Day 02

    I get curry for breakfast!?  This day started off wonderfully!!  The curry had red pickles served with it, along with a "hanpen".  A fish mixture filled with MORE CURRY.  Curry tastes wonderful when it sits, which is a wonderful thing about it-- It ages like wine. (^ v ~)

    After breakfast, Masami and I headed out to the local book store.  I didn't buy anything, but it was fun too look around.  I found lots of Persona stuff, along with cosplay magazines, and Gotcha Gotchas-- the machines you put money in and out pops a plastic ball with a toy or candy.  In Japan, they're all toys of sorts, and I ended up trying out the Kamen Rider one.  I got one of the newest characters, so I am not familiar with him yet-- but his eyes light up!! (^ o ^)

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    Lunch time!!  Masami and I stopped by the grocery store on the way home for lunch and ran into one of her friends.  Masami told me that her friend enjoys the Katekyo Hitman Reborn series... and for about five minutes straight, her friend and I talked the entire time, leaving my aunt with a clueless look on her face.  It was fun!! She told me her favorite character is Mukuro, and I told her that mine was Gokudera-- Immediately after that, we both realized that we could style our own hair as each other's favorite characters.  (> v <-)  And we both have chibi figures and a hi-bird in our rooms.

    Once the conversation was over, I picked out some drinks and a pasta salad for lunch.  At home, Masami made me some takoyaki (bread balls filled with octopus) to go along with my pasta salad!  What a great food day~!  For dessert, I had a Calpico chocolate strawberry 'ice cream' candy.  It was sweet, but not too sweet.  Aside from the taste, it was light yet satisfying~

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    Mireka arrived home.  We played Taiko no Tatsujin; a Taiko drum game on the Wii that had many songs that I actually knew!  Such as a opening for Pokemon, a song by BASEBALL BEAR, and even a Naruto song!  The ones that I didn't do so well on, Mireka did almost perfect on and vice-versa.  Once we got bored with it, we played Wii Party!  I got to make my own Mii character and I learned some Japanese terms for the sake of all of the mini games!  I didn't do too badly on it, and neither did Mireka.  There are lots of different types of challenges, from balance to speed to pure luck!

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    Right before dinner, I got a call from a friend of the family who currently resides in Japan.  Mrs. Fuji, said that she would like to meet up with me!  We have plans to see each other next Thursday for lunch somewhere in Yokohama.  I'm excited for this~

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    My cousin Miriya left for karate while I had dinner with my cousins Mireka and Miina.  Their mother created a handful of dishes with potato, katsuobushi (fish diced into dried flakes) and spinach, steamed fish and a bowl of white rice.  The different flavors complimented each other with sweet, salty, and vinegary.

    Before Miriya left, I said that I would accept his Pokemon battle challenge, but before he could get home I was already in my pajamas.  I was so tired I practically passed out right when he arrived home.  Once i told him "Good night", he was a little sad, but he was also very tired and hungry from karate.  Looks like I'll have a challenge tomorrow!  He's very confident that his team will be stronger than mine.  I have been training my Pokemon Black version team in hopes of making them all level 100-- since that's where he's at.  The big difference between his team and mine will be that he will have almost all legendary Pokemon and I don't have any.  I'll be sure to report my Pokemon adventures! 

Day 01

   Today, I woke up at 6am (2am Portland time) and stayed in my room until my cousins left.  I didn't want to put up with loud noises despite them being from excitement after approx. 5 hours of sleep after being awake for 24+ hours.  Masami made me a wonderful bacon fried rice dish that had eggs and green bell pepper in it.

   Once I got ready for the day, Masami and I went to the grocery store. There, we bought ingredients for tonight's dinner-- CURRY!  ...because she may have found out that it is my favorite dish ever. <3  My nose and stomach are being teased by the scent of it now as she cooks it.

   Aside from groceries, I purchased Pokemon Bread and Pokemon White 2 (Thank you Donjii)!!!  I am super excited and already have my first badge.  I'm learning Japanese Pokemon terms pretty quickly.  It's an interesting beginning for a Pokemon game!! I recommend it for sure (so far~).  In my Pokemon Bread (which always comes with a sticker), I got a rare "15th Pokemon Movie Kyuurem/Reshiram" sticker!! It's my first rare sticker, so needless to say I was having a party over it in front of my aunt who simply responded by small giggles calling me "Lucky".

    Afterwards, Masami and I ran to the school.  She's part of the PTA, so I got to meet all of the other mothers that were a part of it.  While the women were walking into the classroom, they started to panic when they saw me because they thought I was a teacher having a meeting with my aunt (haha).  They're so polite here.  One woman had lived in Arizona for a year, but she couldn't remember any English other than what is commonly used here.  For 90% of my time there, I was keeping busy with my Pokemon game.  They happily offered me some snacks that they were having, which I happily accepted-- ice cold tea and an unagipai.  It was sweet, yet had a small bite to it like black pepper does.

    When we arrived home, I had one more Poke-pan.  It wasn't my favorite, but being able to eat it made me happy.  It was a pancake-like sandwich with a chocolate filling.  Pikachu was printed on the top half, making it hard to eat-- since he's so adorable.  Does anyone else do this?

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    Mmm.... Curry for dinner!!  The meat was so tender, it fell apart easily.  The potatoes and carrots were cooked perfectly too.  The color of the curry was so golden and gorgeous.  I had a very happy stomach.  (> v <)  Masami also made a cabbage soup, which was simply delicious!  I hope I get to learn to make this dish before I return~!  It makes for a great side dish!

    My cousin Miriya (M, 10) was sitting in his underwear playing Dragon Quest on the couch.  That boy hasn't changed at all.  Still running around saying "UNKO*" and starting his sentences with "ANO SA**".  Miina is at her badminton class and Mireka (F, 11) is at her ballet class.  The three of them have grown so much!! Still little goofballs though.  Once the kids get home, I'll be giving them their souvenirs!  I hope that they will like them!! The box contains Pringles, Mac & Cheese, Happy keychains (from the manga/anime Fairy Tail, made by Hazu), and more junk food.  Sadly, I realized that I forgot the PEZ candy dispensers for them and my other kiddy relatives. (>_<;)  At least I have other things to give them too.

   After dinner, I brought everyone their souvenirs.  Watching my cousins open up the box was a lot of fun-- I forgot to take pictures!!  As soon as they saw the Happy charms, they (rather quickly) started playing rock paper scissors for first dibs (haha).  The middle sibling, Mireka, won and happily chose the Happy with wings.  Miriya got the short end of the stick, but was still very happy to have his own Happy (though, he was a little sad he lost rock, paper, scissors so quickly).

    Masami was happy too-- She received bottles of her favorite American shampoo and conditioner, along with Oregon strawberry jam, teas, and Oregon rain soap.  When Namba-san returned home, he was happy to see what I brought for them.  I was happy that I could bring a smile to his face after a long hard day at work.

    Before heading off to bed, Masami told Namba-san (who enjoys games and kids' tv shows) that I liked Kamen Rider and that I have seen some of them.  She also said "Candi is an otaku!", meaning that I am a nerd.  His response: "I knew that!" (haha).  All the kids giggled as he ran off to his room.  When he returned, he had rare, un-opened Kamen Rider goods which he got from watching the movie in theatres. --AND HE GAVE HIM TO ME.  I freaked out, saying that I couldn't accept it, but he replied with "It's okay, I have two more to myself of everything". ...Needless to say, I happily took them.  It's nice being related to someone who understands that otakus like to stock on rare goods.  (^ v ^-)