Bonsai! I taught my first private lesson today and it was everything I hoped it would be and more, particularly since my rather dashing student showed up to the lesson in motorcycling gear. I'm in for some fun times, for sure. On the vice-versa language front, I now have a Japanese sensei. Japanese grammer is whack, so I'm thankful to have a guide through it all.

Plans are continuing with the Nagano Marathon. My two days of training have been splendid. If I do well on the quasi-flat marathon course, I'll probably owe all my success to the hills of Takao. In stark contrast to the one gentle slope in South Bend, Indiana, Takao is all hill. Only by running directly east toward Tokyo can one avoid elevation changes.

I've decided to (mostly) give up packaged foods as a conditioning tactic. A scary article in Runners' World convinced me of the merits of such a program so we'll see if it lasts given the price of fresh green (and colored) foods here. The one category of packaged goodness I may have to keep in my diet, however, is tasty Japanese Onigiri. It. Is. A. Delight. My favorites are those wrapped in seaweed, which provide for bundles of irrational package-opening fun in addition to being mightily cost effective. And most importantly, they make my taste buds dance and sing.

And that will be it from the marathon training newsroom, barring anything catastrophic and/or amazingly noteworthy. And this will also be it from the my housemates are back from holiday in Thailand and *thankfully* alive newsroom, because they are. Phew. But it most certainly will not be it from the onigiri newsroom. Oh no. More to come in droves, I'm sure.

p.s. Thanks to Philip and his reintroduction of yanyan into the collective consciousness. Oddly, I haven't seen yanyan on the shelves -- I'll have to start making more of a concentrated effort to find it. And then what? Go wild!