June 29th

We finally bought couch so I won't be sitting on the floor much longer - yay! While I wait for the delivery guy here are some pictures I've taken of bad English - it is, of course, a bizillion times better than my Japanese - and other things that have caught my attention.

Apparently ideas of masculinity are different here or, maybe, it is a positive message about women's strength. "Training One's Body To Strengthen Is Effeminate"



Their mascot doubles as a delicious snack. One thing I've noticed is a very efficient use of space and resources, although seeing the crispy rice Okoshi life sized is a little creepy.



Does anyone else think this is a picture of a baby with a beer?



This is the sign introducing one of the exhibits at the aquarium. Honestly, I was wondering what everything would taste like, not if they would be my friend.



This is some tasty tempura I had on Friday night. Presentation is very important and deep fried noodles are very good.



"It is strong in time, and it is gently to time tough at time." I think that says it all.

June 28th

Last night, in order to stamp out that awful Ethiopian restaurant experience we decided to try Desi Chai, an Indian restaurant that's about a 25min walk from our apartment, so much closer than the one we went to in Sannomiya. It was very good. I wanted to take a picture but realized I'd brought the camera but forgot to put in new batteries. There was one man working there and he spoke excellent English and the menu was in English and Japanese which was one point in the restaurant's favor. He brought a pitcher of water and left it on the table, point number 2. What we ordered was delicious and spicy and we were actually full afterwards, points 3, 4 and 5. He asked us if we wanted a grapefruit type fruit for dessert free of charge because the tree grows in his yard and he just brings in the fruit to give away when they're in season. He sliced it into bite sized pieces and it was like a cross between a grapefruit and a blood orange, point 6. It wasn't expensive, point 7. We will become regular customers and when/if any of you come to visit we will definitely take you there. The man is Indian and said he's been living in Japan for 40 years. He worked in a restaurant for over 30 of them and once he retired he decided to open his own place.

After dinner, because it had gotten cooler I played with my camera out on the deck. Here are some pictures of the Kobe skyline at night. When we first got here I had problems sleeping because of the city noise and the light pollution but now I hardly notice it. That is, except when student motor cycle gangs come plodding past our apartment. I've seen scooters and motorcycles just stall out on the climb, you can tell they're working hard to get students to school on time.

June 25th

We decided to go to the Osaka Aquarium today for two reasons – I really like aquariums and we wanted some air conditioning. It is hot and humid here – like sweat drops forming on your upper lip while sitting still hot and humid. We took the train from Rokko to Umida in downtown Osaka. We can see Osaka to the east from our apartment so it isn't all that far away and the train ride was only about a half hour with stops at every station along the way. From there we had to get on another train and then transfer to the subway. Unfortunately the maps were only written out in kanji so we had to ask someone to tell us which stop was the one we wanted. It took some time and we were a bit nervous but we made it to the aquarium! It was great. You start at the top and work your way down looking at different depths of the tanks. Not only were there fishes but otters, capybara (the world's largest rodent, they're like huge hamster dogs, they can weigh 140lbs), dolphins, and deep sea crabs. The aquarium claims to have the largest whale shark in captivity. The best part was the “resting areas.” They had chairs and benches set up and you could just sit in the AC and watch the fish swim by.

The fish stayed on the sting ray the entire time we were there, she must have enjoyed the view.

After the aquarium we set out to find the “only Ethiopian restaurant in all of Kansai.” The Kansai region, which includes Osaka and Kobe, has over 22million people so we were happy to find an Ethiopian restaurant so relatively close. We had to navigate another train station and a gigantic shopping/restaurant district and rely on the kindness of a stranger who ran two blocks in order to confirm he knew what we were looking for before he'd give us directions but we found it. We would have been better off if we hadn't. The food was mediocre and really, really small portions (even for Japan) and VERY expensive. We knew that when we looked at the menu but if the food had been better and there had been more we would have been OK with the price but it was not worth half of what we paid. It was so underwhelming I didn't even think to take a picture. I guess we're going another three years without Ethiopian food.

