Eye of the Tiger

Exhausted after a night of cross-cultural communication (I was slightly distracted by Ken's new pervie mustache the whole time and my Japanese language skill definitely suffered as a result), we let Tiger entertain us until the sun came up.

Yabusame

Mourning the departure of our buddy Shouta(he moved to San Francisco, he's not dead), Makoto and I set off to Tsuwano, an old castle town in Shimane-ken, for the Yabusame(horseback archery) festival. The competetion was amazing; the tradition, the clothes, the horses, the skill. After the festival we ate San-sai (mountain vegetable)udon and went for a stroll through the old samurai quarters. The streets of Tsuwano are lined with streams of koi, many of which are over a meter long. Apparently there are more koi in Tsuwano than there are people. Mmm...koi.

Hanami

Hanami is my favorite Japanese celebration because all it involves is eating and drinking with friends under sakura. The laziest tradition ever!

Kitty-chan

We took Laird's kitty queen to a shrine to celebrate the beginning of hanami (cherry blossom viewing), my most favorite time of year.

It's the Muppet Show

How come no one ever told me that I look like a muppet? Seriously. A muppet or a serial killer. I'm about 5 years away from "Crazy Cat Lady" status.

In the Ghetto

We ended the night at this soul bar called "Ghetto". I have little to no recollection of this part of the night, but based on forensic evidence, I have concluded that it became a dirty dancing make out party. This video that Marko took is by far the most innocent, least embarrassing (although still somewhat embarrassing) documentation of the night.

Vernal Equinox

The Vernal Equinox is a national holiday in Japan which means no work. We spent the day on Omijima, a small island on the San-In coast that has a whale museum and graveyard, a fish market, a floating restaurant, 16 Buddhas, a trash covered beach, some cold, cold water, and a great view. Sally was a champ and led us bravely into the Sea of Japan to celebrate the first day of spring. Samukatta yo!