Since my last post was a bit long I decided to continue on a new one.
Ghibli museum
On Monday I finally got to the Ghibli museum. I've been meaning to get there for some time now, and finally managed it. You see, this museum has a system whereby you have to book tickets from a convenience store, in advance. Last year I tried to go there during summer holidays; checked three weeks before, and every time slot on every day was fully booked. Going on a Monday, however, was a matter of going to the convenience store at 2pm and buying a ticket for 4pm...
It's a bit of a trek out to Mitaka but I enjoyed it. The museum is designed as a big, rambling house to explore - full of odd chairs and mysterious doorways and winding staircases, and so on. You could watch a 15-minute animated short, and see animation techniques, and so on. There was even a cat bus for kids to play on. ^_^
Muza
Recently I went to Kawasaki Muza. Muza is the concert hall in Kawasaki; it's right next to the station and one of the most recognisable buildings in Kawaski. I'd never been there for a show, but a student invited me; her daughter (a former student) was playing bassoon in a concert. (For ages, my student told me she played the 'faggot'. Until today I never realised what instrument she actually played. Now I realise that 'faggot' is the German name for 'bassoon'.)
We sat in the front row at the concert. After the show I went out with her family to a buffet restaurant. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't allowed to pay... it was very nice of them and I felt very well treated. ^_^
(BTW, Mum, the mother who invited me is the same lady who sent you the Japanese souvenirs as a Christmas present.)
Gym
Tomorrow I'm going to a gym near Kawasaki station. My co-worker had a free coupon for two people, so we're going together. I have never been to the gym in Japan... I'm in pretty poor shape, I think...
Hiroshima and Miyajima
I'm thinking about going on a weekend trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima some time in the next few weeks. I'm looking at accommodation options now.
It makes me realise how far I've come, though, since my first week in Japan, staying in the ryokan in Kyoto, and finding the food so impossible to manage. Now, I'm looking at these hotel options thinking I would probably prefer a Japanese-style breakfast to a Western-style one...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Yokohama and irrashaimase
I'm still doing stuff most weekends.
Yokohama
Last weekend was the farewell party and all-night karaoke. After that, I didn't feel like doing much the next day, so I went to Yokohama.
I don't know why, but every time I go to Yokohama station on a weekend, I'm shocked by the number of people there. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I mean, like, waiting in long lines to exit a building, walking in human 'lanes' of traffic, and in general, seeing the kind of crowds that you might see at the end of Sky Show when everyone gets up to go home. And it's just an ordinary Sunday in Yokohama.
These kind of crowds are not that rare in Tokyo, but because I consider Yokohama like my 'home' station, and I think of Yokohama as a smaller, less bustling place, it still surprises me. Generally I don't mind crowds, but if I'm in a grumpy mood, I sometimes get the urge to headbutt the person in front of me.)
Yokohama station is a major hub station - lots of different train lines stop there - so it's naturally busy, and it's also surrounded by a dense network of department stores, in all directions, including underground. I have wandered their mazes many a time, but I still don't have it quite straight in my head which department store has which food hall, for example. (Of course, the food halls are the only parts I am interested in, hahaha.)
Before, I described pachinko parlours as the 'seventh circle of hell', but I found a close contender for sheer awfulness - the Vivre building in Yokohama. (This is the building that has an 'all-you-can-eat' dessert buffet. ^_^) I went there for the Starbucks, and unfortunately had to use the bathroom. It's full of 'gyaaru' (girls with over-treated hair, pancake makeup, fishnet stockings, short shorts... in other words, scary girls). These gyaaru are sales assistants, shrieking out the specials.
A lot of stores hire people to stand outside and shout out the specials, or shout 'irrasshaimase!' (welcome!) to people*, but I can't convey the cacophany in Vivre. All of the ladies had very powerful voices, and some were using the aid of megaphones. I think there may have also been some unpleasant background music, but I can't remember. Since I hate clothes shopping anyway, I couldn't imagine anything worse than actually going into one of those and having to endure that kind of aural assault while sorting through hot pink 80s-style off-the-shoulder tops.
*(Almost all store clerks will say 'irrashaimase' when they see you. Of course, I expect it. If I'm in a store, and a clerk sees me, and they *don't* say 'irrashaimase', I kind of think 'oh, they're ignoring me'. However, in some cases, the 'irrashaimase' doesn't sound remotely friendly, and makes me want to leave the store quickly. If I didn't know what it meant, I might think they were telling me to GET OUT OF OUR STORE!!
A lot of girls have a very nasal 'irrasshaimase' going, and some gung-ho guys, like the electronics store or fruit seller guys, will absolutely bellow it in quite a scary manner. The best is in big 100 yen shops where everyone's 'irrasshaimase' sounds like an 'I hate my job and all my customers'.
One of my students works in retail, and she says she says it's one of the worst things about the job, being told to say 'irrashaimase' to everyone who walks past. In some stores you'll even see/hear sales assistants just randomly calling out 'irrashaimase' as they walk around doing their job - in this case, they're not even looking at you, and they say it at regular intervals just to cover themselves in case someone does walk past.
In Australia, the equivalent is 'hi, how are you?', so 'irrasshaimase' has the benefit/disadvantage (depending on your POV) of acknowledging a customer while not requiring a response.)
As usual I'm going off on rambling tangents... I decided to try to walk home from Yokohama to my house. The previous week I had tried to walk to my house from my second-nearest train station, and ended up 6km in the wrong direction, in Shin-Yokohama. This was a pretty poor effort. This time I made it without getting lost at ALL. It took me about an hour to walk home from Yokohama. ^_^
Yokohama
Last weekend was the farewell party and all-night karaoke. After that, I didn't feel like doing much the next day, so I went to Yokohama.
I don't know why, but every time I go to Yokohama station on a weekend, I'm shocked by the number of people there. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I mean, like, waiting in long lines to exit a building, walking in human 'lanes' of traffic, and in general, seeing the kind of crowds that you might see at the end of Sky Show when everyone gets up to go home. And it's just an ordinary Sunday in Yokohama.
These kind of crowds are not that rare in Tokyo, but because I consider Yokohama like my 'home' station, and I think of Yokohama as a smaller, less bustling place, it still surprises me. Generally I don't mind crowds, but if I'm in a grumpy mood, I sometimes get the urge to headbutt the person in front of me.)
Yokohama station is a major hub station - lots of different train lines stop there - so it's naturally busy, and it's also surrounded by a dense network of department stores, in all directions, including underground. I have wandered their mazes many a time, but I still don't have it quite straight in my head which department store has which food hall, for example. (Of course, the food halls are the only parts I am interested in, hahaha.)
Before, I described pachinko parlours as the 'seventh circle of hell', but I found a close contender for sheer awfulness - the Vivre building in Yokohama. (This is the building that has an 'all-you-can-eat' dessert buffet. ^_^) I went there for the Starbucks, and unfortunately had to use the bathroom. It's full of 'gyaaru' (girls with over-treated hair, pancake makeup, fishnet stockings, short shorts... in other words, scary girls). These gyaaru are sales assistants, shrieking out the specials.
A lot of stores hire people to stand outside and shout out the specials, or shout 'irrasshaimase!' (welcome!) to people*, but I can't convey the cacophany in Vivre. All of the ladies had very powerful voices, and some were using the aid of megaphones. I think there may have also been some unpleasant background music, but I can't remember. Since I hate clothes shopping anyway, I couldn't imagine anything worse than actually going into one of those and having to endure that kind of aural assault while sorting through hot pink 80s-style off-the-shoulder tops.
*(Almost all store clerks will say 'irrashaimase' when they see you. Of course, I expect it. If I'm in a store, and a clerk sees me, and they *don't* say 'irrashaimase', I kind of think 'oh, they're ignoring me'. However, in some cases, the 'irrashaimase' doesn't sound remotely friendly, and makes me want to leave the store quickly. If I didn't know what it meant, I might think they were telling me to GET OUT OF OUR STORE!!
