Greetings from Japan where they’ve determined where the dirt is. It’s on your shoes. Case closed.

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A few photos of general shenanigans to start us off.

At the Nagoya Castle Festival.

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* Girls in Yukata, and Kirin Beer Girl posters.

* Video of the festival dancing. The Japanese Electric Slide. *

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Let’s discuss octopus balls. (Oh how I have longed to write those words!) Festival season is upon us, which means fair food. Newsflash: in Japan, fair food is different than in the states, with the exception of a couple of staples: hot dog on a stick, corn on the cob. Over here the staples also include yakisoba (a fried noodle dish) and octopus balls, called tako-yaki. (Note: A Tako stand here is nothing like a Taco stand back in California.)





Octopus balls are a type of dumpling, I guess. They are batter, vegetables, and octopus meat fried in balls about the size of golf balls. They taste a bit better than golf balls, I guess, especially if you like octopus meat. They are squishy, and served super hot off the specially made griddle.

I have been trying to get a phrase to catch on over here. Since festival season is also summer heat season, I’ve tried to get traction on the phrase “It’s as hot as Octopus balls out here.” So far it hasn’t caught on. But I’ll keep trying. If it’s hot where you are, please start using the phrase with your friends and neighbors.

A slideshow of the tako-yaki stands in action.


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Japanese Proverb:
Forgiving the unrepentant is like drawing pictures on water.

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