Beef & Garlic Festival

Driving to the beef and garlic festival with my friend Erica! the rice is getting big! some of it was already being harvested!
Barn sort of thing the festival was held at... and vans with tarps off the side...
Fish on a stick... classic festival food!
We studied how these Japanese people were cooking thier food to see how we should cook ours... festival workers came up to our grill with a big hunk of beef fat and lubed up our grill and we threw on our food!
We just ate as it became ready!
Erica and I
The festival was a the bottom of some ski runs so after Erica and I drove to the top and took in the view! It was AMAZING!
There was a little shinto shrine that we waded through shoulder high grass to get to!
Erica and her new Christian CD cover
Even the street lights were garlic shaped
Cool vineyard we stopped at on the way back!
the most Ghetto vending machines I have seen yet... home made signs... cinder block leveling... classy

Post Typhoon/ Dead Body Experience

So at 5:30 in the morning I left base to go up north along the ocean to look for glass floats that might have washed up in the Typhoon... I drove about an hour north near the power plant and parked and started walking up the beach...Kona was having a blast running and chasing the birds... she wasn't doing to much swimming as you can see the ocean was still really scary foamy and big from the the storm!
I could tell the Typhoon was really hard on the jelly fish... this is the most intact one I found.. there were mostly little pieces about the size of my hand... EVERYWHERE... like I had to step on them cause you couldn't not step on them... they were everywhere... but all the hanging parts had been ripped off so they weren't stinging Kona's paws. They were mostly clear and pink but I found one aqua blue one and didn't think to take a picture... and I almost wiped out a couple times stepping on them.. they are slippery
As you can see the ocean was still really really choppy... it was white water as far as the eye could see
There was just trash everywhere... apperently this is a really deserted beach so I dont know if it is like this all the time or just after the storm.. I found like two dozen shoes... 3 hard hats... 5 light bulbs off the squid fishing boats (they fish at night with huge light bulbs to attract squid), a toilet seat, an oven... it was crazy... and then eventually a dead body...

I was probably about 10 feet away when I saw Kona sniffing a pile of trash more intently then usual. I looked up to see what it was and saw that it looked like a human... it was laying on its back with a big uncovered bloated belly and its arms up above its head with its shirt and jacket pulled up over its face (I am so glad I didnt see the face)...

so my first reaction was "oh this is for Halloween" I just kept telling myself that and moved on... but after a few min. and the nausea passed and my breathing slowed... I realized I had to find out for sure becuase if it was real I needed to do something about it...

So I went back and got close enough to realize it was real... and I thought "Holy Moly this is real, what do I do know"... I had no idea was to do... so I thought maybe I can just pretend I didnt see it... I ruled that out becuase I had left footprints and Kona had left paw prints and I was sure they would track us down... plus I felt like the burden of this persons death was now on my shoulders and it was my responsibility to do the right thing... but what was the right thing?

my next idea was to take pictures and show the Japanese police... but where are the Japanese police? I had no idea? So then I thought I would take the pictures to the first Japanese person I saw and hope they could help... then I realized knocking on some random house where the chances they speak English are slim to none and showing them a picture of a dead body was a bad idea...

So I broke down and prayed "LORD you have to show me what to do becuase I have NO IDEA" right then my mind cleared and I thought "security forces" (military police)... and I looked down and saw this glass float...
So... I drove the hour back to base went straight to security forces told them what happend... they called the Japanese police, sent an agent and a translator with me and I had to take them all back out to where I found it...
Here they are carrying her (they determined it was a her... but they had to look down her pants to figure it out cause it was so old... the agent with me said she looked like she had been dead for maybe 2 weeks)
And as I looked back from where we came I saw this rainbow stretching over the water... I am so glad my God is with me no matter where I go!

Camping with the 14th

We went camping with a group of people from the 14th, they took us to this awesome campsite that we never would have found if we were not following them! There was this really pretty lake next to the little wooded area where we pitched our tents and then a little further was a river and on the other side was an open meadow

There were gorgeous water lillys growing everywhere... Japan is awesome
Waking up to the mists over the meadow
The sun slowly burned off the mist as it rose and warmed up
WOOD!
Kona really wanted that graham cracker... but she didnt take it, she is so good!

