We survived our first typhoon of the season. It wasn't so bad here in Osaka, just some rain and wind. We hunkered down at home on Sunday, since the main effect of the typhoon here was delayed trains. Not far from the city and farther south, however, were many places badly hit by floods and winds. We were celebrating the drop in temperature to a lovely 25 degrees Celsius (that's 77 Fahrenheit for those playing at home, sorry I've been listening to a lot of "Wait, wait don't tell me" podcasts). I got to wear both pants and a long sleeve shirt when I went outside! Bliss...

So on Sunday we were hunkered down at home, listening to the rain outside and watching wind and rain-torn images on TV, when our door bell went off. Apparently, the Japan Post office not only delivers on Sunday, but also during typhoons. We were excited to receive a care package from my parents in Wisconsin! Here's a pic of our loot:

King size sheets (our two futons together make a bizarre sheet size that we can't find here, even at IKEA), ground coffee, black beans, pop-tarts

Today the rain has stopped but the cool temps are hanging around a bit. Tonight we head out to our first taiko class with our friend Yumi. Taiko literally means "drums," but generally refers to a group of drummers performing particular styles of drumming. I've wanted to learn how to play for a long time (having a taiko DS Nintendo game doesn't really count) and both Richard and I are feeling the lack of music-making in our daily activities.

Taiko group

Last weekend Richard and I boarded the train for my old hometown of Nagoya. We were there for the Dia do Brasil, which, contrary to the name, was actually two days of music, dancing, food and fun in the central park in Nagoya. It was a great couple of days of research, although I definitely need to work on my Portuguese!