Category Archives: Japan
Tamago, on the go!
I am working on posts about Sports Day and my trip to Osaka, but in the mean time here is a quick little story!
Today I tried to bike to a town two train stops away (~10 km). I thought such knowledge could prove useful in the future, but unfortunately the space for bikes and pedestrians on roads that lead most directly to my desired destination gave out after 8 km. Just as I gave up hope and turned back I noticed this:
I’m pretty bad at Japanese, but I can tell you that the big red letters say TAMAGO — aka my favourite food, the egg. Also the picture of the rooster holding eggs helps a little. This is what it looks like from the front:
I thought the boxes might be coin lockers– or maybe chicken coops. Coin chicken coops?
How about an EGG VENDING MACHINE!!! For when you need tamago-on-the-go.
Although in previous posts I have asserted that there is a Myth about High Tech Japan, I would concede that Japan really ♥s vending machines — it’s not a myth!
The colours of bicycles and other things
This is my bicycle. I got this bicycle because it was one of the few bicycles with gears at the store. The other one was dark red, but I thought black was a nice neutral, classic choice. But not long after, a Japanese friend/acquaintance sees this bike and exclaims, “Whhat?! This is your bicycle? Black?!!!?!?”
I was surprised by her response. Is it strange to have a black bike? But I had been noticing that the bike parking lot does tend to resemble a rainbow:
There is something very different about colours here. Continue reading
Under the night sky together – hanabi taikai and tsukimi
Recently I attended some classic Japanese events. Both involved looking at things in the night sky. Hanabi taikai is a fireworks festival, and tsukimi is a moon viewing. Although I was aware of these activities as part of Japanese culture, actually attending them has given me a better appreciation for culture as a practice. Even though in Canada there may be events that at first seem similar, the social meaning seems different. Unfortunately I can’t tell if I am just exoticizing the culture so that I see only differences. So I will be more descriptive and let you judge for yourself.
Kyushoku (school lunch)
Perhaps you are a family member and you are worried that I am not eating properly. I understand your concern. I did not have the most amazing cooking or food management skills to begin with and it has been challenging to face a new kitchen (no oven and gas range=scary) and grocery landscape (I understand no cheese, but why no canned beans?) combined with packaging illiteracy.
This post has two purposes. 1) To let you know that I am not starving. And 2) to share this amazing thing that is school lunch!!! It is both super delicious and has an impressive variety that I could never approach. Certainly worth the $3.10 per day. (!!!)
Doodling in Class
So I am at a junior high — equivalent of grades 7, 8 and 9, but they are called first year, second year and third year. Until yesterday I had only done my self introduction to 3rd year classes, who have considerably more English to work with (although their professor still translates a lot of what I say).
For the first years, my team teacher warned me they really only know sentences such as “I like/don’t like” and “I have”… please keep it simple! She suggested there be a worksheet with questions to help the students focus.
At the electronics store….
Like magic, the internet guy came. So I went to the electronics store to buy a wireless router. Then I saw this:
I thought it was advertising the fridge but I asked someone about it and it looks like you could actually win the pineapple ‘gift’!!
On getting internet in Japan
In order to justify why my first post from Japan is three weeks into my stay here, I feel it is appropriate to discuss the process of getting internet in Japan. This is related to something which I will call the Myth of Hi-Tech Japan.
To set the stage, I currently do not have internet at my apartment, which I moved into 22 days ago.