Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Food Retrospective

It's been a year of adventures already. I reread the posts from my first month in Japan: I talked about the garbage truck that sounded like an ice cream truck, and the truck that drove around selling baked yams, but both of those were in my old nighborhood.

Here in the heart of Tokyo, I miss the garbage truck that plays music (the one in my new neighborhood does not). I miss the yam truck -- we don't have one of those, either. However, in my new nighborhood, we do have the Tofu Man. He walks through the nighborhood pulling a cart full of homemade tofu. His call is a whistle (or a harmonica?) calling out two notes. If you listen carefully, it sounds like he is calling, "To-fu!" on his whistle. I have yet to see him when I need to buy any-- but one of these days, I will buy tofu from the "tofu man."

I no longer buy sweet beans or coffee jello thinking it is chocolate. A year later, I can read enough to get me through the sweets. However, I still can't identify much of the food in a very traditional Japanese meal. Last weekend was the J-3 retreat, and the food at the hotel was good (most of it), but don't ask me what it was. Fish, vegetables, and rice. That's about it! I still feel like I have recently fallen off a plane when I eat at hotels.

A year ago, I went to Kumamoto and had my first experience with natto. It is fermented soybeans, which people generally eat with soy sauce, egg, and onion. Natto is a favorite breakfast food in the Tokyo area, although it is eaten other times, too. I couldn't eat it a year ago (before I even knew what it was!), and I still don't eat it now, even after I have been taught the "proper" way to fix it!

But, of all the food I thought I would never like? Rice balls (Japanese name: Onigiri). I used to think I would never willingly make a meal out of them. Not enough flavor, I said. But it turns out they are easy to make, cheap to buy, and they grow on a person. Yes, they can be bland, but not if they're made properly. They can also be very good.

A year of adventures already, but still -- there is so much yet to learn...

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Books and More Books!

Several weeks ago, my friend “tagged” me to answer a series of questions about books. Being an avid reader, I took her up on her challenge. So, please excuse the deviation from Japan and enjoy a small peek into my favorite pastime. Thank you, Prairie Girl for the questions!

1. One book that changed your life: How to narrow down the list to one? What was the first book I read as a child? (Mom, do you happen to know?) Probably that is the book I'd have to choose – the book that got me started down this path of reading...


2. One book you've read more than once: Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand). I read it the first time for a report my senior year of high school. Since then I have read the book ragged. My copy is marked and dog-eared and the cover has long since been able to close properly.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: Les Miserables (Victor Hugo). I have been meaning to read it for many years. It's a little daunting to look at, even to the most voracious of readers...it has been on my "To read when I have the gumption" list since high school. And if I am going to be stuck on a desert island, I want something that's going to last me awhile!

4. One book that made you laugh: anything by Bill Bryson. He writes travel narratives. My favorite book of his, Travels in Small Town America is is about a road-trip he took on a search for the quintessential Small Town, USA. I like it because he is from Des Moines, so he begins and ends his search in Iowa.

5. One book that made you cry: It's funny, but while I like sad movies, I try to avoid sad books. With that in mind, I don't remember one that has made me cry recently. Probably The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) made me cry, but I don't remember. Come to think of it, Cyrano de Bergerac (see number two) probably made me cry the first time I read it, too.

6. One book you are currently reading: I am almost finished with a really bad sci-fi book written in the '60s. The plot is unbelievable, the characters not entirely likable, and the technology is too outlandish, even for my over-zealous imagination. Yet, I have this crazy idea that I have to finish every book I start, so I am still reading.

7. One book you have meaning to read: Ugh – I have a list as long as the Tokyo Tower is tall. But, at the moment, my short list is only around ten. Top of the short list: Dragonfly in Amber (Diana Gabaldon), a novel about a time-traveling woman from the 1940s and her Scottish husband from the mid-1700s. Also near the top: Tales from Earthsea (Ursala Le Guinn). The story has recently been made into an animated movie in Japan. I'd like to read the book, then see the movie.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Tokyo Scenes

Just for fun, here are some pictures from around Tokyo.


Ochanomizu Station
This the Chuo Line -- this used to be the train
we took to and from Japanese class.





A bridge in a park in Ryogoku
(an area in eastern Tokyo)












Sumo Banners
Each banner is printed with the name and rank of a wrestler.
They are displayed outside the tournament hall during every tournament.