Japan has been fighting a centuries old losing battle with fire. In the early days it's not that hard to see why, people lived in closely pack wood and straw houses with non-enclosed firs pits for cooking and warmth. All it would take is one wayward spark and half the city would be gone. Indeed Edo/Tokyo has been burnt down more times that anyone can count.
In some ways though nothing has really changed, though people are more aware now about the dangers of fire than in past decades. For example when I got here we went to the disaster center to practice for emergencies like earthquakes and fires by trying to navigate through a dark smokey room. Most of this was brought on after the Kobe earthquake in which more people died from the resulting fires than the quake itself.
This of course doesn't stop people from being stupid with fire. It's not uncommon to see people burning vines and leaves in their yard only 5 feet from their house, smoking is still a large problem and many people do it indoors. Many fires are caused by people smoking in bed and falling asleep. Smoke detectors are still a rarity as a sprinkler systems.
Interesting to see in a country in which the worst disaster is fire that there is very little done to curb it. But perhaps what makes it all the more worse it people do not know how to deal with it. Take for instance last night at my dorm:
Sometime at 1:00am in the morning the fire alarm goes off. For one it's not particularly loud, had I been sleeping I probably wouldn't have noticed right away. As nobody in Japan has any idea what to do, the first thing everybody does is go out into the hallway and stare at the flashing alarm. Unable to figure out why it's flashing everyone proceeds to the lobby where the master alarm control is. They want to turn it off so they can go back to sleep, so they investigate it while someone calls the dorm parents who apparently didn't hear it or just took their sweet time because they didn't come out for a good 10 or so minutes. The first thing instructed was to turn off the siren by pushing a button. The board indicates that the alarm on the 3rd floor was pulled.
So the dorm mother sends some guys up to the 3rd floor to investigate. 5 minutes later they don't come back so she decides to go herself. So she hops in the elevator and takes it up to the 3rd floor. Nobody knows why the alarm was pulled, maybe someone was smoking and the alarm went off or maybe somebody ran into it. Eitherway, after the quick investigation the master alarm which is still going is turned off.
At no time during this whole process was the fire department called. Nobody left the building and the whole process took about 20 minutes. I could only imagine what would happen in a real fire.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Japanese Trains
As part of my on going criticism of Japanese transportation system I suppose I should get to the big one. Trains are by far the most popular and used transportation system in Japan and the Tokyo train/subway system is the busiest in the world.
First one must explain why they use trains. Aside from the many issues brought up about cars in one of my earlier posts it's worth noting that Tokyo is urban-centric. This means everyone commutes into Tokyo and leaves in the evening to go back to their suburban homes. Tokyo suburbs are basically defined as the area within a 2 hour commute to the city This unfortunately isn't a joke. Many people make the journey everyday to the city. Just imagine your 8 hour work day with another 4 tacked on in commuting. It's only made worse by the fact that your day doesn't end when you get your work done, it ends when your boss leaves and if your work group decides to hit the bars your attendance is mandatory. This is why people don't have kids and if they do the wife is a stay at home mother.
Luckily for many this is a little bit extreme, in fact the average commute is "only" 1 hour. For me it takes about this long to commute from Minaminagareyama in Chiba prefecture to Yotsuya in the middle of Tokyo. This is about half the length of the Tsukuba Express train line and by the time the train gets to my stop it's already pretty packed.
As you might expect for not having the time for basic necessities like sleep at home the train is a wonderful place to catch some Z's. This of course makes it awesome trying to catch people sleeping in the most unique positions. Some are pretty amazing like putting one's whole head between their knees and slumped over (I didn't think most adult spines bend that much) or just head back with the mouth wide open. Occasionally you'll find the occasional asleep standing up, the somewhat sad part is those people would probably be working that job in a good economy. There's also those that fake sleep. Why you ask? So you can pretend not so see the little old Obaasan hunched over from all that work in the rice fields back in the day trying to kill you with a soul sucking death stare.
In fact given the conditions you can't blame people for doing it. I'm convinced to concept of heaven in Japan is a reserved seat on a train. If you start at the end point of any line there's an interesting game of musical chairs. Everyone waiting will burst through the doors knocking down and trampling anything in their path to get a seat. They killed 3 Obaasans just to get there, like hell they're gonna give it up.
