauce flavored onigiri (riceballs), Japanese spinach from her own garden, and yaki-soba! Love her!

A little bit of home in Mama-san's: my mother uses the same Kikoman bottle. Love you, Mom!

Ninohe fireflies: I'll be back for you come summer. Just you wait! I'm counting down the days until your glittery butts again light up the night!

And because they never made it as far as my first blog, a couple of firsts:  

My first taste of Japanese fast food a la Sukiya...great for gyuudon! After a very long day including the flight from Baltimore to Toronto to Narita and a long evening of orientation, this was the most succulent and decadent thing yen could buy!

The products of my first grocery trip in Kitakami. Look how healthy I thought I was going to be! Oh, Me from two months ago, what were you thinking?