Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Quirky Japan (I love it!)

I was looking at our photo album today and remembering our trip to Japan. We left on the first day of school for the kids. I was able to take them to meet their teachers (1st & 4th grade) and then left. My mom and sister took care of the kids for us. It was great not to have to worry about the kids at all. Jackie Chan! (control yourself! he's a cardboard cutout)
Omid feeding a baby black bear some konyaku at an onsen we visited
the onsen (hot springs)

I had always wanted to visit Japan and felt so envious of Omid going there every month. Finally, my chance came and I tagged along on a business trip. I loved it! It was the neatest & cleanest place I have ever visited (with the exception of Finland. Finland is extremely clean).
I found this neat website while researching places I wanted to visit. http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/index.htm One of the places I had to visit was the Meguro Parasite Museum. It was creepy! We saw so many tapeworms - gross! One more reason for washing your hands! At the time, Matty was into bugs, etc. We were able to bring back a lot of neat souveniers from that museum.
While at the Onsen (see pix above), I saw a real Yakuza (Japanese Mafia member). He was tattooed from his neck to his toes in beautiful, elaborate tatoos. I was afraid and at the same time excited! I had read all about the Yakuza on the quirky Japan website. Omid and I shared a hot spring with him. There were only about 10 people at the Onsen, it was great!
Before we went into the Onsen, we had the option of paying 50 cents to feed a baby black bear a konyaku (Japanese jello). It was sad to see the baby bear chained up. Omid got a big sticky/slimy kiss from the bear.
It was a great vacation and I can't wait until our next trip to Japan.



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