Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving, but we didn’t get the day off. Nor has their been any football games on TV. But we still have plenty to be thankful for, and to celebrate, we even had something resembling a Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to the Stove Top® Stuffing and Instant Gravy mom sent us a while back.



I hadn’t remembered the gravy until after I’d finished the chicken, so instead I made the chicken oriental-syle (sort-of). Oh, yeah, it was chicken, too. Ha! The only place we know around here where we can get turkey is at Subway--and it’s one leg at a time, for around four bucks a pop (¥460).

Storm Troopers Take Tokyo

No longer content to dominate feeble galaxies populated with Ewoks, Wookies and Tusken Raiders, an advance detachment of Storm Troopers accompanied Darth Vader to a local electronics shop here in Tokyo tonight. Our new overlords soon provoked a counter-attack from local Rebels after taking an unarmed Japanese woman (see below). Equipped only with Keitai Blasters, Rebel forces set their guns to stun, as it wasn't certain whether or not the Empire had dispatched any Star Cruisers within striking distance. We were able to capture this footage, and left before the fighting escalated, so what happened to the woman is anybody's guess.



The "official" word from the Imperial News Service denied reports of an upcoming invasion and insisted that the unannounced appearance was only a publicity stunt for Darth to promote his new movie. Imperial News also reported that the woman was a well known smuggler of pirated DVDs. Local accounts differ, however, and as always, everyone here is taking the Empire's "official" report with a grain of salt.

Hokusai

Today was as close as we can get to Thanksgiving in Japan for two reasons: First, it's the day before Thanksgiving, and Second, it's a national holiday and the theme is something like "Thanks to Workers Day".

So we met up with Akiko and Tetsunori to go see the Hokusai Exhibit at the National Museum. The leaves at Ueno Park have finally turned colors, so today was as good a time as any to go and have a walk. Actually, thousands of other residents thought so too.







We got to the museum around 10:30 or so, and the wait in line was only a half hour long. When we left sometime after noon, the wait had trebled.

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Naturally, photography was prohibited inside the museum, but the trip was well worth the price: over 500 original works were on display, and were shown in order of six stages of Hokusai's life as an artist. We also got to see all the prints from his famous 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series (including #2 above), several samples of his Manga sketches, and many of his paintings (including the one below).



While we were there, we also made sure to visit the statue of Saigo Takamori and his dog. He continues to be very popular with Japanese people, as does his monument. Incidentally, the 2003 movie, The Last Samurai is sort of based on him. Sort of.

Marvelous Curry Party

Tony & Louise had us over for a sumptuous curry meal as a birthday present to me. And man what a wonderful gift: bellies full of excellent food! I say bellies, because I tried my darndest to eat as much as possible, and I hope for her sake Laurie did too. Does that man know how to cook or does he know how to cook!



And the twosome make a grand pair of hosts. Always engaging in conversation, banter and witty remarks, always hospitable, likeable and amicable. Truly these two are born Entertainers, in the "have some folks over for dinner" sense of the word.



I asked Tony a little bit about the process of making a curry, since it's his hobby and I was curious, and it turns out that there is a lot that goes into making one from scratch.



Some even take days to prepare, and all take various spices in differing quantities, put in at specific times and at certain special temperatures. I fancy myself lucky that taking a picture of the curry isn't nearly so time-consuming or difficult (else I couldn't hope to master it). So here's as much as I can share. You'll have to see Tony and Louise if you want anything more palpable!

What's in A Name?

This one’s out of order, but that’s because if it were in order (chronologically), probably no one would see it.

We went to Yokohama with Brandon and made sure to stop by Chinatown. Yokohama has Japan’s largest Chinatown, so if you’re ever in the mood for Chinatowns, and you only have Japanese locations to choose from, well then I guess Yokohama’s the best decision to make.

Not that that’s the only reason why we went. Anyway, I had to snap a shot of this restaurant.



...Hungry, anyone?