You realize that you can never look at your fruit juice (果汁) the same way again.
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| mmm... 100% fruit pus. |
Thursday 16 October 2014
That moment when you're studying kanji....
...and you discover that the character for "juice" (汁) is the same as the kanji for "pus".
You realize that you can never look at your fruit juice (果汁) the same way again.
You realize that you can never look at your fruit juice (果汁) the same way again.
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Adaptation to frequent natural disasters
A while ago, someone asked me what kinds of natural disasters we have in Canada. I had to think about it for a while before tentatively responding "...ice storms?". I know that there are sometimes hurricanes that hit the East coast (and rarely come further inland) and there are tornadoes sometimes too. These things don't tend to have the same impact as giant earthquakes or typhoons and they lack the frequency of the small earthquakes that serve as a reminder of what will happen some time.
Compared to Japan, Canada (especially Southern Ontario) has relatively few issues with nature. As a result, moving here can create all sorts of little worries about the earthquakes, typhoon and so forth early on.
However, one thing I've noticed is how easy it is to get used to the natural disasters that happen here. The first time I felt an earthquake here, I was sleeping. It woke me up and I maybe got a bit concerned, even though it was relatively small. It's pretty startling if you've never really experienced an earthquake before and waking up suddenly can result in some general confusion (especially when the room is shaking).
There were a few like that here in the first few months I moved to Japan. I'd wake up and hit daid in the face because I was startled out of a deep sleep. Now, I hardly notice them most of the time and I've slept through a few. I also experienced the largest earthquake here since 2011 without being especially concerned.
Similarly, the first time a typhoon came here, I was worried. The city's safety committee made several announcements in addition to their usual daily announcements and daid's work sent him several emails reminding him to take precautions and assuring him that he didn't have to come into work if it was risky. I made sure to close all the windows and took the clothes drying bar down and all this, but by the time the typhoon got here, it didn't even rain in Tokyo.
The last two typhoons were dubbed "super typhoons" at some point in the media (especially in US sources), but nothing really happened here. We got soaked going to the convenience store and the wind rattled our windows most of last night, but not much really happened otherwise. The one last week meant that some places closed because they didn't want to encourage people to go outside, but it wasn't really bad at all.
While Japan is hit by many typhoons and some people die or are injured by them, most of the injuries tend to be in Okinawa, which is really, really far south and tends to be the first place typhoons headed this way make landfall (and even then, many of the injuries and deaths are to people who do stupid things like standing on the beach photographing the waves or going surfing). By the time a typhoon has made its way through the rest of the archipelago and through the west of the country to get here, it's not nearly so impressive.
Yes, a major earthquake like the one in 2011 could happen again and yes, a typhoon could make landfall on the Kantō plain first. Maybe when one of those happens, I'll get worried again. For now, the typhoons that beat themselves up on the other islands and mountains on their way here and the little day-to-day earthquakes are not especially concerning.
Compared to Japan, Canada (especially Southern Ontario) has relatively few issues with nature. As a result, moving here can create all sorts of little worries about the earthquakes, typhoon and so forth early on.
However, one thing I've noticed is how easy it is to get used to the natural disasters that happen here. The first time I felt an earthquake here, I was sleeping. It woke me up and I maybe got a bit concerned, even though it was relatively small. It's pretty startling if you've never really experienced an earthquake before and waking up suddenly can result in some general confusion (especially when the room is shaking).
There were a few like that here in the first few months I moved to Japan. I'd wake up and hit daid in the face because I was startled out of a deep sleep. Now, I hardly notice them most of the time and I've slept through a few. I also experienced the largest earthquake here since 2011 without being especially concerned.
Similarly, the first time a typhoon came here, I was worried. The city's safety committee made several announcements in addition to their usual daily announcements and daid's work sent him several emails reminding him to take precautions and assuring him that he didn't have to come into work if it was risky. I made sure to close all the windows and took the clothes drying bar down and all this, but by the time the typhoon got here, it didn't even rain in Tokyo.
