Izakaya/Japanese style pub
We went to a Izakaya for dinner. Izakaya is like a cross between a pub and a restaurant. This Izakaya had a wide range of Japanese style dishes. Their brand of beer was one of my favorite ones!

left: On a summer night, after taking a hot spring, a cold beer tastes great!
center: Mixed Kushiage. Kushiage is a local food of Osaka. It is sort of Japanesee style kabab, skewered with kushi and it is usually served with Japanese tonkatsu sauce(Worcester sauce). ' Kushi' means 'bamboo stick' and 'age' means 'deep-flying' in Japanese. Typical ingredients are vegetables, mushroom, pork, chicken and other meats, and seafood etc. Because we ordered Mixed Kushiage, we didn't know what they were until we ate them. It was like lucky dip!
right: Katuo-no-tataki/Seared sliced bonito. It is a local dish of Kochi prefecture. It was dressed with sliced onions. finely-chopped long green onion, sliced garlic and special soy sauce. I thought the seasoning was a little different from Kochi.

Hoba-miso yaki
Hoba-miso yaki's ingredients are grilled with miso(fermented soybean paste) on a Japanese big-leaf magnolia. We put a leaf over a brazier, miso seasoned with sweet cooking rice wine and ingredients such as mushrooms, beefs, onions, etc.... We roast them slowly and eat them while they are still hot. It is a local dish in the Hida Takayama region, which is situated roughly in the center of Japan. Hoba-miso yaki goes well with hot rice and I really love that combination!

Wii(video game released by Nintendo on December in 2006)
Vera first tried the Wii video game. When you want to play the Wii video game, you have to creat your own avatar. The Wii is a unique video game. It is a different type of video game. A remote controller is wireless so you have to play the game with motion. The image of the video game, sitting immobile in front of a TV, is broken! I'm sure that you must sweat in the face....

left: I created a new avatar in the image of her.
right: This is my avatar. It is a boy who is just my kind of guy!

She played 3 kinds of the game, tennis, bowling and boxing. Every games involves good reflexes, quick arm movements and big motions.

left,right: She was playing a boxing geme with the controllers, instead of boxing gloves. Somehow, she was a good player and she almost got a boxing title in the boxing game. I was sure that she would have a sore arm after playing for a number of hours. It is a great video game for people who want to lose weight.