7.13.2007


Damn, I can't believe I haven't posted in such a long time. My apologies. There is something about me, internet connections and Japan that just don't go together. I had to change apartments awhile ago; was given one weeks notice. So I was without internets for a couple weeks. I called the company and they gave me two free months to make up for any inconvenience. Que sweet. I have about two weeks until I am in the states for a 3 week visit. I am so excited. Much fun will be had.

I am in search of the elusive Cucumber Pepsi. It was released a couple weeks ago and I can't seem to find it. Maybe it was only for sale in Tokyo. I'll have to check the next time I go back there. A new Pokemon film is about to open here, so everything is Poke-crazy. 7-11 is having a big campaign where they are giving away small figurines with the purchase of certain bottled beverages. I currently have 5 of the 13. Yes, I am a nerd. I will never deny that. What is strange is that I can't find the figures any more. About 4 days after they started giving them away, they were gone. What the hell? I need to finish my collection! Gotta catch them all! The picture above was taken at the Gion Matsuri festival here in Narita. There were tons of booths lining the streets to the temple and this one happened to be using Pokemon and Nintendo to advertise. I think it was a skill game to try and win sweet prizes. Interestingly, in the upper left corner it reads, "Nintendo Revolution." This was the codename for the Nintendo Wii while under development. I guess they never got around to changing it. To see more pictures of the festival, go here. It was lots of fun. Good food and good peoples equals good times.

6.11.2007

New pictures uploaded to my Flickr account! Go enjoy them!

6.10.2007

Mexican food is a rarity in Japan. Delicious Mexican food is even more difficult to come by. When I lived in Kumamoto there was one restaurant with a chef from Mexico. Unfortunately the food was not the Sonoran style I was raised on. Lots of seafood dishes, no carne seca. Oh the horror. So when I moved closer to Tokyo, I thought I would have more opportunities to have an ol' taste of the southwest. Well, that is kind of true. I did find a place in Ueno called Sol Amigo that has a decent menu, though the first time I went there, there was something on the menu that struck me as odd. Taco balls. I will be the first to admit, it scared me. I thought they might have been tako balls (octopus balls). So I passed on them. That is, until today. I got an order of tacos, quesadilla and taco balls. The description was all in Japanese, and what I could make out in my weak Japanese, was there was cheese. The tacos arrived first, then the quesadilla. And finally, taco balls.


Fried goodness. But what lay inside?


Glorious cheese.

The lighting in the restaurant was not the greatest for photos and further examination. These pics were taken with my cell phone, so not the greatest quality. The taco balls came with shredded cabbage and ketchup. Yes, ketchup. I tried a lil piece with the ketchup and it was not that great. I had some salsa left over from the complimentary chips and it tasted much better. There may have some chili pepper inside the balls, but I really couldn't tell. The cheese was just so darn delicious. Wonderful, fried cheese. Oh how I love thee.

After a lil searching online, I found the Sol Amigo website and menu. And of course, taco balls with a brief description was available. The translation program I have provides this mysterious nugget: The lovely rice ball where with the ろ け る cheese entered. I checked my Japanese dictionary for ろ け る (rokeru) but there was nothing listed. Any guesses?

5.30.2007

Every weekday morning I wake up around 5:50. Take a shower. Read the headlines online. Check my email. Then I venture out the door at 6:45 to make my way to work. I don't really like to eat at home, feels like I am taking away from my time to wake up (if that makes sense). So on my ride to work I sometimes stop here. The Mini Stop.


It's a very new building, built maybe three months ago. Surrounded by fields for growing cabbage and green onions and a Radisson. Going into the store, the florescent lights and J-pop music lures me to cold beverages. At such an early hour, the store is sometimes filled with sleepy eyed truck drivers, construction workers and salary men stocking up on cans of coffee, cigarettes and rice balls. I stick with my favorite: a ham and cheese bun. Something about this baked good just makes me happy. I couldn't tell you what type of cheese it is; cheese here is an enigma. When I go to the store to buy groceries, my usual choices are between: pizza cheese and toast cheese. Sometimes there is a blend, but not clearly telling me what types of cheese are involved. Probably a blend of pizza and toast I guess. Anyways, the bun is coated with flour. The sensation of the flour and the soft bread with ham and cheese is wonderful. Coating my shirt and face. Oh sweet ham and cheese bun. You win every time.

5.20.2007

So I have a bunch of pictures of gumball machines I need to post. These are from my time in Kumamoto. The machines posted here are very typical of machines throughout Japan today. This particular grouping of machines was in front of a new and used video game/DVD/ manga shop .


It's Ultraman! And the baddies from the beloved series. For ¥200, almost two dollars, the price seems a lil steep.


