My towns tourist trap

My town is famous for UFOs. that is our town theme. we have a UFO museum which has been shown on TV here several times. We have UFO shaped light posts, bus stops and rest areas. And on the mystery mountain (Sengan Mori) compasses don't work. Enjoy the pic of one of the various Aliens from my town.

Finally!

After years of living in the country (and I mean country) a bit of home finally came to my neck of the woods. Now a simple 15min drive and I can have some Starbucks. They opened up a Starbucks kiosk inside the medical college with is close to me. The kiosk is actually in the hospital wing but it is a real Starbucks. In a side story that is somewhat related recently we had to take Noah to the hospital late one night due to him puting a plastic bead in his ear. Well that went smoothly and it was removed but since it was late I would have to come back the next day to pay (only $20 buck and I can get reembursed if I take the receit to the City Hall, wow the wonders of national health care). Well the next day after work I went and paid then treated myself to a Carmel Frapachino (i have no idea how to spell it). I don't know how much they cost in the states but here it cost 440 yen for a tall. the funny thing was that the kiosk is small but still had 8 people and a manager working there. here is a pic of the place.

Noah's summer festival

At Noah's daycare he had a festival this summer and since I am part of the PTA I had to work. In a first for me I was in charge of the Cotton Candy making. Let me tell you it is not easy. I needed two hands or I couldn't do it. Here are some pics.

back to school

sorry I haven't been blogging for some time now. It has been so hot and humid over here that you don't feel like doing much other than trying to stay cool. well summer is over and that means back to school. School offically started this last monday the 27th and as of friday the students were still not full back mentally. I'll give them a little more time.

In Japan summer is over after the Obon festival. This festival is actually celebrated in Seattle and is probably the biggest festival time in Japan. If you don't know what the Obon festival is I'll explain (or you could just look it up on Wikipedia), it is a festival celebrating your ancestors. Japanese families visit the family grave to offer incess, flowers and prays that their ancestors will continue to watch over them. Obon is the time of year where subsiquently the spirits of your ancestors come back to your family grave so it is customary to put out decorative lanterns so they will know where they are supposed to come back to. The whole thing is a mixture of buddhism and shintoism i believe. Anyway that is traditional part of Obon, the fun part is that there is a festival at the end of Obon. The festival held in Tsukidate is the biggest of the year and many people come out. There are all kinds of booths with games and food to try. then in the center of the festivities there is a tower with taiko drum players and singers. Around that tower many people do a traditional Obon dance. I don't much care for the dancing but I love to go up and play taiko with everyone.
This year Tsukidate had an exchange program with their sister city (Revere, MA) it is next to Boston. I had to help out with translation duties while they were here. They had a fun time and were able on their last night to go to the Obon festival. They danced and had a great time.
This summer is over now and it is easy to tell. During this last week the weather has gotten bad and it is getting colder. I think autumn is here early.
I'll write some more later and put up some pics. bye for now.