Saturday brought a gathering in celebration of the upcoming Christmas Holiday in which most of us here in Japan will be enjoying at work. Same location and and participants as the Halloween affair with a Hawaiian Santa sort of twist.
Well, It's the middle of December here and yes, we've been a little lazy on the posting the last few weeks, but in reality it has been pretty quiet here and we've been pretty lazy on the weekends in general. I Guess we are getting geared up for the holiday trip home. Its actually been quite cold here most nights, maybe the same as Ohio, but it does manage to get into the 50s most of the days (though our days are real short). We definitely haven't had the Snow and Ice of the Midwest, with only a bit of snow falling in the mountains to the North. While there is a bit of a Holiday season evident here and there in Utsunomiya, it is nothing near the insanity we put ourselves through between Thanksgiving and New Years in the States. Seems kind of peaceful and maybe the way the Holidays were intended to be actually.
We are however looking forward to our upcoming visits home and to seeing everyone between the Christmas and the New Years Holiday.
This evening we went out for a few cold beers and some appetizers at izakaya down the street. The owners were kind enough to surprise us with a plate of deep fried "Popcorn Shrimp" and man were they as tasty as they look. Heads, tails, pincher's, whiskers, legs, even there little peepers still attached and full of wholesome crunchy goodness. Good stuff.
