Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Hanami Part 1
On April 7th we went to our first Hanami Party. Hanami means flower watching, specifically cherry blossoms. 
The way it works is you go with a group, sit under cherry trees, eat until you are stuffed, and drink until you're rosy cheeked. We went with a large group from RIKEN. Can you see Craig? Unfortunately, this spring has been cold and the cherry blossoms have been slow to bloom. Part 2 is happening this Saturday and, from what I've heard, the trees will be in full bloom. There will be more pictures.
This is The Awesome Naoko showing off some tiny taiyaki. Usually they're the size of your hand so these were quite the novelty. If you remember, I posted an unwrapping video of one we ate in Tokyo.
Spring Showers in Kobe
We've been having crazy spring weather. Some days it is sunny and warm, then it will pour rain and be cold. The trains have been delayed for hours because of the wind. On one particularly mercurial Saturday we decided to stay local and check out a famous Shinto Shrine. The place was originally built in the 1600s on a battleground and a very famous warrior was enshrined there.
After the shrine we headed down to the water and enjoyed a brief sun break. When it started to pour we headed to Mosaic, a giant mall on the water. Below is a picture of a menu from a restaurant where you can eat with your dog. No joke, you and your dog sit at the table and enjoy lunch. You can see the dog menu on the lower right.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
My Very First Japanese Bus Tour
Sakamoto-sensei treated me to a bus tour that took us to the Tottori Flower Gallery, a viking (that's what Japanese people call buffets) lunch, the Adachi Museum which is home to the Number One ranked Japanese Garden for 9 years running, and an okashi shop (a store that sells food gifts). I have a very cool Japanese tutor. We were joined by her friend, Araki-sensei, and her student Hannah-san, who is Canadian but has lived in Japan for four years so her Japanese is great.
The Tottori Flower Gallery is a botanical garden and will be really impressive in 6 more weeks. For now the highlight was the giant dome green house. It was full of perfect looking orchids. The outer edge of the garden is surrounded by a covered walk way so one can enjoy the flowers even during a summer rain. The huge glass dome and covered walk-way made me think a little bit about what a colony on Mars would look like. You could also get your picture taken with owls. Unlike in the west, where owls are a symbol for wisdom, in Japan they are a symbol for happiness and people were lining up to get there photos taken. I tried to find out if they were rescue animals but that concept was way too much for my Japanese and, even though Sakamoto-sensei's English is really good, beyond what she could understand.
We discovered something interesting while on the tour. Our guide would give us the time to be back at the bus and our group of four were always the last people to board. We were never late, usually we were five minutes early but always last. It even surprised Sakamoto and Araki-sensei (this was there first bus tour too). It seems like most of the people got off the bus, snapped their pictures, and then got back on the bus. We walked around, chatted, and took our time. Araki-sensei's English wasn't very good but she was one of the most talkative, out going, loud-in-a-good-way, Japanese women I've ever met. I think she and anyone with her (who could understand her) would have a good time anywhere, and be the last people back to the bus.
After we had our fill at the viking (I do miss American style salad bars - here there is shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, lettuce, a couple types of seaweed, corn, and maybe two dressing options) we drove to the museum. This is what Sakamoto-sensei and I were really excited about. However - here is the secret for being the number one ranked Japanese Garden – don't let the tourists walk around on your perfectly raked gravel. The garden surrounds the museum and you get to look at it through windows – a little disappointing for all of us. There was a pretty cool exhibit of Japanese art in the museum to ease our disappointment.
After that we headed to the okashi shop and ate too many free samples of Japanese sweets. I also picked up a seaweed condiment for Craig – apparently it is very healthy and he really likes it.
Here is Hannah-san at the Adachi museum, we were both encouraged to pose like the statues there.
Number One ranked Japanese Garden.
Hannah-san and I back lit from a window out to the graden.
Sakamoto-sensei, Hannah-san, and Araki-sensei.
