I got back to Arizona yesterday afternoon. While I was waiting for my connecting flight in San Francisco, I noticed two things about the U.S. that hit me right away as being a big contrast from Japan. First of all, the airport was dirty. There was trash all over the floors of the airport. And [...]

Here’s a photo of the meal I had in the ANA Lounge in Narita Airport. There was a huge bar of free drinks and snacks (BTW, did I mention that free upgrades to Business Class ROCK!). I had this bowl of udon noodles with a piece of kamaboko (surimi fish paste) with the ANA logo [...]

Through the wonders of wireless internet technology, I am blogging on my laptop in Fukuoka Airport as I wait for my flight to Tokyo Narita en route to San Francisco and then Phoenix. Last night, I had my last adult conversation class. Then I headed to an izakaya (Japanese-style pub/tapas bar) for some food and [...]

Last night, I had dinner with the girls (Tash, Natalie, Isa) at Hakata Kinryu Ramen, a ramen restaurant across the street from my house. In local foreigners lingo, we often refer to this place as the “Green Dragon” becauce of the cute mascot on the sign and on the menus, but curiously, the Japanese name [...]

I went to visit the Usa [oo - sah] Shrine with Tash yesterday. The Usa Shrine is one of the most important shrines in Shintoism and is dedicated to the god Hachiman, who is the god of war and the divine protector of the Japanese islands and the Japanese people. Even though this shrine is [...]