A lot of girls have a very nasal 'irrasshaimase' going, and some gung-ho guys, like the electronics store or fruit seller guys, will absolutely bellow it in quite a scary manner. The best is in big 100 yen shops where everyone's 'irrasshaimase' sounds like an 'I hate my job and all my customers'.
One of my students works in retail, and she says she says it's one of the worst things about the job, being told to say 'irrashaimase' to everyone who walks past. In some stores you'll even see/hear sales assistants just randomly calling out 'irrashaimase' as they walk around doing their job - in this case, they're not even looking at you, and they say it at regular intervals just to cover themselves in case someone does walk past.
In Australia, the equivalent is 'hi, how are you?', so 'irrasshaimase' has the benefit/disadvantage (depending on your POV) of acknowledging a customer while not requiring a response.)
As usual I'm going off on rambling tangents... I decided to try to walk home from Yokohama to my house. The previous week I had tried to walk to my house from my second-nearest train station, and ended up 6km in the wrong direction, in Shin-Yokohama. This was a pretty poor effort. This time I made it without getting lost at ALL. It took me about an hour to walk home from Yokohama. ^_^
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Rainy rainy
It's really the rainy season now. Last year, I mentioned, spring had very tiresome weather, raining every weekend, but come 'rainy season', it mostly cleared up. So last year, the so-called 'rainy season' was fairly mild and not all that rainy.
This year, we had a beautiful spring with lovely weather, but the rainy season is really living up to its name. It's been raining two days out of three for the last couple of weeks. It rained yesterday, and the day before, and the morning before that, and so on. I kept getting caught out at work without an umbrella. We've had thunderstorms, drizzle, all-day sousing rain...
And it's getting really humid. I've been busting out the shikke tori (de-humidifying pellets) again, and they are collecting quite a bit of water.
All the ajisai (hydrangeas) are in bloom and the greenery is so lush in every crack and small place it's able to grow; if this weren't a concrete jungle, it would be a phenomenal mass of plantlife.
This year, we had a beautiful spring with lovely weather, but the rainy season is really living up to its name. It's been raining two days out of three for the last couple of weeks. It rained yesterday, and the day before, and the morning before that, and so on. I kept getting caught out at work without an umbrella. We've had thunderstorms, drizzle, all-day sousing rain...
And it's getting really humid. I've been busting out the shikke tori (de-humidifying pellets) again, and they are collecting quite a bit of water.
All the ajisai (hydrangeas) are in bloom and the greenery is so lush in every crack and small place it's able to grow; if this weren't a concrete jungle, it would be a phenomenal mass of plantlife.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Oyakodon
I just made some delicious oyakodon, which is a chicken and egg mixture on rice. The name 'oyakodon' literally means 'parent child bowl' (which is kind of disgusting when you think about it). Actually, my oyakodon tasted better than a store-bought one, because I could ensure the chicken was good-quality meat (not with big pieces of skin, fat, etc -_-).
You can see what oyakodon looks like here on Google Images.
Here is the recipe. ^_^
This will make 3-4 servings.
Ingredients
lots of steamed rice
chicken breast/thigh (I don't know how much I used, maybe 300g or so)
1/2 leek (I used half an onion instead, frying it before adding it to the dish)
1 bunch mitsuba/trefoil (I forgot to buy this so I left it out)
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup 'dashi' stock
3T mirin
3T soy sauce
Method
1. Cut the chicken into small cubes. Slice the leeks thinly, diagonally. Cut the roots off the mitsuba and chop roughly.
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.
3. Put the dashi stock, mirin and soy sauce in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Then add the chicken, and reduce the heat to medium.
4. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the beaten egg, pouring it over the top with a circular motion.
5. When the egg is half-cooked, turn off the heat and add the leeks and mitsuba.
6. Put steamed rice in bowls, and put the 'oyako' mixture on the top.
I also seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper.
おいしい！ (Delicious!)
You can see what oyakodon looks like here on Google Images.
Here is the recipe. ^_^
This will make 3-4 servings.
Ingredients
lots of steamed rice
chicken breast/thigh (I don't know how much I used, maybe 300g or so)
1/2 leek (I used half an onion instead, frying it before adding it to the dish)
1 bunch mitsuba/trefoil (I forgot to buy this so I left it out)
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup 'dashi' stock
3T mirin
3T soy sauce
Method
1. Cut the chicken into small cubes. Slice the leeks thinly, diagonally. Cut the roots off the mitsuba and chop roughly.
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.
3. Put the dashi stock, mirin and soy sauce in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Then add the chicken, and reduce the heat to medium.
4. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the beaten egg, pouring it over the top with a circular motion.
5. When the egg is half-cooked, turn off the heat and add the leeks and mitsuba.
6. Put steamed rice in bowls, and put the 'oyako' mixture on the top.
I also seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper.
おいしい！ (Delicious!)
Changes
We're having some changes at work at the moment. This week was Pete's last week, and we have a new teacher, from Australia. Let's call him Dan. We had a farewell/welcome bash for them last night. Unfortunately Pete was pretty under the weather, so I don't think he could enjoy it as much as he would have... I'm going to miss having him around. He's one of the most positive people I've ever met. His next plan is to go hitchhiking, which is pretty cool.
It was a good party though. Afterwards, we went to all-night karaoke and I got home at 6am. Being at events like this reminds me of how much I like my school and all the staff/students in it. And it reminds me how much I'd like to do far more things with students; I'd happily go out three or four times a week if I could. But it can be difficult to organise.
So work is going fine but it's a little bit busier than usual; I've been doing more of the little random jobs like doing English tests with students, meeting new students, chitchatting in the lobby, etc. I realised I can do it quite well; even if things happen like materials going missing, or losing out on prep time, I find I have enough experience now to kind of wing things a bit more.
Basically, what it comes down to is I like my job - I like the job itself, I like my work environment, I like my coworkers and I really like the students. There are a couple of things I won't really miss - I still struggle a bit with things like crying children, and I do tend to get a bit stressed and nervous before kids' classes, though I don't think I show it.
But even teaching kids has some good points. I think I mentioned the time I was sick and my 11-year-old girl wrote me a 'get well soon' note, half in English and Japanese. Another, younger girl is often hugging me and saying 'I like you!' (She also asked me if I was in love with anyone, and if I was married, hahaha.) And last week I taught a private lesson to this 8-year-old girl. She was a lot of fun, and cute. After class she was following me around, and hugged me, gave me some snacks, and told the staff that we were friends.
Right now I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about leaving (my last day is September 2, but we are not telling students for a little longer). Now that Pete's gone, and we've done all the farewells, it feels like a familiar time has come to an end. I'm really now feeling conscious of counting down until I go. To make myself feel better about leaving, I have to remind myself:
I have a lot of nice people around me, but the nature of this job is that people come and go a lot. Actually, our core staff has been fairly stable, but various part-time teachers have come and gone; a number of students I've really liked or gotten along well with have left, and more will no doubt do so some day. So in that sense it's not like I have such a strong attachment to anyone, and I am used to saying goodbye to people, although I don't like it.
Similarly, I have made some friends in Japan now, but the truth is that most of them usually seem to be busy or unavailable to do things. The guy at Gaijin Smash had it right when he said that Japanese people often don't seem to want to do things spontaneously (or even with one or two days' warning). I find unless I 'schedule' something a week or more in advance, 90% of the time it's a 'no'. If you have, say, six different friends, and you meet up with each of them once every two or three months, well, it's not much of a social life; it's not what you'd call a really close friendship. I don't so much have a group of friends, either, unless you count my co-workers (who are good eggs).
