a white xmas in japan

merry xmas and happy new year from japan!

antonette and i took advantage of the early snow in gifu and decided to go on our first snowboarding adventure. we spent most of the day falling instead of actually snowboarding, but it was a lot of fun ;)

antonette managed to get some footage of all the xmas decorations near nagoya station the following evening.

props to antonette for taking all the footage in this video. she did a great job.



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elf yourself

our friend rachel made this xmas surprise. elf yourself... do it

a western weakness

i hate traditional japanese toilets. i hate them because my legs are weak. this particular toilet gave me such a hard time on the way back from himeji castle... god i hate you toilet... you made my day crappy :(

kevin in kobe

this is my reverse shout out to kevin in kobe. kevin was kind enough to mention me in his latest vidd. if you watch my blog to find out about japan then be sure to visit his blog as well. he has been blogging about japan longer than me and has some great stuff. click here to visit kevin's blog or find his link on this page under 'japan bloggers'.

below you can also see kevin play a part in this huge japan vlogger collaboration, "xmas in japan." its well done and really funny. maybe more funny for those of us actually here, but still funny nonetheless. enjoy.

lets have some yum yums

rotary sushi, pad thai and haagen dazs. these are just a few of my favorite things. nagoya has the best of the east and the west. i still miss wendy's though :(

*it's yakiniku, not yakiniki, sorry :(

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dance unit

hip hop has never looked so awkward.

this is "dance unit," a hip hop dance event that spanned a couple of days and held at oasis 21 in sakae (downtown nagoya).

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ECC sub shift with nothing to do

i make drawings at work. yes, they hang giant canon printers from the ceiling.

iphone shhmyphone

cell phones in japan are amazing. they look like plain phones on the outside, but they have lots of capabilities. antonette's phone for example has a tv tuner built right in. mine's not as cool, but i can make video calls thru it easily. i stay away from it cause it costs extra ;)

softbank is one of the three largest cellphone companies here in japan. the three include softbank, ntt docomo, and au.

domo arigato mr. roboto.

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nagoya castle

antonette and i finally made our way to nagoya castle. we tried visiting it once before but didn't make it during the hours of operation. we made sure to be on time this time around.

overall it was a nice visit and its very close to where we live. the castle wasn't very impressive. i think we made the mistake of visiting inuyama castle first and now it has set the standard. nagoya castle is not in its original condition. its actually a replica of the original castle that was bombed during the american attacks of WWII. we wish we could have seen the original :(

the castle garden on the other hand is spectacular. really worth the visit. take a look.

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Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

japanese denny's

we stumbled upon a denny's the other day. that's right, denny's in japan. but it wasn't what we expected it to be.

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inuyama castle

this is part 1 and 2 of our visit to the oldest standing castle in japan, inuyama castle located in the aichi prefecture in the city of inuyama. the castle is surrounded by a great view of the city and a beautiful garden. only 500 yen for admission, you can't beat that. what a beautiful sight to ring in the new year. below are views from the top floor of the castle as well as an interior shot of the middle floor.

can't watch HD? click here to watch this video in standard definition.







Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.