I probably said this before already, but Tokyo is, apparently, the city with the most restaurants per capita in the world. It's almost as if eating at home is a strange experience to be savoured occasionally. On every street, every corner, there is a restaurant or ten. The sheer choice makes it hard to pick. There's a cuisine for every palate, and also cuisine for every wallet.
It is hard to say whether I am blessed or cursed to have a good friend who is a gourmet, because it increases the number of times I go to the restaurants for people endowed with thicker wallets than mine. However, today was not one of those days. Today it was my fault.
Last year, as my faithful followers surely remember, when I was visiting Nikko with some friends, I was talked into going to a yuba restaurant, and it was a fateful day. It was love at first taste, even if I still have trouble with the name. But I had to wait for almost a year before I would have an opportunity to have shoujin ryouri ("devotion food") again.
I had a vegetarian phase, long ago, but in the end I went back to meat. There's something deeply delicious in, for instance, yakitori or hirekatsu, and it would be very difficult to give it up again. But let me tell you, those monks knew their food: even without meat (okay, maybe with an occasional rabbit scam), they led a full culinary life.
Anyway, the point is, the food was great. Superduperamazing. I loved every bit of it, even though some people would say it had no meat. It had meat: crab, scallop and fish. To those people who don't think that is meat... Why haven't you failed biology?
I wanted the course with more yuba, which was incidentally discounted this month. Yay! However, they would only make it for at least two people, so J sacrificed himself at my altar of yuba. Em went for a bit less extravagant and more tofu-oriented course.
The restaurant itself was very strange. You know how in some izakaya each party gets their own room? Well, you probably don't. But it is so. Those rooms are often quite small, just big enough so that the allotted number of people can squeeze around the table. There's hardly a place to put a bag; or rather, there wouldn't be, if they didn't have boxes under the seats in which you can pack your things. This one was similar, in a way that Zastava 750 (or for you international visitors, Mini Morris) is similar to a Cadillac stretch limo. It was three metres by four, at least, with a definite tang of hotelicity and a strong suggestion of apartmenthood. Even the corridor between the rooms was un-Japanese in its spaciousness. I felt a bit lost at first, until the food started coming, and then nothing mattered any more.
There are some pictures at the usual place. I'm very near my quota, and if I want to upload anything else, I will have to take something down.
Fortunately for me, I rarely want to upload photos. Today, you were lucky.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
2010-02-27
2010-01-28
Chocolate Sparkling
I just got another drink-related surprise. The co-op store at my campus just got a new addition to its shelves: "Chocolate Sparkling", "new combination of soda & chocolate flavor", "Soda & Chocolate W チョコレートフレーバー" ("Soda & Chocolate Double Chocolate Flavour"... Excuse me? Double what?!?). With pieces of chocolate drawn floating about the bottle, and a disclaimer that it does not use chocolate (the ingredients are, predictably, sugar, soda water and flavouring - I almost kind of miss the "1% fruit content" thing). The drink colour is amazingly non-evocative of chocolate pale yellow. I wonder what it does remind me of...
In the meantime, my lil brother has gone back home. I know I didn't tell you that he even came here, but... some deductive reasoning, please? Anyway, he's been here for a month. When he came here, he was all happy about being able to wander around Japan for a whole month. Already starting with the following day, the tune changed: now he was moaning how he only had a month! It's fantastic how you can present the same fact with two completely opposite meanings, right? Anyway, it got worse with his departure date growing close. Apparently he's been four times to Odaiba, because he really liked some overpass or something.
My mother got addicted to kuzu powder and matcha. I started typing how people will get hooked on weirdest things, then remembered I have difficulties walking past a シュークリーム without getting one. To each his own, I guess.
In the meantime, my lil brother has gone back home. I know I didn't tell you that he even came here, but... some deductive reasoning, please? Anyway, he's been here for a month. When he came here, he was all happy about being able to wander around Japan for a whole month. Already starting with the following day, the tune changed: now he was moaning how he only had a month! It's fantastic how you can present the same fact with two completely opposite meanings, right? Anyway, it got worse with his departure date growing close. Apparently he's been four times to Odaiba, because he really liked some overpass or something.
My mother got addicted to kuzu powder and matcha. I started typing how people will get hooked on weirdest things, then remembered I have difficulties walking past a シュークリーム without getting one. To each his own, I guess.
2009-06-10
The Soft Drink Incident
After a long time of life more-or-less as usual, another culture shock. A bad one. I'm still traumatised as I'm writing this.
Yesterday, I was in Akihabara Donki, and I found Ramune in their fridge.
Ramune is a soft drink well known to many anime otaku, so being at least somewhat related to them, of course I've been wanting to try it. But so far I've only found it in two restaurants so far, never in a shop - so I immediately decided to buy it. However, it was just next to the cash register, and I was next in the line, so I just grabbed the nearest bottle - the red one.
When I came back home, and realised I was thirsty, I remembered the Ramune I bought, and started to open it. Now the Ramune bottle is a bit strange, and there are numerous Youtube clips demonstrating the proper way to open it. Basically, it has a marble inside, and you have to push it in with a provided instrument; then you turn it so that the marble gets stuck between two "reefs" in the bottle before tilting the bottle to drink or pour (otherwise the marble gets in the way again and stoppers the bottle from the inside). What I forgot was that Ramune has a tendency to spray when opened. It of course did, and I did the only thing I could think of - I popped the top into my mouth, in order to avoid spraying Ramune all over my room (or at least mitigate it, since I was not quite quick enough).
Bad mistake.
My reading is still quite slow - in Croatian or English, I can't not read something if I see it, reading is automatic and subconscious. Not so with Japanese - I have to invest effort and time, even if it is just a couple of words it will not be automatically processed. So only then I finally paid attention to the label, and what I saw horrified me, almost as much as the one gulp I got.
キムチ風ラムネ
or, Kimchi-style Ramune. Who does not know what Kimchi is, look it up on Wikipedia or something.
Next to that, a picture of garlic and chili - and yes, you can taste them both, and very strongly.
Anyway, it's the most godawful drink I've ever had the misfortune to have in my mouth. It's positively vile. I've even done some research on the net, and most people agree that even people who like kimchi (I'm not one of them) think it's vomitworthy. Some people probably remember the dream tea that Oz brought back from America. This is worse. If I had to choose between a glass of dream tea every day for a month or a glass of Kimchi Ramune once, I'm going with the tea. So you people who remember that can kind of get the intensity of my feelings on this subject.
Now I'm quite pissed off, because, a) how can anyone produce something like this? and b) since it's being sold, some SOB is actually buying it!
That's not the end of the story though. Today I related the story to one of my lab friends, who is kind of an experienced Japan-dweller, Nihon-sensei kind of person. When I came to the middle of my story, he started smirking and saying he thought he knew what happened, but fortunately it wasn't it.
There is a trend in Japan of hiding things that could be embarassing. For example, a third of the people you see on the Metro are spending their time reading a book, and half of those have the said book in an opaque paper book cover. The book cover does not serve to protect the book - it serves to prevent other people from seeing what you're reading. Of course, it does not really work - if it's really a book, fine, but in many cases it's manga, and if there's nekkid girls inside, people do not need to see the title page to realise what kind of book it is. Still, the book covers are widely used. Also, you can find sex toys that look just like deodorant bottles - you would not look at them twice in the shop. In the same vein, apparently, some companies have started packaging lubricants in bottles with the same imagery as popular soft drinks and teas - including Ramune. The name differs a bit, but the shape and colours are quite similar. I also heard someone tried the matcha lubricant, and that it even tasted of matcha. But it was not matcha.
So in the end, I count myself lucky, I guess.
Yesterday, I was in Akihabara Donki, and I found Ramune in their fridge.
Ramune is a soft drink well known to many anime otaku, so being at least somewhat related to them, of course I've been wanting to try it. But so far I've only found it in two restaurants so far, never in a shop - so I immediately decided to buy it. However, it was just next to the cash register, and I was next in the line, so I just grabbed the nearest bottle - the red one.
When I came back home, and realised I was thirsty, I remembered the Ramune I bought, and started to open it. Now the Ramune bottle is a bit strange, and there are numerous Youtube clips demonstrating the proper way to open it. Basically, it has a marble inside, and you have to push it in with a provided instrument; then you turn it so that the marble gets stuck between two "reefs" in the bottle before tilting the bottle to drink or pour (otherwise the marble gets in the way again and stoppers the bottle from the inside). What I forgot was that Ramune has a tendency to spray when opened. It of course did, and I did the only thing I could think of - I popped the top into my mouth, in order to avoid spraying Ramune all over my room (or at least mitigate it, since I was not quite quick enough).
Bad mistake.
My reading is still quite slow - in Croatian or English, I can't not read something if I see it, reading is automatic and subconscious. Not so with Japanese - I have to invest effort and time, even if it is just a couple of words it will not be automatically processed. So only then I finally paid attention to the label, and what I saw horrified me, almost as much as the one gulp I got.
キムチ風ラムネ
or, Kimchi-style Ramune. Who does not know what Kimchi is, look it up on Wikipedia or something.
Next to that, a picture of garlic and chili - and yes, you can taste them both, and very strongly.
Anyway, it's the most godawful drink I've ever had the misfortune to have in my mouth. It's positively vile. I've even done some research on the net, and most people agree that even people who like kimchi (I'm not one of them) think it's vomitworthy. Some people probably remember the dream tea that Oz brought back from America. This is worse. If I had to choose between a glass of dream tea every day for a month or a glass of Kimchi Ramune once, I'm going with the tea. So you people who remember that can kind of get the intensity of my feelings on this subject.
Now I'm quite pissed off, because, a) how can anyone produce something like this? and b) since it's being sold, some SOB is actually buying it!
That's not the end of the story though. Today I related the story to one of my lab friends, who is kind of an experienced Japan-dweller, Nihon-sensei kind of person. When I came to the middle of my story, he started smirking and saying he thought he knew what happened, but fortunately it wasn't it.
There is a trend in Japan of hiding things that could be embarassing. For example, a third of the people you see on the Metro are spending their time reading a book, and half of those have the said book in an opaque paper book cover. The book cover does not serve to protect the book - it serves to prevent other people from seeing what you're reading. Of course, it does not really work - if it's really a book, fine, but in many cases it's manga, and if there's nekkid girls inside, people do not need to see the title page to realise what kind of book it is. Still, the book covers are widely used. Also, you can find sex toys that look just like deodorant bottles - you would not look at them twice in the shop. In the same vein, apparently, some companies have started packaging lubricants in bottles with the same imagery as popular soft drinks and teas - including Ramune. The name differs a bit, but the shape and colours are quite similar. I also heard someone tried the matcha lubricant, and that it even tasted of matcha. But it was not matcha.
So in the end, I count myself lucky, I guess.
2009-02-09
Does sento wash away bad news?
I had my presentation on sarma today. It was really boring. There was a presentation on Rockies-As-Shown-By-A-Travel-Agency, a perfectly delivered, very touching story about porcupines and personal space, and a presentation-cum-degustation of a Malaysian dish, a presentation on Fusui (or Feng-Shui, if that's more familiar), beautiful presentations on Malaysian jungles and highlands and Israeli saline depths, and a Look-How-Cute-Little-Anteaters-Are one. Of course, there was also an utterly incomprehensible piece on peonies, but even that was a detective novel compared to my Recipe-of-the-Week column in Foreigner Daily.
Various and sundry replies for Linda: The baito is actually a sweet gig. I'm programming odds and ends for my lab. So I don't go anyplace I'm not already going to, and not doing anything I wouldn't already be doing. The only downside is, I'm not meeting anyone I wouldn't already be meeting. But shou ga nai.
As you might have guessed, I did go research local sarma. I went with my gourmet Canadian friend, and I was a bit nervous ("What will he say about our peasant cuisine?") but in the end he really enjoyed himself. Me, I was nitpicking all the time how nothing is really what I'm used to, even though everything was very good. My complaints were mostly based on the fact that it is a haute cuisine restaurant catering to japanese palates, and I'm used to plain old home cooking.
As you might or might not know, sarma is very sour and salty. As (some other of) you might or might not know, Japanese don't like strong flavours. Result is, I felt it was bland. Still delicious, but not the dish I know and love. Also, you only get a midget of one sarma roll for the price I don't want to put on the blog. It is not cheap.
Chabapuchicchi had a similar problem: not enough spices. White codfish (bakalar na bijelo) was the most authentic, from what we had. Shutorukuri (and congratulations for the first one who manages to decipher what that is) surprised me with paprika added to the cream sauce. I know paprika and dairy go well together, and are often mixed in Croatian cuisine, but I haven't yet experienced it on that particular dish.
However, I'm not sorry I went, even considering the hefty bill. I might go back soon, for lunch, if I have time - they have a set lunch for ¥1000, which is more than affordable, considering - but I doubt I will splurge for a dinner there any time soon.
I am continuing my weekly visits to the cute nurses in the dentist clinic. They say there's nothing better than having a pretty girl in your mouth, I don't think this is exactly what they mean. But it's good for health. I'm still in the root-canal-cleaning phase. Dunno why, but I can't but be reminded of Alien 3. One visit is not that expensive, but it accumulates. And that's just two teeth. Sigh. At least that's a regular expense, not a surprise to my wallet.
Unlike the scholarship money cuts. Yup, we got wind of the rumour that our monthly deposits will get cut by about ¥15000 a month or three hence. Plus, the JASSO policy of refunding 1/3 of whatever medical costs after the national insurance is getting axed next month (which is why I'm hurrying with my oral chimney-sweeping efforts).
More bad news: With regrets, I've decided to stop my attempts to start Aikido again. Every week my knees feel worse - last time I had trouble walking for the next couple of days. Not fun. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe ask about using the Uni sports hall, and starting to swim. Swimming is boring, but it's exercise, and I guess much better for me than destroying my legs in the name of health. I just hope the water is tolerable. (And that for once I do what I tell myself to do.)
Speaking of water - I still haven't gone to a sento, so...
Excuse me for interrupting myself, but I'm really annoyed. I don't know whether it's myself, or English, or Japanese, or... Whatever it is, I hate mixing writing styles. Namely, whether to write the long O as "ou"/"oo" or simply "o". It just seems so bloody inconsistent! But the fact is, if I'm writing something in Japanese and don't want to use a native script, I'll probably go with the accurate kana transcription: "ou" most times, "oo" where applicable. But if they're just words that got into English, I feel silly writing "sentou" when whoever knows the word will probably recognise "sento" sooner. Besides, I'd feel like a pompous prick. So I resolve to remain consistently inconsistent, and peeved at my peevishness.
Ahem. Okay. I still haven't gone to sento, and I think I might like to try to go today. I think I might enjoy it after working on the presentation for so long. On the 'Net I found one near Omotesando station, which is on my free route, and I'm thinking to go and try to find it. I don't have any tattoos and I've read up on sento etiquette, so I hope I'll be fine. Before that, a quick stop at the cafeteria, to see if there's still anything edible.
