Korea

Not 1 day after I became an official resident of Iwaki, I was part of a party of 4 traversing to South Korea. After one night in Tokyo, we took an early flight and spend 4.5 days and 4 nights in Seoul. We ate some amazing food, visited some very interesting sites, sang kareoke, and hung out with great friends old and new.

Day 1

We arrived in Seoul around noon and decided that the first thing we should do (after finding our hostel) is eat some of dat dere Korean food. The public transportation system is almost on par with Tokyo. The subways are efficient and punctual and the only differences are that there are simply more lines and the trains come more frequently in Tokyo.

A map of all the Seoul Metro Lines

After making a couple of wrong turns, we eventually found our hostel and it was a quaint building with a very sociable and friendly owner, Mr. Lee. If you ever travel to Seoul I would definitely recommend staying at The Birds Nest. The nightly rate is fair, you have a good amount of space, and it just feels like a home away from home :)

We set our stuff down and decided to just explore the immediate area near our hostel to decide on a place to eat. We came about this average looking building with some interesting looking food and decided that this would be our first meal... and what a meal it was. I don't know if the dish had a specific name, but it was Jjukkumi 쭈꾸미(baby octopus) with sliced pork belly.

Just chillin on the grill

It was quite spicy but it definitely added to the taste. We waited 10 minutes for the food to cook on this specially designed grill with the pork on the outside surrounding the baby octopus in the middle. We then took what looked like (but tasted quite different from) lettuce and wrapped it around a piece of this octopork combination. I think we added some of this mac salad looking stuff and it tasted like nothing I've ever eaten before. The lettuce-like thing had a very strong taste, but I think it was quite delicious overall. Once most of the octopork was gone, our server (who was a nice lady who I think owned the restaurant) then put some rice and seaweed in the juices and remains and mixed them all together to create a godly fried/grilled rice. This was probably the tastiest fried rice I've ever had in my life.

Octopork Fried Rice

After this very satisfying and reasonably priced meal (It was only ~$10 each), we decided to further explore the area around our hostel and soon discovered that it was famous for the various and numerous cafes and small street food/shops.

Three coffee shops in a row (including The Coffee Bean)

Homies cooking Korean style egg bread or Gaeran Bbang. It was DELICIOUS

Waffle stuff covered in chocolate/vanilla/strawberry/macha, or Schneepang. It was alright.

Tteokbokki, onion soup, and rice inside intestines? Tteokbokki has like a mochi texture, but the sauce it came in was sweet and spicy (and delicious). The intestine stuff reminded me of sausage which is what led us to believe that it was intestines haha

After exploring the area for a bit and trying the various street foods, we decided to watch Nanta, which was like a cooking musical entertainment extravaganza. It consisted of a cast of mainly 4 people (but a 5th dude would join in from time to time) making music by using kitchen utensils (e.g. frying pan, spatula, knives, spoons, forks, brooms etc.). That sentence does not give it enough justice however. It was hilarious, extremely entertaining, and even involved some audience participation. It wasn't just people making music, there was a plot (a kitchen specialist noob had to lead a group of chefs to prepare the dishes for a wedding and they were tight on time), and their antics in-between musical acts were brilliant (e.g. they turned on this eternal flame using a hadouken-like move, they threw plates at each other simultaneously and with increasing speed while walking in a circle, they had choreographed fights with brooms and mops). The audience participation involved bringing two people on stage and having them eat food while the cast tried to make them laugh and spit it out. Another facet of audience participation involved bringing 8 people on stage and having them compete against each other in a 4v4 cook-off. The cast members eventually left the stage and the 8 people were left staring at each other not knowing what to do. The whole thing lasted 2 hours and cost about $40, but it was worth every penny. I definitely recommend taking in a Nanta show if you ever get the chance.

