Japanese Food Journal: ramen

The above is a picture of real ramen. Note all of the delicious things floating around in it. Mmmm.



Americans think of ramen and imagine college dorms and slim pickings.

Japanese think of ramen and magic happens.

The flavor of real ramen cannot be described, it must be experienced. It is remarkable.

The sad truth is that it's unlikely that it's possible to capture such wonderful flavor in a little foil pouch. You can't compare real fresh-made sushi with Publix sushi, and you can't compare real ramen with the packaged stuff. It just stands to reason.

Anyway, so this ramen I had. Hitomi had offered to take me to a store to get some things for my apartment, and afterward, she asked if I wanted to go to lunch. She suggested finding a ramen restaurant, and I said okay. I wasn't sure what to expect: I figured ramen = noodles + broth + spices + a little bit of something resembling vegetables floating around.

Uh-uh. First, consider the fact that for the equivalent of about $4.50, I get this ginormous bowl of soup. HUGE. I saw these bowls sitting at other tables, and I thought people were SHARING them. Nope, all for one person. Second, it's got stuff floating in it all right: awesome noodles, yummy veggies, this weird disk thing that I still don't know what it is but tasted good, and thinly sliced pork. That's correct, my ramen had MEAT. And delicious hot broth that tasted heavenly.
Ramen can't be eaten with just a spoon, you've got to get in there with chopsticks to get the best of it all in a bite. It's like going on a treasure hunt. It's highly amusing. By the time I'd finished, I felt like I was about to explode from the deliciousness of it all.

Also, it's important to note that slurping is not only allowed but it's expected and necessary. I haven't quite figured out how to eat ramen without making a complete mess of myself.

Hitomi-san tells me that there are a number of ramen restaurants near GEOS, including one called I Love Ramen. Must find as soon as possible.

commercial love

Um, so remember that pic of Tommy Lee Jones on a vending machine that I posted? Apparently, that was just scratching the surface - he really IS a spokesperson for that Boss coffee brand.

Okay, so Japanese commercials are way more interesting and amusing than American commercials. Why? Not sure, maybe it has to do with the fact that I have no idea what they're saying or that I have no idea what most of these products are so it's all new to me and I think it's great. Whatever it is, I like Japanese commercials, so I watch them when they come on.

So, Monday, SMAP just went off, and I'm trying to decide what to do next (lesson plans or ironing? there's a conundrum for you), and this commercial comes on. It's a bunch of maintenance guys doing something in a tunnel - they're all dirty and worn-out and looking like they're not enjoying this. And the foreman stands up and says something and points to what looks like a demolitions detonator - you know, the kind you see the Coyote always trying to blow up the Roadrunner with. And then he looks out at the men and says, quite clearly, "Jones."

The next thing you know, Tommy Lee Jones is walking out of the crowd - dressed just like all the other Japanese guys - and looking all noble, and he says something in Japanese that I don't know what it is yet. And he pushes the detonator and blows a whole in the top of the tunnel and everyone is happy and tears are streaming down TLJ's face in such a stereotypical melodramatic Japanese-emotional reaction that I just busted out laughing. It's a commercial for Boss coffee drinks, and the last shot is TLJ chugging one of their little super-espresso products.

This, I have decided, is awesome incarnate.

I also enjoy the car commercial with George Clooney. It's about 45 seconds of Clooney parking his car (Japanese, because the steering wheel is on the right!), putting money in a parking meter, putting the ticket on his dashboard, and walking down the street. I like its simplicity.


EDIT:
Okay, so I'm taking a break from writing and thinking, "gee, I wonder if I can find those commercials online." And I went searching. What did I find? TREASURE.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=4082864
Nicholas Cage as an overly-stereotyped (and insanely hilarious) cowboy.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3866533
Governor Arnold also endorses power (?) drinks.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=4073112
For any "24" fans out there. Not the best quality, but it's mildly amusing.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8696368
Hulk Hogan sings "The Days of the Week" song (which my kids hate) in a Japanese AC commercial.

And because I love Tommy Lee Jones in Japanese commercials, here's a WHOLE PAGE DEDICATED TO THEM. In commercial #9, he becomes my new personal hero.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2770

[p.s. The Pee Wee Herman commercials were too horrible to link here. Find them if you dare.]

J-Rock

It's considerably trite to say that I like music, considering that most people do, but it's a straightforward truth. I like music, and I was unsure how I'd like Japanese music, because if you live outside of Japan, chances are you know J-Pop and that's it. And J-Pop is some of the most irritating music I've heard, but I think American pop is pretty irritating too, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, now that I've been watching TV pretty regularly, I've seen a couple of music countdown shows, which basically review the best singles and albums of the week. Most of it is J-Pop, and my general rule is that if it looks like a girl or boy band, it's probably going to make me want to hit the mute button as fast as possible. This is especially true in the case of such groups like Perfume and Speed; calling them bands would be a misnomer because these girls don't play instruments, they just sing shrilly. Boy groups aren't much better because they're kinda sappy and do a lot of coordinated dancing and often look a little too effeminate for my tastes.

