The past two Wednesdays saw the arrival of the new ALTs, of which 15 have come to the Hamamatsu Board of Education. I want to take this special opportunity to welcome them all to Hamamatsu and wish them good luck for this next year and hopefully for the two more to follow! Welcome, everybody! Tricia, Sarah, Andrew, Claire, Jon, Emma, Paul, Brandon, Hanns, Peter, Sarah, Stephanie, Erika, and Elaine (phew!), welcome to Hamamatsu Board of Education. I hope you enjoy it! Good Luck this year!

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Today, we went to the Ryugashido in Inasa, or Dragon's Cave. It was not very big, but it was awesome. For official information, check out this website.

Getting There

By car. Easiest way. But if you cannot drive in Japan (like me), find a friend who can. If that doesn't work, then you could take a bus bound for "Okuyama". This will take about 50 minutes and you can get off at "Ryugashido Iriguchi" stop. From there walk about 5 minutes to the entrance. We were lucky in that Hiro was very willing to take us to the caves in his car.

The Caves

Like everything else in Japan, there was a line to get in. It is certainly not the biggest cave or the prettiest cave (There are caves around the world that hold that accolade), but it is supposedly the longest cave in Japan. But it is pretty. The cave extends into a mountain, very similar to Journey to the Center of the Earth. The cave itself has a giant underground waterfall, which was incredibly beautiful, albeit mysterious. It was odd to see a roaring (or more accurately, a yelping) waterfall with no beginning. I tried to look up and see where it was coming from, but it was just blackness.

It is a very moist cave, as many of the walls had a lot of water running down the sides. In the Carlsbad Caverns, they say it is a sign of good luck to be "kissed by the cave", or have a drop of water hit you on the head. But in Ryugashido, water is always dripping on you. I have good luck for most of the rest of my adult life, thanks to Ryugashido!

After that, Hiro drove us around some more, to this strange "amusement park" in the mountains. I wouldn't know how to get there, and I'm not sure I ever want to again. They had a ferris wheel...in the middle of a forest. Literally, only the top two or three cars could see above the trees, everyone else had a great view of tree trunks and foliage. Fun! And it looked like that was the only ride in the park. We were laughing at it but couldn't at all bring ourselves to pay admission.

However, we did find two ponies that were penned up with a bunch of carrots just outside the ponies reach. Also, there was a horse riding stage there, where you could, for a small price, ride a horse one lap in a tiny circle for 700 yen (about $7). And a guy walks the horse for you, so al you would have to do it sit. No thanks. but it was impressive to watch anyway.

We did however, feed those two ponies the carrots. For 100 yen, you could buy a cup with about 4 or 5 carrot sticks in it, which you could feed to them. We bought 5 cups. The ponies were happy.

Afterwards, we drove back down to the inlet that juts into Lake Hamana, saw briefly where the Flower Park is, and drove to a Chinese restaurant in Takatsuka. Apparently, the food is incredibly authentic as the chef trained in Taiwan and his wife is Taiwanese. The food was incredible. For about 2,000 yen a person, you can get fried rice, soup, gyoza, and three main dishes like Sweet and Sour Pork or Spicy Beef.

So thank you, Hiro, for a great day! Hopefully, the next one will be just as fun!

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It finally came out, and we finally saw it. I realize that these days, my movie reviews are not in sync with everyone else. After all, I get to see the movies quite a few months after everyone back in America, so I receive all these emails about what a great movie this is or what a horrible one that is, and I'm stuck in Japan not able to watch any of them. That being said, we saw Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

And it on the whole was just an ok movie. Overall, I liked it. It was fun, there were some great lines in there. ("Look, an undead monkey! Is that enough payment?"). But there was something missing. It didn't quite feel so fresh and new. It didn't have quite the fun aspect that the previous movie had.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to say about this movie. I left the theater with a shrug, thinking, OK, now I've seen that movie. If you are a huge Pirates fan, then go and have fun watching it. But if you don't like sequels, you may want to skip this one. If you don't like pirates in general, or Disney (they producers), then definitely stay away. But if you happen to be in a theater and you've seen every other flick, give this one a whirl.

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In one word, WOW! From the opening sequence, highly reminiscient of the original, to the final scene in the movie, this movie was amazing. I guess that's what happens when you put Bryan Singer and John Ottman on any project.