They didn't allow picture-taking during the show so this was all I could muster

And Stephanie took this picture of the rest of us posing with this huge poster next to the auditorium

Day 2

The hostel offered complimentary breakfast but you had to cook it yourself. It was just toast and eggs +coffee, but it was delicious nonetheless. After breakfast we chilled at a fancy cafe for a bit, and then took a tour bus that included some random sightseeing. The bus took us to a studio where we had our pictures taken in traditional Korean garb. It was an interesting experience and something I recommend doing only if you are traveling in a pair or in a group:

April getting her make up did

We fly

While the pictures were being developed, we ate at an all-you-can eat Korean BBQ place with all different kinds of meat.

Meat (+April and me)

After the pictures, it was just more exploring, shopping, and admiring Korea's wide streets and colorful buildings. Once the freezing cold of night arrived, we went back to the hostel expecting to go out again to drink... Only to find Mr. Lee handing us a 12 pack of beer. So we chilled and talked with a couple of Japanese tourists who happened to be staying in the same hostel while we drank of dat dere Korean beer.

Mr. Lee and Stephanie

Gom Bae!

Day 3

We started the day with some average waffles from an average coffee shop because the Homestead Coffee site we visited wasn't offering their famous waffles just yet. But after that, we were able to visit a Korean palace with some cool street food vendor right next door. We originally thought that we might visit 2 or 3, but this palace was so big we ended up only being to do just the one, but I'd say it was worth the ~$3 admission fee.

Changdeokgung Palace

Cool vendor lady gave us 2 extra bread cake things 

After the palacing, we ate some really good bibimbap and then hit up Lotte world.

So Lotte World is apparently the largest indoor amusement park in the world. Considering this, I wasn't expecting too much since I believed you could only fit so much inside one building, but I was pretty taken aback when we first stepped foot inside this magical place. Oh, I should also mention we were able to get in cheaper because we came in after 4 pm and they also happened to be running a special discount for couples. We were able to convince them to give the same discount for our friends even though they weren't "together."

But as cool as Lotte World was, it was pretty much a rip off of Disneyland haha.

An Indiana Jones-esque ride

View from the hot air balloon ride

This roller coaster was actually pretty amazing

They have shows on a stage at various times throughout the day

And if you ever get bored of the rides, there's a giant ice skating rink in the middle of the theme park. By the way, you have to purchase a special pass in order to be able to ride the rides for free but I think it's worth it if you ride all the big/good ones (there are 5 or 6 good rides including the roller coaster, the Indy ride, the hot air balloons, the log ride, and the pirate ship). Plus you also have access to their museum, which we did not have time to visit unfortunately. With our discounts, the cost of our ticket was ~$20.

Day 4

I think this day proved to be the most interesting part of our Korea trip for me. Mr. Lee helped us book a trip to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). for about $40 each. This included transportation to and from the DMZ, a bus tour around the DMZ, and a tour guide. The tour guide actually picked us up from our hostel and drove us there himself.

I know you can't tell, but that's North Korea on the right (mountainous area)

For whatever reason, there was an empty amusement park in the DMZ.

On the way to the DMZ, our tour guide pointed out that we could actually see North Korea from the freeway we were driving on. He said it was the only park of South Korea that wasn't actually in the DMZ where you could see North Korean buildings. Though he said that the buildings might actually be fake, or be part of a propaganda village. That amusement park was pretty eerie, though it was actually functioning when we saw it later filled with people.

Yes, you are reading that right: Inter-Korean Transit Office. One of the stops on the tour was a particular train station that was built with the hope for reunification in mind. It was built with American aid and it happened while W was our president. The station is actually currently functioning as it sends 2 trains/day past the border to a factory where North Koreans and South Koreans work together in a continued effort to push for reunification (though I hear that since they are now in a state of war, these trains may have stopped for the time being).

Our tour guide talking about the only train line that goes to NK from SK

That yellow line you see in that picture denotes the farthest you can go to take a picture of the other side. They had these binocular viewers that you would pay to use to get a closer glimpse of North Korea. At this location, it looked like various family members were also on the tour with us and they were reunited with their children who were doing their obligatory military service. It was touching and interesting at the same time.

