Japanese Products August 2012

I prepared this blog post almost two years ago and then forgot to post it. It's late, but enjoy!

Gokuri Banana
Stars:★★★★★
I really like this one because even though it's got sugar added in the form of a high fructose syrup, it tastes like banana. It's not your fake banana flavor but your really juicy yummy gooey banana.

Fanta Peach
Stars: ★★☆☆☆
Yeah it tastes good, but only if you like fake peach flavor. I don't so I didn't like it. After my trip to Europe years ago I always thought of Fanta as this cool exception to the world of pops and sodas. You see, each Fanta I had over there had a high percentage of juice. This peach Fanta has no fruit juice at all.

Mitsuya Sweet, Ripe Pineapple
Stars: ★★☆☆☆
The two flavors of that strangely unique Mitsuya cider flavor and pineapple didn't seem to mesh. Instead of merging and marrying into a new flavor, they kinda just both existed. The bottle was enchanting, but the flavor not so much. Also, it probably didn't help that I am not a fan of normal Mitsuya Cider anyway.

C.C. Lemon STRONG
Stars: ★★★☆☆
Okay I like CC lemon. CC lemon is one of those drinks that is my mainstay if I opt for a fizzy drink with sugar. CC lemon strong is not going to be on that list. My idea of strong fizz is not this. It was actually kind of weak. Most Japanese sodas I would say are weaker than what I encountered in America. but besides that the flavor was different. It tasted of chemicals.

And last I will leave you with...

Red Melon Pan with Chocolate Chips
Stars: ？？？？？
I purchased this in a rush, so I only I noted that this Spider-man Melon Pan is filled with chocolate chips after buying it. I am allergic to dairy so even though I really wanted to try it I couldn't. I gave it away so it didn't go to waste, and at least I showed you the package. Pretty cool eh?

Anpan (あんぱん)

I made Anpan on my own for the first time this last week. I’m quite pleased with the results too, so I’d like to share the recipe with the English-speaking world. For those of you who don’t know, Anpan is a small bun with red bean paste baked inside it. In Japan, they are an ubiquitous treat that can be found at nearly any convenience store, bakery, grocery store, etc. In America, they are pretty much non-existent, sadly.

The hardest thing in making these little yummy treats was arriving at the right conversions. In Japanese recipes they give measurements for the ingredients in terms of weight, but we tend towards measurements based on mass. For example, the original recipe called for x grams of flour whereas we’d usually measure flour by the cup. As you can imagine, I had to do a little research on each ingredient to get the conversion just right.

After that, I had to make some substitutions to make the whole thing dairy-free since I am allergic milk. While the original recipe called for milk and butter, I had to switch them out for soy milk and margarine. Since I knew I was making the serious baking faux paux of tampering with a recipe the first time using it, I was nervous my substitutions might screw up the end results, but they turned out better than I had hoped.

Basic Anpan Recipe (makes 24 buns)

Anpan Ingredients

All-purpose Flour
Dry Yeast
Sugar
Salt
Medium Egg
Soymilk
(I used Vanilla, but Plain should work)
Unsalted Margarine
Red Bean Paste
(the premade bagged variety works well)

5-5 ½ cups
3 tsp
4 tbsp
2 tsp
2
1 1/3 cups

6 tbsp
400grams/14oz

Other Ingredients

Another Medium Egg
Black Sesame Seeds

1
as needed

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.
2. Then add the soymilk and eggs, and mix with your hands. Do not be concerned if it sticks to your hands, the margarine will change that shortly.
3. Knead for about 5 minutes before adding the margarine.
4. Add the margarine in single tablespoon doses, and continue kneading for at least 10 minutes. Knead vigorously.
5. Make the dough into a single ball, and let it rise for about an hour. Be sure to cover it so that it doesn’t dry out.
6. Take out the dough and cut it into 24 parts. Make these parts into small balls and give them 15 minutes to rise again.
7. Take the red bean paste and cut it into 24 pieces. Then indent a ball of dough and place a piece of red bean paste into it. Fold in the edges being careful not to get any red bean on the outside of the bun. Close up the bun and place it on an oil sprayed pan.


8. After preparing all 24 buns, let them sit for about 50 minutes. Cover them up again so that they don’t dry out.
9. Beat the remaining medium egg and add a touch of water to make a “wash” for the buns.
10. Using a brush, coat each bun with the wash and add a few sesame seeds to the summit of the buns. The wash will give the Anpan their nice dark color, and the seeds will act as decoration to distinguish them from other buns.
11. Bake the buns in the oven for 14-17 minutes at 350 degrees. You want the buns to darken, but you don’t want to blacken their undersides so monitor them closely the last three minutes. Perhaps even bake them longer.
12. Pull them out of the oven and place them on a rack to cool a bit. Enjoy!

Tip: Try and have all the ingredients at room temperature before you use them. The yeast will rise more properly and the dough will be a bit easier to knead.

Revived Blog 復活されたブログ

Long time no write!

I let this blog fall on the wayside to allow me to better focus on my Japanese studies. However, having passed the JLPT N1 last winter, I've decided to make writing a bigger priority in my life.

Therefore, starting in August, I will be updating this blog twice a month on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. The first update each month will highlight some sorts of interesting products such as foods, or drinks that I have encountered in Japan. The second update each month will be a cultural anecdote, a travel journal, or something else that I want to talk about.

日本人の皆さん、ひさしぶり！

日本語能力試験N1を合格しましたのでもっと時間をかけてこのブログをいいものにするつもりです。

八月に始まって毎月二回このブログを更新します。　第二週土曜日では日本で売っている限定品を話題にします。　第四週土曜日で僕が日本で体験したことについて書きます。

よろしくおねがいします！

Shinigami love apples!

Culture note 1: Eating an apple whole in Japan is called Marukajiri (lit. Round Biting) (Ma-roo-ka-jee-ree)

Culture note 2: Eating an apple in Japan is believed to cause Kaburitsuki which near as I can tell means that because of the way you are eating the apple, you will bash in your gums and bleed all over the place.
Never had that happen... ever. (Ka-boo-ree-tsoo-key)

Culture note 3: Eating an apple in Japan while walking is seen as similar to hocking a loogie onto the sidewalk. It's apparently really that bad in the manners department. Of course this is only generally speaking, I think.

Trivial note 1: One of Death Note's Shinigami (death gods/soul reapers) had a penchant for apples and often eats them marukajiri in the anime, manga, and live actions movie versions of Death Note.

Now that you are armed with that information, please proceed to the core material of this post.

I was walking out of the school while munching on my apple (like I do about every day) when I got stopped by the principal. She was gesturing strangely and saying something I could barely make out through the windows of the school office. I thought she was just teasing me about my marukajiri, like everyone else seems to want to do. This thought wasn't helped by her exaggerated tone, and weird apple-eating mimicry gyrations she made as she repeated over and over again "Dame," "Dame," occasionally even making an X with her arms for added effect.

(Dame, btw, means "No! No good! Don't do that!" when said in succession.) (Da-may)

At the time, I just smiled and kept walking. She was most certainly not going to make a good conversation partner. After all, when Japanese people revert to speaking in simple, single words, it is because they've assumed a mental posturing that is insulting to me. They assume that you are a small neanderthal monkey incapable of basic communication in their "very difficult" language. Of course, it's only made more difficult by these inane attempts at communication.

I was technically on the way home, so I had just slipped out of my slippers into my normal shoes and was about to leave school grounds before this all happened. However, upon exiting I saw another teacher on smoke break. Seeing a chance, I immediately sought out his thoughts on what just happened. This was a shot in the dark because I'd never actually held a conversation with this teacher before longer than a couple minutes, but he was more likely to prove to be a communicating adult.

So while he smoked, I ate my apple, and we chatted.

