If Noah was a Chocolatier

Chocolate in the form of various cute little animals. I suppose here in Japan EVERYTHING ends up cute-ified in some way sooner or later - even street gangs! (Look for the underground Hello Kitty gang edition). And chocolate isn't that much of a stretch really. But at some point you have to go in for the kill and i personally like to bite the heads off first. It seems more humane, or "chocomane," i guess.




Symian is : making up new words to fit his sugar high
Currently Reading: nada
Currently Listening: Lupe Fiasco
Kanji of the Day: 茶　チャ／サ

The Mist

This was the view out my window this morning. I'm still waiting for the giant bugs and whatnot.

Symian is : staring out into the grey.
Currently Reading: Five by Endo
Currently Listening: Podictionary.com Podcast
Kanji of the Day: 地　チ／じ

Instant Ramen Museum

In August 1958 Momofuku Ando invented the first "instant noodles" in Japan and revolutionized the lifestyle and diet of college students forever more. In November 1999 the Instant Ramen Museum was opened in Ando's hometown of Ikeda city, near Osaka. In February 2009 Ian, Ulala, Ryo and Masako head to the museum to learn, laugh and wet their noodles... er, appetites.

The museum


In front of the statue of the creator of Instant Ramen, Momofuku Ando - atop a cup of noodles.
From left: Ulala, Ian, Masako, Ryo


Re-creation of the shack in Ando's backyard where he spent many hours perfecting the process of flash frying and drying the noodles so they would be porous enough yet retain the chicken soup flavour.


The original 1958 "Chikin" Ramen instant noodles package


The wall of noodles


Make Your Own Noodles - and decorate the cup yourself!


Then choose your own ingredients and flavours! I chose curry soup with freeze dried green onion, pork and egg.


Signed, sealed, delivered.


Masako and Ryo with their noodles.


Enjoying some instant noodles in the instant noodle vending machine "cafe" - their version of the gift shop!



Further Reading:
Ramen Museum Site (Japanese)
Japan Times Article
Rameniac site


Symian is : full of knowledge and instant noodles
Currently Reading:　Five by Endo
Currently Listening: Fort Minor - DJ Green Lantern Mixtape
Kanji of the Day: 太　タ／タイ／ふと(る)

Ups and Downs in the Elevator Business

Cool job of the week: Elevator engineer. Position held by Ulala's cousin's husband, Tsunehiro. His business, as all major manufacturing sectors, has been hit hard by the Global Recession. But his job is safe (for now) and he and his wife Noriko have a baby on the way, so Congratulations to them!
This tower is in the 'burbs of Nagoya and it is the mythic testing site of Mitsubishi Elevator Division. That`s right. They built a big ol` tower for the sole purpose of running test elevators up and down AND occasionally dropping them for safety tests.
The neighborhood where this tower stands tall is called "Inazawa" and the engineers, with their typically nerdy sense of wit, built the tower 173 meters tall. In Japanese, that would be "EE-chi-NA-na-ZA-n". I-na-za - and wa is used as a topic marking particle. Clever. Geeky.


Symian is wondering how Friday snick up on him like that.
Currently Reading: Time Magazine.
Currently Listening: Little Tom
Kanji of the Day: 　走　ソウ／はし(る)

Proof!

A beer for anyone who can name all the people in this picture.
A keg for anyone who can explain to me why THESE particular people.

The proof is in the painting. It`s real!
This is painted on the side of a building that borders a parking lot in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. I only ever stumble across it randomly late late at night when out, invariably drinking, with friends. When i ask people about it later, they usually don`t know or don`t remember. It`s a bit of an enigma. I've never seen it in the light of day, which, if you know Shinsaibashi and Soemoncho, is not really very surprising - these are "night neighborhoods." I was starting to believe that maybe this mural is like some surreal rainbow - it only appears with the right combination of factors. Or maybe like something from "Lost"... But, nope. It`s real. And truth is stranger than fiction.


Symian is : wandering around at night.
Currently Reading: The Snake That Bowed
Currently Listening: Lupe Fiasco
Kanji of the Day: 組　リ／く／くみ

Tequila and Chocolate - Together at Last!

Which kind of makes sense since they are both of pre-Columbian American origin.

Thank the gods that i`m too old and "mature" (cough, snicker snicker) to give in to temptation like this too often...




And Thank You to Mrs Sasa senior (my soon-to-be mother-in-law) for giving me this lovely Valentine`s Day gift. And also thanks to the new Mrs Sasa junior (Kazuki`s wife) for her choco-gift. I love Japan, where on February 14th the women usually bestow chocolate on the men. Then of course, in mid-March on "White Day" (unique to Japan) the women receive reciprocal gifts from the men. It is usually mid-March when i reassert that i am a foreigner and therefor should not be subject to such bizarre and extravagant local customs. I might just be cranky from coming down off a month-long sugar high... ; )

Symian is: exercising his sweet tooth.
Currently Reading: The Snake That Bowed
Currently Listening: The Word Nerds Podcast
Kanji of the Day: 前 -　まえ／ゼン
　

where i work

Well, now that i`ve been working there for a year, i thought i might finally post a couple pictures of the building in which i work. Almost a full year into my "career" at Berlitz, i feel that my teaching has improved, my motivation has remained high, and overall, i have little to complain about. Life is good. The building itself is an odd shape and has a beautiful atrium in the lobby with lots of plants and trees (that they ripped up and began re-modeling shortly after i took these photos! - i`ll post new pics when they`re done.) Our "school" - or office, rather - is on the 15th floor and has a nice view of the interconnected shopping centers that make up Senri-Chuo (just north of Osaka). It`s especially nice to watch the sunsets from the teachers' room. We are up high enough that on clear days i can see Osaka Business Park (OBP), and i can see the tower in which Ulala works. I can`t quite see our apartment building, though.







And as always my time flies, slips, and zooms past me and out of my grasp and leaves me feeling rushed and incomplete. And also feeling guilty that i give so little time to hobbies like language study and blogging (as well as my new hobbies like guitar and the gym - that`S right! i joined a freakin' gym! ack!). Ergo, in a New-Years-Resolution-based effort to blog more and better i will be including the following footer to my *hopefully* weekly posts. Who needs or has time for full sentences anyway, right?

Symian is: working hard or hardly working
Currently Reading: The Postman Always Rings Twice
Currently Listening: The Cat Empire - "The Cat Empire"
Kanji of the Day: 西　セイ／サイ／にし

Evita de Pan

One from the vaults. When Ulala and i were in Argentina back in December '07 we had a nice dinner one night at the restaurant of a boutique hotel near our apartment. In the foyer of the hotel there was this massive portrait of "Evita" that looked to be some sort of mosaic. Now, images of Eva Peron are somewhat commonplace in Argentina, along with Ernesto Guevera and Diego Maradona, so i didn`t give it much thought except to wonder at the strange texture. But just as i was taking a closer look, one of the staff said in English quietly and with what i can only describe as reverence, "It is made of bread. All bread."

A Strange Brew

Found this at the Seijo-Ishi supermarket near my house the other day. HAven' tried it yet. can't decide to go with "hot" or "cold."

A good night`s rest

So we finally got our new bed delivered and built on Sunday. It`s much, MUCH more comfortable! We were so excited about the new bed that we almost couldn't sleep! It`s much higher than the old beds, too. Now we almost have to climb up into it. We still don`t have any double sized sheets or duvets but that`s OK. We did get the box sheets for the mattress. Now if you`ll excuse me, i have some napping to do...



And here is the reason we got this bed. Perfect for tiny Japanese apartments, but a hell of a way to wake up in the morning!