Chocolate made only in the DMZ with soy beans from farms within the DMZ.

There was a stop on the tour that involved going down a really long tunnel that North Korea apparently dug in preparation for invading South Korea. No pictures were allowed inside, so I don't have any =/

It was pretty amazing though. South Korea has discovered 4 tunnels and believes there are more. These 4 tunnels were discovered over the course of 30 years.

All-in-all, the DMZ was an amazing experience and something I definitely recommend doing if you ever get that chance given the current state of affairs.

Saturday night = drinks and kareoke right? Our group members contacted all the people they knew in South Korea and by some miracle we were all able to meet up for grilled Korean BBQ, soju bombs, and kareoke. It was a great way to end the trip.

Mmmmmmmmmm

On the way to kareoke

Day 5

We didn't really do anything special on this day since we had to leave for our lunch time flight back to Tokyo, but I just wanted to mention that there was a small orchestra playing inside the airport after security and immigration, haha.

Cool piano bro

For anyone even remotely interested in South Korea, I most definitely recommend visiting and trying all the things we tried. Despite everything we did, I still want to go back and go to museums we missed, palaces we were unable to explore, and visit other parts of Korea that I hear are also very nice to see. And if you live in Japan, the tickets can get as cheap as ~$200 RT. Our hostel only cost us ~$16 or 1500 yen per night and it was a really cozy place. In any case, here's my summary of recommendations for Seoul:

- See a Nanta Show

- Visit at least 1 palace

- Visit the DMZ

- Ride public transportation (metro)

- Visit Lotte World

- Stay at the Bird's Nest Hostel

- Eat lots and lots of Korean food (including STREET FOOD)

- Visit many cafes (obvious for coffee lovers)

Happy traveling!

Visa

In my adventures to finalize my Japanese work visa, I've encountered many obstacles along the way. Surprisingly, typical internet helper hot spots (e.g. blogs and government web sites) did not help me all that much. And when I tried to speak to the immigration offices over the phone, the results proved to be unpredictable (I had to go to a far-away city twice due to misinformation/miscommunication). I eventually discovered that Japan started a new immigration process on July 9, 2012. This explained why so many blog posts didn't help at all. They were all outdated! Major changes that affected me include the following:

• A re-entry permit (for your work visa) is only needed if you plan on being outside of Japan for more than 12 months at a time. Therefore, you only need your passport and your residence card when you travel to other counties while "residing" in Japan.
• If you happen to be in Japan on a tourist visa when you find employment (which is what happened to me), then it is possible to change your tourist visa into a work visa WITHOUT HAVING TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY.

And here's a little more background info: if you want to work in Japan, your best bet is to get a company to sponsor you while you are still in your home country. Said company would help you apply for your Certificate of Eligibility (CoE), and would then mail it to you when they receive it from Japanese Immigration. This CoE is important as it helps expedite the work visa process by providing the Japanese Consulate/Embassy with an official Japanese document basically backing up the fact that you already have someone that wants to employ you in Japan. That being said, it is possible to apply for a work visa in Japan without a CoE, but your chances of getting approved would be slim and it would also take much more time to get processed by your local Japanese embassy. Additionally, if you are an English speaker and want to live and work in Japan, the easiest way you can accomplish this is to teach English! Companies like Aeon, JET, and Interac exist to find anyone who speaks English to come teach in Japan. Every company's screening is different, but as long as you have an undergraduate degree, you are qualified to apply.

Once you receive your CoE, you would take it to the Japanese Embassy/Consulate nearest to you and surrender it to them along with your visa. I've read online that this should normally take 5 business days and that they tell you via postcard/phone call when it's ready to be picked up. For April, she did it in Hawaii and they did it in 1 business day because they had been in constant contact with her and also because JET is a well-respected international company. It really depends on where you are, and who your sponsor is.

