Archive for September, 2010
PARTY REPORT. RON HERMAN 1st Year Anniversary 9.3.2010
To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Ron Herman’s flag shop opening, there was a shopping event, with fortune tellers at the store. What a good way to get people spending money! For my fortune, fortunately, my aura is GREEN, which means a lot of positive things, however, I also cut my toe on the fortune teller’s table! so funny. Anyhow, I love this store because it reminds me of my hometown.
ほよよ〜
Tideland Yoka Park
If you know a slide enthusiast, bring them here! There is an impressive double drop slide, a coiled snake slide, and a couple other ones.
It was very hot the day we went. Luckily, there is a wading pool that was perfect to cool down in.
These are called free-fall slides here and for good reason. This slide is the first double drop I have seen since Yaejima Park on Okinawa. Yaejima was the start of our park obsession here in Japan!
This slide is a miniature version of the one at Oonoyama Park in Naha, Okinawa.
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There were two sides to the pool. One side is 20 centimeters and the other side is 40 centimeters.
They had several interesting pieces of equipment that I had never seen before. That one kind of bounced on either side.
Fukudomi My Land Park
Welcome to Fukudomi My Land Park in the Saga Prefecture. It featured the playground in the foreground and the 7-story tower in the background.
That’s the view looking North if I remember correctly. There were free binoculars on either side of the seventh floor.
Looking down at the playground from the 7th floor.
Kitagata Shikinooka Park
Meh… Not much of a park, but if you are in Kitagata and lost, stop by!.
If you really want directions here, just head to the old Kawago’s Great Camphor tree and follow signs to Kitagata Shikinooka Park.
It is a well maintained park. There was a team of women working on the grass when we arrived and there were fresh wooden planks in the park.
In case you fall through…
Ikaruga, Kudanshita (九段斑鳩)
Lunch with Peacock today. Since he’s the busy one in our relationship, I fired up the googlemaps and searched for what I’ve been thinking about all through Health Week – ramen. It’s so easy to blow your diet… Ikaruga popped up as one of the places closest to his office. Turns out it’s famous. How famous? It’s even on the area map in the subway station. And back in 2008 it was voted one of the top shops in the country, so other bloggers mentioned 45-minute waits.
Fortunately that was 2008. I went up a little early to see the situation, and with only a couple people in line went to get the ‘Cock. We were actually lucky – there were only 2 or 4 guys ahead of us when we got back to the shop, but by the time we got in there were 10 behind us, and it stayed around that level until we left (close to 2 PM, mind you).
By the sign outside shall ye know it. Actually, that’s a convenient feature of stores in Japan – they usually have signs outside to identify themselves. (Although it occurs to me that P is getting spoiled for ramen, with our lunches previously including the very un-signed Fukumen)
Inside is a little…I dunno. It’s clean, it’s pleasantly dim and cool, and you can sit peacefully at tables (although the weird head-height cushioned bumper sticking out from the wall meant that my head was tilted forward any time I tried to sit back). The whole operation is very smooth, even to the extent that they keep the smells down. They’re certainly using pork bones in the soup based on the taste, and once or twice I got the littlest whiff of them boiling, but never offensively.
At the order of Ramen Tokyo, I corralled ‘Cock into getting a bowl each of these Special-Made Garlic Oil Noodles. Does this look good in the picture? Honestly, now that the satiation and amazement have worn off, I’m not sure what else to say other than “This was one of the best bowls of noodle I’ve ever had.” The happiness I felt while eating it was probably akin to that at the other top places I can remember – like Kissou, or Kikanbou, or Furyu (although I may be mentioning those last two because of the 30-minute ramen-focused meeting I just had with some colleagues. And as I look back on those reviews, I’m reminded of how far I’ve gone down the Ramen Road, and also how far away the horizon remains.).
It’s an ‘oil noodle’, which means the two (!) types of noodles mixed in the bowl are supported by a very thick, oily sauce, and you mix everything up before eating. The noodles were a large, flat yellow variety and a smaller, rounder, whiter variety; both were good. It’s the rest of the mess that really made this though – the oily sauce is derived from pork bones mixed with seafood, there’s a ton of fried garlic on top, a second ton of chopped onion under that, and two varieties of pork, slices and chunks, and I don’t know what else to tell except that it was fantastic and you should go soonest. I could look at pictures of this all day.
Hide Margherita, Kagurazaka
When I was in college, we used to play this game called ‘Hide the Salami’. Well, sort of. Anyway, every time I see this place I think of this phrase. And then I think of this Australian guy I knew in business school. His name was Haydn, and if you say that in the quaint Antipodean dialect, it comes out like “hidin’”. Once I made the aforementioned (that means “I already said it. Were you paying attention?”) joke to him in the presence of a woman, and it was very awkward, and I subsequently found that the awkwartudinosity was less because of my blatant rudality and more because the two of them were, in fact, playing that very game secretly. Out of the mouths of babes.
