Takoyaki (たこ焼き or 蛸焼?) (literally fried or baked octopus) is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, konnyaku, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings).

Although takyoki is sold everywhere in Japan many Japanese agree that it is best when eaten in Osaka, the city where it first originated. Takoyoki can be made at home with a special skillet thus it is common for Japanese, especially those in Osaka, to have takoyaki parties. Takoyaki can also be bought on the streets from venders and from the supermarket in the frozen foods section.

Recently, Koko and I visited Osaka and on the top of our things to do list was to eat lots and lots of delicious Osaka made takoyaki. I’m sure you can imagine how excited we were when, by chance, we stumbled across the Osaka Takoyaki Museum. Of course, we didn’t have any choice but to go and check it out! Inside we found 5 of the more famous takoyaki restaurants in Osaka all selling a unique version of the octopus ball. Not knowing which restaurant to try we decided that we would try them all!

We started off strong and after visiting the first 2 restaurants we had both consumed about 15 balls each. By the 3rd restaurant we had another 6 balls each bringing our total to 21 balls. At the 4th restaurant we each ate another 10 balls bringing the new ball count to 31 balls. By that time we were stuffed!! We thought hard about whether or not we should just suck it up and hit the last restaurant, but in the end we didn’t have it in us. We weren’t too hard on ourselves though, besides 4 out of 5 insn't all that bad. Not to mention we had just eaten 31 octopus balls EACH!

Our first stop was at Shrek’s 4-D Adventure where we joined Shrek, Donkey, and Princess Fiona on a honeymoon adventure. Next, we went on an E.T. adventure where we sailed across the universe to help E.T. his home planet. We then went on a “Hollywood Dream” where we zipped through the sky overlooking the theme park below. Afterwards, we got up close and personal with all of the park’s characters as we cheered them on during the Happy Harmony Celebration Parade. And finally, the best part of my day, although I think Koko seemed a little jealous, was when Winnie Woodpecker fell in love with me and tried to take me for herself! If you don’t believe me then take a look below!
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By the time I had found my seat he was already in place and tightly belted down. It was only his only his 2nd time to fly in a plane and he quickly informed me of this. Before having time to even stow my bags he turned to me saying, “Son, flying in airplanes scares the hell out of me.” He continued with, “I’m not scared much anything else. I just don’t like flying.”

He turned out to be very talkative and it wasn’t too long before he began telling me his story. He told me about how he had been once divorced and how he had a good feeling about the lady he would be meeting later that afternoon. Together they planned on crossing into Canada so that they could get better acquainted with one another. He then told me about his Harley and how he contemplated taking his bike to Michigan so he didn’t have to fly.

Married friends of his have matching Harleys, he explained. They bought them at the same time and they never take one out without the other. The only thing different between the two bikes is the one digit difference between the serial numbers. He referred to the bikes as the twins. He told me that when one bike needs to be serviced his friends just go ahead and take them both in for maintenance. I got the impression that he too longed for his own pair of twin bikes. At that moment I hoped that things between him and his Internet girlfriend would work out for the best.

I dozed off at one point during a silent spell in our conversation, but by that time he had softened his grip on the handle of his seat. At times I even noticed him glancing out the window. I awoke when the pilot’s voice came over the intercom to say, “flight attendants please prepare the cabin for landing.”

As our plane began its descent the man continued on as if we had been talking the entire time. He remarked, “I just don’t get how it is that we are moving so fast even though everything looks like it’s passing by so slow.” He continued with, “I think that’s Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or something like that.” I didn’t respond, but instead I slowly bobbed my head up and down several times pushing my lower lip out just slightly as if to relay that I was thinking deep and hard about what he had just said. Once the plane landed he introduced himself to me. I can’t remember his name, but I think it was John or Jim or James or something.

After being away for a little over a year the first thing I noticed was how big, developed, and foreign everything appeared. It was a funny feeling to drive down very familiar roads only to see very unfamiliar sites. At times I thought to myself that this is what getting old must feel like.

It was comforting, on the other hand, to see friends and family just how I remembered everyone being. And it was cool too being able to pick back up with everyone just as if I had been home the entire time. I was reminded that while all of us may change as we grow, and flutter about through our lives chasing various ambitions, it's the relationships that connect us together as people which generally stay just about the same no matter how much time has passed. I like this about us.

Needless to say it was fantastic spending time with everyone! I didn't know it was possible to squeeze in so many visits with so many people in such a such a short amount of time, but we pulled it off.

I'd like to close this entry by saying thanks to mom for the ice chips while I was sick in bed to dad for a hearty American breakfast on my last morning at home to Logan for accompanying me to Atlanta and for the good talks we had in the car along the way to Clara and Jacob and Kristen for lots of food at Qdoba to Greg and April for grilled pizzas and Guitar Hero to Banner for eating my souvenirs to Katie for picking me up at the airport and playing Speed Scrabble with me at Borders to Jenny and Julie for ice cream at Pied Piper to Sue for falafel and hummus to Georgia for coffee at Fido's and chats to Mr. C for treating me to an Italian dinner to Raleigh for showing me around the Opry gift shop to nanny and poppas and family for Saturday lunch to granddaddy and family for lunch on Sunday to Jason and Kirstin for an evening at Gold Rush, to Carrie and Bethany and French friends for talks on the balcony, to Amy G. for lunch at McAllister’s to Dr. G for a beer at Aubrey’s to Anna for catching up over Mediterranean and to Mr. Duncan for a quick chat at Great Clips. . . and if somehow I managed to leave you out of this inclusive thank you list then please know that I am thankful for you too. Finally, enjoy these pictures of my trip. Cheers!

