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84 in the suburbs
Arab Strap’s Philophobia, a musical compulsion of mine when I’m feeling sweaty on a summer evening, is a slow march of dreamy humid angst. Tonight I’m not quite lonely, more alone, and through the open...
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Go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond
Friday morning. I arrive at my teacher’s house and instead of her normal calm welcome, she greets me flustered and looking a little disheveled. She apologizes profusely and tells me she has to go do...
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Margaritas in Omotesando
Saturday night, sporadically rainy, I take the train to Shibuya and then to Omotesando to meet an American friend at El Torito. She has promised me margaritas. Some oshaberi (chat) and booze is pretty...
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Typhoon preparation
Friday night: A typhoon is headed my way. It should arrive Sunday. So freaking exciting. I have my typhoon kit prepared: half a leftover pizza, a half-bottle of good sake, watching the Nagoya sumo...
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Typhoon Jaunty
Last night on the news I watched people be interviewed about the flooding near their homes because of the typhoon. I don’t know if I am imagining this, but I watched a woman show exactly how high the...
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Carpal Tunnel and the Dustbunnies
The typhoon came and went, there was some tragedy, some destruction: 4 people died and about 70 were injured, and there was quite a lot of property damage. The news showed a smashed house that had...
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Earthquake
Our perceived world is a boat, floating in an ocean of magma. Here near Yokohama, I didn’t even feel the big earthquake near Niigata when it happened this morning. The TV news is full of pictures of...
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Suburban god walking: Minatogaoka mikoshi
A mikoshi is a sacred palanquin in which the local kami (god) is transported. So, today, through the banal suburban streets of Minatogaoka (our little development), a mikoshi was rocked and rolled...
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August, you hot bitch
82 degrees at 7:30 PM, and I decide to lace up my newly optimistic sneakers and take a walk around the streets of suburbia. I drop off a borrowed book at a friend’s house and receive a scarf made by...
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Mottainai
Mottainai means “don’t be wasteful.” It’s one of those folksy sayings that reverberates through Japanese culture. All cultures have some similar concept, but it seems that in the developed world—the...
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Let’s get this party started
A yukata is a summer kimono which requires little pomp and circumstance to wear. Whereas putting on a formal kimono can sometimes require assistance (particularly to tie the obi), a yukata is easy and...
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Bonbori Matsuri in Kamakura
Warm summer evening, Shinto shrine with assistants handing out slips of paper telling your fortune (for a small fee), hundreds of washi paper lanterns created by amateur and professional artists, a...
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“Beautiful fragrant flower” is the name of (a) my favorite junmai ginjo sake...
Well, crap, Typhoon Fitow is a-fixin’ to pass right over us in this here Kanto plain. I decided to cook the pork loin I had in the fridge and make rice. There is absolutely no chance I will starve, but...
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A parade of red and black backpacks
Woke up this morning thinking I heard the snapping of a tree, and instead awoke to a muggy, overcast, almost still morning. Seeing the pile of garbage bags in the collection area, I see everyone still...
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Kotooshu’s Summer Soup
It’s still hot and muggy here on Ye Olde Kanto Plain, although this evening, finally, we had a break and a breeze. His Royal Highness and Naval Officer (pro tempore), Prince Charles Julius of...
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If you need a root canal, Sheldon’s your man…
Yogurt recommendation? Trust a Bulgarian. Co-op brand plain yogurt. The label says it includes Acidophilus Bifidus. It tastes sharp and tart and creamy over the tongue. A bit too soft textured for my...
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Brown paper packages tied up with strings
Yes, yes, you know how the song goes. Gah, warm October day, out with my friend Eriko to see the secret farmers’ stands of Hayama. Yes, secret, you go past the housing development, down the side...
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I’m a fan
Saturday, October 6th was the Yokohama Octoberfest, International Food Festival, and a city-wide Jazz Festival. The Jazz Fest consisted of various bands playing at outdoor spaces throughout the...
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A Ta Gueule
For our anniversary dinner, we decided we wanted something meaty, non-Asian, and special. We found a review of the “French-Belgian” A Ta Gueule at the Tokyo Food Page: “This tiny (12-seat) hideaway...
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Yokosuka Mikoshi Parade
I wrote about the mikoshi that bucked and bounced by my house this summer. October 21st there was an entire parade of them down the main street of Yokosuka.
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Momiji-gari in Noboribetsu
Momiji-gari means “making an excursion to see the leaves changing.” Noboribetsu is a famous hot-spring town in Hokkaido where the streams run milky and warm. The Ainu word “Nuplpetsu” means the “white...
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Lambikin! Lambikin!
Sapporo is a culinary paradise of ramen alleys, Genghis Khan (lamb grill), amazing crab, beer, and sake. Photo: The unforgettable giant-tuna-head-and-four-sake lunch followed by a long nap. Photo:...
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Mori’s Bakery
A Culinary Guide to Taura, no. 1 Some background: Taura is technically part of Yokosuka City, but it has a village feel. The village may be old (there are some temples and shrines from around 1500...
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I’ve been known to shout about things I know nothing about
It’s a chilly evening. I’m here drinking some Knob Creek bourbon and clicking around the electronic universe. I read Bob Lefsetz’s blog “The Lefsetz Letter” and found a post about Walt Wilkins. Lefsetz...