The last two typhoons were dubbed "super typhoons" at some point in the media (especially in US sources), but nothing really happened here. We got soaked going to the convenience store and the wind rattled our windows most of last night, but not much really happened otherwise. The one last week meant that some places closed because they didn't want to encourage people to go outside, but it wasn't really bad at all.
While Japan is hit by many typhoons and some people die or are injured by them, most of the injuries tend to be in Okinawa, which is really, really far south and tends to be the first place typhoons headed this way make landfall (and even then, many of the injuries and deaths are to people who do stupid things like standing on the beach photographing the waves or going surfing). By the time a typhoon has made its way through the rest of the archipelago and through the west of the country to get here, it's not nearly so impressive.
Yes, a major earthquake like the one in 2011 could happen again and yes, a typhoon could make landfall on the Kantō plain first. Maybe when one of those happens, I'll get worried again. For now, the typhoons that beat themselves up on the other islands and mountains on their way here and the little day-to-day earthquakes are not especially concerning.
Wednesday 3 September 2014
Modified Otsu
About two weeks ago, I decided to try making something with soba noodles, but didn't want to just go for some cold soba. So I searched around I came across this recipe for Otsu, which I made in a slightly modified form and thought was delicious. I'm not sure if the original recipe is especially traditional, but the more extensively modified version I made it today is certainly not. As daid described it, "it's about as Japanese as curry hamburger onigiri".
It's not that I don't use any Japanese ingredients at all, it's just that there are a few very definitely non-Japanese ingredients involved as well. In all, the result was pretty tasty so I thought it was worth sharing.
Dressing
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated (approx 3 cm long)
1 lemon, zested
5 mL salt
2.5 mL habanero pepper powder
Juice from 0.5 lemon
60 mL unseasoned rice vinegar
80 mL soy sauce
30 mL olive oil
30 mL sesame seed oil
Salad
180 g dried soba (or two servings, if your soba is portioned out like that)
15 mL canola oil
1 block tofu, chopped into 1 cm x 1 cm x 2 cm blocks (approx)
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 bunches mizuna, roughly chopped (approx 500 mL after being chopped)
0.5 long onion, finely diced
1 avocado, roughly chopped
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Give the jar a swirl to combine.
Add the oils. Put the lid on the jar and shake thoroughly. Set aside.
Put a pot of water with a bit of salt on the stove and bring it to a boil for the soba.
When the water starts to boil, add the noodles and prepare according to package instructions (or until the noodles seem soft) then drain.
Put cooked soba in a serving bowl and toss in about 2/3rds of the dressing.
While the water is coming to a boil, heat a frying pan. When the pan is hot, add a bit of canola oil and start to fry the tofu.
When the tofu is mostly browned (after about 5 mins), add the broccoli and when the broccoli turns bright green (after about 2 mins) add the mizuna and onion for another minute or two, then turn off the heat.
Put vegetables in a different serving bowl and toss with the remaining dressing.
Put avocado in a third bowl.
Serve by putting some soba into a bowl (or plate, if you really want), adding some vegetables, then some avocado (or really, you can do it in whatever order you prefer) and garnishing with some sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
I use a Japanese vegetable called mizuna (literally "water greens"), it's basically a leafy green that looks a bit like dandelion leaves, except not quite. Any other leafy green would probably work just as well as long as it doesn't have an especially strong taste (unlike dandelion leaves).
Similarly, I use half of a long onion, which you might note is pretty giant from the first photo (it's the thing that's longer than the width of my refrigerator). If you want to make this, but don't live somewhere that such giant onions exist, you can try about three green onions instead.
In addition, I use habanero pepper powder because the grocery store nearby doesn't see it fit to carry cayenne pepper so my options were jalepeno, habenero, korean pepper and paprika. If you use something less spicy than habanero powder, you can probably add more (the original recipe calls for 0.75 tsp cayenne).
