Fear and Japanese Pickles

Cute bear, right? It's an alarm. Pull the string at the bottom and it goes wiiiiwiiiiwiiii! A woman got stabbed the other week by an unknown guy about 500 m from our apartment and now I carry this little guy for protection... Sort of takes away that feeling of complete safety in Japan, doesn't it? Maybe I was naive to believe in that?



I'm making tsukemono (Japanese pickles) these days! It's the easy version, where you just put vegetables in salty water and press them under a heavy glass weight for a day.



Cucumber. Looks a bit slimy but it turned out pretty good.




Komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach). This became way too salty! Got to rethink the recipe...



Went rafting in Gunma-ken with Tomo, Matt and a bunch of other people last weekend. Good times! It's so good to get out in the nature. I wish every weekend was like this.




Wetsuit crew! Believe me when I tell you that they were needed. See below to know why.



Gunma-ken is up in the mountains and there was still snow left on them, melting in the summer sun. Naturally the rivers were freezing.




BBQ in the evening and Go-san is warming his hands over the fire after a long day in the water.




We're trying to grow some vegetables on our balcony now. Here's an aubergine.

And some tomatoes. Still green though.... Maybe another week or two and they might look more tasty?

I've posted a lot of old pictures on Flickr. Here's a link to my Japan set.

That's it.
Take care!