Equally as violent is when the train is full. It's not uncommon during rush hour to see the doors slide open and about 200 people standing. Too full...if you're an American. The grim reality is that the next train will be just as packed, in fact all of them for the next 2 hours. The proper procedure is to turn your back, this is so that you can't see the unfortunate victims behind you that will be crushed to death, and push against the top of the door. The person behind you will do the same until you have 50 people crammed into the area around the door without enough room to even breathe. In fact that's the ideal situation, lest you get a whiff of the smelly, sweaty mass of people (pray they all took a shower) or the women with too much perfume. If you can't fit yourself there is often a nice man with white gloves who is payed do his darnedest to make you fit. Try on a hot day with 100% humidity for extra discomfort.
Travelers Tip: Stand next to the pole by the door seats or try to make your way between the seats for extra room.
Don't get used to your place though since at the next stop you will be forced off the train and have to do it again. The effect is like pushing your finger against a water spout, move or be moved.
The one good thing about the train is it will strengthen your sense of balance. The majority of people won't have enough hand holds to stay upright, you just have to balance. Whats amazing is watching some of the women in stiletto heels, if only they could harness this power they could form an army of world-class ballet dancers. It's not perfect though. Every so often the train will slam the breaks a little bit hard and the whole mass will shift 3 feet the other direction, nothing left to do but topple the person next to you in a domino effect, which to be honest is quite amusing in person.
The reason something like this would happen is that the train in front is late. Trains are on time in Japan 99% of the time (actual figure) but every so often some one decides to throw themselves in front of one (I can't imagine why). This of course makes everyone else late and occasionally have tosit stand in a claustrophobic death trap for as much as an hour. In fact this happens so much (read: more than once per day) that they've created a handy toll system. Depending on which train you decide to throw yourself under they will send the bill for the appropriate amount directly to your family. Unfortunately for me the Chuou is the least expensive and thus has the most suicides. I suppose that's why for the trains on that line the suspension sounds like the moans of the dead trying to crawl their way outta hell.
First one must explain why they use trains. Aside from the many issues brought up about cars in one of my earlier posts it's worth noting that Tokyo is urban-centric. This means everyone commutes into Tokyo and leaves in the evening to go back to their suburban homes. Tokyo suburbs are basically defined as the area within a 2 hour commute to the city This unfortunately isn't a joke. Many people make the journey everyday to the city. Just imagine your 8 hour work day with another 4 tacked on in commuting. It's only made worse by the fact that your day doesn't end when you get your work done, it ends when your boss leaves and if your work group decides to hit the bars your attendance is mandatory. This is why people don't have kids and if they do the wife is a stay at home mother.
Luckily for many this is a little bit extreme, in fact the average commute is "only" 1 hour. For me it takes about this long to commute from Minaminagareyama in Chiba prefecture to Yotsuya in the middle of Tokyo. This is about half the length of the Tsukuba Express train line and by the time the train gets to my stop it's already pretty packed.
As you might expect for not having the time for basic necessities like sleep at home the train is a wonderful place to catch some Z's. This of course makes it awesome trying to catch people sleeping in the most unique positions. Some are pretty amazing like putting one's whole head between their knees and slumped over (I didn't think most adult spines bend that much) or just head back with the mouth wide open. Occasionally you'll find the occasional asleep standing up, the somewhat sad part is those people would probably be working that job in a good economy. There's also those that fake sleep. Why you ask? So you can pretend not so see the little old Obaasan hunched over from all that work in the rice fields back in the day trying to kill you with a soul sucking death stare.
In fact given the conditions you can't blame people for doing it. I'm convinced to concept of heaven in Japan is a reserved seat on a train. If you start at the end point of any line there's an interesting game of musical chairs. Everyone waiting will burst through the doors knocking down and trampling anything in their path to get a seat. They killed 3 Obaasans just to get there, like hell they're gonna give it up.
Equally as violent is when the train is full. It's not uncommon during rush hour to see the doors slide open and about 200 people standing. Too full...if you're an American. The grim reality is that the next train will be just as packed, in fact all of them for the next 2 hours. The proper procedure is to turn your back, this is so that you can't see the unfortunate victims behind you that will be crushed to death, and push against the top of the door. The person behind you will do the same until you have 50 people crammed into the area around the door without enough room to even breathe. In fact that's the ideal situation, lest you get a whiff of the smelly, sweaty mass of people (pray they all took a shower) or the women with too much perfume. If you can't fit yourself there is often a nice man with white gloves who is payed do his darnedest to make you fit. Try on a hot day with 100% humidity for extra discomfort.
Travelers Tip: Stand next to the pole by the door seats or try to make your way between the seats for extra room.
Don't get used to your place though since at the next stop you will be forced off the train and have to do it again. The effect is like pushing your finger against a water spout, move or be moved.
The one good thing about the train is it will strengthen your sense of balance. The majority of people won't have enough hand holds to stay upright, you just have to balance. Whats amazing is watching some of the women in stiletto heels, if only they could harness this power they could form an army of world-class ballet dancers. It's not perfect though. Every so often the train will slam the breaks a little bit hard and the whole mass will shift 3 feet the other direction, nothing left to do but topple the person next to you in a domino effect, which to be honest is quite amusing in person.
The reason something like this would happen is that the train in front is late. Trains are on time in Japan 99% of the time (actual figure) but every so often some one decides to throw themselves in front of one (I can't imagine why). This of course makes everyone else late and occasionally have to
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Japanese Bikes
As one might expect for a country with not enough space for cars and long walking commutes Japan is a country of bicycles. Though as expected as this is much of their views seem to fly in the face of American sensibilities even though the potential risk is much greater.
The standard Japanese bike is a large and cumbersome town bike that usually contains only one gear (which Abi affectionately dubbed "Go!"). A bike with multiple gears is somewhat more rare, but what's odd is that Japan is not flat, as it sits on top of very active fault lines the vast majority of the country is uneven which just makes it a total pain to maneuver around. They will always contain a basket to put your purse (women ride just as much as men and in short skirts and heels to boot) and a little bell to warn others of your approach except that would be rude so they just try to stealthily sneak by like ninjas often narrowly missing people and sharp objects.
This wouldn't be as bad if they had absolutely no concept of safety. A bike in Japan is a 2 person vehicle. It's not uncommon to see to classmates share a bike with one riding on the back in a really uncomfortable and unstable position as the driver is weaving in and out of unsuspecting pedestrians. Even better though is that parents usually take their offspring with them on the bike, putting them in metal seats that are fastened to the back or handlebars (sometime both if you have 2). If the bike falls over the child is pretty much screwed, but that doesn't always stop parents from speeding out of a blind corner and nearly missing you with their infant meat-shield.
They also don't wear helmets, ever. There's no way a respectable Japanese would ruin their nicely gelled hair, or perhaps Japanese research has shown that common hairstyles incorporate enough product to make it rigid enough to withstand a tumble onto concrete, which would hardly be surprising. Regardless of how much bodily harm you may potentially succumb to it's very important not to get wet though, because then you'd look quite foolish in the eyes of others. Japanese don't wear raincoats. You can buy them in many varieties but they don't use them instead opting to take umbrellas (parasols too if you feel your skin isn't transparent enough). You then wind up with these same people compounding everything noted above by riding on wet streets with one hand holding an umbrella. Now if you factor in the fact that umbrellas tend to pull in windy Tokyo you realize that Japanese have balls of steel. I've often wondered what the statistics are for umbrella impalement look like here, it's gotta be a lot.
Despite this I've yet to see someone take a spill. It's been very close, many times though. Asian may suck at driving but when it comes to bicycles they are unmatched.
The standard Japanese bike is a large and cumbersome town bike that usually contains only one gear (which Abi affectionately dubbed "Go!"). A bike with multiple gears is somewhat more rare, but what's odd is that Japan is not flat, as it sits on top of very active fault lines the vast majority of the country is uneven which just makes it a total pain to maneuver around. They will always contain a basket to put your purse (women ride just as much as men and in short skirts and heels to boot) and a little bell to warn others of your approach except that would be rude so they just try to stealthily sneak by like ninjas often narrowly missing people and sharp objects.
