A shot of one of our dinners during our trip to the Sapporo Snow Festival in 2005. That night was fun because we were staying at a Japanese onsen and this was the evening meal. After Adam and Noah went to bed I climbed up to the roof to soak in the outdoor bath....steam rising from the hot water, snow flakes falling from a starry sky, naked in a tub surrounded by naked Japanese women of all ages. It brought back so many memories of my year of teaching in Amagi. My weekly trips to our neighborhood bath house (remember that, Karen C.?). Longer weekend onsen trips. I love the Japanese onsen experience. If you ever have the chance to make a trip to an onsen, do it! Put all modesty aside and soak. 
That whole trip was a lot of fun. The ice scluptures were breathtaking. The food was great. The company was entertaining. And it was Noah's first and only experience with snow (he was just about to turn two). I laughed when I looked at this photo of us. We look like one of those super color coordinated families but the reality is that we didn't own any of those clothes except for Noah's jacket. Keep in mind we were living on a tropical island so in the days leading up to our trip we begged and borrowed all the warm things we could get our hands on!
It was fun to take this little trip down memory lane...might need to do this again soon. Thanks for the tag, Melissa. If you want to do this, please share your image. Fourth folder, fourth image, and post a link in the comment section.
I'm cracking up because as soon as I saw that photo I thought that was the meal it was from! Too funny. I'll probably get around to doing the photo tag soon, it sounds like fun.
The first thing I thought when I saw that meal is how reasonable the portion sizes are, compared to the gargantuan ones served up by most American restaurants.
That was fascinating to read about the onsen (the link appears to have an extra http). Your experience sounds beautiful.
Nice picture! You got lucky and had a fun story to go along. Awesome.
Like Jessica I recognized your picture of a fancy Japanese meal. I have a similar picture from Kyoto. Loved your memory lane walk.
I love how photos can open the gates to all the memory lanes in our mind. Lovely story.
That trip looks AMAZING!!!! The ice sculptures - wow!
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