It is getting to be the end of the first week in August. My students are looking ahead to the end of the week and the start of the summer vacation. Currently there is a big project going on at work, and the workers on that project may need to work through their summer holidays to keep up with the project schedule. That means any plans, plane tickets, or hotel reservations will need to be canceled. “The customer is god” here in Japan and they are really serious about it.

Luckily my schedule and holidays were set nearly six months ago, and my work is not dependent on the production schedule of the company. One of the advantages that confers is the ability to take a longer holiday when I like.

This year’s summer trip is back to Europe – Eastern Europe. We’ll be starting in Croatia, then moving on to Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, and finally ending in the Czech Republic before flying back home to Japan. It’ll be interesting to see if the transportation systems are as smooth as western European countries. I doubt it, but we’re keeping an open mind (and flexible schedule). Mainly we are hoping to enjoy some classic architecture, delicious food and drink, and take in some natural sights as well.

Tomorrow after work we’ll catch an overnight flight on Turkish Airlines from Kansai airport to Istanbul (IST) and then a connecting flight to Zagreb, Croatia. We’ll be posting on Facebook now and then during our trip, and of course I’ll work hard to blog the whole thing once we return on August 21st.

More when we get back!

Now is the time between holidays – a two week period of regular classes before we take off on our summer vacation. It is hard not to look past the classes I’m teaching for the next few weeks. My students are of a similar mind, it seems. This week we are recapping our previous holiday week, and a surprising number of students spent a few days in Okinawa to hit the beach. I guess it was pretty hot there, but nice and refreshing for a family trip inside Japan. Most of my students are planning to spend time with family during the August holidays – it is the obon season here.

Lately I have been seeing a lot of Pokemon Go players walking around during my commute and also during the weekend. There are apparently a few places near our house (a park, a city office) and players seem to gather there. It is an interesting phenomenon, and I was curious enough to install the application and try it myself. I like the aspect of walking around searching for things in the real world (kind of like geocaching), however my generation was a little too early for the Pokemon craze, and it isn’t so interesting to me. Still, the technology shows promise, and anything that gets all those Japanese nerds out of the house and visiting parks should be encouraged, I believe.

I’m enjoying an extended holiday this week, thanks to my company’s “power saving holiday”.  The company gives us Monday through Wednesday off, and I went ahead and took Thursday and Friday off to enjoy a little relaxation time.

Previously I had been working on the same routine – same students and same schedule for the past ten weeks, so it is nice to shake things up a bit and have a lot more freedom for a couple of days.

We started off with a nice party with the Yamaji family.  All three of them came over for a Mexican dinner – and I served a welcome cocktail: margarita on the rocks.  It may have been a little overpowered however, because by the end of the night it was a wild dance party.  Once again we went a little overboard with the Yamaji’s, so we’ll have to be more careful next time.  I don’t want to end up in the Japanese equivalent of the Betty Ford clinic!

During the weekdays I’ve been spending time making plans for our European trip, and choosing things to do and where to eat, city by city.  I’m thinking that this trip will be pretty architecturally centered, so I’m glad I’ve got a decent camera to bring along with me.  Also, thanks to the recent shenanigans in the UK, the Japanese yen is pretty strong and it is a good time to head overseas financially.

I spent a day at the beach yesterday, but it was so hot I ended feeling a little dehydrated at the end of the day.  I had a beer at the local brewery on the way home, but even after drinking three glasses of water and a glass of juice, I still felt a little dizzy later on.  It is seriously hot around here, and I’ve should be a little more careful.

Tomorrow is Friday, and it is our “Akashi anniversary”, eleven years since we handed in our official marriage paperwork to the city office in Akashi.  Once again we are celebrating with dinner at Chiro in Akashi.  Unfortunately Kuniko has to work on Saturday (and take a test on Sunday!) but we’ll still manage to have a good time!

This past weekend was a nice one. Saturday I was staying home to relax and read, watch a movie recommended by a student (Death on the Nile, 1978), and then walk down the street to buy a ton of gyoza for dinner at Kuniko’s request.

Sunday morning we made an early run to Costco and stocked up the house for the summer. They had just about everything we were hoping to buy. We even bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner – I took it home and stuck it in the slow cooker to stay warm until dinner time. For dinner we had the chicken with some roasted garlic heads, and a brilliant salad that Kuniko made, with a lemon garlic cream dressing that knocked my socks off. With dinner I brought out a little indulgence – a 14 year old white Rioja. I had bought it as a present to myself when I recently got a summer bonus, and having no experience with aged white Rioja it was interesting to crack it open with dinner. I liked it – rich and intense with a nice apple and spice streak going through it. I don’t know if it was worth what I paid for it, but sometimes it is fun to experience new things.

The weekends are for us to eat what we like to eat, and really enjoy the dinner table. During the week we pretty much just eat healthy food – kimchi, tofu, cabbage salad, and other cold foods to battle the heat of the summer. So far the pattern has worked out pretty well for us – we’ll be keeping it up!

I was walking by an apartment building on the way to work and suddenly a loud crack sounded behind me and to my right. It sounded like a rock splitting, or maybe plastic snapping loudly. I turned to look, and sitting on the pavement perfectly aligned with the front door of the apartment building was a raw (slightly flattened) chicken breast. It could have been the thigh, however – I’m not exactly sure. Some other people walking to work glanced over, but I think we all had a similar expression on our face: what a weird fucking neighborhood this is.

The area around Hyogo station doesn’t have a great reputation for high class. Hyogo station is north of quite a few big factories (one of which currently employs me). Many of the people walking around dress as if they are on their way to a blue collar job – wearing towels on their head and flared bell bottom trousers that are in style for carpenters and builders. On my daily commute I often see weird stuff – once I saw a luxury sedan stop and drop off two women wearing elegant cocktail dresses. They got out of the car and walked to their apartment at 5:30 am. Another time I bumped into a group of high school kids smoking and drinking beer (also at 5:30 am). It is a strange part of Kobe, and therefore makes it a great place to walk through every morning.

So about this falling chicken, during the rest of my walk to work I had something to ponder. First, was I the target? Naturally if I am on the top of the building trying to throw a chicken breast at a pedestrian target then a Caucasian with lighter hair is a natural draw to the eye. Based on the timing of the drop I’d say it was possible, but they missed by quite a bit – it hit the pavement more than six meters away from me. The apartment building I passed was quite tall – more than twenty stories high – and combined with the loudness of the impact I’d say that it was dropped from a very high elevation. That would make it hard to be accurate. So why was a chicken falling? Somebody was too lazy to dispose of it upstairs? Was somebody throwing it around the apartment and they forgot that the window was open?

Plenty of questions for the rest of my walk to work. What a weird part of town.

We’re back at work after spending a weekend in Korea, eating food, walking around (to make space for more food), and generally changing up our routine a bit.

The weather in Seoul was just about perfect for us – sunny both days, a little hotter on Sunday, but no rain like we were experiencing back in Japan’s rainy season. The temperature was comfortable and really got us in the mood for cold beer.

Unfortunately, Seoul didn’t seem to be the kind of town where beer is flowing easily. Often we’d walk to restaurants and try to order beer and small snacks, but many restaurants simply didn’t carry beer, or else they said we had to order a full meal if we wanted to drink beer. It kind of put a dent in our strategy of eating only a small amount at many places instead of a big amount at just of few.

Despite that small issue, we had a great time eating our way through town. We stayed in the Myeon-Dong area, which was a first for me. Long ago I stayed in Korea for a long weekend on my own, and walked around town. Kuniko also had been there before a few times with friends, and it became apparent after a while that the Korea that I knew was different from the Korea she knew. Probably I found my way around Korea using the Lonely Planet guide, and so the places that I went to almost 10 years ago were more on the grungy side – cheap and local places, sprinkled with the major sightseeing attractions. In Myeon-Dong I felt like a tourist for certain, with lots of shops specifically targeting tourists, especially Japanese. There were plenty of restaurants there, and most people spoke both English and Japanese, so it made ordering food very smooth.

We started our eating with two bowls of noodles and gyoza at Myeong-Dong Gyoza, a Korean take on Chinese food. It was a popular restaurant with several shops in the area, and the menu had only four items so ordering was simple. The gyoza were pretty good (steamed, like I prefer) but the real star was the cold Korean noodles bathed in a spicy jan sauce with strips of zucchini interwoven in the noodles.

After walking around the area for a while we were hoping for a couple of cold beers, so we stopped at a pub advertising beer and chicken. We saw signs and ads for fried chicken just about everywhere we went – it is a big deal in Seoul. We pulled up a seat on a balcony overlooking the busy street, and ordered up some beers. The staff insisted that we’d need to order some chicken, so I ordered what I thought was a small plate of fried chicken. The result was a just about a KFC bucket worth of chicken, topped with a sweet sauce and slivers of green onions. Very delicious, but we were still full from the noodles to make much of a dent.

After all the food we decided to check into our hotel, and found it easily enough just to the south of the shopping district and at the base of the park surrounding Seoul Tower. Kuniko did a great job picking out the hotel – far enough from the noise of the shopping area but close enough to get there easily. Our room was really big, too. The curtains were a little transparent, though – we had to be careful wearing clothes while we were walking around late at night!

For dinner we decided that we’d go check out Gwangjang Market in a different part of town. For fun we decided to walk there rather than take the subway, and that proved to be a good choice since we could make some more stomach space as we went. On the way to the market we could start to feel some of the non-touristy Seoul… the streets and shops a little dirtier, the pedestrians a little older and more weathered. We walked along a street that was just lighting shops – blocks and blocks of shops selling basically the same lights and light fixtures. The sidewalk was very uneven here and some of the alleyways looked a little spooky. This is what I remembered from my previous trip to Seoul.