This wouldn't be as bad if they had absolutely no concept of safety. A bike in Japan is a 2 person vehicle. It's not uncommon to see to classmates share a bike with one riding on the back in a really uncomfortable and unstable position as the driver is weaving in and out of unsuspecting pedestrians. Even better though is that parents usually take their offspring with them on the bike, putting them in metal seats that are fastened to the back or handlebars (sometime both if you have 2). If the bike falls over the child is pretty much screwed, but that doesn't always stop parents from speeding out of a blind corner and nearly missing you with their infant meat-shield.
They also don't wear helmets, ever. There's no way a respectable Japanese would ruin their nicely gelled hair, or perhaps Japanese research has shown that common hairstyles incorporate enough product to make it rigid enough to withstand a tumble onto concrete, which would hardly be surprising. Regardless of how much bodily harm you may potentially succumb to it's very important not to get wet though, because then you'd look quite foolish in the eyes of others. Japanese don't wear raincoats. You can buy them in many varieties but they don't use them instead opting to take umbrellas (parasols too if you feel your skin isn't transparent enough). You then wind up with these same people compounding everything noted above by riding on wet streets with one hand holding an umbrella. Now if you factor in the fact that umbrellas tend to pull in windy Tokyo you realize that Japanese have balls of steel. I've often wondered what the statistics are for umbrella impalement look like here, it's gotta be a lot.
Despite this I've yet to see someone take a spill. It's been very close, many times though. Asian may suck at driving but when it comes to bicycles they are unmatched.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
A Lesson in Social Manners
Writing funny sarcastic remarks is tiring work so this time I'll go more natural:
A few days ago I was informed that a number of high ranking officials from my University were going to Japan to talk to their study abroad partners. These included the Associate Vice Chancellor of Graduate Education and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Direct of the Center for Asian Studies and Director of the Office for International Education. They also wanted to meet with students who were currently doing study abroad.
On Wednesday I got to meet with them. We went out to a coffee shop where we talked about the program and about Japan in general. I had a some mint drink that tasted like liquid mentos (ie the most delicious thing ever), luckily for me they paid for it because it was $7, but to put it in perspective a Coke at this place was $5. It was actually quite nice to sit out sit while a bunch of pedals rained down from the trees overhead.
As it would turn out I'm an anomaly, since engineers pretty much don't do study abroad or take language courses. Apparently they are launching new programs to try and fix that. Also, I found out that not a lot of guys do study abroad either, probably because they are most likely in the sciences.
Later we were invited to the Japanese CU Alumni association dinner. This took place at a nice restaurant/bar. Apparently the head of the association is president and CEO of both the Chiyoda Rubber Company, and Takato Corporation. I got his business card along with the president of the Surugaya Trading Company. The meeting was very unusual to me but a common thing in Japan. Of course there was an open bar, and about 30 people from the Alumni association. The associate itself apparently has about 400+ members. Most are old Japanese businessmen, many quite wealthy. There were a few younger guys who were there mainly to network. The food was very nice and buffet style but this poses an interesting conundrum. In Japan is is rude to eat while others are speaking to you. So of course when I get a little bit of food and sit down everybody wants to talk to me. This is true of everyone else so in the end despite the fact that there is a ton of great food it must be disposed because nobody is socially allowed to eat it except a few quick bite here and there. Everyone gave a little speech about themselves and their relation to the university.
Despite the dues being $70 that they dropped for us, I still had to go home hungry.
A few days ago I was informed that a number of high ranking officials from my University were going to Japan to talk to their study abroad partners. These included the Associate Vice Chancellor of Graduate Education and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Direct of the Center for Asian Studies and Director of the Office for International Education. They also wanted to meet with students who were currently doing study abroad.
On Wednesday I got to meet with them. We went out to a coffee shop where we talked about the program and about Japan in general. I had a some mint drink that tasted like liquid mentos (ie the most delicious thing ever), luckily for me they paid for it because it was $7, but to put it in perspective a Coke at this place was $5. It was actually quite nice to sit out sit while a bunch of pedals rained down from the trees overhead.
As it would turn out I'm an anomaly, since engineers pretty much don't do study abroad or take language courses. Apparently they are launching new programs to try and fix that. Also, I found out that not a lot of guys do study abroad either, probably because they are most likely in the sciences.
Later we were invited to the Japanese CU Alumni association dinner. This took place at a nice restaurant/bar. Apparently the head of the association is president and CEO of both the Chiyoda Rubber Company, and Takato Corporation. I got his business card along with the president of the Surugaya Trading Company. The meeting was very unusual to me but a common thing in Japan. Of course there was an open bar, and about 30 people from the Alumni association. The associate itself apparently has about 400+ members. Most are old Japanese businessmen, many quite wealthy. There were a few younger guys who were there mainly to network. The food was very nice and buffet style but this poses an interesting conundrum. In Japan is is rude to eat while others are speaking to you. So of course when I get a little bit of food and sit down everybody wants to talk to me. This is true of everyone else so in the end despite the fact that there is a ton of great food it must be disposed because nobody is socially allowed to eat it except a few quick bite here and there. Everyone gave a little speech about themselves and their relation to the university.
Despite the dues being $70 that they dropped for us, I still had to go home hungry.
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Trip to Hiroshima
A few weeks ago the whole CIEE group took a trip to Hiroshima.
At first we gathered at school that afternoon. It was rather hectic as there was no real time to finish my homework. I just did it really sloppily and left it with the rest of my school books in the CIEE office. At 5:00 we headed to the Shinkansen (Bullet Train).
Once you've come to understand some of the ins and outs of Japan the last thing you really want to do is travel around with a group of whities. Many of these people you realize come to forgien countries to party and and get wasted. It is only made worse by the fact that the primary place to get drunk and club (at least for stupid forgeiners) is Roppongi. As a result they hang out with other stupid forgieners and generally keep the Japanese out of that location. Despite having the highest genetic variation of any race the Japanese cannot tell whities apart (or any non-asian nationality) so as far as they are concerned everyone is wearing an "I'm with stupid" shirt with an American flag drapped over their shoulders.
That said they aren't completely wrong. It takes 4 stops on the train to get from Yotsuya (Station closest to school) to Tokyo (Station with the Shinkansen). In this 6 minutes one in the group girl managed to lose a suitcase because she just walked off the train without it. If this was a game show she'd be covered in failure scorpions.
The other hard part about traveling with stupid people is they love to get lost. We had to stop no less than 5 times to gather everyone up. You'd think after 4 months they'd at least figure out how to get from point A to point B.
This aside the Shinkansen was rather nice. It's like a roomy airplane without the recirculated air. The Bentos that we were provided with were awful though. It took 4 hours to reach Hiroshima.
Due to some poor planning despite arriving after 11:00 we had to be up by 7:00 at the latest. Zombified we had to walk outside in the cold of Hiroshima's peace park. It's an interestig place, the "Genbaku Dome" (Atomic Bomb Dome) is quite striking, being a collapsed structure in the middle of a park. Looks really creepy at night too. Afterward we walked around in the museum and saw lots of drawings from "Hibakusha" (Bomb survivors) of people who essentially melted from the heat wave. Apparently in a nuclear blast you don't just disintigrate, you melt and what's left of you gets cancer. Fantastic.
At first we gathered at school that afternoon. It was rather hectic as there was no real time to finish my homework. I just did it really sloppily and left it with the rest of my school books in the CIEE office. At 5:00 we headed to the Shinkansen (Bullet Train).
Once you've come to understand some of the ins and outs of Japan the last thing you really want to do is travel around with a group of whities. Many of these people you realize come to forgien countries to party and and get wasted. It is only made worse by the fact that the primary place to get drunk and club (at least for stupid forgeiners) is Roppongi. As a result they hang out with other stupid forgieners and generally keep the Japanese out of that location. Despite having the highest genetic variation of any race the Japanese cannot tell whities apart (or any non-asian nationality) so as far as they are concerned everyone is wearing an "I'm with stupid" shirt with an American flag drapped over their shoulders.
That said they aren't completely wrong. It takes 4 stops on the train to get from Yotsuya (Station closest to school) to Tokyo (Station with the Shinkansen). In this 6 minutes one in the group girl managed to lose a suitcase because she just walked off the train without it. If this was a game show she'd be covered in failure scorpions.
The other hard part about traveling with stupid people is they love to get lost. We had to stop no less than 5 times to gather everyone up. You'd think after 4 months they'd at least figure out how to get from point A to point B.
This aside the Shinkansen was rather nice. It's like a roomy airplane without the recirculated air. The Bentos that we were provided with were awful though. It took 4 hours to reach Hiroshima.
Due to some poor planning despite arriving after 11:00 we had to be up by 7:00 at the latest. Zombified we had to walk outside in the cold of Hiroshima's peace park. It's an interestig place, the "Genbaku Dome" (Atomic Bomb Dome) is quite striking, being a collapsed structure in the middle of a park. Looks really creepy at night too. Afterward we walked around in the museum and saw lots of drawings from "Hibakusha" (Bomb survivors) of people who essentially melted from the heat wave. Apparently in a nuclear blast you don't just disintigrate, you melt and what's left of you gets cancer. Fantastic.
Area directly below the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter
We later checked into a Ryokan (Japanese-style Hotel) and hung out for a while. At dinner we were supposed to all go to one loaction but the lack of reservations broke us up. Who planned that one?
Miyajima
Miyama Jima is a small island a ferry ride away from Hiroshima. We came here on the second day. It's known for its Shine with a Tori gate that sits over the water. It's also known for wild deer that harass people in the streets. It's like an island petting zoo.
You can also take a cable car to the top of the moutain on the island. At the top you can find monkies!
You can also get some weird Bacon-Cheese-Fishcake-on-a-stick. I barely made it through.
Afterwards I was assaulted by deer. Bastards don't quit.
Friday, November 28, 2008
What is ediable in Japan
With as many posts as I've written on the subject I might as well stop listing what sorts of awful foods there are here and make it easier, here's a list of some foods are actually good in Japan (Hint: they aren't really Japanese):
Tantanmen
Chinese food is in high abundance in Japan. There is pretty much a ramen shop on every street corner, and this is not a total exaggeration. It is one of the most popular things to eat. Some of these shops may be so small that customers have to eat standing up. This is the quintessential food for travelers as it's both good and cheap.
Tantanmen is a variety of ramen. It's broth is made of sesame seeds and hot oil. It's often topped off with some bak choi. The thicker base means that it can actually be deceivingly filling making it one of the best foods to find.
Curry, Naan and Indian food
Japanese love Indian food. While not quite as popular as Chinese it probably comes in second as one of the easiest foods to find. Luckily it is quite delicious. It's rather expensive though, a meal will cost $12-15 depending on what you get and where you go but often well worth it. You usually get a cup or 2 of curry in different flavors and dip your naan bread into it. It's usually a bit spicier than it's lesser cousin Curried Rice, though not always.
Curried Rice
This I believe is the Japanese equivalent of the "enchirido." It's Indian inspired but mostly Japanese and it found pretty much everywhere. Popular types include plain rice and curry on the side (It's always on the side for some reason, God forbid you pour it OVER the rice) or with Katsu (fried pork) over it. It's usually at least decent. The variety pictured here is from a chain called coco's curry. They serve curried rice with a number of toppings, in this case sausage. You can also choose your hotness level here. I went for an 8/10 which was enough to induce a hiccup fit and nose running. I could do hotter but I don't know how much I could finish.
Bou-kun Habenaro
These are easily the most delicious snack food ever invented. They are probably laced with crack because I can't stop eating them. They are flavored potato rings, that come in two flavors: Chili and Habenaro. Both are good. Chili is pictured.
Katsu
This has come up a lot. It's basically a fried pork patty. You see it in a variety of settings including on curried rice, in ramen, in sandwiches and by itself. By itself it is usually eaten with a type of BBQ sauce. There's not a whole lot to this, but it's fried meat which basically ensures that it'll be hard to mess up.
Note: In writing this I've pretty much decided that the only thing Japan can do right consistantly is spicy. I'm not sure I exactly understand why either.
Tantanmen
Chinese food is in high abundance in Japan. There is pretty much a ramen shop on every street corner, and this is not a total exaggeration. It is one of the most popular things to eat. Some of these shops may be so small that customers have to eat standing up. This is the quintessential food for travelers as it's both good and cheap.
Tantanmen is a variety of ramen. It's broth is made of sesame seeds and hot oil. It's often topped off with some bak choi. The thicker base means that it can actually be deceivingly filling making it one of the best foods to find.
Curry, Naan and Indian food
Japanese love Indian food. While not quite as popular as Chinese it probably comes in second as one of the easiest foods to find. Luckily it is quite delicious. It's rather expensive though, a meal will cost $12-15 depending on what you get and where you go but often well worth it. You usually get a cup or 2 of curry in different flavors and dip your naan bread into it. It's usually a bit spicier than it's lesser cousin Curried Rice, though not always.
Curried Rice
This I believe is the Japanese equivalent of the "enchirido." It's Indian inspired but mostly Japanese and it found pretty much everywhere. Popular types include plain rice and curry on the side (It's always on the side for some reason, God forbid you pour it OVER the rice) or with Katsu (fried pork) over it. It's usually at least decent. The variety pictured here is from a chain called coco's curry. They serve curried rice with a number of toppings, in this case sausage. You can also choose your hotness level here. I went for an 8/10 which was enough to induce a hiccup fit and nose running. I could do hotter but I don't know how much I could finish.
Bou-kun Habenaro
These are easily the most delicious snack food ever invented. They are probably laced with crack because I can't stop eating them. They are flavored potato rings, that come in two flavors: Chili and Habenaro. Both are good. Chili is pictured.
Katsu
This has come up a lot. It's basically a fried pork patty. You see it in a variety of settings including on curried rice, in ramen, in sandwiches and by itself. By itself it is usually eaten with a type of BBQ sauce. There's not a whole lot to this, but it's fried meat which basically ensures that it'll be hard to mess up.
Note: In writing this I've pretty much decided that the only thing Japan can do right consistantly is spicy. I'm not sure I exactly understand why either.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Japanese Western Food
One of the things being in another country is you start looking for the familiar. I'd assume that this typically manifests itself as a craving for a particular food that is common in one's own country. In Japan this is simply filtered down into anything that was not scraped off the hull of a cruise ship.
The Japanese fancy themselves culinary savants. The is easily seen in shows like "Iron Chef." What you may not see is that Japanese have an obsession with food. Any normal conversation will at least touch on foods in some way. Japanese scientists have gone so far as to classify new tastes like Umami, Shibui, and Kokumi. Strange as this may be the Japanese seemingly have no sense of taste (perhaps this is why they obsess?). This is fairly obvious given that every meal will contain plain rice which is about as bland as you can get. The favored drinks are tea which tastes like hot water filtered through twigs and hay. Not just that but even the textures are gross. I've had to eat things here like shrimp and muscles in what appeared to be gelled fat, and one of the most awful things is "oden" a variety dish were everything is in amorphous blobs and is akin to chewing through a pack of condoms. It is in fact so bad that many deaths occur each year, primarily in elderly people caused by choking on these mucusy morsels. But in an effort to show their prowess they've taken it upon themselves to mimic western food, which unfortunately to the non-existent Japanese pallet something invariably gets lost in translation.
I don't have pictures for all of these so bear with me.
Spaghetti:
The Italian classic. This is wheat noodles in tomato sauce it should be easy right? Apparently not. For one let's just touch on the notion that Western food is considered somewhat chic. As a result something as simple as pasta goes for about $10 a plate. This may also be as little as 1/2 a cup of pasta, definitely not anything that will fill you up. At least the restaurants have some decent pastas even if they are woefully overpriced. The dorms seem to be another matter. At breakfast a choice is given for western food, this usually translates into the same thing with a piece of ham or just on one plate instead of 2 (I don't get it either). It can also mean getting spaghetti...for breakfast. I'm not sure where they got this information but needless to say it is quite the head-scratcher. However aside from temporal issues, it is actually possible to mess it up. For dinner occasioanlly you may find spaghetti as well (usually as a side) or at least what you think is spaghetti. It's actually noodles covered in ketchup. Yes noodles with ketchup, delicious. I know a couple of people who would do this but I also expect them to perish in their 30s among a pile of discarded pizza boxes clutching a bong.
For an even bigger slap to the face try noodles covered with mayonnaise. Maybe they should just stick to sea creatures.
Bread
Okay so the bread isn't always terrible. They have invented things like "Melon Pan" (It wants to sound french) that do taste quite good. Also are the sausage baguette type things you can find at most bakeries. Then there are the eyebrow raisers like bread covered in corn and mayonnaise. To this day I still have not the courage to try it.
Mexican
Mexican is very rare in Japan. I dare say that is is non-existent because my experience is something that may look the part but tastes very "unique." For example take this number:
It looks kinda like a burrito, however note that the sauce is pretty much a tomato sauce creating an authentic Mexican-Italian something-or-other. It is also served with an Italian dressing salad adorned with guacamole. Right....
This dish is the same thing. It looks like it's Mexican but the sauce tastes kinda sweet.
The McDonald's Mega Mac
Actually this is pretty damn American and not surprising as McDonald's tastes the same the world over. This was a special burger that was for a limited time - In the unlikely event that the Japanese get something right it is only for a limited-time. This is a common business practice here as a lot of foods are considered seasonal. So things like the awesome Sprite 3G disappear and will never be seen again. - but was so popular it became a regular item. It's just a really big, Big Mac. It's got 4 patties and it's pretty delicious as far a McDonald's goes. Definitely has that American arm tingling feel to it.
The Japanese fancy themselves culinary savants. The is easily seen in shows like "Iron Chef." What you may not see is that Japanese have an obsession with food. Any normal conversation will at least touch on foods in some way. Japanese scientists have gone so far as to classify new tastes like Umami, Shibui, and Kokumi. Strange as this may be the Japanese seemingly have no sense of taste (perhaps this is why they obsess?). This is fairly obvious given that every meal will contain plain rice which is about as bland as you can get. The favored drinks are tea which tastes like hot water filtered through twigs and hay. Not just that but even the textures are gross. I've had to eat things here like shrimp and muscles in what appeared to be gelled fat, and one of the most awful things is "oden" a variety dish were everything is in amorphous blobs and is akin to chewing through a pack of condoms. It is in fact so bad that many deaths occur each year, primarily in elderly people caused by choking on these mucusy morsels. But in an effort to show their prowess they've taken it upon themselves to mimic western food, which unfortunately to the non-existent Japanese pallet something invariably gets lost in translation.
I don't have pictures for all of these so bear with me.
Spaghetti:
The Italian classic. This is wheat noodles in tomato sauce it should be easy right? Apparently not. For one let's just touch on the notion that Western food is considered somewhat chic. As a result something as simple as pasta goes for about $10 a plate. This may also be as little as 1/2 a cup of pasta, definitely not anything that will fill you up. At least the restaurants have some decent pastas even if they are woefully overpriced. The dorms seem to be another matter. At breakfast a choice is given for western food, this usually translates into the same thing with a piece of ham or just on one plate instead of 2 (I don't get it either). It can also mean getting spaghetti...for breakfast. I'm not sure where they got this information but needless to say it is quite the head-scratcher. However aside from temporal issues, it is actually possible to mess it up. For dinner occasioanlly you may find spaghetti as well (usually as a side) or at least what you think is spaghetti. It's actually noodles covered in ketchup. Yes noodles with ketchup, delicious. I know a couple of people who would do this but I also expect them to perish in their 30s among a pile of discarded pizza boxes clutching a bong.
For an even bigger slap to the face try noodles covered with mayonnaise. Maybe they should just stick to sea creatures.
Bread
Okay so the bread isn't always terrible. They have invented things like "Melon Pan" (It wants to sound french) that do taste quite good. Also are the sausage baguette type things you can find at most bakeries. Then there are the eyebrow raisers like bread covered in corn and mayonnaise. To this day I still have not the courage to try it.
Mexican
Mexican is very rare in Japan. I dare say that is is non-existent because my experience is something that may look the part but tastes very "unique." For example take this number:
It looks kinda like a burrito, however note that the sauce is pretty much a tomato sauce creating an authentic Mexican-Italian something-or-other. It is also served with an Italian dressing salad adorned with guacamole. Right....
This dish is the same thing. It looks like it's Mexican but the sauce tastes kinda sweet.
The McDonald's Mega Mac
Actually this is pretty damn American and not surprising as McDonald's tastes the same the world over. This was a special burger that was for a limited time - In the unlikely event that the Japanese get something right it is only for a limited-time. This is a common business practice here as a lot of foods are considered seasonal. So things like the awesome Sprite 3G disappear and will never be seen again. - but was so popular it became a regular item. It's just a really big, Big Mac. It's got 4 patties and it's pretty delicious as far a McDonald's goes. Definitely has that American arm tingling feel to it.
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