The Old Australian Crawl

This is our bathtub. I love these Japanese bathtubs. I imagine you were all like me when you were younger and always wanted to fill the tub up to the tippy top and let it flow over the edge. It was as fun as I thought it would be.

Don't be alarmed by the transformer next to the tub that is not what we use to shower. Although, what we do use is almost just as bad.

Ps- Peters beard got to be about 5 inches long, but he recently cut it. It shed all over the tatami floor.

I Want To Break Free

A treat that I never thought too much about but still loved was the KitKat. Japan has taken the KitKat to the next level with its variety of flavors. But in true Japan fashion the flavors are only seasonal, lasting 2 weeks to 2 months. Here Peter has purchased a KitKat out of a vending machine. They come in a glass jar and are really cold, it's great!

Most of the time I can't read the flavors and sometimes have a hard time guessing what it is. Like this one, that to me looks like a mochi ball filled with ground beef. I later learned that its some sort of curry ball. It tasted like peanut butter.

This one was vegetable juice. ITOEN (printed in the bottom right corner)is a veggie juice similar to V8 splash. I didn't really like this one.

Here we were trying mango and Japanese plum drink.

Most recently we have found green tea sakura flavor.

Other flavors we have tried include: apple cider vinegar, lemon vinegar, strawberry, banana, dark chocolate, tart orange, orange, passion fruit & raspberry, flan, maple and rose. They have this one that is called Calpis, it is a very popular drink here in Japan that one is next on my list.

We Belong Among the Wildflowers

Spring is here and the Dangerfords are happy. Finally able to spend some time outside we are taking full advantage of the season. Sakura or cherry blossom season is beautiful here in Japan. The mountains are covered with pale pink and everyone is around. One thing that I love about Japan is their love of the outdoors. I have seen more gaijin (foreigners) in the past 2 days than I have my entire stay here.

Funny story: While visiting a local park at night for the sakura light-up, I was in the restroom washing my hands when a male gaijin walked in. We both stared at each other for a good minute, knowing good and well that the other spoke english. For some reason I couldn't think of what to do, as if he wouldn't understand me if I told him this was the ladies room. It was very strange.

I love looking at Peter from behind.

Marugame castle is one of our favorite spots here in Japan. There are castles everywhere, but this one has beautiful grounds were you could actually sit in the grass. Grass is extremely rare here in Japan. One thing I am really looking forward to when we return home is a picnic in a grassy park with my levi blanket. I really miss my levi blanket.

I love these flowers they are huge and grow on these trees that have no leaves just flowers.

This kid was cracking me up.

Have I been in Japan too long or is walking a cat on a leash strange in the states too?

And check out this all-star in his denim one piece. I could never dream of being as fashionable as Haru here.

Who Am I?

After a feeble attempt of starting this novel while traveling through Southeast Asia over the winter break, I finally made it through the unabridged version of Victor Hugo's literary masterpiece, Les Miserables, yesterday. And despite the fact that I have read some amazing books in my life, I feel like this one now stands alone at the top of my favorite books list. I know it sounds pretentious, but this is a novel that is filled with so many profound life lessons that it will truly inspire you to evaluate and change your life for the better.

Ever since I first heard the music from the play and my cousin Erik gave me a day long ten-year-old's abridgment of the story (Circa 1992) I have wanted to read through this classic, but it has taken me awhile to find an actual interest in taking on a 1,500 page novel. I have always figured that there were so many other great works of literature that something like that was a bad use of my time. I was completely wrong. Now, I am not saying that all long novels are more profound or better written than other, less sizable, novels. All I am saying is that this novel is one that I would encourage anyone to read through. You will run into several hundred pages of historical tangents and question their relevancy, but it will all feel necessary in the end.

Here is a quote from the preface that I believe explains the importance and value of this novel:

"So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age — the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of woman by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night — are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless."

I have often thought about the value of my literary degree and how it is often only viewed as a steppingstone to something more lucrative, such as law school; but this is the type of novel that shows the true value of what a literary education teaches you about life. My love for literature and my learned ability to analyze the world through a variety of lenses is something I will always be grateful for. I strongly believe the world would be different if more people took the time to sit down and read through an inspiring book, watch a meaningful film, listen to some great music, analyze a beautiful piece of art, or bother with anything with artistic value as opposed to obsess over the kitsch and meaningless stuff the media continually tries to pass off as valuable. That being said, I will now step down from my soapbox.

I encourage you all to go out and read a good book.

- Peter

The Great Salt Lake

Congratulations PETER! Peter was accepted into another school, the University of Utah. He is so amazing and any school would be lucky to have him.

Friends and family don't worry ASU is still our number one choice.

Out On The Weekend

Hoboin' Tip #17:

Overnight Jumbo Ferries are a great place to sleep while drifting. But watch out, they don't like stowaways.