Chain places – in Japan, they’ve really got it down to a science, don’t they? Does this look like a chain to you? Does this look like an authentic Italian restaurant owned by a corporation whose main business is Chinese restaurants (which are also good, by the way)? And is it a chain if they have 16 Italian restaurants, but almost all under different brands (and almost uniformly receiving positive notices from me when I visit)?
What kind of chain serves duck terrine? Come to think of it, what kind of pizza place serves terrine? That’s a sign that something’s not so fresh in the kingdom of Denmark, but there’s nothing rotten here. The terrine was more than serviceable, and very welcome after the mild disappointment at the Pulpo. Chow chow chow. You could confuse this with a partly-cooked meatloaf, but I’d rather not think about that too much.
Tokyo pizza makers have got the Italian thing down to a science. I suppose it’s more expensive than difficult to get brick ovens, but it still seems like a big deal in America, and something that people get snobby about, while calling themselves pizzaiola. Here you can’t walk down the street in some neighborhoods without being harassed for your coin by a bevy of shops who have their names spelled out in tile above the fire-lit, flame-kist mouths of the Carrara marble pizza immolators that the chefs laboriously dissassembled and packed back in their luggage over 37 trips to Italia in their misspent youths. You know what I’m going to say here – I would rather have been at Baggio if I knew we were having pizza, but this was just fine.
I forgot to mention, even the otoshi was kinda good, olives with pulverized almonds. I don’t know how they do this, but I can’t remember being disappointed in all my trips to restaurants under this umbrella, and there are a lot of them – some I didn’t realize were associated until years later. Whatever they’re doing, I respect it. I really do. I think you can use them as a benchmark of reliability, if not excitingness, but there are plenty of times when you want reliable and not exciting, don’t you?
Well do ya, punk?
03-3513-8824
El Pulpo, Kagurazaka
I have a complex relationship with Spanish restaurants in Japan – or more properly with ‘Spain Bars’ as they’re called. Usually I find them fiddly and overpriced. The concept should be similar to an izakaya, with small plates and drinks at reasonable prices. I’ve learned to like the izakaya style – the ordering pattern, the speed of the meal – but translating that to a Western setting messes everything up and leaves me edgy. Well, El Pulpo gets high scores, and there were in fact only two open seats when we arrived early on a Wednesday, so count yourself lucky to be reading this despite the grumping.
They serve you two varieties of cava (don’t call it recession champagne), this one for Y500. This, I tell you, is quite the deal. Even the up-scale cava is only Y850. Drink up.
And pucker up, because they have octopus in a whole bunch of different ways. This is the classic style for me, lightly grilled and topped with lots of paprika. Unfortunately not served on top of potatoes; didn’t realize I’d miss them that much. This was not the perfect plate of octopus, but on the other hand, it’s right around the corner and not in Galicia. You could also get it raw, or boiled, or stewed, or whatever.
This was actually the starter, ratatouille atop puff pastry. I just wanted to say that ‘drink up – pucker up’ thing. Did that even make sense? I guess an octopus doesn’t really pucker, but it does have suckers. Speaking of which, you should have seen the chunk of boiled octopus I saw for sale at Ameyoko on Sunday – it was like a block about 6 inches across. That was just a piece of one tentacle, so that monster must have been a beast…before it was caught, killed, boiled, and soaked in vinegar. I digress, but this was a very nice starter.
They actually describe the place as a marisqueria, and have a decent display of fresh seafood waiting for your order – lot sof shellfish. This is a good thing. Even better is that they have barnacles on the menu – the very kind that are something like 5 euros each in Spain are Y1k per plate. IF they have them. They didn’t. Instead, we got salt pork and vegetables cooked in a crock, with an egg yolk to make everything gooey and smooth on your tongue.
And these snappy fried whitefish were too much to resist. Japanese popcorn? Japanese cajun popcorn shrimp? They were a little less crispy than I would have liked, not as compulsively eatable.
Ehhhh, that’s about it – I guess you can sense my lack of enthusiasm in the way this tapered off. One other detriment was the service, which rubbed me the wrong way consistently. Obviously you could find that they’re your new best friends; that’s too subjective to base a review on. And you’ve noted that we didn’t get into their main theme, the whole marisqueria thing. I think it could be better if you went back in the right frame of mind and wanted to eat a lot of clams.
And they had barnacles…
03-3269-6088
Menemon, Kanda (麺ヱ門 )
Street food in a restaurant? Sure, why not. Lots of places want to bring the street food of other countries to Japan. While plenty of restaurants have fried noodles on the menu, not so many specialize in it. These guys are carving a little niche for themselves, and in a pleasant way. Though I can’t help thinking yakisoba tastes best when eaten while you’re standing in the street, surrounded by natives in festive garb, with the just-fried noodles burning your hand through the thin plastic tray.
