Spryte In Japan

2011-01-30T17:17:00.000+09:00

While not Japanese, yakiniku is awesome.

Squid shredding

2011-01-21T23:15:00.000+09:00

What an ingenious little machine.

Cooking Classes in Japan

2011-01-10T22:14:00.000+09:00

The classes will be all in Japanese, of course.

Happy Lucky New Year

2011-01-06T23:03:00.000+09:00

I got some good lucky bags this year. Everyone should have lucky bags at New Year.

Fall Fare

2010-10-25T18:01:00.003+09:00

Food in Japan is really seasonal.

Turkish Ice Cream in Tokyo

2010-10-18T17:58:00.001+09:00

The humiliation of customers in Japan never ends...

Happy Capybara

2010-10-16T17:30:00.000+09:00

Capybara (カピバラさん) is a stuffed animal character that's popular in Japan. The plushie is a popular prize in crane games.

For advertising, a game center decided to set a giant moving Capybara up in front of the shop.

Getting teased

2010-10-09T17:20:00.000+09:00

Well, it has to happen once in a while. Moo Cow wanted this to happen anyway, hence the camera action.

Peking Duck

2010-10-03T00:16:00.001+09:00

Peking duck is pretty delicious. We finally found a good place in Tokyo.

Nutso Weather?

2010-09-22T22:40:00.000+09:00

Weather in Japan is crazy, but it's been especially crazy recently.

Restaurant Review: Café Troisgros

2010-09-10T20:49:00.001+09:00

Café Troisgros is situated directly above the Shinjuku station west exit, on the 8th floor of Odakyu Department Store. When you arrive, the café has an elegant façade tucked in the corner. Surrounded by shops, it almost feels out of place. When you walk in the simply yet sharply-dressed waitstaff immediately attend you. Originally decked in purple and lime green, it was remodeled with a more neutral palette. The now-mellow interior has approximately sixteen tables for two that can be pushed together to accommodate larger groups as well as six single tables, no doubt for the business lunch-goers (like myself). Owned by Michel Troisgros, a Michelin-starred chef with several other awards and honors, this restaurant gives speedy service and good quality.

The lunch menu is limited meal-wise, but not lacking. The dessert menu is nearly as long as the lunch fare, and the drink menu is significantly bulkier, as expected from a café. There are a variety of coffees and teas to choose from, as well as some alcoholic choices and a few non-alcoholic juices and such. Undoubtedly to keep preparation time down there are four main-dish choices, including a salad, sandwiches and a daily pasta special. Despite the temptation to try one of the luscious-looking desserts instead of a main dish I chose the daily pasta special, which was a wild mushroom farfalle. Since the drink menu was rather large and the waitstaff came to take my order after only a short time I decided to drink water. When the meal arrived its aroma immediately caught my attention, as well as the presentation.

The green froth appeared to be a spinach sauce. At first taste I mistook the flavor for spicy but the spice faded immediately. The mushroom sauce hinted at a cream of wild mushroom soup that had been blended and thickened. It blended nicely with the spinach and held well to the farfalle. The farfalle itself was surprisingly tender, uncharacteristically so for a restaurant. Diners who prefer al dente pasta may be disappointed.

The cost of the menu is low- to mid-range, with lunches starting at ¥1,000 and desserts and drinks from ¥630. The daily pasta is ¥1,550. For someone with a large appetite it will definitely not suffice, but in the heat of summer it was perfect for me.

As a lunch or afternoon tea spot Café Troisgros is a good option for someone who wants quality food but also wants to get in and out quickly. The quality for price is quite good, but those who prefer larger meals will be left short. Be sure to check the menu on the stand outside before you go in and have an idea of what you'd like to order; they appear to have an almost fast-food-eqsue approach to speedy service. Overall, a nice café for someone looking for relax and have a light repast, but not linger too long.

Climbing Mt. Fuji

2010-08-23T23:04:00.000+09:00

How I prepared for and tackled climbing Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan.

More Summer Fireworks

2010-08-23T23:03:00.000+09:00

Not the best quality video, but perhaps my iPhone does better quality than my Olympus point and shoot. Hmmm...

Japanese fireworks shows typically last ninety minutes or more, but this show was only an hour. This video was taken about 45 minutes into the show...it was like that pretty much the whole time.

Collagen drinks, lotion chosen by color and chips that taste like dance floor...?

2010-07-04T14:10:00.002+09:00

To Park a Car

2010-07-02T00:01:00.002+09:00

Even in Hokkaido Japan is super conscientious about car storage. These types of "parking garages" are all over Japan.

Multicolored spaghetti

2010-06-17T20:21:00.002+09:00

Queue it up!

2010-06-07T19:38:00.002+09:00

Shibuya is Fun

2010-03-11T20:22:00.001+09:00

Took a little trip today.

Tokyo Marathon 2010 Info Packet

2010-01-31T19:50:00.001+09:00

Yeah...did I mention I'll be running in the Tokyo Marathon this year?

The Relationship Between Sailor Moon and Cleaning Train Station Floors

2010-01-29T14:43:00.000+09:00

I haven't gotten a video of a garbage truck myself yet, but this is almost as good.

The Interior of an Apartment

2010-01-20T12:53:00.001+09:00

Efficiency or excess?

2009-11-15T22:56:00.000+09:00

Trains in Japan are frankly pretty amazing. They're efficient, punctual (usually) and pretty much all around a great resource to have, especially in Tokyo. When I get around to thinking about it, the trains here and a marvel. At the time I'm writing this I'm sitting on a morning train. My morning trains are usually the ones leaving Tokyo so there's lots of space but the ones going into Tokyo in the morning are packed like sardines. A couple of minutes ago I saw the station staff pushing people into the train to get the doors closed (no photos but I'm working on that...). Crazy, right? What I find especially crazy is most of the population here has never experienced life without these amazing, usually punctual trains. The first line in Tokyo opened in 1872 (between Shimbashi--later Shiodome station--and Yokohama--present Sakuragichō station, but the line had no name). Holy crap.

What brought this to my attention was a recent set of advertisements. In September the Yamanote Line--the circular line that connects the main stations in Tokyo--celebrated 100 years of operations (and made a deal to allow one train to be completely wrapped in Meiji chocolate ads between 9/7 and 12/4/2009, apparently because the original trains were brown). I'm pretty sure it wasn't exactly as it is now but that's still light years ahead of most other places. When I think of trains I usually imagine Victorian people and steam engines. Now of course I think of Japanese commuter trains, but being from Michigan there's no public transportation in most places and shoddy transportation at best in a few places. And they're usually buses in college towns anyway.

(not my video)

In any case, these people have been using trains since their parents' or grandparents' times while Michiganders were getting into using cars...

Trains aren't always the fastest way to travel if there isn't a good route, but they usually beat the hell out of local traffic. I remember once in Shiga prefecture it took two hours to go to a place that took less than 30 minutes by train. But people still seem to love their cars here. Lots of my students have boasted about driving to work. From my view, the horrible Tokyo traffic combined with the exorbitant cost of getting a license (and then getting/maintaining a car) plus parking, toll roads, etc. make driving here completely not worth the effort. But I digress.

So, trains. They're quite handy and reliable and it's too bad most of Michigan [and most of the US] isn't structured in any way that could benefit from the installation of a train system like this. Any which way, I'm glad I have access to the Japanese train system now.

(photos courtesy of wikipedia since I lack my own at the moment...)

My trip to Michigan Hokkaido

2009-10-08T08:07:00.000+09:00

Traveling is always fun and traveling in Japan is no exception. This time I headed a bit more north than my summer travels and went up to Hokkaido.

Since you can't take the train to Hokkaido directly--you'll need to go to Aomori and then take the ferry--we decided to fly, which was cool because it was my first domestic flight here. For the most part domestic travel in Japan is the same as everywhere else I've been with a few minor differences. For starters, the captain of the plane won't usually talk on the intercom. He can, of course, but I guess they opt not to. Apparently they just don't. For two, this is JAPAN we're talking about! There are even TVs in the toilets at the airport!

Upon arrival I noticed something strange. Apparently the plane went through a space/time warp and landed us in Michigan! The weather was the same, the plants were the same, even the--oh wait, nope. The Japanese text everywhere was a dead giveaway. But it was surprisingly similar and I couldn't stop saying it, much to the chagrin of my companion, Sushi.