BUT. All is not lost when it comes to Japanese music. I have thus far discovered two groups that I not only like but have enjoyed so much that I went out and purchased their cds. I have also compiled a list of singers/bands that I want to learn more about because I think I might like them too. Most of them are very "rockish" and utitilize real instruments and not a bunch of electronica.

The first is Naifu, a group that is making their debut. They are an actual band that plays actual instruments (which I've noticed is the first step in catching my interest), and they have a definite "rock" sound. Their second single, "Mysterious," is in the top ten and has been used as an opening theme to an anime show called "Detective Conan," which I've seen a couple episodes of and plan to watch from now on. It's kind of a rock-love ballad, and I've found a couple of translations online, and I like the lyrics. (nota bene: a lot of Japanese music uses English in small ways, usually as titles or with a word thrown in here and there in the lyrics - in this case, the song title is actually in English, but the rest of the song is 98% Japanese.)

The second band is Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which I've decided is just downright awesome. They write almost 100% of their music themselves, and some of it is just plain brilliant. Their most recent album was released this year, and after hearing the single "Fujisawa Loser," I went out and bought it, and I've listened to it pretty much non-stop for the past three days. All of their songs are sung in Japanese, but they also supply English translation lyrics with their album. "Fujisawa Loser" is my favorite, but I also like "Inamuragasaki Jane" (which references the Beatles) and "Kamakura Goodbye." All of the songs are named for stops on a train line, and it's really just a great cd. There's a lot of indie and alternative influence in their style, and that's something I can appreciate.

My only complaint? iTunes has next to nothing when it comes to J-Rock, even in the Japanese store (which I can't buy from anyway, so maybe that's a good thing). Also, my iPod is nearly full, so I won't be able to add much more music to it - not that this is inherently a bad thing, considering I could play music on it for 5.5 days before songs started repeating themselves.

Bottom line: Japanese music is more than just J-Pop, and that makes me happy.

Japanese Food Journal: Kit Kats

I'm fascinated by Japanese Kit Kats. Aside from Snickers and M&Ms, it's the only popular American candy I've seen so far. (the lack of Reese Cups was fairly traumatizing at first, but I got over it.) I, however, had no idea that Kit Kats could come in so many flavors. Pictured above are the Kit Kats I've tried so far: grape Kit Kats (the "muscat" one), melon Kit Kats, strawberry Kit Kats (in milk and in white chocolate), blueberry Kit Kats, and orange Kit Kats. Want to see something awesome?

That's a green Kit Kat, my friends. It's the grape one, in case you're wondering. White chocolate, so not that great flavor-wise. The melon one was delicious. I saw watermelon Kit Kats at Don Quixote (easily the most awesome store in Isesaki, where you can get just about anything, and I really mean that; the place is open until 3am and is HUGE), but they only came in big bags and I didn't want to buy a whole bag. The strawberry Kit Kat is better in milk chocolate, and the blueberry Kit Kat actually tasted quite good despite being white chocolate. The orange Kit Kat was also yummy.

However, my favorite Kit Kat flavor by far is the sweet red bean paste Kit Kat:

I happened upon this in the grocery store a few days ago and bought four of them. It's the first time I've seen this flavor, and I haven't found it anywhere else. And I love it.

I love azuki beans, whether in their regular bean form or as sweet red bean paste. Not a day passes that I don't eat azuki beans in some way, whether in a rice ball, or in daifuku, or as sekihan (which is just rice mixed with the beans), or as yokan (which is kind of like a hard jelly), or as a filling in bread. Seriously, I think it's become an addiction. Benni-sensei and my students think this is pretty amusing because, apparently, most foreigners don't really like azuki beans. I don't understand this, because they're delicious. It's a little strange for me, however, because I normally don't like beans and generally avoid them.

But, back to the topic at hand: Kit Kats! Who knew that you could get them in so many flavors? Not me, and let me tell you, discovering this has been playing havoc on my daily calorie count. The really excellent thing about Kit Kats is that they're packaged in pairs and are smaller than American Kit Kats, so eating one pack is really not that bad. That box of red bean Kit Kats will last two days. So, in my little cabinet in the school canteen, I've got a little stack of various flavors of Kit Kats. Again, Benni-sensei finds this extremely amusing. Actually, she finds everything about my cabinet extremely amusing, because I also have assorted instant ramen packages, several packets of instant soup, and three or four varieties of senbei (rice crackers). I have this really bad habit of randomly buying stuff just to see what it tastes like.

Hmm, I should definitely do a post on senbei some time. I had no idea that rice crackers could be so delicious.

sara-sensei loves the 7-11

I've never thought much of convienence stores. You got your soda, you got your candy bars, you got your fast food fare. Big whoop. And then, I stepped into a Japanese 7-11, and thus, I found another reason to love Japan.

Japanese convienence stores - especially the 7-11 - are pretty keen, and I've been getting meals there 2-3 times a week. I realize that it's a bit silly to get so excited over conbini food, but I can't help it. I'm thrilled that I can buy full meals at the 7-11 and be satisfied by them in flavor and in fulfillment. It's so much better than buying a bag of potato chips and hoping for the best.

