4-30-2011

There are few things as satisfying as making something yourself, particularly when it's useful and/or edible. While I only cut and assembled this meal, it felt like quite an accomplishment.

Markets in Japan sell sushi-grade fish all over the place. Around the time I finish work, the market on my way to the station has deep discounts in the fish department, so I sometimes pick up something for dinner. Today was a lucky buy, but I think I need a sharper knife.  Still, tuna nigiri sushi is always welcome.

4-27-2011

Once in a while I find a good deal on something slightly out of the ordinary.  This bento ended up being my dinner.  The front is chopped grilled eel (unagi) on rice.  This is nothing unusual, really.  But the inari sushi at the back of the bento have shredded crab in them.  I've never seen inari made with anything but plain rice or sometimes 5-flavor rice, and that's what convinced me to buy this at a discounted ￥500.

4-15-2011

Mochi dango are a constant experiment for me.  There's a dango shop in Kamakura that has seasonal flavors as well as some unusual regulars.  From the top are sakura paste, honey-lemon paste and sakura matarashi.  Unfortunately, the weather caused them to turn before I could eat them. *sad face*

4-13-2011

Harajuku is known for cutting-edge fashion and pop culture. The displays sometimes go a bit overboard in that respect. This display was in the basement of LaForet. The black paint on the Kewpie dolls is a nice touch, but makes those dolls no less creepy.

4-12-2011

The obsession with cute continues. The panda buns were so popular in Yokohama Chinatown that pig buns now exist.

They're more delicious than the panda ones too. Mmmm...

4-10-2011

In Kamakura there are many sweet potato-flavored items to be had.  This seasonal manjuu had a sakura exterior with sweet potato paste, called yōkan, inside.

4-5-2011

This odd little cocktail of a café drink is rather unique.  Found at the Double Tall Café in Harajuku, it's tea, milk and coke mixed together.  The most prominent flavor when you take a sip is...lemon?  It's an odd drink and that wasn't the flavor I was expecting at all.

In any case it was interesting and I don't regret getting one.  Still, why lemon?

3-31-2011

In Japan the 31st of the month is "31 Day," which means that ice cream is 31% off from the shop that has 31 flavors (known as simply "31" in Japan). There are several interesting flavors, but in light of my looming birthday, I decided a sundae was much more interesting, regardless of the discount.

3-29-2011

Walking back to the station, I stumbled upon these. At first I thought they may have blown over from the flower shop, but it's obvious these blooms were put here on purpose for people to enjoy. it makes sense to do if they fell off the plants anyway, and my friend and I certainly enjoyed them.

3-22-2011

Japanese burgers aren't quite like the ones back home. Some say it's because there's soy mixed in with the meat. Others claim the burgers are pork. Whatever the reason, they taste quite good. Still, being burgers, they aren't very healthy anyway. This is the "Thousand Veggie" burger, which means veggies and thousand island dressing. Wonder what a burger with a thousand veggies on it would look like...

3-15-2011

This is the highlight of my spring. Sakura cream frappuccinos are delicious and only found outside of the US. No matter how hard I try I cannot buy the sakura flavoring they use.

3-14-2011

Why is it that the Chinese gates in Japan are infinitely more colorful than the Japanese ones? Where Japanese beauty is typified by its simplicity, Chinese beauty seems to favor lavish decorations and colors. I'm still unsure which I prefer.

3-1-2011

Today it was raining so I decided to wander the underground passages of Shinjuku station.  The beauty of the inner city areas of Tokyo aren't at ground level, but in the buildings, underground, and on rooftops.  It's a strange existence.

This is the facade of OIOI ("marui") somewhere near Shinjuku Sanchome station, or maybe Nishi Shinjuku station.  They're not too far apart.

1-14-2011

Found this interesting fountain nestled next to the escalator heading up from the food basement of a department store near my work in Shinjuku.  I'm not sure why it's here, but it's nice to see random art that's being maintained.  Of course, stores need to keep everything clean, so I guess that's why.

1-13-2011

While Christmas is long over, I couldn't help but post this when I found it in my files to be sorted.  One of the department stores (Lumine) had the strangest Christmas decor I've ever seen.  How this says Christmas instead of Victorian child nightmare, I dunno.

1-8-2011

Sometimes when I take photos with my phone the camera does weird things. Was trying to show the radioactive green color of the candy and the wrapper, but this happened.  Needless to say, that hasn't helped my opinion on how radioactive it is. Oh, Japanese flavors...

1-4-2011

Shisa are the dog/lion hybrids imported from China into the Ryukyu kingdom.  Traditionally in China (and in Okinawa), they are a little scary looking since they're supposed to be protectors.  Nowadays they're happy purveyors of Okinawan culture.  This rotating tower of happy gremlin-esque shisa are sitting underneath a Hanagasa.

Hanagasa are flower hats worn by female Okinawan dancers for a specific dance.  Now people wear them for other performances too.

See a more recent shisa photo here.

1-2-2011

These saké bottles are in the shape of kagami mochi, the stacked mochi topped with a bitter orange symbolic of New Year.  I didn't read too closely, but perhaps the alcohol is orange-flavored?  Or perhaps just rice-based, like mochi (and of course saké).

The feature of these may well be the bottles, because glass-blowing has become a local craft.  In particular, there's a glass or stone, not sure what it is, that continues to glow after having light shined on it.  It's vaguely reminiscent of those glow worm toys from the early 1990s, but much less plastic.

12-28-2010

The areas around the military bases in Okinawa are a sad study in how poor areas adapt to suit wealthy tourists. Okinawan culture is largely hidden behind big, shiny American displays. This shopping area, Depot Island, was new and obviously targeted toward those from the base, seen in clothing and shoe sizes available, for example. Still, it had a charming feel to it as I explored the area near my hotel.

12-26-2010

In Tokyo there is sometimes little else to do than go shopping.  There are thousands of stores selling anything you could possibly want.  Surrounded by so much consumerism there are often stores with products you couldn't imagine people buying (and yet people do!).  But once in a while those same shops have some of the most interesting decor.  If they were selling these chandeliers I might have considered buying one; but they weren't for sale.  On the contrary, I was scolded for taking photos of the products beneath the chandelier while checking my photos.  Rest assured, salesperson, I had zero interest in photographic your products, but you may want to rethink your sales strategy.