Day Trip to Ueno (Tokyo) 上野

Sunday Heather and I took a little day trip down to Ueno to visit Ueno Park, Ameyoko shopping district, and the Hard Rock Cafe for a little home cookin(Nachos and Cheeseburgers). Sorry, but the attached pictures dont really give a clue about the atmosphere of this older suburb in Tokyo. I guess we were focusing on relaxing a bit and really didnt take many cool pictures. Im sure we will be back there again, and if you were to visit Tokyo, it would likely be a stopping point in your travels.

Ice Cucumber Pepsi and Melon KitKats

So June has been a month of culinary milestones here in Japan with the introduction of some killer new snack products. Ice Cucumber Pepsi hit the snack shoppe at work this week. Shawn and myself couldn't bring ourselves to make the purchase, so we talked a couple of girls from our office into trying it. Of course they offered us a sample and I must admit, its not bad. Actually kinda light and not so cucumbery. I brought a bottle home for Heather to sample and we immediately decided that a product this refreshing could only be made better with a 40% blend of Shochu Liquor and some big ole ice cubes. Very refreshing indeed.
KitKats have been in the States for years but ya gotta come to Japan to get the cutting edge products. While "MoMo" (Peach) KitKats have been around for a while, this summer brings the new flavor "Meron" (Cantaloupe, Freaking Cantaloupe!) to the scene. Very tasty indeed. Oh yes it is the small things.

Company Sports Day at Mashiko Park

Sunday brought some more great weather and a trip to a sports park out in Mashiko City for a company sports day event. Several of the different divisions from throughout the company fielded teams for a day of some serious and a lot of not so serious sporting events. Our team NMC-1 came in 4th out of the 10 teams. Not a bad showing considering the ages and general fitness or maybe lack therof of our participants.

2007 FIM Trials at Motegi

Today I went to Motegi with some friends from work to see some International trials competition. The weather, Motegi, and the event were all great. These guys do some pretty amazing things on a bike, its all low speed but very technical and the riders talent is beyond belief. Must say being up in the woods smelling the premix and fresh churned dirt was also very nice. More pics in the Yahoo folder.