Gratitdue, Part 22 (Jan. 11 - 17, 2014)

  1. Nabe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabemono)
  2. Nuki (raw beef tongue with egg)
  3. The blog http://www.survivingnjapan.com/
  4. Hiking along Nunobiki Falls
  5. Good weather for hiking
  6. An object of natural beauty within walking distance of a major train station
  7. Kobe beef
  8. Arima cats
  9. Arima Gin-no-yu (public onsen)
  10. Arima Kin-no-yu (public onsen)
  11. Wrote a bunch of postcards to friends and family back in the US
  12. Bought the stamps for postcards using only Japanese
  13. Lots of delicious noodles
  14. Japanese root dish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac
  15. A fried noodle dish http://katnsatoshiinjapan.blogspot.jp/2008/10/bokkake-modanyaki.html  http://hyogo-tourism-en.blogspot.jp/2011/12/sobameshi-bokkake.html
  16.  Being able to match the characters on the menu pictures to the characters on the ticket machine to order.
  17.  The cultural experience of eating at a restaurant by making my selection on a ticket machine
  18. Toyama Black Ramen http://homepage2.nifty.com/tamura-shigeru/sub7sub2.htm (Jan. 17, 2013)
  19. After catching the wrong train, my wife helped me to get in contact with my host to warn him I would be late.
  20. Helpful employee at the train station where I got off after catching the wrong train.  Between a few words of English and drawings, she was able to get me back to the right train.
  21. Found a seat on the right train (JR Thunderbird)
  22. My host waited for me at the train station in Toyama for two hours
  23. Safe ride in the smallest train I have ever seen (only one car)  from Toyama to Inotani Station
  24. A colleague who picked us up at Inotani Station and drove us to the Kamioka Observatory Kenkyutou, the office building in Mozumi for the observatory.
  25. Despite the two hour wait to get on the right train, I was able to give my seminar only 10 minutes late.

Total: 708