Till next time!
Various and sundry replies for Linda: The baito is actually a sweet gig. I'm programming odds and ends for my lab. So I don't go anyplace I'm not already going to, and not doing anything I wouldn't already be doing. The only downside is, I'm not meeting anyone I wouldn't already be meeting. But shou ga nai.
As you might have guessed, I did go research local sarma. I went with my gourmet Canadian friend, and I was a bit nervous ("What will he say about our peasant cuisine?") but in the end he really enjoyed himself. Me, I was nitpicking all the time how nothing is really what I'm used to, even though everything was very good. My complaints were mostly based on the fact that it is a haute cuisine restaurant catering to japanese palates, and I'm used to plain old home cooking.
As you might or might not know, sarma is very sour and salty. As (some other of) you might or might not know, Japanese don't like strong flavours. Result is, I felt it was bland. Still delicious, but not the dish I know and love. Also, you only get a midget of one sarma roll for the price I don't want to put on the blog. It is not cheap.
Chabapuchicchi had a similar problem: not enough spices. White codfish (bakalar na bijelo) was the most authentic, from what we had. Shutorukuri (and congratulations for the first one who manages to decipher what that is) surprised me with paprika added to the cream sauce. I know paprika and dairy go well together, and are often mixed in Croatian cuisine, but I haven't yet experienced it on that particular dish.
However, I'm not sorry I went, even considering the hefty bill. I might go back soon, for lunch, if I have time - they have a set lunch for ¥1000, which is more than affordable, considering - but I doubt I will splurge for a dinner there any time soon.
I am continuing my weekly visits to the cute nurses in the dentist clinic. They say there's nothing better than having a pretty girl in your mouth, I don't think this is exactly what they mean. But it's good for health. I'm still in the root-canal-cleaning phase. Dunno why, but I can't but be reminded of Alien 3. One visit is not that expensive, but it accumulates. And that's just two teeth. Sigh. At least that's a regular expense, not a surprise to my wallet.
Unlike the scholarship money cuts. Yup, we got wind of the rumour that our monthly deposits will get cut by about ¥15000 a month or three hence. Plus, the JASSO policy of refunding 1/3 of whatever medical costs after the national insurance is getting axed next month (which is why I'm hurrying with my oral chimney-sweeping efforts).
More bad news: With regrets, I've decided to stop my attempts to start Aikido again. Every week my knees feel worse - last time I had trouble walking for the next couple of days. Not fun. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe ask about using the Uni sports hall, and starting to swim. Swimming is boring, but it's exercise, and I guess much better for me than destroying my legs in the name of health. I just hope the water is tolerable. (And that for once I do what I tell myself to do.)
Speaking of water - I still haven't gone to a sento, so...
Excuse me for interrupting myself, but I'm really annoyed. I don't know whether it's myself, or English, or Japanese, or... Whatever it is, I hate mixing writing styles. Namely, whether to write the long O as "ou"/"oo" or simply "o". It just seems so bloody inconsistent! But the fact is, if I'm writing something in Japanese and don't want to use a native script, I'll probably go with the accurate kana transcription: "ou" most times, "oo" where applicable. But if they're just words that got into English, I feel silly writing "sentou" when whoever knows the word will probably recognise "sento" sooner. Besides, I'd feel like a pompous prick. So I resolve to remain consistently inconsistent, and peeved at my peevishness.
Ahem. Okay. I still haven't gone to sento, and I think I might like to try to go today. I think I might enjoy it after working on the presentation for so long. On the 'Net I found one near Omotesando station, which is on my free route, and I'm thinking to go and try to find it. I don't have any tattoos and I've read up on sento etiquette, so I hope I'll be fine. Before that, a quick stop at the cafeteria, to see if there's still anything edible.
Till next time!
2009-01-19
Pizza
Saturday was a cool day. We had an all-day gaming event, and after that people said there was this cool little Burmese restaurant. So we went. I hardly even knew there was such a thing as "Burmese cuisine", but apparently even people from Burma do eat, so there we went. It was a couple of minutes away from Takadanobaba station, and apparently it is a Burmese restaurant heaven, as there is at least 3-4 more in the vicinity. It was a first time I've been to that station, but seeing how there's over a hundred stations in Tokyo and I don't get out all that much, it's nothing to be surprised about.
The restaurant was small, but kind of cozy. Dalmatian feel, almost. We ordered a bunch of different things and split it between the six of us, so we had a lot of variety in our dinner. But I was particularly impressed by two things. One was a drink, and was listed on the menu as "Grass Jelly". (I actually wrote "Glass Jelly" first, then corrected it, and it's not even the first time I did it; I have no idea why. I guess I'm becoming more Japanese by the minute.) Anyway, Grass Jelly (and again I had to actively control my fingers to keep them away from the L key) looks like water with bits of black jelly suspended in it. It tastes very sweet, and the closest thing to compare with would be the Icelandic lichen syrup. But without the whole coughing crap.
The other thing was tea leaf salad. Yummy! Don't ask me to describe how it tasted like, I just can't. There was a lot of things in it: peanuts, sesame seeds, rice vinegar, probably oil, and several varieties of green. I totally enjoyed it.
Speaking of restaurants, I have to make a presentation for my Japanese class, and I'm doing one on sarma. Like a real scientist, I have to cover my bases, and so I think I'll be going tomorrow (or some time soon if I don't get a table) to a Croatian restaurant. Err, make that "the" Croatian restaurant - since there's just the one in Japan. Sarma should be a bit pricey, but I miss it, and it's not that different from some other restaurants I've been to (like, oh, I don't know, Burmese). Good thing is, I actually managed to save some little money, and also I'll be getting my part-time job salary from next month, so it should be all good. I don't even spend that much on the dentist as I thought I would.
The dentists scare me, in couple of different ways. First, I was scared of the prices - I am going to a hi-tech private dentist, and they said there's a lot of work to be done in my mouth, so I was afraid I'm going to leave a lot of money there. But it turns out that I was wrong about that - the dentist turned out to be not only quite skilled, but also very cheap in comparison to back home. So now I'm scared about getting a nerve pulled, which is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous about that. I hope I don't lose my nerve, and get a nervous breakdown. Waiting for something like that is quite a nerve-wrenching experience, you know?
Okay, enough of that. While on the topic of money and work in mouth - last week I was at a gaming till rather late, and then decided to walk back home from Shibuya rather than brave the overcrowded last trains. It's just two stations, which translates to about... oh, maybe 20 minutes, maybe half an hour, I never measured. Anyway, I was passing the Love Hotel Hill (actually, the Japanese name is Hill where the Road Starts, or something like that, but it's universally called LHH by the gaijin population, I believe), and I got offered マッサージとブロージョッブ by a party previously unknown to me. That's a first. Wasn't even very expensive, I think. If I understood her correctly, it was actually about the same price as StarCraft: the Boardgame: Brood War expansion. But I had a book to go home to, so I did not partake of the services.
But was I tempted? Hell, it's like finding a piece of American pizza lying on the ground just inside Disneyland.
I mean, it's pizza!
But, on the other hand, it's full of fat, probably with germs on it, and you have to pay the considerable entrance fee to get to it.
And then you start thinking about Prosciutto Speciale back home... :(
The restaurant was small, but kind of cozy. Dalmatian feel, almost. We ordered a bunch of different things and split it between the six of us, so we had a lot of variety in our dinner. But I was particularly impressed by two things. One was a drink, and was listed on the menu as "Grass Jelly". (I actually wrote "Glass Jelly" first, then corrected it, and it's not even the first time I did it; I have no idea why. I guess I'm becoming more Japanese by the minute.) Anyway, Grass Jelly (and again I had to actively control my fingers to keep them away from the L key) looks like water with bits of black jelly suspended in it. It tastes very sweet, and the closest thing to compare with would be the Icelandic lichen syrup. But without the whole coughing crap.
The other thing was tea leaf salad. Yummy! Don't ask me to describe how it tasted like, I just can't. There was a lot of things in it: peanuts, sesame seeds, rice vinegar, probably oil, and several varieties of green. I totally enjoyed it.
Speaking of restaurants, I have to make a presentation for my Japanese class, and I'm doing one on sarma. Like a real scientist, I have to cover my bases, and so I think I'll be going tomorrow (or some time soon if I don't get a table) to a Croatian restaurant. Err, make that "the" Croatian restaurant - since there's just the one in Japan. Sarma should be a bit pricey, but I miss it, and it's not that different from some other restaurants I've been to (like, oh, I don't know, Burmese). Good thing is, I actually managed to save some little money, and also I'll be getting my part-time job salary from next month, so it should be all good. I don't even spend that much on the dentist as I thought I would.
The dentists scare me, in couple of different ways. First, I was scared of the prices - I am going to a hi-tech private dentist, and they said there's a lot of work to be done in my mouth, so I was afraid I'm going to leave a lot of money there. But it turns out that I was wrong about that - the dentist turned out to be not only quite skilled, but also very cheap in comparison to back home. So now I'm scared about getting a nerve pulled, which is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous about that. I hope I don't lose my nerve, and get a nervous breakdown. Waiting for something like that is quite a nerve-wrenching experience, you know?
Okay, enough of that. While on the topic of money and work in mouth - last week I was at a gaming till rather late, and then decided to walk back home from Shibuya rather than brave the overcrowded last trains. It's just two stations, which translates to about... oh, maybe 20 minutes, maybe half an hour, I never measured. Anyway, I was passing the Love Hotel Hill (actually, the Japanese name is Hill where the Road Starts, or something like that, but it's universally called LHH by the gaijin population, I believe), and I got offered マッサージとブロージョッブ by a party previously unknown to me. That's a first. Wasn't even very expensive, I think. If I understood her correctly, it was actually about the same price as StarCraft: the Boardgame: Brood War expansion. But I had a book to go home to, so I did not partake of the services.
But was I tempted? Hell, it's like finding a piece of American pizza lying on the ground just inside Disneyland.
I mean, it's pizza!
But, on the other hand, it's full of fat, probably with germs on it, and you have to pay the considerable entrance fee to get to it.
And then you start thinking about Prosciutto Speciale back home... :(
2009-01-06
December
Yet another belated blog post. Way, way belated. No excuses, I'm plain lazy.
There were several memorable events in December. First, our Japanese group held a bonenkai. But without much drinking. Which is not really a bonenkai, but whatever. Only one guy got pissed. He was red and talkative, and normally he is neither, so you just knew something was off. It was fun - only pity that one of the girls got sick that very day, so the group wasn't complete.
We went to an izakaya, where the Canadian got us a good price for a rather large dinner set. "Good price" doesn't mean it was cheap, just that it was cheaper than it would have been otherwise. But it was quite nice. I especially liked the zosui after nabe... That was just delicious. And mushroom tenpura was also very good.
Several days later, the missing girl, the other Malaysian, the Chinese girl and me went to see Sea Paradise in Yokohama. (Hmm, I could have just written "me and the class girls". Oh well.) It's a big Disneylandish place, the centerpiece of which is a huge aquarium located in a pyramid. No, not making it up. Pyramid. It's made from glass, though, not stone. And there's all kinds of marine critters swimming around in its five storeys. And on top, there's a huge pool where dolphins and seals and a walrus and a penguin and an announcer of indeterminate species perform in a show.
There's also several amusementparkish rides, and a rollercoaster. We bought a day pass to the whole island, so if we wanted to go take the rollercoaster five times, we could, with no extra charge. Since the rollercoaster was anything but cheap, we thought we had a good deal going. However, as we came to the gate, six seconds before we would have boarded for the first time, the attendant shut down the ride. The wind was picking up, and they were closing down the rollercoaster for safety reasons. So we didn't get to ride it at all. Not even once, since the wind stayed strong the rest of the day. So that part really blows.
Otherwise, it was really cool. One of the best things was the lunch. When we became hungry, the first thing we spotted was a yakiniku place. I hadn't had yakiniku yet, and thought it would be nice to try it, but we saw the price and it was... rather more than I usually paid my meals. Like, quadruple. However, as we walked around, we saw that pretty much everything was more expensive than usual - the tourist complex effect. Then we decided it's better to eat the expensive stuff in expensive places than to eat cheap food in expensive places, and went for yakiniku anyway.
This proved to be an excellent, and in the end really inexpensive, decision. We got a tabehodai. Which means, eat as much as you can in 90 minutes. Well, we did. Thoroughly. If you haven't googled it yet, when you go for nikuyaki, you get raw meat, already flavoured with spices and sauces, and you grill it yourself on the little griddle built into every table. There's vegetables too, but the main point is meat. The four of us ate maybe 10-15 plates of various species of meat. Stuffed ourselves silly. And that's not all! For the soup is included as well, as is rice, salad bar, and - desert! And by "desert", I mean a really really tasty treat: almond tofu. Or almond jelly, if you prefer. Yum-m-my! All for 2000 yen. It might be four times the price of my regular cafeteria lunch, but it's also the most meat I've eaten since coming to Japan.
Last notable event was the New Year. There was about 15 of us foreign students, and we went to hatsu mode - or first prayer of the year. It's the traditional way to spend New Year's Eve in Japan. We went to Zojoji, the main temple of Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, where we just missed the opportunity to stand in a 3000-person line to recive the paper on which we would have inscribed our wishes, attached to a balloon and sent into the sky at the stroke of midnight. Instead, we visited the Eiff... err, Tokyo Tower, which is just next to the temple. It was very crowded, so I decided, with another guy, not to go up at that time, and go grab some food instead, since both of us missed our dinner.
When the time came to enter the temple, it was... indescribable. In a feeble attempt, I'll only say that the crowd was in a fifteen-meter wide and hundreds of meters long "queue", and when we finally went in, there was a war inside. Half of the people were fighting to approach to throw in their coins and make their prayers, the other half, having finished what they came to do, were fighting to escape to the door. It was a war, I tell you. War!
Afterwards, I went home. Most of the people went on to Meiji shrine, and then to see the first sunrise of 2009. But I was cold and my feet hurt, so I passed.
The last of the notable events, I had dental surgery today. Huzzah!
There were several memorable events in December. First, our Japanese group held a bonenkai. But without much drinking. Which is not really a bonenkai, but whatever. Only one guy got pissed. He was red and talkative, and normally he is neither, so you just knew something was off. It was fun - only pity that one of the girls got sick that very day, so the group wasn't complete.
We went to an izakaya, where the Canadian got us a good price for a rather large dinner set. "Good price" doesn't mean it was cheap, just that it was cheaper than it would have been otherwise. But it was quite nice. I especially liked the zosui after nabe... That was just delicious. And mushroom tenpura was also very good.