But never fear, Hokkaido is a bit more interesting than Michigan. Or at least I think it is. Anyway, after getting a rental car we headed to Sapporo, home of a happy place known as the Sapporo Brewery. You can buy Sapporo beer in the US but now it's bottled in Canada (check the "Today" part of the history here to find out, or here) so it doesn't really count. We went there for dinner the first night because the one thing I wanted to do in Hokkaido was go to the beer garden, er, Bier Garten. At the restaurant you can have famous Jingisu Kan, a type of Hokkaido-style Mongolian Barbecue named after the historic fearless leader (Jingisu Kan is the Japanese pronunciation of Chingis Khan. Chingis Khan and Genghis Khan are both acceptable names for him, but the dish is called Jingisu Kan). Hokkaido is so well-known for this dish that even the pans were shaped like Hokkaido.

We ended up having mutton and lamb and sausage, obviously washed down with beer. It was cool. For souvenirs there's a large gift shop where you can buy the official beer mugs in many varieties; I got the Classic one and a Sapporo Bier Garten edition. And of course a strap for my phone too. Being female I'm practically obligated to have more charms hanging from my phone than actual phone.

These keychains have a story. The Bier Garten one is because I of course I've loved Sapporo since before I came to Japan. The bunny is something my faithful readers will recognize. The green thing is Marimokkori. He's a personified version of a ball algae famously from Hokkaido (marimo), and yes he always has that bulge no matter what he's dressed as. Sushi and I were looking for this at every shop because I wanted to show it to him. Finally after looking at every shop we passed in Sapporo and Otaru we happened upon them at the airport just as we were leaving. We were both so happy we each bought one. I'm amused because Sushi's a [drunk] businessman and so is this Marimokkori.

Another thing Hokkaido is known for is soup curry. Soup curry is pretty much exactly what it sounds like--a soup that tastes like curry. It's really quite delicious and incidentally it's also a trendy food in Tokyo right now. If you tell people you had soup curry you automatically go up a notch on the Cool Scale. Off, right? Anyway, since Sushi went to school there he knew most of the restaurants and chose an old haunt. The place looked exactly like any college town restaurant should so it furthered my "I'm in Michigan!" feeling. The food was tasty and reasonable so I was happy. Here's a snip from the lunch menu...I had the first soup (ぐゎらチキ天).

While most of what I focus on is food, there's more than just that to Hokkaido. They also have their very own tower, much akin to Tokyo Tower, including the red and white paint job. This one's a bit smaller and had a clock on it though. And admittedly, the fountain programmed to frame it was cooler than Tokyo Tower. But since I have an oil painting of Tokyo Tower in my apartment I thought it a good idea to snap some photos.

Sapporo is also home to Hokkaido University, a strangely Western university started by a guy from Massachusetts for some obscure reason though he claimed it was for the advancement of Japan. Sushi and I compared notes about going to Agricultural universities while looking around. Walking around felt a lot like my time at MSU except there were notably fewer squirrels. And fewer students. It was nice too see and have a moment to reminisce a little. It even smelled like Michigan, which is a bit strange...

But you don't care about my silly-girl nostalgia, so let's get back to the hospitality! Two major natural-type things that Hokkaido boasts are great seafood and dairy. Both are shipped all over Japan, particularly dairy products. Before leaving we had milk floats, which were essentially unmixed milkshakes. If you don't like full-fat milk you'd have a hard time but they were amazing!

For the second day we went to Otaru, which isn't particularly special but has a canal that's kind of ｃharming and several music box and glass companies. More interestingly, there are hot springs as well. We stayed at a ryokan (Japanese-style hotel) for our night there. And the grounds were beautiful--to see some more images click here, here and here. I have tattoos so I'm not allowed into public hot springs so we got a room with a private hot spring bath (click the first link "momiji" to see the room). It was way awesome! And our dinner was served in the room.

I can't begin to explain everything there but the sea urchin was fabulous! What isn't shown here is the corn ice cream for dessert and the extra sides that came a little after we started eating. Apparently if you want you can also catch sea urchin along the coasts and the quality definitely reflected that. I've never had seafood melt in my mouth before.

If you've never experienced a hot spring bath I'd highly recommend it. This was my first time and I intend to seize every opportunity I have to go to one from now on. Something I said after the bath was things like this are enough to keep me in Japan forever. And I guess it's true. Hot springs and unworldly food could keep me almost anywhere.

And let's face it, the silly Pokémon jets (my ride back to Tokyo) don't hurt either.

Not dead.

2009-09-27T22:45:00.000+09:00

Busy Trains

2009-09-22T10:06:00.000+09:00

The trains in Tokyo are busy. Here are what the wickets look like around 8:30am on a Monday. And this isn't even one of the busier stations on the Yamanote line (it's Tamachi station). I couldn't get a video of Shinjuku if I wanted to because it's the busiest station in the world volume-wise. And it has something like 200 exits, all-told. So you can live with this version.

Trains in Japan are used much more than most places because of crowding. Also, the trains are exceptionally punctual. And reparations if you hit someone while driving or riding a bike is extremely expensive, as I found out when I was hit by a car back in May. Anyway, this little video explains it better than I could...

I haven't managed to get photos of the station employees pushing people to fit into the trains with their white gloves. Working on it. You'll get to see once I do.

Summer Fireworks

2009-09-01T13:03:00.000+09:00

A little while ago I went to a fireworks show in Tokyo. Mind you I missed all the big ones for various reasons (mostly work) so I went to a rather small one to get my fix. It only lasted about 30 minutes which was a slight let-down, since most Japanese fireworks shows span over an hour or often two. These were in southern Saitama, near west Tokyo and were done every weekend in August. No wonder they were small.

Most Japanese fireworks festivals are during the summer, so fireworks are synonymous with summer. You'll see lots of people in yukata (cotton summer kimono) and happi coats (cotton jackets) wandering around long before scoping out seats, buying kaki goori (flavored shaved ice), takoyaki, yakisoba or ringo ame (candy apples) and fanning themselves with uchiwa (flat Japanese fans) while grumbling about the hear.

The fireworks themselves are quite lovely and unique at times. Sometimes you'll spot a well-known character like Hello Kitty or Doraemon among the typical round fireworks. It's a good reminder that they're much better at fireworks than we are in the US.

Anyway, this spryte approves of Japanese fireworks, no matter how long or short the show.

Nikko (Really Itaga)

2009-08-27T11:46:00.000+09:00

My vacation was awesome! One of the places I went was Itaga, which is quite close to Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture. One of my friends has a hostel he recently opened so I went up for a lovely weekend.

The trains to get to Nikko from Tokyo suck. A lot. At least the one I took was no good. It took the JR Utsunomiya and JR Nikko lines. I guess if you take the Tobu lines it's better but I was able to cheat the trains without any trouble and the whole fare was a staggering 290 yen (as compared to the cheapest fare, 4420). I don't normally recommend cheating the trains but in this case it took me about six hours to do a 2.5 hour (including travel to/from the stations) trip. There were heavy rains due to a typhoon that hi Okinawa and spiraled some rains our way. The trains were crowded, late and generally miserable. It sucked. On the plus side, because of this I didn't feel bad cheating on my train fare. My already light pocketbook (from moving) thanked me.

In any case it was beautiful up there. In my mind it was a lot like Michigan all over again. Lots of pretty scenery and lots of mosquitoes! I got no fewer than 30 bites over the few days I was there. It was worth it though. Check out the view from my bedroom window!

There was a nice little river nearby as well that we went swimming in. The river was quite chilly however, so we also took time to follow a rivulet up the side of the mountain. Mountain climbing in your swimsuit is awesome, haha. My camera isn't waterproof so I didn't take it with me. Sorry.

Most of the time we just lounged and did nothing, which was good for a lazy vacation outside of Tokyo. It rained on the first day but it was mostly just a mist so it didn't prevent us from having a nice lunch at an amazing little shop next door. In retrospect I wish I'd tried the udon but the soba was also awesome (and also handmade). No idea what the broth was but it was tasty. Some mushroom, beef something. No idea. We also had some sort of grilled fish that we liked so much we had seconds. And in all it was very reasonably priced (don't say cheap in Japan; it has negative connotations).

The day after we had our lovely excursion into the wild (swimming and climbing) another typhoon must've rolled in because we had some crazy rains. The runoff from the mountains caused the river to swell so much it almost flooded over the barrier wall that kept it out of the hostel. The clear, cool crisp river became a raging, murky brown torrent that ate all the trees and most things besides. The rain also caused the trains to stop and put my return trip on indefinite hold. Although they did resume a bit later I waited a while to let the congestion clear up some. Once I was on my way it only took three hours to get home. Another example of the JR sucking again.

All told the trip was great but I'd recommend taking the Tobu Nikko line instead if you value your time. Also, if you're looking for a nice hostel during peak times that's got reasonable prices, check out the Zen Hostel. But don't go if you don't like dogs; they have two pugs named Kowboy and Dune.

First time being Goth Loli in Harajuku.

2009-08-16T21:46:00.000+09:00

Cicada Power

2009-08-06T20:23:00.000+09:00

Holy crap the cicadas are loud in Japan!

Roses!

2009-08-05T08:57:00.000+09:00

A quick video from Monday.

I now lives in Ikebukuro!

2009-07-31T11:36:00.000+09:00

Moved in. And now to continue unpacking and reorganizing...

Tokyo side streets

2009-07-17T17:31:00.000+09:00

Walking through some not-so-crowded area of Tokyo.

The Sony Building (Ginza)

2009-07-01T12:40:00.000+09:00

In a large city there are a lot of famous things. There are traditional cultural places, local foods and celebrities, historic sites and more. Tokyo is of course no exception to this. I work twice a week in Ginza, a well-known and hyper-expensive shopping district. There are several awesome places in Ginza (I'll discuss this later when I start to outline some great places in Tokyo), but perhaps the most famous is the Sony building. Inside it's a great place to visit as a tourist or to kill some time if you're around and have a little, but my favorite is the outdoor display.

It's actually only a few buildings down from my work. Next to the building on the corner of a massive intersection is a display area where they set up all kinds of interesting outdoor stuff. It seems wholly incongruent that an electronics company would put nature displays up but I think that's part of the charm of Japanese culture. Here it isn't a mismatch.

In winter they imported a lot of snow from Hokkaido for the display. As I'm from Michigan it was unremarkable and I didn't take a photo, but the Tokyo-ites were all around the snow like they'd never seen it before. As a matter of fact, it does snow in Tokyo but the more recent increases in population have been affecting the local weather and snow has become infrequent. There's rarely any snow buildup anymore. Still, it was nice to see some imported snow.

Before the re-release of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children there were huge billboards in various places. I snapped a photo with my phone because I thought it was interesting.
That was over ten feet tall. I think I got a photo on one of the last days. ^_^;

Over the next few months there were several displays there, ranging from live performers, advertisements for new product campaigns, a Christmas tree and others. I didn't take photos of them but they were exceptionally well-crafted.

In May there was a nice surprise waiting for me. When I turned the corner I saw a spray of sunflowers. I forget where they came from, but it was awesome.

It's nice to see a little nature in the midst of the concrete sometimes.

And I think they believe so too. For June they brought in a garden complete with signs to please come up and enjoy it by walking through it.
I didn't have the courage to go up an walk through since nobody else was, plus I was in a hurry to head somewhere.

Monday before work I noticed a UNICEF ad. Apparently there'll be people there this weekend, but this is the stage.

Most of the displays are imported from somewhere kind of far away. It's almost gimmicky but I think it's great. Haven't figured out the schedule yet, but I think the displays are up for a week or two usually. The snow may have been around for less, but as I don't usually walk past the Sony building on a normal day I don't know. In any case it's a fun little addition when I do walk over there.

Peachy Goodness

2009-06-27T19:31:00.000+09:00

Ever since the first time I came here I knew the fruit in Japan wasn't like most fruit in the US. What you find at almost every market are super-ripe juicy specimens. Coming from the US and buying bargain items whenever possible to this is a huge change. Granted the difference is also apparent in price, but it's still a welcome change too.

Earlier this week Moo Cow and I bought some peaches. There was a guy who'd set up his booth at Moo Cow's station and on the way home we decided to pick them up because they were cheap...1000 yen ($10 or so) for 6 large peaches. The guy threw in a smaller--read: average size in the US--one as a thank you bonus. The glorious thing about peaches in Japan is most of them are white peaches; the yellow ones are much less common. And I love white peaches. And peaches here are HUGE. And they're so ripe that the pits inside are already split. It's crazy. Anyway, Moo Cow said he hadn't had fresh peaches in forever. He didn't know what a treat peaches are here though.

When we got them home I decided I wanted to nom one so I picked a large one to share. When I gave Moo Cow a bite the juice ran down his chin. It was that juicy. His exclamation made the purchase totally worth it. I was going to make a video but I don't think the camera quality can capture the awesomeness. So instead I took some photos this morning before I left for work. Here are the surviving two:

Those peaches are each about the size of a softball. And when I sliced another one to serve with the toast and *amazing* tofu I bought it was just perfect.

Maybe I'll make a video about the tofu I got later. Like, sometime in the next week. Be jealous of all the amazing food here. We have to pay for it, for sure, but it's still awesome.

Consciousness

2009-06-22T14:20:00.001+09:00

I live in Tokyo. This is nothing new. Well, at the moment I don't actually live in Tokyo, but very close to it. In about two months I'll be living in Tokyo itself. But that's neither here nor there. This morning I looked out the window at Moo Cow's apartment and realized once again that yes, I live in Tokyo. This is the stuff dreams are made of and I'm doing it. There are people who would kill to be here (why aren't they here then?) and here I am. Granted, I worked to be here and I know it.

Last week I had two people comment on my YouTube that I'm so lucky to be here. Luck doesn't factor into it. I wanted to be here so I worked towards it and eventually achieved it. Not sure why people would call that lucky.

So as I looked out Moo Cow's window I decided to take a photo. This is what I see:

From here it looks quite peaceful, don't you think? This is a residential street so there isn't much in the way of shops, but that's not important here. But if you need to know, the shops are on the other side of these buildings...the main street is just to the left of this photo behind the buildings. ;o)

And now I have to get to work. On my list for the next few days is to write up blog posts for all of the stuff I haven't blogged yet. You may be getting posts every couple days for a while until I catch up. Sorry for my absence. v(^_~);

Rainy Season 2009!

2009-06-14T19:02:00.000+09:00

Holy crap that's a lot of rain.

Doritos sticks?!

2009-05-21T15:38:00.000+09:00

Japan overreacts. A lot.

2009-05-19T00:16:00.000+09:00

In Japan people need to stay healthy because you don't get many sick days. So people often wear masks to keep from getting sick and/or spreading germs. It's a nice system that I'm not really allowed to partake in as a foreigner. That's okay with me...I bet they're horribly uncomfortable.

That all being said... The public or media or whomever decides that people are going to panic is a bit crazy here. I think this article sums up my feelings on the precautions against the swine flu.

The bottom line: I love Japan. Some things confuse the hell out of me. This is one of them.

A Smattering of Japanese Sauces

2009-05-17T14:31:00.000+09:00

A little discussion of the sauces I have in my apartment. For some reason I find this a fascinating subject.

Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! Day 1: Restaurant Review

2009-05-16T15:26:00.000+09:00

After a long trek around town we figured we'd earned a nice dinner. Aside from transportation, this was the largest expense during the trip. I figured it was a worthy expense, since I wanted to share this restaurant with Moo Cow.

梅の花 (Ume no Hana)

A restaurant that specializes in tofu, this chain is a great find. When you walk in, the friendly staff will greet you and direct you towards a private room where you'll be eating. It's a traditional Japanese-style interior so you'll be expected to take off your shoes at the door. Keep that in mind when choosing your footwear. Some of the rooms will have traditional setups without the sunken floor beneath the table, while others have it. It appears to depend on the restaurant, as each has slightly different decor.

First they'll offer you warm hand towels and ask what you'd like to order. The courses begin at ¥3600 for dinner and go up to ¥7000 or a little more if you choose from the seasonal courses. You can also order items a la carte, but the course menus are always the best deal in terms of variety for price.

We tried the nagomi, a standard course menu that costs ¥3600 and has 12 courses. Once you order, they bring you a small sheet copy of the menu. Again, this is only in Japanese, but it's still a fun little souvenir if you like food. They also explain each course as it comes to your table. From here on out I'll only be talking about the nagomi, since it's the course we had.

The first course was a trio of tofus. We were so hungry we forgot to take a photo before devouring it. Oops. One in particular caught my interest though, which was a ribbon-like tofu that tasted smoother than any tofu I've had anywhere else. As a whole the presentation was fantastic, with all three in small dishes served inside a presentation box. Beautiful and delicious.

Much to my excitement, the "ribbon-tofu" made a reappearance for our second course. As you can see, it was served in a lovely fan-shaped dish. The dipping sauce was soy-based and suited it perfectly.

At this point they brought one of our next courses early so it could simmer. It was mineral water and tofu simmered together to make a soup. Moo Cow noticed that the mineral water caused a breakdown of the tofu that would never happen with tap or bottled water. They placed this pot on the burner in the center of the table. I'd imagine some restaurants also bring burners because they aren't equipped with built-in ones.

