A Typical Saturday

As you have read in our newsletters and also these blogs...we've had some very exciting adventures in Japan! However, daily life is not so exciting all the time. Take Saturdays for instance. In the summer time there are many outdoor hobbies and places to visit. But, when the weather gets cold our Saturdays are filled with a lot less activity!

On most Saturdays we do the norm of sleeping late and doing a few chores around the house. If we're feeling really adventuresome, then we take a 40min. drive to the big store of Costco! Costco is a warehouse shopping place that is similar to SamsClub, if you didn't know that already. Costco is the place that we can find a few American items that we can't get anywhere else. But, you'd be surprised at the amount of Japanese items that are sold compared to American items. It's very interesting that the Japanese enjoy shopping here b/c most families prefer to make a stop at the grocery store daily as opposed to stocking up on a lot of goods at once. But.....I digress. It's here that we can always count on eating American style pizza!! The Japanese style pizza includes everything from seafood to getting salad and corn on your pizza for toppings! So, it's a real treat for us to find it in Costco. The really interesting thing about this little outing is that we consider it going on a date! Oh how your perspective changes when living in a foreign country!

One activity we do about every other month on a Saturday is eat at our favorite American restaurant in Kitakyushu, Wendy's. It's the only one that we've found in Japan, so far. Sometimes we just need a change from McDonald's which you can find ANYWHERE in Japan!!Near Wendy's is the place that we get our haircut. Sure we have a little trouble explaining how we want our hair to be cut, but more importantly it's a place to find a little therapy for the soul. It's the only place that we've ever gotten our hair cut that was washed and massaged by a wicked looking machine, got a shoulder massage while sitting in the chair, played with the owners dog, and sat in the best massage chair known to man! All for the reasonable price of 36.00 each. Some of you might call this a spa....but don't be mistaken. It's just a regular barber shop with really good service! I almost forgot to mention that when we leave the two shop workers come out and bow to us until we've driven out of sight.

Angie sitting in the massage chair holding the owner's dog named Lucky! This is great therapy for Angie as she misses her pets a lot!

Nick getting a shave with a straight razor! There's nothing like lying there with a 3inch straight razor at your throat. Oddly, Nick says that this is very relaxing. Especially when they put the steamy hot towels on later.

Nick's hair getting washed with a head massage!


Here's the full picture of this fantastic hair washing machine!

Who knew that what we consider a very ordinary activities in America is considered such a treat while living in a foreign country!