When we arrived at the market we went inside, and it was much bigger than I expected. It seemed like several city blocks had been covered with a roof and lined with shops. The shops were divided by goods, so that one area was all clothes, another was all medicine, and so on. Even the food areas were divided like this. One street was all meats and sausages (with boiled hog heads for decoration), another dedicated to Kimpa, still others to chijimi and other fried goods. Each food stall had a seating area in front of it, so that you could step over the stool, sit down, and the staff would provide you with plenty of food. Our first stop was for some Kimpa (Korean rolled sushi) and beer, and while we sat watching the lady roll up the sushi behind us hundreds of people pushed past looking for their dinner. The atmosphere was lively and active, and I really enjoyed the feeling of eating right there on the street. As long as you don’t mind a bump or an elbow now and then it was very comfortable.

After the sushi we walked up and down the stalls, passing up the chijimi being fried in a lake of oil, until we settled on a place selling kimchi dumplings. These turned out to be the big surprise of the trip. Not only filled with kimchi, the larger than average dumplings were also laced with some kind of cheese with the consistency of ricotta. I really liked the flavor combination, but it was a really big plate of dumplings. The portion size in Seoul was uniformly large – maybe an American influence?

While eating dumplings we were able to witness a dispute between the operator of our stand and an adjacent stand over some customers. My best guess is that our operator stole some customers from the other stand, and so they had it out in big voices in the middle of the market. From body language and facial expressions I guessed that the operator of our stand was in the wrong, and the customer that had just sat down at our stand got up and went to the other one. Exciting!

Also during this trip to the market I was able to solve one of the mysteries that had haunted me since my last trip to Korea more than ten years ago. At that time, I had bought a big bundle of cookies to bring back to Japan, and when I got home to Japan and opened them up I remembered them being really, really delicious. At that time I had seen the cookies everywhere, so I figured they were famous, but having eaten all the evidence it was pretty hard to figure out what they where and if it was possible to get more. Luckily I found them again at this market, and we were able to buy some single cookies to try them out. They were just what I remembered, although really unhealthy. Kind of like deep fried donuts in cookie form. It turns out these are traditional Korean cookies and we can even buy them in Japan online, so the problem is resolved. The trouble is, they are so oily that I probably should limit my intake to a couple of cookies every ten years.

After the market we had filled our stomachs again, so it was off to a completely different market across town – stretching our legs and trying to make some space for more delicious food. On the streets we were able to buy an egg snack that I really liked – an egg baked into a slightly sweet biscuit and grilled – yum! It was cooked until the egg was just firmed up enough to eat without getting yolk everywhere. I liked it a lot, actually. Our final stop for the evening was a shop serving cold bibimba noodles. The shop was filled with mirrors, and it made for some interesting pictures. The noodles weren’t so spicy – we were hoping for more heat – but it was refreshing after walking all over town.

On our way back to the hotel room for the night we stopped at a convenience store and had fun exploring all the interesting goodies they had for sale. We bought some beers, banana milk, a can a makkori (16% alcohol!) and some juice and water for breakfast the next day. We enjoyed the beer and makkori while resting up in our hotel room and they were a perfect accompaniment for the antacid that I preemptively took before bed.

Hard to believe we started the day at home in Okubo!

We slept in a bit on the second day, and then got organized and went out to buy some aspirin for a slight headache I had. I’m not sure if it was the new hotel pillow, or just exceeding my maximum calorie count, but the aspirin knocked it out and I was ready to get back into the eating groove.

We checked out of our hotel, and then went off to get a coffee at one of the many coffee houses around Seoul. Besides a wealth of chicken restaurants, we saw so many coffee shops lining almost every street. We went to a Starbucks knock-off called Tom & Tom’s coffee, and enjoyed a slow start to our morning.

Our first dining experience for Sunday was a BBQ place. We could order small sizes of everything (but the beers were big) and we started with bulgogi pork. They served us the pork on the hot grill in front of us, and out of habit I started to cook it. The server told us not to touch anything, so we went back to just drinking beers. Every so often the server would come and stir around the meat and sauce until she was satisfied with the progress. When it was finally ready we put the meat on a lettuce leaf, with some sauces and vegetables, and the stuffed it in our mouths. Excellent! They did some kind of treatment to the meat so that it firmed up nicely and didn’t fall apart. I was really impressed.

For dessert we walked to a dessert cafe, and ordered a shaved ice covered completely in kinako (roasted soybean powder) that was a nice refreshing change. By now it was really starting to warm up outside, and so we stuck around the air conditioned cafe for a while to cool down.

