Today really felt like the first day of spring. First day this year I went out without my heavy jacket, and I left my door open all day long without need of the heater. So after getting all my winter fur chopped off my head (at the barbershop where I actually was able to read an entire newspaper article about cameras understanding all of the kanji and only having to look up a few words), I went to Ichinomiya (一宮) to pick up a futon from my friend John, who is the only other remaining person from the initial training class at Aeon from two years ago. We went to a park where we saw some of his students and shot some hoops.

2008-03-08 一宮

In the evening, I went to a Chinese place near Fukiage (吹上) recommended to me by my co-worker Rieko. I had the tantanmen, which was pretty popular I hear. Anyway, apart from me there were only two people there, but the place was pretty interesting. The staff were all Chinese (and spoke Mandarin), but there were pictures and menu items from all over China. In fact, there were probably about 300 different items on the menu, from Dim Sum to Taiwan Ramen to Tantanmen. The Tantanmen was pretty good, although the soup was a little watery. It does look like a good place to go for a big party though, so I’ll probably try it again. One interesting thing about the place is on the menu they bragged that people from 52 countries have visited, from places like San Marino, Andorra, Mauritius, and Tanzania.