So if I am honest, although I like the people here very much, and enjoy spending time with them, I know that realistically we are probably not going to be strong, lasting friends forever.
that although I feel comfortable and happy - like I'm in my element and get along with everyone - that I felt that way in my last job too, so there's a good chance I'll also feel happy in a new workplace.
my English *is* deteriorating somewhat. I think my grammar even on this blog has gotten slightly patchy at times. Sometimes when I speak, I skip articles ('a', 'the') or entire clauses, to make the sentence shorter and simpler. (I do try not to do this in class...)
I really do want to travel, and I really do want to try living in another foreign country.
For the record, I still haven't decided what I'll do after my job finishes - whether I'll go back to Australia, or get another job in Japan. If I get another job in Japan I ought to start looking. I guess even if I leave, if I want to, I can come back some day.
It was a good party though. Afterwards, we went to all-night karaoke and I got home at 6am. Being at events like this reminds me of how much I like my school and all the staff/students in it. And it reminds me how much I'd like to do far more things with students; I'd happily go out three or four times a week if I could. But it can be difficult to organise.
So work is going fine but it's a little bit busier than usual; I've been doing more of the little random jobs like doing English tests with students, meeting new students, chitchatting in the lobby, etc. I realised I can do it quite well; even if things happen like materials going missing, or losing out on prep time, I find I have enough experience now to kind of wing things a bit more.
Basically, what it comes down to is I like my job - I like the job itself, I like my work environment, I like my coworkers and I really like the students. There are a couple of things I won't really miss - I still struggle a bit with things like crying children, and I do tend to get a bit stressed and nervous before kids' classes, though I don't think I show it.
But even teaching kids has some good points. I think I mentioned the time I was sick and my 11-year-old girl wrote me a 'get well soon' note, half in English and Japanese. Another, younger girl is often hugging me and saying 'I like you!' (She also asked me if I was in love with anyone, and if I was married, hahaha.) And last week I taught a private lesson to this 8-year-old girl. She was a lot of fun, and cute. After class she was following me around, and hugged me, gave me some snacks, and told the staff that we were friends.
Right now I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about leaving (my last day is September 2, but we are not telling students for a little longer). Now that Pete's gone, and we've done all the farewells, it feels like a familiar time has come to an end. I'm really now feeling conscious of counting down until I go. To make myself feel better about leaving, I have to remind myself:
Similarly, I have made some friends in Japan now, but the truth is that most of them usually seem to be busy or unavailable to do things. The guy at Gaijin Smash had it right when he said that Japanese people often don't seem to want to do things spontaneously (or even with one or two days' warning). I find unless I 'schedule' something a week or more in advance, 90% of the time it's a 'no'. If you have, say, six different friends, and you meet up with each of them once every two or three months, well, it's not much of a social life; it's not what you'd call a really close friendship. I don't so much have a group of friends, either, unless you count my co-workers (who are good eggs).
So if I am honest, although I like the people here very much, and enjoy spending time with them, I know that realistically we are probably not going to be strong, lasting friends forever.
For the record, I still haven't decided what I'll do after my job finishes - whether I'll go back to Australia, or get another job in Japan. If I get another job in Japan I ought to start looking. I guess even if I leave, if I want to, I can come back some day.
Phones
It's interesting to live in such a high-tech world. I don't like the idea of being too dependent on technology, nor too 'connected'. I think it can reduce people's patience, require people to be constantly stimulated. However, there's no denying it does make life more convenient, and already it's hard to remember how life was five, ten, fifteen years ago.
For example, there was a time when, if you made plans to meet a person, and you got there, and they didn't come, well, there was really nothing to do but keep waiting, then go home (or find a pay phone and try to call their house). These days, if people are meeting, there's a 10-message preliminary exchange so that you don't really need to make concrete initial plans at all. ('I'm about to leave the station now', 'where are you at the moment?' 'I'm heading toward the restaurant, will prob be about 5 min', 'sorry, is it the restaurant next to Lawson, or the one near the park?')
I remember when I was a kid, getting books from the library, I would have no way to know whether the same author had written other books which weren't in the library, unless they were listed on the cover of the books I did have. If you did find this out, you could possibly go to Dymocks in the city and request they order it in, but this was a bit of a hassle. I remember a few years ago, I was on Amazon and discovered that my favourite ever children's book ('The Giver') had two sequels; with a few clicks I could order them and within days they were at my house.
And ten or fifteen years ago, if you went walking around the streets of suburban Yokohama, and you got totally lost (as is very common for me), and you finally found your way again... well, there'd be no way to find out exactly where you went, what mistake you made, where you should go next time, etc - unless you could procure and read a Japanese road atlas, in Japanese. I would be constantly going around and winging it, never knowing where I was.
These days, however...
I was just on diddlefinger, checking out maps of my neighbourhood, and of the surrounding suburbs, so I could see what convenience stores were where. Before I leave my house I do a quick check of Hyperdia to see when my next train will leave. I use both these sites constantly to check potential routes, work out exactly where I'm going or where I went on a particular day...
However, I'm still a bit behind the times, since a lot of Japanese people would use their cell phones for this purpose. Some people use, I think, a kind of GPS on their phone to get directions; they can check timetables; they can watch TV shows, download and read comics, take decent quality pictures (some phones; not mine ^_^), play games, whatever. People are using mobile Facebook, sending photos to friends, listening to music...
I don't know much about the latest gadgets, nor about the future of technology, but it does seem mobile technology is getting better; more pervasive; that it will be a dominating technology in the near future (as indeed it already is). People are demanding more functionality in their phones; phones are going to be used for so many different purposes that I think that the state of phones now is the tip of the iceberg; we're going to see significant design and functionality changes, breakthroughs, improvements.
As for me, I have no idea what my phone is capable of, since I'm too scared to play with it too much. I don't know exactly what my phone plan includes, but it's the cheapest sort, so I think any deviation from my 'included costs' - such as surfing the Internet - could potentially wrack up huge costs. That's probably the biggest problem at the moment - getting a service like just being able to watch TV on your phone, can cost you, I dunno, $80 or more per month. Compared to your free TV at home, it's got a way to go.
For example, there was a time when, if you made plans to meet a person, and you got there, and they didn't come, well, there was really nothing to do but keep waiting, then go home (or find a pay phone and try to call their house). These days, if people are meeting, there's a 10-message preliminary exchange so that you don't really need to make concrete initial plans at all. ('I'm about to leave the station now', 'where are you at the moment?' 'I'm heading toward the restaurant, will prob be about 5 min', 'sorry, is it the restaurant next to Lawson, or the one near the park?')
I remember when I was a kid, getting books from the library, I would have no way to know whether the same author had written other books which weren't in the library, unless they were listed on the cover of the books I did have. If you did find this out, you could possibly go to Dymocks in the city and request they order it in, but this was a bit of a hassle. I remember a few years ago, I was on Amazon and discovered that my favourite ever children's book ('The Giver') had two sequels; with a few clicks I could order them and within days they were at my house.
And ten or fifteen years ago, if you went walking around the streets of suburban Yokohama, and you got totally lost (as is very common for me), and you finally found your way again... well, there'd be no way to find out exactly where you went, what mistake you made, where you should go next time, etc - unless you could procure and read a Japanese road atlas, in Japanese. I would be constantly going around and winging it, never knowing where I was.
These days, however...
I was just on diddlefinger, checking out maps of my neighbourhood, and of the surrounding suburbs, so I could see what convenience stores were where. Before I leave my house I do a quick check of Hyperdia to see when my next train will leave. I use both these sites constantly to check potential routes, work out exactly where I'm going or where I went on a particular day...
However, I'm still a bit behind the times, since a lot of Japanese people would use their cell phones for this purpose. Some people use, I think, a kind of GPS on their phone to get directions; they can check timetables; they can watch TV shows, download and read comics, take decent quality pictures (some phones; not mine ^_^), play games, whatever. People are using mobile Facebook, sending photos to friends, listening to music...
