Thelma Aoyama: Soba ni iru ne (青山テルマ： そばにいるね)

This song also plays whenever I'm grocery shopping. I'm very curious about the singer. She went to an American international school (high school?) so I'm assuming she speaks English fluently. There are a number of live versions which are nice as well, and you can see SoulJa, her rapping male partner for this song.

Lindberg: Ima sugu kiss me (今すぐ Kiss me)

Here's another one from the Japanese 90s music CD. This is fun, poppy, song, and this is the first time I've seen the singer. Cute, and a bit boyish, but makes me think Cyndi Lauper a bit.

Enjoy! たのしんで！

Kan: Ai ha katsu (愛は勝つ)

Here's another song from the same CD on which I first heard "Can you celebrate?" This is a fun, upbeat song, reminiscent of a bygone era. I can't really say which era, as I'm a tad too young. Take a listen:



This is quite fun to sing at karaoke. Look at that emotion!

Japanese Snowballs

These snowballs were part of a gift from a departing student. They were damn good! A delicious substitute to the snowballs I missed this past Christmas. They were so good, that I'm going to have to find the shop where they were purchased, and get some more. Needless to say, they did not compare with my Mom's snowballs, which will always be at the top of the snowball heap.

@Kath: If you see these in a cake or cookie shop, buy them.

The citrus fruit called "yuzu"

These are yuzu fruits:



These are quite large and unsightly, but some beauties can be found on Flickr. These are some I found in my neighbour's yard in Yonago a few years ago.

There is nothing too special about this photo other than the fact that two separate Flickr users have contacted me on two separate occasions asking for my permission to use it in some project (two separate ones I presume).

The first was some guy in France (possibly) who wanted to use the photo in a school book. I told him no problem.

The second was from a couple in the UK who wanted to use the photo in a software package called Cook It! This was last September. I just heard from them again last week. They thanked me a second time and told me they were sending me a complimentary copy of their software! I should be receiving it soon.

I don't believe in karma, but this is karmaesque. Yay!

A bad feeling

We went to Tachikawa the other day (a large station with many nearby department stores) and I saw something I hadn't seen before. I'm sure you're all familiar with the sight of people handing out tissue paper or flyers in busy areas. What I saw were some very pushy young men, targeting pretty young girls and women, and almost forcing them to take what they were offering. I was pretty disgusted. Then I saw another guy holding only a thick leather day planner. When he spotted a woman (these guys were like predators) he would walk up close and hold his day planner in front of them while saying something in a hushed voice. After about 5-10 steps, he would finally give up.

I don't really know what these guys were doing. But I have just recently read about people who try to recruit women for various unsavoury jobs. It may have been a similar situation. I wanted to do something, but what? I guess these women could have complained to a security guard or to the police.

We must have similar people in Canada, I have just never seen them. Perhaps they don't make themselves so obvious. Anyhow, that afternoon left me with an unpleasant feeling inside about the world.

Some recent meals

You're probably not too interested in hearing about our meals everyday, but here is yet another post related to food.

First, a pepperoncino pasta:



Next, a green Thai curry:



Next, steak and potatoes:



And finally, a red Thai curry, with another Thai dish whose name I'm unsure of:



Thanks Yuu for some delicious meals!!

Makizushi Dinner

Two nights ago, Yuu-chan made a traditional Japanese dish. I think it has to do with good luck and warding off evil demons. I will let her explain it more accurately in her blog.

The dish is called makizushi (zushi as in sushi) which is rolled sushi containing fish, vegetables, and various other fillings.

First, you cook and cool rice.


Then, you prepare the fish and long strips of various things.


Here you see cucumber, pickled daikon, carrot, crab, and rolled scrambled egg.


Then you lay out a piece of nori seaweed on to the bamboo roller and add a layer of rice plus the fillings.


Then you roll it.


Then you cut it.


Then you lay it out nicely on a plate or two (with soy and wasabi.)


Then you put the leftover filling in a bowl over rice (like donburi).


Then you eat it!

Oil and Beer

One of my students works in a place where he often gets product samples. Tonight he brought his overflow to the school and presented it to me. Here you see some Suntory "The Premium" beer and some Econa vegetable oil. Thanks, student!!

Australian Geisha

Here's a very interesting article about an Australian woman who claims to be the first foreign geisha in Japan. She's training in Asakusa (a-SAH-k-sa) and has some interesting things to say about Golden's "Something of a Geisha".

Oh Bento! Part 二

This was a good one. Scrambled egg and ground pork atop a bed of rice. On the right, you see konbu, plums, and leaks wrapped in pork with little plastic forks through them. We share these bento boxes as they are quite large and full.

Oh Bento!

I'm being treated to wonderful bento lunches almost every day. I'm going to blog about all of them, with probably not much more than a few exclamatory "oishikattas!"

This was a cute one with tiny wieners and teeny rice balls. In the distance, you can see some carefully protected pickled plums with some almost invisible brown stringy things (Yuu, please comment on what that is. Thanks!)

Yuu is quite creative with these lunches as you will see in successive posts. Colourful, exciting, and delicious!! I'm a lucky man!

Gochisousama deshita.