So I live pretty close to this huge group of pachinko parlors. There's a building, a parking lot, an orchard, a railroad, and a highway in between me and them, so they don't bother me at all, but if you ever walk even near a pachinko building you'll realize it's maybe the most offensive form of gambling. The machines are so loud that all announcements on their loudspeakers, in order to be heard above the machines, can easily be heard outside as well. You can hear the din and clatter of the machines through the closed doors too, and can even smell the stale cigarette smell as you walk by. It's really horrible, and I just don't know what to make of humankind when I walk by and see a store with most seats filled.

But tonight we got out of the car and as we walked across the parking lot, a flight of cranes flew in V formation overhead, their broad white wings brilliantly illuminated by the pachinko lights below. As they flew away they were still beautiful, but it was kind of the difference between a bright full moon and a moon on a cloudy night. I guess pachinko is good for something?

It was a 3-day weekend but kind of seemed like mostly a waste of time. Friday night we had dinner out with Hiro's mom and a really cool family friend, but the restaurant was loud and I missed most of the conversation and was kind of in a bad mood for it. Saturday I woke up later than expected and did my taxes (yes, my 2004 taxes. been waiting for my residency certification) and although it all went smoothly thanks to the internet, it was still taxes. We had a taiko performance for a wedding that night, which went fine but it was an indoor floor that was nice and sticky so our sandals didn't slip and I got down in a really low crouch and my legs got so tired, so I was wiped out when we went out to eat afterward. Sunday we went to watch our friend Chris play flute in a nearby festival but we couldn't see him most of the time and my back hurt from sitting on the ground. We did a lot of stuff, but none of it felt really fun or worthwhile.

Today Hiro went to her monthly religious ceremony so I had to the day to myself. I took a couple walks, went shopping, got some cleaning and studying done, and watched some downloaded episodes of what was called Star Blazers in America--Uchu Senkan Yamato in Japan. When Hiro got home we weren't really hungry but thought we should eat something, so we decided to go out to a nice restaurant where we might spend a bit of money but wouldnt' eat too much and would have a nice relaxing atmosphere. We were searching for a place we had been to when we ran across another place; after keeping searching for a bit we went back to the place we had discovered. It had a beautiful garden, all wood inside, a sunken seating area at the bar, and an old hibachi that could seat 6 or so. The crowd of six was sitting at the bar, so we sat at the ground-level hibachi, very antiquey and nice, and ordered our food. The menu was written on a board with no prices, but the place didn't look to hoity-toity, so we didn't think too much of it. Until the sashimi came. They were huge pieces, deep red in the center and pink fatty meat out toward the edges. We had to eat them in two bites. At that point we decided we'd limit our eating in case the bill was a killer. We ate slowly and enjoyed everything very much, and were expecting a minimum 4000 yen bill, so when the total came to 2500 we were really suprised! We double-checked with the mama-san, but that really was the total. She kept telling us to come back and watched for oncoming cars as we backed out into the road. I guess the only bad thing about that experience is that the restaurant is only a couple blocks from where I used to live. I would have been there every week!

So then we went home and saw the cranes. Kind of a weird weekend but it had a nice ending.