You know you're cool when...

So I had to look back at the pictures I had taken to remember what happened the weekend after Wallin left. That's not good. Not only is that bad for me because my memory stinks, but it's bad for you, the reader, because that means the weekend was so uninteresting it didn't leave an impression. So strap on your seatbelts for one entertaining update! We're hitting the end of August here and AJET had scheduled a "walking tour of Nagoya" for Saturday. I pretty much know the big things to see in that area already, so I wasn't super excited about the prospect, but I figured it'd be a good chance to hang out with JETs I wouldn't normally see. Turns out the walking tour consisted of "Hey! Let's go to XXXXXXXXXXX massive dept. store, split up, and do some shopping" and then repeat. I at least found a brush pen, with which I can at least attempt to write characters with some calligraphic style.

We were supposed to meet up downstairs, but on our way down we stopped at a place that sold little snack sized dessert waffles. I got a pineapple one which was delicious, but the most notable part of the store was the logo/mascot-a golden toddler about to take a leak. If that doesn't sell waffles, I don't know what will. The plan was then to drop $40 on a barbecue/beer garden, and then go to Club ID (THE infamous dance club that tends to have a lot foreigners in it.) I sure as heck didn't want to spend $40 on BBQ and beer, plus there was an amazing ramen shop I wanted to hit up, so I bailed on the rest of the group plans. There was another group bailing on the beer garden as well, but were heading to Outback Steakhouse (just what I want to eat in Japan...).


So Jon and I cut out and headed to Gin no Kura, which serves up the BEST ramen I have ever eaten. The place is a hole in the wall and seats maybe 10-12 people at full capacity...which is how you know it's good. A good rule of thumb is that the quality of the ramen is inversely proportional to the seating capacity. The dish to get is their Spicy Miso Garlic Butter Ramen. I talked this stuff up big time to Jon, and agreed that it lived up to the hype and is the best ramen he's had. He now craves the stuff.

The next day I went sightseeing with two co-workers of mine. Fukumori-san from the office down the hall, and Nishioka-san, who works in the library at the university. We drove up to where there is a waterfall, somewhere near the village of Shiratori. I'm a big fan of waterfalls, and this one didn't disappoint. The scenery around it was beautiful, and there is nothing better than the spraying mist from a waterfall on a hot summer day. A unique feature of this spot was that the cliff jutted in to form a little alcove area you could walk into. There was water just seeping out of the cliff rock in the alcove-it was pretty cool.

After hitting up the waterfall, we went spelunking in an underground cavern. It was a stark contrast from the waterfall, and I think quite possibly my first cave experience. Walking into the cave it felt like there was air conditioning running. It was a good 15-20 degrees cooler, which was much appreciated. The path through the cave was long and winding, and took us through some spots which were small, even by Japan's standards, which led to many inquiries of "Are you okay?" and even more of "Watch your head!"

After making it safely out of the cave, we hopped back in the car and stopped at Gujo to walk around a bit. For those paying attention, this is the same place I went late-night dancing for Obon. It looked quite different during the day, and proved to be a town with a good deal of charm. There were a number of guys jumping off the bridge into a deeper part of the river that runs through the town. Looked like a good deal of fun...maybe next summer. My co-workers really wanted to stop at what they called a "sample shop." I was thinking food samples, and was certainly up for some snacking. Well, I was only partially correct. It is a store that sells food samples...plastics ones. All the plastic food that gets displayed outside of restaurants in Japan has to get made somewhere. I guess that somewhere is here. I'm not sure why, but Japanese people apparently love these things. They had keychains and magnets of all sizes, and even just replica food dishes. While they shopped, being way too excited about molded plastic, I attempted to understand the appeal. Although that endeavor ended in failure, in an effort to not seem ungracious, I bought a mitarashi dango (feel free to look that up) keychain.

Our final stop on the way back to Ogaki was Mino village, a rather traditional little place with a claim or two to fame. One of which is that Mino is one of the last places (if not THE last) you can see residences with Udatsu roof flourishes (as seen in photo). Udatsu were completely ostentatious, but that was the point. If your house had an udatsu on it, it signaled to everyone that you had made it. It also significantly upped your chances with the ladies, since most females shied away from the uncertain life of living with a man too poor to afford an udatsu. You know what they about the size of a man's roof...
Anyway, Mino is also famous for making paper lanterns, and we even got a watch one shopkeeper make one by hand the old fashioned way. There is a somewhat elaborate interlocking wooden frame that the paper is glued together on. The genius is in that the wooden frame is collapsible, so after drying you collapse the frame to yield hollow lantern shade. I wouldn't mind a couple for my place, so I might go back at some point.

Fukumori-san, being the trooper she is, also invited me (and Jon and Sarah) to go along with her the very next day to visit a shrine. This particular shrine has a festival on the last day of every month, and is good for business. Given the economic climate, it was quite crowded. There are a number of different stations in what ends up being a veritable relay race a rituals for good luck. We also got our fortunes (via shaking a stick out a can) and unfortunately, all of ours were to the effect of "less than stellar...but you can turn things around if you work hard." After lighting a candle and throwing chunks of dried fat tied with straw, we got to lift a rock, make a wish, and then lift it again. If it feels heavier (or lighter? I was getting conflicting stories) the wish is supposed to come true.

Bringing things back full circle to the title. It was shortly after this night to the shrine that I had the sad realization that, since arriving in Japan, the Japanese person I had spent the most time hanging out with outside of work was my 40 year old co-worker. You know you're cool when...

Current update: My internet is pretty solid. I just downloaded Only the Strong at around 400kbps. "Now we'll see who the real capoeira MAESTRE is!" Also, I have what is now a confirmed case of ringworm on my knee. I picked up some cream from the store and have been applying it for almost a week. Thankfully there are signs of improvement. I'm hoping it will be cleared up in one more week.