Great steak at Takedaya

We had not planned this, but we were working late and decided to go out for steak Thursday night. We also wanted to say hi to our students who work at Takedaya. It was a last minute arrangement and it was great that the four of us were finally able to eat together--hard to believe that had not happened before.

"Checking" on En-san

The other day En-san (left) told us that she is now working at Yutaka, so we decided to go say hello to her. We had this wonderful "goma dango" for dessert.

Dinner with Professors Huang and Shi

We had dinner at Takedaya where one of their students is now working.

Enjoying a good combination of French and Japanese cuisine.

National Kaohsiung Univ. of Hospitality & Tourism

Professors Huang and Shi from Taiwan visited JIU on Tuesday. Their three students are going to be studying in my department until August. They are the first students to study on the Togane campus. Most of the students live in Kamogawa and are in the Faculty of Tourism.

Coincidence

Big and nice coincidences happen once in a while and on Tuesday something quite unbelievable took place in my office. On Saturday I went to Takemi to talk about the internship possibility for one of my advisees from Taiwan (left). There I met a Aoki-kun, a JIU student (right) who works there, and I told him to come see me in my office one of these days. With the owner of the restaurant we talked about Toru who had worked there when he was a JIU student. He graduated two years ago and I had not seen him since commencement. Then on Tuesday when Aoki-kun was in my office, my Taiwanese student showed up a minute after him and I was able to introduce them to each other. That was great as they'll be working together from now on. I thought it was a great coincidence that they showed up more or less at the same time. However, it didn't stop there. I got a phone call from the office saying a former student wanted to see me and then Toru showed up in my office! It was hard to believe that all three "Takemi connected" students gathered in my office around the same time without any kind of planning. I don't know how to explain this, but I'm glad it happened.

Eating well after days of eating soup only

This past weekend I ended up going to two of my favorites restaurants in the area for New Year greetings and also to try to eat well. It was the weekend of the "Center Nyushi" (entrance examinations) here and two stressful days for high school students.

Japanese fillet and sirloin on Saturday....

....and sushi with salt on Sunday.... Don't worry. I only ate four pieces.

Disney Internship participants are back

The students who participated in the UC Riverside/Disney College Internship Program returned to Japan yesterday after two weeks in California and six months in Florida. They all looked great!

International Students' Presentations

As we approach the end of the semester, the international students who are here for only one or two semesters gave their final group presentations on Wednesday. Some were extremely creative in the use of their Japanese and the way they talked about Japan.

"Fukubukuro"

I would never line up for hours to buy any "fukubukuro" on New Year's Day, but I have bought the Godiva New Year's bag the past two years. Here's what was inside this time. I was told twenty years ago that the fun of the bags was that you didn't know what you were getting, but times have changed as it seems like everyone knows nowadays what's inside.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I apologize for not uploading anything for the longest time. There were some serious technical problems with the blog and after that I was sick for about a week. (I thought I had the Norovirus, but the doctor told me I had something else.) I am back now and hope to be able to write on a daily basis. May 2012 be a year of less suffering and more positive energy in the air all over the world.

Photos taken at Jindaiji in Chofu, Tokyo, on December 31.