Some random bits from recent days

For those of you who don`t read Japanese, the following sign says "Crime Corporation". Shhh! Don`t tell the cops!



On the left we have "Bacon Sour Cream." On the right, "Onion Cheese Gratin." God bless you, Pringles Flavour Guy, wherever you are.... Actually, truth be told, the Bacon one wasn`t so good - kind of bland - and the Gratin one just tastes like cheese flavouring, which seems to be true of all the weird Pringles flavours that involve cheese. My favorite flavour of all time remains Spicy Guacamole. Awesome.



We were out at a Mexican restaurant in Kyoto a while ago and i tried this beer. The beer itself wasn`t very good but the way they served it was just bizarre. Salt on a tiny beer glass? Did i order a can of cheap tequila by mistake??



Indeed it is....

I always cry at fake weddings...

Ulala and i went to a bridal show at a famous wedding hall facility near Osaka Castle called Taiko-en on Tuesday (despite my only having three hours sleep after Mark Farina`s show Monday night). For a thousand yen we got to sit in on a mock Shinto wedding and then have a mock reception where we could try the food and have someone explain what our "special day" would be like if we had it at Taiko-en. The whole thing was pretty impressive. Too bad i don`t have thirty grand lying around or we might actually consider booking the place. The gardens are magnificent and the facility is top notch. Most importantly, the food is so good we may go back for more demos while we "consider". At least that`s what Ulala tells me. I had a couple bites for taste but my stomach was churning so much that i let her eat mine ( a reversal of our usual dining roles). At the mock ceremony i happened to sit along the right side near the front and ended up playing the father of the groom. I was so proud of my "son"... though he looked nothing like me...

Mini sake barrels with prizes inside (we got some little bath salts).


These are the appetizers i didn`t eat...


...and this is the desert i didn`t eat:


You may notice that this is a different couple, modeling a more Western style that is very popular here.

Merry Christmas!

What? Too soon?



I finally bought a plant. We used to have plants, but then we went away for six months of traveling last year so we gave away or put out to pasture all our plants - including that massive vine that was threatening to conquer the living room. I`ve been meaning to get new plants but the lack of time, energy and agreement all put that off. Then i saw that they had these at the local grocery store for a mere 700 yen.

When i was growing up my mom called this a "Christmas Cactus" (though i guess these days it would be a "Holiday Cactus") and it always sat in our dining or living room and bloomed around Christmastime every year (although i also remember often joking that the cactus couldn`t read a calendar because it was blooming off schedule). This one is already blooming but that`s okay. the label it came with calls it a "Denmark Cactus." I seem to remember that they are supposed to bloom when the weather gets cooler but it`s still hovering around 30 degrees here in Osaka, so who knows. What i do know is that it reminds me a lot of home and of my family and that makes me happy every time i look at it. =)






And by the way, doesn`t Paul Revere look suspiciously like Jack Black?

Shimogamo Jinja Moon Viewing

On September 14th we hopped on the Keihan train out to Demachiyanagi (in the North-East part of Kyoto) for a wonderful evening of traditional Japan (and then Mexican food). This is the same area as we went for the Gozan-thingy (big burning kanji). Never went out to that area in five years, suddenly i`m there twice in a month. Weird. This time we were invited by our good friends Masako and Ryo (who are engaged now, btw!! Congrats to them!) to attend the harvest moon watching. Lots of people, delicious snacks, traditional dancing and Gagaku music (which Wikipedia tells me means "elegant music" and dates from ancient times. Thank you, Wikipedia. Why did i even go to college?). This inaptly named music (and we are really playing fast and loose with the definition of "music" here) is akin to that buzzing noise that makes people swat wildly around them to crush its source. I make the same sounds by placing a blade of grass between my thumbs and blowing until somebody yells at me to stop, which is immediately. I`ve been told that "The Japanese" have a unique appreciation for the buzz-screech-screaming of the cicadas. This would seem to support that theory. On the plus side there was also some Koto playing (a traditional stringed instrument) that was divine and otherworldly. I am reminded again that Japan is a unique balance of absurd extremes.

The dancing was also less than spectacular, seeming to consist of people hopping from one foot to the other as slowly as possible while holding either sticks or fans, but the bright and imaginative traditional costumes more than made up for it. Maybe i`ve been spoiled by the liveliness of Native Canadian dancing?

After watching the dancing and trying to take dark and blurry photos, we ate some curry sembe crackers and "mitarashi-dango" (rice cakes on sticks with sweet soy sauce syrup). Delicious. Then we had Mexican food at a little place in Kawaramachi that Ryo had been to before. The tables were crazy glass and steel contraptions that looked like they should be in a yuppie`s apartment in Manhattan rather than in a quaint, little second-floor Mexican restaurant. And then the owner picked up his guitar and serenaded us with some Mexican folk songs (in a thick Japanese accent, of course).

We had a great night (and a nice, well-earned nap on the late train back into Osaka) and it was awesome to see Ryo and Masako. Congratulations again to them on their engagement!


Ulala with her new haircut:


The very famous mitarashi-dango shop:


Making mitarashi-dango:


Shinto dance floor:


The moon over the shrine grounds:


Ryo and Masako hangin` with the three-legged crows.
As Ulala so astutely pointed out, "These crows have only three legs!"
The three-legged crow is a sacred symbol of Shimogamo Shrine and, as such, is available on T-shirts and cell-phone ornaments at the gift shop.


