The automatic beer pourer

The heat. I used to think that if I had no roots or attachments back in Maine I could very easily move to Japan.  Everything about this place is wonderful.  Their attention to the finer things in life and their control of every minute detail serves to ensure that every productive member of this society has a high quality of life.  Prices are low, quality is high, and there are friendly faces everywhere.  However, the heat is becoming intolerable.  It has been a week straight with a heat index in the 110 region.  I can stand in the shade with a breeze blowing on me and will be sweating from every pore in my body.  I am growing rather tired of feeling like I jumped in a pool with all of my clothes on.  With that being said, this oppressive heat will not keep me from enjoying myself but it does let me know that I do not have what it takes to live here and that is good to know. If I ever come back to visit, it will be in the winter.

Wednesday was the usual blend of math, english, and music.  I am continuing to enjoy spending time here at the school and I look forward to every day.  The students leave early on most Wednesdays and the teachers all go to a meeting that I could go to if I wanted. I've talked to Kanda about it and she agrees that it's all in Japanese and I probably wouldn't get too much out of it.  I use the time to write this blog and plan the rest of my short time here.  When she came back from the meeting she said that she was off to another meeting that I really didn't need to go to, so she let me go an hour early.  I decided that I would use the time to go to a local L.L. Bean's and see how they compare.

Even this picture says it: they are exactly the same.  The sizes are a little different, but the merchandise is exactly the same.  I was hoping to bring something that was special and unique to Tokyo but they don't carry anything like that.  I even spoke with the manager and he explained that nobody would really buy that over here because their customers are really looking for the fact that these items are from Maine and not Japan. Which is guess makes sense but it was a little disappointing. 

The only thing about this picture that gives away that I'm in Tokyo is that the price of the t-shirts looks like $1000 but is in fact ¥1000 which is about $10. 

I did also stumble upon this cool sculpture/monument/memorial(?) to Godzilla which was cool.

And since everyone liked the last tree picture I took, here's another one:

Thursday was hot again but this time I was being shipped to an elementary school.  My english students were all taking exams so they thought my time would be better spent elsewhere.  I rode a bike to Doi Yon Hino Elementary School in the morning.  I made origami, practiced my Katakana, and talked about America and my family.  

During lunch a student came in and asked for the cabbage.  They took it outside and then returned a short while later.  I asked about this seemingly odd behavior and was told that he was feeding the bat.  Well fantastic!!  I wanted to see this bat.  Here he is:

:)

The bike ride in the morning was actually quite lovely to speed through the narrow streets and swerve to avoid people while coasting downhill.  The ride back however was twice as hot and a grueling climb uphill.  I thought I would die for sure.  I of course worry too much and I made it just fine.  I learned a very valuable lesson at the elementary school though: elementary education is not for me.  It's ok in small doses but it is exhausting work and I don't like being climbed on and touched by sweaty children.  I have a new found respect for the elementary teachers in my life. You are all amazing and don't get enough credit for what you do.  

At the end of the day I met up with Tara, Ira, and Carrie and we made our way to Osaki station to meet with Ineko and her English students.  We went to a remarkable restaurant where it was all you can eat and drink for $20. 

There was sushi, noodles, rice, curry, ice cream, chicken, pork, and other things that I don't know.  There were giant bottles of sake and you just helped yourself.  

There was juice and fresh ground coffee.  There was an automatic beer tap that poured the perfect pour for you!

 

You pick your frosted mug from the cooler, place it on the machine, and push the button that has a picture of a beer.  The machine tips your mug to the perfect angle and pours until you think it's going to spill over the edge.  It then returns to a verticle position and continues pouring.  Just as soon as you begin thinking, "Hey! This beer machine is pretty great but it left an inch of space near the top!" It pours the perfect amount of foam on top to finish it.  Another great example of the Japanese taking something from America that we think works perfectly well and taking it one step further to make it that much better.  

The desserts in Japan are also worth mentioning. Generally, they are not nearly as sweet as ours. I guess that is not all that odd.  They also have a fondness for putting more traditionally savory ingredients in their desserts.  The most popular of these seems to be beans.  Yesterday when I was coming home from school I decided that I needed an ice cream.  I've previously tried the Japanese version of the ice cream sandwich (two waffle trays with ice cream smushed between them) with delicious results.  This time I stopped at the 7-11 and had my eye on the ice cream bars.  I grabbed one with little red dots on it.  "Raspberry!!" I thought.  "Or perhaps plum, or strawberry!! Yum!!"  I bought it and started eating it when it occurred to me that these berries had a rather dry and pasty consistency to them.  I looked down and saw BEANS!!  

What kind of person thinks: "Hey you know what this delicious ice cream is missing?  Beans!  It's brilliant!!"  It wasn't terrible but it wasn't really the kind of cooling ice cream experience I was looking for. But clearly I hadn't had enough because at the buffet I tried some more.  They had a bowl of what looked like chili but it was "sweet beans" and you put it in your ice cream.

Yup, it looks like chili but it tastes like.... well...  beans in syrup.  Kind of like a blueberry pie filling but with beans instead of blueberries.  

We all had a very good time and began discussing our plans for the Saturday morning departure and overnight stay in Nikko.