Saturday, January 31, 2009
Uniforms
We've both had work uniforms since the beginning, but we're finally going to share pictures with the world. I wear mine pretty much the entire day every day - unless I know that something formal is going on and then I wear my suit instead of slacks+shirt+tie+uniform. Ana says she wears hers to class but not in the office. Her office is much more private (1 other person as opposed to, say, 30ish) so I guess that is more appropriate. Nobody is my office is without their uniform jacket unless they're wearing a suit. Note the classy pen holding pockets on the sleeve - you can't see it but Ana keeps sparkly pencils in hers. Most professors carry at least one red pen and one black pen there, sometimes more.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It DOES Snow Here!
It's been snowing daily for the past week or so. Right now I'm staring out of the window at the beautiful fluffy flakes falling from the sky. You know, the big, slow moving gorgeous ones that make you feel like you're in a snow globe? That kind of snow. I love it.
No sound in the video - well, you can hear Lee talking in the background, but no actual sound.
The temperature here doesn't really get below freezing, so there's not much accumulation for the amount of snow we've gotten. The streets are cleared with sprinklers, and many businesses have sprinkler systems to keep their parking lots and entryways clear. There isn't really a snow removal service for the sidewalks, though. We haven't seen any snowblowers here either. People either clear out the area in front of their homes and/or places of business, or the way remains blocked. The side streets near our house don't get much traffic and don't have sprinkler systems, so the homeowners shovel the street in front of their houses too. There is also a good bit of thunder and lightning during these snowstorms. The thunder and lightning tend to be random. Sometimes you'll get a couple in a row, but usually, you'll just get an unexpected flash of light and building-shaking thunder once, then nothing for a few hours. Very strange weather patterns here. Here are a couple of pictures of the hills behind our apartment, covered in snow:
No sound in the video - well, you can hear Lee talking in the background, but no actual sound.
The temperature here doesn't really get below freezing, so there's not much accumulation for the amount of snow we've gotten. The streets are cleared with sprinklers, and many businesses have sprinkler systems to keep their parking lots and entryways clear. There isn't really a snow removal service for the sidewalks, though. We haven't seen any snowblowers here either. People either clear out the area in front of their homes and/or places of business, or the way remains blocked. The side streets near our house don't get much traffic and don't have sprinkler systems, so the homeowners shovel the street in front of their houses too. There is also a good bit of thunder and lightning during these snowstorms. The thunder and lightning tend to be random. Sometimes you'll get a couple in a row, but usually, you'll just get an unexpected flash of light and building-shaking thunder once, then nothing for a few hours. Very strange weather patterns here. Here are a couple of pictures of the hills behind our apartment, covered in snow:
Monday, January 12, 2009
Freshness Burger
The day that we went to Omicho Market we also decided to try Freshness Burger. It's a little hamburger place downtown about a block before Omicho Market. Since we didn't purchase any fish for dinner, we figured we may as well go in for some lunch. There were some very interesting certificates and awards to look at while we passed the time waiting.
Like all Japanese fast food restaurants, or at least the couple we have been in, you order your food and then take a seat. They bring your food out to you. This place had quite a few different kinds of burgers, and they served Pepsi. You cannot get a normal Pepsi here for the most part. It's all Pepsi Next and Diet Pepsi. I got a small Pepsi and a Teryaki Burger, while Lee got the Classic Cheeseburger. We split some fries. Everything here is smaller in quantity/size than it would be in the US. This was pretty much the largest burger they sold. The ketchup and mustard bottles are average sized bottles.
It was pretty good food, even though it was slightly larger than a White Castle burger. You'd have to have about three of Lee's to get a Red Robin sized burger, and probably five or six of mine. Probably not somewhere we'll be heading off to again unless we're downtown, hungry, and wanting some non-Japanese food, but a good place and not that expensive either.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Our Futon
I know we've mentioned what a Japanese futon is, but here are actual pictures of ours:
As you can see, a futon is a mat that you put on the ground to sleep on. Ours is memory foam, so is more comfortable than it looks. Not quite a Sealy Pillowtop Posturepedic or anything, but it works. During the day, you put the futon away in the closet so you can use the room for other things. If you leave the futon out on the tatami all the time, body heat builds up between the two and can cause the tatami to mold and rot, so even if you're not using the room for other things you really should put the futon away during the day. Here's how it looks in our closet:
The futon is very versatile, especially when you don't have a couch or a table. You can fold up the top third and place it against a wall, and then fold up the bottom third for a more comfortable seat, and you have a couch-like structure from your bed. Very useful. Folded up:
Ready for use:
If we really wanted, we could get a bed, but the beds here tend to be uncomfortable, and I like the traditional futon. We'll see if I still like it a year or two from now or if we've caved and gotten an actual bed.
