Morning walks + lunch

Since the sun comes up before 5am and I have been awake at 5am, we have been going on morning walks.  I was surprised that I actually see people along the river at that time of day.  The majority of the people are older.  (Perhaps the younger ones are getting ready for work.)  I usually get to say "Ohayo Gazaimasu" about 30 times during our walk in response to people who say that to us.  Three people  (one was a co-worker) have said "Good morning" to us this week (which means the same thing).  It always makes us laugh to hear English when we are out of the house.

Some decided to take their dogs (and themselves) for a swim in the river to cool off.  Remember, this is around 5:30am.

We also have had two of our favorite meals since we arrived.  The first is ramen.  This is not the "I am poor or lazy so I am making an instant cup of ramen".  It is so tasty!

The second meal was curry rice.  It is Japanese curry but some Japanese say it is not a Japanese food.  It is, however, a very popular food here in Japan.  This is a very dark curry.  (I actually prefer a lighter color of curry with potatoes and carrots in it.  At this meal we got the curry with tonkatsu on it which is a pork cutlet that is breaded and deep fried.  We often get a chicken version instead.  What good Texas wouldn't like that?