"I swear, I left her by the river. I swear, I left her save and sound."

Japan is good at seeing things from an angle that allows them to do what they want. When Buddhist monks were forbidden to eat meat except birds, they reasoned that rabbits are a kind of bird because they never touch the ground with more than two feet at a time. When peasants were only allowed seafood, and meat was for the upper classes, they called deer "mountain whales" which where therefore allowed. I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

This Friday I'll be doing a homestay with a family for the weekend, and helping them harvest rice. It's also "fall break" so Monday and Tuesday are also off.

The nearest big city is known for its jazz and its gyoza. It used to even have a famous gyoza statue - until it was accidentally broken yesterday by construction. I'm not too upset because it was the ugliest thing ever.

I like a banana for breakfast and a one for dessert, but lately there's been an insane "banana dieto" going around like the common cold, so everytime I go to the supermarket the entire rack is empty. Disappointment, since they're the only cheap fruit in town.

There's an interesting "social bookmarking" site for Japanese information here.

Since it's been playing constantly everywhere and is stuck in everyone's heads, since if you have a kid you'll learn it anyways, and since this girl is so cute you want to eat her whole without chewing, as one host put it - I give you the "Ponyo on a Cliff" theme song: