Glorius View

Sometimes we can see Mt. Fuji from our school. . .

音姫 (The Sound Princess)

Have you ever felt embarrassed by the natural gaseous and liquid sounds we all make while doing Number 2?  For anyone who has, the public restroom in Japan is the place to be.

Witness the Otohime:



Incredibly, there's a Wikipedia article entitled "Toilets in Japan."  I think it's pretty good.  In the "Japan-specific accessories"  section you can find "The Sound Princess."  It mentions that "many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of being heard by others during urination. . ." 

See article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_japan

When I first read that part of the article, my first reaction was surprise that people would be embarrassed to be heard urinating.  Really, urinating?  Well, I'm a guy, and. . .well, I don't know if gender should have anything to do with this, but I don't mind people hearing it.  I can even see being proud of it, as Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan might have felt in this classic scene (if he'd been sober enough to think about it):



To be embarrassed to have someone hear one's peeing is a little messed up, was my first reaction, but I'm trying now to step back and not judge it.
 
My second reaction was that I was easily able to imagine a lot of women in Japan being embarrassed in such situations.  Many of my Japanese friends say that Japanese people are generally shy, but I don't really agree with them.  I've come to draw a distinction between shy and embarrassed, or somewhat easily embarrassed.  I see shyness as a personality trait that can exist regardless of how others see us.  When we feel shy, we feel bashful or reluctant regardless of how others react to us, or how we think they're reacting to us. . . Bashful people can meet fans or foes and still feel bashful.  Someone who is easily embarrassed, on the other hand, might possibly feel confident and grand when others hold him/her in high regard; but this person might shrink in the face of looking awkward, incompetent, uncool, or otherwise bad.  I don't know that being either shy or easily embarrassed is better or worse than the other, but I do think they're different conditions.

My third reaction was, "Why am I not embarrassed by having others hearing me urinate, but the other sounds. . .?"  Generally, I'd rather not emit gas or have others hear me doing Number 2; and yet, a Number 1 audible is no problem for me.  How arbitrary is that?  I really don't know. . .I really don't.

P.S. Otohime is also the name of a goddess in Japanese mythology, and of a character in the manga / anime series One Piece, which I love:

the autumn leaves, 紅葉 （こうよう、kouyou） and leaf peeping, 紅葉狩 (もみじがり、momijigari)

There's a single word in Japanese that describes the changing color of the leaves during autumn:

紅葉　（こうよう、kouyou）

Having grown up in Hawai'i, the autumn leaves are still kind of exciting for me.  I love seeing them in the parks, on the sidewalks as I make my way to school. . .I love stepping on them.  In Japanese culture, the term hanami describes a "cherry-blossom viewing party," for many people a reason to drink outdoors alongside hundreds of other people.  They're a pretty big deal.  I started wondering if we had corresponding autumn leaf-viewing parties.  At that point, some part of my mind recalled an episode of The West Wing (in Japan the show is called　"ザ・ホワイトハウス"), in which they use the term "leaf peeping."  I didn't know it but it's a real thing in America.  President Bartlet didn't know it either.  People go out and look at and take pictures of the changing colors of the leaves, and there's an official term for this.  The Wikipedia entry for leaf peeping is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping

and in that article, I found out that there is a Japanese equivalent, called momijigari (紅葉狩).  Travel agencies offer tours. 

This video came out kind of small (taken with my i-Phone), so it might be hard to see that they're trying to catch the leaves raining down on them.  If you full-screen it you should be able to see it a little better.


                    

animate

Continuing from yesterday's entry, right after the police stopped me to go through my wallet, I went on to breakfast, and later that Sunday came upon an event courtesy of Animate, a manga/animation store that seems pretty big here.  Ikebukuro has a couple of Animate buildings, and whenever I go there it's crowded.  I'm not sure what this event was about, but there were some cars.

 

This is one of the stores.

