PSA

I interact with Japanese people everyday.  Usually, they are English students sitting in a tiny room with me for 40 or 80 minutes at a time.  We communicate in simple English, gestures, and laughter.  In the world that exists outside the classroom, I have very limited ways to communicate with Japanese people.  I have a lot I want to say to them, so I've decided to use this blog as a way of expressing myself indirectly.  Consider this Public Service Announcement the first of many.

Dear Men of Tokyo (MOT):
I appreciate your sense of fashion.  Really, I do.  Many of your bags are snazzier and more expensive-looking than any I'd see on the arms of the Real Housewives of DC.  The way you scoff at the gender stereotypes of other places truly impresses me.  But please- why the hair?  I'm all in favor of a little product, don't get me wrong.  But if you have a perm, use a flat iron, or somehow manage to have your hair defy gravity in the exact shape and color of a lion's mane- you've gone too far.  There may be some people who find this attractive, but I'm willing to bet not many.  Up to this point, I've not snapped a direct picture of your foolishness.  I've allowed my fear of embarrassment to get in the way.  But the next time I see you looking at your reflection in the subway window, tossing your too-long bangs out of your eyes?  I'm snapping away.  Trust me, as a recent convert back to my natural hair color, black is beautiful.

Thank you.
Cue music:  The more you know!     

Koreatown

Last Friday, we decided to head to Shin-Okubo to explore our roots.  This area near Shinjuku is considered somewhat of a Koreatown.  Okay, so we aren't Korean...but we have eaten a lot of Korean food in our lives.  In high school, my friends had kimchi in giant jars on their porches.  My family Memorial Day BBQs always included marinated galbi right alongside the hot dogs.  One of our best restaurant memories is all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ in Los Angeles.  I can still taste those cold noodles in that big metal bowl.  Some of our best friends live in Annandale, VA (according to Wikipedia, Annandale has more Koreans than Tokyo!).  My whole life, people have come up to me and assumed I was Korean anyway- so we clearly have some Korean in our blood, right?

Anyway, Koreatown was really cool.  After strolling around for a few hours, we decided we could definitely move to this part of Tokyo and feel at home.  From the moment you got out of the station, you knew you were somewhere different.  There was Korean writing on street signs, and you heard people speaking Korean all around you.  We immediately spotted a frozen yogurt place- a true import from Korea.

There were lines of people everywhere.  What were they waiting for?  Street food of course!  Stands selling rice cakes, noodles inside buns, and sweet pancakes.  In true Japanese fashion, people stand right there and eat their food.  It is considered a bit of a faux pas to walk and eat at the same time.

Sweet pancakes with your choice of filling.  We opted for honey and chopped nuts- yum!

Somehow we ate two of those sweet pancakes.  It seemed impossible after the amazing lunch we had.  We spent a lot of time walking around and looking at menus before deciding on Ozakukyo.  We knew we made the right decision as we admired the huge wooden outdoor oven used to cook giant chunks of pork.  Once inside, that familiar smell of grilled meat intoxicated us.  We ordered a lunch special that was advertised at serving two people for 1500 yen each.  The usual panchan came to the table- lotus root, seaweed, bean sprouts, and kimchi.  And then came the heating element.  Most of the Korean places around DC use little portable grills.  These are just fine, but behold: charcoal.

The beautiful coals await their meat.

When we get Korean BBQ back home, we almost always stick to galbi.  Why mess with a good thing?  But this lunch special was all about the pork.  I've had pork belly at Korean restaurants before, and I've always found it a little blah.  Sure you can dip it in salt and sesame sauce, but its still a bit boring.  Not this pork.  This pork had personality.  It was partially cooked already.  It came out looking like ham.  I was hesitant, until those little slices hit the charcoal.

The pork awaits.

The flavor from the charcoal combined with whatever flavoring the pork already had was out of this world.  Those little slices of pork practically melted in your mouth.  Combine that amazing meat with some kimchi in a piece of lettuce or shiso leaf- brilliant.  We ate and ate and ate.  We didn't even ask for rice.  Who has room for rice when there is all that glorious meat?  The best part of the meal was when we paid.  We thought it was 1500 yen per person...it was 1500 yen total.  I paid quickly and guiltily as though they made a mistake.  But they didn't- it really was that cheap!  Feeling content with my free stick of Korean gum, we ventured back out to the streets.

Besides meat, what do you think of when I mention Korea?  Boy bands.  Lots of them.  There were entire stores dedicated to selling some of the cheesiest merchandise I have ever seen.  Pens, mugs, stickers, framed pictures- all of boy bands.  The stores were obviously full of giggling tweens, but I also caught several grown women in line with their mugs.  Crazy.