Finally, I note that if I had thought about it a bit more in advance, I would have picked up some additional veggies for more colour. I suspect that some red bell pepper would go wonderfully here.
It's not that I don't use any Japanese ingredients at all, it's just that there are a few very definitely non-Japanese ingredients involved as well. In all, the result was pretty tasty so I thought it was worth sharing.
Ingredients
 |
| The ingredients. Not pictured: ginger, olive oil, salt. |
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated (approx 3 cm long)
1 lemon, zested
5 mL salt
2.5 mL habanero pepper powder
Juice from 0.5 lemon
60 mL unseasoned rice vinegar
80 mL soy sauce
30 mL olive oil
30 mL sesame seed oil
Salad
180 g dried soba (or two servings, if your soba is portioned out like that)
15 mL canola oil
1 block tofu, chopped into 1 cm x 1 cm x 2 cm blocks (approx)
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 bunches mizuna, roughly chopped (approx 500 mL after being chopped)
0.5 long onion, finely diced
1 avocado, roughly chopped
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
Make dressing by first combining the grated ginger, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a jar (use a jar with a tight-fitting lid, if possible). Mix together well.Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Give the jar a swirl to combine.
Add the oils. Put the lid on the jar and shake thoroughly. Set aside.
Put a pot of water with a bit of salt on the stove and bring it to a boil for the soba.
When the water starts to boil, add the noodles and prepare according to package instructions (or until the noodles seem soft) then drain.
Put cooked soba in a serving bowl and toss in about 2/3rds of the dressing.
While the water is coming to a boil, heat a frying pan. When the pan is hot, add a bit of canola oil and start to fry the tofu.
When the tofu is mostly browned (after about 5 mins), add the broccoli and when the broccoli turns bright green (after about 2 mins) add the mizuna and onion for another minute or two, then turn off the heat.
Put vegetables in a different serving bowl and toss with the remaining dressing.
Put avocado in a third bowl.
Serve by putting some soba into a bowl (or plate, if you really want), adding some vegetables, then some avocado (or really, you can do it in whatever order you prefer) and garnishing with some sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
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| Nom nom nom. |
Notes
Makes about four servings.I use a Japanese vegetable called mizuna (literally "water greens"), it's basically a leafy green that looks a bit like dandelion leaves, except not quite. Any other leafy green would probably work just as well as long as it doesn't have an especially strong taste (unlike dandelion leaves).
Similarly, I use half of a long onion, which you might note is pretty giant from the first photo (it's the thing that's longer than the width of my refrigerator). If you want to make this, but don't live somewhere that such giant onions exist, you can try about three green onions instead.
In addition, I use habanero pepper powder because the grocery store nearby doesn't see it fit to carry cayenne pepper so my options were jalepeno, habenero, korean pepper and paprika. If you use something less spicy than habanero powder, you can probably add more (the original recipe calls for 0.75 tsp cayenne).
Finally, I note that if I had thought about it a bit more in advance, I would have picked up some additional veggies for more colour. I suspect that some red bell pepper would go wonderfully here.
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Things that Japan does really well: refillable everything!
So I've definitely complained about a lot of the weird package designs or the weather or various day to day things. However, I do think that there are lots of things that Japan does that other places should also do (or do more of) so I thought it would be good to focus on those.
Since I complained about package designs the most, this week, I'm starting with some packaging I really like: the refillable sort.
Since I complained about package designs the most, this week, I'm starting with some packaging I really like: the refillable sort.
Thursday 21 August 2014
In which I complain about the weather
Before I moved here, I would chat with daid a fair bit and when he'd complain about the summer in Tokyo, I'd complain about the summer back in Ontario. However, since I hadn't visited Tokyo in the summer before moving here, I had no idea how terrible a comparison that was.