This probably used to be something else – ramen, maybe. It’s still a little cramped, and the fact that they have 2 cooks and 2 waitresses for a place this small is weird – leads to crowding even when there aren’t that many customers. I like to think of this picture as a microcosm of modern Japanese life – the man disengaged and staring at his phone, the woman wearing a uniform and gazing wistfully out the window, waiting for a Korean drama star to take her away. I don’t think they were actually in a relationship, but I haven’t checked their Facebook statii yet.
Without further ado, I’ll tell you that this was good, and bigger than it looks – the bowl was huge. The noodles were well-sauced and freshly fried, the cabbage was softened sufficiently, and the (extra) pork was abundant and higher-quality than a real street yakisoba. Tabletop condiments allowed you to add your own mustard, extra sauce, flaked seaweed, or red ginger. Satisfying when you want to fill up.
03-3255-2815
Mumbai Market, Nihonbashi
First time I’ve ever been in to the Mitsukoshi honten. The lobby is old fashioned and grand, like Takashimaya, or indeed like the grand old department stores in your city, if they still exist. One thing that’s different here is this impressive, incredible sculpture in the main hall. What does it all mean? I was thinking of going to one of the restaurants in here, but the restaurant floor has 3, and they’re all super high-end ‘chain’ places (Nadaman, Mantenboshi…don’t tell them I called them chains, OK?)
I left and ended up walking around that neighborhood across the street again. There’s a plethora of Japanese places of various description, but…beats me, I saw Indian and that was it. Mumbai Market, it would seem, is not related to Mumbai Bar.
And you wouldn’t confuse it from the inside, but it’s conceptually similar. Indian restaurants in Japan are too often either dingy or parodies; these places are setting a pleasant path down the middle with modern, light decorations. This wall of chalk is fun, especially the way they weave in some Hindi (I note with interest, by the way that Hindi has some characters and sounds that are only used in loanwords. Reminds me of katakana, except that there are actual additional sounds, not just adaptations of the existing ones.)
Without getting too long-winded or precious, the set was nice. It’s especially good that the butter chicken was very sweet; I saved the sauce until the end and called it dessert. It’s even nicer that someone downstairs has got this whole tandoor thing down pat, because the naan was perfect. It’s so rare to find one as light and fresh as they should be, and this was one of the good ones.
03-3272-0055
Back on the street, I got a quick picture of a funny phenomenon. It’s been so hot this year, with much of August monotonously hovering at 95 degrees during the day. When people are walking on the street, they don’t stand on the corners to wait for the lights to change – they stand in the shade, back from the corner. I started doing it this year. Lifesaver.
Edokko sushi, Kanda (江戸っ子寿司)
Edokko is a chain born and bred in Kanda, with a good half-dozen stores all clustered around the west entrance to the JR station. You’ve probably seen the yellow signs. Oh, unless you never go to Kanda, which I imagine is most of you. Well, here’s the glamorous environment that they serve fine fish in. The original store is a block away in an alley, but this is one of the several they have along the street next to the tracks.
The chef was very young and punk, in a disinterested punk sort of way. This didn’t get me too excited, but at 3 PM exactly (damn these endless meetings), one’s choices are severely limited. And you know, the fish in the case looks OK, and they don’t pre-cut it, and that’s all pretty good when their signature Edokko Set is all of Y850.
Naturally it comes with tea and soup; being a low-end place, the soup comes at the beginning. One distinguishing feature here – the soup actually tasted like shrimp heads. I know that shouldn’t be such a surprise, because any dummy can see the shrimp heads floating in it. It’s just that usually the floaters, whatever they are, don’t do much for the taste. Here, after some soaking, the soup really did taste like shrimp. Good!
Less than $10 for this? That’s a good deal. Going across, the tuna, squid, salmon and snapper were all quite good, especially the very fatty salmon (see how it has the skin on? Weird.). Then the eel, egg and shrimp were more average. The roll was good, with both cucumber and minced tuna segments. And since it was Monday, there was a free ‘service’ of inari – the brown thing top-right, which is a pouch of fried tofu soaked in sweet syrup and stuffed with a shari of rice. In fewer words, the chef was young, punk and sloppy with his rice, but the fish was good enough that the whole thing was enjoyable.
Especially at 3 PM.
03-3252-8050
Il Silene, Kamakura
Kamakura has a surprising concentration of Italian restaurants. The best looking ones are surprisingly full, even when the rest of town is fairly empty during the day and leaning toward ghostly at night. Il Silene is up near the big shrine, but seriously hidden in a basement. You could see their sign on the street, walk downstairs, conclude that you were mistaken, and leave without making it to the back of the building, which is where they are.
They’ve only been open since the beginning of August, which is an interesting time to open. Maybe it’s the busiest season in Kamakura. The recent opening accounts for the cleanliness of the interior, which is a bit bright, and certainly casual. The metal chairs look uncomfortable but were pretty good, so don’t let that put you off.
They’ll start you with some bread that they make themselves, and it’s decent. The tomato-rubbed version is probably the best, but there’s the other crisp one with lots of salt that’s quite addictive and likely o make you ask for more. It’s a good thing they give you more bread though, because they were down one person on staff and horribly slow as a result.
Kamakura vegetables are a big thing; I wish this salad had had some non-lettucey Kamakura vegetables in it, but all the leaves were good, and the bagna cauda-styled dressing was really good.
As was this warm starter, the best thing on the night – cubes of fried polenta with spinach, topped with lardo. I like how if you put an ‘o’ after it, it’s easier to forget that it’s cured…lard. This was really good.
Fresh ravioli with truffles?! Filled with spinach and ricotta, these needed salt. And oil. Or butter. Basically some kind of flavor other than the hint of nutmeg in the filling. (Did you know nutmeg was common in Italy? I certainly didn’t, until I started reading Elizabeth David’s Italian Food. Great book, interestingly just a little bit displaced time-wise – like nutmeg has possibly faded for savory food, and she also says ‘tunny-fish’ all the time for tuna.)
Speaking parenthetically of tuna, the irridescent slices on top of this pasta are cured tuna. It was pretty strong. The fried eggplant was much better, but the grated bottarga / karasumi didn’t add anything to the dish. Pretty weak overall, especially with the dried spaghetti. We’re getting spoiled in Tokyo, expecting fresh pasta all the time.
Good sliced steak. Mmmm. Just the right portion to finish off the meal and give you energy for the walk back to the station, and the rather long train ride home.
Promising, but really not satisfying. Plus there’s a cover charge since they’re Italian.
0467-24-1885
Nakamuraya, Enoshima (中村屋)
You’ll have noticed from all the pictures that I think walking around Tokyo and looking down little alleys is one of the funnest things in life, way more funner than, for instance, being beaten with branded leather goods. In the case of Enoshima, as you climb out of the shopping area, you’ll see all sorts of odd little bits like this. It’s not to say that the island is very big (maybe an hour walk, round-trip) or that the climb is very extreme (though you can pay an exorbitant fee to take three little escalators), but there’s a nice feeling of getting to the interior of something. In a bit the same way that going to Enoshima is like a mini-tropical vacation.
There are a lot of stairs though, be ready for that. There’s nothing rough about it, and the steps are all very nicely carved. I was actually enjoying the way that the edges were carved just so, with the flat tops ending in a little lip that clearly separated them from the deliberately-rough front faces. Speaking of faces, if you don’t like looking at the faces of other tourists, you may be in the wrong blog. We love that kinda stuff around here.
As you come down one set of stairs toward the back of the island there’s a little landing, almost, and that mini-neighborhood is dominated by the Nakamuraya empire. They own the shop on the left and the seating area / junk shop / museum on the right. A really funny thing is that this is on an island, and it feels very tropical if you go at the right time, but the atmosphere could be any old-fashioned neighborhood anywhere in Japan. Maybe I was expecting more island culture?
You’ll laugh when you see how little actual food we actually consumed here, but it’s interesting enough to post about. The green packages at the front of the cute old shop are their specialty – nori youkan. If you’ve ever eaten Japanese sweets (and are not Japanese) you were probably thinking “Why all the beans?” Youkan is another bean thing – bean paste with some gelatin and lots of sugar – but it’s more palatable than some of them. Keep at it, you’ll get used to the beans. When you get pretty tough, try the whole beans boiled in sugar syrup – kinda fun since they come in so many colors. But they’re still sweet beans. Hmmmm.
Yep, this is all we ate (split between two people). And why? Hell, have YOU ever had white bean-gelatin-seaweed DESSERT? I thought not. I would say the flavors don’t integrate particularly well, but it’s surprisingly nice. Or is it surprising? The salty-sweet theme appears to be popularized to dreary excess now in America; yesterday a recipe for baked brown sugar and spice bacon popped up in my facebook feed. I don’t think my facebook friends are quite ready for the salty sweetness of seaweed and beans, but maybe I’ll try it on them during my UPCOMING EXTENDED VACATION. woo hoo. Channeled a little Roboppy right there.
Keep walking through the island (you noticed that this is a tourism post, right?). You can turn right at a little alley somewhere around Nakamuraya if you want to go back by the short way, or you can just keep going – the south side, opposite the causeway, was probably the single best thing on the island for me. On the way, you’ll see this temple with a massive dragon sculpture guarding a cave. This gave me a total ‘movie’ feeling – looking at this dragon, I really thought it was going to move any second. The picture isn’t likely to do it justice.