Tiffany, Hiro, and I went to the theater on Sunday, not quite knowing what to expect. Everyone told me that The movie was good but not great. So I wasn't too thrilled about it. I was excited to see the movie, don't et me wrong. One of the first trailers got me going. And I was excited to see Kevin Spacey play Lex Luther.

On the subjet of Kevin Spacey, folks, I need to ask a question. Something that has been on my mind since I saw him in the trailer for Superman. Can this man do any wrong? Every character I've seen him play, including the villain in Hear No Evil, See No Evil, he's plays it perfectly. Verbal Kint, the dad in American Beauty, and the list goes on and on. I doubt he would play Luther like Gene Hackman did, but I wasn't worried at all about it.

Even Brandon Routh did a good job as Christopher Reeves successor, because let's face it. No matter how many Supermen there were in this world, Christopher Reeves will always be the epitome of Superman. Everybody from here on out will be compared against him. But Routh was able to pull off just enough of Christopher Reeves' Superman to create this movie.

A few things I didn't like about the movie. The plot twist I thought was really bad because it implied a characteristic I don't approve of. And also, Lois Lane was irritating, I felt. She had this attitude that came and went with the tide. If Kate Bosworth was supposed to play the character like that, then that was bad writing. But I left the theater not feeling at all sorry for her or sympathizing with her. In fact, I was left a bit puzzled as to why Superman was into her in the first place. In this regard, Margot Kidder played Lane much better. In this movie, Lois Lane had such a bitter streak that you did start to wonder why old Blue even remotely fell in love with her. Now granted, maybe Superman leaving really left a sour taste in her mouth, especially when you consider the ending, but the way she treated Clark Kent who had nothing to do with the whole mess was just wrong.

Also, take it as a positive or a negative, but this movie was much more brutal and ruthless than all the others. The previous movies had a sense of camp and fun to them. It was partly cheesy, but you never see someone so cold-hearted. I'm fairly brazen about watching movies but there were a few scenes that got to me. The guy at the top of building with the vulcan cannon, how he just up and unloaded on these two police who were just doing their job. And later how the same guy just doesn't have any sense of humanity, like it was completely stripped. And Luther's rage. The way he took out Superman had no sense of fair play or a quip, one-liner or anything. It was just cold, hard, and evil.

But all in all, it was an incredible movie. Brandon Routh, in my humble opinion, can carry the mantle reluctantly passed from Christopher Reeves. It was also really nice to see that Singer dedicated the movie to Christopher and Dianne Reeves. And when that final scene came, I looked at Tiffany, who had asked what I thought of it, and I responded, "I am so buying this DVD."

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September 11, 2006 is the five year anniversary of the horrible 9/11 attacks and while it is a sad and mournful day, my aunt once told me that it was also a day when teamwork and charitity prevailed. A day (and a few days after) where the whole world pulled together as one in a helping manner. I like that attitude. But in addition to the fateful day, the day was also Tiffany's and mine's 2 year anniversary.

It was our first actualy anniversary that we were able to spend together, so we really wanted to live it up. And we decided to postpone until October. [sheepish grin]. We will be heading towards Nikko, a favorite fall place, and celebrate the rest of our anniversary then. However, on the day, we went to Shyabu-Shyabu, a Japanese style (I think) of restaurant.

Getting There

There are two places, two different chains of this type of restaurant. The first one is near Eiden Comp-Mart, across from Beens One Taco. Lost? That's ok. In later updates, I'll supply a map to this glorious city. The other one is more important anyway, in the context of this update. Behind ZaZa City, right near Starbucks, on the 3rd floor, is the place we went to. If you can find ZaZa, then you can definitely find this place.

The Atmosphere

We were greeted in the traditional Japanese manner, which is where everyone in the restaurant shouts a cheerful "Welcome!" and we were taken to our table which felt very private and intimate. It was closed off on three sides and it had a clean trendy wood look to it. The table was made of polished wood, but had an electric stove top in the center, giving it a modern rustic feel. Towards the back of the restaurant were large tables for big parties.

The Food

Amazing. For about 2,000 yen to ab ou 3,500 yen per person, you can get an all you can eat menu, which includes pork, chicken, beef, vegetables, noodles, and rice. The top set with give you about 3 different types of beef, 2 types of pork and 2 types of chicken, whereas the middle set (the one we took) gave us one beef, two pork, and two chicken. The lowest set gives one pork and one chicken.

For those that don't know, Shyabu Shyabu is a Japanese style type of food where you cook your own meat and vegetables in a broth. That's what the grill is for. They place this giant pot on the stove top with your choice of two broths, you let it come to a boil, then dip your thinly shaved meat in it, cooking the meat, flavoring the meat and flavoring the broth at the same time. It's great. I highly recommend going sometime.

So that was how we spent the evening of our anniversary. Stay tuned for a later update on our soon-to-be-legendary Anniversary Trip!

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After waiting a painful few extra months to see the movie, it finally came out in Japan. This time, Tiffany and I were able to see it in theaters together. I remember that the first one came out while I was in Ireland, and I came back to America just as it finished its run. Phew! The second one came out in 2003, and if I remember correctly, I was ok watching it. No major drama. But for X3, I had already heard many reviews and my friends back in the States had already seen it.

And despite their warning, I had to see it. After all, I read the comics! I knew the storylines. I even watched the Animated Series on Saturday morning. So yeah, I was eagerly awaiting the final chapter in the X-Men series.

There are many reviews online about this movie, so I don't want to be redundant. I certainly don't want to trample on any of the "real" fans' toes by stating something they already said. But it appears to me that the worst thing that could have happened to the movie happened to the movie. Bryan Singer had an obvious love for superheroes and comics. He showed it in his usage of characters, knowledge of the characters, and metaphors of each storyline. But he left with his entire entourage, including editor and composer John Ottman, to do Superman Returns. So to compete, Fox Studios had to find a new crew fast. They knew not to take on other summer blockbusters like Pirates 2 and Superman Returns, so that bumped up their schedule even more. They commissioned Brett Ratner and a whole new crew to take the mantle from Singer and make X3 a far better movie.

Not to mince words, but they failed. Brett Ratner and the rest of the crew did not appear to know and love the characters as the fans did. (This will become another problem in the upcoming Transformers movie, but that's a different story). Left, right, and center, Ratner and his crew changed characters abilities and allegiances for the sake of a plot with as many holes as my...well, it's got a lot of holes anyway. Darb and I would dub it a "Lucas Hole", named after the great inventor of the phenomenon.

For example, did you comic book fans know that Kid Omega was a bad guy resembling a porcupine? According to the comic books, he was a genius kid who was on Xavier's side. I'm not going to comment about Leech's skin, because that I can understand from a movie's point of view. How about Multiple Man? Wasn't he a good guy in the comics?

Callisto and Arclight were two other characters who had abilities changed as well as allegiance. See? Already we have 4 characters who were changed for the movie's sake, and there were more.

I have no real problem in making Juggernaut a mutant instead of finding a crystal. Again, a change tolerable for the movie's sake. But why reference a parody webvideo? That's what Ratner did with the line, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" Of all things to pay homage to, why pick that?

But ultimately, I think that X3 suffered from the same problem that X1 did. Too many characters, too little time for development. Maybe Darby and I can dub that the "Ratner Complex", because though X1 had the same problem, Singer was able to pull it off successfully enough, probably due to the idea that the other characters were treated as second class to Wolverine and Rogue.

Another problem I have is simply Angel. In all the advertisements for the movie, they showed a LOT of Angel, which would lead you to think that there is more about Angel in the movie. However, it turns out that in the trailers, we have pretty much seen everything there is to see about Angel. He had, what, three lines? "I'm sorry", "I don't want this, you want this!", and "I heard there was a school for mutants?" That's a good character right there. He had the same amount of screen time from the trailers as he did the movie itself!

Overall, though, I'd say watch the movie. It's got a lot of special effects and a lot of cool sequences (however rushed and pointless, Golden Gate Bridge, anyone?), but don't look for a great movie. Don't look for a followup to the X-Men series. I hope that Fox either lets the X-Men franchise die a dignified death or they bring in somebody who loved X-Men growing up to fix the glaring story problems. I for one hope that Bryan Singer can free up his schedule a bit to give X-Men a rescusitating breath. He did it before and he did with Superman. Why not give it to him again?

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