Our office room is also a tatami room. If we get any visitors, we'll probably use that as the guest room as well, and get some tatami mats for that room so that anyone who wants to visit can say they've had the traditional experience of sleeping in a Japanese tatami room. What greater incentive do you need?
As you can see, a futon is a mat that you put on the ground to sleep on. Ours is memory foam, so is more comfortable than it looks. Not quite a Sealy Pillowtop Posturepedic or anything, but it works. During the day, you put the futon away in the closet so you can use the room for other things. If you leave the futon out on the tatami all the time, body heat builds up between the two and can cause the tatami to mold and rot, so even if you're not using the room for other things you really should put the futon away during the day. Here's how it looks in our closet:
The futon is very versatile, especially when you don't have a couch or a table. You can fold up the top third and place it against a wall, and then fold up the bottom third for a more comfortable seat, and you have a couch-like structure from your bed. Very useful. Folded up:
Ready for use:
If we really wanted, we could get a bed, but the beds here tend to be uncomfortable, and I like the traditional futon. We'll see if I still like it a year or two from now or if we've caved and gotten an actual bed.
Our office room is also a tatami room. If we get any visitors, we'll probably use that as the guest room as well, and get some tatami mats for that room so that anyone who wants to visit can say they've had the traditional experience of sleeping in a Japanese tatami room. What greater incentive do you need?
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Fish Market
There's a fish market downtown, Omicho Market. It is supposed to have some really nice fresh fish direct from the ocean. We wanted to check out the market sometime and decided that during our break would be a good time. We also wanted to go see if we could find a couch at a store downtown. No luck with the couch, and we found that during the time when everyone is off of work and getting ready for their New Year's Eve parties, the market is so full of people you can barely breathe.
There were seriously a lot of elbows used here. We just kind of went with the flow of people, looking and snapping pictures as we went.
The market is a lot of little fish stands selling fish bits, whole fish, half fish, cleaned fish, fresh from the sea fish, expensive small pieces of good fish, crabs, tentacles, you name it, they got it. We didn't end up buying anything though, because nothing was interesting enough to attempt to purchase it, and it was mostly very expensive. It may be because everyone was getting such things for their New Year's Eve parties, or it could be the normal price. Those little packaged bits of fish on the right hand side of the above picture? I don't think I saw one that was under $30. Some were nearing $100. There was a crab priced at $300, seen in the upper right hand corner of the next picture:
You can get any parts of the fish you want - just flesh, half a fish, a whole fish minimally processed, reproductive organs and eggs, anything. Here's some very large, and very expensive, whole fish, for them who like to play with scales:
As you can see, there's also entire halves, bottom quarters, and other sections of fish. For our last picture, I leave you with the blurry tentacles:
There were seriously a lot of elbows used here. We just kind of went with the flow of people, looking and snapping pictures as we went.
The market is a lot of little fish stands selling fish bits, whole fish, half fish, cleaned fish, fresh from the sea fish, expensive small pieces of good fish, crabs, tentacles, you name it, they got it. We didn't end up buying anything though, because nothing was interesting enough to attempt to purchase it, and it was mostly very expensive. It may be because everyone was getting such things for their New Year's Eve parties, or it could be the normal price. Those little packaged bits of fish on the right hand side of the above picture? I don't think I saw one that was under $30. Some were nearing $100. There was a crab priced at $300, seen in the upper right hand corner of the next picture:
You can get any parts of the fish you want - just flesh, half a fish, a whole fish minimally processed, reproductive organs and eggs, anything. Here's some very large, and very expensive, whole fish, for them who like to play with scales:
As you can see, there's also entire halves, bottom quarters, and other sections of fish. For our last picture, I leave you with the blurry tentacles:
Monday, January 5, 2009
Magnificence
Lee got a desk. It's from Amazon.com Japan and was more difficult to get than should have been, both because of the difficulty of finding an appropriate desk and of buying it. The Japanese tend to use laptops and their desks tend to be very simple, more a table with a drawer or two than what an American thinks of as a computer desk. Once Lee finally found one he wanted, on Amazon, we had to have Meiko call them to complete the order (they wouldn't ship to us without a phone call for some reason) and then pay COD.
Prior to the arrival of the desk, the computer and all of the cords were just a big jumble on the floor of the room we've designated the office. Now, it's all on a shiny desk that is a different wood tone from the three other tones of wood we have. The ceiling, floor, and doorframes are all different tones of wood. Actually, so is the table. At least now we have a desk that is functional.