 

I'm not sure if this bus had anything to do with Animate, but maybe. . .The lady to the left seemed pretty ecstatic to have the picture.

That night, Animate was more packed than in the day.

the cops here

I meant to post this a few days ago, on Sunday, but work called. . .
I was leaving my apartment building, heading out to get breakfast, when a police squad car pulled up beside me and one of the cops got out, smiling, “Sumimasen!”  He said sorry, but he wanted to see my ID.  I asked him if something had happened, and why he wanted to see it.  He said sorry, that they were looking for drug-users and asked me if I do drugs.  I said no, I don’t.  He asked again to see my ID.  I said that I was pretty sure it was illegal (fuhou, 不法 ) for him to ask me without a specific reason, and he said yes, and sorry, but could he see an ID?  I said again that I was pretty sure it was illegal, but he asked again to see an ID.  I let him see my ID card; he checked it out and asked if he could look through my wallet, which I permitted (saying once again that I was sure it was illegal for him to be doing this); he kept smiling and looked through it for signs of drugs or any other wrongdoing, returned it to me, said thank you, and he and his squad card were on their way.  I made it to the restaurant 15 minutes before they stopped serving breakfast.

Over the years, I’ve had a few encounters with the Japanese police.  One notable trait is how utterly polite most police officers are here.  It doesn’t seem to matter what they’re saying, but they’re cordial and almost subservient.  Of course, one could argue that a person in authority can act as subservient as s/he wants simply because s/he knows that s/he’s the one in power.  But anyway. . .I know some foreigners here who can’t stand the cops, but I don’t take great issue with how I’m treated by the police.  I find it annoying when they stop me for no reason to check my ID.  Actually, I shouldn’t say that there’s no reason.  The reason, at least sometimes, has been that I’m Chinese-American, but they don’t know the American part just by looking at me.  So they stop me, and when they see on my ID that I’m American, we’re usually done; they apologize and/or thank me for my cooperation, and I’m on my way.

So yeah, profiling isn’t a great controversy here.  There may be laws against it—I don’t know, honestly—but in any case this isn’t a very letter-of-the-law kind of country.  People don’t often sue for being approached, carded, and searched by the police.  I see good and bad in that, the good being that people don’t often game the system to extract a financial settlement with the police.  The bad is that individual rights are sometimes not given their due respect. . .I’ve been hearing stories from colleagues at work who say that the country’s changing, and they tell me stories about how (non-Japanese) Asians are more frequently being stopped and searched without cause.  I feel that it’s not hard to believe; once, when an officer stopped me on the sidewalk, he said that the police were looking for Asian (meaning Asian but not Japanese) people who might be stealing bicycles in the area.

In the end, for me it’s fairly easy to tolerate such mindsets mainly because the police are so damn polite.  Also, even if some of them are acting on prejudice and generalization, at least they don’t abuse me, and at least they’re constantly apologizing.  I suppose the politeness is the spoonful of sugar that M.Poppins once sang about.  I don't mean that my tolerance is the right way to go about it; maybe I'm supposed to draw a line and object.  I'm still trying to figure this one out.  But I wanted to make the observation that the way in which I'm asked to do things has had a pretty significant impact on my likelihood to comply.  A couple decades ago, one sleepy summer vacation day, I saw an episode of Oprah where a tabloid reporter on the show said that she felt she could ask any question of anyone, as long as she found the right way to ask it.

Funny, as I was typing this entry,  I recalled a former colleague (from Britain) telling me about his British friend who was so pissed off at the Japanese police that he had part of the Japanese Constitution ( the part that said it was illegal for police to ask for IDs without a specific reason) printed on his  shirt.  He said that if they ever asked for his ID, he’d sit on the sidewalk and refuse to provide it.  I don’t know how well that worked out for him.

International Market Festival in Saitama ( 国際フェスティバル世界市 )

The jazz club at one of my schools performed at the International Market Festival in Saitama ( 国際フェスティバル世界市 ), near Saitama Super Arena..  The teacher in charge of the club invited me and gave me a flier with the time and place, but how to find the exact spot looked to be a bit of a challenge when I got there.  There were so many people there.  I looked for the Super Arena and found it packed, people lined up by the hundreds.  I was like Wow, this festival is huge, and what an experience it'll be for a group of high schoolers to perform for such a crowd.

 
I was kind of rushing around when I took these pics so I didn't notice that some people are smiling, making peace signs etc. for me.  I wish I'd known at the time; I would've waved or something.  More often than not, I feel like when I'm out taking pictures here (in Tokyo) a lot of people would rather not be in them, and I try to keep a certain distance so that they don't feel bothered.  Who knows, though--maybe I'm imagining a lot of that vibe.  Anyway, it was nice when I saw the photos on my computer, that there were some smiles and friendliness.

Well, it turns out that I was on the wrong side of the venue.  The Backstreet Boys were performing on this side, and that's why there were so many people.

To tell the truth, I didn't know that they were still together.  But hey, it looks like they're doing all right after all these years.  The crowd spanned a wide range of ages; when I talked about this at my high school, some of my students had wanted to go but didn't have the chance.

Finally I found the Festival.  It was nice.  A small but crowded event, some merchandise booths and, of course, food.

 After the jazz club, there were some dancers who came out with these canes and Mid-Eastern flavored music with phat beats.  It was pretty sexy.

And at the end of the night was the jazz club from Dokkyo University.  I don't listen to a lot of jazz, but I--we--were impressed.   Not only at their musicianship but also their stage presence. 

It'd been a while since I made my way to Saitama for anything.  Over the years I've heard a lot of jokes in Tokyo about how inaka (rural) Saitama is, compared to Tokyo. . .More than a few of my friends have used the word Dasaitama (a play on words, as dasai = cheesy, tacky) as a nickname, perhaps affectionately, although I don't know.  But anyway, I almost always like going out there.  It's a different vibe, a different atmosphere.  I can't explain succinctly what it is, but I think part of it has to do with there being a lot of families doing family things.     It's only a part of it, though.  I'll have to give it a bit more thought.

Anyway, it's a pretty nice area, near Saitama-Shintoshin Station ( さいたま新都心駅 ).  Quite a few restaurants and shops.

grapes for over a hundred dollars each

Man, this is insane.  Over a decade ago I heard about melons that sell for a hundred dollars, but nothing like this.  When I go walking through the basements of department stores, I see melons sometimes.  I don't price them because I know I'm not going to  buy them.  The melons I buy at the supermarket might be 580 yen each, somewhere in that vicinity.  At Lawson's 100 they sell an eighth of a cantaloupe (in the summer) for a hundred yen. 

But melons that go for the price of brand-new cars. . .I believe that such things exist; I just haven't seen them yet since moving here.  I suppose if I changed my lifestyle. . .Geez man how can you pay that much for a melon?
http://news.yahoo.com/japans-luxury-fruit-masters-grow-money-trees-072811811.html

Or read below
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Japan's luxury fruit masters grow money on trees

 To go to the original url, click here: 

Tokyo (AFP) - With melons that sell for the price of a new car and grapes that go for more than $100 a pop, Japan is a country where perfectly-formed fruit can fetch a fortune.

An industry of fruit boutiques has defied Japan's sluggish economy to consistently offer luscious and lavishly tended produce for hefty prices -- and it is always in demand.

In July, a single bunch of "Ruby Roman" grapes reportedly sold for 400,000 yen ($4,000), making the plump, crimson berries worth a staggering 11,000 yen each.

Every May, a pair of canteloupe melons grown in the north of Hokkaido is auctioned off. They regularly fetch the price of a modest new car.

The hammer fell on this year's pair at a cool 1.6 million yen.

While such cases are at the extreme end, top-notch fruit is a valuable commodity in the world of business and as a seasonal gift, signifying just how much importance the giver attaches to the relationship.
"Most of our products are for gift purposes, so we collect large and high-grade products from all around Japan," says Yoshinobu Ishiyama, manager of a branch of Sun Fruits at Tokyo Midtown, a glitzy office-commercial complex that is also home to a Ritz Carlton Hotel.

"We offer rare products. Above all, they have to be delicious," he says.
'You never forget the experience'

Inside his bright, white-tiled emporium, an array of mouth-watering fruits gives off a heady, brain-tingling aroma as soothing music lulls his well-heeled customers.

While Ishiyama doesn't have anything you could trade for a mid-range auto, he does have a slightly more affordable example of the "Ruby Roman" grapes -- a snip at 31,500 yen for a bunch.

A single white peach -- flavourful, perfectly round and about the size of a newborn baby's head -- goes for 2,625 yen. A bunch of Muscat of Alexandria grapes has a 7,350 yen price tag.

Then, there is the unrivalled symbol of expensive gifts in Japan: musk melons.

Sitting in individual wooden boxes on the top shelf of a glass-door refrigerator at the back of the shop, they will set you back as much as 16,000 yen.

There are also square watermelons -- grown in plastic boxes and usually for decoration -- which start at 5,000 yen.

As with everything in Japan, presentation is key: serried ranks of cherries line up in boxes, their stalks all facing in the same direction; strawberries nestle in soft packaging, their highly-shined, deep red surface uniformly patinated by seeds.

View gallery."

Square shaped musk melons on display at a tasting event in Tahara Aichi prefecture, central Japan (A …

It goes without saying that there are no blemishes. Nothing is bruised, everything is exactly the right shape, as if each fruit has been cast in wax by a master craftsman working off the original blueprints.

Of course, not everyone buys their bananas at places like Sun Fruits; much more affordable offerings are on display in the average supermarket.

But to lubricate the wheels of social exchange in a country that has a deeply ingrained culture of gift-giving, nothing matches high-end fruit.

At summer and year-end, households send packaged gifts to relatives, business associates and bosses to express their gratitude.

If the two sides of the exchange are of a broadly similar social standing the gift is reciprocated. A 4,000 yen box of cherries might be given in exchange for a 5,000 yen presentation pack of mangoes.

If the giver owes for social favours dispensed through the year, there could be no change from that 16,000 yen musk melon. But the boss who receives it will understand how grateful you are.

The giving of high-end fruits creates a lasting impression on Japanese clients, says Tokyo-based corporate trainer Farhad Kardan, who was strolling through Sun Fruits choosing possible gifts.

"You buy these delicious things and share a great time with people who are close to you," he told AFP.
"You never forget the experience of having eaten something so delicious. What you pay for is for the quality and the value."

How can fruit cost so much?
Despite more than a decade of deflation, prices for fresh food in Japan are considered high by world standards, partially as a result of farming practices and import preferences. Consumers are accustomed to paying a premium on Japanese-grown produce, with many believing it to be safer and better quality than imports.

But even so, many open-mouthed visitors to Japan wonder: how can a piece of fruit cost so much?
Ishiyama says his master musk melon grower Toshiaki Nishihara puts a whole lot of love into each fruit he raises in his computer-controlled greenhouse in Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.

He hand-pollinates his crop and selects only one melon on each plant so that all the nutrients, sugar and juice are concentrated in the chosen fruit.

Like their $16,000 cousins from Hokkaido, the best-quality melons are perfect spheres with a smooth, evenly patterned rind.

"The prices are very high because of the care and cost that go into the fruits," Ishiyama said.
The AFP team who visited Sun Fruits was about to walk away empty-handed when they spotted two regular apples by the door -- a bargain at a little over $4 for the pair.

The Story of Hello Kitty

I think the most surprising revelation in this story for me was that the identity of Hello Kitty's creator has been kept secret all this time.  It wasn't as surprising that Shintaro Tsuji is a billionaire.  Growing up in Hawai'i, I've been surrounded by Sanrio characters since, I don't know, preschool. . .I have the faint memory of female classmates walking in Hello Kitty slippers that squeaked with every step.  But maybe it's just a conjured memory; I can't be sure without photographic proof.  Anyway, the girls that I knew from that wee age loved Kitty and friends no more than did the adult women I worked with decades later at a drugstore (Longs), where I believe employees had a 50% discount on Sanrio products.  They bought that stuff up like crazy.

Fast forward to Japan, where I started out at an English conversation school in Tokyo, teaching alongside Becky from Great Britain.  Becky's on a trip round the world, put on pause so that she can properly experience Japan and build her savings a bit before continuing her journey.  She and her boyfriend have seen some things, trekked the hard way through South America and Australia.  She carries her own humongous backpack, a seasoned traveler who's pulled her own weight through multiple continents.

I can't recall the name of the student, but Becks and I both taught her.  Very nice young woman.  So whenever she and Becks get together, they whip out Hello Kitty stickers or Hello Kitty compact mirrors or, I honestly don't know because I wasn't really paying attention, but I guess there are literally thousands of other cute, cute products available.  The ladies sit in a corner and share these products and scream out "Kawaiii!  Kawaii!" as they revel in the cuteness and femininity.  I swear those were the only times I've seen my dear friend Becky be like that.  It was transformative, and endearing of course.  That's when I knew that Hello Kitty and Sanrio were a worldwide phenomenon.  Apparently Becks fell in love with Kitty before she set out  from the UK.

A short bit on the creator's life on this page, and in the video below.

Mt. Fuji's mixed blessings

A story from the Canadian Press recently came out (through the AP) about Mt. Fuji's recently-bestowed status as a World Heritage site:

 World Heritage status a mixed blessing for Mount Fuji, as region braces for crowds

By Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press 

 MOUNT FUJI, Japan - They trudge up well-trod cinder paths by the thousands, headlamps glowing in the dark, and then settle in, shivering, to await and cheer the sun's blazing ascent over the horizon.

Climbing Mount Fuji, Japan's most iconic landmark, is a group activity: Seldom is it climbed in solitude. The recent recognition of the 3,776-meter (12,388-foot) peak as a UNESCO World Heritage site has many here worried that it will draw still more people, adding to the wear and tear on the environment from the more than 300,000 who already climb the mountain each year.

Safety is another concern. At least seven people died and 70 were hurt climbing Fuji In 2012, and traffic jams of climbers in the pre-dawn darkness can add to the risks, says Shomei Yokouchi, governor of Yamanashi, the area to the west. The official climbing season runs July to August, and the trek — nine hours round trip in good weather — is especially treacherous other times of the year.

Mount Fuji's near perfect cone was created by an eruption thousands of years ago that buried earlier peaks, and pilgrims have been climbing it for centuries — though women have been allowed only since 1868. It towers over the Pacific coast, ringed by lakes, national parks, temples and shrines that are also part of the World Heritage site.

The new status, granted in June, will likely help area businesses — a welcome boost given the economic decline in most of rural Japan. Local authorities are puzzling, however, over how to preserve the mountain's natural beauty while improving traffic access and other facilities to accommodate the anticipated increase in visitors.

Some have suggested limiting access by raising tenfold the 1,000 yen ($10) climbing fee. But that might lead climbers to risk hypothermia by roughing it outdoors instead of staying in the 16 huts along the top of the trail, which charge up to $100 a night for cheek-by-jowl communal accommodations.

"With more foreigners visiting, we will need to think of improving the facilities," Gov. Yokouchi says, noting that the installation of composting toilets has helped. "They are cleaner than before and the smell's not so bad, but there are not enough of them."

Then there's the litter.  Each year 40,000 to 50,000 volunteers clean up garbage on the peak. Groups collected nearly 900 tons to prepare for June's World Heritage vote by UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural organization.

The designation is something to be proud of, says Hisataka Kurosawa, a 16-year-old high school student who recently joined a group of volunteers who climbed part of a trail and then scrounged around a car park near a visitor centre, collecting several big bags worth of oil cans, cigarette butts, car parts and candy wrappers.

"It's getting polluted and so many people are running around. I'm a bit disappointed about that," he says.
The volunteers were led by Toyohiro Watanabe, a former local government official who runs a civic group called Groundwork Mishima.

It's not just the crowds that worry him. He also frets over acid rain from sea water mixed with emissions from factories on the coast. And over invasive plant species, such as the bamboo grass that grows thick along the roadsides, obscuring some of the litter tossed from passing vehicles.

Global warming may be contributing to huge fissures on Fuji's slopes, prone to erosion and landslides, he says. "Although Fuji has a power of its own, it is being influenced by global warming and other factors," Watanabe says as he looks for trouble spots in some of the most frequented areas. "It is getting weaker."

Though it last erupted in 1707, Mount Fuji remains an active volcano and Japanese seismologists watch it closely. The bigger risk, though, is from accidents.

Fuji is hardly steep, but its high elevation and fickle weather can make it a hazardous climb. "There are rock falls, and sometimes people are unable to get out of the way," Gov. Yokouchi says.

UNESCO has long acknowledged the risks to World Heritage sites, both from natural disasters and unsustainable levels of tourism. Even for a country as wealthy as Japan, tight budgets mean fewer resources available to support conservation.

Click here to go to the website source.

Tokyo Olympics 2020

The first thing I found out when I woke this morning was that Tokyo had won its bid to host the 2020 Olympics.  I'm not sure why but I was a little surprised; maybe it's because it seems like people have been trying for so long to bring the event here.  Some people, I should say.  It was about eight or so years ago that I heard the mayor was campaigning hard for it to happen.

To tell the truth, during the months leading up to this I hardly heard people talk about it.  I had one somewhat lengthy discussion with one of my fellow teachers at work, and he felt that most Japanese people were indifferent to the Olympic bid.  (He's from the UK.)  We talked with a couple of our Japanese colleagues, and they expressed some mild hopes that 2020 would happen for the city.

So after learning the news, I had a second small surprise; my Facebook newsfeed shows almost nothing but shouts of joy over this morning's announcement.  Here are a handful:

• YAAY!! 2020 Olympics in Tokyo!! Now all of u have to visit me in Tokyo!XD

• Tokyo Olympic in 2020!!!! — :))) feeling excited.

• YAYYY!!! YESYESYES !!!! TOKYO OLYMPICS 2020!!! I KNEW IT!!
  AND IT WILL BE ME TO SING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY!

• Tokyo won the Olympics in 2020?? I can't imagine Tokyo will be more crowded than it already is...

• TOKYO 2020!!!:D #summerolympics

• Tokyo Olympics 2020 babyyy♡

• Tokyo Olympic 2020:)

• Congrats Tokyo!!!!! オリンピックを観に行くわー！てかその時の私はどこにいるかしら（笑）有明のテニスセンター新しくなるみたいんで楽しみ！

• TOKYO Olympic 2020!!! Yay!!!

• I'm proud of TOKYO!!! TOKYO 2020おめでとうございます!!!

• Tokyo Olympic 2020. so who is gonna come visit me

• Congrats JAPAN!

• Yes!!!

• オリンピック、東京開催決定!
  本当に嬉しい・・・本当に嬉しい!
  滝川クリステルの美貌のおかげもあるでしょう!!!!!!!!!ありがとうジャパーン☆ おめでとジャパーン☆
  開催時は何らかの形で関わりたいなー!

• Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics in 2020 but I'm not too keen on the idea... Tteiuka thinking that far ahead makes me a bit depressed. I will be 38 and my parents will be 75 and 67!!!

• Tokyo 2020!!!! Yaaaaaaaaay! Woohooo!!

• Olympic city, cool!

