Just watched the Washington, DC July 4th program...

...the fireworks weren't as spectacular as Macy's but the perfomers were excellent. Aretha is something else! Loved the Sesame Street folks, but where was Kermit and Miss Piggy?

Just watched the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks...

... needless to say it was spectacular! Gotta admit that tears quickly came to my eyes with many of the songs - Shenandoah, Ole Man River, Battle Hymn of the Republic, This Land Is My Land, Stars and Stripes Forever, America The Beautiful, etc. Thanks to Macy's for the wonderful sights!

Sorry...

...no pixs. For dinner last night I went to a third restaurant, to the left of Uo Uo Tei. Teppanyaki place called 4 Seasons. Was so excited I completely forgot to take pictures. Will probably go back once more before I leave. Had lobster, shrimp and steak. Kinda pricey but was so ono!

I'm through cooking here...

But I'll be eating out a lot! Sabani is located on the ground floor of this building right across the street from my building.


Uo Uo Tei is right next door. You can see why I partake of these places so often. So close and so ONO!


And this is what I ate tonight - Batayaki Mibai - ¥1,470 from Sabani.

I've been giving away my food from my cupboard. Last week I gave away a lot of the canned soup, etc. to one of my friends. Still got a way to go. Yesterday I gave away a lot of my Chinese stuff to the owner of Sabani.

If you think I'm obsessed with Sabani...

...you're right! Driving home after work I get dripping wet with perspiration even with the A/C going full blast. It's the sun that's blazing in the window. So when I get home I'm in no mood to cook. So I cool off a bit and go out to eat. Plus as I said I'm pigging out on the stuff I like before I go home. So here is unadon or unagidon again which I had tonight. Love the stuff - ¥1,780 (includes a ¥500 nama biru mug of draft Orion). In Hawai'i, when I'm home, I would get my fix at Marukai, but nothing like this! And it's only a minute walk away. I'm taking the advice of a friend who visited Okinawa - she's a single airline stewardess (sorry, should say flight attendant) - that she would eat out every night in Okinawa. Good food, no dishes to wash, etc.

Lunch at Sun Toguchi...

Took three of my workers to lunch at Sun Toguchi today - two foremen (Isa-san & Kinjo-san) and one secretary (Miyuki-san). Very good workers and I want to do it for them. After all they make me look good. I had the ebi tempura. Also included homemade chicken noodle soup. Was good, I'm a sucker for ebi - ¥800


All three of them had soki soba. I think they want to compare since it's new people running it now. They said it was OK - ¥650

Again...

Went tonight to Sabani. Again I had the Sabani Special Teishoku - lobster, unagi and sashimi. Sorry, ate some of everything before I took a picture. Was checking on the reservations for a goodbye dinner from my office to me. Ended up talking to the owner who spoke English. She goes to Hawai'i every 6 months. Talking to her I find out she owns a house in Hawai'i. And small world that it is, it's on the same street I live on in Hawai'i, same block. Very close. And to think all these years I've missed out on that connection. But gave her my Hawai'i phone number and she will call when she is there in September.

And the food was oishiikata as usual.

Tuesday miso shiru...

Went back to Tsubaki today. Haven't gone there in quite a while. Terrific miso shiru bento as always - and only ¥350. Damn good lunch for that price.

Friday soba...

...tried tebichi soba at another place - Sun Toguchi. They were closed for a while and I think another concessionaire took over. Not as good as Hanaori or what Sun Toguchi previously had. Soba wasn't as delicate, tebichi was not that tender or good looking, and the jiru was just OK - ¥650.


Chibana-san had yasai (veggie) soba - ¥650. Treated him since yesterday after work he helped me change my car battery.

Last night's dinner...

...overall what was ordered. An old friend came over and we went to Uo Uo Tei - ordered à la carte, like in an izakaya.


Lobster again but this time was so interesting. The lobster was broiled with an UNI sauce. Was very, very ono and I will most likely go back again for it - ¥1,050.


Fried oysters, already ate one before I remembered to take pictures - ¥680.


Mirugai sashimi, love the stuff - ¥600.


Sushi platter - ¥1,950.

Later ended up ordering another plate of oysters and a stir-fry of eggplant, shrimp & tako. Was a really good meal.

goya trellis...

