I can now drive in Japan! Yay! Since getting the car, we've had a lot more freedom in deciding where to spend our time and money. One day, we just hopped in the car and drove 60 or so kilometers to Takamatsu, the largest city on Shikoku. We didn't do much their except eat udon (a type of noodle that Takamatsu brags about) and do a little shopping (we bought some My Neighbor Totoro ornaments.)

Last night Brent and I got back from an exhausting trip to Osaka, witha side trip to Himeji. We left Naruto on Saturday morning. We took the train from Kyokaimae near our house to Naruto proper, and then walked to the bus station. At the bus station, you get on Slopey, and the little rail car takes you to the expressway,where the buses pick you up on their way to Honshu.

We left Himeji and headed back to Osaka, getting there right about sunset. We walked from Osaka Station to our capsule hotel, which was located in the Americamura district. We weren't cool enough for Americamura--it was full of trendy clothing stores (including some that catered to Japanese women into the pretty pretty princess fashion style.) There were also lots of pachinko parlors, which are about 20 times as loud as a Vegas casino.

We are having a difficult time getting a wireless router to work. While we don't technically need one, it would be nice to get the cables off of the middle of the floor.

Kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurants are fun, and have good sushi. I had some amazing lightly blow-torched salmon with mayonnaise.

Random fact: Mayo is big in Japan.

I have found a way to give myself unlimited ringtones using any song I want. This would be more exciting if people ever called me.

Even after a month, my legs still hurt while biking.

Being functionally illiterate is hard. Teaching people to read is an important thing. Makes me feel better about the years I spent doing that in the States.

Random pictures of a typical dinner to go with the random post:

Finally! Home internet! And a phone! I'm getting settled in here.

I took the trip to get my visa expanded on my own. Took the train to Tokushima, no big deal. I've done that before. After I got there, I realized that I'd have to take a city bus the rest of the way, which meant recognizing kanji that I'd never seen in combination before. But, I got it right the first time, and thankfully the bus driver was familiar with helping foreigners, since the immigration office was on his route. I thought it would be a weeks long process, but instead I waited at the office for 5 minutes, and then they handed me a card that stated that I have permission to work 28 hours a week.

On Friday, Brent's supervisor, who is incredibly nice and helpful even though I'm not her responsibility, took me to the employment office to look up some English teaching jobs. I got several leads, and I'll be dropping off some resumes on Monday. Later that evening, there was an enkai (a work party) for Brent's Board of Education (basically a school district) and I was invited along. It was a nomihodai, which means "all you can drink." So, lots of beer (but I still haven't had Kirin!) and plum wine. The food was mostly sashimi, which I'm getting used to. I even tried tako (octopus.) The taste was pretty decent, but it was very very chewy. I ended up swallowing it pretty much whole.

And today, sweet sweet home internet. And a cell phone! Woo!

Some random pictures (from the Naruto album, which has been updated.)