I asked him if the principal was serious and whether I should stop eating the apple I was already eating. (Wouldn't that be a waste!) He basically said something similar to "it would be better if you just joined me here until you finish that apple." Translated through the English cultural barrier that means something closer to "Don't even think about walking anywhere while eating that apple, idiot."

My stream of consciousness is running like mad as I continue chewing my apple to gain time. "Ouch! that was harsh.. but at least he's using full sentences... gotta focus on the positive.. the positive .. ugh, I'll have fun sorting this one out later... " >_<

While I recovered, he said in plain terms something about eating apples while walking is Dame. My response was quick and far too direct for Japanese communication, but it was basically "Eh? Really? I've been doing that since I came to Japan and no one has done me the favor of ever telling me that."

-insert dejected look here-

Then I asked a string of questions that would sound utterly simplistic and pandering in English but just happen to be the best way to sound curious in Japanese. I had a short five to ten minute conversation with him as I scarfed my apple down. About the time I finished my apple, the teacher was kind enough to tell me that I had ten minutes to get the train station... and then smile while saying "If you hurry you can make it right?"

Before taking off running, my response was "了解、焦ります." (Literally: Roger that, Hurrying.")
Yes, it sounds stupid, even in Japanese, I think.

The results of my conversation with that teacher are basically contained in culture point #3 at the top of this post, but apparently, it is extremely bad manners to walk and eat anything in Japan. I repeat, anything. Eating an apple is okay, just not while walking. The reasons given for this were basically two-fold. (1)Some teachers are afraid that the students might start imitating me, but (2)the principal is particularly nervous that people in the neighborhood will start spreading rumors about the local ALT eating apples while walking.

Sadly, I do not know the cultural reasons for Japan being up in arms against eating while walking.

However, the breakdown of the above reasons are as follows.

(1)Japan for whatever reason has, in general, a serious manners taboo about not sitting down or at least staying in one place to enjoy your food. Teachers, per their position, have not only a responsibility to educate their students but to set a good example as well. This seems contradictory to me because I see students in Japan often eating at their desks in the classrooms, mainly at lunchtime, but even between classes. However, they never eat in the halls, and near as I can tell, there is a punishment if they do.

Thankfully the teachers won't mind if I eat my apple in the office while sitting down even if it is marukajiri. So, I will continue to do it that way.

(2)Okay, so for this one you're probably thinking something similar to my initial knee-jerk thoughts. Right, so what if the neighbors spread rumors about me eating an apple while walking? I mean, I do eat apples while walking, so where is the harm in that. It's just the chatter of some busy bodies.

Well, let me work a little cultural translation magic for you. The phrase "spread rumors about you" (噂をする) doesn't mean just that they are simply talking about you. The phrase has the connotation of stating that they see you as 不良 (furyou)... which transliterated means "not-good," but is more like "delinquent" or like the "bad" in the phrase "bad company" (不良仲間). If you have this kind of image, it can reflect badly on the school because in Japan people are not thought of as individuals but are thought of as individuals of this organization, that group or whatever. So, I would be causing problems unwittingly and unnecessarily for my fellow teachers.

So, moral of today's story? It took some strange comical antics on the part of my principal for me to finally learn that something I was doing was considered bad manners by Japanese people. I'm still trying to fully convince myself that I should be grateful for that.
But, I am grateful that I now know.

Even if it took almost eight months of me eating apples marukajiri for someone to tell me.


^- That is one 不良 looking guy, eh?

For whom are you living?

So, do you live for the sake of someone else (ie. others), or do you
live for yourself?

I usually like to think I understand my answer to this deceptively simple-sounding question, but because of the earthquake/tsunami disaster stuff up North, I’ve been doing an excessive amount of thinking recently. Some of my musings on this topic are contained here, and hopefully they aren’t all that rambling.

So first of all, I am, at my core, part gamer. I say this warily because I know that I don’t rank up there with the masters at Street Fighter, Tetris, Super Mario etc, nor would I claim much in the way of skill. I do, however, claim passion and experience. Also, the previously mentioned game’s are probably beside the point, because I usually indulge in the solitary RPG or adventure type games.

Well, despite the traumatic situation in maybe a fifth(probably less) of Japan, here in Hiroshima you’d think nothing was happening. Life goes around me as normal. I went out and did darts on Saturday. I even played Border Break: Air Burst for about an hour. (Tangent: Border Break is one of those hardcore games you find at an arcade that only the serious gamer can even understand the basic controls.) Then I got to wondering; isn’t it interesting how we spend our limited time on this planet so frivolously?

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to turn into some sort of kudaranai (worthless) discussion on how evil video games are or some other rubbish like that. Video games are at the end of the day, a form of entertainment like any other that is probably best done in moderation.

Logical Tangent Alert: Of course, given my usual tendency to head butt new obstacles after hitting the ground with both feet running, moderation is from my perspective something best done in moderation… as they say “moderation in all things” (most people just forget that moderation just happens to be a thing too.)

Keeping this in mind, entertainment is usually best done in moderation for another reason. Moderation of gaming makes it sweeter; treat it like an all-you-can-eat buffet and it just grows bland. Varying opinions abound, I'm sure.

But I digress.

On a more broad scale, I am simply wondering why we, humans, aren’t always doing something of external value. External value benefits more than just ourselves and even usually has a limited "lasting factor." However, I suppose that answer is that many of us just turn inwards and become selfish creatures. Which I suppose then brings up the dilemma of "is this a good thing?" Being selfish is, of course, not a good thing, but “me time” or doing things for yourself becomes a vague category and is in fact probably a necessity for most.

So how does this fit into the seemingly bipolar atmosphere in my life at the moment? A place, on the opposite end of the island that is Honshu, is in possibly the worst state it has ever been, period, but life goes on as normal where I am. In fact, the number of people commuting to Nagarekawa (the nightly party district for Hiroshima) and the arcades (why do you think I know?) doesn’t even seem to have taken
a hit.

On a more personally social level, I’ve even noticed that I’ve put up a shell around me that makes it look like I’m going about my normal life, but I feel like there is
this itch on my heart that I can’t hope to scratch. I even find myself pondering “what if’s” like “if only I lived closer to the recent events perhaps I could be volunteering and be useful. Then again, would I just get in the way?” Perhaps you aren’t thinking this way, but I am.

(READ CAREFULLY)
Not that I’m not doing it, but I feel like donating would be just throwing money in that direction. While donating is a very good thing indeed and I recommend you do it, it just makes me feel like I’m trying to clear my own conscience and walk away from my worries. It’s a start, but insufficient to alleviate my desire to help. I want to get my hands dirty so to speak.

Then it hit me. I’m pondering this because it is my personality to prefer to be in a position where I am helping people, enriching other people’s lives, or I suppose (gasp) teaching.

Tangent: I have trouble thinking of myself as a good mass educator. I just want you aware of one thing; I have my own philosophies concerning education and growth that put me in opposition to most public education systems… despite the fact that I work in one. This doesn't prevent me from doing my job, or doing it well for that matter. I just prefer to do what I can for my students real learning.

Anyway, back to the personal me:
I prefer to be actively learning either on my own or by helping others…which is probably why I switched more than half of my entertainment forms into Japanese. Initially, dictionary at my side, I couldn’t proceed a few clicks in a game without looking up a myriad of unknown vocabulary and kanji. Now, the issue is just speed of
understanding and the occasional particularly tough or specialized vocabulary that involves some guesswork or a Japanese-Japanese dictionary to understand. Movies that lack subtitles make this guesswork very difficult sometimes.

So, having attempted to follow the advice of the Oracle at Delphi (Know thyself) I turned the questioning beyond myself. Thinking about it, I realized that I obviously can’t put myself literally into the mind of another, but I can mentally peruse the possibilities that I would usually only perceive if my I chose to go off some sort of self imposed “deep end.”

