Super Invaders

A friend of Mika's met us for lunch today. We decided to eat at a cafe just this side of K-town, called Super Invaders. As you might have guessed, it is a play on Space Invaders.

The decor is anything but limited to videogames, though. Greeted by a giant Ernie as you approach the door, you soon see that the entire restaurant is full of entertainment paraphernalia. Warner Bros. collectibles seem to make up the bulk of the displays, though from Col. Sanders to hundreds of Simpsons models, a Terminator head to a giant pair of jeans, there are hundreds of toys, models and posters on display; not to mention the two arcade machines sitting in the entrance.

What arcade machines you might ask? Well, Space Invaders for one, of course. But there is also a Pac-man machine. These cabinets look like the original top-down ones, as you will see shortly.

Suffice to say, after eating a very satisfactory lunch, I proceeded to take snapshots around the place. You can find all of the photos I took [here]. It definitely made for an interesting place to eat. I doubt I've seen a larger collection.

Super Invaders

Goliath called - he left his pants on the wall

Just one display

Many characters! Left side!

Pac-man | Space Invaders

What's your score?

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. They looked sharper on my wife's phone than the ones I first took on mine. Looks like cellphone photos are hard to take well, however they look at first glance.

Peace.

Timotheos

A Blog Redesign

I changed the layout and look of the blog. It needs a new header and I'm not sure if the current background image will be my final choice, as I picked it from among the default selection. But so far it is shaping up quite nicely.

Comments on what I've done are welcome, as are suggestions for further changes or additions.

Not much has been happening around here. I didn't have school today because Hashimoto sensei, the JTE I work with at K-town chuugakkou had a meeting. I still drove all the way out there only to have to drive back to the office after eying the schedule. So much for communication. :/

There will be no junior high school classes for me next week, either, as the current term (来学期 | らいがっき | raigakki in Japanese) is coming to a close and the summer holidays will be upon us before we know it. The students have exams next week.

This weekend, we are planning on heading into K-city to have a picnic lunch and then to check out a botanic garden that Mika has wanted to visit for a while now. Hopefully the weather will clear up by tomorrow, as it is raining today and is the middle of the rainy season. You never know how long it is going to rain for or if the ever-present clouds will suddenly release some precipitation.

When the weather clears up I will try to get out and take some photos for another much more visually appealing blog entry; and for want of things to talk about.

So until then, and until we are hit with summer festival fever.

Peace.

Timotheos

Hotaru Matsuri

Yesterday, we attended the Hotaru Matsuri -- the Firefly Festival -- in Shimotsui, deep in the hills northwest of here. It was during the day, so we didn't do any firefly watching. That is something we will do one night this month, perhaps.

The festival had a few things going on. There were performances -- we arrived too late to see the taiko drummming, but could hear it as we approached; there was a raft race; the kids had a treasure hunt and caught eels; and there was mochi (rice cake) throwing.

The Hotaru Matsuri was a nice way to spend our afternoon.

Photo collection here.

ho-ta-ru-ma-tsu-ri

Ready, Set, Paddle!

Raft race

Taisho JHS girls' band

Girls' Band Performance

Mochi throwing

Mochi throwing

A bridge over calm waters

This bridge was actually by the road on our way to the festival. We thought it was cool so we stopped on our way home to take a few photos. The same goes for this water wheel.

And this tunnel video:

Tunneeeeeeel

Peace.

Timotheos

Hook, Line and Scooter

We spent the weekend in K-city. I had to get the shakken (2 year checkup) for my car. It was very expensive but actually less than I expected.

We did some shopping: I got presents for some family members' birthdays. As the sun went down, we met up with Mika's sister-in-law for sushi -- Ten Ten Maru, our favourite kaitenzushi place.

That was yesterday. We stayed overnight at Mai-san's. Mika's brother was down here to do some go-karting and he stayed with their parents. It was like we did a swap between Kochi and Shimanto.

This morning, we attended the K-city Pentecostal Church before grabbing ramen for lunch. On our way back to Mika's brother's place to get Eddi, we spied this fellow riding gaily along as if he didn't have ten fishing rods, a net and goodness knows what tackle and bits and bobs hanging off his scooter:

Between a Rod and a Hard Place

And thus I captured a taste of rural Japan. People around here love fishing. Mika's uncle and her younger brother went fishing a couple of weeks ago and netted us a good feed. Cuz it's all about the sashimi, baby. ;)

Here's to continued warmth and a good week over all. :)

Peace.

Timotheos

Birthday Party and Chopsticks

A couple of weekends ago, we celebrated Eddi's 7th birthday. I baked and decorated her birthday cake and Mika made a piñata for the party we gave her on the Saturday.

I also made cupcakes

Happy 7th Birthday!

Smash that bee piñata

Axt weekend, we made chopsticks. The father of one of the girls that went to Eddi's kindergarten, Mr. Kawashita, was kind enough to invite us and a couple of other families over to learn to make chopsticks. He does it as part of a cultural / tourism activity, usually charging people for his time. He has a blog and an advertisement in the local tourism brochures.

So the kids were all able to play together, and we all had a big barbecue for lunch.

We made hashi

The finished product

Mika's skills

We didn't do anything this past weekend, really. Just relaxed on Saturday and had the usual church service on Sunday. During the last few weeks school has been pretty standard, too, although I did teach at a primary school a couple of Fridays ago instead of at K-town JHS, and last week I didn't have classes at Shouwa JHS because they had a sports event.

My shakken (2-year car inspection) is due this month, as is the tax for both our cars. Huge expense right there, but we should manage. Planning to go into K-city this weekend to do some shopping and hopefully get my shakken done. :)

Peace.

Timotheos