The third course was one of my favorite Japanese dishes...茶碗蒸し (chawanmushi), or steamed egg pudding. It's a savory pudding with seafood, mushrooms and other items in it. This one of course had some kind of dumpling in the middle. The dumpling was no doubt made of soy, but it had the texture of the dango I love so much. Despite the hot weather I ate this with much happiness.

Following that was another course we forgot to photograph: 名物とうふしゅうまい(tofu shumai), or tofu dumpling. If you're familiar with gyoza, it's kind of like that but usually round and made with shrimp. These were served in wicker baskets usually used for Dim Sum. They contained shrimp (read: NOT vegetarian) and I believe the tofu was in the noodle wrapping, which was different from the usual because instead of being a large sheet noodle wrapped around the meaty center, it had shredded noodle pieces, as if the dumpling was rolled in it instead. Because of this it has a nice aesthetic. Fabulous dumplings, they were. I wish we'd remembered to take photos.

When they came to collect the plates from that course, they told us the soup was ready to eat. It was delicious. They told us we'd know when it was ready because the soup would become milky white. When they'd initially brought the soup they also gave us instructions that were in both Japanese and I believe English as well, although if I remember correctly the English was questionable. Nonetheless it was understandable and helpful. The soup was eaten mixed with soy sauce.

Next came a fish tempura. The batter was light, crunchy and not oily, while the fish was perfectly cooked so it fell apart in our mouths. We suspect the tofu in this course was in the tempura batter. Although at this point I was starting to question the use of tofu in every course. The tempura sauce for dipping also came with ground daikon to be mixed in, which you can see in the photo.

Perhaps the whole reason I remembered the restaurant from my previous trip was because of the next course. It also influenced my menu decision, as it involved this course. I don't know what these are, but Moo Cow said they're a common Chinese food I could buy in the US at an Asian market, although I wouldn't find the sauce. As you can see, I was too impatient to wait for the photo before nibbling on the corner of one...

A Japanese course menu wouldn't be complete without some kind of salad, so next was the tofu salad. It came stacked as in the photos and with instructions to mix it well before eating (we thought that was kind of obvious). The sauce was an interesting tangy sauce, although not an unfamiliar one. I'm pretty sure I've had it on salads in Japanese restaurants in the US before.

The final three non-dessert courses were served together. Most traditional Japanese course menus will end with a rice course. This one also served miso and an array of what are called pickles here. Pickles in Japan include anything that's been pickled and cut into pieces; the name is not just reserved for pickled cucumbers. I think I liked the dark purple ones the best.

Finally, we had our choice of three desserts. The first was strawberry ice cream, the second was a soy ice cream with kinako (soy powder) and molasses on it, and we didn't hear the third one because we emphatically chose the second choice. We'd had this dessert before at an "American Sushi" restaurant (called California Roll Sushi in Azabu Juban) and it was phenomenal. It was worth trying a soy-based ice cream as well. It was served with a pot of hot tea. It wasn't green tea or barley tea, but we aren't sure *what* kind of tea it was.

And here's a better photos of the ice cream itself...

At this point you can sit and chat over tea for as long as you like. Since we hadn't made a reservation we didn't have the luxury of hours, but we enjoyed our food thoroughly. Here's a little proof, I suppose...

And Moo Cow enjoyed his ice cream. Not sure if this was before or after I told him it wasn't dairy.

As you leave, if you particularly enjoyed any part of your meal, you can pick up some "souvenirs" or just munchies from a display near the register to take home with you. My first trip we got a tofu cheesecake that was to die for. Keep in mind these will be nominally priced, yet they are completely worth the cost.

All in all, this restaurant has a great atmosphere, friendly staff and fabulous food. The presentations are well-thought out and take the flavor into consideration; I'd expect nothing less from a nice Japanese restaurant. The price-to-quality ratio is great. I think this restaurant falls into low-key business meals, inexpensive dates and family special occasions (my first trip was for Grandma's birthday). It is a tofu restaurant, however, it is not vegetarian in nature. Perhaps the courses aren't even pescetarian, I'm not sure. If you like tofu I recommend trying this restaurant, but if you're vegetarian you'll be a bit limited. Overall, I hope you try it if you have the chance.

Last Christmas Package?

2009-05-14T14:00:00.001+09:00

Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! Day 1: The Botanical Gardens and Shopping District

2009-05-04T19:44:00.000+09:00

Day 1: The Botanical Gardens and Shopping District

**note: all images (as well as additional ones) are also at flickr, with additional commentary, click on any photo to go to its flickr page if you want to make comments**

After leaving the Imperial Palace we headed towards the botanical gardens. We decided to cover the general central Kyoto area on the first day.It's a little bit north so we hiked up until we found some bridges crossing the river. But before we got there, I couldn't help but notice some nice plants people had on their doorsteps.

The botanical gardens. Entry fee: ¥200

The tickets at the botanical garden rotate monthly, meaning they have a different photo on them every month. Very cool.

And as we went in, they handed us a map also. Pretty nice maps, I must say.

Some shots from the trellis right by the entrance. I think Moo Cow took these while I was in the bathroom. They're so pretty!!!

As we continued, we noticed a bamboo garden. Hooray for bamboo! Moo Cow wanted to find the bamboo forest in Arashiyama, but he loves bamboo so we stopped here for a while to have lunch.

Bamboo shoots. Bamboo can grow up to 36" or so in a day in its natural habitat. We didn't stay long enough to watch this grow.

The tulip garden was fantastic. I loved the patchwork layout of it.

This fountain reminds me of a photo I took at MSU.

We took a goofy photo break. I don't usually do these kinds of photos but I enjoy seeing them when people post them.

After taking a nap in the grass under some shady trees we continued. Then we found these. Are there supposed to be palm trees here? I realized Okinawa is tropical, but Kyoto isn't. But then, maybe it has something to do with the fact that Okinawa *is* tropical. People don't usually realize that part of Japan is indeed tropical. Hmmm... We didn't see the tropical climate, although it was indeed pretty hot.

There was a lovely little area with a hut and a pond. There was a sign that said no photos so I had to snap them quickly. Unfortunately the water was a little dark. And then I tried again when we went around the way, but didn't have much more success. But you can see the white koi if you look hard.

The neat footbridges were scattered throughout. They remind me of Monet's Japanese footbridges. And well they should, I suppose.

There was a cool watermill near one of the footbridges. A photographer was on the other side of it, but I'm pretty sure my photo of the watermill turned out better. ^_~

And one more shot of the pavilion overlooking the koi pond. I really liked that place but there were too many people crowding in for my taste...and for my photo-taking rule-breaking...

I truly don't understand why anyone would sacrifice so many trees to support another one. This one in particular had a lot of trees sacrificed for it. There are others with very large, long trees that couldn't have been salvaged from deadwood. Makes me wonder.

Huh?

And some cool red clay tiles at the bottom of a stream. It's really quite interesting to observe the different solutions to "problems" that the Japanese as a whole come up with as opposed to "Western" solutions. It seems the Japanese solutions are usually more concerned with aesthetic, while American ones are based on costs, beauty be damned. Granted, this was a national garden so it might have made a difference...I've seen some pretty ugly solutions here too. And...*gasp* a tree stump. Looks like things do die in Japan. Don't be too shocked, heh.

As we left we saw a mountain with the kanji for big on it. We didn't know at the time that it was significant. We also saw it up close later but forgot to take photos. Oops.

While wandering towards our next destination, we found Moo Cow's shrine. Or at least it was a shrine to his brethren. Bwahaha. I made him pose with it.

Afterwards we went to dinner at a nice tofu restaurant, but that'll be covered in the restaurant review I'll be posting next. Once our bellies were full we meandered around town in hopes of finding something interesting before crashing. We then stumbled upon a (the?) shopping district.

There were shrines there too though. So many all over the place, but it's part of the charm in Kyoto.

And some more interesting English. This one's just an odd name for a shop.

The buildings aren't as tall as Tokyo, but that's to be expected.

And of course I found the arcades. They sold cute little fugu (blowfish) there, but oh man, I didn't wanna have to carry one around for the trip. Was so tired! Here's how one of them showed some of the walking prizes off...

And then we found what may have been the red light district. Lots of clubs and shady places. We later found out it was near Gion, but we didn't know that at the time. Not exactly, anyway.

Moo Cow was more interested in the waterways everywhere. We think they may have been a waste removal system a long time ago.

And then Kani Doraku. Not something special to Kyoto, but the signs don't usually move like this in Tokyo.

