Late lunch last weekend, we decided to go "wafu", traditional Japanese.
I brought my camera along expecting a beautiful arrangement of the food that would make you feel sorry for the dishwasher but cheer for the chef.
Off we went to Ueno, it's like our Divisoria or Quiapo district were one can find anything at bargain prices. We were quite saddened to see several shuttered shops, though the fantastic food stalls were still in business.
Did not buy anything but found a wandering band of Chindon-ya, musicians performing traditional live advertisement, this one for a sushi restaurant.
An exciting weekend, back at Jingu stadium, this time it's Waseda U vs "arch enemy" Keio U. We thought of buying some "provisions" first and being quite new at this, we just bought our beers but forgot to bring some cold packs! Oh well, the weather was pretty cool so we really did not have to glug on warm suds.
Waseda had a thrashing, 2-11 and they actually lost twice that week! I heard that it's been 3 weeks since these devastating losses and people in campus were still talking about it. I am so looking forward to the next series.
It's soba for a very late lunch, sayang talo ang Waseda U. Oh well, at least I understand the game much better now.
Got a bag of treats from my Nihongo sensei, polvoron from España! These are labeled "artesanos" and they are rightfully so. Nevetheless, I've already acquired a taste for our own from Goldilocks so it took me a couple of bites from this huge piece of the "original" one to appreciate it. So, anong lasa? It's fine powdery-dry flour with no milk and is packed just so, doesn't crumble to the touch but softly breaks as you bite in. The taste is sweet, subtle, lemony, sofisticados!
Mom made "cheese pimiento" with red pimiento, star margarine and grated cheese. It really goes well with pan de sal, much better than the "cheez whiz version".
I skipped the margarine this time and used butter instead, no pan de sal here so a baguette had to do. Not as tasty as the original but, the chunks of pimiento and cheese really brought back sweet memories of helping mom in making this spread.
What's for dinner? Well, we have sashimi tuna, salmon, amaebi, kanpachi and hotate. There's an assortment of veggies, 2 patties of grilled satsuma-age, and a block of tofu from Kyoto garnished with fresh myoga, ginger and spring onions and drizzled with yuzu tare. Persimmons are in season so that's our dessert. We'll have chilled nihonshu that's semi-dry to drink. Ittadakimasu!
It's Waseda U vs Hosei U, and at last I finally got to watch Saito Yuki on the mound! He's been really popular since he debuted at Koshien in 2006 with his pitching skills, his good looks and his habit of using a blue handkerchief (a towelette, really) his mom gave him, to wipe the sweat off his brow before he throws a pitch. Hence, the media dubbed him with this cheesy moniker, "The Handkerchief Prince". A buying frenzy for that blue handkerchief soon after made sales for a towel company really booming and a loyal following of devoted middle-aged women could be seen at every game where Yuki is pitching. I saw a gaggle of them yesterday, toting mini-binoculars and digital cameras and happily cheering for their prince.
Two hits by the "handkechief prince" made for 2 home runs, plus a great play added another point at the 5th!
We brought sandwiches and warm drinks to the ballgame and had draft beer afterwards. Looking around at what people are usually eating, there was one munching on a home-made rice ball, one tucking into his obento, there was also curry and rice, hotdog on a stick, and hard-boiled egg (with salt)! The fare was very Asian, which made me think about bringing a Pinoy obento next time.
Hosei rallied on the 7th, caught up with Waseda and our handkerchief prince had to replaced at the pinch. The game was extended to 3 more innings and ended up in a draw at 3-3.
We visited a dear friend in hospital afterwards, and then it's happy-hour at a yakitori nearby. That's grilled chicken with ume paste and wasabi. Kanpai!
Funwari Shokora - there's a long line at their shop at Tokyo station and google shows that it's been much blogged about lately.