While Ontario can sometimes get pretty hot and is frequently humid, the weather will alternate between something vaguely hellish and something pretty reasonable every week or two (or at least this is how I remember it). Around here, the maximum temperature is at least 5 °C hotter and it's just constantly hellish outside.
I do not think there has been a day this month where the humidity has been less than 60% and this entire week, the humidity has been above 80%. When combined with daytime highs in the low- to mid-30s, even sitting somewhere shaded and not moving around very much results in profuse sweating during the day. I can't even walk to the train station in the morning without being disgusting by the time I get there (and I don't even want to think about what happens when I have to jog a little to catch a train).
That's also just the usual bad weather. There are also typhoons, which fortunately haven't really hit Tokyo at all this year. One was supposed to pass over, but it dissipated first and the other crossed over Honshu to the south of Tokyo into the Sea of Japan so it just rained sideways and sporadically for a day. Granted, at least when a typhoon is nearby, it feels cooler outside because it's at least really windy.
And yes, the winter is pretty mild here, which is more than I can say for the winter in Ontario. In principle, this should make up for the terrible, terrible summer. Except that our apartment lacks central heating and any insulation to speak of, which is unpleasant in its own way... but I still look forward to it because it's much better than this.
While Ontario can sometimes get pretty hot and is frequently humid, the weather will alternate between something vaguely hellish and something pretty reasonable every week or two (or at least this is how I remember it). Around here, the maximum temperature is at least 5 °C hotter and it's just constantly hellish outside.
I do not think there has been a day this month where the humidity has been less than 60% and this entire week, the humidity has been above 80%. When combined with daytime highs in the low- to mid-30s, even sitting somewhere shaded and not moving around very much results in profuse sweating during the day. I can't even walk to the train station in the morning without being disgusting by the time I get there (and I don't even want to think about what happens when I have to jog a little to catch a train).
That's also just the usual bad weather. There are also typhoons, which fortunately haven't really hit Tokyo at all this year. One was supposed to pass over, but it dissipated first and the other crossed over Honshu to the south of Tokyo into the Sea of Japan so it just rained sideways and sporadically for a day. Granted, at least when a typhoon is nearby, it feels cooler outside because it's at least really windy.
And yes, the winter is pretty mild here, which is more than I can say for the winter in Ontario. In principle, this should make up for the terrible, terrible summer. Except that our apartment lacks central heating and any insulation to speak of, which is unpleasant in its own way... but I still look forward to it because it's much better than this.
Monday 18 August 2014
Taking the wrong train and the fun times that ensue
There are many different train lines and companies in and around Tokyo. Typically, each train has its own stop on its own platform or on a particular side of one platform so it's very easy to know which train you're getting on in principle.
However, in practice some trains will change into other trains or the line will branch or something else. Generally, the terminal stop is indicated both on the train and on the signs so you should know what you're in for, but sometimes you're not paying attention when you get on the train or you just get really unlucky when a train that you thought would turn into a local train turns into an express.
In general, the best thing to do in this situation is to get off the train as soon as you discover your error and either backtrack or take an alternate route (if you know one). As long as it's not the last train, it isn't necessarily that big of a deal, although taking an alternate route might cost you a bit more, especially if it involves changing to a different train line or company. Also, if you mess up your attempt to backtrack, you might also end up spending more than you planned on.
For example, the other week I was taking the Fukutoshin line (part of the Tokyo Metro system) home from Ikebukuro. This platform has one Fukutoshin train going toward downtown Tokyo and one going further out. A few stops after Ikebukuro on this line, however, this train branches; one line continues to be the Fukutoshin while the other becomes a Seibu-Ikebukuro train or something (owned by Seibu).
I wasn't paying attention and I accidentally got on the express train that was going to turn into a Seibu. I could have got off at the next stop on the express and it would have been fine, but I was reading or playing with my phone or something and didn't notice until the announcement for Nerima started. I know that Nerima is definitely not the right way.