My particular situation is relatively unique. Prior to signing my contract with Kids Garden, I was actually set to work for Interac. They handled applying for my CoE while I was still in the United States. The thing is, I had already planned to go to Japan on 1-15-2013 because I booked the ticket 3 months in advance. Japanese school years start in April and thus so did my position with Interac. So I was already in Japan when my CoE was approved. Additionally, I found out that Interac placed me in a city 100 miles south of April's (as I mentioned in an earlier post). Not one day after I accepted this placement, our friend John told me about an opening for the kindergarten company he worked at in Iwaki. This company - Kids Garden - paid better, provided a company car, and would let me stay with April in Iwaki. This meant that I no longer had to worry about saving up for apartment start-up costs (e.g. Security deposit, key fee, furnishings, etc.) and that we would save money and time  in terms of not having to commute 100 miles just to see each other every weekend.

This is where things get a little complicated. As I mentioned earlier, the typical process to get your work Visa involves you going to your local Japanese Embassy. But I was already in Japan, AND I needed a new CoE (CoE’s are unique to each company). So, if you happen to be in Japan already sponsored by a company, and then decide to take another job opportunity in Japan in which you must personally take steps to legally qualify for, I recommend following these steps:

1. Ask your former potential company to mail back the CoE they applied for on your behalf to the Immigration Bureau from which they received it. In my case, I was very upfront with Interac and told them over the phone my reasons for taking this new job (see above). They then mailed my CoE back to Tokyo Immigration.

2. Fill out a new CoE application with the help of your company. The last page has a line that requires the company "seal/signature." Your company must also provide you with a letter of intent, and some tax documents (showing that this company has a paper trail).

3. Write a letter explaining why you took this new job and why you no longer want to work for the other company. I started with, "To Whom it May Concern..." and just listed my reasons.

4. Go to a photo booth (they have them outside of grocery stores and convenience stores) and pay ~¥700 for a set of passport pictures. I dressed up in professional attire but I'm not sure if that's required.

5. Make a copy of your undergraduate diploma (or highest completed degree after that), passport, and contract with your company (I think color is preferred over B&W).

6. Take the copies you made, the completed application, your pictures, and company documents to the nearest Japanese Immigration Bureau and submit them to an immigration official. I also brought an envelope with a stamp and my mailing address on it so that they knew to mail my CoE using that envelope. I am in Iwaki-shi, so I had to go to Koriyama Immigration Bureau. Ultimately, my application would be mailed to Sendai Immigration Bureau because that is the immigration HQ for my part of Japan (Tohoku region), but they have centers all around my region for convenience. Tokyo Immigration handles Kanto region, and I'm sure there are a couple more for Hokkaido and southern Japan.

7. Wait 2-4 weeks for you CoE to arrive by mail. Mine only took 10 business days and it makes me wonder if my already having been approved for a prior CoE helped expedite the process.

8. While you wait for your CoE, you should fill out an "Application for Change of Status of Residence."

This looks very similar to the CoE application and as such requires your company's official seal once again.

(There are different applications for certain jobs: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/02-format.html)

9. Go to your local post office or convenience store (e.g. FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, Mini Stop), and ask for a ¥4000 revenue stamp, or in Japanese: "yon sen en no shunyu inshi." Japanese immigration offices do not accept cash and will only accept revenue stamps as forms of payment.

My ¥4000 revenue stamp

10. Once your CoE arrives, take it along with your completed Application for Change of Status of Residence, your ¥4000 revenue stamp, and your passport to the main immigration bureau for your region. Once again, please check whose jurisdiction you fall under. Fukushima Prefecture is covered by Sendai Immigration, so I had to go there.

11. The Immigration office should be able to finish changing the status of your visa that same day. In the rare case that they don't, be prepared to stay a night or to just come back on another day. But keep in mind that they have your passport 0_0.

