The Talented Mr. Kabori...

Until today Mr. Kabori was the Yahoo BB guy. The guy who was incharge of getting all of the new AET's hooked up with internet in our apartments. Last week we went to his house as a group and sat down and drank root beer and talked with him for an hour or so with him. The meeting wasn't really necessary to get out internet setup, he just wanted to meet us.

Mr. Kabori loves Americans. He loves America so much he talks of wanting to retire in America. The fact that he has to be a citizen to move there permanently doesn't really matter to him. It is one of his dreams. After talking to him a bit about his travels to America, we came to the topic of Lawton, Oklahoma. Yea he had been there. Then up came Meers. He had been there too. Carla and I couldn't be live that all the way over here in Japan, we met a man who has eaten at Meers. One of our most favorite places to eat. He shared the same sentiments of the establishment. Small world.

So Mr. Kabori has many passions. He is a Koucho Sensei (Principal) at a school here in Mito. HIs house is full of antique cameras. Some on top of his piano, some under the piano, and some in special cases built to keep the moisture away from the lenses and mechanical elements on the inside of the cameras. He also builds computers. He is an ebay-a-holic and buys parts from all over the world to build computers. In the hours time that we were sitting in his home I counted at least 5 laptop computers, 4 desktop computers, and a computer that he built in a plastic file folder that sits on the bookcase. It has good ventilation so that it doesn't over heat. Not to mention the half dozen monitors that he hasn't found a home for yet. He is passionate about building computers.

On our way home we got a call from Mr. Kabori asking if we knew anyone that could help him build a cabin this weekend. I was with Carla, Matt, Kendon and Marrianne. Realizing the opportunity to have a unique Japan adventure we volunteered in a heart beat.

We showed up this morning at around 9:30 or so, it took us about 45 minutes to get to his land from Mito.



The land he had chosen sits in the foothills of Mount Tsukuba ( pronounced "Scuba"). It is beautiful, rocky, and quite isolated. We were really excited to get started and he was very excited to see us. We started almost right away. Mr. Kabori had already done the hard work, he just wanted us to help put it together. We helped him put up the walls one by one. Picking them up and holding them in place while he screwed them to the foundation he had made all buy himself. He mixed 10 80lb bags of concrete and carried and poured it all by himself.


Then it was time for lunch. His wife had made an incredible spread for us to eat.

Then the supports for the roof. Then the roof pieces followed. They were very heavy and awkward. I am not really sure how 3 relatively short guys and an average height (which is quite short in most cases) Japanese man lifted those pieces on top of the framed pieces we had put in place moments before. But we had done it. You should have seen the smile on his face. Like a kid who had built his first house out of Legos or Lincoln Logs. The same look of excitement and the same feeling of accomplishment. His wife told us that we had helped him make his dream come true.

He was very passionate about that cabin. He had built it with his own hands, he had made exact measurements and cuts. He bled for that cabin. Really he did, he stabbed his own hand with a screwdriver. We were very happy to get to to help Mr. Kabori with his cabin.

Here are some more photos:















After an eventful morning and early afternoon we drove 40 minutes or so through the mountains to the town Tsukuba. There was really one reason and one reason only we went there. Mexican food. There is a little restaurant there called El Torito, its really the only Mexican Food there is within hours of us. It was good. Not great. But good. Its right up there with El Chico maybe. But the fact that we got to taste something very different than what we have been eating counted for alot.





All in all it was an amazing day. We had a blast with Mr. Kibori. We had some good Mexican Food.

This next week is a holiday week called "Golden Week" To be honest I do not know what they are celebrating, but I do know that we have Monday, Thursday and Friday off of work. Which is awesome! Monday we are planning on going to a town called Chiba to go to Costco. For those of you who don't know, its like a Sams club. They have tons of American food which will be good to stock up on. And then Thursday, Fri & Sat we are going to try to go to Tokyo for the first time. It will be really busy so I don't know if we will be able to get a hotel. But we will certainly try.

Until then...

I think I'm Turning Japanese

Please check out more pics at:

http://oc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037&l=3f2f6&id=504402219