Making Gyoza

A kind of Chinese dumpling, these snacks are popular throughout East Asia. Filled with a mixture of vegetables and meat or fish, the thin dough is 'crimped' together and then either fried (for a crispy oily taste) or boiled (for the health-conscious). They are easily bought in ramen restaurants, and go very well with beer. The biggest difference between the Chinese and Japanese version is that the latter typically uses a lot more garlic.

I'd never even considered making them. But it was quite fun.



The finished article:

This video was taken on Keiko's phone. Makes it look like one of those old Channel 4 educational programmes, or the old video footage of the crazed family found in the attic in a horror movie.

Prize

These are the stamps that I won from the postcard lottery:

I won't use them, because they're too beautiful. A nice memento.

Additionally, it appears that only about 1 in 100 wins anything (one student received 300 cards and only won 3 times) so, with only my one postcard, I was extremely lucky.

Blogs On More Scandals

Fujiya is one of the most famous confectionary brands in Japan; with cake shops all over the place, and their chocolate in most convenient stores. Peco-Chan, the company's mascot, is much loved by the Japanese.

A few weeks ago, it was found that they were using expired milk in some of their products. This caused major uproar and since then, they have not been producing any more stock. Some of my students are vehemently opposed to Fujiya making a comeback, but many aren't bothered as they don't think it's a big deal.

This is a Fujiya shop in Kamakura. Twinned with an ice-cream stall, that is the only reason it stays open. Rather a sorry sight, especially with poor Peco-Chan in the foreground.


In a funny - but I suppose perhaps logical - turn of events, the newspapers have since been filled with apologies from many businesses about the smallest of mistakes; to escape being caught up in a backlash.

As the TimesOnline reports:

In recent days Japanese newspapers have been filled with advertisements apologising for defective goods and pleading for them to be returned.

They range from potentially serious problems, such as glass in bottles of Gallo wine to the frankly footling: Earl Grey tea bags that lack an expiry date — and the case of the aged Starbucks cake. This last incident was set out in solemn detail in an advertisement in this week’s Yomiuri and Asahi newspapers. Two pieces of Viennese tart sold at the Kita Senju branch in northern Tokyo were determined to have been past their sell-by date. Three days later the hunt began for the unwitting customer.

“If you remember buying these products at around 5.25pm please contact us. We will explain the detail,” the advertisement begs. “If you still have not eaten the cake, please refrain from doing so and bring it to the store.”

The Yomiuri and Asahi between them sell more than 17 million copies a day. One advertisement alone cost at least £5,700.

Other alarms publicised in the past few days include fragments of plate in Unilever’s Rama margarine, bits of metal in an isotonic drink made by Coca-Cola, and weak buckles on in-line rollerblades.

“This is the quietest month of the year, but we’ve received more apology notices than ever,” said a member of the Yomiuri’s advertising team.

Danger, Danger, High Voltage

Although it still makes me a little worried when I feel tremors, they occur fairly often, so after a brief 'oooh' you quickly move on.

However, every few months, there is a more than minor earthquake. These are normally coupled with tsunami warnings. So far, they haven't amounted to very much, luckily.

All the TV channels flash a picture of the danger zones.



This is a sign on Enoshima (an island). A nice equation which means, "get the hell out of here":

Image Of The Week #25

(Enoshima, 2nd Feb 2007)

In A Jam

One of my colleagues had already spent a year in Japan. After returning home, she was still dreaming about it five years later so she came back.

She said that one of the hardest things was the change to constant Western food, and that she couldn't stomach it for weeks.

I've decided to slowly bring my diet closer back to how it was before.



Guess the flavours.

Bean There, Done That

Setsubun has come and gone, and it was fantastic. A little silly, a little bizarre but a whole lot of fun.

A lot of chanting and throwing beans took place; I didn't realise we also throw the beans inside.



We both pretended to be the 鬼; the sounds you hear are the beans hitting the mask.

And then we ate our age worth in beans, mine cultiminating at 二十二歳 (ni ju ni sai - 22 years old).



Some of my older students ate their age; some at 60 or 70! That's a whole lotta beans.

For dinner, we ate "ehoumaki", a wider and longer than normal roll of sushi. Very delicious.

So, did anyone try it?

I've Come Un-Schtumm

I decided never to share the blog with anyone in Japan, for hopefully obvious reasons.

However, it became time to let Keiko in on the website; officially the second person living in Japan to be a part of the readership. I was a bit apprehensive telling her, but as I've been publishing photos and stories about her online it only seemed fair to ask her for permission.

She was amazed how in-depth and nicely presented it is; although she's corrected quite a few Japanese mistakes already. It'll be good to have an editor in that sense. Plus, with all the travelling we've done together, it's nice for her to have a memento. She even said that many tourists and even Tokyoites would buy the book if it was published.

Actually, as I was showing her around the blog - she has a LOT to catch up on! - and there were so many entries I'd forgotten about. It was at that moment where I knew all the time and effort doing this was worth it.

...It's Setsubun!

Before I arrived in Japan, I tried to learn a little bit of the language and the culture. Of course, this proved near impossible; which is why I whole-heartedly suggest to every single student to do a homestay. However, I learnt a few things, one of which I've been excited about for the past 11 months.

