August 15 – September 15, 2020
Places we Traveled:
Gunma Prefecture (2 day road trip)
Peaks:
- Gunma Road Trip! I wrote a detailed post about the trip because we had so much more fun than we expected. For reference, I just googled “what is Gunma famous for” and the results were a selection of nice-looking mountains and some hot springs. If you don’t know much about Japan, I’ll tell you… Every. Single. Prefecture. Has some nice-looking mountains and hot springs. We went to Gunma solely for our quest to see as many of Japan’s 47 prefectures as we can. Before our trip, I spent a couple hours slapping together an itinerary that included glass blowing, sake tasting, and a museum of toys, dolls, and cars. We stayed overnight in a 600-year-old temple, ate grapes the size of golf balls, and only got rained on a little. It was a very successful trip.
- Utsunomiya Tourism Project! I was hired to write by a business who was, in turn, hired by the city to create a tourism website. For the project, two models, several photographers, the business-owner, and I spent three jam-packed days with a handful of employees of another company involved in the project participating in tourist activities. Equal parts exciting & exhausting, I had a really good time! Exploring the city I’ve been calling home (and occasionally, boring) as a tourist was interesting. I’ll share more details once the website is published!
- Trying Tochigi Wagyu! Andrew and I drove to Tochigi City because we wanted to see a private supercar museum there. Unfortunately, the museum is closed temporarily due to COVID. However, anticipating the day trip, I bookmarked a restaurant specializing in Tochigi Wagyu that I wanted to try. Silver lining! We ordered lunch sets consisting of steak & soba, plus side dishes. The picture won’t do it justice. Because the high fat content of this type of wagyu results in a very rich product, the steaks are cut quite thin. It is rare to find a thick, bone-in ribeye steak (the kind a couple of Americans are really craving right now) in Japan. However, this steak was pretty tight. No complaints. 10/10, would eat again.
- Taking a pottery class in Mashiko. In college, I took a few art classes including sculpture and ceramics on the wheel. I’ve written here before, I really enjoy more tactile art forms. I do crochet/fiber arts, paper cutting, and kintsugi which really naturally transitions into throwing ceramics on the wheel. Cue jokes about the movie Ghost. We’ve visited Mashiko before to purchase pottery. I heard from some other expats in the city that pottery classes taught in English are available. So, I knew I had to drag Andrew out into the countryside to make some pots. He loved it! We both had a really good time (until I got hangry)! And we’ll have some hand-made souvenirs to bring back with us. Win-win.
Valleys:
This month I was visited by a mysterious, inconvenient, kind of gross face rash. It looked and felt a lot like a poison ivy rash. I don’t recall doing anything or going anywhere that could have caused this kind of external reaction. A few weeks prior – after our trip to Sendai – I thought I developed a poison ivy rash on my leg. I have no idea if that is relevant, I am not a doctor. I have, however, visited a doctor in Japan several times now. Because of the face rash.
His nurses allege that the doctor actually speaks very good English. Again, allegedly, he studied or worked in English-speaking countries in the past. I cannot verify this claim. My very smart, generous Japanese teacher found the dermatology clinic and agreed to accompany me throughout the process. So, the doctor spoke to her and she translated to me. I could (and might) write a more detailed post about the experience but here is my highlight reel:
- Visiting this doctor is a lot like trying to get a table at a crowded Applebees. You don’t really want to be there. You show up, put your name on the list, and hope it doesn’t take too long because you need a beer and some spinach dip STAT, THE BIG GAME IS ON.
- However, on the positive side: for less than $15, I both saw a doctor of my choosing the same day I experienced an issue AND purchased the medicine prescribed by that doctor.
So, no, I still don’t know what is wrong with me. Also, I need help going to the doctor because I understand as much Japanese as a toddler (maybe less). But, like… I can afford it so??
