The new Mr. and Mrs Sasa

The Wedding was small but gorgeous. The sun was shining, the bride was stunning, the food was heavenly. Congratulations to Kazuki and Azusa!! We started at the chapel, which was beautiful - all white marble and glass with a view of the ocean and fountains that fired water into the air. Then we took an old car ride through the Dutch town to the hotel dock where we boarded a small cruise boat and toured around the canals. The boat ride was lovely and people on the banks and walkways kept bursting out in applause when they saw Azusa in her dress and Kazuki and Azusa complained later that their shoulders hurt from waving so much. Then the boat dropped us at a big white building where we had lunch - the kind of lunch where you have trouble keeping track of which fork to use (pictures to come). Overall it was a really great wedding and very much like a fairy-tale.

Halloween Mad Cow Antics

It was all tricks and treats this past Saturday at the Osaka Halloween Bar Tour (that`s "pub crawl" to all my friends back home). Run by my friend Bret as a tour of local nightspots for revelers, newbies, tourists and seasoned Osaka drinkers looking for something a little different in their diet, Halloween is one of the bigger tours of the year (he runs them almost monthly and also does private tours - the site is www.osakanightlife101.net ). All the animals were out in full. Thanks to everyone who came out to make it a great night! Behold the photographic evidence...

This first picture looks roughly how my memories of the night look; chaotic, blurry, and lot and lots of fun.

"Huis Ten Bosch Dutch Village"

OR "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dutch... in Japan"

So one might be under the impression that a "Dutch Village" in Japan might be tacky or perhaps a bit creepy at best. One would in fact be wrong. Huis Ten Bosch (ハウステンボス), near Nagasaki, is actually quite tasteful and lovely with beautiful buildings, recreated cathedrals and towers, and the ubiquitous windmills (which i refrained from attacking). There were also swans. Lots of swans.

However, i was not there just to sight-see, i was also there for my brother-in-laws wedding. Which is to say, i was there for the food. And oh, how glorious was the food!! I shall leave it for another post altogether. For now just enjoy the pretty buildings and windmills.

A Bad Sign

I will buy a beer for the first person to spot the grievous error here.*



*no, i won`t.

Queer Beer Addendum

Just after i wrote and posted that stuff about the weird beer here i came across this in my local supermarket. At first i just thought it was another microbrew and i bought it to taste and for the label. When i got home i was amazed and disturbed to find that the beer is BLUE. BLUE BEER! Now that`s some messed up shit, right there. I thought i was having a flashback or something. As for the taste, well, it sucked. I guess Smurf beer just isn`t meant to be at this time in human history. Though i do wonder if it`s made from actual Smurfs...





BTW, i say "queer" in this context meaning "weird" or "strange" because, frankly, i don`t see how beer could be gay. Unless it`s Coors.

Now THIS is sushi!

I recently went down to Kyushu, to a place called Huis Ten Bosch ( ホウステンボス ), which is a Dutch Village theme park here in Japan. Surreal, i know. But i haven`t yet finished sorting through the pictures. When i do, i will be sure to post many pics and observations from that trip and from my brother-in-law`s beautiful wedding there, which is why i went down there in the first place. (hint: lots of windmills and food). The following pictures have been sitting in a folder on my desktop, waiting to be posted (blog filler, anybody?).

Thus, for now, i give you... raw fish.

Now, I`m not trying to knock the sushi buffets of West Coast Canada, or the quaint attempts at "high class" sushi joints of Toronto and GTA, or even the tables-covered-with-plastic mall sushi of Halifax (and every other city). But, friends, THIS is what those places aspire to (or should aspire to). This is real sushi in Osaka. Don`t even ask me to try and name anything...

The Beer Out Here Is Mighty Queer

Over my years in Japan I`ve had the pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) of trying a lot of weird food and drink. Looking through my photos the other day, i pulled together some pics of weird beer. Not pictured here are hemp beer (not from Japan and not very good) and Choco-beer (which was gross, though some people like it i guess).

Something to add to your list of things to not bother trying is this. Bilk. What do you get when you mix beer and milk? You don`t want to know...


This beer was brewed by one of the larger brewing companies, Suntory. It was actually pretty good. This is the "English" one. There was also a Canadian one but i didn`t have my camera with me at the time. When i went back to get more, they were gone. Ghost beer? Nope. Just seasonal brews in small batches. Too bad they were in cans or i could`ve kept the labels for my beer label collection (i have over a hundred now). I enjoy the seasonal brews here in Japan. They like to rotate through foods and drinks as the seasons change. Keeps things interesting. The autumn beers are usually best, i find, but i`m not actually basing that on anything.


I may have posted this picture before. Goya-Dry. Goya is an extremely bitter vegetable grown mostly in Okinawa. some people like the bitter taste but i find it unfit for human consumption. However, always game to try new things, i bought this beer and gave it a go. It was delicious! The bitter but subtle aftertaste of the Goya went very well with the refreshing taste of the brew. Best drunk cold. Helios, the brewer also makes a couple of other odd beers but i have yet to find them in stores around here.


Matcha Draft. Another strange combination is green tea and beer. But again, like the goya beer, the tastes blended well. The matcha was slight and elegant so as not to overpower. This brewer from Nagoya (called "Land Beer" i think) also makes a "Miso Lager." Yup, that`s Miso as in miso soup you get at most Japanese restaurants. And once again, the taste is surprisingly alright, though i prefer the Matcha Draft.


This one i know i posted before. The beer is awful but the way it was served to me in a Mexican restaurant in Kyoto was too weird not to include here. It looks like a can of tequila. Which probably would have tasted better!


Ulala living the dream.