Kazzy and Decchan

The Story of a Ridiculous Idea There were many feral (and stray) cats living around the University of Tsukuba, and the Ichinoya dormitories to the far north of the campus were no exception. There were informal clubs dedicated to feeding the cats, and providing them with makeshift shelters made out of storage bins to host them and their inevitable kittens. Therefore, the cats living near Ichinoya in 2013 were very fat and happy. With the exception of one. She was a scrawny, short-haired mackerel tabby. While the feral cats had their food brought to them, she did not, and resorted to meowing at the doors of the lower-level balconies until one would come out and share some rice and salmon from their onigiri . April 27, 2013, she meowed at the door of room 34-103. Her life would never be the same. Okay, moving on from the terrible prose, when I came back from Japan, I brought this cute cat with me. However, for many reasons, you can't just walk on a plane wi...

Note: The information in this post is based on my observations from when I was in Japan and what I know from the Internet, and is more included so you don't have to Google "omiyage" before reading this post to understand it, than to actually help people. Kaz was extremely helpful when I asked what I should bring his parents when I meet them this summer. "You don't have to bring them anything. You can even bring them dirt." As optimistic as he may be, I'd have to decide upon omiyage myself. Omiyage  —  お土産（おみやげ） I think of omiyage as sort of akin to "extreme souveniring". In Japan, when you go on a trip, you are expected to bring back gifts from the region to which you traveled for friends, family, and/or coworkers. These are more than keychains and magnets you hand someone as you pass them by in the office with a, "Hey, I brought you back something" (unless they love collecting fridge magnets, in which case, go for it.) Th...

A few months ago, Kaz accepted a summer internship in Tokyo, and invited me to visit him and meet his parents. Now that I know how my schedule will be, the flight and hotels have been booked for June. I've been aching to return to Japan since I left three years ago. I can't wait! ~Decchan