Pretty things, funny things, tasty things

Here's a quick update on the kinds of things we see here every day. Some things (as the title indicates) are pretty, some things are funny, and some things are tasty... we'll start with the funny things.

Did you ever think you would see a Hello Kitty violin or ukulele? Hello Kitty is on everything.

Chocolate covered potato chips... both tasty and funny... it was funny to find something we thought was unique to North Dakota here in Japan.

"Mt. Rainier" coffee out of a vending machine. (Seattle is quite famous. We see pictures of Ichiro everywhere.) Unfortunately I only read the English advertising "espresso and milk" but not the katakana, which said "burakku" (black). No milk to be found in this coffee...

Peeing statue we found while we were away at a conference... it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the park. Oh well, someone has a sense of humor.

Pretty things...

The sky is so dramatic here! This is the view of our neighborhood from our apartment.

Trees changing colors...

especially ginko trees...

Stained glass at a local community center...

Children. These ones are pretty nice. Transitioning to tasty things, those buckwheat crepes they're eating were pretty tasty...

Ramen is famous in Sapporo. We eat it about as often as we can... and we eat every last drop.

Sushi! A guy from our church is a sushi chef! This is the meal he prepared for us. It was really helpful, since it was our first time going to a "real" sushi restaurant, that the food was prepared by someone we know... we weren't afraid to ask dumb questions or just chat (and blatantly stare as he was working).

Life is beautiful.