Eventually we made our way back to Seoul station, stopping along at some food stands along the way to eat items from our “to eat” list. We looked long and hard for a place to get some cold beer around Seoul station, but we came up empty. The best we could figure was that it was a national holiday of some sort, as one of the biggest supermarkets was also closed for the day (on a Sunday!), so maybe it was just bad timing.

We ended up having lunch (our second of the day, if you’ve been paying attention) at a restaurant inside Seoul station that had been recommended online – Bulgogi Brothers. We just came from eating bulgogi somewhere else, so we had some seafood (clam?) bibimba, served cold, spicy and delicious with two big beers. Every time we ordered something it always came with lots of kimchi, vegetables, salad and soup on the side, so we just ordered one thing at most places and split everything that came. It worked out well, although sometimes the staff would make a face like we were costing them a sale or something. Sorry guys, but that’s just how we roll…

Since we were at the station we decided to go ahead and travel to Incheon airport early, and kill time there. We caught the express train and slept pretty much the entire way – thanks to the power of a full stomach and beer. In Incheon airport we explored quite a bit. Usually we are transferring through the airport so we don’t get to see what is on the other side of security, and we were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of eating options. The airport is huge – so we had lots of steps to get from one side to the other, but that just made us hungry again.

Our last meal in Korea was at the airport – pretty standard Korean pork belly with soup and kimchi, and I had what ended up being a Turkish fried wrap that was OK although a little greasy. Fortunately we were able to find some other small snacks along the way – a green bean milk, a delicious honey milk tea, and various snacks and souvenirs to share with our neighbors when we get back.

While waiting for our plane to board we went to a cafe to buy some coffee, and the scene was just on the edge of chaos. We got in our order OK, but all around people pushed and shoved trying to buy bread and snacks. The cashier looked really stressed as she tried to manage the crowds, and she was so busy keeping them in line she forgot to make our coffees. We were watching everything from the sidelines, and finally another staff member noticed the tickets in the machine and started making the coffees. It was easy to see every emotion on the poor cashier’s face – I think she was having a really rough day. The coffee was good, though!

In the end our plane was about ten minutes late in boarding, but they made up the time in the air, and we were able to get back home by midnight. It really was a great culinary adventure, and a good way to break up our weekend routine. Next trip, Eastern Europe!waiti

Here at work I’m in the middle of a long slog without holidays. One of the nice things about working for Kawasaki Rolling Stock Company is that they do have a lot of holidays, and they are really flexible about taking your own holidays, too. This goes against the grain of a lot of big manufacturing companies in Japan that seem to work their staff really hard with no opportunities for rest. However, even with the wealth of holidays there are some parts of the year that are a little dry. Now I’m working through the sixth week of ten weeks without any extra holidays. Of course I get two days every weekend, but sometimes five days a week every week gets a little boring.

The good news is that in anticipation of this feeling, we scheduled a quick weekend trip to Seoul, South Korea to do some serious eating. I’ve been to Seoul several times before, and so has Kuniko, but this will be the first time for us to stay there together. We’ve been watching youtube videos of street food in Korea, brushing up on our Korean phrases, and we’re starting to make some space in our stomachs. I really can’t wait.

After we get back I’ll have three weeks of regular work before the power-savings holidays start in July. That is a whole week off for me, with nothing on the schedule. It would be a great time to travel except for the fact that my wife is working a regular schedule, and also that the temperature in late July is excruciatingly hot. Previous years I have considered going to a theme park somewhere because I have a holiday when most other workers don’t, but school is out and you could probably die waiting in line for a ride. From next week I’ll start to put my thinking cap on and make a list of projects to do around the house (that are close to an air conditioner).

Watch this space for a recap (and hopefully some pictures) from Korea next week!

It seems like it has been forever since I’ve had a chance to blog. Recently I’ve been doing a lot more reading and a lot more thinking, and I’ve been protecting the free time that I have before I start work every morning.

The reading has been interesting despite being somewhat remedial. I’ve spent time reading more about France’s wine regions, and also studying more about Food Science.

Back when I was studying winemaking in university, I had the bad habit of discarding information not directly related to California, on the premise that I just wanted to concentrate on the information that directly would affect me as a California winemaker.

This turned out to be a very short-sighted strategy. While I’m sure I was able to free up more time to study (or more likely, party) I was missing out on some of the more interesting places in the world to make wine. If I think back to that time I kind of took for granted a place in the California winemaking world, and the study of other regions didn’t seem like a priority.

So with some of the free time that I’ve carved out these days, I’m going back to round out my learning. I’ve been reading “The Wine Bible” by Karen MacNeil, and “The World Atlas of Wine” by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. These two hefty tomes are filled with more than enough information to fill a wine course. It is far more interesting to read about these wine regions when I have some kind of tangible connection to them. Recently we’ve had a chance to spend some time in Europe on holiday and through those experiences in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy it is easier to conceptualize these wine growing regions beyond the written word.