There are "cheaper" versions of this, like Lotte's Choco-pie... but this one is more artisanal, spongy, moist choco cookies that's not so sweet, with a wedge of "nama" chocolate in between, subtle balance of bitter and sweet with spicy and orangey notes as well in every bite.
After a typhoon-ravaged week, blue skies and a cool breezy weekend! We got tickets to a Tokyo Big6baseball game between Waseda and Rikkyo U. It was my first time to a baseball game and it's really fun to watch the game with a "sports jock". I learned a lot about baseball, and was hoping too that I get to take home a foul ball. However, Waseda U's ace pitcher, Yuki Saito was on benchwarming post today so it was not as thrilling as I expected it to be.
Waseda U lost, a shut-out to Rikkyo kicking thier butts with 4 HRs! Rikkyo's ace pitcher really gave the Waseda boys a tough time. Rikkyo's cheering squad was superb!
1. The Warmbiz Heated Bra 2. The Voter Turnout Liftup Bra 3. The Post Office Bra 4. The Bra Bag 5. "My Chopsticks" Bra 6. The Birth Rate Decline Bra 7. The Marriage Hunting Bra
Let us not forget the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and nuclear tests around the world. This site brings together the testimonies of surviving victims and features updated facts concerning the proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear testing and its consequences.
The "eternal" flame remains lit at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, and will remain so until all nuclear weapons are abolished.
Was distracted as usual by Facebook, and stumbled upon a friend's note which pointed me to this website that generates random slogans. Go on, have a good laugh, just type in a word and ...
My lazy Saturday morning started with me wolfing down a fresh "momo" for breakfast, doing the laundry and checking my Facebook news feed. Looked like most people had an eventful Friday night, as posts were quite sparse; there was even a casualty from last night's reverie, courtesy of Jack Daniels!
And at the bottom of the news feed, were a succession of statuses posted as: ALERT: Facebook has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures without your permission. Click on "Settings" up at the top where you see the "Logout" link. Select "Privacy". Then select "News Feed and Wall". Next, select the tab that reads "Facebook Ads". In the drop down box, select "No One". Then save your changes. Do it now. Help your friends...cut and paste this into your status.
No wonder there are applications, like this "Birthday Gift" that has card samples with pictures that looked randomly picked out from someone's album and then splashed on the cover! And I thought my settings were all fine until I went to check "Facebook Ads" as instructed, and behold, it was set to "Only friends"! Now how did I miss that?!
I experienced this random pic posting, done by a previous "friend" at Facebook. The person knows that I take privacy matters seriously but "Boffo" (not real name) still posted my pic with a caption to entice others to take note and reply. I asked "Boffo" why was my pic posted without my permission and told "Boffo" to take it down.
No reply, no action for days until one chimed in... "I knew you'd react this way when we posted this..." "Sorry we'll take it down." "By the way, (to Boffo) post other pics of our childhood days." Oh well, I know a taunt from a sincere apology but I just kept my cool and did not reply. Besides, I also received some messages from other friends expressing their disgust at what's happening.
The "controversial" pic was eventually taken down, but soon, other pics, mostly group pictures were posted with my image rubbed out or obviously cut out of our group pictures. No apologies from "Boffo" at all.
So I simply deleted "Boffo" off all my lists then.
I remember that the only reason I keep my tooth under my pillow is because I anxiously try to dislodge a loose one with my tongue at bedtime. I keep it under my pillow so I can take a pretty good look at it, first thing in the morning.
Fished out of my Facebook wall, from a friend... nakaka-aliw panoorin!
The director says: "This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its. Here is the making of : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJYva...
Directed by Bang-yao Liu Music by Röyksopp (http://royksopp.com) Sound design by Shaun Burdick"
Blogger's off for maintenance and I am still on holiday, mouth still wired shut but will definitely recover from laryngitis or else I will be stuck with a voice that would be great at karaoke singing AH LUV ROK N ROL! Tomorrow's the Dream Jumbo Lotto Draw, and I sure did buy a couple of tickets. I would not be winning this one, re the odds considering Japan's population of about 127,000,000 and considering the aging population of about 25% and the current economic situation, expect a lot of ticket holders!
What to do with the prize money? Would you change your FB status to.. "I JUST WON 2M US$!" or quietly disappear and just suddenly post in FB photos of yourself on a yacht (yours of course) somewhere?
Here's the breakdown: (the whole bloody lot is tax-free!)
100,000,000 PHP X 1 lucky bastard 25M PHP X 2 instant millionaires who'd have instant friends as well 49,000 PHP X 199 who'd host a Baranggay party, but would not be responsible for any llives lost... 49,000,000 PHP X 3 who'd fear for their lives, yes you would if you live in Manila and word breaks out! 4,900,000 PHP X 10 who'd be the next Baranggay Captain, or heck... the ALL HAIL THE Congressperson in the upcoming elections! 5,000 PHP X 10,000 mall invaders 1,500 PHP X 100,000 who'd pay some petty dues 150 PHP X 1M happy texters
The lottery's real here and some of the big time winners have published self-help books on how to cope with one's sudden change of fortune. Someone told me recently, "better get a new job"... which makes perfect sense too, huh?!
Oh well then, I'll be sending out my resume soon but will be checking tomorrow's results as well.
My Nihongo lessons are taking a 3-week break as my sensei is on a long vacation. I just loove my sensei, I do feel so guilty when I show up without my homework so I've really made it a point to put time in studying Nihonggo.
Considering that three weeks off is a pretty looong break, I've slacked-off at study. Alas, something from sensei was in the mail! It was a blank diary and on a really cool Foujita postcard she wrote, " How's your condition now? I'd like to give you this for the three-week break... Please write a diary if you have time during my holiday. See you on the 20th."
I've got 3 entries so far and today I'll work on the "backlog". I'll be writing about this manga series I've been into lately. I've ditched the "Death Note" series since it was quite depressing to read about people dying all the time in this season. I'll reserve this one for wintertime.
Meet Kinoshita Beckham, a penguin! This is a surreal trip to an elementary school, with a penguin (Beckham) and a boy (Naoto). There's already a TV anime and now a movie in the works! This manga is really funny and it got me giggling to myself at a cafe lately... C was so curious and started reading a bit, and said this was definitely what elementary grade-schoolers would enjoy reading!
Malalaman mong nasa Japan ka na kapag ang pinalalabas sa sinehan ay full-length movies ng One Piece, Doraemon, Pokemon, Gundam, Tamagotchi at ito!
Lazy weekend, partly due to my condition. I'm still recovering from laryngitis, so I'd better wire my mouth shut during the weekend. Been noisy at Facebook all day though.
I'm sure you have one goth you'd love to post up there! I know a wannabegoth I'd rate a 2 for Gothiness and a 20 for Sweatiness... the perfect partner for the "51st Sweat" goth or the dripping goth at Tales of Woe!
It was a cloudy afternoon but still good for a walk to the Kokugikan at Ryogoku where the last day of the Sumo Spring Basho was being held. All tickets were sold out so just like other sumo fans, we hung out by the gates. There were the raucous oyajis who obviously had a drink or two while waiting for the results of the final match broadcast via a tiny analog radio, there were a couple of tourists, both local and foreign toting their digital cameras, a group of gangly high school lads who just finished cram school were looking for a nice viewing spot by the gates, others were watching the match on their cellphone and we just listened and looked at the hi-def screens whenever we could.
As colorful banners billowed in the cool breeze, the lower-rank rikishi were already leaving and their presence were known as fans shouted out their names...
This is Takamisakari, he's really fun to watch as he launches into his trademark "gone berserk sumo wrestler" opener at the face-off. He usually loses but is a crowd favorite and I think he's been earning more from his commercials and public appearances.
Here is "Goeido" also a local, he made news this basho with surprising wins.
There's the towering "Baruto" from Estonia, it's exciting to watch him being pitted against smaller rikishi. As the final face off between Yokuzuna Hakuho (Mongolia) and Ozeki Harumafuji (Mongolia) unfolded, a hush fell upon the gates and as everyone huddled close to watch the match, live on tiny cellphone screens or listened to the tinny radio broadcast. It was a good fight and the Ozeki won!
Now it's time to head on to the nearest izakaya or chanko restaurant for a recap over beer, nihonshu and otsumami. Harumafuji, omedetou! Kampai!
Do I miss chunks of the old me. I am older now but I miss the old me, chunks of 'em.
The body snatchers are real, they live and propagate, slipping stealthily into the unwary victim.
Where's the gym rat that alternates her cardio with weight training? Fat ass Facebooking. She's gained 3 kilos, which in her and her partner's terms are really massive amounts. The clothes still fit.. like sausage casing.
Where's the party animal that raves til the first trains come in? After surfing the net and Facebook, she's snoozing. It's just too expensive to get hungover nowadays. The bloody Tokyo trains should run 24/7. Taxis are for the rich here. Excuses. Got a great job but the pay sucks.
Where's the passionate artist that works on her canvases till the crows come home? She's doodling still but you'd' see her more online, wasting away time. If there's "writers' block", she is having a great massive wall laid out in front of her. The loud music and alcohol helps but she thinks she should grow up and be able to create without some of these "basic needs". Acne still bugs her once in a while when she attacks a helpless chocobar.
Where has the "clotheshorse" gone to? UNIQLO
Where are her rapid-fire chats with her online mates? Pulses of life are still sent via e-mail, snail mail or ESP... her mates may have been body snatched as well.
Where's the spirit then? Nandoon pa rin pero, ewan ko ba. SHE IS JUST PLAIN LAZY... too content, I guess. This is really BAD. BAD! BAD! .... ((((moonwalks)))
May Tully's na malapit sa min, mga 3 minutes away, at minsan doon kami nagpapalipas-oras. Ang kaso eh sa Tokyo, every square centimeter counts, so tables at some cafes are placed close to each other, sometimes uncomfortably close. I don't mind this arrangement as long as the person sitting next to our table is quiet.
Usually, most Japanese are quiet naman at cafes, unang una eh dahil nag-iisa lang sila. Unfortunately itong katabi namin eh, tipong may ka-date na classmate nya in HS yata. Ewan ko ba, he was the loudest and most fidgety guy I have ever seen at a cafe!
Yung pa kyut nya sa girl date nya eh parang may nakapasok na alupihan sa pantalon nya. The newspaper force field helped a bit until I read that Man U is just a game away from clinching the English Premier Championship which was on the last page. I even tried reading a bit off C's newspaper but my Nihongo level isn't up to it.
I guess it was the coffee that made him fidgety. The girl was pretty cool, and she was keeping her voice down so as to tell the guy... "huuy, ang lakas ng boses mo, magkaharap lang tayo!"
So with all my reading stuff done, I started doodling, and he also became a bit quiet and less fidgety...aahh... peace be with us.
View these fantastic flora and fauna and other trippy vids on 1stavemachine's website. It's a cold, wet, gray and dreary Tokyo and I am just about to log off until I visited Coilhouse and was transfixed by the latest post on 1stavemachine. They also mentioned Chris Cunningham and flashes of creepy Rubber Johnny came back to haunt me.
I just love 'em! Heto, mga 10 short films ito. So far, 1 to 5 pa lang ang napapanood ko. I like "Sebastian's Voodoo". These shorts remind me of "The Twilight Zone" - yung TV series noon. Bukas na ulit yung iba...
Biernes na pala bukas, I have to return some CDs and DVDs I rented, "My Life Without Me", "21" and "Zenzen Daijobu (Fine, Totally Fine)". Looking forward to some social events this weekend!
It's finally out, the sequel to Donnie Darko! This according to Coilhouse. Read more about it over there and you get to see the spectacular works of Japanese artist, Ryohei Hase. There is the dog-men image (the screengrab above) which got me transfixed for some time, and also the bunny-men image which reminded me of a David Lynch film, Inland Empire. C and I were just about 15 minutes into the film where it had rabbit people walking around without talking. We were already totally lost, bored and mumbling, WTF in 3 languages... of course we both reached out for the remote and that was our latest (hopefully not the last) David Lynch experience.
Natanggap ko na ang resulta ng Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 3. Pumasa ako! Yehey!
Ok naman yung scores ko sa listening, writing at vocabulary pero mababa yung score ko sa reading/grammar. Kaya naman pasang-awa ang score koh! At least alam ko na kung saan ako mahina at dapat pang mag-aral mabuti.
I'll try watching Akira Kurosawa movies, siguro mai-intindihan ko na ito. They're of course for rent here but without English subtitles. Konti lang ang Japanese movies dito na may English subtitles. Yung mga lumang pelikula at yung mga anime, halos in Japanese lang.
Thanks to my ever supportive sensei! Naka isang taon na rin ang aming Saturday sessions, malamang matutuwa sya at pumasa ko.
"Starting this coming school year, Spanish will be taught in selected public high schools around the country to better prepare students “in communicating a widely used second language,” according to Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
“(This will) prepare the students for meaningful interaction in a linguistically diverse global workplace. It will also develop understanding and appreciation of other people's culture," Lapus said on Monday."
Sa totoo lang dapat pa ngang pagbutihin ang pag-turo ng Tagalog at Ingles.
I cannot believe this is allowed to happen. Jose Rizal must be doing hypersonic spins in his grave right now. Tsk, tsk, tsk... "to better prepare students in communicating a widely used second (really? facts, please!) language,” then what?
I spent my winter break in Sapporo and Otaru in Hokkaido, Japan's second largest island. If you look at the map of Japan, that's the top most island that looks like a manta ray, and it's really close to the Sakhalin Islands and Vladivostok. So it was my coldest vacation ever!
Our plane reached Sapporo just in time. It was closed the following day due to snowstorms. The weather was foreboding but we still stepped out to fill ourselves at a robatayaki.
Nothing like cold beer on a freezing day!
The nihonshu was excellent and it went well with all the food!
After a sumptuous dinner, we trudged out to Odori Park, famous for the annual Sapporo Winter Festival in February. The snow was all slushy and my boots were for Tokyo streets so I badly needed some snow boots! Found a nice cheap pair for $40, tall, waterproof and fleece-lined, my feet were in heaven!
The first thing I did in the morning was to take a peek outside. Sapporo was all covered in snow. Tons of it! A snowstorm was raging outside and we had a scheduled meeting. It was my first time to walk in a blizzard. My face was stung by the wind and snow, and I guess I've burned a lot of calories just by walking on ice for a couple of blocks and confronting my dreaded fear of icy pavement. By the time we reached our destination, I can say that I've finally overcome my fear.
We're no happy campers, so we got on a taxi afterwards and headed straight to Sapporo station, hoping that the trains to Otaru were still running.
A view of the Sea of Japan from the train gave me a haiku moment. We were in for more bad weather so the sea was all gray, chilling and totally unforgiving. Still, signs of life were there, seagulls were riding the wind or perched on rocks enjoying the breakers.
Chunks of whale blubber, and at the upper left corner, whale bacon.
Hoke, sole, turbot...
Tuna, uni, roe, octopus, seaweed...
Salmon, abalone, scallops...
Kegani at $25/tray!
Salmon roe!
More seafood! That mushy, white mass of "brains" on the right is called "shirako", or according to the Wiki, is fish milt -- "Milt or soft roe also refers to the male genitalia of fish when they contain sperm, used as food. "
Fresh shirako up close, shrimp and some weird fish.
