Times, they are a changin'〓

The elections in Japan for the lower house reps, ended yesterday with the Lberal Democratic Party winning a "landslide victory". Please check out this news if you haven't already. I'd love to talk more about this but I am typing this with one finger...on my, yes, phone.

I am in Tokyo because my job is "a changin'" tomorrow. I will be attending a meeting tomorrow and will be here for two more days for...I'm not sure what... but I'll let you know so long as it is not confidential ;-)

Oh, I arrived just an hour or so before the TYPHOON got here too!
The view from my phone:

I love...

I love my phone. I know you are not supposed to say you love "things" because it makes you sound materialistic...how can a love for family and friends be compared to a "thing"...!

...but I still love my phone...a lot more than my previous one... AND I love Blogger because it has become soooo easy to post AND add a picture...from my phone.

Why is this such a big deal?

Because I will be going to Tokyo and other parts of Japan in September..which means I will be away from my computer. But I am greedy now. I want to read my favorite blogs and update my own blog while I'm on the road...and now I can!

I am doing the hokey pokey now...

Now, that "peach sweet" I posted (from my i-phone!) looks like this when split in half:

The outside is a crust (made from flour and sugar) and the inside is a chestnut paste with peach flavoring.

This was a gift from one of my bosses who traveled to Okayama, a prefecture in south western Japan that is famous for their gloriously delicious peaches.

Hey, I also love peaches.

Oh, and I love you too!

From my i-phone...a peach manju (a mini traditional Japanese cake)

My trip to Hakata. + More tomatoes!?

Hi! I am back and feeling great!

I tried getting on the internet with my new phone but the area surrounding my mother's place did not have wi-fi so it has been a week since I have been able to peek at some of my favorite blogs!

The rice paddies are green and looking nice where she lives.

In a couple of weeks the stalks will grow taller, turn brown and start to bow with heavy heads of rice grains.



While I was in Hakata I found more interesting tomato sweets!

Tomato yogurt... it tasted like... cold tomato soup... but more creamy and sweet.

This is white chocolate with tomatoes in it! When you munch on it is rather crispy, kind of like when you eat a kit-kat.
At first the aroma of white chocolate fills your mouth...
but when you swallow there is a light tang and you get a whiff of tomatoes.

...

It was hot in Hakata but I had some errands to run, and one of them took me to my alma mater.
It is a Christian school and I remember attending chapel once a week to hear the pipe organ...which I forgot to check out while I was there....

I did stop to see what was on the bulletin board:

Since my errand had to do with my "new beginning" ( a new job in September) the above bit of scripture seemed directed at me...

I can just see the trees "clap their hands"!

When I got back to Osaka, the trees had a few yellow leaves and the clouds looked farther away than they were before...an autumn sky!

There are a few errands for me to run before my magical merry Monday off is over.
Next week my Monday will be spent in Tokyo! I am so excited!

fireworks, tomato dessert and my new phone

I will be visiting my mom in Fukuoka from tomorrow...I will probably not be able to do a whole lot of blogging this week since she doesn't have a computer...but with my current blogging rate, you won't even notice that I'm gone! lol

However, I will try to see if I can blog via my new phone...

Yep, you read right, my new phone:

I am a sucker for apple computers...

I have an i-pod too.... but I think my new i-phone is pretty....

Anywhooo...

Last week was packed with fun and work. I got to meet some friends and we had a great lunch and some sparkling wine...

I also treated myself to some interesting dessert that my husband found...

this is a "tomato tiramisu"

It was a little sweet and sour at the same time...not bad really!

There was also a fireworks festival not far from where I live. I got to catch a glimpse of it all between the surrounding buildings!

I'll try to get back on track with more photos and posts about Japanese culture as soon as I get back.

I'll be starting a new job in September but it should give me a lot to write about since I will be a "traveling sales person"! Autumn is my favorite season in Japan for so many reasons and I hope to share them with you too!

Dear Diary, I have been a bad blogger!

Last week torrential rains devastated the south western part of Japan.  Landslides took the lives of people living in the countryside...

We had a few mighty rain clouds hovering over our city as well...

but now we are out of the rainy season and it is ....HOT!
Today it was a whopping 36 degrees C  (96.8 degrees F)...

I had to work today but I came home to find my husband cuddling a bag of ice.

I asked him why he didn't just turn on the air conditioning... He gave me a very earth friendly answer...

...

This is also a week in Japan for remembrance.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed on August 6th and 9th and it is the weekend before the Obon festivities begin.

Obon is held in mid August and can be loosely identified with Halloween and Memorial Day (in the States)...it is a time for family reunions and heading down to the family graveyard(s).
Willow wrote a nice poem about this and you can find it over here.

This year I will be heading over to Fukuoka to visit my mother and maybe my grandmother's grave after the Obon festivities so that I can dodge the traffic.

There's more I would like to talk about on the Obon subject but that will have to wait.

I am really posting all this to explain again why I haven't been an active blogger...


I have been away from blogging and even checking out my favorite blogs this past week because I went to Tokyo during a regular work week.

This is the first time I have ever applied for a job while still working...and I vow not to do this again...

Why?

Too stressful... Leaving a job seems to be more stressful than having to find a new one!

I still don't know if I will get the job or not but I seem to be among the last batch of recruits.

I actually had lots of fun at the interviews.  I learned a lot about myself and about how I cope in stressful situations.  (I have all those lovely, outrageous people who visit me at work now to thank...so everything does have a meaning!)

Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have a day off on Monday and I am going to Kobe for a lunch and book buying!  I will update my week's adventures again then!

Thank you for all the encouraging messages!
I have been able to stay focused and happy because of you!