So I got off at Nerima and went onto the platform that I believed should be retracing my steps (also, everyone on the platform stared at me so I suspect that not many foreigners go there), but instead of getting onto the Seibu train that would turn back into a Yurakucho, I got on one that remained a Seibu train until it rolled up to Ikebukuro on a different platform.
So I had to leave at the gate, pay my 440 yen (I had taken a different Tokyo Metro train line to get to Ikebukuro in the first place) and then go back to a train that would take me to my station, paying another 240 to get home (for reference, I can go almost all over Tokyo from my station on 240 yen).
I could have got back on the train going the other way and get on the correct train that would take me to the right platform. However, I was tired and hungry so I just wanted to go home instead of continuing to play train pinball.
Since then, I definitely pay much more attention to the trains before I get on them.
However, in practice some trains will change into other trains or the line will branch or something else. Generally, the terminal stop is indicated both on the train and on the signs so you should know what you're in for, but sometimes you're not paying attention when you get on the train or you just get really unlucky when a train that you thought would turn into a local train turns into an express.
In general, the best thing to do in this situation is to get off the train as soon as you discover your error and either backtrack or take an alternate route (if you know one). As long as it's not the last train, it isn't necessarily that big of a deal, although taking an alternate route might cost you a bit more, especially if it involves changing to a different train line or company. Also, if you mess up your attempt to backtrack, you might also end up spending more than you planned on.
For example, the other week I was taking the Fukutoshin line (part of the Tokyo Metro system) home from Ikebukuro. This platform has one Fukutoshin train going toward downtown Tokyo and one going further out. A few stops after Ikebukuro on this line, however, this train branches; one line continues to be the Fukutoshin while the other becomes a Seibu-Ikebukuro train or something (owned by Seibu).
I wasn't paying attention and I accidentally got on the express train that was going to turn into a Seibu. I could have got off at the next stop on the express and it would have been fine, but I was reading or playing with my phone or something and didn't notice until the announcement for Nerima started. I know that Nerima is definitely not the right way.
So I got off at Nerima and went onto the platform that I believed should be retracing my steps (also, everyone on the platform stared at me so I suspect that not many foreigners go there), but instead of getting onto the Seibu train that would turn back into a Yurakucho, I got on one that remained a Seibu train until it rolled up to Ikebukuro on a different platform.
So I had to leave at the gate, pay my 440 yen (I had taken a different Tokyo Metro train line to get to Ikebukuro in the first place) and then go back to a train that would take me to my station, paying another 240 to get home (for reference, I can go almost all over Tokyo from my station on 240 yen).
I could have got back on the train going the other way and get on the correct train that would take me to the right platform. However, I was tired and hungry so I just wanted to go home instead of continuing to play train pinball.
Since then, I definitely pay much more attention to the trains before I get on them.
Wednesday 13 August 2014
Sorry for the neglect!
Apparently when I have issues with one post (my phone didn't save it) and the discover a book series I can't put down (observe the evidence in my Books of 2014 list), I neglect my blog.
Fortunately for my blog, the bookstore doesn't have the rest of the series and I have yet to place my order on Amazon (btw, Amazon in Japan seems to do free shipping on books without a minimum order price) so I won't occupy all of my time reading and will definitely make it up to you, my dear readers.
Thus, for the next couple weeks, I'll post three times a week (likely MWF) to make up for lost time. For now, here's a picture of an interesting food combination I noticed in a flier we received yesterday.
Fortunately for my blog, the bookstore doesn't have the rest of the series and I have yet to place my order on Amazon (btw, Amazon in Japan seems to do free shipping on books without a minimum order price) so I won't occupy all of my time reading and will definitely make it up to you, my dear readers.
Thus, for the next couple weeks, I'll post three times a week (likely MWF) to make up for lost time. For now, here's a picture of an interesting food combination I noticed in a flier we received yesterday.
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| Grilled cheese curry paella: so many things wrong here. |
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