Pain

I know I've been kindof behind on the posting, I'm sorry. this one won't be that big either...

I went snowboarding two weeks ago at Naeba in Niigata. It was my first time and needless to say it wasnt pretty. first, the snow wasnt snow, it was ice. then, i actually had to snowboard down to the lesson area. I fell so many times in those two days that I still hurt today. ouch. next time i'll wear butt pads.

On the good side, niigata is famous for rice, and is thus also famous for sake. After the ski areas shut down on sunday due to the winds and RAIN... yes rain... kiyoe and I spent some time at the Shinkansen (bullet train) station whre they have a small selection of 140 different sakes from the area. It was amazing, for 500 yen, you get 5 special tokens and a small cup. you can then choose a sake, insert the token, and sample any of the sakes. I had 10. It soothed my aches, and helped me sleep during the train ride home...

i'm out, gotta go to my japanese lesson..

My last day at work is march 20... then i head to thailand on the 21st, kyoto, nara and koyasan on the 26th, and then the kanamara festival on the 2nd. off to china on the 3rd (by myself) and then relaxing in tokyo for a week to enjoy the hanami season. The final shindig will be the night of the 15th of april... that's ben's 5th harajuku cocktail experience, my going away party, and ben's birthday. should be a great one.... stay tuned.