Sendai Baseball

 Lots of construction on the roads 6 months after the 9.0 earthquake.  Sendai was were it was centered.

 Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.  They gave us some Kleenex packages on the way in.

 Berto's jersey was #18 Tanaka, the pitcher.  Nickname "Maa-kun"

 First time since opening the stadium that it was sold out!

 Girls carry kegs of beer on their backs!!

 The seats are not individual.  So you are very close to the person next to you.

 Young cheerleaders

 Liveliest and funnest game ever!  They chant and clack 2 bats connected by a string.

 Eco Trash System.  They separate everything.  Right down to chopsticks! The stadium was so clean.

Two times throughout game, they blow up balloons and let them go.  The white ones are at the end after the WIN.


September 10, 2011.  Rakuten Eagles vs. Nippon-Ham Fighters  10-5

What a great game!  The Japanese really get into their baseball.  The crowd was a sea of jerseys, hats and baseball bats.  There is constant chants for the players.  And the beer is definitely flowing with the fans!  There are girls walking up and down the stairs with kegs of beer on their backs.  Berto was happy to knock back a couple of cold ones.

It was really hot this day.  After we first got there and found our seats we were sitting directly in the sun.  So, we walked around the stadium and looked at souvenirs.  Also, I made Berto pose with the cutouts of the players.  He would get so embarrassed, especially if anyone was watching!  :)  I found one of those cool packs.  You hit it a few times and stays cold for awhile.  That went directly on my neck.  We were lucky that once we were watching the game, the sun hid behind the clouds.  What a relief, it made a big difference.

There was a award ceremony for the 400th home run for Yamasaki Takeshi.  The 17th player in Japanese Baseball history.  I think that's why the game was sold out, it was a big deal.   There were 4 Hispanic players, Romulo Sanchez, Juan Morillo, Randy Ruiz and Kelvin Jimenez.

Definitely a great experience!!

I love Basil and Cilantro!

My sister Ana sent some cilantro and pepper seeds that I planted a few months ago.  We also planted some basil.  They are doing great!  We're loving having the freshest basil and cilantro imaginable, our two favorite herbs.  The pepper plant is growing, but not sure how long it takes to actually have peppers.  We'll see.

We've been incorporating basil into our meals, cilantro has always been there.   I wanted to try other things, not just make pesto.  So, decided to make my own basil mayonnaise.  It's delicious and such a revelation!  And we make spring rolls all the time.  Usually shrimp with a peanut sauce.  The rolls consist of glass noodles, green onions or leeks, carrot, cucumber, basil and cilantro.  But this time we bought a hunk of tuna and used sashimi slices.  With a garlic soy dipping sauce and spicy chili.     YUM!!

Starting to make a roasted chicken sandwich for lunch.  Don't normally put that much mayo, but wanted the basil to show up in the picture!

Misawa Summer Festival

Red Fang Tattoo

Before

After 2 hours of work

30 minutes after finishing

After 13 years, Berto finally got his tattoo finished!  He wanted to get something new, but I convinced him to finally get his dragon colored in.  He drew the design for this figure eight dragon and got it back when he was in boot camp.  A.Long.Time.Ago

Aomori Nebuta Festival 2011

Aomori Nebuta Festival

This festival is held annually and features colorful lantern floats called nebuta which are pulled through the streets of Central Aomori. This festival is held from about August 2-7 every year. This event attracts millions of visitors. During this festival, 20 large nebuta floats are paraded through the streets near Aomori JR rail station. These floats are constructed of wooden bases and metal frames. Japanese papers; washi, are painted onto the frames. These amazing floats are finished off with the historical figures or kabuki being painted on the paper. These floats can take up to a year to complete. There is a dance portion of this festival. There are haneto dancers and they wear special costumes for this dance. Everyone is welcome to purchase their own haneto costume that they may too join in on the fun (Mishima, Aomori Nebuta Festival)      (Courtesy of Wiki.)

  My video, sorry no flash.