I didn't know any of the bands.  It seems H.O.T. (High-Five of Teenagers) is no longer popular.  Gosh, was that really that long ago?  Shin-Okubo was full of other Korean stores too- selling cosmetics, sparkly jewelry, and metal chopsticks.  It was nice to feel like we got away from Japan for a bit.  Anyone want to meet us in Seoul?

Simple Food

I think about food...a lot.  When I'm sitting in a classroom, waiting for my busy business man student to show up late, I make a lot of lists about food.  What kind of new foods I want to try in restaurants, what food I need to buy at the grocery store, what dishes I can make with the food left in the house, etc.  Food is always on the brain.  In fact, after I typed that last sentence, I had to get up because I remembered I needed to take some chicken out of the freezer for tonight's dinner.  I'm not exaggerating- it's just always on the brain.  I know I'm not alone in this.  There are a lot of you out there like me.  We just like to eat. 

If you know me, you know I love to have extravagant meals in restaurants.  Course after course of the latest seasonal tasting menu?  I'm in heaven.  Pictures of intricately presented tiny dishes on my dining room wall?  You betcha.  But I also love simple food.  In fact, sometimes simple food makes me even happier than steak tar tare studded with garlic chips, capers, and Parmesan shavings.

Last night's dinner was a good example.  We were out running errands most of the day when we realized we didn't have much planned for dinner.  We could have easily eaten out or grabbed something on the way home, but we decided on making an assortment of spreads to go with the imitation baguette we had on the counter.  I say imitation baguette because to call that piece of soft bread a baguette, would be a huge insult to the French.  And the last people I want to piss off are the French.

Anyway, I already had some hummus in the fridge that I made the day before (thanks for sending the mini food processor, sisters!).  We made a simple crab salad and egg salad to go with it, and voila- dinner.  Toasted bread with a trio of dips.  Sounds like it would be at home on any appetizer menu. 

Messy egg salad with Siracha drizzle

It wasn't fancy or pretty to look at.  It wasn't even remotely healthy.  But it was simple and delicious.  Maybe you think this is a really lame dinner, but I just love meals like this.  They are unpretentious and easy.  You sit back with your bread and just eat and eat.  Watching a bad movie online just makes the experience perfectly lazy and fun.  To simple food!

Hakone Open-Air Museum

I already talked about our trip to Hakone last month, but I wanted to save one part for its own post.  One of the highlights of the trip was a few hours spent at the Hakone Open-Air Museum.  I don't know of anything like this place in the states.  When I think of a museum, I obviously think of the many we have in DC (mostly free, I might add).  This place wasn't free, but it was worth every yen.  It was magical.  Part of it was indoors, but the great majority was outside.  It was really cool to see these funky sculptures and art displays with the mountains as a back drop.  Here's a taste:

Yes, that is a sunny-side up egg bench.

You can't see them, but this pond is full of koi!

This Lincoln-log looking building was full of things for kids to climb on inside

One of the indoor parts of the museum was dedicated to the life and art of Picasso.

All that walking around deserves a soak in the steaming hot foot onsen!

Most of the indoor displays didn't allow picture taking, but trust me- they were amazing.  It wasn't just about the art but the spaces themselves were inspiring.  There was one multilevel space with incredible windows and exposed beams that I just loved.  For a moment, we fantasized about having a wedding there.  But don't worry- that won't happen!

The museum would have been a ball for some kids I know back home.  The last exhibit was dedicated to Miffy.  Do you know Miffy?  She's super cute and popular all over the world.  This area was particularly tech savvy as well.  We were the only adults playing, but we had fun!

Our shadows change rain drops into flowers.

What a wonderful place.  If you get to Japan, I highly recommend you visit. 

Engrish

This is the first in what will become a series of posts on this topic.  One thing all English speaking ex-pats enjoy about Japan is all the bad English that is used everywhere.  Store signs, advertisements, and menus are full of fun misused English expressions.  I could create an entire site on this topic, but someone already has!  I was first told about this site years ago.  I think a friend may have even shared it with me in high school.   Click around on it and you'll find lots of hilarious pictures from around the world.  I have been starting my own collection of pictures and I'll share some with you today.  Enjoy!

Do they mean ethical, as in the fish is sustainable?

I was excited to stumble across a bagel place in a train station one day, so naturally I wanted to check out the menu.  What is ethnical tuna?  Is it ethnic?  Maybe that squirt of strange orange sauce makes it ethnic food?

So many things are wrong

This sort of sign is unfortunately very common.  It was outside a sweets shop.  In case you can't read the smaller text, it says, "Our original cream puffs is wrapped in rich pie shell which creates adelicious crisp and crunchy texture."  Way too much English there to get things right.

This is just a small sampling of a few of my favorites so far.  Until next time, let's english!

