I went to ye olde amazing ramen restaurant for the second time last night. Aki took me on Sunday, and it was so good that we went for secondsies. When we got back Erica called because she thought I might know something about paying a bill for a flight at a combini. I didn't, but Aki did and she went off to rescue the poor damsel in *nee-hon-go* distress (all I know about bills is that if you leave them on the shelf in the kitchen your bank account balance is higher). So I watched the K-1 kick-boxing on TV, which was rockin. But the rules must be Japanese, because I saw one guy get beaten to a pulp, only to be announced the winner. Then there was the fight between the really ugly Turkish guy, and the clean cut, good-looking Japanese guy. The Turk was amazing, with acrobatic kicks and loads of power. But the judges gave the most points to the Japanese guy (it was a tournament based in Japan, with Japanese judges) after he got beat up by the Turk. Maybe the judges were homos and they were judging by looks, not the fight itself (the Turk was reeeeeeeeally ugly). I felt sorry for old Turkish though, since he was the only non-Japanese guy in the tourney. He got plenty of cash for fighting mind you.

Today I went to Owani with my ichi-nensei students and all the teachers. It was a glorious day, not a cloud in the sky. The previous day it had rained in Hirosaki, but it fell as snow on the hills of Owani so when we got there the snow condition was fair to midling. It got slushy towards the end of the day, but it didn't slow the skis down which is the main thing. Absolutely wicked day though. Kudo sensei let me take a band of kids on my own hardcore route through the trees and down the steep slopes and I managed to keep them all from breaking any bones. All in all a kushty day.

Going to Iwaki on Saturday to try out my new snowshoes, then Hakkakkakkoda on Sunday baby.