Kampai!

*As promised, the pictures are now up*

Well the weekend is winding down now, but I had a great last couple of days! No pictures yes because I'm sitting in bed and my camera is just too far away... I'll put them up soon.

On Friday I went out to dinner at Yama-chan, I place that is a famous Nagoya destination, known for its Tebasaki- chicken wings. They had a really good seasoning on them. I also had some rice porridge, which was basically just soup with egg and vegetables in it with lots of rice. Also very good. After dinner we checked out a cigar bar that had live jazz musicians. The bass player was playing a tiny electric upright that was really neat.

(Live jazz musicians)

Today I got to sleep in -yay! There has been lots of pollen in the air for the last week and it has been giving me a sore throat, so it was nice to rest. At two I met my friends at the Asahi beer plant, just a short subway and train ride away. Unfortunately since it was a Saturday the factory wasn't actually in operation, but we still got to see all of the cool equipment and such. Apparently on Saturdays they let people who have applied and been chosen make their own beer! We walked past some people who were in the process. After the tour we got to taste test some fine Asahi products and they also gave us tons of snacks! There were packets of nuts, smoked cheese, beef, and duck! On the way home I got a delicious banana & custard crepe too! Good food day, as always :)

(The big beer making devices outside. The beer stays in here for 7 days getting flavor!)

Tonight Samurai Japan took on Korea in the World Baseball Classic. Let's just say after the 2nd inning the score was 8-2, Japan. The game ended up getting called after the 7th inning because Japan was up 14-2. Yay Japan!

Meg

Fact of the Day: Sake (pronounced Sock-long A, rather than Sock-long E) has taken on a completely different meaning in America than it's real meaning in Japan. Sake refers to every kind of liquor. Even cans of beer and other less alcoholic drinks have labels on the side that say 'this is sake'. Might seem silly to you, but it is hard to tell sometimes which items are alcoholic and which aren't. Anyway, the substance the Americans would think of as Sake is actually called Nihon-shu.(日本酒　－ Nihonshu)