Images from Japan

I'm back in Tokyo from Fukushima!  I still don't have stellar internet, but it's better than it was.  Here are the images I couldn't upload last month:

Waiting for the Bullet Train to go to Fukushima City

From the Bullet Train, north of Tokyo; You can start to see the mountains.

My temporary apartment while in Fukushima. I slept in the loft.

View from my Fukushima apartment.  It was right next to the railroad tracks (so a little noisy).

After my first "party" in Fukushima!

It snowed almost everyday.

Shabu shabu restaurant!  It turns out that my favorite food in Japan is shabu shabu.

Shabu shabu is hot soup, then you cook veggies and meat in it as you like. It's so good!

It was fun to add as much as possible to the pot.

The English menu called the dish on the left "fermented squid guts salad." I was surprised that it was very tasty!

At a hot spring with another English teacher and his family. (That's a baby on his chest! She's so cute!)

Someone built a snow dome.

This hot spring was for only your feet.  It was so nice to have piping hot water on my feet and calves while watching snow fall around me.

It's a very nice place, and it's free to the public!

Their other daughter *loves* hot springs.  She was so pumped! (And she quickly got her pants very wet!)

Snow Dome.

This child was GO! GO! GO!  She was so much fun to be around.

This is inside a very wealthy person's home from a long time ago (Eek!  I don't remember when!). It's now open to the public.  

My first yaki-mo! (Japanese baked sweet potato)

Yum!  And hot!

This is an adult person's car.

Stores have toy areas for children to play, an arcade for older children (and probably husbands), and a place for mothers to breastfeed.  The stores really try to cater to their customers.

These are all kitchen supplies.  For adults.

Because Japanese babies are cooler.

I seriously couldn't get enough of her.  She was so funny!

David's birthday king cakes!  I can't believe he found them!

Teaching our Japanese friends how to play king cup.

The keys to my *permanent* apartment!

Delicious soup at a sushi restaurant!  It was mostly egg, some broth, mushrooms, and a few veggies. YUM!

My sushi plates (they count the plates at the end to calculate the bill).

My co-workers being cute with some soy sauce.

Amelie... the Japanese version.

My goodbye party!  My boss and another teacher!

She always has funny faces for the camera.

Karaoke!

Karaoke is so much better in Japan.  You get your own booth, so you listen to only your friends' bad singing!

Post-karaoke ramen.

View of Fukushima from the top of a nearby mountain.  My last look at the city before heading back to Tokyo!