making itarian


making itarian, originally uploaded by renfield.

Mitsukoshi had a Niigata Prefecture Festival, so of course there was lots of local food. Our target was "itarian", which is thick udon noodles cooked like yakisoba and then covered in spaghetti meat sauce. I don't have the faintest clue were this nightmare of Western and Japanese food came from, but it was damn tasty!

happy birthday nishijima-sensei

Went to Josui Kaikan for Nishijima-sensei's 88th birthday lunch. He's been sitting zazen and studying Buddhism for many a decade. He also translated some of the seminal works into modern Japanese and then into English. Today was also the launch party for his latest book, a modern Japanese translation of the Sanskrit Churon. Don't actually have any idea what it is, as I'm still slowly trudging my way through Shobogenzo.

38th week tonchan


38th week tonchan, originally uploaded by renfield.

p's "today's achievement"


TODAY'S ACHIEVEMENT, originally uploaded by piroko_kuroda.

She's a wizard with needle and thread!

zombies and babies

Counselor Kobayashi called me up and required brunch, so we headed to Miri's for a proper feed of Eggs Benedict and french toast. Then we headed to counselor's quarters to kill zombies on his xBox 360. Damn, the sickle is fun but pales in comparison to the chainsaw and the battle axe. Then again bouncing a soccer ball off multiple zombies is pretty cool too, though the propane tanks were also just begging to be shot or otherwise ignited.
After the slaughterfest I met P at the hospital to visit one of her friends from the soon-to-be-mom class who had her baby Yuika on Friday. Cutie! I got to hold her and we saw what's in store for us soon...whenever Tonchan decides to stop playing kick-the-organs and comes out into the world.