12. I took a bus that brought me to Sendai Station by 9 am and thus I was able to make it to the Immigration Office by around 9:30 am (The Sendai Immigration Office is only 2 km from Sendai Station). Processing my documents only took around 15 minutes. Once they were done, they handed me back my passport and my Residence Card. Your "work visa" won't actually be a document in your passport. In fact, they will stamp your tourist visa "Used" or "Invalid" or something and your Residence Card will act as your "work visa."

A. Sendai Station

B. Sendai Immigration Office

13. They told me that even though they gave me my Residence Card, I still needed to go to my local city hall to register my address within 14 days of receiving that card. After you do that, you should be done!

In my case, I was trying to talk to the Sendai Immigration Bureau over the phone while I was waiting for my CoE in the mail. The person helping me told me that once I received my CoE, all I needed to do was to bring that, a ¥4000 revenue stamp, and my passport to Sendai and that they would be able to process my work visa right there on the spot. I don't know if I misheard her, but when I got to the office, they told me I needed to fill out this other application which required me to retrieve me company's seal again. So, I had to go to Sendai twice: once to pick up this application, and second to submit said application with my passport and CoE.

In any case, since I couldn't find a blog post to help me with my situation, I decided to try and help any future potential Japanese work visa applicants. Current Japanese immigration laws should last at least 5 years, that is to say, my blog post will be valid at least until July 9, 2018. So if you are reading this and it is after that date, I urge you to research Japanese immigration policies.

Good luck and happy job hunting!

Learning

Three different sets of characters are used to write the Japanese language: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Kanji (漢字) are adopted from Chinese characters and literally means "Hans characters." From what I understand, there are over 10,000 Kanji and they are used to represent specific words. They're relatively complex (up to 10-15 strokes to complete 1 complex Kanji) in my opinion, but I also think they are the coolest looking set of characters.

Hiragana was developed from Chinese characters but aren't literally Chinese script like Kanji. When Hiragana was first developed, it was not completely accepted by Japanese society. In fact, the elite members and men in general preferred Kanji while women used Hiragana. Eventually, male authors came to use Hiragana in writing literature, and Hiragana was adopted in writing traditional Japanese.

Katakana was developed in the early Heian period (AD 794 - 1185) by Buddhist monks from Chinese characters as a form of shorthand. In modern Japan, Katakana is used to write out "foreign words." For example, it's used to write out American names:

ブライアン
Bu-ra-i-a-n'

Also, in writing Japanese, there are no spaces between words. You just know how different words are spelled out. One last fact about Japanese writing is that "Romaji" is used to write the language in Roman letters:

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

Anyways, I'm not blogging just to give a short history of Japanese script. I just wanted to share my still brief experience with learning how to write Japanese. April pointed out to me that it should only take a couple of days to learn both Katakana and Hiragana and that it just takes practice to really remember both sets of characters. So I took it upon myself and learned both these sets in the past week. I find myself walking around Iwaki suddenly being able to understand certain things like "ドラグストル(do-ra-gu su-to-ru)" or "Drug Store," which is a term borrowed from English. Of course, if I read something in Hiragana I still don't know what it means because it's a Japanese word, but it's still cool knowing I can read some Japanese.

In addition to learning Japanese, I've also just learned so much about the culture and life-related things. Last Thursday, a couple of our friends came over and we made takoyaki while we watched a documentary called "Ending Note." The documentary was very sad as it centered around a dying man whose daughter was filming him preparing for his eventual death from a cancer too late to treat. I definitely recommend watching it, but you better stock up on that Kleenex before doing so. If you don't already know, takoyaki is a sort of breadball traditionally filled with "tako" or "octopus," ginger, and green onion. We expanded this filling to include other types of seafood, cheese, Japanese sausage, and even chocolate.

First batch was squishy because we had twice as much water than we needed =X 

Ingredients

Our friend Ayumi cutting tako 

Happy tako-making friends

Every batch starting with the second batch produced these beauties 

Takoyaki is usually topped with mayo, tako sauce, and dried fish flakes.