I was pretty excited to go to this festival in Aomori.  It's roughly about 1 hour 45 minutes away from our house.  We caravaned (is that a word?) it with some friends and the scenery is beautiful.  There is a wall of huge greener than green trees on the way.  There was rice patty greenery that Berto and I joked had to be photo shopped.  Hahaha.  Also, the hills and mountains well off in the horizon we decided were 100% photo shopped.  HA, you need to understand our weird humor.  =)  

Once we got to Aomori, we drove around and all over the place looking for parking.  I think we drove at least 1 hour trying to find something!  We had a 9 year old and his dad that had recently had knee surgery so walking wasn't ideal.  The temp was 82 degrees but it felt pretty damn humid.  By the time we parked (I made Berto stop somewhere that was for housing.  At this point, I didn't care!) we were ready to go!  On the walk, we stopped at a conbini to use the bathroom after being in car for 3+ hours.  Of course there was a huge line.  We bought some refreshments to enjoy at the parade that would be cheaper than buying at a vendor.  We ended up finding a pretty good spot.  There was soo many people!  I didn't realize how huge this festival was.  I wished I could ask people where they parked!  

The floats are pretty elaborate and beautifully detailed.  Apparently they spend a year making them, and on last day of Nebuta Festival- they burn them!  They are really pretty and have lights within, the illuminating of them was so pretty.  Definitely a night parade experience.  There are many people carrying the floats, it seems so unstable. I'm sure it wasn't but I kept expecting a crash!  Especially with the biiru that was flowing!!  We wanted to get some great festival food but were pretty limited to the area just around us.  The crowd was way to thick to walk around.  But the six of us had a great time and took many pictures.  We got happy with the haneto dancers/festival go-ers who jump out in the parade.

Overall, a really great night!  We had soo much fun!  =)

BTW: We are really excited to go to Tokyo for Sumo wrestling next month!  And we'll be going on our free day to Fuji-Q Highland Amusement park. (Holy crap!!).

http://www.fujiq.jp/en/attraction/

Also, should be getting tickets tomorrow to go to a Sendai baseball game and a tour to Kakunodate.  A beautifully preserved Samaurai District known as "Little Kyoto".  Yeah, super excited!  

Thanks for reading!  I miss you, mom, Ana, and Lisa!!!  xoxo

Tanbo Art in Inakadate

In 1993, the people of Inakadate, Aomori were looking for a way to revitalize their village. Archaeological exploration led to a realization that rice had been grown in the area for more than 2000 years. To honor this history, the villagers started a rice field behind the town hall. With the paddy as a canvas, the villagers cultivated and used four different types of heirloom and modern strains of rice to create a giant picture in the field. To allow viewing of the whole picture, a mock castle tower 22 meters high was erected at the village office. In 2006, more than 200,000 people visited the village to see the art. ~ Wikipedia

We traveled to Inakadate today to see the rice field art or Tanbo Art.  We took the scenic route on the way there, it took about 3 hours.  This took us through gorgeous Lake Towada.  I should do another post of just pictures of it, it is that magnificent.  We took my sister there last year on her visit.  I got a fabulous shot of her near Oirase Gorge.  It is a huge area and a National Park.  We drove through the heavy forest and winding roads.  There are many places that cars stop because of various waterfalls and rolling streams.  There were many hikers, cars, tour buses, even motorcycles.  

Once we were close to Kuroishi (where we have gone to the Kokeshi Museum) and Hirosaki (where Hirosaki Castle is and we've been several times) we knew we were close.  I was surprised at the lack of signs to help guide us there.  Once we got there, there was quite a line to get in.  It is free, but they accept donations to help cover the cost of the Tanbo Art.  

The tower structure that you climb up was surprisingly small.  But it had a great view of the rice field.  There was two parts.  One side was 2 ladies fanning a third with a pretty yellow background.  They seemed to be floating on clouds.  The other side was 2 old men sitting down, with a background of bamboo and a sun.  Both sides had writing on the bottom...no idea what it said.  It was amazing to see, I'm glad we had the chance.  Of the 150 people that we saw there, we were the ONLY Americans!  Was pretty surprised.  But made me feel good that Berto and I are going "outside the box" and experiencing some Japanese culture.  (Although it is fairly new culture, I don't see it going anywhere).

On the way back we took the shorter way with toll roads.  There was two with a total of 2,030 Yen or $25.79.  Yuck.  We also found a great 100 yen store.  Then back to our city to go straight to the Misawa Tanabata Matsuri or Star Festival.  We had street food for our dinner.  Some delicious yakisoba, yakitori and a lamb gyro.  Berto and I shared everything, so romantic. 

=)  GREAT DAY!!!   (Will post more pictures on Facebook).

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