Christmas in Shichinohe and New Year's Eve in Hirosaki

Had a quiet xmas by myself this year. I enjoyed the most relaxing xmas eve, spent the day watching movies and went out in the evening to Hoshino Resort Aomoriya Onsen Ryokan, Misawa with Chelsea. It was a crisp clear night, the moon was almost full, the stars dotting the sky, and the pool was light up by a nebuta float at the far end with smaller floating candles dotting the black water in front of it. It was a pricey one, 1200￥　but what the heck, it was really really nice and everything was provided, as it was part of a hotel. It was damn near deserted, too. So there I lay, in the warm, dark water, and it was bliss. I miss my family and friends, but moments like that make the separation worth it. Christmas day was spent chilling in my jammies Skyping with anyone and everyone who came online, it was great! In between chats, I watched some very non-Christmassy movies (I dunno what it is about the Swedish version of the Millennium trilogy [Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl who Played with Fire, Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest], but the last couple years, that's what I had to watch) including Shaun of the Dead, A Fantastic Fear of Everything, Fright Night (2011), and then made the trek out in the blowy snowy night to the Shimoda mall to catch the late showing of The Hobbit (Japanese subs in 3D).

We call this... the departure point.

Warming my toes while I wait for my train

Now, while I do enjoy my solitude, I am no hermit. So New Years was a time to venture out into the big ol' world and see folks once again. All the ALTs who live in the neighbourhood had bugged out to various parts of the world, however I was lucky enough that my fellow Winnipeggers Mel & Jeff were planning on going to Hirosaki for the big night and even MORE lucky that new JET friend Nancy was in town and willing to let me crash on her floor. Whatta gem! I decided that, since I was on holidays and there weren't really any time restraints to worry about, that I should take the train into the city rather than forking out yen for gas and tolls. Good thing, too! There were some spots that were whiteouts along the way. Anyway, thanks to the interwebs I was able to get where I wanted to go without too much trouble.

Park Rules: No campfires, no picking up cans and paper, no cats riding dogs, no breaking sticks, no kicking chairs, no using telepathy, no rioting and no getaways on bikes.

 Treated myself to a Limited Express train between Aomori City and Hirosaki, just a small step down from riding on the Shinkansen, so, there was a bathroom and legroom and recline-able seats. Swank! There was also a little kid who was playing with his action figures, doing voices for them and singing songs. So cute! Very enjoyable ride. I arrived safe and sound and walked to Nancy's place and snapped the above photo as I walked past the park... I wonder if desk flipping and the use of magic wands are acceptable.

Our first order of business was to find some dinner, as the pubs in Japan do not seem to offer much in the way of dinner-fare... I should have snapped a photo, but the food that we ended up getting at the pub later was a small platter with a sampling of cheeses, a little dish of mixed nuts... and we split a grilled cheese sammich (which was freaking delicious, but not exactly a complete dinner or substantial enough for an evening of beverages), so Nancy and I picked up Mel and Jeff from the hotel and we all headed out to the food court/acade for some fine eats. We ended up at Kantipur inside Kadare-Yokocho, an Indian restaurant run by Nepali owners. Great eats and good prices!

Nepali owned Indian restaurant with yummy beer.

Fancy! They captured all that awesome *and* bottled it.  Magic!

Mel and Jeff

Mutton spinich curry with garlic naan... おいしいよ！

 Next up: Pub! I'd seen this place show up in a few posts by other Hirosaki JETs, so I'm glad I finally got to check out Robbin's Nest for myself. Great staff (great English! Woo!), Great Tunes (Weezer's Blue album front to back with use singing along at the top of our lungs) and a big ol' picture of Tom Waits on the wall. My kinda place!

Rang in the New Year with great times and friends, <3 you guys. :)

 Drinking games and very small appetizers later it was time for a drunken stumble for some late night eats, we hit up a chain restaurant then called the Japanese equivalent of Operation Red Nose to get everyone to their destinations safely.