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A caricature we had drawn of us in early August. I think Jonathan looks like Barry Bostwick. We wanted to the artist to make us look scary and funny. But I suppose he's not paid to offend the customers.

A snapshot from when Jonathan and I ducked into a photo booth for fun one night in Tokyo a few months ago.

Here are two photos from when Jonathan and I went whitewater rafting in May.

This is Saeko (the woman who took us for yakiniku) and I. This photo was taken months ago, but I only recently got it scanned onto my computer.

Here is a small random assortment of scanned photos from various past events. This is from a nomikai in July that was held to say farewell to one of our coworkers at Chiba Jyoshi.

And then it was goodbye

Emily returned to MN on August 24th. I was blue the whole day. We had a lot of fun together here. It's nice to see familiar faces in my world here. My friend, Kari, will be arriving tomorrow. So I'm jumping back on the tourist wagon for the next two weeks. Check back again later for more updates!

Emily and I make friends with Sonic the Hedgehog.

The other famous site in Kamakura is the daibutsu (big statue). If you arrive early enough, you can go inside the statue. The three of us arrived after they closed the entrance, though.

After we left Fuchimotos, we took a ferry across Tokyo Bay to Kamakura. Kamakura is a famous town full of old temples, shrines and statues. On the suggestion of Fuchimoto, we visited this shrine.

Jonathan and Mr. Fuchimoto relax after breakfast.

Fuchimoto-san also wrapped me up in yukata. It was too short.

What a babe.

The next morning after breakfast, Fuchimoto-san brought out her sari and asked Emily to try it on.

Here, Mrs. Fuchimoto demonstrates how to wrap an unopened bottle of wine.

The Fuchimotos gave Emily a beautiful cloth for wrapping gifts and wine bottles, etc. It's a traditional part of this culture to present things wrapped in a particular way depending on the occasion.

Fuchimoto expresses his enjoyment while Jonathan and I sing a hymn together.

Fuchimoto brought out his shakuhachi and entertained us briefly. Emily gave it her best shot.

Our hosts.

Fuchimoto-san gets things started by pouring the first beer for Emily.

At dinner, preparing to thankfully enjoy the food for the nourishment that the fish and shrimp gave their little lives for. Jonathan is wearing traditional men's summer relax-wear.

An octopus awaiting his/her fate in a tub outside the shop. I stuck my finger in the water and let it wrap its tentacles around me. It was creepy and strong. I felt sorry for these guys.

Gutting and cleaning the fish.

Fuchimoto chose some fish for dinner. The fishmonger is weighing them.

Here, squid has been sliced into thin strips and laid out in the sun to dry.

After walking down Nokogiriyama, we were intercepted on our way to the station by Fuchimoto-san who was also heading there to pick us up. He and his wife were having us over for an overnight stay at their house. Before we went to their house, we stopped at this fresh fish market to pick up some stuff for dinner.

As you hike down Nokogiriyama, you will come upon this place site for praying, leaving an offering, and also having a picnic.

This is a pretty common type of spider to see in more rural areas. I think they're real pretty.

Part way down the mountain is this fenced-off area containing sculpted statues of buddhas and boddhisatvas and monks, maybe. They're prob'ly not too ancient, though, as the detail on some of them, as Jonathan pointed out, looks like it could only have been cut by a machine.

Emily and Jonathan during our descent back to the town.

That's Emily and Jonathan with their butts hangin' out over all creation. The scenery here is truly beautiful. It's so green. Some people say it's only because Japan replanted all these trees after they deforested the mountainsides. That's prob'ly true. But that doesn't make it less beautiful to me. You don't see much greenery in the cities here.

Emily and I take five in front of the statue.

Emily stands in front of the hyaku shaku kwan yin. You may recognize some of these sites from photos posted last August when I visited it for the first time shortly after I arrived in Japan.

A view of the seaside fishing town from atop Mt. Nokogiriyama.

Because we were short on time, we took the ropeway to the top instead of hiking up it. Mt. Nokogiriyama is small, as mountains go. The hike (much of it stairs that have been carved into the mountain) is about two or three hours from base to peak.

The weekend of August 21, we took a trip down to the southern part of Chiba prefecture, out into the countryside and fishing villages. We started here, in Futtsu, where we hiked around Mt. Nokogiriyama. Here we are walking to the base of the mountain.

How the peace fingers ever became not only popular but standard for photos in this country is a question that offers no answers to anyone. We're all baffled by it. But when in Rome...

And who could resist an hour or two of karaoke to round out the evening?

Emily enjoyed the traditional food that was served.