Therefore I came up with this situation; what would happen if my gaming interest went off the deep end again like it did for three months in high school? What sort of mental positioning would I have to do to prevent the cognitive dissonance at that time and extend that situation out into the rest of my days? (Not a goal by the way)

I looked around, in my minds eye, and I thought, well, the Otaku category of people in Japan is a unique example. Or perhaps even the pachinko gamblers. Ignoring the ones, of course, that have a social life, family etc by having properly balanced the real world and their entertainment form. What I find that I am puzzled by are the
people who fall into addiction and burn out their entire lives on their solitary passion. I would have to descend into a tier 6 depression in order to potentially move in that direction. Or in other words, I think the thing most necessary for me to have such a single-minded selfish passion would be a total paradigm shift.

I would have to come to believe that I was the most significant individual on Earth. After all, how else could I justify that kind of use of time, talent and treasure to myself? Perhaps, I would even have to sincerely come to believe that “ignorance is bliss” so that I could ignore the rest of the world and go on day by day with my selfish pursuits. I know I would have to find a way to shut down my cognitive
dissonance antennae because my current standards of value wouldn’t allow for such waste...

So my answer to my initial question in its most simplistic and enigmatic form is “yes.” You live for yourself by living for others. Factoring in that personalities vary along a plane of extroverts and introverts, what this means is that you don’t ignore your own entertainment time but instead that you take your personal entertainment in appropriate doses, and you never let it take priority over friends, family, work and other “real” responsibilities.

In concluding, by means of me trying to pull this wandering mess of a blog post together, I do have a point to make.　 And well I know it is completely cliche to bring up matters of how dire situations really test our mettle, I must say that I hope this situation in Japan is finding you NOT panicking but gaining new knowledge and learning what you can do for your fellowmen.

Now, let’s see how well I can live out my own thoughts. Wish me luck.





(BTW, this was written between the 13th and 15th of March 2011, while I was having some down time at work. The great earthquake in Japan was on the 11th.)

PS.. if even one of you gets on my case for saying "fellowmen" and bringing up that PC nonsense... I will write you a blog post on why PC is for those with closed minds and an inability to think. Why? Because you obviously didn't get the point of my post. Get your priorities straight. So there.

O_O Whe?

Okay, let me pad this story by noting that I normally dismiss odd reactions by Japanese people as simply my imagination. I know Gaijin-panic happens from time to time, but it is certainly not the norm.... at least I haven't encountered it with the younger generation at all.

(Gaijin = Slang for foreigner. Rather rude word pointed towards those who are not-Japanese)
Anyway, keep that in mind.

So, I leave to go to the eki this morning from my home apartment. You know, somehow I had to get to the place where I was taking the JLPT, right? Well, I was feeling chipper this morning so I decided to jog down the street until I had to turn to head to the station. Since I hadn't been to this particular eki before, I looked at my map and counted the street lights until that turn. The number was nine. With that in mind, I took off jogging.

Well, I make my way easily down the street with little obstruction from red lights, except one and that bothers me. At about the fifth light or so, I look down the street to kinda see if I needed to pick up speed or not to avoid stopping at any other lights. Y'know, I'd prefer to continue moving if I can avoid stopping. Red lights have definitely become one of my pet peeves. Up ahead, I see this old obachan dressed completely in black trundling away down the sidewalk. She's somewhere between a block and a half and two blocks away from me at the time. This is where it got surreal for me

The old lady turns and glances back in my direction. I avoid eye contact like I usually do with people that I don't know. It's a habit I think I've picked up in Japan. If someone is staring I try not to care because I 'd rather not create a confrontation. However, she turns her head back towards the light up ahead. For half a second all is normal, when suddenly she flings her arms in the air, and I kid you not, takes off in a full arm flail run. While trying not to flinch, I'm meanwhile still jogging.

Looking on at the strange behavior, I try to convince myself that she is just running to catch the next light. I mean, the timing is sorta right because I know I'm going to barely make it while it is still green. Therefore she should definitely make it. By now, I'm close to a block away, and I figure I'll be able to pass her if I make the light too. Bad idea, but I keep jogging.