Sakamoto-sensei in the flower dome.
One of the happy owls, I'm guessing the beak is under all the feathers.
The Mars style architecture.
Orchids and more orchids.
Me in front of the statue.
Sakamoto-sensei and I with orchid dresses.
Sakamoto-sensei and I with the owls. Behind us is a staple of any Japanese event or tourist destination, adult-sized, costumed, characters for little kids to high-five.
Here we are with flower kimonos on.
One last photo of me posing like a statue.
The Tottori Flower Gallery is a botanical garden and will be really impressive in 6 more weeks. For now the highlight was the giant dome green house. It was full of perfect looking orchids. The outer edge of the garden is surrounded by a covered walk way so one can enjoy the flowers even during a summer rain. The huge glass dome and covered walk-way made me think a little bit about what a colony on Mars would look like. You could also get your picture taken with owls. Unlike in the west, where owls are a symbol for wisdom, in Japan they are a symbol for happiness and people were lining up to get there photos taken. I tried to find out if they were rescue animals but that concept was way too much for my Japanese and, even though Sakamoto-sensei's English is really good, beyond what she could understand.
We discovered something interesting while on the tour. Our guide would give us the time to be back at the bus and our group of four were always the last people to board. We were never late, usually we were five minutes early but always last. It even surprised Sakamoto and Araki-sensei (this was there first bus tour too). It seems like most of the people got off the bus, snapped their pictures, and then got back on the bus. We walked around, chatted, and took our time. Araki-sensei's English wasn't very good but she was one of the most talkative, out going, loud-in-a-good-way, Japanese women I've ever met. I think she and anyone with her (who could understand her) would have a good time anywhere, and be the last people back to the bus.
After we had our fill at the viking (I do miss American style salad bars - here there is shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, lettuce, a couple types of seaweed, corn, and maybe two dressing options) we drove to the museum. This is what Sakamoto-sensei and I were really excited about. However - here is the secret for being the number one ranked Japanese Garden – don't let the tourists walk around on your perfectly raked gravel. The garden surrounds the museum and you get to look at it through windows – a little disappointing for all of us. There was a pretty cool exhibit of Japanese art in the museum to ease our disappointment.
After that we headed to the okashi shop and ate too many free samples of Japanese sweets. I also picked up a seaweed condiment for Craig – apparently it is very healthy and he really likes it.
Here is Hannah-san at the Adachi museum, we were both encouraged to pose like the statues there.
Number One ranked Japanese Garden.
Hannah-san and I back lit from a window out to the graden.
Sakamoto-sensei, Hannah-san, and Araki-sensei.
Sakamoto-sensei in the flower dome.
One of the happy owls, I'm guessing the beak is under all the feathers.
The Mars style architecture.
Orchids and more orchids.
Me in front of the statue.
Sakamoto-sensei and I with orchid dresses.
Sakamoto-sensei and I with the owls. Behind us is a staple of any Japanese event or tourist destination, adult-sized, costumed, characters for little kids to high-five.
Here we are with flower kimonos on.
One last photo of me posing like a statue.
Friday, March 9, 2012
My Dinner with Sakamoto-sensei
Sakamoto-sensei invited me to her home while Craig was traveling and we (I really just watched) made quite the dinner. There was quiche, sushi, adzuki rice, tempura, rice with salmon, ginger, shiso leaves, egg, and nori mixed in, and almond cake for appetizer :)
Sounds like a lot but this is Japan and serving size is what's important - for example the quiche had only one egg in it. The sushi was tuna and she prepared it with olive oil, black pepper, wasabi, and soy sauce. I've never had sushi with olive oil and it was pretty delicious.
Her house was very nice and Western; there was one Japanese room with tatami mats.
This is the fruit of her labors and I think I can make everything she showed me - as quickly and efficiently, probably not.
She knows I don't drink green tea so she served sakura cha, cherry blossom tea. The cherry blossoms were dried and salted so the tea smelled really good and cherry-like but the flavor was salty.