Several days later, the missing girl, the other Malaysian, the Chinese girl and me went to see Sea Paradise in Yokohama. (Hmm, I could have just written "me and the class girls". Oh well.) It's a big Disneylandish place, the centerpiece of which is a huge aquarium located in a pyramid. No, not making it up. Pyramid. It's made from glass, though, not stone. And there's all kinds of marine critters swimming around in its five storeys. And on top, there's a huge pool where dolphins and seals and a walrus and a penguin and an announcer of indeterminate species perform in a show.
There's also several amusementparkish rides, and a rollercoaster. We bought a day pass to the whole island, so if we wanted to go take the rollercoaster five times, we could, with no extra charge. Since the rollercoaster was anything but cheap, we thought we had a good deal going. However, as we came to the gate, six seconds before we would have boarded for the first time, the attendant shut down the ride. The wind was picking up, and they were closing down the rollercoaster for safety reasons. So we didn't get to ride it at all. Not even once, since the wind stayed strong the rest of the day. So that part really blows.
Otherwise, it was really cool. One of the best things was the lunch. When we became hungry, the first thing we spotted was a yakiniku place. I hadn't had yakiniku yet, and thought it would be nice to try it, but we saw the price and it was... rather more than I usually paid my meals. Like, quadruple. However, as we walked around, we saw that pretty much everything was more expensive than usual - the tourist complex effect. Then we decided it's better to eat the expensive stuff in expensive places than to eat cheap food in expensive places, and went for yakiniku anyway.
This proved to be an excellent, and in the end really inexpensive, decision. We got a tabehodai. Which means, eat as much as you can in 90 minutes. Well, we did. Thoroughly. If you haven't googled it yet, when you go for nikuyaki, you get raw meat, already flavoured with spices and sauces, and you grill it yourself on the little griddle built into every table. There's vegetables too, but the main point is meat. The four of us ate maybe 10-15 plates of various species of meat. Stuffed ourselves silly. And that's not all! For the soup is included as well, as is rice, salad bar, and - desert! And by "desert", I mean a really really tasty treat: almond tofu. Or almond jelly, if you prefer. Yum-m-my! All for 2000 yen. It might be four times the price of my regular cafeteria lunch, but it's also the most meat I've eaten since coming to Japan.
Last notable event was the New Year. There was about 15 of us foreign students, and we went to hatsu mode - or first prayer of the year. It's the traditional way to spend New Year's Eve in Japan. We went to Zojoji, the main temple of Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, where we just missed the opportunity to stand in a 3000-person line to recive the paper on which we would have inscribed our wishes, attached to a balloon and sent into the sky at the stroke of midnight. Instead, we visited the Eiff... err, Tokyo Tower, which is just next to the temple. It was very crowded, so I decided, with another guy, not to go up at that time, and go grab some food instead, since both of us missed our dinner.
When the time came to enter the temple, it was... indescribable. In a feeble attempt, I'll only say that the crowd was in a fifteen-meter wide and hundreds of meters long "queue", and when we finally went in, there was a war inside. Half of the people were fighting to approach to throw in their coins and make their prayers, the other half, having finished what they came to do, were fighting to escape to the door. It was a war, I tell you. War!
Afterwards, I went home. Most of the people went on to Meiji shrine, and then to see the first sunrise of 2009. But I was cold and my feet hurt, so I passed.
The last of the notable events, I had dental surgery today. Huzzah!
2008-11-23
Festival
On Friday the Canadian and me went out to eat something. We ended up in Christon Cafe. Very cool place - an underground restaurant decorated as a church, with very goth-looking staff. The cover charge (or "amuse") was more than I usually pay for entire dinner, but once in a while, it's worth it. The atmosphere was great (if you like gloom), the waitress cute (in a faceful-of-metal kind of way), and the food fingerlickingly delicious.
This weekend is the Todai Festival, so I went over to Komaba campus to check it out. There were some couple of hundred food stalls, just for starters. I had some very nice and rather cheap yakitori - and I've been craving the grilled meat taste for some time now. I also snuck in a game of Go with the Go club. I suck, but I still had fun. And there were bands playing their stuff all over - from very beautiful and haunting vocal songs, to horses playing guitars, to none too bad metal that I didn't quite expect here.
One day I might even upload some photos.
This weekend is the Todai Festival, so I went over to Komaba campus to check it out. There were some couple of hundred food stalls, just for starters. I had some very nice and rather cheap yakitori - and I've been craving the grilled meat taste for some time now. I also snuck in a game of Go with the Go club. I suck, but I still had fun. And there were bands playing their stuff all over - from very beautiful and haunting vocal songs, to horses playing guitars, to none too bad metal that I didn't quite expect here.
One day I might even upload some photos.
2008-11-04
Exotic Things
I went to my first kaitenzushi today. It was nice. I've eaten my fill, and surprisingly enough, paid less than I would for a bowl of ramen (outside of our university refectory). The stuff actually fills you up! Who'd've thunk it...
Anyway, there was four of us - let's call us Croat, Kiwi, Malagasy and Finn - and none of the other ones shared my non-dislike of natto. I couldn't figure out why - but then got my comeuppance when I bravely decided to try ikura gunkanzushi. Boy, was that a mistake. Yet Finn and Kiwi had no idea why I didn't like it, they thought nothing of it. Anyway, five plates later, we were full (and I was in search of something that will help me get fish eggs out of my palate).
During that time, Kiwi talked about some of his experiences or insights about Japan. One was particularly telling. Did you know that gambling was completely illegal in Japan? Neither did I. However, there are all these Pachinko salons - I thought it was gambling?
Well, yes and no. Because gambling is illegal, it works like this: when you go into a pachinko parlour (I still haven't, so this is all second-hand knowledge), you buy a bucket of balls. You go and stick your balls into slots, hoping more balls will come out. When you're done, you take your balls and exchange them for - not money, but trinkets and toys. So it's more like a game in an arcade, or a theme park...
...If it weren't for the shop that is always - always! - next door or nearby, and always - always! - unconnected to the pachinko place. Can you guess what it is?
A pawn shop. Specialising in buying toys and trinkets. The largest buyer of which is... (do I really need to say?) A pachinko parlour. Makes perfect sense, and it's all within the bounds of the law.
Yesterday we went to see the Meiji Shrine. There were about forty of us in our guided Todai group, divided into five or so platoons. This weekend was the Shichi-Go-San festival (as well as Culture Day, and the Emperor Meiji's birthday), and there were lil' ones wearing the (mostly rental) best. Props to them, as they were photoed to death. We saw the shinto ceremony in the shrine (well, from outside, anyway), I hung my own ema at the ema-hanging tree, and maybe a passing spirit decides to give me some of my wishes. Afterwards we had a bento picnic just next to aikido demonstration, then walked on by some other demonstrations till we reached what we were ostensibly there for: yabusame.
Yabusame is an old tradition, in some ways like a sport but more like an exhibition, i.e. no winners are announced, where horsemen gallop past three targets while shooting from the bow. At the said targets, of course. It's quite spectacular, if you disregard the long wait beforehand. They ride so fast that if you're not looking at the track all the time, you almost miss them. Afterwards we were taken to a pricy cafe, where we could get beer or a juice, and where soft-drinkers were rewarded by a piece of cake - and all we paid for the day was actually less than what our share cost in the cafe. The Japanese system is actually amazing, from my point of view: the students get subsidised by the senpai. The volunteer guides paid twice as much as we guidees, if not more. Thank you again!
Other than that, I'm a proud owner of the Gathering Storm! Finally!
