Say my name, say my name.

When we were working on the planning of this trip Bob McLure, one of our fellow travelers, suggested that we have business cards made up - English on one side, Japanese on the other. He even facilitated the translation and production of the cards for the group. Bob was certainly correct about the usefulness of having the cards - we exchanged them with people while in Niimi, but have continued to give them to people as we travel about. 

Translating my first name wasn't a huge challenge, as western names go. Japanese recognizes sha ro and n so three kana are required and we're done.  (I don't know how to make the iPad write katakana you'll have to take my word for it.)

Wilf was a bit more of a challenge. Japanese doesn't have a wi sound, nor an l, nor a standalone f. That means his name came out as uirifu. And of course his last name comes out as Rambo, which causes great giggles.  We stayed one night at a temple and the head priest was referring to Wilf as Rambo-San. 

In Japan personal and corporate seals are used in most places where we would use signatures or initials. At the post office, for instance, if you were receiving a package instead to signing to acknowledge receipt you would use your personal stamp. That means that there are businesses that produce these stamps. In the west we hear them referred to as chops, which is the Chinese name. In Japan they are called hanko. Wilf found a little class we could take where we would learn how to carve our own stone hanko, so on Monday morning in Osaka off we went. 

Rather than try to cram our whole western names into a little square the plan was to take the first letter of our translated name  - sha in my case, and u in Wilf's. The shop owner and our guide then came up with several different kanji for that sound and we picked the meaning that we liked best. Then they wrote out several versions of the kanji and we picked the one we liked the look of the best. The master then inked the selected kanji onto the stone, provided us each with a small knife and let us at it. 

No pressure. 

After we had carefully cut away for awhile and thought we were done the master, his wife, his father, the assistant and our guide all said nice things about our work.  Then the master and the assistant settled in to tidy up what we had done. 

The picture below shows our two impressions. The top one on each sheet is our effort, and the bottom one is after a little remedial tidying up. The master also carved our names onto the side, along with a kanji that says 'made this' so it says Sharon made this and Wilf made this. 

Uirifu on the left, Sharon on the right. 

The master and his students!

Goofing around

We went to the Osaka aquarium. Out front is a model of a shark. Everyone else is posing beside it, all smiles. 

Not my guy. 

I wonder how many photos of his butt will wind up on the internet?

In which Wilf rampages through the fish market.

It's Sunday morning in Osaka. The morning after Hallowe'en. We decided to head down to the big shopping area to see the sights and maybe try some of the food. 

9:30 and the place is already humming. I'll let you ponder upon the speciality of the shop on the left. 

It may be 9:30 in the morning but people are lining up at a one of the many stands selling takoyaki - octopus balls. Chopped octopus in batter cooked in a metal griddle that makes them round. Hometown favourite. 

Meanwhile, in the arcaded shopping area there's a huge lineup waiting for the Disney store to open. 

We wandered around for an hour or two and found our way to the fish market. This is not a wholesale market - this is fresh fish and seafood to be eaten right there or taken home. It was noonish and getting busy and food was cooking all around us. 

And then Wilf spotted:

Little octopuses on sticks!

One octopus and a skewer of three scallops. 

'Let's find a table', says I, turning to find:

Well then, never mind the table. 

I went to buy tempura, and by the time I had my bag of goodies we had to sit down right now for tuna sushi. 

See the bluefin tuna head on the counter? He was a big fish. He was delicious. 

So, tuna and beer taken care of. Bag of tempura dispatched. The crowds have thinned a bit as we're walking along. And then:

Grilled oysters!

Lots of delicious seafood!

After mowing through an octopus, scallops, oysters, tempura and tuna sushi it was time for someone to have a nap!