America has Mickey Mouse and Japan has their beloved Totoro. Just like classic Disney, all of Hayao Miyazaki's films have become canonized in this country. I am not too big of a fan, but everyone else is bananas about them. Here is that cuddable feline (type thing) in bread form. With this dessert you could choose regular or cream filled. We went with the cream. It was fantastic!

Upon seeing the name of this restaurant and the three story fish statue next to it, Peter couldn't stop laughing hysterically. Maybe it was because we were only going off of three hours of sleep, but all of us cracked up at the lack of creativity in the name and the enigmatic asterisk next to the word "cafe". It makes it sound like this place didn't know whether or not it wanted to actually serve there fish (exclamation point) or provide a place for people to relax. We couldn't figure it out. You decide. Maybe they just thought the little star looking thing brought some needed pizazz to the otherwise boring name? In that case, we must agree. It certainly caught our attention.

Don't need money. Don't need fame. Don't need no credit card to ride this futuristic Japanese ship. After waiting around for Marty, "Doc" Brown, and the flux capacitor to emerge from this space machine, we were sad to find out that this watercraft wouldn't actually take us back to the future. Although, I must admit that the maritime museum had an excellent selection of nautical crafts that kept our attention for at least an hour. We really enjoyed walking around the sea port.

This picture is a perfect representation of how excited Peter gets when we eat really good food. On this particular occasion it was the world famous kobe beef. We ate at this place called "Steakland" that was poorly named, but actually provided us with a fantastic high-end dinning experience. We ate it for lunch, so we didn't have to pay the outrageous dinner prices. All around, it was an amazing meal.

Peter really thought this statue looked like a Japanese replica of Al McCoy (of Phoenix Suns fame), so he had to get a picture in front of it. And although you can't really tell, he was saying "Shazam" while I took the picture. In true Japanese fashion, there was a figurine you could buy, but we couldn't justify spending the five hundred yen they were asking for it. Peter really wanted to get one for all of his fellow Suns fans back home. You know who you are.

We spent most of the day walking in some wicked Japanese rain. Here is a picture of Peter trying to weather the storm. He is using my umbrella because the rain had quickly defeated his. It snapped like a twig. The reason he got the umbrella was because we foolishly brought our computer in his backpack in order to watch movies on the Jumbo Ferry. We later regretted the decision. By the way, directly after this photo was taken the rain made mincemeat out of my umbrella as well. It was seriously poring on us. But, although it was miserable at the time, it has made for an endearing memory.

Costco in Japan anyone? I know it sounds lame, but just being in this store made us all feel like we were home. It was just as big and just as awesome as we remembered.

Costco even came through with providing their fantastic food court. The hot dogs and pizza were all at their usual low low prices and we couldn't have been happier. Although, in this picture I've captured the look that Peter has on his face every time he is in a large crowd. He really hates them. Nobody bothered to tell us that Costco is a madhouse on holidays. No joke, there were at least 3,000 people in that store. It was driving us all bananas. But honestly, even if we would have known it was going to be crazy, we still would have gone. Peter and I scored some refried beans, good American cheese, Nature's Valley granola bars, and a big bag of chocolate covered pretzels for Peter's birthday present (their his favorite).

Even though it was raining really hard and he had just had a Costco hot dog and churro, Peter had to get a slice of pizza for the road. I know it sounds gross, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We were never going to be back at Costco in Japan again, so he had to go for all the marbles. Sure we all looked like absurdly strange foreigners running through the rain, Peter with his pizza and our friend Heath with a box of a dozen glazed donuts, but that is what you have to put up with in order to feel normal in this country every once in awhile.

At the end of the day, we all sat down to an all you can eat dessert buffet. This place was truly amazing. There had to have been at least thirty things you could choose from. Needless to say, it was a really nice way to finish our trip. We thought an idea like this would be great in the States, but then we realized that the US wrote the book on all you can eat buffets and probably already has something like this or better. If you ever find one, we would suggest jumping on the fan wagon.

PS - This is a Peter blog and was not actually written by Lacy. Peter likes to do that.

-Lacy

You Say It's Your Birthday

Top 5 reasons I love Peter to death:

1. His love of great country music.

2. He will always eat the food I make even if it tastes nothing like what it was supposed to. Tonight it was the zucchini bread. He also likes to bake with me.

3. He will offer to pluck my eyebrows when they get out of control. It's probably only because he is embarrassed of me, but I love it anyway.

4. He is amazing at everything he does. Sports, school, his work; I really admire him.

5. He can grow a very handsome beard.

Happy Birthday Peter, I love you so much!

PS - Peter got an acceptance letter today from the University of Denver, along with a $20,000 scholarship if he decides to go there.

PPS - This is a recent picture of him that was taken right after he took his first bite of genuine Kobe beef during our trip to Kobe, Japan last week. I love it!