Two families

Like the one from last time I was in Japan about a year and a half ago, we went to a get-together dinner with my dad’s side of the family (mostly his cousins & their families).

The next day, I met my stepmother’s family for the first time since she and my dad got married last year.

My dad’s family, all from Osaka:

…and my stepmom’s family, in the small town of Shirakawa in Fukushima prefecture:

‘Nuff said?

Just too much seafood

I’ve been a pesco-vegetarian (eat fish/seafood, but no red meat or poultry) for about 8 or 9 years now, but I decided to go completely vegetarian for at least 2 weeks since I got back from Japan. For largely environmental reasons, I’ve been trying to be more of a conscious seafood eater, and I feel like I’ve done my share of raping the oceans in my mere 8 days in Japan.

Just a sampling of the crazy fancy food I was eating —

Before:

After:

15th trip to Japan

…and my first as a real American, standing in the non-Japanese nationals line at Narita Airport and all.

I’m running out of excuses to not post on here, seeing as I’m back with a lot to write about, but I do need to be getting to bed at the moment so I’ll just leave you with a little preview:

As seen from the shinkansen…