I don't know much about the latest gadgets, nor about the future of technology, but it does seem mobile technology is getting better; more pervasive; that it will be a dominating technology in the near future (as indeed it already is). People are demanding more functionality in their phones; phones are going to be used for so many different purposes that I think that the state of phones now is the tip of the iceberg; we're going to see significant design and functionality changes, breakthroughs, improvements.
As for me, I have no idea what my phone is capable of, since I'm too scared to play with it too much. I don't know exactly what my phone plan includes, but it's the cheapest sort, so I think any deviation from my 'included costs' - such as surfing the Internet - could potentially wrack up huge costs. That's probably the biggest problem at the moment - getting a service like just being able to watch TV on your phone, can cost you, I dunno, $80 or more per month. Compared to your free TV at home, it's got a way to go.
Friday, June 19, 2009
You know you've been in Japan too long when...
I found this list on the website Thin Rope.
From that list, here are some I totally identify with...
You know you've been in Japan too long when...
...you see a gaijin get on the train and think "Wow, it's a gaijin!"
...you can't have your picture taken without your fingers forming the peace sign.
...your idea of a larger home is an extra 10 square meters.
...you think the natural location for a beer garden is on a roof.
...you wait for the first day of summer to wear short sleeve dress shirts.
...in the middle of nowhere, totally surrounded by rice fields and abundant nature, you aren't surprised to find a drink vending machine with no visible means of a power supply and when you think nothing of it when that lonely vending machine says
'thank you' after you buy a coke.
...you have over 30 small, transparent plastic umbrellas in your entrance even *after* donating several of them to taxis and JR recently.
...you believe that the perfect side dish to eat with a juicy, deep-fried pork cutlet is a pile of raw, tasteless, shredded cabbage.
...it doesn't surprise you that a case of beer has the same per unit price as a single can.
...you think cod roe spaghetti with chilled red wine is a typical Italian dish.
...you start to recognize BGM as a meaningful genre of music.
...walking into a crowded bar full of non-Japanese makes you nervous, because they "look dangerous."
...when you accompany your "no" by the famous waving hand-in-front-of-nose.
...you think that "Lets SPORTS yOUNG gAY CluB" is a perfectly normal T-shirt logo for a middle aged lady.
...you "gambarimasu!!" before every little activity you engage in.
...when it all seems normal.
From that list, here are some I totally identify with...
You know you've been in Japan too long when...
...you see a gaijin get on the train and think "Wow, it's a gaijin!"
...you can't have your picture taken without your fingers forming the peace sign.
...your idea of a larger home is an extra 10 square meters.
...you think the natural location for a beer garden is on a roof.
...you wait for the first day of summer to wear short sleeve dress shirts.
...in the middle of nowhere, totally surrounded by rice fields and abundant nature, you aren't surprised to find a drink vending machine with no visible means of a power supply and when you think nothing of it when that lonely vending machine says
'thank you' after you buy a coke.
...you have over 30 small, transparent plastic umbrellas in your entrance even *after* donating several of them to taxis and JR recently.
...you believe that the perfect side dish to eat with a juicy, deep-fried pork cutlet is a pile of raw, tasteless, shredded cabbage.
...it doesn't surprise you that a case of beer has the same per unit price as a single can.
...you think cod roe spaghetti with chilled red wine is a typical Italian dish.
...you start to recognize BGM as a meaningful genre of music.
...walking into a crowded bar full of non-Japanese makes you nervous, because they "look dangerous."
...when you accompany your "no" by the famous waving hand-in-front-of-nose.
...you think that "Lets SPORTS yOUNG gAY CluB" is a perfectly normal T-shirt logo for a middle aged lady.
...you "gambarimasu!!" before every little activity you engage in.
...when it all seems normal.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Weird food, episode 317
Lately, fewer things have struck me as strange about Japan. I'm getting used to things. This includes food. There are many things I no longer consider unusual (which is not to say I now like all of them).
However, last weekend was a new low. I went to this izakaya and the specialty of the house seemed to be raw chicken.
!!!
Pete and I were rather dumbfounded. I've eaten many raw things in this country - horse, beef, whale, oysters, fish, sea urchin, etc, etc. But, as we pointed out to our surprised Japanese co-workers, raw chicken is Not An Acceptable Item Of Food in Western countries. We are always told, and told again, to Cook Chicken Extremely Well. Even a hint of pink could result in immediate near-fatal salmonella.
(Then again, I seem to recall that in Australia, it is not considered especially safe to eat raw eggs, and I've consumed a fair few of those here in Japan too.)
Anyway, of course we ate the raw chicken, and it wasn't too bad. What really took the cake was the condiment. It looked like a bowl of clumpy, transparent, wobbling hair gel. The others were scooping small gobs of it and putting it on their raw chicken.
"What is that?" I asked.
Collagen.
They were putting collagen on their raw chicken and *eating it*.
I followed suit; it didn't taste that strong or offensive. However, when I tried just a little of the collagen on its own, it immediately triggered the gag reflex and I had a bit of trouble keeping it down. It was salty and, well, tasted like eating a gob of hair gel.
I wouldn't recommend it.
However, last weekend was a new low. I went to this izakaya and the specialty of the house seemed to be raw chicken.
!!!
Pete and I were rather dumbfounded. I've eaten many raw things in this country - horse, beef, whale, oysters, fish, sea urchin, etc, etc. But, as we pointed out to our surprised Japanese co-workers, raw chicken is Not An Acceptable Item Of Food in Western countries. We are always told, and told again, to Cook Chicken Extremely Well. Even a hint of pink could result in immediate near-fatal salmonella.
(Then again, I seem to recall that in Australia, it is not considered especially safe to eat raw eggs, and I've consumed a fair few of those here in Japan too.)
Anyway, of course we ate the raw chicken, and it wasn't too bad. What really took the cake was the condiment. It looked like a bowl of clumpy, transparent, wobbling hair gel. The others were scooping small gobs of it and putting it on their raw chicken.
"What is that?" I asked.
Collagen.
They were putting collagen on their raw chicken and *eating it*.
I followed suit; it didn't taste that strong or offensive. However, when I tried just a little of the collagen on its own, it immediately triggered the gag reflex and I had a bit of trouble keeping it down. It was salty and, well, tasted like eating a gob of hair gel.
I wouldn't recommend it.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Okinawa, part 2
Day 2
Day 2 we walked to Ocean Expo Park. This is the site of the famous Churaumi aquarium. It seems almost everyone who goes to Okinawa goes here. I read somewhere that it's the second-biggest aquarium in the world, but I don't know... I think the one in Hakkeijima is bigger. Anyway, they *do* have the world's biggest aquarium viewing window. It has a couple of jinbei (whale sharks) in it. And the aquarium cleverly located a cafe around it. So I had a cappuccino while watching mantas and sharks and fish swimming around.
It's pretty amazing, actually, that for the price of a cappuccino you can sit and watch such things. It reminded me of Yuzawa where we sat in the cafe with the million-dollar snow-covered mountain views.
Anyway, you can get around Ocean Park by little tour car. It was all very tropical, and such a nice day! We also went to a tropical flower park, and Emerald Beach. Emerald Beach was a corner of the park, and it was, well, a beach.
This beach was very sanitised and well-packaged. The next day we'd go to a normal stretch of beach, with horrible gungy showers and nobody around, but Emerald Beach was part of Ocean Park. Therefore you had the beach divvie'd into three sections - one for playing (beach volleyball etc), one for enjoying the view, and one for swimming. A voice would occasionally come over the loudspeaker (otherwise piping out pop music) reminding us of this. You could leave your belongings in a coin locker and then take the key, wearing the waterproof strap around your wrist.
The whole swimming area was kind of 'fenced in' with nets, and the deepest part was about waist-deep. I think this was to keep out jellyfish. Anyway, it made for a safe area, and there were a number of dads with little kids in inflatable beach toys. No mums, just dads. I don't know why.
Despite this kind of thing, and despite a lot of signs saying things like 'keep out of here', 'don't touch this', 'only swim here', 'be careful of this', 'don't climb', etc, I think Japan is generally a little less over-regulated than Australia. For example, you can drink alcohol in public places, like on the beach or in a park. I think this is *great*. You can buy fireworks - for children!! - in shops. You can ride bicycles without helmets, and generally nobody seems to care if you don't put your seatbelt on.
Of course, we should take care with all these things, but in Australia they solve safety problems with blanket bans on things. (The recent 'we can't give you a doggy bag in case you get food poisoning and we get sued' thing is a classic example.)
Although, I should mention that in the evening we tried to book a snorkelling boat trip for the next day. In the ad it claimed to be safe and fun for the family, and no problem if you couldn't swim, or had young kids, etc etc. The only problem was - we weren't allowed to go on it.
That's right, it's fun and safe, but not for foreigners. The hotel guy explained at length all the potential insurance problems they could get if I, say, touched some dangerous animal in the water. The fact that I work in Japan and have Japanese insurance didn't matter. No snorkelling for foreigners.
The next day we tried again - assuming this guy was just overly strict; after all, it would be ridiculous for an island whose main tourist draw is snorkelling and scuba diving to have a blanket ban on all foreigners participating - and got the same result. The diving shop also told us an unequivocal 'no'. I was pretty peeved, because I was *super* looking forward to snorkelling, not having done it for a number of years. I was pretty disgusted, really.
I still think we must have been unlucky; surely there are places on the island where they don't take this strict approach. But on our part of the island - and we didn't have time to go gallivanting all over to find another place - nobody would help us.
We had dinner at a place called 'Papaiya'. I interpreted this name as 'papa iya' which means 'papa doesn't like it'. But it actually meant 'papaya', the fruit... we ordered goya champloo (this is another local specialty; goya is bitter melon; it's stir-fried with egg and vegetables and spam) and tempura (including goya tempura - not very nice, really, it's *so* bitter), and taco pizza.
This taco pizza was horrifying. It was more like a taco lasagna. It came buried under a huge mound of melted cheese. After two small pieces, I felt kind of sick. Asami agreed.
Anyway, it was a very relaxing day. We finished by watching SMAP x SMAP. ^_^
Day 3
On day 3, we started the day with a Japanese-style set breakfast. This was slightly a surprise, since the day before it'd been a buffet*, and the breakfast had been advertised as such. We concluded that the hotel was not very full, so the buffet was not cost-effective.
(In Japan, a buffet is called a 'viking'. I don't know why. But I always envision a restaurant full of people wearing hats with horns and pushing and shoving each other to get the food.)
In the morning we went to Motobu Genki Mura, where we took a kind of glass window boat ride. We could see the coral reefs and fish through the windows. After, we took a taxi to Shiokawa beach; this was a quiet patch of beach which was unregulated. I could almost understand the snorkelling people's hesitation about letting us snorkel. I'd brought my swimming goggles, so I was able to swim about, and I found a *lot* of sea urchins (which are spiky and dangerous), and sea cucumbers (not so dangerous), plus eels, starfish, and other fish. So it was like a mini-snorkelling trip after all. ^_^
We'd planned to take the bus back to Naha, but our taxi driver offered to take us all the way there for 10,000 yen (about $120). It seems like a lot, but it would've saved us about 4 hours, allowed us to see more tourist spots, and only would've cost an extra $20 per person than taking the bus. Also, the actual taxi fare - if we'd paid the normal, full price - would've been more like $200.
So we took the taxi to Shuri castle, one of Okinawa's most famous draws. I realised that I really am not that interested in seeing castles and temples and shrines and whatnot. Like, it was nice, but I didn't know any of the history, so it wasn't that remarkable for me. I more enjoyed Kokusai-dori in Naha, where we went after.
Anyway, it was a very nice trip, and I'm going to be late for work if I don't wrap this up. I put pictures on Flickr. ^_^
Day 2 we walked to Ocean Expo Park. This is the site of the famous Churaumi aquarium. It seems almost everyone who goes to Okinawa goes here. I read somewhere that it's the second-biggest aquarium in the world, but I don't know... I think the one in Hakkeijima is bigger. Anyway, they *do* have the world's biggest aquarium viewing window. It has a couple of jinbei (whale sharks) in it. And the aquarium cleverly located a cafe around it. So I had a cappuccino while watching mantas and sharks and fish swimming around.
It's pretty amazing, actually, that for the price of a cappuccino you can sit and watch such things. It reminded me of Yuzawa where we sat in the cafe with the million-dollar snow-covered mountain views.
Anyway, you can get around Ocean Park by little tour car. It was all very tropical, and such a nice day! We also went to a tropical flower park, and Emerald Beach. Emerald Beach was a corner of the park, and it was, well, a beach.
This beach was very sanitised and well-packaged. The next day we'd go to a normal stretch of beach, with horrible gungy showers and nobody around, but Emerald Beach was part of Ocean Park. Therefore you had the beach divvie'd into three sections - one for playing (beach volleyball etc), one for enjoying the view, and one for swimming. A voice would occasionally come over the loudspeaker (otherwise piping out pop music) reminding us of this. You could leave your belongings in a coin locker and then take the key, wearing the waterproof strap around your wrist.
The whole swimming area was kind of 'fenced in' with nets, and the deepest part was about waist-deep. I think this was to keep out jellyfish. Anyway, it made for a safe area, and there were a number of dads with little kids in inflatable beach toys. No mums, just dads. I don't know why.
Despite this kind of thing, and despite a lot of signs saying things like 'keep out of here', 'don't touch this', 'only swim here', 'be careful of this', 'don't climb', etc, I think Japan is generally a little less over-regulated than Australia. For example, you can drink alcohol in public places, like on the beach or in a park. I think this is *great*. You can buy fireworks - for children!! - in shops. You can ride bicycles without helmets, and generally nobody seems to care if you don't put your seatbelt on.
Of course, we should take care with all these things, but in Australia they solve safety problems with blanket bans on things. (The recent 'we can't give you a doggy bag in case you get food poisoning and we get sued' thing is a classic example.)
Although, I should mention that in the evening we tried to book a snorkelling boat trip for the next day. In the ad it claimed to be safe and fun for the family, and no problem if you couldn't swim, or had young kids, etc etc. The only problem was - we weren't allowed to go on it.
That's right, it's fun and safe, but not for foreigners. The hotel guy explained at length all the potential insurance problems they could get if I, say, touched some dangerous animal in the water. The fact that I work in Japan and have Japanese insurance didn't matter. No snorkelling for foreigners.
The next day we tried again - assuming this guy was just overly strict; after all, it would be ridiculous for an island whose main tourist draw is snorkelling and scuba diving to have a blanket ban on all foreigners participating - and got the same result. The diving shop also told us an unequivocal 'no'. I was pretty peeved, because I was *super* looking forward to snorkelling, not having done it for a number of years. I was pretty disgusted, really.
I still think we must have been unlucky; surely there are places on the island where they don't take this strict approach. But on our part of the island - and we didn't have time to go gallivanting all over to find another place - nobody would help us.
We had dinner at a place called 'Papaiya'. I interpreted this name as 'papa iya' which means 'papa doesn't like it'. But it actually meant 'papaya', the fruit... we ordered goya champloo (this is another local specialty; goya is bitter melon; it's stir-fried with egg and vegetables and spam) and tempura (including goya tempura - not very nice, really, it's *so* bitter), and taco pizza.
