Cheese, Wonderful Cheese!

This was part of Nozomi's gift to me on Valentines Day. The apple pie cheese sounds strange, but it was actually delicious!

Snowy Day

It's been snowing all morning and doesn't look like it's going to stop soon. Right now, the snowflakes are huge!
I drove Nozomi to work this morning and took this video. The music is "Snowflakes Are Dancing" by Debussy. (No, I didn't hold the camera while I was driving!)

(Video is offline.)

Random pictures

The new Big America burger, The Broadway Burger, has been "released", so I'll go try it soon and give my review. First, here are a couple of random pictures...
I think I've commented on this before, but in case you missed it the first time... Mister Donut is REALLY popular here, and just had an anniversary celebration featuring Peanuts characters. Many people here call it "MisDo". I never knew Mister Donut in America; apparently most of the stores were in the Eastern U.S., and according to Wikipedia, there's only one left in all of the USA. I think it's odd that it started in America, but has all but disappeared there, but is now hugely popular throughout Asia.
The second picture: did you know that lemon steak flavored potato chips were American style? (Me neither.) The package says "California style steak flavor". What do you think, Californians?
It tasted like, uh, potato chips with a cold, greasy lemony beef aftertaste. Yeah, not so good...

McD's America-Themed Japanese All-American Hamburgers

McDonald's is having their annual promotion for the third year in a row (at least, maybe longer)--THE BIG AMERICA BURGERS! Last year featured cities and states (the one I thought was funniest was the Idaho burger; it had a hash brown stacked inside the sandwich). This year, the burgers are named after cities, landmarks and streets. First up was the Grand Canyon Burger. Any guesses what the Grand Canyon tastes like? Yeah, I couldn't really imagine that one either, and I'll guess we'll have to keep wondering because that one finished yesterday. Today I tried the Las Vegas Burger. It had a QuarterPounder patty plus shredded, spiced beef, lettuce, and a cream cheese based sauce. What does that have to do with Las Vegas? I have no idea. It was OK, but I liked last year's Miami Burger much better; it tasted like a taco burger, and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I miss Mexican food, even if it's a Japanese-American-Tex-Mex approximation.

Joyful Christmas 2011

As many friends have already said, the Joyful Christmas concert went very well and was a blessing! A professional video company will produce a DVD, and because of a better plan for recording the sound, the audio quality will be much higher than previous DVDs that have been made. I'm looking forward to seeing it soon!
I mentioned after the last Joyful Christmas that the view that the performers have from the stage is amazing when the audience lights the glowsticks. Here's a short video from my perspective during the song "Silent Night".

(Video is temporarily offline.)

Merry Christmas!

Nozomi & I wish you all a wonderful Christmas season filled with peace, blessings and God's love.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake

Many people in Japan are surprised to hear that Americans don't traditionally eat strawberry cake for Christmas. Yes, Americans, you read that correctly. The Japanese custom of eating strawberry cake with whipped cream frosting is assumed by most people here to have come from America.

Here is a typical conversation:
ME: Americans don't usually eat strawberry cake at Christmas time.
JAPANESE NATIONAL: Really?!  What kind of cake do you eat?
ME: Fruitcake. It has dried fruit and nuts inside.
JN:  That doesn't sound like Christmas style... Why do you eat that?
ME:  Uhm.... I don't know. Why do you eat strawberry cake?
JN:  It's red and white! Like Christmas and winter!
ME:  But strawberries are a summer fruit.
JN:  Uhm...

Look carefully at the second picture (the back cover of the catalog) and you can see a selection of Christmas cakes you can order for ... dogs and cats!
Japan: strawberry cake. America: fruitcake. Australians? New Zealanders? Canadians? Britons? What cake do you eat for Christmas?

Concerts

If you need more information about concerts that are coming soon, here are the posters...

