Visit with Renee and Brad in Vancouver ( 3 nights)
Visit with lady, doc and Sophia in Colorado springs (3 days)
ISTE conference in Denver (8 days)
Visit with friend and family in Ottawa with a 2 night trip to Niagara Falls with Rosie (3 weeks)
2 weeks of summer school
1 week of computer setup, relaxation, tweeting, blogging, staying up too late and waking up to early.
Teach workdays begin on Monday August 16.
Meiji Mura is a Japanese open air museum about 30 minutes (driving) from Nagoya with architectural artifacts from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). It was opened in 1965.
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These muffins are delicious. The only thing that I can’t figure out is why some of them are lopsided.
One of these muffins is less like the others ...
Japan – The Strange Country (Japanese ver.) from Kenichi on Vimeo.
He’s taken down his official English version but there’s an English version here:
Since I speak little Japanese, I can’t compare the two versions. I’m interested in how well the video translates from Japanese to English and on your impression of the video.
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I messaged her yesterday to suggest lunch today. We met for a late lunch and went to an Indian restaurant near her parents’ home. The proprietress is so interesting. She is a Japanese woman married to a Tibetian man who has refugee status in India; they met in India when she was vacationing there. We bonded over our Ayurvedic experiences in India and over our adoration of the twin polar bears at the Maruyama Zoo. My friend translated some of our conversation but it’s amazing how much of a language you can understand from the tone of voice and body language. We spent a lovely hour and a half together before she pointed out a nearby bus stop to Otaru, my next destination.
Simply beautiful. I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the Otaru winter festival. I took a 50 minute bus ride from Sapporo to Otaru and walked around the beautifully lit up city. Ice candles are laid out all over the city, particularly along the more traditional streets. There was no pomp and circumstance tonight, just crowds of people enjoying the unique candle holders made of ice and snow.
I stopped along the way and bought a large clam cooked mostly by blow torch.
I got to Hokkaido yesterday in time to enjoy the ice and snow sculptures in Odori park and the entertainment for the final night of the Sapporo Winter Festival. Light snow constantly fell over everything giving the illusion of a snow globe. The scale of the sculptures is empressive. There is one of animals at the zoo and several of buildings. Most of the sculptures are done by Japanese but there is an International Park with sculptures representing the following countries: Finland, USA, China, Thailand, Korea, Bali, New Zealand, Singapore and Hawaii (yes I know it’s not a country). There were two other sites for sculptures too but I didn’t make it to either of them. And now it’s too late because I saw cranes tearing the sculptures apart as I walked to my hotel tonight.
Right opposite my hotel was one of he largest sculptures. A stage was created as part of the sculpture, one of several such stages created in Odori Park to host performances. Most of the Japanese performances that I’ve seen involved taiko drumming. These were unique in that there were no live instruments. Large groups of performers danced while one person on the sidelines called out/sang out. Considering how cold it was, I was surprised that the outfits were often sleeveless or bared the men’s torsos. In one outfit, the men stripped down to underwear. There was even a Japanense boy band who performed. One thing that strikes me when I watch Japanese performances with dancing is how much fun the participants seem to have. The audience was having lots of fn too, dancing and waving in time with the performers.
Today I simply walked around the city and went to the zoo. I’m heading to Otaru tomorrow.
More pictures when I get home …
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