Drive by this house every day. No parking so this was taken as I was driving by. The folks there have this wire trellis and grow their goya up from against the wall and then the vines spread out over the wire. The goya as it grows bigger hangs down under the vines/trellis. Nice sideyard use with shade.


Another angle taken this morning, again while driving.

Am going back home - to Hawai'i...

...I've made a few comments on Pomai's and Kat's blog concerning my status. They have known for a while. But will PCS (Permanent Change of Station) back to my position with the Army in Hawai'i.

It will be four years here this time. Came this time because I figured that I'm getting old and wanted to get in one last time overseas. And what better place than Okinawa, where I spent 5 years 4 months on an earlier tour here. It's been great. The Okinawan folks here say it's so tough having to go to Hawai'i. They all wish they could at least visit, but it's usually out of their capabilities.

But I really want to spend more time with my granddaughter, since I'm getting on in the years. She's almost five and out of that I've missed four years of the best time of a child growing up, other than the vacations I've taken back home. Maybe a total of 4 weeks at home each year (two weeks at a time) on vacation. Each time having to get reacquainted, that I'm the same Goong Goong from six months previously.

Then again I won't be able to send her all the cute stuff available here in Japan.

Orders have been cut, my household goods packing/pickups have been scheduled, airline reservations made...I'm leaving here August 4. Gotta turn in my free AFN satellite dish, close out my ISP, and close out my apartment lease left to do.

Actually I'm going back to the more simple job of just being a plain architect/project manager again. Instead of having to be a boss/supervisor having to deal with all the busy work that it involves, and dealing with some idiot people (American know-it-alls) who think they are God's gift to us that I supervise. You wouldn't believe.

I've decided to pig out on Okinawan eats in my time remaining. Went out to dinner tonight, so more to come!

Went to eat soba...

...at Hanaori again today. I had the Hanaori Special Soba - basically a regular Okinawan soba with shoyu pork and fishcake, but with the addition of soki nitsuke. Their soki nitsuke is one of the best I've eaten. And the shoyu pork (rafute-style) was unbelieveably terriffic. ¥600. Oishiikata!


Chibana-san had the pork liver/veggie soba. Huge dish. ¥700.

Father's Day dinner...

...that I treated myself to - 1/2 broiled spiney lobster, garlic tenderloin steak, chawanmushi, seafood salad, sweet Okinawan pineapple, miso soup, tsukemono, Okinawan seaweed and rice. Was really, really good - from Uo Uo Tei seafood restaurant - also a couple minutes walk from my place, like Sabani. FD price of ¥2,500 instead of ¥2,800.


Also a side order of fried oysters - was also really, really ono. Would also be perfect pupu thing if just having a few. ¥680.


My empty lobser shell. And the steak is gone. Oishiikata!

My lunch & my friends' lunch...

...pretty good bento lunch today - goya chanpuru, plus a couple pieces katsu, some egg and takuan - only ¥400.


...and my feathered friends eating lunch. Eat 12 slices bread a day - 4 in the morning, 4 at noon, and 4 in the afternoon. Notice they're kind of puffed up and it's not cold. Warm and humid. They're fat!

Same lunch again...

Remembered to bring the rolls today. Good healthy lunch. Boring, huh?

Home lunch...

...a simple salad preparation - lettuce, onion and tomato, with rotisserie chicken pieces. Dressed later with Thousand Island dressing. Planned to but forgot to bring King's Hawai'ian sweetbread to eat with the salad.

Lunch today...

...was chicken jook I made yesterday, along with takuan and rakkyo. Plus POKE! My foremen who eat lunch with me in the lunchroom love it. They said needed biru though.

Terrible Okinawan kids...

...noticed this. Across the street from me, the person wasn't home during the evening. So some Okinawan teenagers having no place to eat their cobini food since it was raining, put themselves down in this apartment entryway. Ate their food and proceeded to leave all their trash there and left. The entryway to the right was also trashed. It's wet because the tenent there just got finished washing it down. Actually happens quite often in some form or another. Like in parking lots they eat and when finished just open the door and drop the trash in the parking lots and leave.

Breakfast...

...this morning. Your regular Hawai'ian-style sunny-side eggs with Spam and King's sweetbread rolls to soak up the yolk breakfast. Ono! Except I'm about 4,670 miles from my home in Honolulu.