hot spring

I visited my grand mother in Fukushima prefecture. Fukushima is up north, I assumed it would be much colder but it was not so bad. I was planning to stay one night and come back Sunday night. However my cousin offered me to go to hot spring together if I could stay one more night. Of course I changed my plan and well, I came to the office this morning by a bullet train! My granmma was too tired to go, but my aunt joined and three of us drove 40 mins to the mountain. It is a public facility but far out from the town, in a mountain. We went little bit late, around 7:30 to avoid croud. However, there were so many people enjoying hot spring from a baby to a old woman. General speaking, people from country side are very friendly. Sometimes they just speak to us like we know each other. I was surprised my aunt told me how old all the kids were there, she talked every mom. Well, kids are so cute so no wonder she wanted to talk about them. Hot spring....all of us are naked. For me, hot spring with bathing suits is not Onsen (=hot spring in Japanese), but a pool. Japan has so many hot spring spot, everybody took bath naked, we share the big bath tub. I think the way we share the moment of feeling good and relaxed make us friendly. We feel like we are sharing something in a baby's clothes. My cousin asked if there were hot springs in L.A.. I told there were some spas but we have to wear a bathing suits. Then she told me it does not have all the goodness of taking Onsen. I totally agree. My skin feels so soft and supple because of minerals of hot spring. We took a bath almost 2 hours. There are a hot tub outside, looking at Japanese style stone garden. The coldness of the air feels great when I am in a tub. If you know some hot spring place where we don't have to wear a bathing suits, please tell me!

Italian

There are so many great Italian restraunts in Japan. I have some favorite Italian restaurants nearby my office. It is really nice to have a glass of wine and good food after working so hard. It is a reward for a day. My best friend at work and I went to our favorite Italian restaurant in Ebisu. The name of the restaurant is Italian so it is still hard for me to remember, so we call the restaurant "Lion" since the name is something about a lion. We had a happy glassful of champagne, then a bottle of wine. For food, we have an assorted ham plate, layered baked potatos and horo-horo bird meat, fritto of shirako, past with shrimp, then charcoal grilled chicken. We were afraid if we would orderd too much so we asked a waitress who also a part of owner and very friendly to us always. She said we should be OK and she was right though we were so stuffed. She remembered me and told me "welcome back" when we entered, which made me really happy.
I think Japanese people are open to different culture when we think it is good. We take it into our culture and kind of make a new version of it. We have many different kinds of food here, the roots of the food is so many different countries I would assume. Some of them may not be so authentic, but we love it! Curry, for instance, looks and tastes different what people would have in India.. Japanese curry is more thick and with one-bite size cut of meat, onion, carrot and potato, usually served over the rice. It is so popular and one of the kids' favorite. Even though it is not authentic Japanese food, the originality and popularity of Curry made me think it is one of Japanese food. Also pasta could be with so many different sauce since it is very simple. We combine Japanese ingredients and flavor to pasta, and they are very popular too. Yes, it is good to have them. Because it is good. We don't have to pass it because it is different. I would not deny that people sometimes have wrong idea of its authenticity. I was surprised what I had been thinking as western food did not exsist or was different. Still, I love my culture and people, its openess. We could enjoy whatever it is good and fine with our own way.

Pheeewww. I came back from LA last night. It was 10 days work trip....well, staying in Japan is my business trip so I would say my business trip back in LA. Anyway, it was for one of our artist's recording. I had been so busy everyday running around and making sure everything was good. The reward for that was I was fed a nice dinner almost everyday including a nice cup of cafe latte and dessert! I had a day off since the recording and mix went very well so we had a spare day. I went to bed around 1:00 am even though I made it to my friends gathering. It was so nice to see them because I have not seen them a while after staying in Japan a month. However, I could not keep my eyes open. I was so tired. I quietly went to a bed room and in a second, I fell asleep. Next day, I woke up several time but I could not get up until 4:30 pm!! I guess I need it but still I was really surprised. I have done it once when I flew back to Japan from England, almost 10 years ago. It was a new year's eve. I arrived at Tokyo, then I took train to Tokyo, changed to a bullet train to Fukushima where my grand mother lives. 12 hours of flying, 2 and half hours train of train ride to Tokyo, another 1 and half hours to Fukushima. Then my cousin picked me up at the station, another half an hour drive. By the time I arrived at their place, I was dead, I don't remember how I did it through. I went to bed even though the night was still young...next time I woke up was afternoon of the New Year's day. I could not believe myself, could not speak a word, just amazed what I have done. However, I missed whole the New Year's Eve fun!! We usually stay up late, watching TV, getting the feeling of a new year coming. We have a custom to eat Soba noodles for a new year.....we eat at night, new year's eve. Temple rings its big bell thing 108 times to tell the year is changing. So the year changes while they are ringing a bell. This bell means to vanish selfish desires and passions by hearing so we can have a fresh start for the new year. People visit a temple wishing the new year wil be filled with happiness and joy. Many people visit a temple during the night of new year's day. I always go with my relatives right after the new year begins. It is something special about walking in such a cold winter night with white breath while walking the street to temple. Especially the temple we visit is on top of the mountain. There is always a fire place within a temple we can warm ourselves. The darkness of the night, the bright reflection of the fire, the joy of the people to have a new year.....it always be a good memory and nice start, one of the most cheerful moment of the year. Well, in that year I missed everything. Everyone thought I must have been so tired and left me alone. Even though I awoke up after everything has past, the kindness of my family made my new year full of happiness.