A couple of days later, we went to Sendai for a mini weekend vacation. You may recognize this city name because it was all over the news 2 years ago as being the epicenter of the Great Tohoku Earthquake. It is called the city of trees in Japan and is also a sprawling metropolis almost on par with Tokyo IMHO.

Tree

Dat phonebooth

Trees... Trees everywhere

Sendai offers a city tour where you board this bus at the central station and it drives around in a loop. Interestingly enough, the tour bus is called "The Loople." It stops at 15 different locations and buses come every 20 minutes. And it only cost ¥600 (~$6). At one of the sites, these real-life anime characters stopped to greet us. Okay, they were in traditional Japanese garb but they were quite silly.

Yay!

The site is famous because a castle once stood there. It also offered a great view of the city:

Metropolis!

We also ate the famous local cuisine: Cow tongue. It was quite tender and just tasted like softer cow meat.

In stew form, served with barley rice, salad, and soup. 

In a steamed bun form.

We stayed at a hostel on Saturday night and went to another part of Sendai called Matsushima on Sunday. This part of Sendai was very quaint and reminded me of Berkeley because of the mom and pop shops lining the streets next to the bay.

Well, it's slightly colder in Matsushima than it is in Berkeley.

Matsushima is famous for its seafood and rightfully so, I had ramen... with Oyster.

Other spots we explored in Matsushima included a wooden doll-making shop, a cafe where they served coffee in bowls and melonpan, a nice stroll through a woodsy area, and lots and lots of snow.

 Dolls

Melonpan (Crispy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside)

Coffee in bowls 

Cool Woodsy Area

Best friends :) 

Snow 

Snow+April

It was such a fun trip and an amazing experience, compounded by what happened when we tried to go home. It was snowing pretty much all day Sunday and I guess it was all leading up to small blizzard. This cancelled our bus home and forced us to take the Shinkansen, the expensive high-speed bullet train. We actually had to take the Shink to another city (Koriyama) and then take another local train home. The Shinkansen experience was actually quite fun: it was a quiet ride and we were going so fast that the water streaks on the window were completely horizontal (the shink's top speed is apparently 186 mph). While it was much more expensive than the bus trip (~$65 vs. ~$20 each), I think it was worth it timewise: 35 minute train ride vs. 1.5 hour bus ride to Koriyama. This was a crazy learning experience because it was really stressful trying to figure out how to get home. Everyone and their mom was in the Shinkansen ticket line because of all the bus cancellations. In the end, I figured we were part of the lucky few that were able to travel home because buses that weren't cancelled got stuck in heavy traffic and other people were completely snowed in. I think the experience served as a testament to Japan's public transportation system as there are so many options and so many different ways to go anywhere.

Life is an adventure, especially when you get stuck somewhere because of water (albeit solid water).

Sunshine

The Iwaki Sunshine Marathon is an annual race held in Iwaki and usually occurs during the winter season. Because of this, in the past runners have had to endure cold winds, icy roads, and snowy conditions. But this year, it was unusually warm and also quite sunny.

These Taiko drummers were motivating racers at the start line

This year, there were 6000 participants including April. I did not participate because one of my knees is semi-healing from exercising/jumping on it too much. But this gave me the opportunity to be the spectator and take a lot of pictures! The Iwaki Sunshine Marathon is also famous for people dressing up as random characters while they run.

Elvis (he's still alive)

Bunnies

I have no idea

Taking a random shot and hoping I catch some costumes

I wish I caught more of these costumes on camera, but they were constantly moving and it was pretty difficult. I saw a Mario, a guy dressed as a girl (I think), and there was a guy that played a guitar during the entire marathon. I actually saw him cross the finish line and he looked super parched 0_0

I was so proud of April because she beat her previous time by over 30 minutes!

April at the finish line

April said it was the best race she had ever participated in because she heard her named called out at least ten times by students and fellow teachers. Iwaki is a tight community indeed :)

Post-marathon, we ate at a sushi boat place called Sushi-Ro where you purchase sushi off of a conveyor belt for ¥105 (roughly $1.25) each. I love this place because it feels like a buffet but with better quality food.