Sounds like a lot but this is Japan and serving size is what's important - for example the quiche had only one egg in it. The sushi was tuna and she prepared it with olive oil, black pepper, wasabi, and soy sauce. I've never had sushi with olive oil and it was pretty delicious.
Her house was very nice and Western; there was one Japanese room with tatami mats.
This is the fruit of her labors and I think I can make everything she showed me - as quickly and efficiently, probably not.
She knows I don't drink green tea so she served sakura cha, cherry blossom tea. The cherry blossoms were dried and salted so the tea smelled really good and cherry-like but the flavor was salty.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Karaoke!!!
Last Saturday night we finally went to karaoke and it was fantastic. It was me, Craig, James-san from my Japanese class, and Natsuke-san James' coworker. The way it works here is you rent a room appropriate for your group size and only sing in front of your friends. There is also no stage, you just pass around wireless mics (which were packaged in plastic when we got there, cleanliness first). Our room was shaped like a space pod and even had neon light detailing. In the front was a big flat screen were the words would flash up, this is what everyone is looking at in the pictures. There were also images, usually bikini clad Japanese women frolicking on the beach; we've asked around and that's not uncommon - the images used, I don't know how often Japanese women frolic.
The top picture is Craig singing Paranoid by Black Sabbath. He even did an accent but said it was more Oliver Twist than Ozzy. I thought it rocked. James-san was clearly getting into it.
The first song of the night was our duet of Hotel California. We also did Rebel Yell, Smooth, and Paradise by the Dashboard Light (although it was edited down and I feel robbed). James-san, an Australian, picked songs by INXS and Men at Work.
Natsuke-san picked P-P-Poker Face, which we all joined in on, and a famous Japanese song the rest of us bopped our heads to. I can't wait to go again!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Inoshishi Matsuri (Prepare to have your mind cuteness blown)
Some of you might remember that we traveled to Sasayama months ago once I discovered there was a place that specialized in wild boar cuisine. Well, a couple weekends ago was an entire festival dedicated to Inoshshi. The festival consisted of two things - inoshishi races and food made with inoshishi.
Here is a ridiculously cute sight - a little dog dressed up as an Inoshishi. I asked his owner if I could take the picture using Japanese.
Three action shots of a race. The entire race track was probably only 50ft. The participants were actually baby inoshishi. The track was completely fenced in, it turns out inoshishi can jump pretty high. They began in a crate and had to run out a door onto the actual track when the race started. However, they never wanted to leave the box so it would take a few minutes after the starting gun (just a recording of the sound played on the sound system) before they appeared.
At a local souvenir shop there were piles of inoshishi inspired stuff to buy - these were the cutest.
Sweet bread shaped like inoshishi.
Less than half of the line waiting to buy roasted inoshishi.
And - roasted inoshishi. It looked pretty appetizing but not enough to wait in that line. We had inoshishi sausages and burgers instead. Those little babies were probably scared to leave the crate because they could smell their older brother on the spit.
Here is a ridiculously cute sight - a little dog dressed up as an Inoshishi. I asked his owner if I could take the picture using Japanese.
Three action shots of a race. The entire race track was probably only 50ft. The participants were actually baby inoshishi. The track was completely fenced in, it turns out inoshishi can jump pretty high. They began in a crate and had to run out a door onto the actual track when the race started. However, they never wanted to leave the box so it would take a few minutes after the starting gun (just a recording of the sound played on the sound system) before they appeared.
At a local souvenir shop there were piles of inoshishi inspired stuff to buy - these were the cutest.
Sweet bread shaped like inoshishi.
Less than half of the line waiting to buy roasted inoshishi.
And - roasted inoshishi. It looked pretty appetizing but not enough to wait in that line. We had inoshishi sausages and burgers instead. Those little babies were probably scared to leave the crate because they could smell their older brother on the spit.
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