And here's a video of it!

We interrupt the Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! series to bring you...

2009-05-04T17:02:00.000+09:00

Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! Day 1: Arrival and Imperial Palace

2009-05-04T00:32:00.000+09:00

Day 1: Arrival and Imperial Palace

**note: all images (as well as additional ones) are also at flickr, with additional commentary, click on any photo to go to its flickr page if you want to make comments**

To get to Kyoto we decided to take the cheapest method possible; the night bus. The tickets were ¥4300 plus additional fees (anywhere from ¥500 to ¥2000) depending on peak times. Inside this flier there was a chart detailing the dates and fees, as well as departure times and locations, etc. Very useful, but only in Japanese, so not useful if you don't speak the language. Same thing for the people you call to make reservations; no English support.

Sorry the ticket back is a bit blurry...

Starting out was fun, although the bus could've been more comfortable, honestly we arrived in good shape. It was a bit chilly so we tried to keep moving in the wee hours. The McDonald's at the station wasn't open yet because we arrived before 6am.

Our first point of business was to make a game plan for the day and eat some food. Moo Cow had the good foresight to bring his LonelyPlanet guidebook for Japan. It came in pretty handy.

Once we figured out a basic outline of our day we headed north. For the first day we decided we wanted to see the Imperial Palace. In all it was rather disappointing, but that's to be expected of something that isn't in use anymore, heh. On our way there we saw the first of many temples.

Higashi Honganjii is a temple of a branch of Pure Land Buddhism. Here's the blurb from the plaque that was in a bunch of languages...

The is the mother temple of the Shinshu Otani-ha, a branch of Pure Land Buddhism, called Shinshu Hombyo, generally known as Higashi (East) Hoganji to distinguish it from Nishi (West) Honganji. Honganji originates from the time when Kakushin-ni, the youngest daughter of founder Shinran (1173-1262) built a mausoleum at Higashiyama Otani to enshrine her father's portrait in 1272. In 1591, Kennyo, the 11th abbot of Honganji, received land from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and built a temple (now Nishi Honganji)in Shichijo Horikawa. However, in 1602, Tokugawa Ieyasu donated this site in Karasuma Rokujo, where Kyonyo, the 12th abbot, constructed another temple complex. Thus, Honganji was divided into two major branches. The present temple halls were rebuilt in 1895, during the Meiji period. The Goei-do (Founder's Hall), in which the image of Shinran is kept, is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.

It was early so it wasn't actually all that interesting/busy, plus there was construction inside...but there was a cool fountain across the street.

And a small nifty shrine on the way too. I don't know what my obsession is with these little shrines, but they're all over Japan.

Some of the Engrish here is amazing. Would you like some morning scorn?

We then went to the Imperial Palace, like I said. It was quite a trek to get there. Since this was supposed to be a very cheap trip we decided to walk everywhere. Yep. Tiring though, jeez.

We saw some grass. It was super exciting...since Tokyo seems to lack this stuff...

So I hopped around.

...and Moo Cow meditated.

I saw a tree I really wanted to climb. Didn't do it though...didn't need to get arrested.

Moo Cow took photos of me as I napped on a bench (and his lap, oops).

Trees can't support themselves, obviously.

Short doorways. Not sure why this door is so short, but it's my height perfectly. Moo Cow suggested I'm about as tall as the Japanese people who built it. I think it has more to do with having to bow to get into the gate.

And that's it's for the first installment of day 1. Next up is the botanical gardens. ^_^;

First of the "Spryte and Moo Cow backpack in Kyoto!" series! ^_^;

2009-05-03T13:21:00.000+09:00

First video, one of few taken on my puter on the trip. No internet to be found in Kyoto, really... not that I was surprised.

Spryte in Kyoto mini-series

2009-04-26T00:28:00.001+09:00

Spryte in Japan will become Spryte in Kyoto for a little while!

Actually, it'll be Spryte and Moo Cow in Kyoto!

I'll be making a series of posts about my trip to Kyoto next week. With any luck Moo Cow and I will be able to upload while we're there, but we'll see what happens. We'll be making videos and taking tons of photos. My puter will also accompany us so we can use it at any potential wifi hotspots (there are very few in Japan). I'll be sure to let everyone know of the exciting events in Kyoto to the best of my ability. If Moo Cow isn't camera shy, he'll be in the videos too. ^_^

For those who didn't watch the last video, Moo Cow and I will be taking a trip to Kyoto next week because it's Golden Week and we have time off work.

I got an R4!

2009-04-24T21:17:00.001+09:00

*geeked*

もんじゃ

2009-04-12T22:26:00.000+09:00

Tried monjayaki, which looks a bit like vomit but tastes like yum.

It's cheezy sloppy goodness. That was Wednesday.

And I just went on a sweets run. I'm such a hog.

Stuff with students.

2009-03-22T19:37:00.000+09:00

Photos from my night with students.

The place we went to.

The sashimi we got.

And after we finished it they fried that carcass on the left there and we ate all that too.

Steamed mackerel.

We also got some pork kebab/sausage things that we dipped in egg yolks, some beef liver, veggie tempura, oden, some boiled rice in the leftover oden broth and a bunch of different types of alcohol... And then at the end they didn't let me pay. They insisted on giving me the choicest parts too. It was great and awkward, heh.

And taken on the train by one of the students with an iPhone...

The scarf is because they thought it was funny.

Sakura flavored everything!

2009-03-19T18:10:00.000+09:00

I like that my birthday is in spring, when everything in Japan tastes like cherry blossoms.

Happy Pi Day!

2009-03-15T23:42:00.000+09:00

Posting a day late, I know.

First Roses?

2009-03-13T09:33:00.000+09:00

Today I took a couple shots of the first rose of the season. That's kind of false since things bloom here all year, but still.

In one of my neighbor's yards.

I used a couple different camera settings so the colors are different. No photo editing or cropping here. ^_^;

団子！

2009-03-10T23:34:00.001+09:00

Got a package from Turi-chan!

2009-03-06T14:57:00.001+09:00

Review

2009-01-24T17:42:00.000+09:00

This'll be my first restaurant review in Tokyo. I'll attempt to write some as I go, but no idea if that'll actually work. If I ever am able I'll also scan in the copies of the menu I have...

Fiorentina

This restuarant is situated on the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills. When we walked in the restaurant had a nice vertical feeling to make it more formal. The decorations were simple glass shelves and vases. The staff were welcoming and friendly and we were seated immediately.

The course menus were appropriately named, Scala, Toscana and Stagione. We chose the Stagione. Thankfully, we didn't have to make any decisions because of it.

First came our bread with olive oil dipping sauce. It had some sort of soy-based vinegar in it. The bread was a nice wheat breadstick for each of us. I didn't eat it right away so I'm not certain, but I don't think it waws served warm. Along with the bread and dipping oils we got a small dish of greens with a turkey medallion. It was pretty good.

The next course was a salad course with a selection of five salads. There was a croquette of sorts that was to be dipped in a marinara sauce. Of all the salads I think it was my favorite. I actually ate half of it and saved the other half for last. There was also a slice of mozzarella with a tomato wedge, which was wonderfully paired and seasoned with a light vinaigrette, a meaty wedge of butternut squash with a wonderful piece of proscuitto, a nice lentil salad mixed with chicken and a piece of salmon with some complementary greens. All around it was fabulous.

Next was a light linguine with beef and mozzarella in a tomato sauce. It wasn't anthing to write home about, but it was very tasty.

The dinner wasn't completely without choices. Next I went with the sauteed fish. It was a whitefish of some sort (I forgot to ask) served with a mix of winter vegetables and hen clam, with a yuzu sauce. For those unfamiliar, yuzu is a Japanese citron. It was wonderfully light and tender and the fish melted in my mouth.

Dessert was a while in coming because we took a while to finish the rest of our bottle of white wine. The wine was chosen by the sommelier to go with our dinner. Unfortunately I cannot recall what it was, except that it was French. It stayed rather closed for the entirety of the meal, much to my sadness. The dessert itself was an assortment of fruits and gelatos. It was quite tasty as frozen creams typically are.
Afterwards we were served our choice of teas or coffee (I of course chose tea) and a plate of truffles. When I asked for a copy of the menu the staff hurried to get one for me and brought a full copy even though we only ordered a set course.

All in all it was a fantastic meal. A meal for two and a decent bottle of wine will set you back 20,000 yen. The atmosphere is great and the staff are wonderfully helpful.

Likeness?

