Spelunking***

Today Bec (new roommate!) and I went to the mysterious caverns of Takedao. And in this case, mysterious caverns = unused train tunnels. We actually had no idea where the entrance was, so we decided to hike up a mountain (now that's logic!). I'm happy to say that, after braving cobwebs and shortness of breath, we reached the summit only to find zero view! This is Jack's disapointed liver. Anyways, we did find the tunnels in the end, and stomped through a few of those babies. I was a little bit afraid that a ghost train might appear and crush us, but luckily for us ghost trains don't run on Mondays. Whew!

***from "Spelunker: One who explores caves chiefly as a hobby; a caver."

Foxy!

Luke kindly installed a new internet browser on my laptop (firefox) which is faster and gooder and stuff... but the really snazzy part is that it has a function called Stumble, which takes you to random interesting websites. For example, it took me to Bunny Suicides, which is the cutest morbid death page ever. Look at the bunny trying to die. Awwwww, ain't he a sweetiepie! http://people.freenet.de/schnubelken/bunnys/

Rain Rain Go Away

Recently, it's been raining all the time. If you're a rice plant, it's good news. But if you're a human... well, it can be annoying. Like when you're someone who leaves their umbrella all over the place. In a not-exactly-related note, I bought some flowers and planted them in dinky little pots on my balcony. I don't know how long they'll live- this is the person who can kill cactii (that shouldn't be possible, should it?). I also bought some bean seeds but I left them at work. We'll see how soon I fail in this endeavor....

^___________^

Ooh, I went to USJ yesterday! It was expensive, wet and full of line-ups. Did I enjoy myself? Of course! Some of the movie-rides/attractions fell a little flat (E.T., I'm lookin' at you!) but others were pretty kickass. Waterworld, which I saw in the theatre and absolutely loathed, was great! It was a mini action show populated by hot, post-apocalyptic pirate dudes. Backdraft was pretty sweet as well- we went there after getting soaked on the Jurrasic Park ride and dried off thanks to all the pyrotechnics. The only truly saddening thing was because of the rain, the Peter Pan show was ixnayed. Dang! The pirate ships looked hella cool, so I'm posting the picture I took even though I didn't see the show. In tribute, I bought a souvenir pirate cap to wear.... well, probably never. But I like it, and that's what's important.

Hell freezes over!

Recently, I have indulging in this wonderful, magical, delectable food know to the world as tofu. I know, I know. What am *I* of all people doing eating tofu? Well, I don't know how or why, but there's this sesame tofu that is positively dreamy. And I, like this little mouse who graced my google search with his presence, feel the same irresistible pull of the bean curd.... oh my god, this mouse is so cute!!!

グリコ time!

I went to Nihonbashi and bought an action figure. There are so many toy shops in Osaka- for adults, generally of the male persuasion. Action figures are not exactly cheap- I mean, I can find reasonably priced things but some of the stuff is crazy takai! Um... ok, I feel like a total geek posting about toys like this so that's all I have to say about that.

Hey, it's Guriko-san. I meant to take a picture of him a loooooong time ago. Sorry you cannot view him in all his fabulous nocturnal splendour, so here's a link: http://www.theaquabats.com/news/UKJP_tour/sized/ukjp010

Kaeru o mimashita!!

Check this out, it's the mother of all frogs. Recently, the frogs in the rice field behind our apartment have come back to life with a vengeance. The noise is friggin' unbearable, like something out of a nightmare. They should record this noise and use it to squeeze out confessions during CIA interrogations. By the way, I actually touched this frog! Then I screamed like a girl because it jumped.

I could enjoy this day!

I went to Kitano-cho in Kobe for the first time. Uroko no Ie, or "The Fish-Scale House", is a turn-of-the-century house which is home to an art museum (I saw a Matisse painting!) and "authentic furniture and decorations", as the eigo guide states. Also home to price gouging, yikes! My friend and I stormed through the former foreign settlement in Kitano, blitzed Chinatown (I got a mask! Sweet!) and ransacked our way through Harborland. We finished our day at The Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant (I know! I thought it was only in North America!) where we ate on seats that looked like they'd been sawed off a fancy bed.