Once we had a desk to put the computer on, Lee needed to move all the computer components onto/into the desk and make the cords as unobtrusive as possible. He moved the modem and router across the room to where the wires come in from outside, because otherwise we'd have to run cords under the tatami or along the wall and that would be kind of sketchy.
For some reason, the outlet on that side of the room is at head height instead of anywhere useful. Lee was very creative in his quest to plug in three electrical power bricks to two outlets at head height using only what was available in the apartment - he really wanted to finish wiring the desk that night and still be able to use the internet and stuff. This is what I found when Lee called me in to the room to share in his victory:
The bottommost plug was a three-prong plug we bought in the US that was theoretically a Japan-compatible adapter but really was only compatible with the Japanese three prong plug, roughly as common as meals not featuring rice. Due to the exigencies of need and a screwdriver, it became a two-prong plug. It is topped with two different US-spec three outlet adapters in series, which gave the width needed to plug in the bulky transformers of the electronics. The whole mess was so large and heavy that it would have fallen off the wall if left unsupported, so he propped it up with our broom, propped up by our stool. Luckily, the next day he went to the local electronics place to get a real Japanese power strip so that we could use the step stool and broom again. I am still astounded by the whole episode.
Lee's Note: It worked perfectly for the 24 hours I needed it to work, and I only had to permanently damage one component which is now more useful than it was before. However, I admit that when I finished and took a step back to actually look at what I'd wrought, I was basically paralyzed with laughter.
Prior to the arrival of the desk, the computer and all of the cords were just a big jumble on the floor of the room we've designated the office. Now, it's all on a shiny desk that is a different wood tone from the three other tones of wood we have. The ceiling, floor, and doorframes are all different tones of wood. Actually, so is the table. At least now we have a desk that is functional.
Once we had a desk to put the computer on, Lee needed to move all the computer components onto/into the desk and make the cords as unobtrusive as possible. He moved the modem and router across the room to where the wires come in from outside, because otherwise we'd have to run cords under the tatami or along the wall and that would be kind of sketchy.
For some reason, the outlet on that side of the room is at head height instead of anywhere useful. Lee was very creative in his quest to plug in three electrical power bricks to two outlets at head height using only what was available in the apartment - he really wanted to finish wiring the desk that night and still be able to use the internet and stuff. This is what I found when Lee called me in to the room to share in his victory:
The bottommost plug was a three-prong plug we bought in the US that was theoretically a Japan-compatible adapter but really was only compatible with the Japanese three prong plug, roughly as common as meals not featuring rice. Due to the exigencies of need and a screwdriver, it became a two-prong plug. It is topped with two different US-spec three outlet adapters in series, which gave the width needed to plug in the bulky transformers of the electronics. The whole mess was so large and heavy that it would have fallen off the wall if left unsupported, so he propped it up with our broom, propped up by our stool. Luckily, the next day he went to the local electronics place to get a real Japanese power strip so that we could use the step stool and broom again. I am still astounded by the whole episode.
Lee's Note: It worked perfectly for the 24 hours I needed it to work, and I only had to permanently damage one component which is now more useful than it was before. However, I admit that when I finished and took a step back to actually look at what I'd wrought, I was basically paralyzed with laughter.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Holiday Baking, Part II
On the 9th day of Christmas, could still be 8th for you, I give to you...Cookies! I never showed off the anise cookies or showed how the gingersnaps were supposed to look. Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure (unless you've already closed the window), my cookies:
These are the anise cookies. I had no cookie cutters, so instead of rolling out the dough and making cute little star shaped cookies, I rolled it into a log and sliced them from there. After they came out of the oven, nice and slightly brown, they were tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture for a sweet coating, then left to cool on the rack. Not stellar, but good cookies.
The gingersnaps were much better when made correctly. The dough was rolled into 3/4 - 1" balls and then rolled in sugar. After baking, they were put onto the cooling rack and then into the bowl for transport. Everyone loved these cookies, including Lee. They are now official Christmas Cookies and will be made every year, if not more often. The only problem is that you can't find molasses here, and it's a key ingredient. We shall have to keep that in mind for next year.
I hope your holiday season was enjoyable, I know ours was!
I hope your holiday season was enjoyable, I know ours was!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
A year ago, I couldn't have told you we'd be ringing in the New Year in Japan. Or that we'd be married. 2008 was a year of surprises, in a good way. Who knows what 2009 will bring?
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