Dancing (be thankful you can`t hear the music).


Best costume ever. You can`t really see it in this picture but the detail is magnificent.

Yodogawa Fireworks

Another late post. Back in early August Ulala and i had the pleasure of watching the Yodogawa Fireworks (one of the larger shows of Japan`s summer fireworks season) from the comfort of Mark`s house. This was great because it meant hanging out with friends without fighting the noisy crowds of thousands that always swarm the riverside for this event. It also meant that when a sudden thunder and lightning storm was unleashed upon Osaka a mere thirty minutes before the start of the fireworks, we were safe and dry and not fighting the noisy (and now wet and cranky) crowds of thousands. Surprisingly enough, the show went on as scheduled. Almost as scheduled, anyway. They started a few minutes early and rushed through the "sets" of colourful explosions.

When the rain first started the streets were crowded with festival-goers who suddenly decided to turn around and head back to the station, think ing the show would be cancelled. When the fireworks started, they turned around again and two rushing flows of humanity collided and spilled into the roads, blocking traffic both ways and generally causing mayhem as everyone tried not to run over each other or get run over and still crane their necks to see the fireworks - often stopping right in the street to do so. Add to this the fact that they all had umbrellas and you have one very bizarre sight which i am thankful that i watched from the safety and dryness of Mark`s balcony.

Despite the rain and the chaos, it was still spectacular. And Mark`s apartment just overlooking Nakatsu station provided a magnificent view of the fireworks over the busy city streets. I tried to get a few good pictures with my cheap and now aging old Nikon, but mostly i just sipped beer and watched in awe.

As a footnote, i would like to add that the rain began just before the fireworks were scheduled to start and then cleared to reveal a beautiful moon and almost cloudless sky only moments after they were scheduled to stop.

Go-zan-something-something

About a month ago, on August 16th (yeah, i`m slow. so what? you wanna fight about it?) Ulala and i decided to check out something in Kyoto that they do once a year and i`ve wanted to check out since i came to Japan. If you`ve been to Kyoto you may have noticed giant Kanji characters (Chinese pictograms) on the sides of some of the mountains that surround town. Well there are five of them in total and once a year at the end of Obon (about mid august) these are lit on fire. Obon is the week-or-so long time when ancestors come back to visit their families. It is a time when ceremonies are held at most temples and also private ceremonies are held by families. Graves are visited and cleaned, offerings are made, and prayers are said. On the last day of Obon there are various special ceremonies to mark the end of this special time (although these days it usually means people come back from their summer vacation and go back to work). One of these is the lighting of massive bonfires to help guide the spirits of the ancestors back to the other world. It`s called "Gozan-okuribi" (but i never remember the full thing so call it "Gozan-something-something and people usually know what i`m referring to). The name literally translates as "Five Mountain Farewell Fire." Superstition and romance are nice and all but i really just wanted to see the giant burning figures on the mountainside. So we arrived early and found a decent place to sit until sunset and then at 8 pm they lit the first one - which was the only one we could see. The we walked back down to the river, where we could see two more. Unfortunately it would be almost impossible walking to see all five in the 30 minutes that they are lit. Oh well. The ones we saw were nice. Unfortunately i have only dark, blurry, terrible pictures because i had to use our old digital camera. Our "new" one is toast after surviving three continents but not my clumsiness. Meh.

This week be weak

Aside from working lots and doing studying some, there is little to report from my small segment of the world. Well, that`s not entirely true. Meh.

After recently losing one of my morning battles with IBS and having to miss a morning of work, i decided to take the advice of a friend and get some Noni Juice. She says it has been good for her. At the price it costs i should hope so! ¥4000 a bottle! And it tastes terrible! It`s like drinking vomit or the juice of a thousand sweaty gym socks. Ugh! Here`s hoping it works! Cheers!



Last Sunday evening Peter had some of his friends and students over to his school (Four Seasons English in Amagasaki) for a pizza and wine party. Lots of fun and great to see so many of my old students again (and some new faces too!). I`m so happy that Peter seems to be making a go of the school. It gives me hope for when i start up my business in a couple of years.




A few weeks ago we got a new vacuum cleaner (that`s how little news there is!). It`s a Dyson, and it sucks - which is exactly what you want in an over-priced vacuum. Sa far it has been awesome. It cost a pretty penny but it was well worth it. Watch out dust! You`re gonna bite... yourself!



And last but not least, Ulala went with her friend to a wedding thing (they call it a Bridal Fair but it is NOTHING like the big fairs they have in North America). There she got to try on a kimono and taste test some food, etc for one of the many many wedding services here in Osaka. Voila!



That is all.

Today`s Blost.

You know what? I`m tired of talking. yup. I`m THAT lazy. And so is everyone else, methinks, the way we shorten words and txt msg each other. We`re reverting to hieroglyphics. But it ain`t all bad. So i`m changing the english language to suit my needs. We already have "blog" from web log so now i figure blog post can become "blost". Watch for it. It`s gonna be a thing.

Hanging out with more celebrities in Umeda with Tony: