Space Bread!

Ever wonder what kind of bread Astronauts eat in space? Keep wondering... I doubt this is it. We visited a museum and saw these in the gift shop. The Space Bread on the left is milk flavored and the one on the right is chocolate Space Bread. This isn't our first foray into Japanese Space Food. Check out the selection of space food I posted back in January.

We bought the chocolate Space Bread. If you have ever been to a convenience store in Japan, then you have seen this kind of bread before. It sell for about 100-yen (around $1). We paid 650-yen for Space Bread.

Silly Gaijin... or How I Spent My Saturday.

Above is Landmark Tower in Yokohama. We've been there before, but we were in the area this afternoon, so up we went.

Up, up, up, in Japan's fastest elevator. It takes you from the 2nd to the 69th floor at a rate of 750 meters a minute. The whole trip takes 40 seconds.

The amusement park in the area is called Cosmo World. The first time we visited the area, we wanted to give the Ferris Wheel a whirl. The Ferris Wheel there is one of the biggest in the world. Unfortunately, it was closed on Thursdays. Today we were just up for a quick trip in the area and we didn't even venture over that way.

Below is a picture of a enclosed room with an ATM machine... and the reason for the title of this particular blog entry.

We were hungry, and out of yen, so we decided to get some money from an ATM. The screen was entirely in kanji. Kanji that is way above my reading ability! I stopped two women passing by and asked them if they could help. The came in the room with us and tried to help. One of the women ended up calling for assistance on the phone attached to the ATM. Ultimately, the machine would not honor cards not issued in Japan.

We're done, right?

WRONG!!!

We all turned around to leave, but the doors were locked! Evidently, there was some security feature that locked us all in that tiny room. I ended up down near the floor banging on the glass until someone finally saw me and went for help. Several people were outside the room trying to get the door to open while we were inside doing the same. Eventually, an official-looking woman came and told us to hang on. She ran from the area and the doors opened a few minutes later.

I apologized to the two women who stopped to help and bowed my deepest gratitude bow. They were very gracious, perhaps because they now had a great story to take home to their families about how they saved some gaijin.

There are horses in Japan!

We just passed our four year mark living in Japan. I have only seen one other horse here, aside from as a menu item. The other horse I saw was brought to a festival for kids to ride on. Of course, I know they have horses in Japan and I even know of people who regularly ride. I just have never seen them. These horses were at a horse riding club in Yokohama. I think I was in Yokohama. They must be city horses.

I took these photos in Yokohama Station during a slow period. This isn't rush hour... that's why I took these photos. The first time I ever went through this station I used a whole bunch of not-so-nice words under my breath. As soon as you walk out of the ticket gate, you have to jump into the fast moving river of people heading the way you want to go.

Yokohama Station isn't even the busiest station in the area!

It's not unusual to be handed a pack of tissues. Today, I was handed a pack of flower seeds with a pack of tissues. Neat!

New Kit Kats!

I mentioned Vinegar drinks in a prior post. These Kit Kats are flavored like those drinks. The Apple Vinegar one above is white chocolate. The Lemon Vinegar Kit Kat, below, is regular chocolate.

The vinegar drinks are quite good. I just bought an Ume (plum) flavored vinegar drink. I'm a bit addicted now.

These are Zunda Mochi Kit Kats. That's Edamame (soy bean) mochi (sweetened rice paste) flavored Kit Kats from the Touhoku (Northeast) region. They were passed on to me from a friend of a friend of a friend who lives in Misawa.

Street or Sidewalk?

We're going to play a little game I like to call "Street or Sidewalk." You look at this photo and decide if you would dare take your car down it.
Okay, maybe not. But I took a couple of pictures of vehicle roads that I, a concerned citizen, don't feel should be traveled. I have taken up nail-biting while driving some of the roads around here, but today I was on foot. Scary!

There is no good frame of reference for the road above. You may be able to get down it driving a Mini Cooper with no mirrors.

I am learning kanji, so I am able to tell you with confidence that this beautiful vista in Hayama is Food Mountain. Ha! I really need to buckle down and study more.

This is really called Sakurayama, Cherry Blossom Mountain.

To get to this hike, leave Shinzushi Station through the entrance nearest the end of the line. Follow that road past the city bus lot and make a left at the light. Follow that road past the Zushi Sports Club and take a left up a road that looks like it will lead you to a cemetery... it doesn't. That road turns into a tiny road that is really more of a sidewalk. Keep following it up and you will soon be on a beautiful trail.

There is an archaeological site up there as well. I saw a roped off area. I don't read enough kanji, nor did I take enough time, to know much about it. There were pictures of old pots.

This pesky pigeon joined us for a Mother's Day picnic on Zushi Beach. It was a beautiful day and there were many people enjoying the weather on the beach. Fuji-san wasn't visible while we were there.

Taiko drum festival

We stayed home for most of Golden Week. These photos are from a Taiko Drum festival in late March. A special thank you to my friend Monica for inviting us!
These drummers are all young. I think the oldest was 23 years old. Most of them were in high school. They were quite good and full of energy.

Mmmm Vinegar drinks.

Vinegar drinks are quite popular here in Japan. That's banana above here.

The flavor above is plum and honey vinegar. Below is brown sugar vinegar.

There were two different types of brown sugar at this particular store.

I bought blueberry vinegar (above) and apple vinegar (below). The blueberry cost about 900-yen, but you only use a little bit at a time and dilute it with water. The apple below was only 350-yen but it was already mixed with water.

I expected the apple vinegar drink to taste like cider vinegar, but it tasted more like apple juice. The blueberry just tasted like a blueberry juice. Both drinks had only a slight vinegar taste (feel maybe?) to them. They're not bad.