As you get to the rocky plateau on the ocean at the back of the island, you’ll see a tiny temple with these lovely prayer flags flapping in the wind. If you read closely, you’ll see that each flag is dedicated to a different Japanese god – ラーメン, 焼きイカ, et cetera (aside: who writes out ‘et cetera’ any more?). This really took me back to the years I spent in the Lapsang Souchon monastery just outside Baldengadhi in Nepal, but they seemed startled when I asked if they had any yak butter tea. Well, social pressures must be constraining them from following the one true path, and I pity them for it.
One person I don’t pity is this guy. He was having a great time diving off the rocks into the small sheltered pool in the background. He was insistent that I join him – kept asking where I was from and if I had a bathing suit with me.
But really, his idea of fun was pretty aggressive for me. OK, this wasn’t really it. But there’s lots of this back there. You should definitely go.
And then you should definitely take the boat back. One of the best Y400 I’ve ever spent – saving 30 minutes of hilly, repetitive walking, plus get to see different coast and scenery, and let’s face it you’re ON A BOAT! The guy on the left was wearing a tag on his hat that said “Gilligan”.
It’s only a 20 minute tour though.
0466-22-4214
Uohana, Enoshima (魚華)
Enoshima in August isn’t a preferred destination as far as I’m concerned – because it’s a preferred destination for so many people. Last time I went, there was a line hundreds of people long to get on the Enoden at Fujisawa (no lie – all the way from that station, across the plaza, and into the other station). This time was different – a bit of bustle, a healthy number of people, but nothing unmanageable. The wind was blowing, skies were blue, the heat was also manageable…well, not really, but take it slow, drink water, and keep a towel around your neck, and everything will be fine. The Enoshima-Kamakura day trip is a great once-a-year mini-vacation, and this was a particularly good iteration thereof. Next time though, how about something in the mountains?
You’ll end up walking onto the island over the causeway, and immediately you’ll see the line of seafood restaurants to the left. Cheerful, rough, and semi-cheap, these must be the places to eat (there are plenty of shops on the shopping street, but who eats in them?). Uohana stands out a bit – it’s not just clams on a styrofoam plate to be eaten on public benches (not that there’s anything wrong with that). They have a nice display outside of all the seafood you could eat if you stopped in,
including the $15 oysters. Does the size perspective work for you? Depending on your age, gender and ethnicity, these could be bigger than your head. I would be too scared to attempt to eat one, but I did see a pair of women buy one each as lunch.
Thing is, everything is bound to taste good if you can get a table out back with a big green umbrella. Despite a line 30 people long at the famous place down the street, there was ample seating out here.
Tea is self service (if you squint, you can see someone in the background serving themselves). Enoshima Beer costs money, but it’s worth it. Good suds. Good brew. Good brewski. Good, strong ale, poured hard and clean from the tall brown bottles. Good cliches.
Lunch falls into the pattern familiar to all the places here – you could pick your seafood out front for grilling, or you could get a rice bowl. You could augment either with some sashimi. Either way, you should be sure to eat shirasu since they’re famous here – the tiny white fish, boiled or raw, served in the hard, clean, white bowls, [Have you read Naked Lunch? I don't recommend it, fame or not.] It’s a tossup whether you get the raw one, where the fish will be silvery and squishy (because they’re raw and whole, after all), or this cooked one. If I was you, I’d get the cooked one. It’s pretty good.
If you get the mixed sashimi bowl, you’ll still get a healthy pile of cooked shirasu. You’ll also get some other fish. They’re all pretty good. The atmosphere is the thing though – you’ll like sitting out here, I promise.
I cannot tell a lie, this is their homepage.
0466-28-9570
Now that you’re fortified, it’s time to start your tour of the island. More on that later, but the first thing you’ll need to do is walk up the shopping street. Can anyone tell me what ‘Cheat Life’ is supposed to mean? The front of the shirt had a big happy face on it, and under that just a big ‘CHEAT’.
Kudan, Gakugei Daigaku (件)
There’s a first for everything, and a slightly different personality to every neighborhood of Tokyo. This was my first time to visit Gakugei Daigaku, and I’d like to say its personality reflects a bit of its college roots. The few streets that I saw seemed cheaper and funkier than the average suburb, with a bit of Shimokita vibe. There wasn’t much time to explore though, as I ran into Woodsworth on the platform and we went directly out the west exit to meat Poshand at Kudan (which she had picked). Should you go, you’ll recognize it by the big sake banners outside.
