Haven’t You Always Wanted a Monkey?

Today we are going to see the “Snow Monkeys” and I am excited. Prince Charming had all of these romantic plans made for us at this super shi-shi hot springs Ryokan north of Nikko and then I found out that there were monkeys near Nagano …

You have to understand how much I love monkeys. I really love them. I would own one if I could (although I understand that they are fond of poo-throwing which I don’t think that I would like). Every trip that I have been on to Japan has been with the hope of seeing monkeys but never have. I always thought that the “Snow Monkeys” (I put them in quotes because all the web sites that talk about them use quotation marks) lived up in the northern islands (somewhere “up there”). Never did I imagine that they were a mere few hours away from Tokyo!! Oh joy! Oh bliss! The potential to see the monkeys! We were initially going to stick to the romantic plan and just add on the additional 4+ hours of driving but, being the Prince he is, Prince Charming convinced me that we could easily have monkeys AND romance at a hot springs Ryokan near the monkeys. And so, it’s off to see the monkeys, the wonderful monkeys of Yudanka (no WAY that I could find an Oz rhymer for this one – let me know if you come up with one). I will report back tomorrow!!

Last night we had another adventure in restaurant land. The food was terrific with not a rectum in site although, technically, it was on the menu. Really, there must be something big lost in translation when 3 out of 4 restaurants offer it on the menu! We ended up having some wonderful sashimi and I would love to be able to tell you the story but without big hand gestures, squishy facial movements, and a bunch of charades I think that it would be impossible. This was definitely a visual event. Use your imagination and make it funny and you are probably close.

Have a terrific day!

Ella

PS Japan is terrific for those of us watching our calories. You don’t have to worry about portion size, they don’t really do sweets unless it is some sweetened bean paste thing, and the rice that you eat usually keeps you full until the next meal so not a lot of snacking is involved. I think that my belly looks smaller. The real test will be when I go home in a few days and step on the scale.

Flower Elephants and Pork Rectums

Last night we went to a restaurant that offered pork rectum on the menu. I didn’t choose it. Our other choices were pork gristle, pork diaphragm, pork esophagus, pork gullet (does a pig have a gullet), and other “tasty” pork bits. Do you think that there is a restaurant hierarchy out there where Restaurant A gets the pork tenderloin and Restaurant B gets the rectum? Did this restaurant actually choose to purchase rectum? You can’t imagine that they did. And yet the restaurant was fairly full. Hmmm … I want to reiterate that I DID NOT eat pork rectum!

Yesterday I spent a perfectly lovely day puttering and shopping. I spent about 2 hours in the 100 Yen store alone. It was wonderful. I purchased these terrific “save the environment” bags because they say it all:


Sweet my Life it is!

I bought some fun exercise journals too. I use journals for all sorts of things. I use them to write down random thoughts, which books I am going to order from the library, travel planning, to dos, Tim Gunn’s wardrobe must haves, etc. Naturally, it is way, way better / nicer to write down these things in journals that make you smile. Here are a few of cover shots of the journals that I bought yesterday:

I also purchased some bath salts with sayings like “Humanity is fighting against tired” and hanging car fragrance things that offer “Put Yellow Mushroom on West Direction when you want to be cheerful and rich people”.

I will be smiling for months!!!

Today I am going to wander around Tsukuba and see what I can see. The weather is decent and I have my fill of journals and Sweet My Life bags. (If you want me to pick you up any of these fun items please let me know).

I hope that we get to go to Restaurant A tonight although, now that I think about it, Restaurant B is pretty good for my “diet”.

Have a good one!

Ella

PS I have had a heck of a time with this post. I wrote an amazingly witty and urbane post that I completely lost somehow (fiddling with formatting). You should have read it! Amazing! Best post that I ever wrote. I have also had a heck of a time with the pictures (I don’t like this new version of Word) and I need to know more about HTML. Akkk!