June 22nd

Awhile ago, during a dinner of noodles and other stuff, we got to hear the muzak version of Yankee Doodle and I asked Craig if he thought we'd ever hear something just totally inappropriate because most people don't understand English. Muzak and Disney is still the most common thing we hear, but some stores seem to like to play American hip hop in order to prove how edgy they are. Well, my question was answered today. I went to the South Rokko Mall in order to get some much needed galoshes and while browsing a shoe store, I definitely heard some inappropriate music. The chorus and most of the verses of the song were pretty tame, standard 'I want money and hos' misogyny lazy performers fall back on, when the obligatory guest rapper started up. I'm guessing the song was designed so his section could be cut for radio play and left in for 'real' fans. So, while old ladies and parents with little kids checked out shoes, we got to listen to what positions the guest rapper prefers and the kind of noises he wants to hear those b*tches making. It was pretty surreal.

June 20th

A couple of observations:

Restaurants don't provide napkins in the traditional sense. Instead of paper or cloth napkins left on the table, you're given a warmed towel in fancy places and a wet nap in noodle bars and those vending machine places. The first time we got one we were confused since you usually don't get wet naps until after the meal and only at BBQ and Ethiopian restaurants. Also, I have yet to go into a public bathroom with paper towels, they all seem to have air dryers. As a result of this, I think, people carry their own towels – Douglas Adams would be proud. They aren't full sized, just like a wash cloth or hand towel. It is a habit I am going to have to get into.

We've seen a good number of people walking around with hospital masks on. We thought it was because they were trying to keep from getting sick, but not so. One of Craig's co-workers told him that during this time of year people wear the masks because of allergies. I think that's brilliant. In the US people just use drugs that, according to their makers own research don't actually work (read Our Daily Meds), instead of actively blocking the allergens. During cold and flu season, though I suppose any time is fine, people wear the masks if they are sick in order to not spread their germs. That's even more brilliant. I don't know if the Japanese are as big of workaholics as Americans but, if they won't stay home, at least they protect others when they're infectious diseases.

Here are the top three most common establishments, based on my observations, in our neighborhood -

#3 Bakeries – They often have English names; Rhubarb is just one we walk past on our way to the train. Their fare includes green matcha (ground up green tea leaves) muffins, azuki stuffed pastries, doughnuts, hots dogs baked into rolls with garnish on top, muffins with hard boiled eggs inside, and excessively sweet rolls. They also sell loafs of bread that are usually a third of the size of a loaf in the US and look like lousy white bread. They have not figured out good bread here, yet. That's why you could easily eat rice with all three meals.

#2 Pachinko and Slot parlors – pachinko is apparently like a vertical pin ball machine. From the doorway they look and sound like giant video game parlors, which is basically what they are. Gambling for money is illegal in Japan so you win tokens. The tokens are then exchanged for prizes – pens, little toys, bicycles, gift certificates etc. According to Wikipedia, it is possible to exchange the tokens for cash but you have to go to a separate location that is not operated by the parlor. They are often operated by the Yakuza, Japan's organized crime. To Craig and I they look like hell. Sartre said hell is other people, I think adding blaring music and game sirens, flashing lights, and heavy cigarette smoke (smoking in public places is completely allowed here, you can usually smell a parlor) to crowds of people would be much worse.

#1 Hair Salons – there are five that I can identify on the one street we walk down to get to the train and the walk is only 20 minutes. Yesterday I talked about how shopping is a national past-time. Well, getting your hair done must be in second place. Maybe, because almost everyone's hair ground state is black and straight, they go to the salons in order to individualize. A lot of women and men dye their hair and get perms. Maybe it's more common in the states then I think because there is so much variation to begin with, but it is really obvious when you see a Japanese guy with dirty blond, curly hair that they've had their hair done.

