Each region of Japan has its own delicacies. When people here visit other parts of Japan, they will usually buy a speciality from that area.

In the following link has a map of Japan that you can click on. I’m sorry that the regions of the map are only labeled in Japanese, but if you click on each little prefecture, you can see a specialty of that area.

http://omiyagemap.blog76.fc2.com/

Thus, if you click on my region of Fukushima Prefecture (blue rectangle at the bottom of the blue area,) you’ll see photos of Mama D`Or. It’s a snack that is so so so SO famous here! It’s the number one treat that tourists purchase to take back home to Yokohama or to Nagoya or to Sapporo or to Naha…

Here are some treats from Tohoku:

Macaroons from Sendai City (in Miyagi Prefecture)

Dried peaches from Fukshima…I buy this for my son because he adores peaches. Fresh peaches are only in season during the summer, so these dried peaches are nice to eat during other times of the year.

“Rusk” from the Aizu area of Fukushima Prefecture (in the western part of Fukushima Prefecture.)

Rusk is a popular treat in Japan. I’d never heard of it before coming to Japan and so I was a little confused by the name. It seems that “rusk” is basically a sweet toast. (Occasionally garlic flavored.)

I looked at Wikipedia and it says that it’s Melba Toast! I’m familiar with dry tasteless Melba Toast… Sort of.

Rusk in Japan has more flavor than Melba Toast, definitely.

These milk cakes are from Yamagata Prefecture (my husband’s home prefecture.) They are hard and slightly sweet. Not my favorite, nor my husband’s favorite.

Some more rus–maple on the left and plain on the right.

They are from Aomori Prefecture. I’m not familiar with Aomori at all, and I just googled “Nambu.” It’s a region of Aomori.

Meringue bites from Niigata Prefecture.

Kinako Mochi ball—Kinako is sweet soybean powder or um something like that. Whatever it is, it’s really delicious.

And these little soybean mochi balls are from Akita Prefecture.

White cream “sand” from Nagano Prefeture.

Sand is a kind of cookie here. I think the “sand” comes from the English word sandwich. It’s two cookies filled with creme–so it’s a “sandwich cookie.”

By the way, Nagano is not in the Tohoku area!

(Neither is Niigata, but it is sort of an honorary member of Tohoku because it’s so close to us geographically.)

When I was in the United States, I noticed a news story about a radiation increase in Russia. It was unclear (to those outside of Russia, and to those inside of Russia who are not privy to this sort of confidential information) what exactly had happened….

This is a very early news article soon after the radiation was noticed:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-idUSKCN1UZ0ZT

The above article says it was “a brief spike in radiation.”

Evidentally, the Russian government was not telling what happened, not exactly. The Soviet government also did not reveal what was happening during the 1986 meltdown in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Unbelievably, that incident was pushed under the rug until it was too hard to hide. The European countries said, “Hey, we’ve got a lot of radiation coming in from the east. What’s going on?” And the secret was out.

And now the Russian government is pretending the radiation spike is no big deal, carry on as usual. Nothing to see here. Move along. WE SAID MOVE ALONG!

And so, nuclear watchers/governments around the world scrambled to piece together what actually happened.

A Mysterious Explosion Took Place in Russia. What Really Happened?

It’s now August 30 and–um, I still don’t know if the world is getting the truth.

The following article says the spike in radiation and the explosion was caused by a salvage mission of a nuclear-powered missile.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-intel-report-says-mysterious-russian-explosion-was-triggered-by-recovery-mission-of-nuclear-powered-missile-not-a-test/ar-AAGvFWm?li=AA30Nm

But that’s what the U.S. intel is saying and I don’t think they’re going to tell us the truth anymore than the Russian Intel.

(Hey, I just finished reading “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold.”

Both sides–Bad.

Both Sides–Liars.)

Here’s another article:

https://www.thestate.com/news/article234380182.html

I could post articles until my fingers fall off, but we may not really know what’s going on…….

I went to the United States and stayed with my parents in Texas. It was a lot of fun!

Here are some photos of the cute Lange dogs:

My name is Lily Lange. I’m timid, but sweet.

Hey there! I’m Joey Lange! I’m awesome! I love everybody and everything!

My name is Sarge Lange. I’m the boss cuz I’m the biggest. I chase cats. That’s what I do.

I am Max Lange. I am scruffy.

Here is one of the two Lange cats.

My name is Kevin Lange. Meow.

The other cat didn’t hang around because he hates one of the dogs (guess which one) so I never got his photo.