Hakone

Sometimes you need to get away (if I knew how to make a blog post play music, this one would start playing Vacation by the Go-Go's.  Just imagine it in the background as you read on.).  Maybe you thought coming to live in Tokyo already counts as getting away?  In the book Eat Pray Love, Liz Gilbert goes to live to Rome for 3 months.  After some time there, she itches for a quick getaway to Naples to eat the best pizza in the world.  I don't remember her exact wording, but she explains it quite simply.  Even though she has left her normal world behind to live in another country, it isn't the same as a vacation.  She is simply living elsewhere.  You still need mini vacations from your day to day life to feel refreshed, and that is how she justifies the pizza in Naples.  So there you have it.  I have only been in Tokyo for a couple of months, but I felt the need to get away.  So a few weeks ago, we headed to Hakone for two days.  It's about 90 minutes from Tokyo, but it feels much farther.

A small shrine in Odawara on the way to Hakone

Our guidebook said that getting to Hakone is part of the fun.  This was definitely a case of planes, trains, and automobiles.  If you swap planes for ropeways and mountain rail cars, that is.  From Shinjuku, we decided to splurge on the Romance Car.  No, we weren't trying to make our trip extra romantic- that's really what it's called!  It's a faster train with better seats and more limited stops than the regular train.  On the way to Hakone, we stopped at Odawara to see a castle that was built in the 1400s.  We walked around the area and it was back to more transportation to get to our hotel.  We stayed at the Fujiya hotel which was built in the late 1800s.  The hotel is comprised of several buildings and boasts many famous guests.  We were lucky to find out about a foreigner rate available on certain nights.

The Fujiya Hotel

The hotel itself was very old indeed, but quite charming.  We used their public onsen (hot spring bath).  I broke several onsen etiquette rules I'm sure, but the experience was really enjoyable.  The water is really hot and it definitely relaxes you.  But, the best part of our stay was our traditional breakfast.  They offered a western breakfast also, but who wants to line up for an omelet station when you can take your shoes off and eat beautifully presented Japanese food?  It was the highlight, for sure.

Stunning breakfast of rice, salad, fish, egg, soups, etc. 

But enough about the hotel.  This trip was about the area.  Hakone claims to have some of the best views of Mt. Fuji in Japan.  Tourists come from all over to get a glimpse, but usually the sky is too cloudy to see it.  We were very lucky to get a crystal clear view of the breathtaking Fujisan.  It was afternoon, just before sunset- but there he was in all his glory!

 

 

Japanese affectionately refer to Mt. Fuji as Fujisan

Sunset over Lake Ashi

It was so nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  The calmness of nature was much needed.  But like most of our trips, it was also about the food.  A trip through Owakudani would not be complete without eating some commemorative black eggs.  This area of Hakone is known for its many sulfurous springs.  The eggs are boiled on site and their shells turn black due to a reaction with the sulfur in the water.  It is said that for each black egg you eat, seven years are added to your life.  I ate 2 and a half eggs!

Yummy hard boiled egg

For dinner the first night, we decided to wander around the small town by our hotel.  The area was mostly dead because it was a national holiday that day (Emperor's birthday), but we decided to eat at a small deserted place on the main road.  We were the only customers and we only saw one employee.  She seemed to be the hostess, waitress, and chef.  I was totally inspired by her doing everything herself.  The food was so simple, but it was one of my favorite meals of Japan so far.  It was slow cooked, shredded Tajima beef with rice and a pefectly runny egg.  Tajima is the area in Japan famous for its Kobe beef.  In fact the English menu at this little restaurant even stated that Kobe Bryant's dad chose his name because of his love for this beef!  You stir everything together and that runny egg gives the whole thing the texture of risotto.  It was really a perfect dinner. 

A simple but comforting dinner

All in all, it was an amazing little trip.  We relaxed, recharged, and got to see some beautiful areas of nature.  Before we knew it, it was back on the Romance Car to Shinjuku.  Shinjuku is probably the craziest station on the subway, so it was a bit of a kick in the face to come back, but all good things must come to an end.  Here's to the next vacation!     

Happy New Year

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!  It's crazy how fast the time flies.  I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve.  We had a lovely dinner with friends, and went to a temple for the countdown.  It was crazy crowded but really fun.  You know what else is fun?  Fukubukuro.  Even just saying the word is fun. 

This Japanese tradition is why everyone was shopping today.  Stores put a bunch of merchandise into a bag, and you pay a set price, not knowing what is inside.  We both got bags from Forever 21.  They are grouped by size and different price points.  Someone got lucky.  His 4000 yen bag had 6 decent items (minus the white jeans) and a 5000 yen giftcard!  I was not so lucky.  My 2100 yen bag had the world's ugliest pink jacket, 2 tank tops, cropped leggings, earrings, and a necklace I'll never wear.  Oh well- it's a gamble.  This is a New Year's tradition I can get used to!