turkeyless

happy thanksgiving everyone.

depite our efforts, we were unable to have a proper thanksgiving meal. i called almost every hotel in the city thinking that one of their restaurants would have a holiday meal for travelers, but to no avail. the japanese don't really eat turkey. most of the people haven't even heard of thanksgiving. we did manage to locate 7 pound frozen turkeys for sale near the city. how you would cook a 7lb. bird in a japanese kitchen is beyond me though, seeing as the stoves here are only slightly larger than a coleman camp stove and ovens don't exist in the house.

we found out after the fact that two foreigner bars had thanksgiving meals on wednesday afternoon. of course. why would assume that it would be thursday?

oh well. we went to an american style coffee shop/diner for lunch to celebrate. i had a blt and a cup of campbell's tomato soup. although 1 can of which costs $.73 back home, one bowl here is about $3.00. it was worth it. johnny got a burger, and finished it in less time than it took me to crush the saltines into my soup. i was very proud of him for not ordering two.

miyazaki

i have to apologize for not writing more frequently. unfortunately there isn't much to write. we've been saving money and staying home for the most part. we've given many an hour to the american tv series '24' and also to many a hayao miyazaki film. hayao miyazaki is the famous director of japanese anime films.

not quite 20 years ago, amanda and i went to visit our big sister, amy, and her boyfriend, dan, in houghton, mi. this was a very big deal as it was the first time we visited amy and dan without our parents. we were out of our folks' house, out their sight, and had total access to cable tv while amy and dan were at work. this was, of course a very big deal. we spent a few days camped out in fromt of the t.v. wearing pajamas until evening. nice.

we stumbled across an animated movie one afternoon. we missed the beginning, and the title, but it was the most beautiful film we had ever seen. it was so magical and strange and the images never left us. over the years, we often wondered what it was and if we would ever see it again or find out anything about it.

well, john and i were in the video store about a month ago and he was looking in the anime section. he came over to me with a video and said, 'this looks kinda good, eh?' i thought i recognized it right away, so we rented it and rushed home while i explained what i thought it was. it was it! it was miyazaki's first film, made in 1984. the english title is nausicaa of the valley of the wind it is such a beautiful story. i found a copy and sent one to amanda and marshall. john and i have been watching his other films in the meantime and they're amazing.

i strongly recommend them to anyone who ever liked a single fairytale. . .