We knew it was time to call it a day when we were all burnt from the sun and battered from our falls. After making our way back to the shore we cleaned off our gear and went out for dinner. With big appetites we ate like kings celebrating our victories and reminiscing about all that had happened during our day at sea. I’ve uploaded a few photos and even a video for your enjoyment so have a look!

If you were thinking that all of there characters seem to have a runny nose well then you thought right! Why? Well, because it’s cute of course. Didn’t you think so too! Yes, the one reoccurring throughout everyone one of the characters made by my friend is the runny nose. It's just her thing.

So do you want to know how to runny nose in Japanese? It's "hana mizu" and it translates into nose water. Lastly, I have also uploaded a handsome version of Mr. Curtis for all the ladies out there. Enjoy your day!

Like any other form of alternative medicine there are many mixed opinions as to how much healing power can actually be taken from the sting of a bee. According to one site, however, honey bee venom contains over 40 different healing substances and is used to treat everything from depression to Multiple Sclerosis.

The first time I was introduced to bee venom therapy was after a weekend of snowboarding. I had fallen down the slopes so many times that at the end of the day my entire body felt like I had been hit by car. That evening a good friend of mine on the snowboarding club who makes his living as an apitherapist took me into his office and poked me several consecutive times with the stinger from a bee. The process didn’t hurt as I expected it to, but it did tingle and also itch when he was finished. So am I a believer? Well, much of the tension in my neck disappeared after receiving the therapy and even though not all of the pain vanished immediately, I can certainly understand how several therapy sessions could have healing effects.

Last week I hurt my back to the point that even breathing became difficult, so I called up my friend and yesterday I went in for another therapy session. I brought my camera along too so I could post a video online for everyone to see. Take a look.

After giving away about 40 seedlings to schools and friends I still had to find somewhere to plant the remaining 60, but where was I going to find that kind of land?

In search of help I started asking around and it didn’t take any time at all before several people in the community had heard about my project. Within a week I had more offers for land than I had pumpkins to plant! It was great!

As the weekend rolled around I put on my overalls and spent an entire day in the fields. I made some new friends too as many people stopped by to see what the white boy was doing on someone else’s land. I ended up planting pumpkins in 3 different fields and then just for fun I also planted one plant on the side of the street near my house.

What I enjoy the most about this entire experience is how in a very small way it has brought some of us closer together. There is the man at the gasoline stand near one of the fields whom I chat with all the time now. There is an old lady that tells me she watches the pumpkins grow every day. And there is one man at the school lunch center who even calls me in the office to tell me when the plant's flowers have bloomed. It really is a great feeling to know that others are just excited as I am about this project as I am. it’s also amusing to think of how it all just kind of happened unintentionally.

We started the party off by decorating about 5 dozen eggs and the creative ideas that everyone came up with were really fantastic! I always have a blast sharing a little piece of my culture with my Japanese friends and today as I watched the kiddies and their parents decorating eggs together I couldn’t help but smile. I like it that the kids have so much fun with Easter, in fact, Ryuto, my 5 year old neighbor was so excited about today that he woke up on his own at 6:00 am to get ready for our Easter party which didn’t actually start until noon.

Since today’s forecast called for sunny and clear skies we got out grills and barbecued it Japanese style with lots of veggies, meat, and fish. While the ladies were busily gossiping about the latest news spreading around the island, us dudes were working through the details regarding our upcoming MEN'S NIGHT OUT that we are planning on having sometime in the near future. It should be a good time!

Once our bellies were full everyone took a break from the barbecue and while the kids waited anxiously the adults gathered around to hide the plastic eggs and other goodies we had prepared for the Easter egg hunt. Last year, Ryuto suggested that putting money inside the eggs would be much more fun than jellybeans so this year we honored his request and put money in every single egg. One egg even contained 100 yen ( about a dollar) and believe me hearing this news was an exciting moment for the egg hunters!

After the hunt had finished we had all the kids count their eggs and line up for their “special prizes” which were really the exact same toys, but they didn't notice. We’d say, “Wow, you got 3 blue eggs? Okay, here is crayon set!!” The kids ate it up too!

As the sun started to go down we called it a day and despite being exhausted, sunburned, and dehydrated I think that today might just have been the best Easter Nagashima has ever seen!

What helped me to finalize the decision was when I returned home from visiting Koko in Tokyo one afternoon to find that my bench was missing. Curtis recently purchased a new guitar and he was using my bench to sit on while he practiced outside.

Using the tools at one of my Junior High Schools I was able to complete the entire project without him ever finding out what I was up to. It was good fun to make and giving it to him was even more exciting. Take a look!!

However, as I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task I made sure not to go into the challenge ill-equipped. To prepare my mind and my heart for the battle I did what anyone in training would do: stay up late into the evening watching American Gladiator YouTube clips like this one. But would it be enough? Did I actually have what it took to be Japan’s next Kagoshima Gladiator? Only time would tell.

To power up with nutrients on the morning of the big day I ate a double portion of natto and a raw egg over rice to get a burst of energy that I knew I would need for the competition. After arriving to the course and sizing up the other competitors it was clear that I had my work cut out for me.

As the rules were explained I soon learned we wouldn't be competing alone, but instead we would be competing in teams which were to be chosen by lottery . As fate would have it Curtis and I made it onto the same team and I knew from that moment forward he would be our team’s secret weapon.

We had an hour and half to complete as many of the 25 or so obstacles which lay before us. The first team to have all their team members finish the challenge and return back to the starting line took home the title of Japan's next Kagoshima Gladiator.

So did we win? oh yeah. . . by a landslide!! We sweat and we bled and sure enough our team took home the first place title. Victory!!