Somewhat related is my study of Food Science. I’ve been reading Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking”, as well as “The Making of a Chef” by Michael Ruhlman. I know absolutely that I would never be interested in cooking professionally, but I am always interested in cooking for ourselves. My winemaking degree is actually a Food Science degree, and although I took many courses in sanitation, biochemistry, and food chemistry, I have since forgotten much of it. Luckily there are a lot of materials out there for foodies to study up on exactly why things are (or aren’t) delicious. The science of food is treated with much more respect these days in America it seems. Although I haven’t picked up much practical knowledge, I have enjoyed learning how cheese is made (at the molecular level) and how meat flavor changes under different kinds of cooking methods.

So a lot of selfish topics have kept me away from blogging, but I’ll try to remedy that in the future and spend a few more minutes every now and then to jot down my thoughts and news.

Over the past couple of weeks we had my folks come out to visit us in Japan. They had originally planned to come out last year, but for various reasons they had to reschedule, and finally we figured that the Golden Week holiday would be the best time to pull it off.

This was the third (or fourth?) time that they had been to Japan, and since they were visiting during Golden Week it made a lot more sense to stay away from the sightseeing spots. My folks were far more interested in meeting up with the people that they’ve met in the past, and to spend time with them. It was our job to make that happen for them. Although we had a busy schedule with plenty of visits, I think they had enough time to spend with everyone.

We met up with the Yamaji’s, the Fukumi family, the Okamoto’s, the Kageyama’s, and Kuniko’s sister’s family came over as well. We had Chinese food in Kobe with the Ono family, and we did a little sightseeing in Osaka and Kobe as well. Most of that was just in the first week. Kuniko and I both had to work the second week, but my folks were able to relax at home.

I noticed two things that surprised me during this trip.

First, I was struck by how often I would be in a room with other people busy on their phones or computers. My parents spent a lot of time concentrating on Facebook, playing games, or looking at pictures. Perhaps it was because everyone was feeling a little out of place in the small house, but maybe the little screen is a good way to escape. Social media is a big part of my parent’s life – they are very social people – and during their visit I could really see how important these connections are to them.

The second thing that surprised me was just how physical it is to walk around Japan. My mom had some trouble getting around from the beginning, but gradually it got worse as we walked just about everywhere. For a long time I have been taking for granted the ability to walk to the station, walk to the supermarket, or walk to the beach. When we were faced with walking from one train station to another in Osaka it really hit home how tough that can be for physically challenged people. I’m not sure train stations and pedestrian thoroughfares here were designed with special needs in mind. With elevators a long distance from ticket gates it seemed like people who couldn’t climb stairs had to walk much farther than other people. Counter-intuitive, isn’t it?

Now my parents are spending the rest of the holiday on Maui, and they’ll be able to rest up and drive around more, so that should be a big help. Kuniko and I have been grazing through the fridge trying to kill off leftovers that remain, but mainly eating just kimchi and tofu. Time to lose those kilograms I put on during the visit!

This past week was a pretty busy one for both of us at work. During the month of April I have between 8-10 classes per day, which means there is barely time to breathe as I usher the previous student out of the classroom and welcome the next one in. Kuniko’s schedule was also pretty packed with special events at her school, so we were both looking forward to meeting up after work on Friday and getting some Chinese food.

I think that I’ve talked about my growing addiction to Chinese food on this blog before. The key is to find food that hasn’t been Japan-ized and tastes authentic.

Our target on Friday night was Shin-Shin (杏杏) in the Motomachi area of Kobe. It is hidden on backstreets and we have often passed it on the way to Anonym, our current favorite Kobe restaurant. We’ve tried to walk into Shin-Shin a couple of time, but each time they were booked up and we were turned away. We decided this time to go ahead and set up a reservation. Outside the restaurant a flag is flying the name of the restaurant with a big red star, and the bottom portion of the flag must be near a fan blowing out aromas from the kitchen. The good news is that the street in front of the restaurant smells great, but the bad news is the bottom of the flag is stained with the oil that is carried out the ventilation duct. Still, this could be a good sign – we’ve eaten at restaurants with dicey sanitary conditions before and have left satisfied.

Upon sliding open the front door you can see a very narrow kitchen with a few counter seats facing the cooks. I thought that it was the entirety of the restaurant, but the owner led us around behind the kitchen to a quiet room that might actually have been someone’s living room at one time. The furniture of the room seemed more homey than what you’d find in a restaurant, and the quiet room in back had no excitement of frying food and cooks in action. We ordered up some beers and reviewed the menu.

The menu was a bit limited, especially in the dim sum arena, but we ended up ordering a few dishes to get an idea of what they could do here. We started with shu-mai, sui-gyoza, sweet/sour pork, and onion ginger noodles. They started us off with the shu-mai which had quite a bit of shiitake mushroom chopped up and mixed in with the pork filling. I liked the texture of the mushroom in there, although I think Kuniko didn’t appreciate it very much. The shiitake didn’t add a lot of flavor however, and overall I thought that it was a little lifeless for shu-mai. The sui-gyoza were a little better on flavor, but the wrappers were quite thin, and I prefer thick dumpling style wrapped gyoza.

