This year’s Thanksgiving was another success. There were lots of guests and great food. This year was even extra good as there is another American living in our house [Lisa] that is a very good chef who also made a bunch of dishes and desserts. My friend from work and his family also came this year to enjoy the party.

The family and I took a last minute trip out to Chiba. We didnt really have any plans, so we just decided to drive around and see what we could find. We took the tunnel that goes under the Tokyo Bay on the way there and just keep going across the prefecture. We made it to Otaki where there was a very nice herb garden and shop for the wife to look at. We also made it to Otaki Castle before they closed. We then drove down the east coast looking for dinner before we stopped and had some nice seafood. By the time we ate and made it down to Kamogawa we were pretty tired but didnt have any place to stay, so we ended up putting the seats down in the car to make a bed and camped out in the car for the night. We had our sleeping bags with up so it wasnt cold, and Melina really enjoyed the experience. The next morning, we made our way to Tateyama, but before we got there we found a small but very nice festival/flea market type event. We spent the morning there eating lots of good foods and looking around. Afterwards we made it to Tateyama and climbed up to Tateyama Castle. The view from the castle was very impressive. Near the castle was Akayama Underground Tunnels that were built around WWII and are among the largest surviving air-raid shelters in Japan. Lastly we drove up the west coast, stopped at a temple in a mountainside, and took the ferry across the bay back home.