I love their sandwiches, though I'm not sure what's in some of them. I'm pretty sure there's an egg salad one, and I think there's a salmon salad one, but I haven't tried it. My favorite is lettuce, cheese, and ham. A simple, handy lunch. And it comes with the crust cut off, which sends me into fits of adulation. I've also had a tonkatsu meal (which is battered pork with sauce), which was also quite yummy. I've been avoiding it lately, because the calorie intake on that one is kinda frightening. And the other day, I had a pasta meal, something like a carbonara sauce. It was a cream sauce with bacon and a poached egg. Mmm. Also fairly dangerous in regards to calories, but still. Yum.

They also have a few noodle dishes, some frozen and others fresh. The frozen ones are pretty ordinary and unexciting, but the fresh ones aren't too bad. There's one with tempura shrimp on it that I usually get once a week. It's got soba noodles, which I like much better than udon or ramen noodles. Also, the calories aren't completely out of control with it.

I've tried some of the onigiri, but I'm not impressed with them. Maybe I just need to stick to plain rice balls, because some of the fillings (as Sarah mentioned in her blog) are kinda gross. Usually, I just get the plain ones, or the ones with adzuki beans in them.

I'm enjoying the selection of breads though. Most bread in Japan seems to be of the sweet variety, which pleases me to no end. Sliced bread is so far the only bread I've found that isn't sweetened in some way. Yesterday, I found a yellow mushi cake, which was to die for. Good thing I'm doing all this walking and biking, or I'd be the size of a blimp by New Year's!

I don't feel too bad though, because I'm working my butt off and I have 5-6 hours between most meals. I'm up and down during classes, as well as while I'm planning, so I do a lot of walking at work too. Breakfast is fairly light, yogurt with some granola thrown in for texture. I try to limit myself to one sweet treat per day, which means I'll buy a few things whenever I go to Marue (a nearby drugstore) or Beisia (the grocery store) and eat them over the course of the week. Most of the time, though, I cheat and have two sweet snacks, but I justify it by telling myself I deserve it.

It's just that I have so much to choose from! Every day is a new adventure when it comes to food!

and it only took six weeks!

I finally have internet at home! Yay!

It turns out that my tuner was fried and needed to be replaced. So, now the problem is solved and I can once again get online. Time to fire up Skype!

Today was a very good day. I only have three classes on Thursday (but only two students; one of them stays for two classes), and they're both private students and very fun, so I typically have good Thursdays. I decided to go to the 100 yen store to get some things for tomorrow's class, and I ended up riding around and taking pictures of random things. Overnight, trees started to change colors - I swear, last week everything was still green. Riding around with Benni-sensei yesterday, I noticed that there were many more colors bursting into the sky. It helped that yesterday and today were both very clear, very beautiful (and very cold) days. Even though it was pretty windy, I had a very nice ride around my little corner of Isesaki.

I thought it was a beautiful house, so I took a picture of it. It's shiny. And very peaceful-looking.

Pretty yellow trees! The whole street was lined with the trees, which Benni-sensei says are possibly maples. I have no idea, so that works for me.

Those trees are in a park very close to my school.

On the way to school. Last week, a crew came along and trimmed all the trees on one side of the street; the other side was left alone. I have no idea why and no one can explain it to me.

The Spaghetti House. I thought it made a nice picture.

My neighbor's yard. He's an elderly man, and he seems to spend a lot of time working on it. I see him every once in a while when I leave for work.

Sara-sensei is mobile!

Finally, I have a bike!

The previous manager left behind her (very old) bicycle, which was in desparate need of a new front tire and some oil. It also needed to be de-cobwebbed. Hitomi-san very kindly drove it over to Cainz Home (roughly equivalent to Wal-Mart, I swear you can do and get anything at this store) to get fixed, and voila! I am mobile! Hitomi-san and Benni-sensei were very pleased, as they seem to think I'm a little crazy for enjoying walking everywhere. For a brief while, they were trying to convince me to get a car, but they let that go when I agreed to the bike.

And I love having the bike. I don't mind walking so much, but riding is definitely faster, and I don't mind travelling farther away from the school or my apartment. Tuesdays-Thursdays, I don't have any classes until about 5pm, and I usually don't need to do any lesson plans during that time, so what I've been doing is going out on my bike and riding around for about 30 minutes, getting lunch, and bringing it back to the school. It makes me feel like I'm getting a decent amount of exercise and I don't feel so much like a do-nothing lump. And it's fun. I've located a couple new restaurants I want to try (seriously, the Japanese take on Tex-Mex? I have to see this), and I found a McDonald's, which I'm thinking I should try just because it might be amusing. I'm all about being amused.

My only problem is that I don't have much in the way of accessories. I've got a bell and a small basket on the front. I need to get a couple other items for it, such as a headlight, a reflector, and a basket for the back end to put my groceries. Making plans for making those additions in the future.

But, otherwise, I'm happy with it, even if the brakes squeal and it looks like it could be older than I am. It does have written on it "nice friend," which is kind of cute.

Yay for mobility!