Update of the month

Mm.. If there's one thing (among many) the Japanese are good at, it's making a damn good salad dressing. In general, I'm not that discriminating about dressing, but I just thought I'd mention how this one I'm eating now claims it has no oil and is 13 calories a serving... It's made with daikon, which I kind of rolled my eyes at the first time I saw it at the store, like "yeah right I'm eating a dressing made out of a radish," but taste(and health)wise, I'd rank it right up there with any of your creamy, fat-laden salad toppings. It makes me actually want to eat a bowl of leaves. I might even add sticks and pebbles as long as I could cover it with this stuff.

Anyways, I didn't mean to make this blog about dressing, I just got momentarily side tracked by food, which should come as no surprise. I haven't updated in a while, so I decided to post a quick update on what's been going on in these parts lately.

There was another earthquake, and again I was all "What earthquake?" when my relatives expressed their concern over me. So I still haven't witnessed the quintessential Japanese experience, the stuff of legends. It's a bit unfair, really. When the Great Tokai earthquake rolls around, I'm sure I'll enjoy it with relish.

This past weekend, we celebrated my friend Louise's birthday by going to Tokyo to gawk at parasites, photography, beer, and above all, Deerhoof. The parasites were courtesy of the Meguro Parasitological Museum, the only one of its kind in the world. And by "museum" I mean two floors of an unassuming building in Meguro, filled with parasites jarred and preserved, photographs of people and animals afflicted with said parasites, and a gift shop. It was revolting, and I loved every minute of it. Of the elephantiasis of the testicles, 8.8meter tapeworm, or exploded gerbil, I can't say which was my favorite, but it was grand. And you should have seen the guestbook!

After that we saw a special exhibit of Eikoh Hosoe photographs at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Mostly because my friend Amir is obsessed with Yukio Mishima, and there were some famous photos of him there. But the whole thing was pretty cool, and I hope to go back to the Museum someday, now that I know it exists. Nearby was the Yebisu Beer Museum, which was alright, but kind of uninformative as it was all in Japanese. There was a beer garden inside where you could sample Sapporo beers though.

Then dinner and then to the gig at Shinjuku Loft. Unlike the name suggests, it was in the basement. And it was non-smoking! Ah, it makes such a difference. It was my first real concert in Japan, and I noticed a couple differences. 1) The non-smoking. 2) General politeness and quietness of the crowd. 3) Not obnoxiously scene as it is at home. I probably only saw a handful of scenester looking kids, and they were white, and they were turned away at the door because tickets were sold out, hehe. Although maybe all the Japanese there were scenesters too, but just a different breed. Hmm. 4) The show started pretty much on time. My god. So it isn't too much to ask. 5) The only bands playing were the only ones advertised, Deerhoof and OOIOO. I hate sucky opening bands that get snuck into the lineup. And it finished on time as well, so we didn't miss our train. Although as we were leaving Deerhoof started up a second encore, but oh well. C'est la vie. Overall, it was awesome and worth the 5000¥.

Fast forward to 14 hours later where I was sweating bullets in a Japanese step aerobics class that I thought was only 15 minutes but ended up being 45. Three hours after that, I was stuffing my face with real homemade Indian food at Louise and Amir's. But I had to bike home in the freezing rain, which was terrible. Sigh. Mother Nature, she is a fierce and fickle mistress, isn't she?

Paper Beats All

I have a new blog up, folks :

paper beats all

This little brainchild is a showcase of random visual representations of reality filtered through my twisted imagination (ie. my doodles). I'll try to update it every day, for your bite-sized viewing pleasure.

In case anyone is curious, the title is a reference to the all powerful decision maker and tie breaker that is rock/paper/scissors, or as they say in Japanese: janken. Originally I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the blog, so I was going to janken with someone for a random name. And here we are; janken came through for me again. I like to think of it as raising the bar for rocks and scissors.

新年おめでとうございます!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you greeted the new year with family and friends and good spirits (interpret the last one as you like). My New Year's Eve was rather low-key; I had some friends over at my house and we counted down as we watched the most bizarre television programs I've ever seen.

New Year's in Japan is a very festive affair, rather like Christmas is at home. People spend time with their families, eat, drink, and visit shrines. After Christmas, the grocery stores begin stocking up on colorful varieties of New Year's foods and decorations made of pine and ferns and bamboo. Unfortunately, most of this pomp is lost on a foreigner like me. In an attempt to understand the traditions, I asked my vice principal what one does on New Year's Eve. She recommended watching the New Year's specials on television (that have been already been recorded weeks in advance). Please watch it, she said, and experience a real Japanese tradition!

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Boy was she right. I've never seen such strange things on television (including normal Japanese programming). Most of the shows had performances by famous pop artists and groups, complete with absurd costumes: frothy creations of hot pink crushed velvet suits (and matching ties), slutty plaid hotpants, and Merlin-meets-Faberge rags/robes. But the most amusing ones were about random, shameless pranks and the unsuspecting victims. As the clock struck midnight, we were quickly distracted by a conductor falling through a trapdoor in the stage, landing on a pile of foam cubes and being mauled by five or six bronzed muscle men in Speedos. They tied him up, carried him to a diesel truck and foisted him on a chair attached to the roof of it, and tied him down. Then the truck drove through a course in the woods where he was assaulted with firecrackers, explosions and water hoses. After all that, they slid him onto the ground where he bounced into a giant pool of jelly, and then approached his crumpled, steaming body for an interview. Another channel had a guy stuffing all sorts of objects into his underpants: utensils, action figures, eggs, dish detergent.

After that we dragged ourselves from under the warm kotatsu and walked to the small shrine by my house. But nobody was there!

For the first day of the new year, today felt like a regular day. Sharla and I ate breakfast, she watched Lost in Translation while I tidied up the kitchen, and then we ate lunch before she went back to Hamamatsu. After I saw her off at the bus stop, I decided to bike to Mishima Hirokoji. I was curious to see Mishima Taisha, the huge shrine.


The mood was like a summer festival. It was crowded, like everyone told me. Food stalls lined the paths to the main part of the shrine, and a huge line reached to the entrance of people waiting to pray. Most of them were families with children or married couples. I didn't stand in line, content as I was to wander aimlessly and observe the crowds. It made me feel a little lonely though, as I had no family or loved ones to share the first day of the new year with.

That or the fact that I watched two Sofia Coppola movies in one day (downloaded Marie Antoinette yesterday) and I'm getting all self-introspective. Or I'm drinking too much wine. Meh. So what did you do on New Year's Eve?