Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Tiffany's brother Tim, finally revisited our stomping grounds! The last time he was really here was in August 2004, and that was to help Tiffany get set up. Must have been nice to have a guide from the beginning (No, I'm not jealous. Why? ;) ). They decided that the best time to visit was for the big festival in Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu Matsuri, during Golden Week. For those that may not remember, check out last year's version here/

Tim arrived on Monday morning, while Tiffany was in school, and he managed to film Tiffany actually teaching a lesson! This webmaster will pay for a copy of that embarassing blackmail moment! :) After school, I met up with them at her station and we ate okonomiyaki, where Tim apparently had almost never cooked it himself! I guess that's what city-living does for you, eh? Monday and Tuesday though were spent with Tim visiting Tiffany's school, where all the girls had a fit over him and wanted to flirt despite the fact that they all had boyfriends.

Then the festival started on Wednesday and we took Tim to see the parade and the marching. There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said last year, but Tim had fun watching it. Again, there is a precious videotape that exists documenting this moment, and this website will pay to make sure it's never seen by the public.

On Thursday, we saw more of the parade, took purikura (print club, that crazy phenomenon. I'll have pictures soon), but the highlight was when we went to a nearby suburb and ate at Tertullia, which I've mentioned a few times before. It was fantastic. The rare garlic steak (although covered in huge grains of coarse salt), the Brazilian lasagna, the garlic toast, oh man, my stomach wants more now!

Friday, we had Hamamatsu's local specialty for lunch. Unagi Don, or spiced eel on rice. Tim explained some of the menu to us and he ordered a very special dish that has about a thousand steps to "fully enjoy" the different ways to eat eel. I'll try to explain them here.

First, you take a third of the eel and rice mixture and eat it as it is served. With the remaining two thirds, split that in half. With the one half, add almost the rest of the set (except for the broth) and create a spicier version of the original. This allows for extra savoring. Finally with the rest, add a bit of the soup broth to make a sort of Chinese style rice soup. It was a ridiculously complicated process, but I have to say it was really freaking good.

After that, we went to the kite fight and caught the tail end (no pun intended, I hate puns!) of the tournament. It was really cool. Too bad we missed it last year and only caught just the end of it this year, but it was still fun. It was amazing to see this kites come gently (sometimes) down to be caught by a stray electrical wire or the smoking van. (Yes, there is a van that was there that was designed for smokers, so they that they wouldn't smoke OUTSIDE! hahahahahahahahaha the irony)

The next day, Tim took Tiffany to an acupuncturist and a masseuse (to translate) and she got the royal treatment. But that's a tale for another story. It was fun while it lasted. Hope you can come back soon!

On Sunday, amidst a grueling work schedule for both of us, we managed to squeeze in a little relaxation in the form of...miniatures! This guy makes some awesome miniatures and left both Tiffany and I in shock and amazement at the level of detail that he put in. The event took place in the Art Museum of Hamamatsu, which didn't allow pictures, unfortunately. It would have been really cool to put some pictures of these amazing sculptures up. but the sculpture that sold us on going to this affair was the advertisement poster, which I have included here. If you can't tell what it is, it is a diorama that depicts the artist showing an infintely regressive (kinda) model. Basically, he's holding his diorama, which has him in the same clothes presenting a diorama to a girl and her mom. That diorama depicts him presenting the same diorama to the same girl and mom. And that diorama is the same. The fourth one in doesn't have the people, but there is a lot of detail of his workdesk, chair, garbage can, and so on.

The rest of his exhibit was equally impressive and I wished they had brought the display from his Hamamatsu Matsuri exhibit, but that was too big and outdoors. But there were lots of pictures to show them off. He also had dioramas from Japanese movies, including Godzilla and Gundam. And he had Star Wars ones, and not just the prequel ones, but the original ones, before the Special Edition! He had a lot depicting scenes from WWII, including a part of war-torn Japan with all the rubble.

All in all, it was definitely worth going to and afterwards, we got to spend some quiet time in front of the romantic waterfall at Hamamatsu Castle Park. Which was nice. And now, back to the grind!

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Some of you may remember when I last posted about my new 'do. Believe me, I am not vain at all, but the reason this become an web story is because the last time I got my hairs cut, it was over a year ago. Check out the last time here. Literally, one year ago. And yes, my hair dresser started crying when he saw how long it had gotten. He told me last time to make sure that I came back to him after 3 months. I didn't. And I grew facial hair. That's right. I now have a full-blown beard. No goatee or clean-shaven, as I used to have. So he barely recognized me. When he realized a)who I was and b) how long it's been, well, I personally am very surprised he didn't quit right then and there. But he was a good sport about it. Both Tiffany and I waited that long to get our hair cut (a little bit of me is rubbing off on her!) so when we both showed up, it may have been too much for him. It took us the better part of a whole afternoon to get us both sorted out. Poor Hiro.

But he does do a good job, I'll say that. He cut off about 6 inches off of Tiffany's golden locks (in Japan anyway. In America, her red hair), and a painfully good- sized chunk off mine. I could make a pony tail that was as long as both of my fists combined! How sad it's all gone now. Oh well. I'll grow it right back. Maybe. Hiro threatened (jokingly I hope) to call my schools and work and Tiffany and other friends who go to him and make them remind me to go. Wouldn't that be the day? When I go to school and my hair stylist/barber/dresser calls to force me to get a haircut! But I'll give him another year before I go back, see if he'll make good on his threat!

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