On our recent vacation to Okinawa, we had the opportunity to observe some local cuisine, although we didn't quite have the guts to partake. Pork is the primary meat in this area of the world, and nothing, that's right
nothing, goes to waste. In the markets, virtually every part was for sale, and at some shops and restaurants, pig faces were available. I have to tell you, I don't know how many times we've looked at this picture (right), and it never gets old. Another interesting thing that we saw was something called
habushu. Habu is a type of snake found in that part of the world.
Shu means liquor. As you can see from the picture below,
habushu is the okinawan, much manlier version of tequila. This particular jug is unique because it has not one, but two habu inside it. It really was quite interesting to walk down
the road and see countless snakes baring their fangs. If we had had the necessary hundred bucks or more, I might have tried to convince Misty to bring it home as a conversation piece. "Hey mom, did I show you what I picked up on vacation? Mom? . . . Mom?"
Here in Japan, most people don't really know much about Halloween, so we had a Halloween party at an international gathering I regularly attend. 
Luckily, Misty and I had ordered a pumpkin (only $18.00 :/) ahead of time. Yeah that's a bit expensive, but it was a lot of fun sharing a bit of home with our Japanese friends. Most of them had never seen a western pumpkin, let alone a jack-o-lantern. In the picture to the right, one of our friends is trying his hand at removing the seeds. In the lower left picture, our "design the face" contest winner is sketching his winning design. And up top, we put my rasta wig on the finished product with the lights out. The picture has a trail from the jack-o-lantern's glow, which I
think makes it extra spooky. Anyway, after that we sat in a circle with only the pumpkin for light and told ghost stories. It took a little while for everybody to catch on, but once we got them started they really got into it. Before the party started, Misty and I were a little worried that it wouldn't catch on, but in the end, it was all good fun.