Playing in the river! I think Kona was in heaven for a couple of days!
There were really cool turquoise colored rocks
"There is no trash can in the par in order to protect the environment and not to damage the scenery. (or bears may come down from forest)" .... well that makes me feel so safe... this sign was in the outhouse bathroom!
I guess this is a picture of the bear... It looks like a bear/wolverine/raccoon... thing...

Sumo Tournament

I went to a Sumo Tournament in Hirosaki with my girl friends Shannon and Suzie! After 3 and half hours of driving in a bus... this is what we saw... Sumo dude statue outside of the sumo stadium!

This is me with one of the sumo wrestlers... he is high ranking as seen by the white diaper... the lower ranking guys have gray ones... these are their practice diapers.. they have colored ones they wear in the real tournament.
Side view...
Practice... these dudes were actually pretty muscular... and some didnt really have big bellies... I asked what they eat to get this big... compared to other Japanese... they said soup... hmmm
Best view of the day!
Me with the two nerdiest sumo wrestlers ever! Ha ha they cracked me up!

I cant figure out why this picture is turned I have uploaded it like 5 times... its not turned on my computer... anywho... this was our bento box (lunch box) it was some tempura fish on a peice of seaweed on top up rice with some pickeled ginger... on the side was a meatball, a dumpling sort of thing... and a tomato... it was okay... it would have been better warm... it was all coldBefore the real tournament started the big sumo guys wrestled the little learning sumo kids... it was HILARIOUS! and super cute!
The first little kid squatted and stomped his feet and everything and then when the big guys stepped towards him the little kid turned and ran away... This little kid however tried so hard but the big guy just picked him up and carried him away on his shoulder... it was really funny
The stadium was pretty big, the sumo floor was in the middle, then a whole bunch of asian people sitting cross legged on the floor for 6 hours... thats pretty amazing to me, and then we were on the second story in stadium seating... thank goodness... and my butt still hurt
They had this big ceremony where they would all come out in thier little skirt with butts showing and all sing...
This was the final match... the one that decided that grand champion... I dont remember who one... but what happened was they both went at each other and at the last second on stepped out of the way so the other went fly out of the ring cause he had so much momentum... the crowd was so angry they all started booing... they apparently were expecting more from the grand championship!

More Randoms

Here are some random photos that I have been collecting for a while... I painted the kitchen! The left wall is a sea foam greenish teal and the right wall is a deep jewel green with blue undertones... It looks great with the black frames! Oh and these hydrangea lived in this vase for 4 weeks... I think they have crack in the soil here.
And I did the light green and the far wall in the kitchen too... Kona said "rooks great momma"
New project I started with all of this sea glass I found at shipwreck beach
I am gluing it to the sliding glass door with hot glue making a sort of sea glass mosaic. It looks soooo cool!
This is at "Hachenohoe Childrens Land" It is a ghetto pretty lame amusement park for kids, but these old horses on the merry go round took cool pictures.
They are so old and sad but full of character...
This on the other hand I am pretty sure is full of mange.... You put a couple hunderd yen into this thing and it moves around and you steer it... Like a giant wind up toy... it was really really really creepy
This is another ride a the amusment park that would never fly in the states... it is a bike on a track... you pay money to wheel yourself around on this track... we had this little fat kid with us and he went on it once and was going so slow he had all the other carts backed up behind him... he was all red and huffing when he got off... it was pretty funny.
Derick after his naming ceremony... that means the pilots got him really drunk and gave him a call sign... he is now "OAR".... so he is now OAR Gee.... say that out loud together... hmmmm.... not amused... no I actually think it is pretty funny... as you can see Derick was in rare form that night!
After the naming went to a "roof stomp" its where you welcome a new commander by showing up at his house in the middle of the night and eating his food and drinking his alcohol... I did not realize that "roof stomp" was a literal term... but he actually got his roof stomped... via this tree... you can see Joker climbing down...
Driving home after we went camping on the beach, Kona was in the back with all of our gear... she wanted so bad to be part of the fun up front but she was soooo tired...
this is normal...
after running after her ball down the ski hill on base Kona thought this pile of ice was a very nice bed!
at a farewell picnic at the base ski lodge
Japanese sunset
The rice is getting big, its really cool to watch it grow

Really guys?