Starbucks

Here in Japan there are many starbucks. Here in Toyama city there are at least 4. When we are in America we don't tend to go that often, if at all, but over here it is a treat and a little taste/reminder of home. 

At one of the Starbucks a few of the workers are fans of our team, and very friendly when we stop in.

#47 is my number this year

Nice to be able to go and have a date with my girls sometimes :)

What flavor of cheesecake do you like?

Rice malt & citron?

Or do you prefer:

Green tea & adzuki bean?

Ice cream

Here are some pictures of the ice cream they have In The grocery store. Ice cream picture tour:

Snow plow

Here in Toyama we get a lot of snow. Wikipedia says average of 12 feet a year. The temperature here hovers close to freezing or warmer so it never gets really cold. Because of this the city goes about getting rid of the snow on the streets a little differently. Instead of snow plows they use............sprinklers. 

Every main road and a lot of parking lots have a built in sprinkler system that turns on when it snows. (Or some parking lots put out hoses with little holes in them that spray water). Because the temperature never gets much below zero, if at all, the water from the sprinkler system doesn't freeze so there isn't much worry about the roads being slippery from the water freezing.

This system works pretty well but it makes for some slushy, sloppy walking areas. Most of the people here wear rain boots, not winter boots, and I totally understand why. 

Me on the other hand, I wear sandals (because I ice my Achilles after practice and shoes are hard to wear with an ice bag strapped on the back of my foot) and there are days when toes definitely know they are not in a nice protected boot, but rather taking a new polar plunge with every step I take.

We have seen only one snow plow in the city all winter long and it didn't even have it's plow down to clear the road.

Sweets - great English

This past weekend we had another road trip, so that means another trip to the rest areas along the way. 

Once again there was no shortage of great English sayings on the gifts/sweet treats that they have for sale:

If it is hard to read this says: the sweets of three kinds of boast is presented to you. Please enjoy a delicious flavor of this sweets.

Food gifts

Here in Japan there is a sort of gifting culture.

Gifts are given for almost every occasion: to say thank you, to say thank you for a thank you gift, to say congrats, at weddings, Christmas and other holidays and sometimes just to give a gift.  As a basketball player I am very thankful as fans will sometimes give me gifts after the game and many of them spoil our daughters. (The people are extremely nice here in Toyama and we are very appreciative).

I have included a link if you want to read more about Japan's gifting culture.

http://www.giftypedia.com/Japan_Gift_Giving_Customs

If someone goes on a trip they are expected to bring back a gift from where it is they went. For example, if someone were to travel to another part of Japan or to another country they would be expected to bring back gifts from that place. Many times those gifts are some sort of sweet treat or food. The airports and road stops/highway rest areas all have sections of these packaged goodies/sweets. Some are cookies, some are cakes, and others are completely different all together. I have included some pictures of different gifts from one of the rest area we stopped at to give you an idea of what these might be. Many times, different areas of Japan are known for certain things. Kyoto (one of the prefectures/states of Japan) is known for green tea and Aomori (one of the prefectures/states of Japan) is know for apples, so the gifts/sweets/goodies will many times feature those things. Aomori had Apple cakes, little apple pies and other yummy things made frim apples while Kyoto's gifts were green tea or sweets with green tea cream filling or things flavored by green tea. (It wouldn't make a very good gift as it would melt but we did have green tea ice cream last year when we were in Kyoto).

Some of the food gifts obviously have a Japanese name but many of them have a little explanation in English. I get a little kick out of reading the English as it's not quite the same wording that you would find on a product in the States. I hope you will be able to read it in the photos.

100 yen for 30 minutes

This weekend we are on the road. The hotel we are staying at us called Livemax. As we went up the elevator to our room the first time I noticed a sign hanging on one of the walls. It said:

What does it say? 

It says if you forgot you phone charger and need to charge your device you can use theirs for 30 mins and 100 yen (about $1) a time.

 Earlier this year I made a post talking about this exact same thing - Electricity - How much?