Here is a limerick Craig came up with last night:

There once was a girl living in Rokko

who liked her some morning cocoa

one day in her mug

she spotted a bug

and then she went completely loco

June 18th

Lousy weather today. It was either raining or really humid. We decided to find something to do that was indoors.

Turns out there isn't much to do indoors except shopping. Since we're not shoppers we decided to check out the Hyogo Prefecture Art Museum. Hyogo prefecture is the area in which Kobe is located. Prefectures are like states but major cities are their own prefectures. So, even though Kobe and Osaka are right next to each other, Osaka is not in Hyogo, it is in its own prefecture. Imagine if New York City was its own state and then the rest of New York state was a totally different state.

We visited the museums permanent collection. They also have a visiting Kandinsky exhibit but we didn't want to use up all our rainy day plans on one Saturday. They had a mixture of pastoral landscapes and modern art. There were some works that looked more like my idea of traditional Japanese art, very simple brush strokes on silk or detailed woodblock prints called Ukiyoe, but they were all done in the early 20^th century.

The museum is right on the port, so after checking out the art we tried walking along the water. After the earth quake in the 90's the city built a park area with wide walk ways, basket ball courts, areas to barbecue and have picnics, and an amphitheater area along that section of the port. There was hardly anyone out because of the weather so it was the most spacious place we've been to here. Unfortunately, the rain only stopped for about 10min so we didn't last long outside either.

We decided to try one of the ubiquitous Waffle House/Denny's inspired restaurants here. Their models are of sandwiches and pancakes and waffles. It was rather disappointing. I got a Japanese BLT with a fried egg in there too. Craig got a “Chiken Basuketto.” The pancake and waffle selection was so over the top sweet with syrup and whipped cream and ice cream we're guessing they're actually for dessert or, if Japanese people think Americans eat that kind of stuff for a meal, no wonder they name restaurants King and Heavy.

At this point it was about 4pm, raining steadily, and we don't even have a couch at home, yet. So, we decided to go to Sannomiya and see what movies were playing. The movie theater is on the 9^th floor of a mall. Seriously, the mall had 7 floors of shops, the 8^th was all restaurants, and the 9^th was the movie theater and more restaurants. This is one of the stores and I couldn't resist getting a picture of Craig standing under the sign. Luckily, theaters here tend to show films either with subtitles or dubbing, and Craig knew the kanji for 'kanji' so we knew which time to go to get subtitles so we could listen to the original English. We saw X-Men First Class, which I thought was a really great super hero movie. I don't know why it isn't doing better. The only problem was the subtitling is all in Japanese so when characters spoke in German or Russian we didn't get the translation. Craig did the German for me but we just had to guess at the Russian scenes.

After the movie we went to a well recommended Indian restaurant. It was really 'oishi' delicious. We had palak paneer, chickpeas in a curry sauce and naan, glorious naan!

June 17th

The major excitement yesterday was going to the Friday Asian Food Festival with a bunch of people from RIKEN. They seem to travel in packs, there were about 20 of us. The Friday Asian Food Festival happens the third Friday of every month during the summer – this was the first one of the season so it was crowded. There were booths selling Indian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and (insert country here) food. Naoko was with the group so here is a picture of our patron saint.

Raj, a PI at RIKEN bought us the caricature as a welcome to Japan gift.

After years of spending time with graduate students who will split a $7 tab to the penny, going out with people who have real jobs is a little strange and refreshing. People kept buying food and just dropping it on the table for all to enjoy and no one seems to worry about the cost. We had samosas and chicken tikka, little wonton wrappers stuffed with veggies and chicken then tied into packages and deep fried, spicy cashews, more chicken tikka served in a pita so I could almost pretend I was eating Greek food, tempura fish, and these melon sodas that seal with a glass ball the size of a marble. When you buy them the guy has to open them for you by pushing the ball inside the bottle. We closed out the festival chatting away. I was so excited to talk to people in English that I may have come on a little strong with Naoke, the guy in charge of RIKEN's public outreach, but I was excited to hear they target adults and not elementary school children.