More postcards from Japan...

Life is interesting in Japan. Some pictures for your consideration...

These little cuties are showing off their kairo (?). Kairo is a basically a hot pocket, filled with god knows what. But when you squish the stuff inside, it gets comfortably warm and keeps your hands from getting frozen when your doing your daily business. I have yet to purchase them but I routinely steal them from the kiddies.

Close-up.

Really, look at him...The kid is a goon.

This is a message I wrote for the graduating 6th graders entirely in Japanese (hiragana) with some kanji thrown in. My Japanese fist is terribly lacking in beauty, but I was proud and happy to write all this myself (I had it checked before submitting the final product). The message will appear in the annual yearbook. It says "To the 6th grade: Congratulations on your graduation. Please study hard at junior high school, but have fun, too. Junior high school is difficult, but interesting (fun) as well. Please continue to study English. You are all good students and you speak English really well. See you at Neo Junior High School! From, Kaki."

I agree: Cats should be smacked.

This lovely character is on display at a clothing store at Malera, a huge mall about 40 minutes away from me. I usually go there to stock up on foreign foods and watch movies at their plush threatre. This horse always gives me the willies.

Nothing pisses a Scotsman off like seeing tiny dogs dressed in tiny clothes.

These sexy leather pants are exclusively for dogs! There is a dog clothing shop in the mall. I haven't bought myself any decent clothes here in 1 and half years, but there's a dog clothing shop in the mall. *Sigh*

I have a very sweet surrogate family here in Gifu. Ma (on the floor) and Pa Tokoro (right) are such sweet individuals and they took me under their wing almost immediately. I've spent weekends at their home and they've taken me out and pretty much made me feel like one of their daughters. I work with Pa Tokoro, and while he doesn't speak much English, when I couldn't speak much Japanese, he was always there with his denshi jisho (electronic dictionary) to make sure I could understand his invitations. This pic was taken at Ojisan and obasan's (grandpa and grandma's) house after a tasty dinner of sukiyaki. The young woman in the picture is Ma and Pa Tokoro's daughter who goes to university in Kyoto.

Me and the grandfolks. They love me.

This is a picture of a picture of Wonda, one of the Tokoro's dogs. Wonda, named after Stevie Wonder, along with the other dog, Mini, get dressed up in some pretty awful outfits. When Ma Tokoro told me she wants to dress them up in kimono (Japanese traditional formal wear), I nearly spit my beer out of my nose. I told them that Mini (a female) and Wonda (a male) should get married and wear a wedding gown and tuxedo, respectively. She told me that would be a bad idea because Wonda is like 40 years older than Mini. Hey, at least she's got some morals.

The sakura (cherry blossom): The ubiquitous flower of Japan.