Yuki ya kon ko

Andre and the Nabe Pot

The year is alive!
Things this year in Japan have started pretty much as they left, albeit a little colder. It’s winter.

So for some winter warmth a few friends and I got together for Nabe. I like the word Nabe, I like saying it lots of times – NabeNabeNabe. What on earth is it? Think of a communal pot of bubbling hot water, sitting on a little portable stove. And then, you wanna eat it? Just drop it in the water – crab, chicken, pork, beef, cod, salmon, mushrooms, shungiku… you get the idea. When it’s done, grab your chopsticks and fish out whatever takes your fancy. Pop it in your bowl with some daikon, celery, garlic and Japanese Ponzu. Add alcohol and music and you got yourself a hippie party. Thanks to Bill and Mineko for putting on this fun little shin dig.

Tsunchan and I, Champion Skiers

Naomi and I joined a gang of friends last weekend to Kashimo for their annual winter party. Kashimo has a sweet wooded lodge and we have the run of the place. Saturday was a huge day. Believe it or not, I’d never been skiing before but I was determined not to let this chance pass me by. So I pulled on my rentaskiis and my flatmate, Tsuruyo, gave me a crash course on how to stop. Once I’d mastered stopping she patiently taught me how to GO! It was a pretty wicked experience and I amazed myself how quickly I picked it up, and was soon flying down the slopes with everyone else. In fact, I loved it so much Tsuruyo and I are going again this weekend.

Naomichan couldn’t ski with us because of her injury (sustained when she fell of her bike last week at a poorly maintained construction site). Kawaii so Nekochan! But nothing was going to stop her from enjoying a long Onsen bath afterwards in Gero town. Back in Kashimo everyone was exhausted from drinking the night before, an early rise, skiing, and the Onsen. ‘Tired? Whatever!’ we said, and the 70 or 80 of us partied it up till late anyway. Good times.

***
I’ve started working on a little side project this past month, building an online store to sell music products in Japan. Yes, in Japanese. I’m teaming up with my friend Mike and his Japanese wife to see if we can get this little venture off the ground.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 11:54 am and is filed under Japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.