Sake Festival

I never liked beer, but I always thought it was because I hadn't tried one that I liked. Out of all of the beer that is brewed in the world, there must be one that I like. So I did the nerdy thing and took a short class over winter vacation at Wellesley about beer. I realized that I like wheat and/or Belgian beers the best.

Since I got here in August, I've tried nihonshu, aka Japanese sake (fermented rice), from various places, but I never felt compelled to drink anymore than a sip to try it out. Then I heard about a sake festival in Ikeda, Tokushima. I thought that I would be able to find a sake that I could enjoy the same way I found wheat beer. So a couple of my friends and I took a train over to Ikeda last weekend to test taste many different sakes from all over Shikoku.

Other than us, the festival was attended by several elderly Japanese men, a couple of whom didn't hold their sake well. We didn't get any pictures of that though.


There were 33 of these setups. Each sheet gave the taste rating on a sake bitter/dry to sweet scale, alcohol content, where it was made, etc.


We paced ourselves. Don't worry, the samples were small and we didn't try ALL 33.


Well no such luck. There were only about two that didn't make us go "bleh, that's awful!" Oh well, we tried. Maybe it's better this way.

Happy V-Day!!!

Over the last week, nearly every Japanese person that I talk to on a regular basis asked me if I knew about Valentine's Day in Japan. I'm a little sick of hearing about it to be honest, but I should at least relay it on to you guys. On Feb 14th, girls give boys chocolate. Girls usually give some to their friends as well. It doesn't seem to change as they grow up. Women give their male coworkers and bosses chocolate. Today I received chocolate from a few of the female teachers and students. The students really went all out, which was really cute and delicious. I gave all of the teachers chocolate from Kobe since I was there last weekend. Everyone asked me if I sent Eddie some chocolate, but they weren't surprised or confused when I told them that I got him something else.

On March 14th boys and men give girls and women chocolate. It's called white day.


Today really seemed like any other day to me though. Snacks are passed out in the office every day.

Castles, dungeons, and dragons

This weekend I went to Osaka to visit some friends. They taught me how to play Dungeons and Dragons, and we had a lovely time playing until 3am. I was a headbutting half-elf monk orphan. Anyways, this is the hair dryer that my friends let me use in the morning. It's so tiny, yet it still works really well.


I also went to the Himeji Castle, north of Kobe. The Himeji Castle is one of the twelve castles in Japan remaining from the feudal era. The moat, defensive walls, living corridors, and storage buildings were all built in 1346. The main structure was built in 1600. I was really impressed with the castle. It was beautiful and really well kept. I went all the way to the top. Inside there were diaries, guns, calligraphy, and armor on display.



Everyone had to put their shoes in a plastic bag and put on slippers before entering the main building.

And of course, there were no scribbles allowed.

The windows were built extra high in many of the rooms. If the castle were to be attacked, the guns and ammunition were kept on the floor, and the people shot through the windows up on the platforms.

These are gun racks.

Outside the moat, there's a beautiful park with multiple gardens in it. I partook in the tea ceremony in the tea house in the middle of the park.