Hazy and hot, no rain.
Well, we had a great weekend. We went to Sakata last night after spending a good day together. The party was fun, and we had a great time with our friends and their other guests. I saw a lot of my old students, including a couple that I hadn't seen in years.
We came back to the hotel room after the party. There weren't any second parties going on, so Fumihiko had another drink and I did some crochet. Such an exciting couple we are! I also watched Heroes which was fun.
This morning we had breakfast then came back to the room and had a nap. It was hard to get up afterwards though. We checked out and went to Hiyoriyama Park. It wasn't my idea. I didn't really want to go, but it was mostly okay. We walked through the park and then came upon a famous building. (See entry below this one.) It was used as the office in the film Okuribito (Departures) or as I like to call it, "The film that won the Oscar but doesn't have English subtitles." We took a guided tour (probably just for me as I don't speak Japanese) and it was quite interesting. I really DO want to see the movie now. We walked back to the car. I had told Fumihiko when we first got to the park that I didn't want to be outside long as I didn't have a sunhat, sunscreen and after 4 months of winter, no tolerance of the sun. It was between 11 and 12 when we were out. Not good for any sane pale person to be out.
We did a bit of shopping at Yamaya in Sakata afterwards, then tried to find a restaurant for lunch. Fumihiko's choice was packed, so I suggested a kaitensushi place that we don't have in Tsuruoka and I've always wanted to try. It was called Kappa-sushi. It was okay. It was one of the really modern conveyor belt/high tech places. You could either take food off the belt, or you could order it from a touch screen above our seats. The ordered sushi was delivered by a "shinkansen" train on a second belt. It was a neat idea really. All the plates of sushi cost 100 yen, so if it was an expensive type of fish you might just get one piece. I tried a few interesting types, avocado and shrimp...good, but more avocado please, and salmon and cheese. That was nice too. The cheese must have been cream cheese. Afterwards, I said to Fumihiko that it was a good place for families because a lot of different foods were on offer, and the tech toys made it fun, but, the sushi wasn't as good as our usual place. I'd also take a first time sushi tryer there as it has such a range of dishes. If they hated sushi they could still eat something.
We came home after lunch. I conked out for a couple of hours, and woke up just before 6. We decided to have dinner at Jiro and then go out to the mall. We did that.
Tonight at the mall we saw Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. It was really good. There are lots of interesting touches in the film. I like how he has a relationship with the priest...so many movies have a priest character as just that, a character....usually a jolly older man who quotes a few platitudes and then is never heard from again. Not his guy. As there was also an important priest character in Million Dollar Baby I can't help wondering if this is a motif that he likes. Fumihiko and I were talking about the movie for quite a while afterwards.
We stopped at Mosburgers for shakes (I needed ice cream and that was the closest they had), then watched a very little TV at home. We're winding down for the evening.
AND...when I went to the ladies room before the movie my neckline of my shirt slipped a little and I was horrified to see that I did in fact get sunburnt today. Ack. I was a bit worried earlier, but thought I was okay. I showed Fumihiko and he was a bit shocked. I think he thought I was wussing out on him at the park today when I said I shouldn't be out, but I wasn't really.
Anyway, that's it for me for today. Hopefully I'll be able to update tomorrow night, but you never know. Bye!
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