Posts (page 2)
I had a nice solo day today: bought some manga, had some coffee, and watched a movie. I went to Movix at Lalaport Kashiwa no Ha (the one of two theatres I found playing the movie with subtitles, not dubbed in Japanese, wtf). No one I asked to come with me could come, and I didn't want to go all the way to the theatre in Roppongi cuz it's expensive and a pain or pay full price (every Wednesday is Ladies Day, all movies ¥1000!). So I went by myself and had a good time doing it.
I saw the press conference and previews for Hachi on TV on Sunday and the preview got me tearing up so I knew I would cry buckets. And I did. The only think I knew about Hachi was he waited for his master at Shibuya Station even after he died and there's a statue of the dog there and an exit named after him. Hachiko was Hidesaburo Ueno's Akita dog, that he brought with him from Akita prefecture to Tokyo when he became a professor there in 1924. Hachiko would escort the professor to Shibuya Station every day and meet him there when he came home. One day, the professor died and never returned but Hachiko waited at the station every day from then on for nine years until he died in 1935.
This movie is actually a remake of a Japanese film called Hachiko Monogatari [The Tale of Hachiko] from 1987. Richard Gere stars as the professor and produces, and Joan Allen plays his wife. It's a fairly small cast, but the lead role is definitely goes to the Akita. It really made me want to get a dog! Maybe when I settle down somewhere in the future... I cried tons which is usually the mark of a good movie for me, but it could have been better.
I didn't really get Joan Allen's character and the music didn't really fit sometimes. There were some quite humourous scenes but the music kept making me think something dramatic was about to happen. They also took some liberties with the translation of the 5 lines of Japanese dialogue (which was totally dubbed) but I guess that's always a problem. However Richard Gere was great and you could really see the relationship he had with his co-star, Hachi.
Maybe someone who speaks better Japanese than I can explain this to me: I have always wondered why the dog's name is written half in katakana and half in kanji in Japanese (ハチ公) -- why is that? They kept switching between calling the dog "Hachi" and "Hachiko" in the movie which I didn't get because the professor never called the dog Hachiko. Just one of those little discrepancies I guess.
Even though I haven't seen the original movie, I think it's a fair representation of the Hachiko story for a Western audience. And the puppies are just freaking adorable!
I got back from Singapore on Saturday morning and I've uploaded pictures... I just have to write it up. Coming soon, along with Big Life Update emails.
I gathered up my friends and got them to come out to Kashiwa to go to the bon odori taikai at Asahi Higashi Elementary school, put on by the Asahi-cho Association. It's the same one I went to last year with Destini. I was so worried it was going to be canceled because there was torrential rain storms in Tokyo but we only got a little bit of drizzle and then the skies cleared.
Blake, Anna, Andrew and Justin came out and we got dressed and made our way out at about 7:30. We got there close to 8 and enjoyed the atmosphere and dancing. It didn't seem as busy as last years, which was probably due to the weather. We didn't bring any money (I forgot about the food and games) so we just danced. I saw a couple boys from 3rd year at Toyoshiki JH who were trying to ignore me at first but I waved at them and talked to them a bit. They just kept circling the ground and watching me dance with Andrew. We were so bad but the ladies around us kept saying we were doing well. What a lie! But it was good fun. We even felt an earthquake in the middle that was quite strong. The dance was over at 830 which was quite early, I thought. They had fireworks last year but I guess they didn't do them because of the rain. In any case, we were all hungry anyway so we went home to get our money and headed out for dinner all dressed up.
I got pictures from Anna but too bad they are shitty resized Facebook pictures but you can still see how we look so fabulous. There weren't many pictures of Blake but his half-asianness made him look the hottest out of all of us. Just before we were leaving, one of the organizers rounded us up for a token foreigners indulging in Japanese culture picture so I think we'll be in the newsletter or something. Well, it wasn't the first time.
Andrew and Blake were wearing their jinbei while Justin, Anna and I were wearing yukata. I lent one of mine to Anna and she was so excited. This was the first time for Anna and Justin to go to a bon odori and maybe Andrew's?
Tying Justin's obi/teaching Andrew how to tie it and Blake's surly face.
Me posing "ethnicly". I'm so happy I found this yukata! Green is really rare and I love the pink and purple hydrangeas. I feel girly.
At the matsuri!
Kagurazaka is an area in Shinjuku-ku, in Tokyo. It's the name of the slppe that runs alog Waseda-dori between Okubo-dori and Sotobori-dori. Now, at the Okubo-dori intersection they call it the "top of the slope" (坂上) and the intersection at Sotobori-dori is called "bottom of the slope" (坂下). It was named Kagurazaka because during the during the Edo period, you were able to hear the scared shinto music (神楽, kagura) during festivals when the mikoshi from the Ana Hachiman Shrine were taken out. Apparently, in the Edo period, the mikoshi were so heavy they couldn't actually take them up the slope so they built some stairs.
It's a really quaint atmosphere. There are tons of cafes and small shops. Apparently, it's got Japan's only reversing one-way street! In the morning, traffic goes from the top to the bottom and in the afternoon it goes from bottom to top. The former homes of many important people are there, as well as the present head of the supreme court, which Molly and I walked past. We didn't take any pictures though, the gaurd might not have liked that.
The area is also the heart of Japanese cuisine in Tokyo. There are many ryotei in the backstreets that are only accessable by foot, which are restaurants that serve traditional kaiseki cuisine and which is also where geisha entertain guests. This area was one of the geisha districts before World War 2. There are also numerous French cafes. The Japanese-French Insitute is also in this area, near the Canal Cafe along the outer moat of the palace.
Part of the reason we went was to see a new area of Tokyo, and maybe stalk the location of Haikei, Chichiue-sama a little bit, but the real reason was for the Awa Odori and the Bishamonten-Zenkokuji. This temple is dedicated to Bishamon, the god of warriors and one of the seven lucky gods. Maybe one day I'll do a Shichi-fukujin meguri in Kagurazaka, that would be fun. It's a pretty small temple compared to some I've been too and not really anything special, except for the thing you tie your fortunes and wish plaques too. I always love reading them because you get to see some really hilarious ones sometimes but almost all of them were wishes to Arashi!
After wandering around, Molly and I saw people taping down tarps on the sidewalk. I didn't know how busy it was going to get so we decided to go find a tarp (we ended up just getting a newspaper to sit on) and got a great spot. It turned out really good because we were right next to a spot light so my pictures turned out really well.
The temple is also the starting point of the Awa Odori, a dance festival held during the Obon season in Tokushima prefecture, on Shikoku. Awa is the name of the feudal administration of that area. It's the largest festival in that area but the dance is also done in Kagurazaka. The dancers are accompanied by taiko drums, shamisen, flutes, and a bell and they dance through the streets. The dance looks quite simple but I'm sure there's more to it than just you can see; having your arms up in the air and dancing on your toes must get really tiring. At the beginning there were groups from the elementary schools in the area. Some of the kingergarteners were so adorable. Following them were adults and they were so good! By halfway through, we were starting to learn the words to the song. The dance went on for 3 hours! When it was over, we went to check out the temple and some of the dancers talked to Ginny and I. We asked them was the words to the song was because one of the call responses sounded a lot like "Yakuza, yakuza" to us.
Cabbage and Tofu Garlic Miso Stir-fry
Ingredients (serves 4)
☆ 2 blocks of thick fried tofu (厚揚げ、atsuage)
☆ 1/2 medium carrot
☆ 1 long onion
☆ 1 clove garlic
☆ 4 tbsp miso
☆ 2 tsp each sugar, sake, dashi stock
☆ Vegetable oil
☆ Sesame oil (optional)
Preparation
- Cut the cabbage into large bite-sized pieces. Cut the carrot in half and slice length-wise. Cut the onion into diagonal slices and mince the garlic.
- Put the tofu in a bowl and pour hot water over to remove some of the excess oil. Remove and pat dry with paper towel. Cut into 4-5mm slices.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry both sides of the tofu. Remove and set aside.
- While the tofu is frying, mix the miso, sugar, sake and dashi stock in a bowl.
- Heat more oil in the frying pan and fry the garlic until fragrant. Add the onion and fry. Then add the carrot and cabbage. When the cabbage is slightly wilted, add the miso sauce and toss well until heated through.
- Serve on a plate and drizzle sesame oil on top if you like.
Cooking point
Tofu and Mushroom Kimchi Stew
Ingredients (serves 4)
☆ 1 pack shimeji mushrooms, broken apart
☆ 8 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and cut half
☆ 1 pack enoki mushrooms, roots removed
☆ 120g boychoy kimchi, cut into 3cm slices
☆ 4 slices of bacon, cut into 2cm slices
☆ 2 spring onions, diced (optional)
☆ 2 tsp vegetable oil
Sauce
☆ 1 cube chicken stock
☆ 400ml hot water
☆ 1 tbsp soy sauce
☆ 2 tbsp sake
☆ 1 tsp salt
☆ 2 tsp potato starch
☆ 4 tsp water
Preparation
- Cut and prepare all the vegetables and tofu. Mix the potato starch and 4 tsp water in a small bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, dissolve the chicken stock into the hot water. Add the soy sauce and sake and sugar. You can also add juice from the kimchi.
- In a pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Fry the bacon slowly until crisp.
- Add the kimchi and stir fry.
- Add the mushrooms and fry until the mushrooms have wilted and softened.
- Add the tofu and pour the sauce over and boil until the flavour has gone into the tofu.
- When the tofu is cooked, add the potato starch water and mix well to thicken the sauce.
- Serve in a bowl and garnish with spring onion.
Hayashi Rice
Ingredients (serves 4)
☆ 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
☆ 1 can sliced mushrooms
☆ 1 clove garlic, minced
☆ 1 small can tomato juice (8oz)
☆ Pinch salt and course ground pepper
☆ 20g butter (2 portions of 10g)
☆ 1 tbsp oil
☆ 1/2 cup frozen green peas
☆ cooked rice
Sauce
☆ 2 tbsp ketchup
☆ 1/2 cup water
☆ 1 tsp soy sauce
☆ 5 tbsp okonomiyaki sauce
Preparation
- Slice the beef into bite-sized slices, slice the onion and mince the garlic.
- Heat 10g of butter and oil in a frying pan. When the butter is melted, stir in garlic and onions. Over medium heat, fry everything until the onions are brown.
- Add the beef and fry. Season with salt and pepper when the meat turns brown. Add mushrooms and green peas.
- Add the tomato juice and bring to a boil. Add the sauce ingredients in order. Lastly, remove from heat and add the remaining butter, melting over residual heat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with hot rice.
Cooking point
Original recipe from OneeMANS.
Spinach, Tomato and Tuna Salad
Ingredients (serves 2)
☆ 1 large tomato
☆ 1 small can tuna, drained well
☆ 2 tbsp olive oil
☆ 1 tbsp soy sauce
☆ 1 clove grated garlic
☆ 1 tbsp lemon juice
☆ 1 tsp sugar
☆ Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
- Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl: olive oil, tuna, lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Remove the roots from the spinach and blanch in hot water. Remove excess water and toss with dressing.
- Cut the tomato into small wedges and mix with the spinach.
Cooking point
Spinach and Bacon with Egg Salad
Ingredients (serves 2)
☆ 2 slices of bacon
☆ 1 tsp potato starch
☆ 1 tbsp milk
☆ 1 tsp vinegar
☆ 2 eggs
☆ 1/2 tsp chicken bullion powder
☆ 1/2 tsp sugar
☆ 1 tbsp mayonnaise
☆ Pinch of salt
Preparation
- Cut the spinach 3cm pieces. Mix the italicized ingredients in a bowl in order from the top.
- Fry the bacon in a pan until crispy. Remove.
- Fry the spinach in the remaining bacon fat with your desired amount of salt. Add the egg mixture from number 1 and mix well until heated through thoroughly.
Cooking point
☆ Please add everything to the potato starch one by one and mix it well. The starch prevents the egg from congealing so it's got a nice creamy texture.
☆ You can substitute the bacon for other ingredients you like: bacon, ham, weiners, corn, etc. Great warm but also good as a cold salad the day after.
Stuffed Toast (たくさん具トースト)
Ingredients (serves 2... or one if you're me)
☆ 10g butter
☆ 2 eggs
☆ 4 spinach leaves
☆ 1 slice of bacon
☆ 1 tsp grated parmesan cheese
Preparation
- Cut a hole in the middle of the bread, about 1cm in from the edge. Remove the centre and set aside.
- Cut the bacon into 2mm pieces.
- Remove the stems from the leaves and slice them into 1cm pieces.
- Heat the butter in a frying pan. Put the holed-out bread in the pan and fry.
- Crack the eggs into the middle of each piece of bread and add the bacon, spinach and cheese, spreading evenly.
- Replace the middle of the bread on top of the filling and flip over to fry. Fry until nice and golden brown.
Cooking point
☆ You can either leave the yolk whole but I find that when you put the bread center back on and flip it over, it breaks anyway and runs out.
☆ I like to fry the bacon a little bit first before putting it on the egg to give it a little more crispness.
☆ I've also tried this with avocado and tomato so you can try any filling you like!
I've decided my next trip will be to China. I would be stupid not to go while I'm on this side of the ocean. So when the school year ends in March, I'm going to take some time to hang out and get all my affairs in order. I want to stick around for the end of the year nomikai and go to the closing ceremony on the 24th and say good-bye to the kids and teachers. That doesn't leave much time to get things together before the end of the month so I think I'll make April my last month here. It'll be a nice month. Cherry blossoms and nice spring weather.
I'm going to take a boat from Osaka to Shanghai since it's the cheapest option and totally cool sounding! 20,000 yen vs 100,000 for a flight? Hell yeah. And it'll give me an excuse to go to Osaka and Kyoto again! I will have to give Yuka lots of notice so she can book off a weekend for me at the end of April. The boat takes 2 nights to get to Shanghai. And then I'll take a train to Beijing and fart around there for a few days. Then take a train back down to HK and fart around there for a few days before I catch a plane from HK to Toronto.
I want to make the most of this opportunity but I'm going to have to see how much I can square away between August and April. I really need to be serious about this. 35,000 yen to get to China is no big deal and from what Alex says, travel and general costs in China are cheap, cheap, cheap. I'll have a place to stay in Beijing but hostels in Shanghai and HK aren't going to run up too much either. It's the flight from HK to Canada that's going to kill. But maybe I can get mom and dad to help out with that one. ;) Coming home present?
Oh fuck, I'm going to have to think about how much sending all my crap home to Canada is going to cost. If I'm going to China from here, I don't want to be lugging a giant suitcase around.
