Ninja Crisps, traveling in Nihon, yeah!

Well, just got back from J-land and what a trip! Six of us left in late October and came back early November. The weather in Japan was terrific (it only rained two of the ten days) and we packed in a lot. For the most part, I was there to train in my martial arts (you can see a post on that here), but even so, I was able to take the shinkansen with my girl to Osaka (where we ate the best takoyaki ever), and found time to visit friends in our home-town over-seas, Kunitachi. We also went to one of my favorite places on the planet, Kichijoji (where we ate a lot of delicious food, but the certainly the best bowl of ramen that I have ever had and perhaps the best bowl of ramen in the universe). I was also able to get a bag of Ninja Crisps at a train station.



My girl, Saudade, has done an excellent job documenting the delicious food and wacky hijinx of Japan--so I shall leave you with her, here.

swords and maps...

My pal Saudade found the following interactive map, and it is so awesome I cannot help but share it. For all those design-savvy, sci-fi geek, Japanophiles this site is for you.

And for all of the samurai fans, kenjutsu enthusiasts,and hoplologists out there, check out the following site--a super resource for all the terms of yoroi and katana.