Anyway, there was four of us - let's call us Croat, Kiwi, Malagasy and Finn - and none of the other ones shared my non-dislike of natto. I couldn't figure out why - but then got my comeuppance when I bravely decided to try ikura gunkanzushi. Boy, was that a mistake. Yet Finn and Kiwi had no idea why I didn't like it, they thought nothing of it. Anyway, five plates later, we were full (and I was in search of something that will help me get fish eggs out of my palate).
During that time, Kiwi talked about some of his experiences or insights about Japan. One was particularly telling. Did you know that gambling was completely illegal in Japan? Neither did I. However, there are all these Pachinko salons - I thought it was gambling?
Well, yes and no. Because gambling is illegal, it works like this: when you go into a pachinko parlour (I still haven't, so this is all second-hand knowledge), you buy a bucket of balls. You go and stick your balls into slots, hoping more balls will come out. When you're done, you take your balls and exchange them for - not money, but trinkets and toys. So it's more like a game in an arcade, or a theme park...
...If it weren't for the shop that is always - always! - next door or nearby, and always - always! - unconnected to the pachinko place. Can you guess what it is?
A pawn shop. Specialising in buying toys and trinkets. The largest buyer of which is... (do I really need to say?) A pachinko parlour. Makes perfect sense, and it's all within the bounds of the law.
Yesterday we went to see the Meiji Shrine. There were about forty of us in our guided Todai group, divided into five or so platoons. This weekend was the Shichi-Go-San festival (as well as Culture Day, and the Emperor Meiji's birthday), and there were lil' ones wearing the (mostly rental) best. Props to them, as they were photoed to death. We saw the shinto ceremony in the shrine (well, from outside, anyway), I hung my own ema at the ema-hanging tree, and maybe a passing spirit decides to give me some of my wishes. Afterwards we had a bento picnic just next to aikido demonstration, then walked on by some other demonstrations till we reached what we were ostensibly there for: yabusame.
Yabusame is an old tradition, in some ways like a sport but more like an exhibition, i.e. no winners are announced, where horsemen gallop past three targets while shooting from the bow. At the said targets, of course. It's quite spectacular, if you disregard the long wait beforehand. They ride so fast that if you're not looking at the track all the time, you almost miss them. Afterwards we were taken to a pricy cafe, where we could get beer or a juice, and where soft-drinkers were rewarded by a piece of cake - and all we paid for the day was actually less than what our share cost in the cafe. The Japanese system is actually amazing, from my point of view: the students get subsidised by the senpai. The volunteer guides paid twice as much as we guidees, if not more. Thank you again!
Other than that, I'm a proud owner of the Gathering Storm! Finally!
2008-10-12
Shopping Spree, this time in Shimokitazawa
Yesterday was one of those days. You know, the days you can hardly get out of bed, let alone blog. So I have lots of typing to do today.
First of all - I went to the Orientation for New Students on Friday. It had four parts, each consecutive one more interesting. The first one was indeed an intro to something we have all already done successfully. There was one new piece of info in about nintyish minutes. The second part was a bit more interesting, about the types of help we can receive from the International Center, which would be really interesting if it were shorter: Having read the handout, I started listening, then after 10 minutes realized they were still on the pretty much the same sentence. Waiting for translation did not help matters. The third part was fun: they took us on a tour of the campus. We learned new things! And there were four volunteers leading my group around: a Chinese girl who was our guide, an older gentleman and a married couple - and we talked with them a bit. Every lil bit of Japanese practice helps.
The fourth part was the best - party! The space was small (it was really crowded), the food was gone in a blink (homemade, too! yummy!), the drinks disappeared at the worst possible time (when they gave away some really awful junk food), but it was really fun, and we got to know some of the other international students a bit, and some of the volunteers working to make our stay in Japan better.
Then there was Saturday. I have nothing to say about Saturday, except that I went to konbini, and that this Korean girl saw me with a konbini bag and told me that I should go to Shimokitazawa. Why, I asked, and she replied that it was rather near here (not a good enough reason), and that there's a big store which is much cheaper than konbini (now we're talking!). Another Korean gentleman was also there, and said he always took the train, and would be also interested to learn how to get there on foot.
So, today, at 10 o'clock, our little expedition set out. At first we walked carelessly, without a worry in the world; then, about 15 alleys later, the gentleman started taking notes at every intersection. Smart, but too late, as the worst part was behind us. When we finally got there, there was this big shop. o
Okay, not that big, just two storeys, but it took me a while to walk through it. And I recognised maybe half of the stuff I saw - and even the half that I recognised, I couldn't really tell any details about. For instance, that's miso, but that's miso as well. In fact there is a whole shelf dedicated to miso. What's the difference between this miso and that miso? Damned if I know. Also, I recognised vegetables. But for some items, beyond "vegetables", I got nothing. Never saw anything like that in my whole life.
So it was fun. I spent about ¥4000 there - I got a pan! Now I can cook! - and then took my Korean guide's advice to look around some more "across the tracks". I tried to find a knife (for before cooking) and a bowl (for after cooking), but I was having no luck - until someone suggested I try the department stores. "There are none here... But try Shinjuku." Great idea, I thought, exited the little shop, and entered a department store 100m down the street.
I found a bowl and a knife, but neither was what I was originally looking for. I wanted a plastic bowl, not a ceramic one, because with my phenomenal dexterity and the general crowdedness of my 13-square-metre apartment, I didn't want to have to pick up the pieces. But they didn't have plastic bowls (actually, the cashier I asked started hyperhelpfully running around the shop, showing me one bowl after another, but they were either tupperware or salad bowls, not eating bowls), so I bought a more expensive, wooden one (so pretty!). And the first knife I saw (actually, the first article, period) had a white blade. Yep, white. Is it a toy? I wondered for a second, then realised I was seeing something I heard about, but never yet saw before: a ceramic knife. So I bought it. It's supersharp. And white.
It has an orange handle, though. Can't have it all.
After spending pretty much every yen I'd brought with me, I tried to return home. The part where the Korean gentleman took notes went without a hitch; then I got lost in the little alleys so close to home I could almost see it (actually, I could see the buildings right next to my home, but not actually my home; close enough though), but I had to backtrack more than a Prolog program to find the entrance we passed through.
Only to find that it was locked, and that the magnetic strip card that opens the other gate does not work on this one. So I limped around the campus, trying to find the entrance I knew, when I found myself walking the same street I walked in the rain, several days ago. It would have been nice to have gone to Shimokitazawa a week ago - I would not have been so lost when the rainy day came, and I would have been shopping more cheaply than I was. Konbinis really are expensive!
Finally home, I set out to prepare my dinner: a salmon sashimi with the rice left over from my breakfast. Yummy. Then I thought I'd study, but the lunch knocked me out; next thing I know, my lil bro is Skyping me. After that, the neglected blog; and lo and behold, the day hath passed.
I installed devtools for Mac, and some fun stuff that plays with the Sudden Movement Sensor. And also Last.fm, but it is driving me crazy, because I wait for it to retrieve the stream longer than I actually get to listen, so it's kind of pointlessy. So I'm looking at alternatives, since I have no idea why it's so slow
First of all - I went to the Orientation for New Students on Friday. It had four parts, each consecutive one more interesting. The first one was indeed an intro to something we have all already done successfully. There was one new piece of info in about nintyish minutes. The second part was a bit more interesting, about the types of help we can receive from the International Center, which would be really interesting if it were shorter: Having read the handout, I started listening, then after 10 minutes realized they were still on the pretty much the same sentence. Waiting for translation did not help matters. The third part was fun: they took us on a tour of the campus. We learned new things! And there were four volunteers leading my group around: a Chinese girl who was our guide, an older gentleman and a married couple - and we talked with them a bit. Every lil bit of Japanese practice helps.