The su-buta (sweet/sour pork) was the big disappointment of the night for me. I couldn’t really taste much su (vinegar), the pork was a bit overfried, and there wasn’t that perfect balance of salty and sour that makes the dish shine. Disappointed!

The last dish that arrived was the onion ginger noodles, served without soup. These were really good. The noodles were flat wheat noodles and the sharp onion flavor went nicely with the cold beer we were drinking. The ginger wasn’t over the top but definitely present, and it made for a really nice dish. I could have eaten several more plates of those noodles.

We decided to leave on a high note and we skipped dessert. It was good to finally try Shin-Shin but those noodles are about the only thing that will get me back there. Kobe is filled with more Chinese restaurants for us to try first.

To change things up a bit we stopped at a bar called Porto Bar, and we had a small platter of cheese. Kuniko had a cava and I asked for the Port list, but it turns out that the Porto Bar had only one port. It was not bad, though – a young tawny port with a lot of fruit – and it was nice break for our palates.

Still slightly disappointed by our experience at Shin-Shin we walked a few blocks to another area with some Chinese restaurants, and we went to a gyoza place to have a few kinds of gyoza – shiso gyoza, extra garlic gyoza, and their regular every-day gyoza. The service there was a bit slow, and the atmosphere a little like warehouse more than a restaurant, but I couldn’t complain about their gyoza. They served them as tiny bite-sized squares, fried crispy on the bottom.

After the gyoza we wrapped things up and decided to head home, but not ten steps out of the gyoza restaurant we found a tiny Chinese place specializing in shorompo (Chinese soup dumplings). We waltzed in there just before they closed and managed to eat three baskets of dumplings. The Chinese husband and wife that ran the place were nice enough to let us in and cook us our last meal of the night. Delicious!

So that was our Friday night – a very high calorie food marathon, and that was just the beginning of the weekend. Saturday night it was grilled cheese Cuban sandwiches, and then Sunday night we made Thai and Korean mini-pizzas for dinner.

I think I need a few days of salads to balance things out…

Pictures from this trip can be found here!

You might recall that for our ten year anniversary we had planned on going to Singapore for a couple of days. You also may recall that we weren’t able to take a trip to Singapore because I apparently couldn’t count properly.

So at the end of this school year, we worked out a schedule and we tried again, this time with brand new passports. We made it there and back safely, completely satisfied with the experience. I don’t think we’ll make it a priority to go back to Singapore in the future, but we had a great time while we were there.

The way our trip worked out was that we left late at night from Japan, slept on the plane, and then hit Singapore from about 6:00 am the next morning. Anytime you can make your plane your hotel you end up with more time at the destination, so that worked out great. We were suitably impressed with Singapore’s Changi airport, but things were a little slow that early in the morning, so we caught a metro train from the airport into the center of town.

The city was easy enough to navigate with various applications on our smartphones, and we started out with a view of the bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The symbol of the city, the Merlion, sat on the edge of bay, and because we arrived so early it wasn’t yet spewing water. However the area was almost completely deserted and the temperature was relatively cool. Later the day really heated up – I don’t think I could ever live in Singapore in that tropical climate.

My impressions of Singapore were overall fairly positive. The city was filled with banks, and when we looked out over the water there were hundreds of cargo ships awaiting a berth in the port. Also just about everywhere there were signs of affluence. Ritzy shopping malls, Ferrari dealerships, jewelry shops, and brand goods were scattered everywhere. It was clear that conspicuous consumption was in vogue in this city.

Racially it was an interesting mix. Outside the banks and the shopping centers you saw groups of caucasians talking on phones. They were probably assigned to the local bank office from another country. They seemed like they were doing well financially and they wanted you to know it. Afterwards the native Singaporeans walked around, also looking fairly well off and convincing you that you are indeed in an Asian capital city. Finally, there were lots of people working manual labor – watering gardens, moving heavy items, taking care of white kids. In just the short time I was there it seemed like just about all of these people were very dark skinned. I don’t know much about the social and ethnic situation in Singapore, but this point stood out to me.

The architecture of Singapore was fairly modern and creative. It felt very much like Hong Kong, with building designs that stood out and felt individual. Coming from Japan where architecture is much more conservative it was fun to see the variety and style of the buildings there. I really enjoyed the design of the Park Royal Hotel – almost completely covered in living green growth. There were also more art installations around the city than what I am used to.

