Takoyaki with Minato-chan

The above is a "Tako yaki" cooking pan. "Tako" in japanese means octopus. The consistency of the cream you see, is similar to the one used for the french "Crepes", with the difference, that as you will see later, they are round and ...have a piece of octopus inside.

In the next picture, i'm trying to master the fine art of turning the "Takoyaki" over...to cook the other half... it looks easy...but the first ones...didn't come out quite round...

after a little training...at least a couple of them looks ...kind of round ;) they are served with a brown sauce and Mayo...

After dinner, minato offered me some "kinoko-no-choko" which are small chocolate cookies with the shape of a mushroom... oishiii! (delicious!!!) :)

The World of Pachinko

In Japan office workers, after coming out of the office, relax in so called "Pachinko" halls. The Pachinko is the machine above (foto above found on the internet, as it is impossible to take pictures inside). This manchine has hundreds of "fine-tuned" needles. The game (or the gambling as we might want to call it) consists in dropping a steel ball on the top and let it fall down. The goal is to make sure it falls in a certain hole to get points.

Now, as the needles are carefully positioned, it might be difficult. I have no statistics on this, but i guess we can classify it as a slot machine kind of game.

The feeling inside is like being in a game salon. Very high music, big noise made by the machines and a thick cloud of smoke. They are smoking a lot inside, really a lot!

Sneaking a look inside, i've seen people with baskets full of steel balls. If i recall correctly, the steel balls they gained, are not changed in money but in some kind of prizes.

I took the picture above on a wednesday night, but normally those places are much more full in busy places...but this one, was one of the few, with an open window thru which i could take the picture ;)...

Japanese Ipod

This is an Ipod shuffle... nicely decorated. Is of one of my classmates and she said she did it. It looks nice... I'm sure a lot of japanese girls (and non japanese as well) would like to have one...

In japan, whatever is cute is considered cool. I will talk about "little cute" things that one can find in japan later on...i still need to collect enough material ;)

Yukata

Many people confuse the above and would say that is a Kimono. Actually is a Yukata. The difference between them, beside the price that for a kimono can start at $1,000 up to even $20,000 or more depending on the quality; whereas for a Yukata would start at just $100 and up.

Now a days, Real kimono are used for Weddings or special events. And most of the time they are rented and not purchased (the bride can change kimono more than once during her wedding).

The one pictured above is a Yukata. Some old women still used Yukata but is becoming rare. What is more common is see some women that work for expensive restaurants or shops that still welcome customer with a yukata.

I saw an old Picture of Kobe a while ago, and some 50 or 70 years ago, was more common see Man and Women in traditional Japanese clothes....

An interesting thing: At weddings, guests wear black suits. I was surprised, ususally back in europe we wear them for funerals... The reason is that if guests wear colorful clothes, the bride would not be very visible (wearing a white kimono) and attention would be drawn from her to other people...

This might be an old tradition as i didn't have the chance, yet, to attend a japanese wedding...

Train...something wrong...

Today at 17:50, at the station, the line between Kobe and Sannomiya was interrupted. The cause, was said as being "Invasion of Track" which might mean many things.

I've heard stories that sometimes people jump under the train...but today, fortunately the cause might appear to be different. I thing somebody threw stuff on the tracks or something, but i don't know exactly.

This caused a general concern, as people couldn't get home. The interesting thing, is that if this would happen in the morning, people would be late for work. In Europe, if this would be the case, people would get late to work, eventually give a phone call and everything would be fine.

In Japan, since people need to give a reason why they are late, is not uncommon to go to the station manager and get a paper confirming the delay so they can then bring it to work.

In Japan there are really nice things, but the paperwork and sometimes the procedures are tedious and generate a great amount of work.

By the way...last week, i was late to the lesson 3 minutes (Exactly 3!!). I couldn't get to the class, i was stopped by the school master that asked me to proceed to the school counter and fill in the being-late form.

I had to fill-in name, delay in minutes - which by the time i couldn't understand and the delay now became already 5 or 6 minutes - and give a reason for it. Now guess what. As a reason I put "Late". At which point the receptionist looked at me puzzled. "late?" she said. "is this a reason?". "Well, i'm just...late. That's the reason."... she was not convinced, maybe expecting me to build up a whole story like "the cat ate my homework", "a snow storm made my shoes wet" . They just couldn't face the truth...that someone can be late... just for no particular reason. It just happens !

In addition to the explaination, i had to fill-in the paper twice. I didn't know why (!!) so, once i filled in the second copy, she signed both of them and kept one. The other one was given to me. I thought: "what am i going to do with the second one?" and since now, after doing all this, i was late 10 minutes, i just transformed it in a paper ball and tossed it in my pocket.

Imagine what...when i've entered the class, i was asked by the teacher why i was 10 minutes late (which actually were just 3!!) and...i was asked for the copy of the late form ( ups!). Imagine her face when i had to pick up the crashed paper ball out of my pocket and try to give it a reasonable look ...

Well, let's see the bright side... at least, i found out why I had to fill-it-in twice... ;)

Platinum Cherries !

Today was Groceries shopping day. So, after shooting the 100 yen pics, i went to the nearby supermarket, with my basket and my camera ready to shoot. I really wanted to give you a grasp on what i mean, when i said before "Vegetable and Fruits are expensive here".

The above mini-grape is priced almost 500 yen (6 swiss francs) which might even be affordable, if it's sweet and ripe.

Now check the following pic out ;)

...48 cherries, single packed and cleaned, for the price of... 2980 yen! (34.-- swiss francs) ! well, they sure look good... but i wonder if they are made of platinum ;)

By the way, this box of cherries was not found in an expensive supermarket. Is the supermarket i discovered a while ago where prices "should" be the cheapest... so elsewhere the price might be way higher... woah!

The Famous 100 Yen Shop

This is the picture of one of the hundreds 100 yen shop you can find in japan. 100 yen are about 1.20 Swiss francs or about 80 cents euro. Back in Lugano, my hometown, they had the 2.-- swiss franc shop (180 yen), but the stuff they sold was limited and didn't have a big success.

In japan, is really a hit. This shops appear everywhere and they are really a DEAL! From the picture below, you can see some of the items they sell...

among other things, you can find some food, too, like Instant Curry (which buy the way is one of the items which is cheaper at the supermarket), and Water. Amazingly, 2 Liters of Fuji Water cost here 105 yen with tax. At the local supermarket i've seen another brand for about 192 yen. At the convenience store, 2L of water cost 250 yen.

The reason i mentioned the price of water, is that tapped water is terrible in japan. It tastes chlorine a lot, therefore, i don't use it for preparing coffee or cooking rice. Besides the taste, the picture of me becoming a swimming pool is not really reassuring... ;)...

Is always worth to take a look ...and some people...really get dragged into it and spend a fortune in there ... ;)

Haircut per Minute...

This is a Barber shop at the station. They cut your hair for the price of 1000 yen (CHF 12.--) for 10 minutes. So, apparently, if it is just a simple and easy cut, i think they can manage in 10 minutes. I will try when it's time, i guess beginning of next month ;)

Although it might sound cheap, i saw another barber shop where they had haircut for 1200 yen, which is just slightly more, but not per minute.

The problem around here, is that sometimes i know i saw a shop somewhere, but it's difficult to remember were it was. Moreover, shops change so fast in the shopping street, that a shop is there today, and next week might not be there anymore.

One of the next days, i should really talk to you about my favorite shop - and for once, is not computer or electronics related... ;) - so..., stay tuned!

Street Goodies...

In japan is very common to see these girls on the street. They don't sell anything, just give out free samples of drinks and, most common, tissues.

I saw them giving out small drinks with new Flavors about once a week. During the past week i got a "Guava Tea" that didn't taste at all after Guava and a Vitamin Bottle (see below). The taste of the latter was terrible....like a medicine with artificial flavor...

The above, last wednesday's catch. The "C" Vitamin bottle with enclosed flyer and a pack of tissues publicizing 30 yen discount for a restaurant.

I'm improving, but the real expert is my classmate from Singapore...check his Pic!

Good catch Chris!

Kids Wear Uniforms at School ...

In Japan, kids going to school, need to wear an uniform. There is some flexibility on the choice of shoes, as sometimes i saw that they wear something different.

Reading some time ago, the points in favour of Uniform at schools, is that kids are not competing for brand clothes. They...just wear all the same.

The bad news (for the kids)...is that kids skipping school are caught quite quickly, as policemen would inquiry in case they see kids in uniform, wandering around during school time... ;)

Kobe: Infiorata

The past two days have been busy for the people in kobe. The Event is called "Infiorata" an italian word to say that kobe would be covered with flowers. Unfortunately it has been raining and cold the whole weekend, so the people preparing the event were working under rain.

To prepare the "Infiorata" they take all kind of flowers and create mosaics. The problem was that it was also windy. It's interesting how they managed. They put a nylon net all over the mosaics so that flowers would not fly away.

Here below, some of the Creations :)

Kaiten Sushi: 105 Yen each!

Friday night, i went out for sushi for the first time since I came here. There is this place in Shin-Nagata where all Sushis are 105 Yen (CHF 1.30) for each plate (2 pcs/plate).

The choice is not huge, "only" about 20 kind of fishes. It's a kaiten-sushi shop. It means, sushi plates are going around on a band and you can just pick the one you want. At the end, before leaving, they count how many plates you have eaten and they do the sum.

For Special orders, you can use the Intercom available, just push...and talk to pass your order. Your special order is then placed on the kaiten with a special plate saying "Reserved" so that other people don't eat it ;)

The place is quite big, as you can see...
and Since one can find not only sushi made of fish, but even Meat Sushi and sweets...kids love it too!

Food Street

The pictures above shows a row of restaurants in a side street near the big shopping street. Since it is not a main street, most cheap food restaurants are here. In a lot of them, you eat standing, and some of them they have just curtains, you don't actually enter the building but just get served standing, over the counter.

The picture below, is one of the cheapest places i found to eat a bowl of sushi rice topped with Fish. The one-kind bowl like tuna, costs 650 Yen (CHF 8.--) the one with 14 kinds of fish costs 980 yen (CHF 12.--).

Since there are only 8 seating places, you cannot actually stay there to enjoy the evening...once you are done with your meal... you should pay and go.

I'm not sure they would tell you to go...but the look of the customer waiting outside and watching you thru the window...are usually enough to feel when it's time to go ;)...

A busy Week...

The past week at school (in the picture) was a busy one. Besides the normal learning, i'm trying to improve my Kanji reading skills which take quite some time. The daily study time is somehow between 2 and 5 hours, depending on the day. After long study my brain is crying out for relax ;)... in any case, it looks like that after sometime, there is no room for more information, even trying to push it wildly in ...

After a couple of weeks i can now tell you more about how classes are organized.

There are two teachers very good, one on Monday, and the other on Tuesday and Thursday. Teachers of Wednesday and Friday I think they are kind of new Hires, so i guess it will takes some time for them to get to a higher level.

The first two teachers have a really good organized lesson. Everything scheduled and a lot of ideas on how to help people memorize things.

For instance: this week we learned about verbs like "Lend" and "Borrow". Suddenly the teacher takes out of the pocket a small Ball and throws it to a student, and says "I'm Lending it to you"..the student had to reply "I'm borrowing it". It might look silly, but since the two verbs are similar in japanese, i often confused them.

Teacher, as said, change daily. It is good, so you don't eventually get stuck with the same for 6 months if you don't like him/her.

On Tuesday, i was studying on the 9th floor when the Leader instructor approached me and said she planned to move me to the "B" Class starting next month. She was really surprised i refused. I told her that is good for me to review the whole grammar to check the points i forgot or missed the first time. Besides, our class is much more fun ;)

Japanese Chestnuts

Even though the chestnuts season is already over since some time, there is a Chestnut seller at the station. Everything looks quite usual but for the chestnut package.

In japan, they give a great deal to packaging. Those might be "just" chestnuts, but if you look at the package, it becomes a nice gift.

Japanese, when visiting friends, usually brings all kind of gifts. Gifts are exchanged as a token of gratitude as a sign of friendship and as a courtesy. It is like in Europe, but it is given more importance.

Therefore, even a Peach, few Strawberries or Cream Puff... they all become a gift if nicely packaged.

Here the shot, for the chestnut package...nice, isn't? :)

A couple of days ago, was maintenance time for one of the ticket-checking machines at the station.

How it works here, is a little different than in switzerland. In switzerland you would buy a ticket, board the train, and soon or later, someone will check and stamp your ticket marking it as used.

In Japan it works differently. Once you got your ticket ... that can like my monthly pass you have seen some time ago, or be an Electronic proximity card (the ones that you don't need to slide, but just keep them in your wallet and move them toward the sensor to have you granted passage) or simply, a normal ticket as this one:

Once you have your ticket, you proceed and insert it on one side of the passage, like our Mister Honda is showing us here:

If the ticket is valid, you can pass..if not... small doors will close and an alarm will go off.

Please note the green arrow at the right side. This is interesting. The passage can be used in both ways, depending on how many people are passing by at the same time. A green arrow tells you that nobody initiated the passage on the other side and you can use it.

In fact, sometimes happens that you and the person on the other side try to get thru at the same time... well...in that case, you better be the fastest, or you would risk to crash into the small doors ;)...

As far as i know...no serious injuries have been reported so far ...

Class Lunch : 50% Discount

Today we were invited by the school for lunch. All students of the A-Class joined (in The Pic). The Choice of menus was either Chicken that got the most of us (15 people), followed by Salmon (6 people) and Hamburger (5 people).

At this restaurant, showing our student's Card, we get 50% discount. It means we can eat as much rice as we want and in addition a Menu including a Main Course, a small salad, a soup and a Soft Drink. The price, discounted, is of 490 Yen (CHF 6.--).

Dishes are not too big, but well, eating at the restaurant for 490 Yen is still a bargain ;)

Although most Chinese Students complained about the food, I actually found it quite good... and here, for your enjoyment, a panoramic view of my tray ;)...

Today Cold and Windy...

This morning at 8:45 when i left home, was colder than usual. Normally in the morning is already warm enough to walk around in T-Shirt...but today... being in T-Shirt was way to daring...

Luckily i always carry something warmer, jut in case... but still, it was way to cold. On my way home i stopped by at Lawson (convenience store) to get Milk for tomorrow. I was looking around and besides finding "single-boxed-ready-to-eat" boiled eggs...

... I found the snacks in the first picture. I have to say...feeling cold...looking at the package gave me a kind of warm feeling, so i got a bag of them. By the way, to all Ex-Colleagues out there, you sure remember our "Habanero-Curry" at the company last year. Well, guess what... on the package it says "ハバネロ" in red writing... which is "Habanero".

So, once home, i went looking for my roommates. I had them try the first one and I had just to count how many times they run around the kitchen to figure out how strong it was...

Guess what...they didn't run. But they looked at me with wide open eyes...

In the end... it was more the show on the package than the spiciness... but still, they were enough to warm me up ;)

Let's Learn Japanese : The King and The Prisoner

Since this is a "Japanese" blog, i would like to introduce a new topic, besides news...

As you probably know, Japanese use Chinese Characters for their writing. At the beginning, Japanese had no way of expressing themselves in written since they didn't have their own writing method; therefore, they borrowed it from the Chinese Language, that's why now, most of the words are actually chinese characters.

What i would like to talk about today, in our first lesson, is the character for King in Japanese (王). Sometimes characters are similar to real things like Mountain (山) or fire (火). So, with a little imagination, you might see a crown with the character of King (王).

Now, changing the king slightly, we get the word for Master (主) and if we add a Person (人) combined becomes (主人) which means one's Master...and here is getting interesting ;).

The same combination for 主人 is also translated "Husband". Well, i guess all men out there are delighted by this ;) ... they would say I'm the master! ...but there is more ;)

Master in Japanese is pronounced SYUJIN (just pronounce it as you would in english). The problem comes now with another very similar word pronounced SYU-U-JIN. Just one 'U' more but very difficult for foreigner to catch it when pronounced by japanese.

So, now we have the two words, the one for Husband - or One's Master (主人) and the other one pronounced SYU-U-JIN (囚人) that means....prisoner.

...I bet now are the girls out there to be very delighted...uh? ;) ... yeah... similar prounonciation but a very different meaning...

So it might happen...that when referring to her own husband, a woman might call him "her Prisoner"... well... sometimes, it might just be the thruth... who knows... married men out there, watch out !! ^-^/

Another Yakiniku Day!

Today, some chinese students, wanted to have Yakiniku. Since i'm having rice for lunch and rice for dinner everyday (with some side dish like takoyaki or korokke), i thought that i could invest another 1,200 yen (CHF 15.--) and enjoy all you can eat yakiniku buffet this week as well ;)

This time no pictures of the food, but just of the classmates who joined. They are all from china beside me and the guy on my left side, which comes from Singapore. The one on my right in the picture is Yamada-Sensei, our Friday Teacher that was very happy to join today :)

The... Western Food Store !

This store is located in the kobe underground city i've written some time ago. It's like an "Asia Shop"...but for Europe! Let's call it "European Shop" ;)

They really carry every kind of goods from all Europe and USA. German Tea, Swiss Chocolate, Italian Food, American Cookies, Canadian Flour... and much more!

The following is some of the Italian Goods Selection...

Even a Palm-Sized Nutella vase (I've never seen it that small ;)

But i saved the best for last...when i said the store carries everything, i meant REALLY everything... I couldn't imagine, i could even find... Willy Wonka's Chocolate!!! Amazing! But wait! There is more! The packages on the shelf (you can see the one on the right) Has even the sticker with "Win the Golden Ticket" On it! Woah!

Shoes Clinic!

Every woman's Nightmare... having her shoes to break while being in the city! Well, here we go! The Shoes Clinic comes handy...

- Shoes Clinic is the actual name of the shop ...i didn't make it up ^-^

Looking at the number of customers waiting, it looks like the business is good ;) If you notice, they repair your shoes on the fly...you just need to wear the provided slippers, sit and wait. Few minutes later their are as good as new!

It's like the F1 pitstop... a quick change of tires ;)...

Greeting Proofed Throusers !

Ok, here we got something new... the Greeting proofed throusers! At first i could not believe my eyes, but here they are!

In Japan, you have 3 levels of greetings performed by bowing: 1-Informal: 20 degrees, 2-Formal: 45 degrees, 3-Very Formal: 90 Degrees.

The above trousers, seems to perform well at 90 degrees... i didn't inquiry further on this, and i don't even know if they are available for export...

Cost of Living : BigMac Index

The actual cost of living is calculated country by country, comparing similar products as Bread, milk and so on. One of the "index" products is, believe it or not, the Big Mac.

Well.... i don' t have a big mac in this pic, i wonder where it went. The above is the current menu outside MacDonald at Sannomiya. I think they have the Big Mac on the menu inside somewhere. Currently they have a special sandwich that is called "Quarter Pounder". I remember they had the same offer in USA few years ago... 1/4 pound, if i'm right, should be around 112 grams of meat...

Anyway, besides the standard offering and the Quarter Pounder, what i plan to try is the Teriyaki Burger... i've tried it few years ago and the taste was good ;)

For the sake of it...here the famous teriyaki Burger!

For the Italians out there: Pasta and Pasta!

Another couple of shots of "Spaghetti" in japan. The one in the pictures are taken at a local supermarket and are frozen spaghetti. I remember i've seen it Switzerland pasta to heat up in the microwave, but i'm not sure i've seen frozen spaghetti.

I thing in italy they might have it. But I bet that the italian ones don't have the half-cooked egg included ;) check the bigger shot below ;)