Lunar Eclipse

The eclipse tonight is amazing-right now the moon is a strange, reddish-orange color. From here in Japan, we can see the entire eclipse, which is quite amazing, but from other parts of the world, the moon is just rising (or maybe setting) as the eclipse starts (or maybe ends) so it will appear to be much larger in the sky, which sounds amazing too!
Usually my cell phone camera takes pretty good pictures, but, as you can see, pictures of the moon just don't work without a more powerful lens. I borrowed a picture from a live camera broadcasting the eclipse from Singapore-much more impressive!

Thanksgiving 2011

It's only very early morning on Thanksgiving Day in America, but Nozomi & I had our party yesterday. We visited her parents' house and had dinner together with them, her brother, and grandmother. Similar to last year's celebration, we made something fairly close to the traditional American style meal, but turkey is expensive and difficult to find, so we substituted whole roasted chickens again. Besides the chicken, we had mashed potatoes, green salad (both made by Nozomi's mother), stuffing, gravy and mincemeat pie (made by us). I also found cans of cranberry sauce at the import shop for the first time this year, so that was an authentic addition.

It felt pretty close to a traditional time with family in the USA. One difference that made me laugh, and reminded me that we're in Japan: the TV shows that would typically be watched in America (a Thanksgiving parade and a football game) were replaced with a sumo tournament. The family time, the food, and the sumo were all great!

Persimmon Jam

How many of you native Oregonians have tasted persimmons? I don't remember ever eating a persimmon until shortly before I came to Japan. I immediately liked the taste, which is a good thing because they are very popular here. Farmers grow them to sell in supermarkets and fruit stands. People use them as ornamental trees in their yards or gardens. They grow wild in the country and even in cities. Suddenly, the season starts, and you see trees full of orange fruit everywhere you look. Then everyone (at least everyone who likes persimmons) eats them non-stop for about three weeks until they're gone.
The first year I was in Japan I asked if kaki (the Japanese word for persimmon) is available at other times of the year. The answer was no. You can preserve them by drying, but that's all. I asked if people made kaki jam. The answer was no. I asked why. No one seemed to have an answer. This happened for three years, then I finally thought, "Oh! I can check on the Internet..." (Yeah, it took me three years to think of that...)
As it turns out, you CAN make persimmon jam, so tonight Nozomi & I tried a simple recipe for freezer jam. The recipe listed lemon peel as an ingredient, but we both really like yuzu taste, so we substituted that. We won't know until later exactly how the jam turned out, but a little sample on bread as it was cooling tasted delicious!
So why isn't kaki jam more popular in Japan? I don't know, but just for a moment I thought, "hmm..... a new business opportunity?" On second thought, however, English teaching and music is enough without adding mini persimmon jam factory to the list. Besides, quince season starts in a couple more weeks....

Neighborhood Walk

Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day that I thought it would be a waste to not go outside, so I took a short walk around the neighborhood and took some random pictures. The tree with orange fruit is a persimmon tree; very common here, but I rarely saw them in Oregon, and didn't really know what they were until shortly before I came to Japan. It's the season to harvest and eat them now, so no surprise to see that. But I was surprised to see roses blooming in several places. The last picture is our apartment building. We're on the top floor, just above the one airing out their blankets and futons.

Sendai trip part one

Thursday, Nozomi and I drove to Sendai, about three hours north of Utsunomiya. It's very close to the area where the tsunami hit in March.

We spent the afternoon and evening sightseeing and having a delicious dinner with Nozomi's cousin and her family.
Rokuro & Megumi, thank you for a wonderful time!