The fourth part was the best - party! The space was small (it was really crowded), the food was gone in a blink (homemade, too! yummy!), the drinks disappeared at the worst possible time (when they gave away some really awful junk food), but it was really fun, and we got to know some of the other international students a bit, and some of the volunteers working to make our stay in Japan better.
Then there was Saturday. I have nothing to say about Saturday, except that I went to konbini, and that this Korean girl saw me with a konbini bag and told me that I should go to Shimokitazawa. Why, I asked, and she replied that it was rather near here (not a good enough reason), and that there's a big store which is much cheaper than konbini (now we're talking!). Another Korean gentleman was also there, and said he always took the train, and would be also interested to learn how to get there on foot.
So, today, at 10 o'clock, our little expedition set out. At first we walked carelessly, without a worry in the world; then, about 15 alleys later, the gentleman started taking notes at every intersection. Smart, but too late, as the worst part was behind us. When we finally got there, there was this big shop. o
Okay, not that big, just two storeys, but it took me a while to walk through it. And I recognised maybe half of the stuff I saw - and even the half that I recognised, I couldn't really tell any details about. For instance, that's miso, but that's miso as well. In fact there is a whole shelf dedicated to miso. What's the difference between this miso and that miso? Damned if I know. Also, I recognised vegetables. But for some items, beyond "vegetables", I got nothing. Never saw anything like that in my whole life.
So it was fun. I spent about ¥4000 there - I got a pan! Now I can cook! - and then took my Korean guide's advice to look around some more "across the tracks". I tried to find a knife (for before cooking) and a bowl (for after cooking), but I was having no luck - until someone suggested I try the department stores. "There are none here... But try Shinjuku." Great idea, I thought, exited the little shop, and entered a department store 100m down the street.
I found a bowl and a knife, but neither was what I was originally looking for. I wanted a plastic bowl, not a ceramic one, because with my phenomenal dexterity and the general crowdedness of my 13-square-metre apartment, I didn't want to have to pick up the pieces. But they didn't have plastic bowls (actually, the cashier I asked started hyperhelpfully running around the shop, showing me one bowl after another, but they were either tupperware or salad bowls, not eating bowls), so I bought a more expensive, wooden one (so pretty!). And the first knife I saw (actually, the first article, period) had a white blade. Yep, white. Is it a toy? I wondered for a second, then realised I was seeing something I heard about, but never yet saw before: a ceramic knife. So I bought it. It's supersharp. And white.
It has an orange handle, though. Can't have it all.
After spending pretty much every yen I'd brought with me, I tried to return home. The part where the Korean gentleman took notes went without a hitch; then I got lost in the little alleys so close to home I could almost see it (actually, I could see the buildings right next to my home, but not actually my home; close enough though), but I had to backtrack more than a Prolog program to find the entrance we passed through.
Only to find that it was locked, and that the magnetic strip card that opens the other gate does not work on this one. So I limped around the campus, trying to find the entrance I knew, when I found myself walking the same street I walked in the rain, several days ago. It would have been nice to have gone to Shimokitazawa a week ago - I would not have been so lost when the rainy day came, and I would have been shopping more cheaply than I was. Konbinis really are expensive!
Finally home, I set out to prepare my dinner: a salmon sashimi with the rice left over from my breakfast. Yummy. Then I thought I'd study, but the lunch knocked me out; next thing I know, my lil bro is Skyping me. After that, the neglected blog; and lo and behold, the day hath passed.
I installed devtools for Mac, and some fun stuff that plays with the Sudden Movement Sensor. And also Last.fm, but it is driving me crazy, because I wait for it to retrieve the stream longer than I actually get to listen, so it's kind of pointlessy. So I'm looking at alternatives, since I have no idea why it's so slow
2008-10-05
Rainy Day
A short day. I did go to Shinjuku and Harajuku, after all, but only at 5 o'clock. I overslept.
So, after connecting briefly in the common room to download some stuff (I bought Keyword Manager! And OpenOffice.org 3 is installed as well), then I went out. Not really having planned my outing out, I just went to Harajuku (hint: "I wonder if anyone wrote anything about this Harajuku...") and Takeshita Doori was just in front of me. I didn't even know it was Takeshita Doori - I just figured, well, if everyone else is going that way, it's good enough for me.
Of course, not being a camera freak like almost all my friends, I did not take it out until it was already too late (read: the two gosurori entered a purikura, where I did not really want to go). And also afterwards, I was not really feeling comfortable shooting innocents, so there are rather few pictures from there. I think... maybe... about... two. In one, I was trying to capture a cute outfit being sold in one of the shops, then all of the sudden two people jumped right in front of me. Luckily, me being a giant, the costume is still visible. The second one, I was actually trying to record a movie, but I had the camera setting wrong. After that, I did record a couple of movies. They sucked (the camera was pointed too high, and there were too many lights), and the most interesting things always happen either just before I start filming or just after I stop, so you're not getting them.
After that I thought I'd take a walk to Shinjuku, it's close...
Well, it's close on the map of Tokyo, which, given that Tokyo is bloody huge, is not really saying much. After a longish walk, I managed to get to Yoyogi station and then I took a train home.
Or at least, that's what I thought. I remembered from the map I got about my dorm that, besides the Komaba Todaimae, there are couple of other train stations nearby. One of them, to my recollection, was Higashi-Kitazawa. So I thought, why not get a bit more flexibility - if I want to go to Shibuya, I already know where to go. But if Shinjuku is my goal, then maybe going directly might be better than taking the train from Komaba Todaimae to Shibuya, and then switch to one for Shinjuku.
Just as I boarded my Higashi-Kitazawa train, it started to rain.
Now I'm somewhere I've never been, I'm all wet, I have no clue where I am because it all looks different from what I recollected of my imaginings from when I was looking at the map, and there was almost noone on the streets. All I know is, I have to turn right somewhere, but everyone just said "you'll see it on the right". Well, I didn't - I turned twice at a wrong place, before a kind gentleman finally managed more precise instructions (and even then I was not 100% sure, for "more precise" and "precise" are not quite interchangeable terms).
So I'm home now, hoping I won't catch a cold (I did get soaked, but it's still rather on the warm side outside). I thought I'd take some photos of the travel brochure I found ("Croatia", which details how nice Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and "Bosna i Hercegovina" (sic!) are), but it got wet too (not so much from the rain as much as from the leaking bento with which it shared a plastic bag). Maybe some other time.
At least I'm getting plenty of walking exercise.
As far as my home supplies are concerned, I've bought two bento. I've also decided to risk buying Fruit Punch, after being reassured by the salesman there was no sake in it, and seeing as how it might be turned into a can for Cedevita (I have a kg package, and was kind of scared to use it directly from the huge bag); however, it has chunks of Real Fruit, it's not expensive, and it proved Yummy. I also bought 2 kg of rice, in hope someone will explain suihanki to me soon.
In other news, my Pocari Sweat is almost gone, and I've switched to Vitamin Water.
So, after connecting briefly in the common room to download some stuff (I bought Keyword Manager! And OpenOffice.org 3 is installed as well), then I went out. Not really having planned my outing out, I just went to Harajuku (hint: "I wonder if anyone wrote anything about this Harajuku...") and Takeshita Doori was just in front of me. I didn't even know it was Takeshita Doori - I just figured, well, if everyone else is going that way, it's good enough for me.