This taco pizza was horrifying. It was more like a taco lasagna. It came buried under a huge mound of melted cheese. After two small pieces, I felt kind of sick. Asami agreed.
Anyway, it was a very relaxing day. We finished by watching SMAP x SMAP. ^_^
Day 3
On day 3, we started the day with a Japanese-style set breakfast. This was slightly a surprise, since the day before it'd been a buffet*, and the breakfast had been advertised as such. We concluded that the hotel was not very full, so the buffet was not cost-effective.
(In Japan, a buffet is called a 'viking'. I don't know why. But I always envision a restaurant full of people wearing hats with horns and pushing and shoving each other to get the food.)
In the morning we went to Motobu Genki Mura, where we took a kind of glass window boat ride. We could see the coral reefs and fish through the windows. After, we took a taxi to Shiokawa beach; this was a quiet patch of beach which was unregulated. I could almost understand the snorkelling people's hesitation about letting us snorkel. I'd brought my swimming goggles, so I was able to swim about, and I found a *lot* of sea urchins (which are spiky and dangerous), and sea cucumbers (not so dangerous), plus eels, starfish, and other fish. So it was like a mini-snorkelling trip after all. ^_^
We'd planned to take the bus back to Naha, but our taxi driver offered to take us all the way there for 10,000 yen (about $120). It seems like a lot, but it would've saved us about 4 hours, allowed us to see more tourist spots, and only would've cost an extra $20 per person than taking the bus. Also, the actual taxi fare - if we'd paid the normal, full price - would've been more like $200.
So we took the taxi to Shuri castle, one of Okinawa's most famous draws. I realised that I really am not that interested in seeing castles and temples and shrines and whatnot. Like, it was nice, but I didn't know any of the history, so it wasn't that remarkable for me. I more enjoyed Kokusai-dori in Naha, where we went after.
Anyway, it was a very nice trip, and I'm going to be late for work if I don't wrap this up. I put pictures on Flickr. ^_^
Okinawa
I've just gotten back from Okinawa.
Sunburn: BAD. ^_^
(I once said to a student: 'oh well, getting a sunburn means you had fun'. She responded very seriously, 'oh really?', as though I had just taught her a legitimate fact.)
So here's the lowdown.
Day 1
We flew from Haneda airport, and I can't tell you what a blessing that is. Narita is my bane. I hate it. Last week we did a lesson on 'pet peeves'. For a moment I couldn't think of any (which is astonishing for me, considering how many I have - the fake bird songs on train stations, train announcers who shout, the vacuousness of Japanese girls on TV, the people who lie in wait outside my department store building to try to get me to give money to earthquake appeals - how many months has this one appeal been running?! I've given to the same campaign three times over the last year and STILL they haven't left, people who smoke while walking in front of you and thus leave you in a trail of smoke, etc.)
Anyway, ahem, sorry. Narita sucks because it really is nowhere near Yokohama, and Yokohama has no international airport. If you live in the east of Tokyo, sure, it's not so bad. But the cheapest way for me to get to the airport costs about 1600 yen ($20) and 2 hours 28 minutes. Two and a half hours!! These days I generally just say 'stuff it' and come home from Narita via the limousine bus. It may be 3500 yen ($40) but it takes me directly to Yokohama station, without having to haul my suitcases on various train transfers.
By contrast, I got from my door to Haneda airport in less than an hour, including walking time.
I do like the fact that Haneda still calls itself an 'international airport', despite only having a handful of international flights (to Seoul, in Korea). If it's an 'international' airport, it has a rather poor selection of English books, magazines and newspapers (total number found after scouring entire airport: 0). Hahaha...
So anyway, I met my friend - let's call her Asami - at the airport. We flew to Naha and on arrival, had taco rice*. The airport was full of signs saying めんそーれー (menso-re-) which means 'welcome' in the Okinawan language. There were huge omiyage (packaged souvenir) sections.
*Taco rice is a typical Okinawan food, very easy to make. Just take the ingredients of tacos - taco meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce - and serve it, with taco sauce, on rice.
We began the journey to our hotel. We stayed in a hotel in Motobucho, right near the famous Churaumi aquarium. Okinawa is very much a car-dependent society, and neither of us could rent a car (Asami doesn't have a driver's license, I can't rent without an international license). To get there from Naha we had to take a bus and taxi, total trip about 2 and a half hours. Our taxi driver was friendly and talked to Asami the whole time, telling her interesting info and giving her tourist tips. I could understand a bit of it.
We took taxis a few times in Okinawa, and *none of them* charged us their full fare. The last driver lopped about $4 off the fare since 'the airport was kind of on his way home anyway'.
After we got to our hotel, we had a swim in the hotel pool. The weather in Okinawa was warm but not as hot as I expected; it was about 27 and humid during the day, but not super tropical hot; actually it wasn't *that* much warmer than here in Yokohama. Actually, the weather was really, really good our whole stay. Just perfect, and sunny. (And several people had warned us we would be going during the rainy season.)
(In Japan they have this idea of 'hare onna' (sunshine woman) or 'ame onna' (rain woman) - someone who brings good or bad weather with them. Last year I was convinced I was 'ame onna'. For example, it seemed to rain pretty well every weekend of spring (on my days off, that is; not necessarily on Saturday); it was cold and rather rainy while my sister was here; most of all, the night we climbed Mt Fuji was one of the most relentlessly rainy of the summer.
I came to have a very cynical attitude toward the weather, resenting the rain and constantly suspecting it would rain every time I planned something. However, this year I seem to have become Hare Onna, and I am delighted about it. Every time I've taken a trip *this* year, the weather has been lovely.)
After the swim, that we wanted to have dinner, but there was nowhere. I mean literally nowhere; it was 9:30 and everything was closed or about to close. Our hotel was on a dark road in the middle of nowhere; it was a long cry from being here in the city suburbs. Even in my quiet little suburb, if I walk for ten minutes I can pass at least a dozen restaurants that are open until midnight or later.
That was okay though, we bought some cup ramen (actually cup 'soki soba' - soki soba being a local specialty in Okinawa) and Blue Seal icecream (another Okinawan specialty) and retreated to our room. Our room was huge, had a great balcony, and had not only beds and a 'Western-style' part of the room, but a tatami mat 'Japanese-style' section, with flat seats on the ground. I think sitting on tatami mats at one of those tables, makes you feel like you are having a special treat, even if you're just eating instant noodles and icecream. ^_^
Actually, Okinawa has a lot of specialties, just like everywhere in Japan. Japan is big on local specialties. If you travel somewhere, you have to eat x and y. Thus, when you go to Okinawa, you should:
eat soki soba (it's a type of noodle unlike ordinary soba; it looks more like thin udon)
eat rafute (pork cooked in awamori)
eat taco rice
drink shiquasa juice (shiquasa is a fruit like a lime)
eat Blue Seal icecream*
drink awamori (the local shochu-style, *strong* liquor)
also try sata andagi (a kind of donut), fresh fruit, kokutou (black cane sugar), beniimo (purple sweet potato), etc etc
I did do all these things. I even tried taco pizza. It may surprise you to hear that this was not a good combination.
*(If you ever get the chance to try this, I can personally recommend the pineapple. It was one of the Best Icecreams Ever. It even had tiny little pieces of actual pineapple in it.)
Speaking of our hotel, though, we noticed a lot of graves around it; like little houses built from concrete. We could see a lot of them from our hotel room. I later heard this was because in Okinawa, traditionally, there haven't been many shrines or temples, so people would build these graves to house their family members. A lot of graves overlook the ocean, so the deceased can enjoy the ocean views.
Sunburn: BAD. ^_^
(I once said to a student: 'oh well, getting a sunburn means you had fun'. She responded very seriously, 'oh really?', as though I had just taught her a legitimate fact.)
So here's the lowdown.