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Ehoba no shōnin are cruising the back streets of Taura
Photo: The abandoned house in Taura. It’s 4:30 p.m. and the light is fading fast. I descend from my hilltop neighborhood—full of blinking Christmas lights and overly clean cars—via the bamboo grove...
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Donde Hiro: Peruvian restaurant in Oppama
Donde Hiro is run by Peruvians of Peruvian-Japanese extraction who have returned to Japan (Hiro is the chef/owner). The large TV is always blaring Latin American MTV. The decor includes Andean indio...
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Shin-hirayu onsen and Takayama sake
There are certainly a great number of symbols in the sake world; images and things that evoke perfectly Pavlovian pangs for a glass of good sake. It might be a blue dyed curtain hanging in front of a...
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Akemashite omedetō gozaimasu!
Happy New Year! My flower lady put together an arrangement for my genkan (entrance hall) of pine branches and nandina berries (above). Some Japanese New Year decorations include: Shimenawa, the straw...
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Hatsuhinode in Minatogaoka Park
We joined an impromptu group of our neighbors in the park to see the 2008 hatsuhinode (first sunrise of the year). Our picnic of hot chocolate, cheese, bread, and nuts. More and more people arrived in...
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A lotus grows in Takayama: blogging about Japan
A rich buttery soup is not better as such than a broth of wild herbs. In handling and preparing wild herbs, do so as you would the ingredients for a rich feast, wholeheartedly, sincerely, clearly. When...
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Edmund Hillary wuz here
Photo: Garden view from a guest room in the Nagase Ryokan, Takayama. From the NYT: Edmund Hillary, First on Everest, Dies at 88 A toast in honor of Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (who may have been first,...
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Off-limits and private worlds in Kamakura
Last Sunday, we enjoyed an exhibit of ukiyoe paintings at the Kamakura Museum (Katsushika Hokusai’s “Drunken Beauty” was only one of the many delights). Then after the temptations of the floating...
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A mold spore, a yeast cell, and a Shinto priest walk into a bar…
Photo: Day 1, dinner at Sasagin, my tasting notes on the evening’s five featured sakes. The John Gauntner Sake Professional Course experience: 70 sakes to taste over three days in the classroom, about...
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Snow snow snow snow
Obviously, we don’t get a lot of snow in this area. One big blizzard makes us all giddy and we run out out out to play play play in it. The park was full of kids and parents throwing snowballs, making...
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Ume ume, oh no we gotta go
The best among blossoms is the red plum, whether light or dark in color. As for the cherry, the blossoms should be on slender branches, the petals large and the leaves deeply colored. —Sei Shonagon,...
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Unfolding pink plum blossoms
Baby, sweet baby, you’re my drug Come on and let me taste your stuff Baby, sweet baby, bring me your gift What surprise you gonna hit me with I am waiting here for more I am waiting by your door I am...
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Playing (authorized) hooky in Kamakura
There’s really no such thing as playing hooky in the U.S. Navy (unless you mean to move to Canada, change your name, sell polished stone jewelry, and live off the land), but Carlos took Thursday...
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Sake play group: Kinpou Shuzo
Photo: Kinpou Shuzo (sake brewery)/Niida Honke (main house). March 15, 2008: We four otaku members of the Tokyo Sake Meetup Group got off the shinkansen in Koriyama (Fukushima Prefecture) and caught a...
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Cherry blossoms, of course
Van Morrison was singing “Madame Joy” as I walked among the cherry blossoms in my neighborhood. I’ll leave you to it…
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Sakura sakura yayoi no sora wa miwatasu kagiri
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms, Across the Spring sky, As far as you can see. Is it a mist, or clouds? Fragrant in the air. Come now, come, Let’s look, at last! — “Sakura,” verse 2 Joined some lady...
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Lunch with the monks
An occasional student of mine has a family affiliation with Engakuji Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, which entitles her to the annual lunch and behind the scenes tour. All my random comments about...
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Memorial Day
Carlos has a few days left in port, and then his ship leaves for good, never to return to Japan. The USS Kitty Hawk will be decommissioned after 47 years of service. I will remain in Japan for several...
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Do the Shimane
Saturday evening, the Tokyo Sake Meetup invaded Shimane-kan, a store in Nihonbashi devoted to promoting Shimane Prefecture, or as the staff said, “the least known prefecture in Japan.” Shimane-kan...
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Kyoto: Nasty as she wanna be
Honey I got a lot of money Could you be my nasty girl And let me do that dirty dance witchu Mommy Shake that sexy body I just wanna nasty girl Now tell me is that nasty girl you? —Nitti (alternate...
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Tanabata wish
I meet my friend Eriko and her six-year-old daughter, Amy, to go to the Higashi-Zushi Tanabata festival. There are large Tanabata festivals in other Japanese cities, but this will be a modest...
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Goodnight nihonshu
Photo: Nishi no Seki Junmai, made from Hattan Nishiki rice at 60% seimai buai. Last chance at the Takara corral to unholster the six sakes John Gauntner chose for the evening. Last sips of life in...
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What I see when I close my eyes
Photo: Ginzan onsen in the evening. Photo: Adashino Nembutsuji (temple in Kyoto). Photo: Local festival in Taura, a short walk from our house. Photo: Scene in Ryogoku, Tokyo. Photo: Chikyoubin (large...
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