Of course, not being a camera freak like almost all my friends, I did not take it out until it was already too late (read: the two gosurori entered a purikura, where I did not really want to go). And also afterwards, I was not really feeling comfortable shooting innocents, so there are rather few pictures from there. I think... maybe... about... two. In one, I was trying to capture a cute outfit being sold in one of the shops, then all of the sudden two people jumped right in front of me. Luckily, me being a giant, the costume is still visible. The second one, I was actually trying to record a movie, but I had the camera setting wrong. After that, I did record a couple of movies. They sucked (the camera was pointed too high, and there were too many lights), and the most interesting things always happen either just before I start filming or just after I stop, so you're not getting them.
After that I thought I'd take a walk to Shinjuku, it's close...
Well, it's close on the map of Tokyo, which, given that Tokyo is bloody huge, is not really saying much. After a longish walk, I managed to get to Yoyogi station and then I took a train home.
Or at least, that's what I thought. I remembered from the map I got about my dorm that, besides the Komaba Todaimae, there are couple of other train stations nearby. One of them, to my recollection, was Higashi-Kitazawa. So I thought, why not get a bit more flexibility - if I want to go to Shibuya, I already know where to go. But if Shinjuku is my goal, then maybe going directly might be better than taking the train from Komaba Todaimae to Shibuya, and then switch to one for Shinjuku.
Just as I boarded my Higashi-Kitazawa train, it started to rain.
Now I'm somewhere I've never been, I'm all wet, I have no clue where I am because it all looks different from what I recollected of my imaginings from when I was looking at the map, and there was almost noone on the streets. All I know is, I have to turn right somewhere, but everyone just said "you'll see it on the right". Well, I didn't - I turned twice at a wrong place, before a kind gentleman finally managed more precise instructions (and even then I was not 100% sure, for "more precise" and "precise" are not quite interchangeable terms).
So I'm home now, hoping I won't catch a cold (I did get soaked, but it's still rather on the warm side outside). I thought I'd take some photos of the travel brochure I found ("Croatia", which details how nice Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and "Bosna i Hercegovina" (sic!) are), but it got wet too (not so much from the rain as much as from the leaking bento with which it shared a plastic bag). Maybe some other time.
At least I'm getting plenty of walking exercise.
As far as my home supplies are concerned, I've bought two bento. I've also decided to risk buying Fruit Punch, after being reassured by the salesman there was no sake in it, and seeing as how it might be turned into a can for Cedevita (I have a kg package, and was kind of scared to use it directly from the huge bag); however, it has chunks of Real Fruit, it's not expensive, and it proved Yummy. I also bought 2 kg of rice, in hope someone will explain suihanki to me soon.
In other news, my Pocari Sweat is almost gone, and I've switched to Vitamin Water.
2008-10-03
Welcome to the Office!
I managed to get to the konbini in time. Got a toothbrush that looks like it was designed for a tooth fairy, a tube of toothpaste that looks like it's made for her kid, a bottle of body shampoo and hair shampoo, both of which designed for stinky giants (well, they got some products right, at least), and a nikuman, which was designed just right for me. Yummy.
Went back home, grabbed a used blanket from the "I don't need it any more" pile, and crashed again. Some time in the middle of the night, my jetlag decided it was a good time for me to try out my shiny new dijikame. It's cute, but some options will have to wait till I can get a nice English manual. Then i fidgeted some more, slept some more, fidgeted again, and decided it's gotta be late already on the account of birds singing and sun shining, so I threw on some clothes and went to pick up my suitcase which had arrived while I was having fun spending money in Shibuya last night. In the end, I was grateful noone went katana-tonic on my ass for showering at 6 in the morning.
So, I wasted some more time lounging about, I ate some cold frankfurter soba, and went out. Frankfurter soba was not as bad as it seemed it might be, but nothing to write home about. And yet I did. How funny is that? Oh, and I drank a can of Calpis Soda. I decided I liked Calpis Soda quite a bit.
I was supposed to make an appearance in both my intended faculty, and in my research lab. So I thought going in the morning would prove advantageous. However, enter Shibuya, yet again. I wasted some three hours grabbing lunch (350-yen mountain veggie udon), chatting with the two udonya obaasans, changing my mind a lot, getting a map of Tokyo from a bookstore (damn the books in English are expensive! Algoritam, I take it back...), crossing the intersection about 6 times, trying and failing to buy a keitai, and finally getting repeatedly lost in Shibuya station. Once I managed to find the bloody Ginza line, it went quite smoothly, and I made my belated appearance at my faculty-to-be (FTB, for short). It was not really belated, because I could have come any time I wanted to (it's still the arrival week, noone expects anything serious, and even if, jetlag is a great excuse). Then the lab, where I met lots of people not wearing shoes. The lab fellows are a truly international bunch, we got Swedes, Koreans, Chinese, a Croatian, a Finn, apparently, and half a dozen (or a full one?) of other nationalities I can't remember just now. I'm pretty sure Ruben is not Chinese.
A researcher brought cookies which had nothing to do with her having had her birthday on Tuesday. They were... yummy as well. Like princess donuts. How do you even say that in English? "Princess donuts" somehow does not sound quite right.
I'm going home now. But I fear Shibuya will again stand in my way. The thingsgirls jailbait wears in Shibuya...
AT (for "afterthought", "post scriptum" just does not work here): What's up with those oversized boots?
AT2: My wallet is scared. I spent so much just in 2 days...
Went back home, grabbed a used blanket from the "I don't need it any more" pile, and crashed again. Some time in the middle of the night, my jetlag decided it was a good time for me to try out my shiny new dijikame. It's cute, but some options will have to wait till I can get a nice English manual. Then i fidgeted some more, slept some more, fidgeted again, and decided it's gotta be late already on the account of birds singing and sun shining, so I threw on some clothes and went to pick up my suitcase which had arrived while I was having fun spending money in Shibuya last night. In the end, I was grateful noone went katana-tonic on my ass for showering at 6 in the morning.
So, I wasted some more time lounging about, I ate some cold frankfurter soba, and went out. Frankfurter soba was not as bad as it seemed it might be, but nothing to write home about. And yet I did. How funny is that? Oh, and I drank a can of Calpis Soda. I decided I liked Calpis Soda quite a bit.
I was supposed to make an appearance in both my intended faculty, and in my research lab. So I thought going in the morning would prove advantageous. However, enter Shibuya, yet again. I wasted some three hours grabbing lunch (350-yen mountain veggie udon), chatting with the two udonya obaasans, changing my mind a lot, getting a map of Tokyo from a bookstore (damn the books in English are expensive! Algoritam, I take it back...), crossing the intersection about 6 times, trying and failing to buy a keitai, and finally getting repeatedly lost in Shibuya station. Once I managed to find the bloody Ginza line, it went quite smoothly, and I made my belated appearance at my faculty-to-be (FTB, for short). It was not really belated, because I could have come any time I wanted to (it's still the arrival week, noone expects anything serious, and even if, jetlag is a great excuse). Then the lab, where I met lots of people not wearing shoes. The lab fellows are a truly international bunch, we got Swedes, Koreans, Chinese, a Croatian, a Finn, apparently, and half a dozen (or a full one?) of other nationalities I can't remember just now. I'm pretty sure Ruben is not Chinese.
A researcher brought cookies which had nothing to do with her having had her birthday on Tuesday. They were... yummy as well. Like princess donuts. How do you even say that in English? "Princess donuts" somehow does not sound quite right.
I'm going home now. But I fear Shibuya will again stand in my way. The things
AT (for "afterthought", "post scriptum" just does not work here): What's up with those oversized boots?
AT2: My wallet is scared. I spent so much just in 2 days...
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