Day 1
We flew from Haneda airport, and I can't tell you what a blessing that is. Narita is my bane. I hate it. Last week we did a lesson on 'pet peeves'. For a moment I couldn't think of any (which is astonishing for me, considering how many I have - the fake bird songs on train stations, train announcers who shout, the vacuousness of Japanese girls on TV, the people who lie in wait outside my department store building to try to get me to give money to earthquake appeals - how many months has this one appeal been running?! I've given to the same campaign three times over the last year and STILL they haven't left, people who smoke while walking in front of you and thus leave you in a trail of smoke, etc.)
Anyway, ahem, sorry. Narita sucks because it really is nowhere near Yokohama, and Yokohama has no international airport. If you live in the east of Tokyo, sure, it's not so bad. But the cheapest way for me to get to the airport costs about 1600 yen ($20) and 2 hours 28 minutes. Two and a half hours!! These days I generally just say 'stuff it' and come home from Narita via the limousine bus. It may be 3500 yen ($40) but it takes me directly to Yokohama station, without having to haul my suitcases on various train transfers.
By contrast, I got from my door to Haneda airport in less than an hour, including walking time.
I do like the fact that Haneda still calls itself an 'international airport', despite only having a handful of international flights (to Seoul, in Korea). If it's an 'international' airport, it has a rather poor selection of English books, magazines and newspapers (total number found after scouring entire airport: 0). Hahaha...
So anyway, I met my friend - let's call her Asami - at the airport. We flew to Naha and on arrival, had taco rice*. The airport was full of signs saying めんそーれー (menso-re-) which means 'welcome' in the Okinawan language. There were huge omiyage (packaged souvenir) sections.
*Taco rice is a typical Okinawan food, very easy to make. Just take the ingredients of tacos - taco meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce - and serve it, with taco sauce, on rice.
We began the journey to our hotel. We stayed in a hotel in Motobucho, right near the famous Churaumi aquarium. Okinawa is very much a car-dependent society, and neither of us could rent a car (Asami doesn't have a driver's license, I can't rent without an international license). To get there from Naha we had to take a bus and taxi, total trip about 2 and a half hours. Our taxi driver was friendly and talked to Asami the whole time, telling her interesting info and giving her tourist tips. I could understand a bit of it.
We took taxis a few times in Okinawa, and *none of them* charged us their full fare. The last driver lopped about $4 off the fare since 'the airport was kind of on his way home anyway'.
After we got to our hotel, we had a swim in the hotel pool. The weather in Okinawa was warm but not as hot as I expected; it was about 27 and humid during the day, but not super tropical hot; actually it wasn't *that* much warmer than here in Yokohama. Actually, the weather was really, really good our whole stay. Just perfect, and sunny. (And several people had warned us we would be going during the rainy season.)
(In Japan they have this idea of 'hare onna' (sunshine woman) or 'ame onna' (rain woman) - someone who brings good or bad weather with them. Last year I was convinced I was 'ame onna'. For example, it seemed to rain pretty well every weekend of spring (on my days off, that is; not necessarily on Saturday); it was cold and rather rainy while my sister was here; most of all, the night we climbed Mt Fuji was one of the most relentlessly rainy of the summer.
I came to have a very cynical attitude toward the weather, resenting the rain and constantly suspecting it would rain every time I planned something. However, this year I seem to have become Hare Onna, and I am delighted about it. Every time I've taken a trip *this* year, the weather has been lovely.)
After the swim, that we wanted to have dinner, but there was nowhere. I mean literally nowhere; it was 9:30 and everything was closed or about to close. Our hotel was on a dark road in the middle of nowhere; it was a long cry from being here in the city suburbs. Even in my quiet little suburb, if I walk for ten minutes I can pass at least a dozen restaurants that are open until midnight or later.
That was okay though, we bought some cup ramen (actually cup 'soki soba' - soki soba being a local specialty in Okinawa) and Blue Seal icecream (another Okinawan specialty) and retreated to our room. Our room was huge, had a great balcony, and had not only beds and a 'Western-style' part of the room, but a tatami mat 'Japanese-style' section, with flat seats on the ground. I think sitting on tatami mats at one of those tables, makes you feel like you are having a special treat, even if you're just eating instant noodles and icecream. ^_^
Actually, Okinawa has a lot of specialties, just like everywhere in Japan. Japan is big on local specialties. If you travel somewhere, you have to eat x and y. Thus, when you go to Okinawa, you should:
I did do all these things. I even tried taco pizza. It may surprise you to hear that this was not a good combination.
*(If you ever get the chance to try this, I can personally recommend the pineapple. It was one of the Best Icecreams Ever. It even had tiny little pieces of actual pineapple in it.)
Speaking of our hotel, though, we noticed a lot of graves around it; like little houses built from concrete. We could see a lot of them from our hotel room. I later heard this was because in Okinawa, traditionally, there haven't been many shrines or temples, so people would build these graves to house their family members. A lot of graves overlook the ocean, so the deceased can enjoy the ocean views.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Otsukaresama no kuni
One of my favourite Japanese songs is called 'Otsukaresama no kuni' ('Country of otsukaresama'), by Kazuyoshi Saito. You can see it here on YouTube.
"Otsukaresama desu" is a very common expression here in Japan. One says it at the end of the working day, to acknowledge the hard work of one's co-workers. It kind of means 'we've worked hard', or 'good job today'. 'tsukare' literally means 'tiredness', so you are acknowledging the effort of your co-workers. I say it many times in a day, because the staff in my department building all say it to each other whenever we walk past each other in the corridors, or are in the elevator together.
Watching this YouTube video, while hearing the words sung 'otsukaresama desu', it kind of gives me the feeling of the heart of Japan.
Since there was no English translation on the Internet, I decided to try to translate the song by myself. Despite all my Japanese, I still haven't done very well at it. If anyone stumbles upon this page from Google etc, I'd warn you not to take this translation as an especially accurate one... haha...
How many times do we repeat those words in one day?
Perhaps more often than "hello"
Putting 'o' and 'sama' around those people's 'tiredness'*
the voices sound out: 'otsukaresama desu' in our daily lives
*[In other words, 'Honouring those people's tiredness']
Kindly, and strongly, and with all our effort
That's what living life is like, but it's difficult
Love, and work, are important in your mind
We exchange the words "Otsukaresama desu" in our country
I understand painful things, but I don't understand them
There are sorrows that separate people; each person bears their own
I really can't say these things, so what I will say is:
Thank you; it'll be okay; otsukaresama desu.
Wanting to cry, and facing the uphill roads
You've taken so many times before...
I can't wipe away those people's tears, so...
Smiling, I'll say 'otsukaresama desu', in our journey
The heart isn't strong, but it isn't weak either
You have dreams you saw, dreams you'll never forget
Really, I don't want to say this, so the thing I will say is:
Thank you; I believe in you; thank you very much.
Life isn't just made up of bad things
The story still goes on, so, let's go
That dream, and your anxiety, and your struggles... so, from here
I'll try to say "otsukaresama desu" from myself
"Otsukaresama desu" is a very common expression here in Japan. One says it at the end of the working day, to acknowledge the hard work of one's co-workers. It kind of means 'we've worked hard', or 'good job today'. 'tsukare' literally means 'tiredness', so you are acknowledging the effort of your co-workers. I say it many times in a day, because the staff in my department building all say it to each other whenever we walk past each other in the corridors, or are in the elevator together.
Watching this YouTube video, while hearing the words sung 'otsukaresama desu', it kind of gives me the feeling of the heart of Japan.
Since there was no English translation on the Internet, I decided to try to translate the song by myself. Despite all my Japanese, I still haven't done very well at it. If anyone stumbles upon this page from Google etc, I'd warn you not to take this translation as an especially accurate one... haha...
How many times do we repeat those words in one day?