2009-01-18T15:21:00.000+09:00

Today I went to Quiznos for the first time ever. One of the guys at work gave me directions to get to the one in Ginza. Strangely, his directions were wrong but I managed to find it based on a couple things he said ("I think there's a Chanel right on the corner," but the corner he told me didn't have one...so I found the Chanel and turned there instead). Had the Honey Mustard Chicken Sub. It was pretty tasty. They served it with some strange potato stuff...which I can't imagine being served in the US too, but whatever it was it was pretty good.

I also picked up some delicious deadly jellies that one of the guys at work introduced me to Wednesday. They have this lovely warning on them...

Which essentially says old people and kids can choke on these, so don't eat them.

They're very tasty. I bought peach and grape ones. Stuff tastes like it's supposed to in Japan, unlike the artificial flavoring used in the US. I'm impressed. In the US I'd never buy grape flavored anything.

And now some Venture Bros and bed. Maybe I'll have strawberries and cream too, since I bought some strawberries yesterday. *gasp*

PS - Strawberries and cream in Japan is AMAZING~!

Gloomy Bears!

2009-01-09T06:51:00.000+09:00

Took a break to eat and make this video.

2009-01-05T10:19:00.000+09:00

Now back to Monster Hunter. ^_____________________________________^;

Photo-heavy

2008-12-22T16:14:00.000+09:00

Here I am playing catch-up again. This time it's with photos that very well may be older than the last big update, but I don't think so...

Anyway, this is going to be completely out of order and I don't really care. ^_^ To view them at full size (640x480 or rotated) just right click and view the image.

A while ago I was in a photo-taking mood so I grabbed my camera and headed out to run my errands. Mind you, my camera's always in my purse, but hell if I remember it half the time. It gets dark kind of early here so I had to figure out the best way to deal with the lighting. Meh.

My neighbors have cool yards. I love admiring them as I walk around town.

Some of my plant photos are successful. Others aren't. These weren't as successful as the pink flowers, but I like the textures, so too bad.

And there's this neat-looking little place on my way that I always find myself looking at. Something about it just looks...cool.

And on the corner just down the street from the cool place, there's a fenced-in gravel/dirt area with a shrine. It doesn't look like it because of the camera setting I used, but it was super dark by the time I took this so there were no more photos afterwards. If you don't believe me, check the lamp...it's on.

Here's a few shots from the third (and final) work Christmas party I went to. This was by far the most awesome of the parties. ^_^
Max making Osaka-style okonomiyaki. That's the school director, Stu in the background.

I think it was Thursday I noticed the neat color of the sky when I looked off my balcony. Too bad cameras don't pick this up too well...

Another day when I was walking to the shop I saw the beginnings of the demolition of a building across the street from the gas station. It struck me as beautiful. It's beautiful, in the same way an abandoned building is absolutely stunning while it's heart-wrenching.

I do keep attempting bento, because I'm annoying like that. Check out the mini onigiri!

And on to Christmas around town.

Christmas isn't a huge deal in Japan, at least not like in the Western world. They recognize it's purely commercial and treat it as such. On one hand I love that. On the other, it's kind of sad and lonely. Still, it makes for some interesting happenings.

After an interview and before some training the past couple weeks I've been in and out of Shinjuku. These are some photos from in or near the station. Mind you I've made sure I was there at exceptionally un-busy times so I could get these photos. Shinjuku station is a madhouse under normal circumstances.

The lighting inside the station.

Bakeries make pretty stuff. Haven't gotten around to buying any of the Christmas tasties yet, but I might.

And the flowers. Oh, flower shops here are so pretty and everywhere. It makes me wish I had someone to give me flowers. No lie, I considered putting an allowance for buying myself flowers into my budget.

Yay wreaths. Wish I had one, but the stocking and plastic pointsettia on my door will do for now.

This one might weird some of you out, seeing the Japanese under the Merry Christmas. ^_^;

An outdoor stage for something. No idea what though.

I also got this shot of the station decorations in Tachikawa. What a pink crown with hearts has to do with Christmas, I have no idea.

I'm not without decorations of my own, mind you. My tree. It now also has a little candle next to it that I won at the party yesterday.

And when I'm feeling slightly gloomy I walk to the end of my street and look at these Christmas lights. They make my day every time I see them. ^_^;

Giftmas?

2008-12-20T10:00:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas everyone! And if you celebrate something else, Happy Holidays! ^_^;

Mish-mash

2008-12-09T05:19:00.000+09:00

I made another bento a while ago. It was cute enough that some of the Japanese staff commented on how nice it looked. ^_^;

And I went to Shinjuku on sub duty back before I got the last of my permanent assignments.

One day on my way to work I saw a mascot for a blood drive hopping around Tachikawa station (立川駅). Had to snap a photo, yeah? I think it posed for me too...

This is what happened when *LE* and I decided to go out one night and ended up at an izakaya. I think it's the same night we went to that playground, if anyone remembers.

And there ya go. Now I have to get ready to leave for work. ^_^;

Christmas Party #1

2008-12-07T16:33:00.000+09:00

Two more to go.

I <3 my life sometimes. ^_^;

Damn it's windy today!

2008-12-06T14:36:00.000+09:00

Been windy and raining all day, kinda like a typhoon.

...aaaaaand, now back to A Bit of Fry and Laurie

New Coat

2008-11-21T19:58:00.000+09:00

I'm a whiner so I bought a new coat. This is a big deal for me because I've never bought a coat in my adult life. Bought a car, bought other expensive things but never a coat for myself. They were always gifts or things bought before I turned 18. Oddly, I never thought it important enough to buy another and apparently people thought they were bad enough that they needed to be replaced.

So anyway, it's starting to get cold here in Tokyo so I needed a coat. Been looking for the past week for one and finally got a second opinion and bought it. For those who know me you know I don't take to chill weather very well, even though I lived in Michigan most of my life. It's just not my thing. Decidedly the heat from Iran is in my blood.

...umm, I'm gonna stop rambling now. It's time for sleep. Here's a picture:

Taken at nearly 3am. Bite me.

Meltykiss and Christmas Cake

2008-11-17T14:08:00.000+09:00

Haircut.

2008-11-07T08:44:00.000+09:00

Yes, I got all of them cut. A lot. I love it. If you don't...go die or something, because I don't wanna hear it. ^_~

YAAAAY!

2008-10-25T15:13:00.000+09:00

I gots me some new glasses. Oh, and they were CHEAP! Cheaper than they would've been in the US. ^_____^;

Nice October day.

2008-10-21T04:11:00.000+09:00

It's a beautiful October day here in Tokyo. It's a fantastic 24 degrees (76), with a low of 16 (61) tonight. It's sunny, there are a few wispy clouds...it's perfect. Oh, and most of the trees still have their leaves, although some in the parks are definitely dropping them.

Missing people today, but that's bound to happen when you move to a country by yourself. I still consider myself lucky. ^_^

Just got back from my run, so time for a shower now. Icky Puck!

Another set

2008-10-14T08:14:00.000+09:00

I felt like dressing up because it's a holiday. Here's a random shot while *LE* and I were strolling through our neighborhood.

Gift.

2008-09-30T01:01:00.000+09:00

Made this video yesterday, forgot to post here.

It's raining and it's a cold rain so I guess no run this morning. Bah.

In my travels.

2008-09-27T14:35:00.000+09:00

Here's a foray into Ikebukuro Station, for those unfamiliar with Japanese trains. ^_^;

And how well do the Japanese do American food? Better than we do, apparently.

In my travels I decided to take a picture of the best little wooden playground in the world. It's in Shiki. ^_^

And a little flower bed I pass almost every day. No idea what kind of flowers they are though. (EDIT: I have been informed they are Spider Flowers.)

Picked up a cheap pair of running shoes since I won't wear my nice ones outside (yay 980 yen!) so maybe I'll go for a run tonight.

...

After some deliberation and a little homemade sushi I've changed my mind. No run. Pity.

Media post.

2008-09-26T12:07:00.000+09:00

Backlogged... I'm so proud of myself for getting all these done too. ^__________________^;

My Room

During training this was the view from the balcony at headquarters. Yay, graveyard. Japanese graveyards are pretty...

I liked that view better than the view from *my* balcony, but that's okay.

My Janky-ass bike. Or rather, the bike someone left behind that I have claimed.

The old setup before I moved the table (it goes the other way now). The door on the right there in the way back is the front door; I was standing at the opening to the balcony. You can almost see the whole of the public areas of the apartment.

One thing I love that I couldn't find in Michigan was kaiten sushi, so I found one in town right away. This is the place. Huzzah~!

Haven't been there in a while though...

Went with one girl from my training group to help her get a cell phone. There are some funny places in Japan. The first is a bar, the second a used clothing store...