Vending Machine Shock

Americans who visit (or stay in) Japan are often surprised by how many vending machines there are here. Often, there are two groups of machines per city block. On a small highway far outside a large city, you can find vending machines along the side of the road surrounded by nothing but farms. I read a figure that Japan has one vending machine for every 23 people-that's the highest rate in the world. There is also an amazing variety of machines. Of course, soda and coffee machines are everywhere and cigarette and beer machines are common too. But I have also seen machines that sell milk, cup-o-noodle, disposable cameras, batteries and more. So now you will understand why the following situation surprised me...
Tonight, Nozomi & I stopped at the post office to mail a letter. Before we went, we stopped at a convenience store to buy a stamp (convenience stores in Japan: that's a whole other story...). At the post office I asked Nozomi if there are stamp vending machines inside. I didn't remember seeing any, but I was sure that there must be some. Her simple answer produced a very strange, double-reversed culture shock. The answer was, "no". There are so many things that you CAN buy from vending machines here, that when I heard that one of the few things that you can buy from a vending machine in America CANNOT be bought from a vending machine in Japan, I was stunned.
I do have to mention that Nozomi said that there used to be stamp vending machines here, and that it might be only in Utsunomiya that for some strange reason they suddenly fell out of fashion. But now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember seeing one anywhere. So, residents of Japan, any ideas about why the vending machine capital of the world doesn't sell stamps the way it sells so many other things?

Japanese Space Food!

Yesterday I had Space Curry for lunch, and this morning I had Space Bread for breakfast! Hurray, I'm an astronaut! Both of these were souvenirs from a student who visited a science museum that's connected to the Japanese Space Agency. They were both very tasty!
Space food reminds me of a time when I was in elementary school. I saw a commercial for a snack food product that was being advertised as "eaten by the NASA astronauts in space!" (peanut butter & jelly paste in a tube or some strange thing). My mother didn't want to buy it, probably assuming it wouldn't taste very good and would be thrown away later. I asked enough times that we finally tried it. I don't remember much except that it wasn't good, and we threw it away later...

Cloud Bear 3

Well, in case you're tired of looking, but want to see what I see, I labeled a picture. It was much more impressive in person, so I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but I thought it was pretty wonderful...

Cloud Bear Part Two

Did you find the bear yet? I was originally planning to post all these pictures together, but the computer had a different plan. It was probably quite difficult to find in the first picture I posted unless you REALLY like a challenge. If you still don't see the bear in the last picture, I guess I have too active of an imagination...

Cloud Bear

Last week, there were a couple of amazing sunsets. Along with the amazing sunsets there were beautifully shaped clouds. This one really inspired my imagination -- can you see the bear? (Kumo ni kuma-o mieru?)

Halloween Candy, Japanese Style

Question: How can you know that Halloween is coming soon in Japan?
Answer: There's a special KitKat flavor, of course!
It's been a long time since Nozomi & I found a KitKat flavor that we hadn't already tasted, seen, or at least heard about, and even longer since I've posted a picture of one. So, the latest: PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE! They are actually quite good, and really taste like pumpkin cheesecake! (For those of you in America thinking, "well, why WOULDN'T it taste like the name?" I will simply ask this about American candy flavors: does watermelon candy REALLY taste like watermelon to you? I didn't think so...)
So, if you haven't seen my KitKat collection pictures yet (or already have, but are very excited about a second look!), click here:
KitKat Collection
BTW: those pictures (more than 40) are about half of my collection; I've still got to organize the rest of the pictures and post them.

Rollerskating Aliens

Many months ago I posted on my blog about the next generation roller skates that I bought and started using for exercise. The weather the last few days has been amazing-great temperature, sunny, and a cool breeze-so I finally decided today that I had to take advantage of it. I found my skates, dusted them off, made sure they were still safe to use, and headed out the door. By luck (good luck if you like attention, bad luck if you don't like being a spectacle) the elementary school three blocks from our house had just released the students a few minutes earlier. I walked out the door of the apartment building, sat down on the front step, started to put on my first skate, and the mini-parade of children started to walk by. The looks and stares that I received ranged from "what's that guy doing?" to "I THINK AN ALIEN JUST ARRIVED FROM ANOTHER PLANET!" After four years, I'm pretty much used to sticking out as a non-Japanese living in Japan, so the stares usually don't affect me much one way or another anymore. But the innocent amazement in children's faces still makes me smile, even if it reminds me a little bit that I'm different here. And I have to admit, I'm VERY different zipping around the neighborhood on skates...