Golden Week

Golden Week is a national holiday that takes place at the beginning of May. It's like a big spring break. We went to visit Gen's relatives near Osaka. This was taken at a park near their house. There are thousands of those fish kites, all donated by local community groups and businesses.

From the left, that's Gen's great-aunt, Mariko, Nanami, me, Riku, and Rie. I've never been good at degrees of cousins, but I think Rie is Gen's second cousin and her kids are his second cousins once removed.

This was dinner our first night. You may have seen something like this on TV. It's called kaiten sushi. The sushi moves past you on little conveyor belts and you just pick whatever you want. You can also make requests for the sushi chefs. It's kind of like the fast-food equivalent of sushi. This place had really high quality, though. One of the funniest rolls was filled with corn and mayonnaise. I kind of wanted to try it, just to say I did, but Gen said I would embarrass him. Ha ha!

After you finish, the waitress counts up your plates. There are different colored plates for different prices. Look at how much we ate! That was for 8 people.

This is by far the craziest thing I have eaten so far. It's aji (mackerel) sashimi. They kill the fish right when you order, so when it's brought to the table it's still wriggling. It FREAKED ME OUT! The sashimi was good, but it was like the fish was looking at me, asking me not to eat him. I apologized to his sad eyes. After you finish the sashimi, they take the head and tail back to the kitchen and fry it up for you. You eat everything, even the bones. It was good, kind of like a fish cracker.

In news apropos of nothing, trucker hats are still tragically in fashion here. Also, I would like to take a poll. I tried on a very adorable (and cheap) madras fedora. Do I need to go back to the store and get it? My first instinct was not to buy it because I suspect I'm too old. But my Aunt Jane said go for it. Thoughts? Opinions?