I'm not always eating out though. Some of my first attempts at food here. Today I got some stuff to make bentos--Japanese lunches--prettier (the stuff is practical too though) so I'll actually be able to make lunches, woo!

During summer vacation I met up with some of the people from my training group. We attempted (and failed) to find a festival somewhere in Tokyo but went into a temple instead. I paid 300 yen to put some gold leaf on a Buddha and sucked spectacularly at it. The girl taking the photos didn't do so well either. Oh well. I also took a shot of the Year of the Rat (me!) shrine and the neato lanterns in that room. Then there was some touristy statue of a guy outside so we all took pictures. EDIT: Apparently the guy is Ino Tadataka.

Later that night we saw some awesome watermelons. On those price tags, for ease of conversion let's say one yen is one cent (100 yen = a dollar), or for those elsewhere, two yen is a pence. Yeah, pricey.

< / massive media post >

Been a while.

2008-09-19T10:15:00.000+09:00

Yeah, no whining that it's long. It's been a while, so bite me. ^_~

Waiting for curry

2008-08-31T12:45:00.000+09:00

Waiting for my curry to boil down because it's a bit too liquidy yet. Once that's done I'll be serving it up and having delicioumomomous curry, woo! While it's cooling I'll even make a video update (see below).

Been cooking a lot the past couple days, comparatively. I made hotel-style scramble for my hungover friend *D* yesterday. It was scrambled eggs with mushrooms, green peppers (ick, I prefer the other colors but can only find green here...) and cheese. Made a side of country-style hashed browns, but since he didn't have pepper I felt they could've been better. Attempted toast but had no idea how his broiler worked... >_<; It was nice to have restaurant-quality American food, though. As embarrassed as I am by it, I'm crazy proud of my abilities in the kitchen. This wasn't my best attempt, but I was a little hungover too; as much as I ever get, which is just disoriented. Could've used some bacon in there, but Japanese bacon is largely fail. Maybe that's why they have so many bacon flavored things! Anyway, I made food. Hooray for knowing how. Made other food last night, though hell if I know what it's called (something Japanese). I suck at Japanese food, but this turned out well. And of course curry tonight. It's a vegetarian curry because I don't feel like lamb curry again. Lamb is awesome, but I don't want lamb curry right now. Dunno.

If I'm talking about food, what's likely next? My life revolves around two major cultural points...food and music. Yep.

Been listening to a bit more Basement Jaxx again lately. I don't know what it is about them, but I love love love their sound and style. I decided to put their singles album on my mp3 player for the train rides to and from work and it's been heavenly. Today I also added Broken by Seether (the version featuring Amy Lee, duh) because I was in a mood, but train rides are much more pleasant with the music. Basement Jaxx's cheeky style makes me happy. Rediscovering them every now and then is always a bonus. Hmmm... guess I just said a whole lot of nothing. Oops. I'mma get back to eating my curry and watching a YouTube video called An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube. The curry's awesome; dunno about the video yet. Here's a video for ya too. Just posted, even. ^_~

EDIT 9:22pm: I just got an email from one of my Japanese friends... "You're so charming. I wanna kiss you.hihihi^-^" Ummm, that's cute, but I'm not interested, yo. I thought I made that clear with the "I have an American boyfriend," line. >_<; Looks like another one I may never see again. Feh, they're dropping like flies. Can't a girl make some friends in this city?

Heading to work, but first...

2008-08-31T00:48:00.000+09:00

Gotta leave for work soon (it's far away again this week, but it's the last week without a permanent assignment, woo!), but I think I forgot to post my last YouTube video in here.

There ya go. Also, I swear I never wanna take vitamins again. Why do they make me nauseous? >_<;

General update.

2008-08-29T09:11:00.000+09:00

What's that you say? You want a real update? Okay.

Life's been relatively calm since coming to Japan. Started making YouTube video to update on random things, and today I created my justintv channel, in case I ever decide to stream, which I may attempt later today while cleaning my kitchen, since I know nobody will be there, haha. Without any viewers it seems kinda lame though. Dunno. I feel like I should be cursing my flatmate *L* for inadvertently getting me into this (I make frequent appearances on her channel via walking into the apartment, heh), but so far it's a fun thing. I've prevented the channel from being embedded and hopefully that will help. Also, when I switch the internet over I may find it's cheaper to get mobile internet like she has. We'll see what happens. Above all, I must do my research. ^_^

Got a new parasol/umbrella to go with my Goth Loli stuff. I always hated carrying a normal umbrella, so this is much better. Speaking of my Goth Loli stuff, the box finally showed up! Woo! Now I should ask for the winter stuff to be sent if the same timetable's going to be followed... >_<;

This past week has been like most others with some notable exceptions. First, I met some great new people, who cannot be compared to anyone I know. Second, I realized I probably will never be happy in Michigan again. I was already unhappy there to begin with but I didn't realize how unhappy until I moved here. Even without too many friends, an extremely tight budget and nearly constant cloudiness and rain, I'm much happier in this giant city than I ever was in Michigan. It's the natural progression of something I realized early on in life. When I was 10 and went to Switzerland (was in Geneva), I remember stepping onto the hotel balcony and shouting. It was an extremely happy and wordless shout. Since then I've always noticed I feel more alive in cities, but I can't pinpoint why. Of all the places in the world to feel happiest, why is it large cities that charm me? Most people are awed by nature, things like the Grand Canyon, snow-capped mountains and the like. While nature is indeed beautiful, my breath catches when I see the endless windmills of a wind farm or the urban sprawl of Tokyo from 25 floors up. When I see these things I remember someone created them, that they began as brain waves and were translated into reality by industrious people. The mind is a beautiful thing.

But I digress. Michigan has become something that represents everything I want to get away from. I'm not talking about the people there. It's a beautiful state, but over the years my view of it has been tarnished by things I don't want to remember. Now that I'm gone I can see that clearer than ever. Someday I might go back, but I think it's not for me. So where to go? To be honest, I haven't a clue. The only other US city on my list of places to go is San Francisco, but I have a rule about visiting places before moving there. ^_^ Other cities I'd like to visit: London, Nepal, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Dublin, Athens, and Kiev, to name a few. I'd also like to return to Tehran, maybe Amsterdam. In high school I had silly dreams of moving to Ireland, then in college I dreamt of moving across the country to California. Never did I think I'd move halfway around the world to Japan. It was the best decision of my life. Now I feel free enough that I think I could move anywhere, with one limitation. I need to be able to take my chinchillas with me. Of all the things I left behind, I cry about my chinchillas the most. I've set them as my desktop background and wait for the next set of photos eagerly. The next place I move has to allow me to take them.

Before moving I should probably get that masters in architecture I was planning to get, but that would require I get a job in the US and stay there for two years. After two years I might be too settled in to leave again. Not that I need to be transient for the rest of my life, but I think it's too soon to settle somewhere at "home" in the US. No doubt I'll end up back in the US, but I'd hate to feel like a caged animal. This travel bug needs to be relieved first. If it never is, well, I better find a job that requires travel. ^_^; And then I'll never have a family save for my two chinchilla boys, because who would deal with that? Too much to think about; these things will come later. Right now I'm here and happy.

Speaking of here, I need to get back to cleaning up the apartment. Finally bought a scrub brush for the kitchen floor and I need to do that before heading over to a friend's for the night. He just got a new apartment and we're gonna play video games until all hours of the morning. I'm also gonna play interior designer since he's gonna need a little help figuring out what to do with it. Huzzah.

In the meantime, while you all miss me, look at the happy seal. Soooooooo cuuuuuuuute!

No, not a yellow polkadot bikini.

2008-08-17T14:12:00.000+09:00

Go ahead and laugh at me.

In other news, if Cute Overload made a wall calendar, I'd totally want it. They have a desk calendar that's awesome though.

I'd like a Baconator with fries, please.

2008-08-14T12:32:00.000+09:00

Five! Five weeks, ah ah ah! removes The Count-esque monacle

2008-08-10T15:21:00.000+09:00

Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

2008-08-07T03:17:00.000+09:00

Okay, not really. More like Woot shirts, cute bunnies and weird food.

Relatively nice.

2008-08-03T14:07:00.000+09:00

It's another week in Japan. A largely uneventful week except for the things I made videos for... so I guess I'll let them do most of the talking. But I do have pictures to share too, of course. Not all of them are mine. ^_^; I'm a dork and forgot to take pics at some points.

First, Thursday was a day off for me so I met a friend and went for lunch. He took me to a nice crab restaurant...omg it was amazing. The first things I noticed were the details. There were even crab-shaped ashtrays!

