Good news and Bad news

Which do you want to hear first, the good news or bad news? Anyway, don't worry, the bad news isn't so bad and you don't have to sit down or anything...

First, the good news:
I ran into a student Mr. K yesterday before I went for a jog. I know that he rides his bike on Mukogawa river every weekend, and I often go jogging or walking or cycling along the river, but I have never met him until yesterday. While I was stretching, I man on a bike started slowing down and waving at me. Honestly speaking, at first I didn't recognize him. He looked different. Maybe it was because I usually see him when he is wearing a suit. But yesterday, cause he was cycling, he was wearing a helmet and some very snappy "bike wear." He stopped and we chatted for a minute or two. I noticed that he was wearing sunscreen, and I said "I bet I will get sun burnt today." Then he said "Be careful and have a good day" and went on his way.

The bad news: As I thought, I did get red. I got very sun burnt. My face and head looks like a ripe tomato!!! And it is hot!! I made a stupid mistake by not using sun block, but I swear that I will learn from my mistake and cover up and use lotion every day from now on.

More good news: Yesterday, as usual on Sunday, I went to the fish market and bought some delicious fish for dinner.

The bad news: While I was looking around the market, I thought "There isn't that big of a selection today. And not only the fish shelves, but a lot of the other products shelves, are empty or almost empty. It is strange... " So I looked around and then I found a big advertisement that said "Big Sale!!" I thought "OK, but I wonder why..." And then, after I paid for the fish and stuff ant the register and got my receipt from the cashier who is there every week, bagged my stuff, and put back the shopping cart, I walked outside. It was at that time that I saw the sign in front of the entrance: "As of June 28th, we will be closing..."

I was at a loss for words....shocked.

That was my favorite place. I went there almost every Sunday. The fish was great, and a reasonable price. And FRESH! a BIG! and the staff, from the fish cutters to the floor sales staff to the cashiers, always remembered me every week and were kind. I am really gonna miss that shop...

But, it is in times like this that I try to be optimistic and remember the saying: "Every beginning has an end. And for every end, there is a new beginning..."

Now, I have a new challenge: I have to find a new place to buy fish on Sunday.

Below are photos from Ms. e's trip a while back. Can you tell where these photographs were taken?

Supermarket Adventure (blog by Luis)

Every time I travel, one of my “fetishes” is exploring supermarkets and see what type of food can you find, what do people normally eat in those places/countries. In Japan, there are convenience stores and supermarkets everywhere. Moreover, these are most likely to be open any time, I mean 24/7. In the remote scenario that you cannot find one, you will surely pass by several vending machines.
Once inside the supermarket you feel immediately in an unusual territory.. You start by entering through the left door(the opposite to Europe/US), corridors are quite narrow since the shop tends to be smaller too. I haven’t found any really big supermarkets where you find everything you need (hypermarkets, big grocery stores), here they are more specialized in food (they might have a second floor with clothing and house products). The products, well.. where to start, totally different and very hard to find the brands you normally would find in Europe or America. Foreign brands and products are almost non-existent. If found, they are priced 2 or 3 times above a European/American store. Thus, to save money in Japan, you will need to invest some time exploring Japanese products and brands first. Nonetheless, 1L of Japanese milk costs about 1,50Eur and the only pasta (I wanted penne, there was no fusilli, and only a 2~3 brands of spaghetti) I could find was in a tiny 125g package and cost more than a 500g package in Europe! On the other hand, there is quite a lot of fish for reasonable prices though.
The fruit is curious, the sizes I mean. They look like the fruit in Europe or America, but while the taste is similar to the European (Yummy!), the size is closer to the over-sized American “bland and tasteless plastic” fruit (I am referring to the apples for this comparison). On the other hand, you get vegetables like a cucumbers which are thinner and smaller than the ones overseas.
Time to pay! The payment process is quite similar to anywhere else, the funny part is the gestures of the employee and how they meticulously pass the products through the machine and count the money you give them and the change they give you back, it looks like a ritual (to avoid the word robots) or maybe more like an assembly plant. Another difference is the cash machine they use, there is no till!! Well, there is one but it does not open, the machine has an automatic coin counter and bank note reader and gives back the exact change. Those employees at the counters could easily be replaced by no-one! Nothing revolutionary, we already have self-payment checkouts in Europe, and US has them too.
I almost forgot one important part. Ah! Except for bicycles, there is no parking lots at many of the convenience stores.

Japanese Cooking (blog by Luis)

The other day I cooked: Boiled udon with thin pork slices mixed with vegetables, with Korean kimchii as side dish.
It was my first attempt to cook Japanese food and I must say it was damn good. My meal portions have to be always quite generous. And thus they are not so fancy to the eye. Of course, the Korean kimchii was not prepared by me, but it is considered to be the healthiest food on Earth (by me!), very spicy cabbage, and I love it.

Favorite quote(by Luis)

"Some people see things as they are and ask why.
I dream things that never were and ask why not!"

Below are photos of the front and back from my(Glenn's) parents house. My father recently completed this big project. He did a great job!!

"Let's go for a drive"

Recently I got a Japanese driver's license. It was an ordeal to get it. First I had to do a lot of paperwork, then take a written test, and lastly pass a difficult driving test. But to be honest, it was much better than the other option, which is go to Japanese driving school which requires an exuberant amount of time and money!! One of the main reasons I wanted to get a driver's license was to be able to go for a drive and check out many "nature spots" with my wife around the Kansai area. As soon as I got the license, I said to my wife, "Let's go for a drive!" It was the first time I have ever said that to her.

Ms. N talked about going for a drive to Lake Biwa with her husband a few months ago, and that info stuck in my head, so the first place I decided to go to was Shiga Prefecture. It took about one hour, or one hour and a half, from Nishinomiya to Otsu City last Sunday. There wasn't much traffic on the way there. But on the way back, there was a lot of traffic before getting on the highway. We had to sit in traffic for about 40 minutes until the toll booth. I was in the right lane, which was moving like a snail because many other drivers used the left lane and sped to the front and did a snake job(=cut in the line) at the last minute. What do you think? Is that style of driving dangerous/reckless or clever/smart? I guess it depends on your perspective...

It was cloudy on Sunday, but Lake Biwa and the mountains and countryside scenery were all really beautiful. After we arrived at Lake Biwa, we stretched and ate an egg-salad sandwich for breakfast while gazing at the Lake. Then we drove to a couple of spots on the lake. It was fun to watch a local fisherman catch a lot of fish using a net in a river going into Lake Biwa. He threw out his net about 3 or 4 times, and each time caught about 20 fish. In all, he was there for about 20 minutes or so. It was very efficient fishing I thought. And near him, there were many other fisherman using a rod. But, they didn't catch anything. NOTHING. ZILCH. I wonder what they were thinking...If I was them, I would have bought a fishing net pronto!!
Then, we headed to a local market and for a snack, we ate Mackerel Sushi and a red sweet-beans rice cake. I liked the sushi a lot. Then we drove to the most Northern part of Lake Biwa, but the road was closed so we had to turn around. And then for lunch, we found a small cafe and ate a pizza which was baked in a special pizza oven, and drank an apple juice and ginger-ale. Tow pieces of chocolate cake also came with the pizza lunch set. Everything was good. Do you think we ate a lot? ;) Then, we went for a drive in the mountains. I love the tiered rice fields and countryside scenery of Japan so that was my favorite part of the drive. And before we went back home, I also went in a nice hot spring. It was refreshing.

Some random comments:
1. I got lost two times. Once was in the mountain, and the second time was when I returned the rental car. FYI, the rental car was a Toyota Corolla. It was a smooth ride.
2. The automatic navigation system is truly a great and convenient device. It saved me a lot of time finding many places. Whoever invented it is a genius. But at times it can distract the driver because it beeps a lot and also sometimes gives wrong directions. And, drivers must concentrate on the road, so when we use a navigation system, we should be careful.
3. I would like to to especially thank my mother, my wife, my friend Mr. BD, and the driving teachers who taught me how to drive on the course and pass the driving test, for all of their help in getting the license.

Enjoy the photos!

Cool Biz

What do you think of Cool Biz?
For those of you who don't know what "cool biz" is, please refer to the following explanation which I got from Wikipedia:
"The Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOE) began advocating the Cool Biz campaign in summer 2005 as a means to help reduce electric consumption by limiting use of air conditioning. This idea was proposed by then-MOE minister Yuriko Koike under the Koizumi cabinet."

Some of the rules are:
1. Offices must set the air conditioner temperature at 28 degrees Celsius(=82.4 degrees Fahrenheit). In my opinion, that is HOT! If you open the windows and use an electric fan, or even a hand fan, I think it would be cooler.
2. Men are not allowed to wear ties or jackets. Instead, they have to wear button down collared shirts. (Be careful, golf shirts are not permitted.)
3. Shorts are prohibited, but Aloha shirts are not.

And it is important to note, that participation in the Cool Biz Campaign is voluntary, not mandatory. That means that all companies don't have to do it. They can do it only if they want to.

Personally, I like to dress up sometimes, and I understand that many business people in Japan feel the need to wear a suit and necktie to please their clients. Especially for salespeople, I can understand why dressing formally may be important. However, I think dressing down in the summer is a great idea for many reasons. One of the reasons is of course to save energy. Anyway, I am definitely for more company participation in the Cool Biz Campaign! How about you...for or against?


"Cool Biz campaign goes 'Super' this summer"
from "The Japan Time Online"
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20110602a1.html

The rainy season is almost over...

Spelling Bee

When I was in 3rd grade in elementary school, I won the Spelling Bee! I won it three years in a row, and then I was dethroned in 6th grade. Those were the glory days!!
Do you know what a "spelling bee" is? Well if not, let me tell you. It is a spelling competition.
Read below for this year's champion! And fyi, the final winning word of this year's tournament was "cymotrichous," which means wavy-haired. Are you good at spelling?

"2011 spelling bee is won by a hair"
from The Japan Times Online
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110604a6.html

And below is one of my favorite sweets to cool down in the hot and humid Kansai summer. Vanilla and Green-tea (Ma-cha) soft ice cream!! Yummy!!!

The Rooster

Last night, after I finished up class with Mr. M at 10pm, I did some paperwork and cleaned up and headed to Kita-Shinchi station on foot. There was a nice breeze, and it was a nice and basically normal night...UNTIL right before I arrived at the station. And then, I couldn't believe my eyes!! There was a rooster on the roof of a car!! I thought I was delirious, maybe sick or something, so I rubbed my eyes a few times and slapped myself in the face (like an Inoki slap!) to wake up. But when I opened my eyes again, the rooster was still there. I was not hallucinating!! It is true, and I am totally serious!! ON THE ROOF OF A CAR, THERE WAS A ROOSTER!!! Now tell me, am I lying?




p.s. Actually, a few months ago, or maybe more, there was a special on a tv show I often watch, "Tantei(Investigator) Night Scoop," about this "rooster on the roof." So I knew about it. But to actually see it with my own eyes, well, that is something different!!

Wajian

The other day I went to a great restaurant with my wife. The name of the restaurant is Wajian, and I definitely recommend it to everyone. It is in Edobori/Higobashi.

I heard about it from Ms. M. She lives the neighborhood and said "Wajian is one of the nest izakayas in Osaka. Take my word for it, you'll love it."

So, I followed her advice and just as she said, it was fabulous!!
What was so great about it?
Well, for starters, the food. The menu is enormous, and my wife and I actually both got tired from reading all of it, so we ordered the "Leave it up to the chef 3800yen Course." It included a raw fish assortment, a grilled beef plate, and some type of nabe(=a hot pot, or vegetables and beef boiled in a pot) with ramen noodles, plus a bunch of other original small dishes. I was more than full. And very satisfied.
In addition, there is a wide selection of beverages; beer, wine, sake, shochu, whiskey, cocktails, and more!!
The owner/chef is around 33 years old, and a nice guy. Two guys, I think one of them is his classmate from high school, help with the cooking. And two ladies, who are very beautiful, help with the floor(=help with waitressing.) For all of you ladies out there, I heard that many people also think that all of the guys are good-looking too. But, I didn't notice...

Take a look at the link below for the menu, and exact location, and oh yeah, the telephone number. Because if you go, reservations are recommended!!
http://www.wajian.com/

Below is my sister-in-law's new project. She is collecting rain using the red buckets on her deck. If she lived in Japan for the past two weeks, I think she would have collected A LOT of rain!!!

Cool bird house!!

A friend? A neighbor? A roommate?