Manhole cover in Yamaguchi featuring Lantern Festival. Every town has different designs.


We're riding our bikes into the main downtown shopping area near the train station. Several vendors are selling items along the street.


Little girl helping in her mother's booth, shows me her string game - some things are the very same around the world!


We found the covered shopping street - every city has one! This young man was selling fresh sushi from his cart & he laughed when I asked him it was made out of tiger meat!


Looking up inside the shopping street in Yamaguchi. The stained glass windows likely represent Xavier's Memorial Church - a famous landmark here.

Beautiful little boy hanging out with his Grampa inside the shopping mall.


Look at the size of these blossoms in front of a coffee shop!


We're stopping to park our bikes & go into this department store.


Candy counter on main floor is all ready for Valentine's Day. Read about how this holiday is different in Japan RIGHT HERE!


Look at these amazingly beautiful chocolate hearts & other yummy candies!

Click "older posts" below right for more fabulous photos!

Beautiful chocolate hearts.


During a potty stop, I've found the "extra" roll of TP that shows a new-style center - made from crinkled paper instead of cardboard. Great idea!


Back in the first floor grocery area, we found some beautiful apples.


Oh look! Fresh-cooked foods ready to go . . .


Yummy BBQ pork?

More yummy prepared foods to go. Looks like fried shrimp & oyster at bottom.


In the fish department, beautifully packages ready to travel.


Ah - the bakery department! Our favorite . . .


Of course we had to purchase a few goodies to take home.


Look at these heart-shaped pastries for Valentine's!

Click "older posts" below right to continue . . .

If you know me, you know I'm a purist when it comes to homemade pie crust, but this pastry is absolutely amazing!


We've ridden our bikes back to our "little blue box" in the parking lot near the market. I love that our little car holds both our bikes so easily!


Cool statue on the street in Yamaguchi.


Heavy traffic as we leave town. Look at the back of this car in front of us!


Cute face on the back of this "Town Box." Its "eyes" are made of 2 decals that usually represent an "older" driver (autumn colors).

View from Rt 2 down into a peaceful valley. In the distance, you can see lanes of the elevated expressway we drove on our way to Yamaguchi, but it's cheaper (and a little slower) to return home this way.


Construction along Rt 2 - bunnies!


Well, it is the Year of the Rabbit . . .


We've stopped in a nice clean 7-11 to potty, so we always buy something. I wanted juice, but look at these beautiful fresh sandwiches and other meals-to-go.


This is interesting - strawberry sandwich? On its right is a pork sandwich.

"Standard" ham & egg salad sandwich.


Stan can't resist the hot dog on a stick with a convenient packet of mustard/ketchup. When you bend the packet in half, the contents come out together. Convenient.


Oh - look at these construction barriers!


I haven't seen monkeys before!


Small cemetery on a terraced hillside with parking.

Conveyor Belt Sushi in Action!

Watch & listen to this brief video glimpse inside a Japanese fast-food sushi restaurant!

Dinnertime at Akiyama

Akiyama on Hwy 188 is our favorite kaiten sushi restaurant in Iwakuni. That's Stan sitting at the counter in his red sweater vest.


Yummy dishes passing in front of us on the conveyor.


Oh - that's one of my favorites! Tai tempura (red snapper).


One of the sushi chefs is roasting something with a blowtorch. What a quick & efficient way to cook!


Stan's favorite - roasted steak.


So, this sign shows the price (in yen) for each plate. The bottom number (in paren) shows the total price including tax.


We're finished & this is our stack of plates Can you figure out how much we spent?

Yep. All this: 12 plates cost us 2729 Yen - just a little over $33 for both of us!

Welcome Spring in Japan 2/3

My Japanese calendar has rabbits in every month's picture, since 2011 in the Year of the Rabbit. This is February's . . .


Traditional Japanese first day of spring is February 3 - Setsubun - and I wanted fresh flowers to remind me since we have had a VERY cold & long winter this year. I have worn socks for about 6 weeks now! Some winters I have not worn socks at all! So, I went to a local market and bought these tulips & iris, strawberries, eggs & cherry tomatoes for about 1100 yen - $13.50.


May sound expensive, but all are fresh & local. The strawberries & tomatoes are vine-ripened, perfect & delicious! The eggs (10 instead of 12 - metric system!) are firm with dark golden yolks, indicating they are from healthy, active chickens who have NOT been pumped full of hormones & antibiotics . . .

Watch a cute & brief video about Setsubun - made by a primary teacher so perfect to share with children: RIGHT HERE!


We're probably YEARS behind everyone else, but we *finally* bought a big screen LED TV & Sachi really LOVES it! We watch lots of nature shows on Japanese TV. Of course, we had to practically rearrange the whole house to make room, but at least now I can see it from the kitchen while I prepare dinner- Yay!

Fish Tank Dinner - 1/28

It's Friday night and Stan & I have made our regular bike ride to Uhei - "Fish Tank." New friends Cecelia & Megan have met us for dinner. This is the toy basket available for children - it's very popular and helps to bring in families with children.


Here's Megan and she's found a toy she likes! We met them on our apple-picking & steam train trip a few months ago.


Shoes on the floor below a raised Japanese table. We're eating at the bar . . .


"Stuff on a stick" being grilled right in front of us. The red curtain separates us from the open kitchen.


Hard to beat these bacon-wrapped scallops - delicious! If you click & look closely, you can see many other items on the menu. There are LOTS of cooked dishes here, as well as excellent sushi.