They started us out with some towels for our hands and green tea. Then we got those little boat dishes (see the first pic) filled with crabs, which we scraped out with the special curve-ended chopstick thing. The orange crab is a chopstick rest.

Next came the big bowl in the lower right of the picture. It was full of ice and had crab legs standing in it, and in the shell was the green stuff...the innards, if you will. Delicious. I didn't think I'd like it but I did. Yay! The legs had the meat pulled out already and were buried in the ice, meant to be dipped in one of the sauces they gave us.

Then came a little bowl of this heavenly savory custard stuff. It had crab (of course!), shiitake mushrooms and one or two beans in it. It was possibly my favorite thing. I loved it.

After that came a grill and some raw crab. Pretty self-explanatory. Delish.

After that came a crab ball dumpling thing...I have no idea what it was. I swear it had egg in it but they said it didn't. It was also very good. Then came the giant pot thing in the upper left hand corner of the pic. The top was filled with rice, a little seasoning, and you guessed it, crab. They gave us seaweed, sesame seeds, etc. to sprinkle on it ourselves. They brought us rice bowls so we didn't have to eat it out of the...vat/pot things. Yeah, that was the cooking device, I imagine. There was one for each of us. Since my friend invited me he kept prepping my stuff and serving it to me. Alongside the rice came crab miso soup and a salad of sorts (no crab, perhaps the only things besides the tea and dessert without), which had sliced fresh and pickled cucumbers and some weird gooey yams. *Then* came dessert, which he picked a vanilla ice cream drizzled with matcha, which is a green tea made from water whisked with powdered tea leaves. It was quite good. I was stuffed.

All of the crab was in the shell too, so we had to dig it out, including the miso soup crab leg. It took two hours to eat lunch. I was so happy. And for the caliber of meal, I should've been. It was quite a nice meal. We had to take our shoes off at the door and sat at one of those low tables where your feet are in a recess below the table. Yeah it was awesome.

After that we went to karaoke and then to a bar in a hotel. It was on the 25th floor of The Metropolitan Hotel in Ikebukuro. Here's the view from the women's bathroom...

Me! My friend's pic quality sucked. I also felt slightly underdressed...even though I wasn't. Oh well.

The view from the table. I especially liked the way this one turned out because the reflection of the bar in the sky. Such a cool place. ^_^

Then i met some friends in Ikebukuro and had a little extra fun until last train. Oh, did I mention my friend drives a Benz? And it's a western-style one, with the driver's side on the left. So weird for Japan. But he had an air freshener hiding in the stuff hanging from his mirror...dork.

Friday I had a near-mishap with the ATM while trying to pay my rent. I'm an idiot sometimes, and to prevent reliving it...again, I'll let you watch the video about it instead. I'll link all the videos at the bottom. After that I did a whole lot of nothing. I was hungry and decided...to go nowhere. It was a lazy day. On the way there I saw an all-black butterfly, which was the most beautiful butterfly I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture.

Today some funny stuff happened, but I talked about all of it in my last video. Oh, except for my dinner. I had tendon (said "ten dawn"), which is tempura stuff on rice. It was only 500 yen and made me happy happy and I'm still full. Woo! They served that with miso soup and cold oolong tea. Woo, delish.

And one of my roomies is moving out. She's out in a month.

That's about it. I hope everyone else had a great week! ^_^ Here's the videos for y'all.

Idiot American, right here!

Crabs. Oh yeah!

Cheers!

Mmmmm, delicious bacteria.

2008-07-29T16:40:00.000+09:00

Indeed.

Aliens in Japan! With Sandals!

2008-07-25T16:12:00.000+09:00

I decided to wait to make a video for this week because a lot of stuff was going to happen, plus you got one mid-week last week. Hope you guys don't mind. ^_~ Yeah, didn't think so.

We had a holiday on Monday. I went with some of the people from my training group down to where the one guy in the group lives. Yeah, seven girls, one guy in my training group. Four of seven of us went. Anyway, we met down there (after an hour and a half train ride for me) around noon and it was a good time. I went into the ocean for the first time and it was great, if completely different from anything I've experienced. Ick to salt. There was a barbecue with other teachers and Japanese friends near the beach, and afterwards most of them went to see some fireworks but we decided to take some rinse-off showers so we went back to the guy's apartment, then for dinner. It was a lot of fun but I don't want to spend hours writing the details. Especially since many people won't read if I give all the details... Hmmm, a losing situation in that case, no? So yeah, here's some pics from Chigasaki (the beach, etc).

The beach at Chigasaki. The actual beach was behind the stands, but we went right here and headed to a less crowded area.

Said less-crowded area. Some of the people at the barbecue. The guy in the middle with the arm tats is the guy who lives out there.

The last round of grilling. Well, maybe not last. I forget.

On the way back we saw this weird procession. They were dancing and carrying this shrine to...no idea where. They were screaming and making all kinds of noise. It was awesome. I tried to take a pic with my phone but failed. This turned out a little better.

I didn't take these photos, obviously, but I'll get around to uploading my own eventually. Yes, I've taken a few.

Hopefully everyone's doing well. I'll talk to you later. ^_^

Cream puffs taste like yum!

2008-07-17T14:11:00.000+09:00

Life.

2008-07-13T11:39:00.000+09:00

Out of synch again (damn) but more about life in Japan. I sent an email too, for those who get them. ^_^

What can you get for １００円?

2008-07-06T03:08:00.000+09:00

I'm in Japan.

2008-07-04T22:13:00.000+09:00

Got my apartment's internet set up on my puter finally. Heh, guess I can't really say that since I moved in less than 24 hours ago, mu ha ha. But still, it felt like forever. Anyway, I'm set up now. My luggage all made it and was delivered to my apartment; I've started unpacking everything, but I'll finish that later today (it's about 5am right now--I fell asleep watching DVDs and woke up around 2:30...oops). I have two flatmates: a girl from Philly who's been here three months and one from NYC who also arrived yesterday. They seem pretty cool so far. Neither truly speaks Japanese, which could make this interesting. I don't know much else about them so I digress.

The apartment is much bigger and nicer than I expected. Photos will come sometime soonish...I just got here so I haven't done that yet. Once I get my room set up I'll take pics. Looks like there will be another email, haha. But then again maybe I'll just link them when I send the next set. Anyway, as usual, no shoes in the apartment, nice wood floors, crappy lighting and around a 6' door height. We have a balcony that overlooks...the other homes, but it's not a terrible view. I have two windows in my bedroom, both are more internal views of the building. And once my roomies wake up I'll start up unpacking again, but I don't want to wake anyone.

First things first, we had to go meet the leasing agent, which meant we (meaning my flatmate *L* who got here when I did and myself) took an hour train ride on the express train. We caught an earlier train than we expected and were there half an hour early. When the leasing agent showed up, she was pretty young and surprisingly not sure where she was going. Very nice though. I suspect she doesn't go to this property very often. We made a couple stops and got to the apartment around 1pm. My bags had been delivered an hour earlier. Thankfully *K* (other flatmate) was here and accepted them. I chose my room and that was that. We had to have at least one person stick around for a while after signing the paperwork because we had to wait for some deliveries but I walked with *K* to the train station so she could show me the way while *L* was here. It's a 10 minute walk. *win* After I got back we had to be here for a while but eventually got the OK to leave and went to the local city office the next station over to do our Alien Registration. That was an adventure, simply because work didn't give us the addresses written out in Japanese, only in romanized form. Unfortunately, everything that day took so long it was almost the end of the day, so we have to go back tomorrow to pick up our certificated. While there I asked for directions to the nearest kaiten zushi (conveyor belt sushi) for myself and internet cafe for *L* so she could email her friend (since our attempts at the internet at home failed--we didn't have the password). There's one very close to here. I'm excited. We went there for dinner and I had my fill for a grand total of 600 yen. Granted, I only had 4 plates (8 pieces) of sushi, but they were big and it filled me up. I may go there again for lunch today now that I'm more awake and my eyes won't be glazed over like a moron. We'll see what happens.

Then we walked home and fell asleep, and that's my day. Now I'm sitting around in pyjamas writing this update, although *L* just woke up so I'm going to cut this short so I can help her set up her internet connection. It seriously took me an hour to get set up, but now that I have it figured out it should only take a couple minutes. Woo!

Speaking of updates, here's my first video, which I recorded at the hotel early this morning. There's major synching issues but otherwise it's intact. The camera view is unflattering. Deal with it. ^_~

Hope all is well with everyone and talk to you soon(ish). Cheers!