Ad Hoc, Spain-mura and School's Out
It’s hard to believe, but our 1 year in Japan anniversary just passed and we just have a few more weeks till we return back home to the Bay Area. We’re a bit sad to leave, but it’s just bye for now, and we will be back again before too long.
Ad Hoc
We wanted to check out a Michelin 1-star place in our neighborhood for a while, and thought our 1 year in Japan would be a good occasion to have a fancy lunch there. Ad Hoc is a French Fusion place, and we opted for the half size wine pairing, which ended up being like 8 half glasses of goodness. I can’t imagine doing the full size, we would probably need to be carried out and taken to the emergency room!
A couple of the drinks were actually sake cocktails, so that was a nice touch and a bit different.
Can’t forget we’re in Japan, when a whole bite-sized fish is staring back at ya.
It was nice to stumble back home just a few blocks, we ended up taking a long nap.
Spain-mura
Spain-mura is an interesting concept, where an entire amusement park is Spanish themed in Mie Prefecture. It’s built out in the middle of no where, so the park is decently big with an onsen hotel attached to it. The amusement park portion is like a mini Disneyland, where the rides are mostly targeted for smaller children and can be explored in a half day. The park was fun for M and her cousins, and they also liked the Flamenco show at night. But for the adults, maybe the experience was a bit contrived and the food was a bit lacking in quality and authenticity in the Paella department. One positive was that the place was relatively empty, so the kids got to go on the rides quite a few times.
A parade with bull fighters and flamenco dancers!
Last Day of School
M really enjoyed her 1 year at the Osaka YMCA International School. She made some great friends and had a fun time with her class. We thought the community was amazing, and got to meet and mingle with some fun families from around the world. While there is a strong possibility we may want to come back for another year, getting back in might be a challenge since there is a wait list of students wanting to attend. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
There were many great aspects of the school, where the teacher/student ratio was quite good. Beyond their primary teacher, they had many secondary teachers for Japanese, Music, PE, Math, etc. They also had various after school optional activities, which M enjoyed too. The teaching style was far less rigid than the typical Japanese schools, and the kids got to enjoy more project-based and collaborative group activities. Some of the other parents complained there was not enough traditional math and spelling drills, but we did a lot of reading and math stuff at home to supplement. In fact, I was happy that M did stuff at school, that can’t be taught from staring into workbooks. But I get some parents wanting more traditional teachings, especially if their kids might be needing to integrate with Japanese entrance exams and upper education. There is also a lot of variability in English ability in the class, so the difficulty level is definitely adjusted. Still, I don’t think M will have any trouble fitting right back into our local school in the USA, and her Japanese has improved quite a lot!
Spice Curry and Gin
Buried in the basement levels of an old office building in Umeda, we found a yummy curry place that has a ‘Taiwanese’ style curry. We found it to be the right amount of spiciness and a bit off the beaten path here, so it was worth a couple of wanders down here away from the crowds and sophisticated folks in the department stores.
A friend of ours here recommended Kinobi Gin, which has won some international awards and has become quite popular. Luckily I found it at Costco here, for a very reasonable 8000 yen (60usd) for a 1.8L bottle! We don’t normally associate Kyoto with Gin, but it’s definitely worth a drink.
