dining / banking at 7-11

When Blythe got to Japan I’d already been there a week.

Where are you eating“, she asked.

Sheepishly I replied: “Mostly 7-11. … But I’m planning on a dinner at Denny’s“, a popular chain also owned by 7-11.

In fact I did eat more at convenience stores than anywhere else in Japan. Day or night, if I got a pang it was sated by a piece of fried chicken and an ice-cream treat.

For some reason foreign bank cards do not work in Japanese ATMs. Yet they do in 7-11 ATMs, maximum 30,000 Yen in my case.

UPDATE from Blythe:

7-11 food was amazing in Japan! Rick’s advice was stellar — I snacked there every day and night for three weeks in Tokyo, and it was genuinely delicious.

However, I wouldn’t recommend taking money out of a 7-11 ATM. I did it once, and my bank charged a $20 fee for using an “international ATM.” At the post office, however, I was able to use the ATM and the transaction fee was only $0.60 per 10,000 yen withdrawn.

flushed off the mountain, again

Here I am at Sugatami-ike in Daisetsuzan National Park, an impressive look-out over the fumaroles.

This volcano is LIVE.

From there the top of the volcano was shrouded. Myself and Kim from Belgium were the only hikers bold (stupid) enough to climb higher.

We might have made it to 1900m before being driven off the mountain by wind and freezing, horizontal rain. The summit is about 2200m.

Happily, there was a hot springs and gourmet dinner awaiting me below in Japan’s best and most expensive alpine hostel.

This ain’t the usual hostel grub.

more photos … or read my hiking trip report

If it’s raining in the morning, I’ll hop back on the train until I find better weather.

Shiro Tanaka

It’s been over 25yrs since I last saw one of my gymnastics mentors. (One of us is losing his hair.)

We finally got together last night in his home town, Osaka, to catch up on old times. Shiro took me to this famous and historic restaurant.

It looks old, but is actually located in a brand new and modern shopping centre. They’ve kept the same look and décor as decades ago.

Kate’s Birthday barbecue

Kate had a tasty birthday at Dundarave Beach in West Vancouver.

Rockin's Jerk Chicken Wings

She was pleased the whole fam damily could celebrate on a perfect day.

Kate and Zoe

Rockin' Ronnie's cooking the envy of the beach

Jake

... the family that swims together ...

See more photos from Kate’s Birthday

See more RANDOM Shewchuk photos.

Amy and John in Vancouver

Lucky me.

I got together with Amy and John TWICE last week. First at a wonderful Indian joint near Granville Island.

Kate, John, Amy

Can you believe the size of these Dosas?

And later at a celebration of Taiwan culture. Here we are getting a photo with new students just arrived from Japan.