The one on the left was my favorite. I think it was seared salmon with pesto and cheese. The one on the right is an egg custard thing that is delicious.

The damage

White plates were sushi without wasabi and yellow plates were sushi with wasabi. In Japan sushi chefs usually place a little wasabi between the rish/topper and the rice. Considering that I would usually pay about $20-25 for an alright sushi buffet, I think this place is a steal. I ate 10 plates myself and April had 5 or 6. We also had Udon and it all came out to ~$22 total for the both of us. If you visit me, I'm taking you here :D

As a reward for her efforts in the marathon, I made April breakfast in bed the next morning:

Pancakes, Japanese Sausage with scrambled eggs, freshly cut Fuji apples and bananas. I should note that all apples in Japan are injected with honey to make it a little bit sweeter

Just another weekend in Iwaki!

The Shakes

In the 2.5 weeks I have been in Japan, I've felt as many earthquakes as I did living in the bay area for 7 years. I have felt 4 or 5 earthquakes, the most recent of which was the largest at magnitude 6.9. The epicenter was near Obihiro-shi, Hokkaido Prefecture:

A. Iwaki-shi (where I am)

B. Obihiro-shi (epicenter of earthquake)

To give you some perspective into my actual distance from the epicenter, it's about the same distance from the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego. That may make you wonder how I even felt the earthquake if it was that far. Well guess what, I felt it and it lasted for about 10-15 seconds 0_0

April experienced a magnitude 7.4 earthquake at a closer proximity in December and said it was the scariest earthquake she's experienced. She said that right before it happened, all of the peoples' phones around her started ringing and she wondered why everyone was getting called at the same time. A couple of seconds later, the ground started shaking. Apparently, Japan employs a phone-alert system for earthquakes and tsunamis. That's why everyone's phone was going off simultaneously. 

Despite these earthquakes, I feel relatively safe in our apartment because it withstood a magnitude 9.0 earthquake 2 years ago, as you all know. April told me that it was actually the only building in Taira (the more specific area of Iwaki-shi that we live in) that had running water after the earthquake and tsunamis hit. Speaking of which, I must say that it is really interesting and sometimes heartbreaking hearing about the different stories of people who experienced the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. I don't want to mention specific stories as I don't want to put anyone on blast, but I just have to say that it made me appreciate the culture here even more.

On a lighter note, all of these earthquakes here in Japan make me wonder why this side of the ring of fire is so much more active than the Americas side. I feel like all of the tectonic plates just meet up in Japan and at least one of them is always in motion. I bet they have group meetings to decide which one moves that day. Heh.

In any case, I've still been enjoying my time here despite the earth shakes and the cold shakes. In fact, it has been a tiny bit warmer the past few days. For whatever reason after that snowstorm we experienced last week, the temperatures have been higher here in Taira, Iwaki-shi.

A couple of days ago, we went to Koriyama-shi, a city east of Iwaki-shi that is still in Fukushima Prefecture. We went ice skating, kareoke-ing, and we ate at this legendary Mexican food joint (it's a hole in the wall that we had only heard of through word of mouth).

I know you can't tell, but there is an ice skating rink behind that glass (we weren't allowed to bring electronic devices out on the ice).

Carnitas Tacos

Apparently, many people have spoken about this Mexican food place, but only few have ever actually found it. I must say that even though it was expensive (about $15 for 3 tacos), it was amazingly delicious. The owner is Mexican and came to Japan originally to teach English. He eventually married a Japanese woman and decided to start this Mexican restaurant in his spare time while he runs another business selling Japanese action figures. The tortillas are homemade (you can't find soft tortillas anywhere in Japan), and his ingredients are relatively expensive. But that's why it was so good! If you are ever in Koriyama, I would definitely recommend eating at El Jalapeno... if you can ever find it :D