Perhaps more often than "hello"
Putting 'o' and 'sama' around those people's 'tiredness'*
the voices sound out: 'otsukaresama desu' in our daily lives
*[In other words, 'Honouring those people's tiredness']
Kindly, and strongly, and with all our effort
That's what living life is like, but it's difficult
Love, and work, are important in your mind
We exchange the words "Otsukaresama desu" in our country
I understand painful things, but I don't understand them
There are sorrows that separate people; each person bears their own
I really can't say these things, so what I will say is:
Thank you; it'll be okay; otsukaresama desu.
Wanting to cry, and facing the uphill roads
You've taken so many times before...
I can't wipe away those people's tears, so...
Smiling, I'll say 'otsukaresama desu', in our journey
The heart isn't strong, but it isn't weak either
You have dreams you saw, dreams you'll never forget
Really, I don't want to say this, so the thing I will say is:
Thank you; I believe in you; thank you very much.
Life isn't just made up of bad things
The story still goes on, so, let's go
That dream, and your anxiety, and your struggles... so, from here
I'll try to say "otsukaresama desu" from myself
Monday, June 1, 2009
オーストラリアからです。 (I'm from Australia)
When I meet any Japanese person 'on the street', their first question is usually 'what country are you from?'
On hearing 'Australia', they'll usually respond by saying some random word or sentence they know about Australia.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Ohh, Australia! Nicole Kidman!"
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, very nice! Great Barrier Reef!"
Usually it's because they don't really speak any English and are pleased to show something they know about Australia. ^_^ Often, if I speak to someone who isn't a student, who doesn't really speak English, they will speak Japanese with sudden, random English words thrown in, as they remember them. To be fair, when I speak to my co-workers, I do pretty much the same thing with Japanese... haha...
A couple of days ago I went to Minka-en, in Kawasaki. It's a traditional folk house open-air museum, with lots of old houses from around Japan, which were imported and reassembled in this park. There were some volunteers at this park, and as I sat down to rest by the hearth in one of the houses, we got to talking.
"What country are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, Australia! Honey! Honey!"
For a brief, confused moment I wondered if he was flirting with me (he was at least 60 years old) but he said something about Japanese farmers and Australian bees. Today I read in Metropolis magazine: "After Japan stopped importing honey bees from Australia in 2007 following a disease outbreak, farmers growing melons, cherries and strawberries here have been forced to pollinate their buds manually." That's probably what he was talking about.
The follow-up question to "where are you from" is usually "where in Australia are you from?"
When I say, 'Adelaide', the next question is: "...is that near Sydney?"
Mm... it's really not near anything...
***
I am very happy to report that I found a source of scones.
Now, scones are rarely to be found in cafes or coffee shops here. I've found two coffee shops in Kawasaki that serve them. Both of them are very much the kind of '$12 for a single cup of coffee' place, and I just can't bring myself to go in there.*
*(Incidentally, what's with that?! The first time I saw $12 cappuccinos was in Italy, and I thought it was amazing, but at least those expensive ones were at really prime locations, like in Piazza San Marco in Venice. You're not paying $12 for a coffee; you're paying $12 for the privilege of sitting surrounded by such beauty. Here in Japan, you're paying $12 to sit in some kitsch cafe in the corner of a random department store or underground mall.)
I also haven't found them in any bakeries here - and I have been looking, all the past week, because I've been craving them.
Anyway, I have found three places which sell fresh scones.
One of them is the store 'Mrs Elizabeth Muffin' which is in the Landmark Tower. It's a muffin shop, but they have some scones. I bought a couple last week. They weren't quite like normal scones though; they tasted a bit more like cookies, though scone-shaped. They were nice though.
The other two are in my very own suburb. The other day I was walking home via a different route, and I found something called the 'Yokohama Scone Factory'. Both times I've passed it, it's been closed, so I must try during the morning.
Finally, there's this little baking school shop just a few metres down the street from my house, where there is a small selection of scones in the window, and virtually nothing else. I've not bought there before since they close at night, but today I finally got some, and they taste good. ^_^
I am very, very lucky. I've been scouring every bakery and cafe I could find in Kawasaki and Yokohama; could not find a single scone; yet on my own street!!... A student gave me homemade strawberry jam, so I'm having a little scone party tonight. ^_^
Speaking of stores on my street, *directly across the street from my house*, they're opening a new supermarket. It won't be open for another month or two, but it's kind of funny. 300m down the road is an existing supermarket, but now I won't have to walk the laborious two minutes down the road to get to that one; I can pass one every day on my way to work. It will be nice, though it seems slightly unnecessary.
On hearing 'Australia', they'll usually respond by saying some random word or sentence they know about Australia.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Ohh, Australia! Nicole Kidman!"
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, very nice! Great Barrier Reef!"
Usually it's because they don't really speak any English and are pleased to show something they know about Australia. ^_^ Often, if I speak to someone who isn't a student, who doesn't really speak English, they will speak Japanese with sudden, random English words thrown in, as they remember them. To be fair, when I speak to my co-workers, I do pretty much the same thing with Japanese... haha...
A couple of days ago I went to Minka-en, in Kawasaki. It's a traditional folk house open-air museum, with lots of old houses from around Japan, which were imported and reassembled in this park. There were some volunteers at this park, and as I sat down to rest by the hearth in one of the houses, we got to talking.
"What country are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, Australia! Honey! Honey!"
For a brief, confused moment I wondered if he was flirting with me (he was at least 60 years old) but he said something about Japanese farmers and Australian bees. Today I read in Metropolis magazine: "After Japan stopped importing honey bees from Australia in 2007 following a disease outbreak, farmers growing melons, cherries and strawberries here have been forced to pollinate their buds manually." That's probably what he was talking about.
The follow-up question to "where are you from" is usually "where in Australia are you from?"
When I say, 'Adelaide', the next question is: "...is that near Sydney?"
Mm... it's really not near anything...
***
I am very happy to report that I found a source of scones.
Now, scones are rarely to be found in cafes or coffee shops here. I've found two coffee shops in Kawasaki that serve them. Both of them are very much the kind of '$12 for a single cup of coffee' place, and I just can't bring myself to go in there.*
*(Incidentally, what's with that?! The first time I saw $12 cappuccinos was in Italy, and I thought it was amazing, but at least those expensive ones were at really prime locations, like in Piazza San Marco in Venice. You're not paying $12 for a coffee; you're paying $12 for the privilege of sitting surrounded by such beauty. Here in Japan, you're paying $12 to sit in some kitsch cafe in the corner of a random department store or underground mall.)
I also haven't found them in any bakeries here - and I have been looking, all the past week, because I've been craving them.
Anyway, I have found three places which sell fresh scones.
One of them is the store 'Mrs Elizabeth Muffin' which is in the Landmark Tower. It's a muffin shop, but they have some scones. I bought a couple last week. They weren't quite like normal scones though; they tasted a bit more like cookies, though scone-shaped. They were nice though.
The other two are in my very own suburb. The other day I was walking home via a different route, and I found something called the 'Yokohama Scone Factory'. Both times I've passed it, it's been closed, so I must try during the morning.
Finally, there's this little baking school shop just a few metres down the street from my house, where there is a small selection of scones in the window, and virtually nothing else. I've not bought there before since they close at night, but today I finally got some, and they taste good. ^_^
I am very, very lucky. I've been scouring every bakery and cafe I could find in Kawasaki and Yokohama; could not find a single scone; yet on my own street!!... A student gave me homemade strawberry jam, so I'm having a little scone party tonight. ^_^
Speaking of stores on my street, *directly across the street from my house*, they're opening a new supermarket. It won't be open for another month or two, but it's kind of funny. 300m down the road is an existing supermarket, but now I won't have to walk the laborious two minutes down the road to get to that one; I can pass one every day on my way to work. It will be nice, though it seems slightly unnecessary.
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