teddy`s beach bar

Now I remember why I gained so much weight while living in Tsuruoka! The food is delicious, the beer is refreshing, the sake is locally produced and is so smooth, and the dinner conversation is fabulous! Nicole and I have eaten way too much this week ... I feel like I have the gout, I swear. Yesterday (after checking out of the onsen), we strolled down to the beach to hang out at my friend Shu`s beach bar. He is an authentic Japanese rockabilly and so his bar is absolutely the coolest. There we were ... playing darts in a shack on the beach, listening to rockabilly music. It was just so neat! Shu made Nicole a tasty cocktail with all kinds of fruit juice and I had an ice cold beer. Saori and Yousuke joined us (friends of Shu`s from Yamagata city) and then Shu made yaki soba, right there on the beach. Wow. It was so delicious! After that, we played another game of darts, drank ice coffee, then went for a stroll down to the water`s edge. The water was nice and warm, the sky clear and blue, and we could even see Mt. Chokai domineering the view up north. It was incredible.

Yunohama Onsen

Onsen means "hot springs" or mineral bath. All over Japan, there are natural hot springs that are pumped up from underground to create mineral baths. Public baths are very common but in Yamagata prefecture, every town has an onsen, too. So we will be staying at a small inn near Yunohama beach that features onsen and speciality foods. Soaking in mineral baths and eating good food! What more could you ask for?

Country Living

On Monday, after checking out of our apartments and saying goodbye to Nishi-chiba (the name of the neighborhood where we lived), Nicole and I jumped on the bullet train for Niigata. As we raced past the skyscrapers and ventured out into the open rice fields and verdant mountains of the countryside, it finally hit me. I'm leaving Japan!

Now we are at Yumi's house in Tsuruoka. Her family owns an organic farm, so everyday we eat the rice and veggies that her family has grown. Yesterday we took a small walk to their plot of land and ate cherry tomatoes off the vine ... so delicious.

Their house is in a little village outside of Tsuruoka. We are surrounded by lush, green ricefields and thick groves of bamboo. Last night there was an earthquake and the house shook, but no serious damage, fortunately. This morning we woke up to sound of pouring rain ... it is the end of the monsoon season, and the rain cools the temperature nicely. Much needed because there is no air-conditioning out here!

Tonight, Nicole and I are checking into an onsen in Yunohama.

CLEAN ... GO ... Goodbye?

I am sitting in the middle of piles and piles of stuff ... once again it's time to pack and go. How many times have I done this? Too many to count ... I'm not ready to leave.

The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy. I completed all of my student evaluations (61 of them!) just in time for the goodbye party. We went to a really delicious Chinese restaurant. We had tons of yummy food, beer, and lots of bittersweet goodbyes. They presented me with a big card that everyone had signed. It was really special!

Almost time for Tohoku

It's getting close to my last day of work, and that means I'll be leaving soon for Tohoku (Northern Japan). This time, Nicole will come along! Yippee!

Here are some photos from my last trip north to Tsuruoka. I love that place ...

Of course, no trip to Tsuruoka would be complete without a trip to Ajiwai, where they serve the "Ajiwaimen" special. It's a HUGE bowl with miso/sesame soup, pork, green peppers, other random veggies, and TONS of bean sprouts. And ramen noodles, naturally, but you just can't see them. They're in there somewhere. I have only finished the Ajiwaimen once, but I may have done permanent damage to my stomach muscles ... it's just so huge!
Speaking of eating, this is Taka with a mouth full of food! Yummy. Look at those cheeks. Taka is Naomi's baby, Yumi's sister. What a cutie.


Saturday night was the big night out for us. Martin met up with Yumi and I at Doutor's (they have a Doutor's coffee shop in Tsuruoka now; how cosmopolitan!) and we proceeded to call up the whole gang for a little reunion. Alex came in all the way from Yamagata City (3 hours away), Maruyama arrived after his late shift at the post office, Shunsuke left the farm early (he's a soybean farmer), and Toko arrived fully decked out in his rockabilly gear, as always! He is the lead singer of a rockabilly band called 'Memphis Mafia'. I was a guest singer for a couple of shows back in 2001. Martin brought his girlfriend, Yuko, a very nice lady, just beautiful and great. Jeff also joined us, an American who teaches at East High School in Tsuruoka. They were a few other guest appearances, mostly by former students of Yumi's and of Martin's. Kako's is a very popular place, after all ...

We had such a great time! I truly felt so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people, just fantastic, generous, funny friends that drop everything when I'm in town. We laughed so much!
Lots of photos were taken. In fact, this is a photo of Martin and Jeff looking at the photo they just took of Yumi and I. Here are some of the highlights.


Yumi being silly ... it is so hard to get a normal photo of her!










Finally, we managed to get one. This is Yumi talking to one of her former students, who also worked for her mother.


















Yuko laughing. Nice action shot!














A friendly kiss on the cheek from Toko. Look at that hair .... and this is the same guy who sits on the PTA board of his son's junior high school. Rock on, Toko!



The last photo is of Toko and Shunsuke talking with Yumi who snapped the photo, I think. Everyone traded cameras at one point.

Thank you Yumi, Martin, and everyone for a great trip. I'll see you in two weeks ... can't hardly wait.