Summer 2022 Photo Dump

We haven't been updating for months now. Things got super busy at work for both of us. For me, I was tasked with being the lead writer for quite a number of articles for my company's website renewal, articles that would be translated into other languages as well. I was pretty much writing new articles everyday for the past months till I got sick of writing.

Anyway, things have quietened down now that I'm done with writing new articles, so I'm gonna continue with weekly updates (hopefully).

For our first post in a long time, something easy, a photo dump of what we did throughout summer. Not that we did much since this year was the hottest summer in Japan history.

Akebonoyama Agricultural Park, Chiba Prefecture

Day trip to Akebonoyama Agricultural Park in Chiba. Since summer was extra hot and rainy season extra short, the hydrangea season was a lot shorter than usual. By the time we went, most of them had withered but still managed to take some pretty good shots.

Otter and Japanese Dwarf Squirrel Shop(?)

Otters and momonga (Japanese dwarf squirrels) are exotic pets you can keep in Japan. Went to a shop that sells them and lets people touch and play with them. Otters were very cute but had a unique smell, they don't stink but it was a distinct "animal" smell. Apparently they communicate by biting, so we had to be careful of our fingers. Their paw pads are soooo soft and squishy, more than cats jelly bean paws! I didn't think that was possible. They're also a lot noisier than expected, very high-pitched squeaks.

We bought otter+momonga set tickets, so after we spent 30 minutes with otters, we got 30 minutes with momonga. Everybody else's momonga were docile and just stayed quietly in people's hands but for some reason ours just jumped everywhere... It was pretty exhausting and they were so fast! couldn't get decent photos.

Apparently they can't control their bladder, the staff told us to please understand lol. The white momonga just wouldn't stop peeing every few seconds, no wonder we all got tissue boxes.

Kakigori, This Year for Sure

Pancake has never been a fan of kakigori, which is why we rarely have it, but I insisted this year!  After having these amazing kakigori he should love it now! (I asked, he is still not a fan 😒 but he says they're good.)

More Food!

I've been before with my colleagues for nomikai, but this is Pancake's first time having TGI Fridays in Japan! Personally, I find it the food tastes better than Malaysia's, maybe because they use the original non-halal recipe. The menu is also different with pork items included.

Yes, all these was for 2 people. And we demolished it all. No regrets.

We also finally went to Kushikatsu Tanaka, an izakaya chain specializing in kushikatsu, an Osaka local specialty dish. Frankly, it was meh. We went to Daruma in Osaka before, and as expected of the pioneer, theirs was way better.

And of course, since it was mid-summer, we had to have ramune and beer! Classic summer drinks. I had no idea until my colleague told me but the word "ramune" is derived from the word "lemonade".

By the way, my favourite kushikatsu are lotus root, asparagus, and quail eggs.

Anime Movie in Japan, No Subs is Tough

We haven't been to a cinema in Japan since covid, and I really wanted to go, so we went to watch Takagi-san movie. The nice thing about watching movies in Japan is the free limited edition merchandise. Some people go multiple times to the same movie to collect all the designs. We did watch 1 non-anime movie a long time ago, Avengers: End-Game and didn't get any free merch, not sure how things have changed  🤷🏻‍♀️

And that's pretty much all we did this summer, like I said not much. It was really, really hot...

Until next time 🐙