Xmas in Japan

I had a quiet Christmas with Ayako today. We got to open a few presents that were under my make-believe Xmas tree:
For dinner, instead of turkey, we had chicken with lots of roasted veg:
For dessert, instead of plum pudding, we had rice pudding (what else if you are in Japan):

All in all, a nice, warm Xmas here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Year-end parties

During December in Japan, many companies or groups have parties at the end of the year. I had 3 different class parties this year. This first one was with my community class:
The second was with my class at Yamaha music:
We enjoyed copying part of the following video that shows incorrect cultural tips for eating sushi in Japan. We always said "Maa maa maa maa" & "Oh toh toh toh" when pouring and receiving drinks. (^-^)

The last group I went out with was my Roland class:

The Fast Lane

Ayako and I went shopping at a department store near our school tonight, and found that the supermarket in the basement has a new do-it-yourself check-out called The Fast Lane. Here's a picture of it:
There's step-by-step instructions, but since we've seen a cashier do it a million times, it was pretty easy to figure out. Any of these in Canada yet?

Tangerine picking

On Saturday, Ayako and I met up with our friend, Dave, and went to a Japanese couple's house where they had many tangerine trees. It was great that we could pick tangerines for free, and we were also able to help the couple pick tangerines for them. In the end, Ayako and I came back with 2 boxes of tangerines each. Here's us working hard:
Here's us having lunch with the couple afterwards:

Kiwi Xmas

On Friday night, there was a Kiwi Xmas party at Steph's (a kiwi) apartment. We all dressed up in beach clothes (as well as an unexplained cow costume). Here's some photos from that night: