My "new" bike is home, and part of the ride here included racing with a salaryman on a shopping bike through Hachioji. Seriously. These Japanese businessguys don't like losing, especially to STRONG WESTERN WOMEN. Fortunatley my 18 gears kicked his a**. On practically the same topic, my favorite salaryman outfit thus far made its appearance on the Chuo Line Monday morning -- its piece de resistance being a tie patterned with at least 50 cavemen in wrestling spandex/lycra hoisting barbells.

Friday night I ended up at a really Japanesey bar, drinking beer and eating seafood forced upon me by the owner, whom my tablemates thought was rather reminiscent of Morgan Freeman (I thought he was more like the Guy From The Cover Of The Book "The Cay" . . . sadly I don't have a photograph of our actual subject for comparison . . . JUST YET). I've now eaten haka-haka (?) whole, and sampled TWO fish eyeballs. That experience was actually quite fun, except we were sitting outside with only a space heater for warmth. It is winter here, after all (see photo below).

Finally, I went snowboarding for the second time with different friends and it was splendid -- here's the view from the top of one of the hills -- Fuji was about 90 degrees to the right of this vista, and there were ranges on every side. It was breathtaking and FREEZING and painfully reminiscent of last time, but in a good way.

Cheers,
Eliz