Otto's blog

Yukata Week

Jul

22

If you`ve been to Ichinomiya Teragoya this week, you`ll know it`s our Yukata Week (Gifu & Ginan are later). It`s good to see so many kids in yukatas - everyone looks great!
Girls often complain that yukatas (& kimonos) are uncomfortable & difficult to put on, but for men it`s not so bad. I have a few yukatas, and I quite like wearing them. It feels like I`m wearing a dress in public, which I don`t get many chances to do in Brisbane (Sydney is a bit different).
When I first came to Japan about 10 years ago, not many men wore yukatas to festivals. Recently though, I see that they are coming back into fashion for guys. That`s good, because I think they look pretty cool. Do you agree?

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Congratulations Mariko & Yasuto

Jul

13

Mariko is a long-time student of Ichinomiya Teragoya. She has excellent English skills, she has an excellent English teacher (that`s me), she has excellent taste in English-speaking holiday destinations (she sometimes goes to Noosa, near my hometown of Brisbane), & now she has an excellent husband (but he`s not English, he`s Japanese). Congratulations! I hope you have a wonderful life together. And thanks for the bottle of wine which I won at bingo at your second wedding party - woohoo!

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Aichi`s cheapest house wine?

Jul

5

At an izakaya or barbeque I usually drink beer, but when I have a nice meal, especially pasta, I prefer wine. A bottle of cheap wine in an Italian restaurant is usually about 2000 yen, but recently I found a family restaurant where a 500ml carafe of wine is only... 370 YEN! Wow - that`s cheaper than beer! And it tastes okay (but I`m not very fussy).

Of course the name of the restaurant is Saizeriya. It`s a chain, so there`s probably one near you. Do you often go there?

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Bread Rolls - a force for good or evil?

Jun

9

Thanks everybody for your comments. I enjoyed reading them, even though some were pretty short... Come on, guys! Comments are not telegrams - you don`t have to pay for each word!
Everybody seems to agree with me that Nagasaki is a nice place. If you haven`t been there, you should try to go there one day.
A couple of commenters asked me about `bread rolls.` You can see a picture of some bread rolls here ----->
They can be various sizes and shapes. Long ones are good for hotdogs. Round ones are good for hamburgers and, when they get stale (old & hard), you can use them to play breadroll baseball!

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First Blog!!

Apr

30

Hello. This is Otto from Teragoya`s Ichinomiya branch. Welcome to my first ever blog! I hope you`ll find something to interest you here. I will use English, but I will try to use pretty easy English so if you are Japanese or New Zealander, don`t worry - I`m sure you can understand! If you don`t, please send me a comment and I`ll try to help.
Also, you can send me a comment to answer questions that I include in my blog. If you want to practise communicating in English, this is your chance! Don`t worry about mistakes, just write what you think and enjoy thinking and writing in English. I`m looking forward to hearing your comments - really!
By the way, this photo is of Yuko, Nikko, Eriko, Rose and I celebrating Eriko`s birthday.
What kind of cake do you like? I like cakes with not many candles on top. Unfortunately I haven`t received one for a long time...

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