She makes it across the street. In other words, she makes the light. However, she keeps going in full arm flail run. Something she shouldn't be doing if she was just trying to make the light. I hoping against hope, I'm not somehow the cause of this scene. All of a sudden a half a block away from the light and me, she stops and glances back. This time, for just an instant, she was clearly staring at me. While stamping her left foot hard, she clasps her hands together and forcefully does an odd stretching motion twice in the direction away from me. I'm meanwhile still jogging.

In fact, I wonder why I'm still jogging. Should I stop? Should go a different way? Is it even safe to pass her? I decide I'm dealing with a weirdo but refuse to stop anyway. I mean she's only an obachan right? She probably can't even catch me. So, I simply tighten my resolve and decide to not even so much as look in her direction. I think that looking at her again might just set her off. As I pass her though, that is exactly what happens. Out of the corner of my eye, I can tell she's blatantly staring at me and stamping her foot. Then she barks something out as I go jogging past.

Sadly, I have no clue what she said, but it was short so one word, possibly two. It even might even simply have been “Gaijin.” I didn't stop, so I don't know exactly. Her voice was really creepy though; I would dare say she sounded like her throat was full of phlegm or her mouth full of spit. The instant so caught me off guard that I felt two conflicting emotions in reaction to her utterance. One was a cold chill up my spine, and the other was an intense desire to turn her attitude back on her. Meaning, I thought of stopping, bowing and then apologizing for my existence because that was apparently what she was having a problem with. Instead, I just kept jogging.

I didn't look back. I took my turn. I got picked up by a friend at the eki. I took my test. Truly, the day was otherwise uneventful.

What are your thoughts? To nip one thought in the bud: no she was not just clearing her throat. The timing was too perfect and I know I heard language, just what I don't know. ^_^

Miyajima Escapade

.. Random, besides some minor editing, I typed this all on my phone. ^_^

Well, I'm on the train to Miyajima guchi at the moment. I boarded the 1620 train so I will barely make it for sunset which is at 1645. Why? The train arrives at 1646, and I will still have to take the ferry to Miyajima which won't be departing until 1655. Needless to say I'm being pretty stupid, but this beats cabin fever.
Even only a glimpse of Miyajima at sunset should be enough to satiate my curiosity. Also, I probably won't take the ferry today but will hit the gift shop before taking the inner city train back to hondori perhaps.
So why do I have cabin fever you ask? I haven't left my apartment/room all day until this little venture. I got really behind because of a six day work week and a stressful open class research experience. Truly though, the six day work week wasn't all that bad. The research class was a total brain buster though.

Ooh.
I thought of something. The sunset time that I have is for Tokyo, so I might make it for Hiroshima's Miyajima.
Nope, nevermind. Already, it is too late. Time1701

Time:1818
About to eat Okonomiyaki at a place close to the ferry. I did after all decide to go to Miyajima. It was a totally awesome decision too. Miyajima, of course, hasn't changed a bit. The deer are still crazy for example.
So, unfortunately my Okonomiyaki was not the best I've had. You might actually say that it was subpar since it cost 890en. Before I had Okonomiyaki for about 500 en with one of the teachers. Now that was some good Okonomiyaki.
At Miyajima this time, I also had chuhai Ramune which I found by accident at one of the stores. Chuhai basically means it has alchohol in it. Oh! I also bought something as an omiyage for one of my ESS groups. The omiyage is basically momiji manjuu made into senbei (rice cracker). I hope it is a positive experience.
I also bought a bunch of unusual momiji manjuu. It all started when I found a black momiji manjuu that wasn't chocolate. So going from memory, I bought black sesame, lemon, brandy, yuzu, green tea, and red sweet potato manjuus. I'll assume they are all good and just let you know later if any were bad.

Note: I like Yuzu, but yuzu doesn't go well in momiji majuu.