• Can't believe, the Olympic will be held here!? Hope it willl do good for many people. Btw, my friends in foreign countries, are able to come here hahaha

• Tokyo Olympic:)))

----------------------------------------

I really didn't know that so many of my friends cared. . .

kaiten sushi (or kaiten-zushi), a.k.a. revolving sushi. sushi on a conveyor belt, sushi merry-go-round

My apologies for once again having gone AWOL.  When work is in full force, I seem unable to stem the tide of tasks coming my way, and blog-writing (and other kinds of writing) is one of the first things I tend to sacrifice.  There must be a way for me not to do that, but I haven't found it yet.

 Well, I just finished a short anecdote about a kaiten sushi (or kaiten-zushi) experience on another blog (Japanese Word of the Day), and I wanted to follow up a bit.  I'm on vacation in Hawai'i now, and I found myself missing the sushi in Japan today.  Hawai'i has its share of sushi places but, to me, it's not as good as the stuff I can get in Tokyo.  In Japan, the freshness of the fish and size of the cut that you get for the same price (or less) is better than what I'm finding back home, my beloved home.  Of course, there are upper middle and higher-end sushi places on O'ahu--the last one I went to was Sushi King on King Street--but I'd have to say that dollar for dollar (or yen for yen), Japan is the place to go for this particular thing.  Just amazing what you can get for 105 yen in Tokyo.

Ever since 3/11 (March 11, 2011, the day of the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent nuclear power plant leak in Fukushima), I have been concerned about radiation contaminating the sea life and seafood, and most of my friends share this worry.  And it isn't resolved; I can't honestly say that I know that none of the fish I'm eating is contaminated.  My compromise has been simply to eat the local and domestic fish in Japan less frequently.  Every now and then, I look for updates on what scientific folk think about the risks posed by the Fukushima leak; the most recent article I've read is linked below, from sciencedaily.com:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603183103.htm

In it, some professors say that the radiation doses involved in eating contaminated seafood, "even in large quantities, is comparable to, or less than, the radiological dosages associated with other commonly consumed foods, many medical treatments, air travel and other background sources," and generally that the Fukushima leak poses little threat.

No doubt, good news. . .but I'm still reflexively cautious about it.  But, well, I want to live if I'm going to live.  I go out to sushi less than once a week, and I enjoy it when I do.

I was looking through some kaitenzushi videos on YouTube, and I thought this one was pretty good.  She gives some nice explanations.

a different kind of ramen

Man, I've never had anything like this before.  A ramen place near Tokyo Dome has this tonkotsu (pork bone based broth) ramen that is more like a stew, it's so thick.  The place is called Hyouri Ramen.  To get there, take the train to Suidobashi Station (JR Sobu line), take the East exit, turn right after coming out the turnstiles, and then turn right again when you reach the first corner/crosswalk.  (Don't cross the street.)  Walk straight for a few seconds and you'll see this on your right-hand side:

We had the "Ninkimono No.1," or the most popular dish.  Not because it's the most popular, but because my brother has been to this place many, many times--his Japanese school is close by--and this is his favorite choice.  It was my first time, so I followed his lead.
 

 As you can see, it's topped off with tonkatsu (pork cutlet, not to be confused with the earlier mentioned tonkotsu) a bit of cabbage, and bean sprouts.  If you look closely at the broth you might be able to see the grated garlic.

Rarely am I unable to finish a bowl or plate of something in Japan, its portion sizes being so much smaller than typical American portions.  But something about this one filled me up, and I left a few noodles behind.  If I had to pick one work to describe this bowl of noodles, it would be hearty.  It was also spicy, to a degree to which most ramen generally isn't.  

The manager seemed like a nice guy.  I think his name is Jun.  The guy below isn't him, but another customer.  In the framed pictures is the former manager, a guy who also ran another quite popular ramen chain called Taishoken.  

"Ninkimono No.1" cost 980 yen, or about $10.  

fugu (河豚 or 鰒; フグ)

According to Wikipedia, the literal translation is "river pig," but we'd normally call it "pufferfish"  or "blowfish" in English.

Its notoriety is based on the chance of death from consuming it.  The fish has poisons running through it, and fugu chefs need to be licensed to prepare fugu dishes, their expertise being in removing the poisonous parts.  It's also known for being quite expensive, but these days a lot of the restaurants raise their own blowfish in fish tanks / aquariums, which helps to keep costs down (as opposed to buying the fish from specialized fugu farms).  At such establishments, a person can have a multi-course fugu meal for about 5000 yen (approx. $50).

I just took my brother out for his first fugu experience.  They say that eating it induces a moderate buzz, and my bro felt it, a kind of light-headedness.  I've eaten fugu four or five times and have never experienced this buzz--although granted, I'm already drinking by the time the fish comes, so maybe the alcohol just drowned out the fugu buzz.

Tonight's meal consisted of:

• fugu skin
• fugu sashimi
• fugu boiled in nabe (a pot)
• rice porridge 
• dessert (ice cream with mochi and azuki beans)

We also had fugu sake (rice wine).  Basically, it's warm sake with fugu fins.  They light it on fire before serving it to you.  It wasn't part of the set course, but we wanted to try it.  To tell the truth, it didn't taste that great, but the sake felt nice going down.


These pictures are from tonight.  The first dish was the appetizer, fugu skin.  

This was followed by fugu sashimi.  You eat it with the greenery, dipping it in the sauce in the small dish.

followed by fugu boiled in a pot.  Amazingly, the pot was made of paper and didn't leak a drop.
If you watch carefully, you'll notice the flesh twitching, as the chefs have just sliced up the fish.  To me, it was a horrific but sort of fascinating part of the experience.  I felt genuinely sorry for those fish. . .

above is the dipping sauce.


And finally, deep-friend fugu:

At the end of the night, we had the fugu sake:

All in all, a pretty nice time, and an experience to remember.  Most people that I've talked to seem to feel that fugu itself doesn't have much a distinctive taste, but I think that's what makes it so versatile.  All these different ways of preparing it worked out well, and the texture was quite delectable. 

Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人, an arcade game)

This is a video game mainstay in Japan.  Any respectable arcade should have it.  I don't personal love playing it, but I love that it's been around for over a decade and can still draw a crowd.  There's something wonderfully symbolic about it.  I don't have any statistics on this (so if anyone out there does, please let me know and fill me in) but it doesn't seem to me like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc. has caught on in Japan to the extent that it did in the U.S.  I'm only basing this presumption on my experience--I know a bunch of people in the U.S. who have those games at home, but no one in Japan.  But then, my old professor once told me that you need at least a thousand samples to make a statistic, and I definitely don't have that.

Anyway, what I like about the symbolism of Taiko no Tatsujin is that even though (I think) Guitar Hero, Rock Band etc. hasn't caught on here as much as it once did in the U.S., this game of traditional Japanese drums is not just in every decent arcade, it garners respect.  I personally don't find it that interesting, but the guy who was playing it in Ikebukuro, Sunshine Doori, must have had some game for all these people to hang and watch.  I also love the juxtaposition of traditional elements manifesting in modern entertainment.  Keep it alive man!

 

And this is what it looks like from the perspective of the player:

a college campus

I went to Gakushuin University, Mejiro campus.  It's pretty nice, and lively on a school day.  A club or circle took the stage at lunchtime, near the cafeteria.  Not a bad place to have lunch.  I don't know if the campus is open to everyone, but the guard didn't check for ID when I entered.  So maybe anyone can go and buy some food, have a cup of tea.  I'm told that Gakushuin Schools are known for educating the royal family.  Originally established in Kyoto in 1847, the university was moved thirty years later to Tokyo.

Easy to get to.  Take the JR to Mejiro.  When you exit the station, turn right, cross the narrow street, and you'll see the entrance.