The insides made me feel funny inside, and I’ve figured out why. In a country that structures things long and narrow for the most part, this place broad and shallow. There’s just a row of tables and the counter, and where we sat, facing the counter, we were sort of on display to the staff but not much able to interact with them. Never mind, we were there in our own group and didn’t need much input (although we did admire one older woman who came in by herself and sat at the counter to drink sake).
Why do I love picking my own chokko so much? Maybe it’s the variety. Or maybe it’s because it’s the only style of Japanese ceramics that I don’t already have too much of?
‘Drink sake’ is the appropriate thing to do here, but first, let’s have a look at what sort of snacks are available. Being foreigners (and with Poshand’s complaints evidently still ringing in the staff’s ears after her first visit) we received fish (kohada?) cooked in vinegary tomato sauce and onions. Also a bit of boiled takana, which I can confirm was excellent but I’m pretty sure no one else ate; after a certain point, when they hadn’t tried it, I resolved to keep it for myself. The heshiko, much as I love it, was too strong for effective consumption. And the chopped mountain potato with seaweed and shibazuke was…slimy. My bad, I got confused by the ‘tataki’ on the menu and thought it would be seared potato (which is good, I promise); tataki in this case is just chopped, which is what it means anyway.
And the sake…a nice list, but less informative than a lot of places. Am I the only one who’s gotten to think that it’s normal to have the grade of sake specified on the menu? It’s odd to order a brand without knowing whether it’s junmai or ginjo or what have you. Drinking tokkuri between a few people, we tore through beverages at a furious rate. This is just a sample of the pictures, starting with the central Manrei, which I ordered because it was from Saga ken, then loved because of the bold label, and finally didn’t like that much because of the style (bold junmai). I definitely liked the top-left Matsumoto a lot, and the bottom-right Yamawa even more. They would be worth seeking out.
The rest of the feed went a bit like this – lovely platter of fish, even more lovely small dish of namerou, salmon belly, hokke, wagyu tataki (see? it’s seared!). This was all good stuff. The namerou in particular sticks in my memory because it was pretty, what with the flower-bulb vegetables (someone please remind me what they’re called?) and chrysanthemum petals on top.
Fashion’s Night Out in Tokyo
Hello.
I haven’t had updated my blog for a while.
I’ve been busy looking for a job and going to the interviews, but I should write more.
I will try harder to update my blog!!
So Fashion’s Night Out is coming this Sat. September 11th in Tokyo around Omotesando, and Aoyama area.
The opening ceremony will be held at Omotesando Hills.
It’s here~~
The schedule is like this.
Opening Ceremony 5:30pm-6:00pm
Shopping Time 6:00pm-11:00pm
Closing Ceremony 11:00-11:30pm
I hope I can see a lot of store events.
I’m planning to go to Chanel, Shu Uemura, Max Mara, Longchamp… etc
I want to see more Japanese brands…
Well, I hope it will be as fun as last year!!
More info about Fashion’s Night Out in Tokyo is here↓↓↓
http://www.fashionsnightout.jp/
And follow Vogue official Twitter!! @voguejp
Entertainment In Japan, Japan Entertainment, Tokyo At Night.
Top 10 places for Entertainment in Japan.There is something exciting for everyone. Find out which Japan Entertainment suits your style and budget.
Tokyo Disneyland Free Guide, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Tokyo, Disneyland Japan
Tokyo Disneyland Free Guide. Which Tokyo Disney hotels are on site? When is the Best time to visit Tokyo Disney Sea? How to avoid long lines at Disneyland Tokyo most popular Attractions?
Do We Need To Book Japan Tours In Advance?
We are going to Japan in Dec, have some idea what to see. I am not sure if we should book and pay tours now or organize it in Tokyo (have 3 days there).
tsk tsk
Japan Rail’s answer to Tokyo Metro’s ‘Please do it at home’ and ‘Please do it again’ campaigns. I guess it gets the point across, but I still prefer the yellow comics
First Day of School
We are now taking the city bus (2, in fact, transferring at Shibuya Station) to BST’s Showa campus.
Aug. 31, 2010I hate to say it, but….add a couple of bike helmets and these boys look ready to knock on some doors (‘Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior?’)
the first lady of foam
First pizza, now coffee: the 2010 Latte Art Champion of the World is…
Haruna Murayama of Japan, the first Japanese to win the title (it was the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s sixth annual competition). Contenders from 31 other countries participated in the contest, held in London earlier this summer. An Australian came in second place, a Swede took third. Murayama had to produce six cups in 8 minutes to win. Her signature pattern is that of a drooping willow tree.
I wonder how Hiroshi over at Streamer feels about this.
Milla
I can’t decide who is better at kicking ass — Ukrainian-born actress/supermodel Milla Jovovich of the Resident Evil series (called Biohazard here in Japan) or U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie (Wanted, Salt). I haven’t actually seen any of the Resident Evil movies but I did catch Milla in The Perfect Getaway, (a guilty pleasure — don’t think, just rent) and, of course, one of my all-time favorite flicks Dazed and Confused (where she does a kick-ass job applying Kiss makeup to a couple of statues).
Maybe they should call it ‘afterbirth’
Okay, so: I have looked into this a bit further, and whaddya know, Placenta is a thing here. A health thing. Something to eat. You know, ingest. And I’m not talking about what follows your baby out of the birth canal. (Not judging here.) Apparently “The Placenta” jelly-candy-chew snack food I spotted (and, photographed, and posted here earlier today) is just one of a slew of such products that boast placenta — specifically blended pig placenta, it seems — as a key ingredient.
Todd Wassel, of Todd’s Wanderings, on discovering Placenta!, the drink:
“It is no secret that the Japanese love English, not speaking it fluently, but pasting it on anything and everything to make it seem cooler. Most items make no sense and are just random words strung together. Others are more unfortunate, like the 5 year old girl in my elementary school English class who showed up wearing a t-shirt that said “Smack the Bitch and Pump the Hoes.” I’m still trying to figure out if this was supposed to be a gangster tag line or that of an enraged farmer. In her parent’s defense, it was pink and had cute little flowers on it.
So my natural reaction at seeing the drink Placenta, was that some poor office worker was asked to come up with an English word that conveyed health and vitality for their new line of vitamin supplement drinks. Unable to speak English he turned to his ever present electronic dictionary and the rest is marketing history. To my surprise, they knew exactly what they were doing.” (One 30 ml bottle of Blended Pig Placenta sells for about $8.50.)
“More Japanese drink it than I could possibly imagine,” Wassel writes. “So many people that a new, popular product line was developed of beverages of various placental concentrations (tastes like peaches!), capsules, an organic skin cream and a wearable facial mask filled with placental extract….”
As Wassel points out, those who practice Placentophagy – the storied, age-old tradition of placenta eating, on the rise again in the U.S. — will totally dig this. I, however — a mother of two who decidedly did not consume any part of either placenta (still, no judgments) — do not.
You can read more of Todd’s Wanderings here.
TOKYO TOWER
Tokyo Tower is not just a landmark of Tokyo.
It was built as a communication and observation tower in 1958.
At that time, it was the tallest freestanding structure, rising to
333 meters in height, slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower which stands
at 324 meters.
As a result of advanced technology in manufacturing steel and
construction, one-third of Tokyo Tower was built using scrap
metal taken from US tanks damaged in the Korean War.
Therefore, Tokyo Tower is made only by using 55% of steel as
compared to the Eiffel Tower.
The main sources of revenue are antenna leasing and tourism.
You may be aware that Tokyo Tower provides transmission
signals for television broadcasting and radio, but were you aware that
a part of your mobile phone fee is paid to Tokyo Tower as well.
Since 420 yen per mobile phone is being paid annually, and it is
said that 100 million mobile phones are currently being used, 4.2
billion yen is paid to Tokyo Tower automatically each year.
In 1989 it recorded 100 million visitors in the summer and illumination
service started. The “Landmark light” is the most common
light up for Tokyo Tower. Were you aware there is 2 types of
“Landmark light” depending on the season. From October to June,
the tower will be covered in your most familiar orange lighting,
showing warmth in the cold. From July to September, the Tower will
be accented with a silver white lighting, offering a cool image in
the hot summer season.
In 2008, the owner company spent $6.5 million to create a new
lighting to celebrate its 50th anniversary, calling it the “Diamond
Veil”. This allows for the 17 levels of lighting totaling to 276 lights,
each with ability to change into 7 different colors, to dress up
the Tokyo Tower during special occasions. While the “Diamond
Veil” is lit up, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on such occasions, the 180
lights used for the “Landmark light” is completely turned off.
Using the “Diamond Veil” illumination, lighting is changed for special
events such as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, St. Patrick’s
Day in 2007 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Japanese-Irish
relations, World Cup and Christmas, etc.
During the daytime when illumination is not turned on, Tokyo Tower
stands out proud dressed vibrantly in international orange (yes, you
cannot call it red or even plain orange) and white. Under the Civil
Aeronautic Law, international orange must be used and therefore,
Tokyo Tower gets repainted every 5 years in order to maintain
this color. 34,000 liters of paint is used over a period of 1 year to
complete the repainting. 4,200 painters who will directly brush paint
the tower is only allowed to conduct their work from sunrise to
9 a.m. in the fall and spring only. No wonder it takes 1 year!
In July 2011, all television broadcasting will turn digital.
Although 24 broadcast waves, both digital and analog, are currently
being transmitted from Tokyo Tower, unfortunately, it is not capable
to support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting.
Hence we see a newcomer on the scene, the Tokyo Sky Tree, already
stretching past Japan’s tallest building for the past 50 years.
It is aimed to stand as tall as 634 meters at the time of completion.
While we anticipate the completion of the next tallest structure
in Japan, I hope that Tokyo Tower will forever remain a symbol of
central Tokyo and continue to fascinate visiting tourists with its
beautiful illumination.
Night views of Tokyo Tower
http://tokyoyakei.jp/tokyo/tokyo-tower/tokyo-tower.html
http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/english/
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What Do These Colors Mean to You?
Last night I was reading through the latest issue of Rolling Stone — really loved the cover feature on Mad Men, as well as the profile on SNL creator Lorne Michaels — and seeing how they branded the issue’s theme (“Fall Television”) made me wonder just how relevant that particular imagery really is these days. The branding in question is what you see pictured above — it appears with all of the TV-related articles in the issue — and is of course inspired by the TV test patterns of old (pictured below, and technically known as “SMPTE color bars,” as I learned through Wikipedia).
As a retro effect, it works — I certainly remember them — but has anyone under the age of 20 ever seen one? As far as I know — and keep in mind that I’ve been living in Japan for 10+ years — they haven’t been used in at least a decade, and not just because they’re not necessary anymore (in this world of digital sets), but also because we live in a world with 24-hour broadcasts.
I’m just curious as to whether it’s still a good icon or image to use when referring to TV, although I’m the first to admit that I liked how it was used, and I can’t think of anything off-hand that would work better.
PauseTalk Vol. 44
I’d like to thank everyone who made it out to the cafe last night for PauseTalk Vol. 44. Although still a smaller group than in past months (we were probably 20 or so) it was a nice mix — as is often magically the case — including lots of new faces, and a few old ones that hadn’t checked in for a while. Topics covered included web aesthetics (Japan vs. the West), filming in Japan, getting the “old guard” to sign those checks to get projects moving forward, and the Foreign Correspondents Club (to join or not to join).
As I only realized not long before heading out that my printer was out of ink, I didn’t get to bring attendance sheets, and so no list this month. The next one (Vol. 45) will take place October 4.
Don’t Put Your Web Aesthetic in My iPad
What’s wrong with the picture above? My beef with it is that it’s a page from the new iPad edition of MacLife magazine — they’ve just launched a free “zero” issue — but it looks like pretty much any blog post, with it’s row of “social sharing” icons. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely want iPad magazines to embrace the idea of sharing interesting articles, note taking, and all that great functionality that the digital medium can exercise over print, but this is not how I want it done. There are much better ways of integrating all that functionality without using what amounts to “web aesthetics.” Just look at iBooks, touch the screen and you then gain access to your bookmarking-highlighting-note taking tools.
I will say that the MacLife experiment does have some good points, and that it’s nice to see how the creators really want to marry the best of digital and print — it’s the first magazine I see that includes commenting threads for each article, and at least those are hidden and live on their own pages. But it hasn’t quite found the right balance.
PauseTalk Tonight
Just your friendly neighborly reminder that this month’s PauseTalk (Vol. 44) happens tonight (September 6) at Cafe Pause, with the usual start time of 20:00 (and the cafe reserved from 19:30). As previously mentioned, I’ll bring out the magazines from last month’s SNOW Magazine Cafe, for anyone who didn’t get at chance to check out the event.
Wired Type Missteps
Just over a week ago the latest issue of Wired (September 2010) was released for iPad, and as I’ve done for all issues released for the device so far, I immediately bought it. Yes, despite the less-than-perfect way they’ve handled the digital conversion of the magazine, I’ve been enjoying the magazine, not only because of its nice price — for us Tokyo expats that is, although I still want an even cheaper subscription option — but also because I like the way it reads, and the way the material is presented (and those videos have been quite good too).
BUT, I was pretty surprised at some rather ridiculous flubs in the latest issue, both cases tied to the use of type. First example, pictured above, is an entire story — which also happens to be part of the issue’s cover story, “The Web is Dead,” which means it’s long — presented as white text on a red background. Really? Did anyone at Wired actually try reading the article after it was set in those colors? My eyes were practically in tears by the time I got to the end.
Next up was the use of type too tiny to read. The image above shows said article in landscape mode, and that “Buried” piece is where you encounter the problem — interestingly (if that’s the right word) enough, if you change it to portrait mode, it’s the page’s other article that becomes barely readable.
The big issue here is that these problems are tied to the fact that you can’t change type size in the magazine. So far it hasn’t been an issue for me because all previously issues were formatted in a way that made all text very readable on the iPad screen. I can appreciate that adjustable type size would ruin layouts, and I do like the layouts we’re offered in the magazine, but you can’t sacrifice readability just to make sure a column fits somewhere, or to attain a certain aesthetic (in the case of white type on red).