Our hotel was another good example of interesting architecture. Marina Bay Sands Hotel looks like it was transplanted directly from Las Vegas. It is a very luxurious hotel and we really enjoyed our stay. The grounds are beautifully (if not surreally) maintained, and the pool on top with the infinity view of the city was nice to splash around in. Our room was huge and very comfortable, and from the 47th floor we had a great view of the city.
At night we hurried back to our room because we had a perfect spot to watch the light and water show presented every evening in the bay in front of the hotel. We settled in for the show, but it was pretty underwhelming. Maybe this show is a placeholder until they invest more money in a show with (much) more impact.

But perhaps the most important thing to talk about is the food! We were really excited to try as much as we could during the few days that we were there, and I think we got a good representative sample of Singapore cuisine. We ate most of our meals at hawker stalls – kind of like indoor/outdoor food stands gathered in one place. Each stand sold some different specialty, and you could walk around a try whatever you liked. They cooked the food right in front of you, so you can just watch for a while and get a feel for the dishes.

One of our favorites was popiah, a Chinese based dish that was kind of like a mini-burrito wrapped in rice paper… delicious. Of course we tried the laksa, but we were a little disappointed with the noodles. They were a little bland and didn’t seem to want to absorb the flavors of the delicious soup they were floating in. I also convinced Kuniko to join me for some dim sum – and I finally got to try the salted egg yolk buns. They met my expectations – steaming hot, sweet and salty. We had some more at the airport on the way home – I couldn’t get enough.

There were some other great moments – discovering little eating places under old buildings, having (very expensive) cocktails at the bar on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and watching another world unfold before us as the rich and powerful ran up colossal bar tabs. I’ll never forget how our bartender’s face fell when I ordered a traditional cocktail instead of his recommended drinks. The short visit to the butterfly garden at Singapore airport was also a strangely relaxing experience before we boarded a flight home.

So I’m really glad we finally got to go to Singapore. Like I said before, I doubt that we’ll go back anytime soon. Mainly the culture is so money and status-oriented, the temperature was a little oppressive (especially in the afternoons) and it is such a small country that I think we covered pretty much everything that we were interested in already.

So Cheers to Singapore, thanks for all the Tiger beers, and we’ll start to look forward to our next trip to South Korea.

Last night we had a chance to go visit Chu-Chu and her husband at their place in Nishinomiya. The past few times we were able to get together at restaurants and at our place, so it was nice to have a change of scenery. Their apartment was on the ground floor of a medium sized apartment building close to the JRA horse racing track. We really liked the layout of their place – it was so comfortable and they decorated it very nicely.  

Ko-chan (Chu-Chu’s husband) was in charge of dinner, and he made some really delicious Korean foods for us. We drank beer and ate chijimi (three kinds!), lettuce wrapped pork, various kinds of kimchi, raw chicken in spiced Korean paste, and even some gimbap. It was great to have so much delicious food in front of us, and the beer just kept coming. They have a cute little dog as well, so he came over and kept me company while we were there. 

The only downside was that it was on a Sunday night, so it was a little tough to come to work on just four hours sleep. I think I ate a little too much garlic, but thanks to lots of breath mints I should be able to get through today without too much aroma wafting at my students.  

We had a really nice time with them, and I hope that we can get together soon. Some of the discussion was about maybe visiting Taiwan together at the end of this year. We’ll see if anything develops!

It has been a long time, and I definitely owe the blog an update. I have a good excuse for not writing lately, however. I’m just getting over the flu, which knocked me out of work a total of five days, spread over two weeks. This is unprecedented for me to miss so much work, and the timing couldn’t have been worse with the decision on whether to renew my contract or not still up in the air.  

Good news, I renewed my contract, and I’ll be gainfully employed through 2017. The people in the human resources department that I work with were very understanding of my situation, and since my boss recently got over the flu himself it wasn’t a big deal to take some sick days.  

Two weeks ago I had a brutal cold which brutalized my voice and my immunity system, and the week after that the flu moved in and sent my fever to about 40 degrees C, which is in the “red zone”. The doctor had me laid up with an IV and kept me pumped full of meds. I had a weird reaction to some of the medication – it was giving me shortness of breath and I kept waking up thinking I was drowning – but once I cut that medication things got better soon.  

One of the side benefits of the flu is weight loss. Hooray – it’s one of the most dangerous ways to lose weight ever! Now I’m tipping the scales at my lowest weight in eight years. I’m sure it’ll come back to a more normal weight soon, but in the meantime it is nice to see the low numbers.

With a new contract comes new travel plans, and the first part of this year looks a little busy. We’ll be off to Singapore in a couple of weeks, to Seoul, South Korea in June for a weekend getaway, and then we decided to go ahead and travel to Eastern Europe for the summer. We had considered Northern Europe or possibly not traveling and saving money this summer, but in the end we decided that we should go ahead and go while we have our health and the fleeting remains of our youth. More on that trip later, but we booked the tickets from Osaka to Zagreb, and back from Prague to Osaka over two weeks in August. Can’t wait!

