what do you see?

Today, an extravaganza of pictures from part of our weekend. We had a friend visiting so we actually did quite a bit...:

Sapporo beer museum (the old brewery) which is a really nice brick building. You can take a tour with some efficient if slightly robotic female guides, and sample some of the products for a nominal price:


Some ramen at "Sapporo Ramen Republic" (satisfyingly alliterated translation of ramen kyowakoku) - this is Ishikari ramen for anyone who's curious:


The view from the strangely themed restaurant in the TV tower at dusk. The illuminations are on in Odori now:


And some crabs we encountered on the way home:

Happy Thanksgiving to any American readers - sorry it's late, but I suppose you were too busy eating turkey yesterday to be reading any blogs!

We had a good meal last night with a homemade cranberry sauce improvised from dried cranberries, homemade stuffing, various other trimmings and of course chicken in place of turkey.

The good news is we were warned. A notice through the door that there would be some kind of maintenance work on the water pipes, over a 3 week period. They would endeavour to keep noise to a minimum but please cooperate (a popular Japanese expression, perhaps better translated as "put up with it!" - see Nana's blog for another example...). More good news: barely any sign of the work for several few days after the advertised start...
The bad news: it started today just after 9 and as we're on the top floor it's like living in some kind of power-tool test rig. The experiment: How many different kinds of drill can we use at once and how deep can we drill into this concrete roof without breaking through into the poor saps' apartment below?
Of course we have our theories about the true nature of the work - undercover asbestos removal; secret replacement of lead-filled water tanks; emergency repairs to weaknesses which threaten the structural integrity of the "mansion" (c.f. "Architect faces charges over falsifying quake-resistant data for 20 condos, hotel").

We're considering living in the bathroom as it seems to offer the most respite from the noise. Tricky to eat your rice though.

Just to let you know that email is working again now. And we're not cold - we're freezing!

Email problems!! Due to a problem with one of my mail company's servers, I haven't been able to send or receive mail for the last 24 hours or so...it will be anything from a few hours to another day before the service is restored. How irritating.

And so it begins...



(please ignore the urban desolation and enjoy the chunky first Sapporo flakes of the season)

We went out this evening to one of our favourite places, a yakitori shop (chain) where we enjoyed many skewers of goodness! Chicken, pork with kimchi, mushroom, quail egg, grilled rice, bacon and mochi (pounded rice)...good stuff.

Here a few pictures of the late autumn colours in Sapporo: