Roving Japan

Photoset, Day 68

Nothing is more annoying than thinking a bug is on your neck or ear, just to find out that it’s actually your hair. So the first order of business was to use the first day at Rentaro’s to find a cheap haircut. Lucky for me, there was a place near by where I could get one for about $10. I got it cut SUPER short so I don’t need to worry about another haircut for a long time. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home and wrestling the dog.

Rin Rin is a nice puppy, but is prone to nip and play bite. I guess the wolf part of the Husky makes her play with her mouth open and bite a lot. I decided that every time she tried to bite me, I would pounce on her and wrestle her to the ground and not let her up. After all, I learned a few moves from the dudes in Osaka. (Not the gay stuff) After a few rounds of “pin the doggy”, Rin Rin stopped biting me. I guess it worked?

This evening, Rentaro busted out his families old Katana and showed us some old photos of his father in military school.

We also learned that Rentaro is an engineer who went from designing engine blocks for cars, to heading up a project designing a robot that will help move patients from their beds to a wheelchair. The robot looks like an ape mixed with a teddy bear. I guess people liked the teddy bear head better than something more humanoid.

He’s been working on the robot for a couple of years I think, but its scheduled to roll out in the next few weeks! [Update: It's out! Check it out here!]

Photoset Day 67

Well now I’ve seen everything.

Did you know that there are people out there who actually don’t like bacon? I always thought that the love of bacon was something rooted in our DNA. Adenine(A), Cytosine(C), Guanine(G), Thymine(T), and Bacon(B). Apparently there are folks in Japan who are missing the B.

This morning my revenge breakfast scored a hit. I had figured that if there was something on the plate that would be disliked, it would have been the hashbrowns since they weren’t exactly restaurant quality. Yet it was the bacon that caused Yousuke to scrunch up his face is disgust. For the record, the bacon wasn’t burnt or poorly cooked, Risa and I gave it a passing grade. But Yousuke didn’t enjoy it. He wanted to wrap it in lettuce! He did enjoy the hashbrowns though. Go figure.

After breakfast we went to the town of Iwamura to see the ruins of Iwamura castle. All that’s left of this once great mountain castle is a lot of steps and some tall grass covered walls. An impressive sight, but it’s a little hard to picture what the castle used to look like.

This was our last day with Yousuke. We are going to miss hanging out with him. He was a lot of fun to joke around with. I don’t know if I’ll get to have another food battle any time soon.

We are now staying with Risa’s cousin Rentaro. He and his family live back in Nagoya so Yousuke was kind enough to give us a ride. When we arrived, we all talked for a bit, and the subject of bacon was brought up. Apparently Rentaro doesn’t like bacon either. He thinks its too oily and salty. Especially for breakfast.

Rentaro and his family are really nice. We had an excellent dinner and we had fun playing with their Husky puppy Rin Rin.

Before heading out to the house in the country, we stopped by Yousuke’s family grave to pay our respects to his late wife who past away several years ago. We cleaned up the dead flowers, and poured water over the grave stone. It was a hot day, so you should offer some cold water to the spirits to cool them down.

On our way to the country house, we stopped by a grocery store where we bought ingredients for tomorrows revenge American breakfast. I wanted to make pancakes, but the store didn’t have syrup, so we settled on eggs, bacon and hashbrowns.

Yousuke, not content to be on the defensive, picked out something for dinner that he thought I wouldn’t be able to eat. It’s called “Tako no Shiokara”, and it’s basically octopus kimchee. Much to Yousuke’s dismay, I actually liked the stuff. Spicy octopus goes well with beer! Ha!

The house is really awesome. Before retiring and entering politics, Yousuke was an architect. He designed this house for his sister to use as a country retreat and to get away from city life while she paints. There is a large garden with lots of flowers, blueberries, wasabi and even an area where they grow their own shiitake mushrooms.

It’s really relaxing and quiet out here. Risa and I are in the tatami room with two walls open to the outside. It’s the perfect temperature and there is a clear sky out. Pretty cool to be able to sleep inside and under the stars at the same time.