Thomas the Train? In Japanese it sounds more like Toe-masu. The toys in this machine are Thomas the Train....wait for it....mini gumball machines! Gumball machines that sell gumball machines. Who would have thunk it? Only in Japan I guess.


Go! Go! Frog Mobile! Frog Style Frog Mobile! Frog Style is a fairly popular brand of toys here in Japan. They make lots of lil charms for cell phones and bags. Apparently Frog Mobile is the vehicle series. With catch phrases like "I love surfing!", "I am No. 1!!" and "Where do you want to go?" you just can't go wrong.

I don't know who these characters are. I haven't seen them prior to this. It kinda looks like there are lil toilets. Maybe toilet charms? Yes, the Japanese love toilets and poop. Don't ask.

4.06.2007


Otaku in the wild. Que sexy!

4.04.2007

The Japanese love McDonald's. They just can't get enough of it. The shops are everywhere. In fact the mall by my house has two of them inside. Two! Nuts. A couple months back they introduced the Mega Mac. It's a Big Mac with twice the amount of meat patties. I remember seeing it advertised and thinking, "Wow, I bet that gives you horrible diarrhea." But before I could order one, they were gone. For a limited time only, and probably a good idea at that. There was a value meal that included: a Mega Mac, fries, soda, and chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets! What were they thinking? Well, it's back. And I had one.


They're back and for a limited time again, for a week at a time until the beginning of May. What I noticed missing this time was the lack of chicken nugget value menu. I guess they figured people were getting fat enough off of four meat pattied sandwiches. Here it is in all it's glory.


Oh, what a beast. And heavy too. Almost as big as a Smurf. The taste is awe inspiring. All the taste of a Big Mac but with more meat. They don't go overboard with more sauce or lettuce; the extra meat taste is strong but not so to just be all meaty. I just can't believe I ate the whole thing.


I have to say, I didn't get diarrhea. Quite the opposite indeed.

4.03.2007

So I got my new glasses the other day. I was really nervous about the whole thing. Worried that I would end up going cross-eyed or getting horrific migraines. The new glasses seem to be just fine. When I first put them on everything was crystal clear and super sharp. The only thing was trying to adjust to the new prescription. Akihabara was the worst place to do that. There were so many people there my poor lil eyes could not handle trying to focus on so much in such a short amount of time. Pure overload of stimuli. So I did get a headache and my eyes were so tired from all the people rushing around me. Two days later they seem just fine. I recommend the rapping optometrist. Don't be afraid of his rhymes he does good work! One thing I did see right after I got the glasses was Donald McDonald! Yeah they named him Donald because the "r" is too difficult to pronounce here. Sweet.

4.02.2007

Megane Super Rap

The wonders of the internet. Here is a clip of the optometrist who helped me out rapping in front of the store.

3.27.2007

Today was a first for me in Japan. I got new glasses. I found a place in Akihabara that had English speaking staff to assist me. After about a half hour I finally found some frames I liked that were reasonably priced and was directed to the eye exam. The guy performing the tests didn't speak English, so one of the staff translated for us. Fortunately I can read some of the Japanese characters, since the eye chart was not the Roman alphabet. But there were more tests. The first was a screen with two rectangles, one colored red and the other green. Within each rectangle were numbers of various sizes. While I looked through the lenses they would get sharper or blurry with each turn of the dial. Then there was the screen that featured a circle with several dots in the middle. Again the dials were turned and lenses flipped for me to decide which looks better. Ichiban. Niban. Ichiban. Niban. I always hate this part. Which is better, the first lens or the second one? Number one or number two. After awhile they just look the same or the difference is so minute I just can't tell. The third test was like the face of a clock with long line extending out from the center. I was to look at the lines and state which look thinner or thicker. This one was tough. I would say which numbers looked different and the guy would turn the dials and the lines became sharper and others would get thinner. This went on for awhile and then the other eye. I don't know how long I was there, we had to do the left eye twice because the suggested lens was just off.


Finally he got the right prescription and pulled out some sample glasses so I could test them out. I put them on and they were weak. The guy thought my present glasses were too strong so he weakened them for me. Lame. So after convincing them I want strong glasses he made some adjustments the lenses seemed right. Then it was time to pick out which lenses I wanted, just how thin did I want? After about 20 minutes I got the second thinnest and lightest for an extra twenty bucks. The grand total was about a hundred U.S. Not too shabby, but let's just hope the glasses don't make me cross eyed. One more thing. After walking around I passed the shop again as I headed toward the train station. The guy who checked my eyes was out front with a megaphone rapping. I imagine he was trying to get customers to come in but it left me a lil unsettled. Maybe that's the norm for Japan.

3.19.2007

I have my tubes back! After 5 months of tubeless life here, I can finally post again. So please be patient for there will be many pics of things and stuff soon. Here is something to wet your appetite.