I’m wrapping up my term with the new employees over the next two weeks. They have a final presentation to do in class and also for their boss – both of them in English. I’m also going to have a final conference with them to advise them on their strong and weak points and steer them towards the best way to continue their studies. I have really enjoyed teaching this group of students – they tried hard in every class and were serious about learning. I hope I get to work with them again in the near future!

My adopted town in Japan isn’t anything special by Japanese standards. It has a shrine north of town, the usual pachinko parlors, ramen shops, yakitori restaurants and bakeries. The town continues to grow around the train station, like so many other towns in Japan. Hundreds of years ago each town was anchored by the shrines and temples still liberally scattered throughout the landscape of Japan. With modernization came the dependence on high speed efficient transportation, and with that towns moved away from the shrines.

One of the things I like most about the growing town of Okubo is that there is an old side, and it isn’t too hard to find. North of the station and a little to the west is a part of town that would be easy to miss. Between a lonely liquor shop and a lively bar that doesn’t open until 8 pm there is a gap, and once you walk through the gap you enter a quiet forgotten world.

What I am talking about is called the shatta-gai, a shutter street. In the best of times these streets were lined with shops that sold everything – clothes, fruit, meat, TVs, haircuts, everything. In a time before big supermarkets and online shopping, this was the center of town. In big towns the shutter street is as wide as a regular street, but here in smaller Okubo it is the width of a sidewalk. People would walk down the street doing their shopping and greeting each other, exchanging stories and gossip. The store owners would stand near the entrance and call out to passersby with the unique qualities of their goods, and try to bring in more business.

In some cities these streets are still lively and active, and they are called shoten-gai, shopping streets. But with time and technology and volume purchasing and deep discounts it became harder for the shoten-gai, and starting in small towns the shops began to shutter one by one. Like everywhere else in Japan change came gradually, and at first they cut back their opening hours until it wasn’t worth their time to stay open at all. They drew down the clanking shutters for the last time and went on to do something else with their lives. And shop at the local supermarket.

I discovered the shatta-gai in Okubo by accident, after drinking at a local place I was curious to find the tiny gap and feeling a little like the kids going through the wardrobe to Narnia I walked through and found a dusty, silent alley lined with shuttered shops. It smelled like a bin of clothes from a garage sale, and there was a lone fluorescent overhead light illuminating the center. There were plenty of shadows and dark corners remaining, however. Above each shop was a sign that advertised the name of the shop, but these lights were off permanently. With names like “Angel”, “Eloise”, and “Fish Shop Yamamoto” you had to imagine the places behind the dingy shutters. After a short way the shatta-gai turns to the right, and the night I went I found that one shop was open. It was a fruit stand, and of all the things to sell in the lowest of low traffic areas, fruit seemed like the worst possible choice. I walked by and an old man was reading a newspaper with the radio playing a talk show in the background. He was leaning comfortably in a folding chair, and he didn’t look up from the paper or recognize my presence in any way. The only way I could tell he was alive was that he was maintaining a vertical position.

The fruit seemed fresh enough. He had watermelons, big grapefruits, cantaloupes, and packets of strawberries. In the back on display were some containers of apples designed to be given as gifts, and the prices were extremely expensive. I imagine that just one of those sales could keep him open the rest of the week, and maybe that was the point. The guy never looked at me and I moved on with my curiosity satisfied. I think he knew I wasn’t a buyer, and I guess after sitting in that shop for most of his life he can tell pretty quickly who is a buyer and who isn’t.

At the end of the shatta-gai I walked out into the regular street, which was surprisingly close to my barber shop. Above the shatta-gai there is sign advertising a fish market, with the symbol of a red snapper inverted – a symbol of celebration and good luck in Japan. The sign is hand painted, weathered and faded, but perfectly symbolizes what is inside on the street. Nobody is going to have any false hopes after seeing the weather-beaten sign almost falling off the hinges.
Older people in Japan often lament the progress of time, just like old people do everywhere. Japan changes and evolves much slower than my home country of America, so there are many opportunities for an amateur sociologist like me to see what life was like years ago.

It is back to work after a very luxurious (and high calorie) weekend. We did some shopping, had plenty of good food, and spent a nice romantic Valentine’s Day at home. 

Yesterday for Valentine’s Kuniko made a delicious Beef Bourguignon, with a vinaigrette salad of field greens, gorgonzola cheese and walnuts. She also put together a mushroom pate to spread on dark bread – yum! We opened a Rafanelli Zinfandel with dinner and finished things off with some fresh chocolates infused with various liquor flavors. These chocolates had the consistency of butter and mild flavors of Cognac, grappa, and more. We were eating like kings!

 However, now it is time to go back to our regular meals. So many intensely flavored heavy foods really slows you down – I think some light salads and vegetable nabe sounds good for the rest of this week.  

Friday we’ll head to Anonym for Kuniko’s birthday – so we’ve got to start getting hungry now!