節分 (Setsubun) is the bridge between Winter and Spring, on the 3rd February. It's believed that this is the time to clean away the evil from the previous year. However, due to this 'gap' - the name literally meaning 'season division' - 鬼 (monsters - oni) are able to escape and find their way into our world. The most famous is 赤鬼 (red monster - aka oni) although his friend, the more elusive 青鬼 (blue monster - ao oni) isn't far behind.

A bit like Christmas, Dads across Japan dress up as these monsters, to scare children.

Where do the beans - that I'm sure you have all prepared - come into play? A special ritual is carried out on the 3rd, called 豆まき (mamemaki) which translates as 'bean scattering'. The beans are either thrown outside the house, or at the member of the family dressed up as the 鬼. I have my mask ready. During the scattering, you chant:

鬼は外。福は内。
(oni wa soto. fuku wa uchi).
Or if you're a little Japanese illiterate, "monsters out, luck in".


After throwing the bad deeds out, you need to bring the good luck in, by eating the same amount of beans as your age. A small dinner for some, a few more beans for other readers out there.

Please try it. Throw some beans, say some Japanese, and then eat a few. The best photo or write-up of your experience will win a prize. I'll stick some of my own up after tomorrow night.

Spring Has Sprung

The grass has ris,
I wonder where the birdies is.


The first sign of Spring, in Koishigawa Kourakuen park (Tokyo) yesterday.

立春 (risshun) means the changing of the season, especially important for the change from Winter to Spring. Which is perfect timing considering...

I Feel All Naked - Updated

Maybe this is a good opportunity for a new banner picture. Should the sunrise stay, or is there something else you've seen on here that is a good symbol of my time in Japan?

Every silver lining and all that...

Upadate:

The onsen may have released some of my inihibitions, but for the moment I've covered up again with the sunrise image. It took 4 hours to fix but I think I now understand the new system, so I can easily change the picture if and when.

Technical Difficulties - Updated

stupid blog

Update:

This week, I was forced to update to the new blogger system. Like all system updates, it was promised to have even more amazing new features, shiny new buttons, and happy rabbits skipping with lions under rainbows.

Instead, the blog went topsy-turvy, I lost my picture (which I haven't been able to re-format yet), and the Tsukiji entry was destroyed. I've managed to put most of it back, but the layout isn't perfect yet. So please put up with it for a little while longer.

This coupled with that stupid iTunes update that crazied the video watching ability on iPhil, now you know why I hate updating MSN for the sake of it.

Tsukiji

Gotanda Station. The Yamanote (Circle) Line was empty. A sight I’ve never seen before. The reason?

It was 4:30 am, and I was on my way to Tsukiji; the world’s largest fish market. Pretty tired but excited about what lay ahead, I knew that it could either be a great experience or a complete wash-out.

I was warned by many websites that for the last two years the main attraction, being the tuna auction, has been closed to the public. It’s important to keep in mind whilst reading that the word ‘attraction’ is almost the antithesis to what it should really be. Tsukiji is not an official tourist spot; people are trying to do their jobs whilst onlookers are using flash photography, getting in the way and generally distracting the process.

We walked out of Tsukiji station in the pitch black and relied on the sense of busy-ness and noise to guide us to the right place. Turning a few corners, we were confronted by hundreds of lorries and crates. Between them were fishermen racing around on small trucks, operated by huge turn-wheels. They were hurtling about at such a speed, and didn’t look willing to slow down for anyone. I wasn’t prepared to find out.


Behind the freight area was the wholesale market; lines and lines of stalls and boxes. People laying all kinds of fish out, in bulk packages. This was all covered and narrow, so it was pretty dark and claustrophobic. I was expecting an overwhelming smell but there was none so I guess it’s true that fresh fish is odourless. However, there was a lot of bloody ice around.


At the far end of the market was a big room; the size of an inside sports court. To me, it initially appeared hectic, chaotic, frenetic but on second glance, it all fit into place. Men were shouting numbers, while others were checking out the humungous tuna on display, while others were ringing bells, others were carrying tuna on the rather scary looking scythes they all carried*, and others were painting marks or sticking receipts onto the already sold fish. You can see the use of their tools when moving the fish.




The fish were selling for millions each – about £15,000 on average – but it depended where they were from. For example, tuna from the sea around Japan was the most expensive, but even those from as far as Mexico and Italy were going for not much less. Here are some workers struggling to move a ridiculously huge – and crowd favourite – tuna.



There weren’t many tourists, maybe about 20, but it was almost impossible to ‘close’ the auction to us, as it was just another area of the market. Everyone was pretty respectful and stayed back, although we took a few pictures to put the tuna size into perspective.



After watching the せり (seri, auction) I was feeling so awake and pumped full of adrenaline. However, I’m not sure I could wake up at 2am everyday to trade in fish; after all, we only arrived at 5:30 am when the auction took place. A lot of arrivals and set-up occurred much earlier than that.


We walked around the market looking at the weird and wonderful, and normal, fish. Some I still have no idea about.





The tuna that had just been bought was in its next stage; the cutting down to size.


You call that a knife; this is a knife! (You can see the trucks in the background)

They even had whale for sale:

The sun finally started coming up, and everything looked a lot less intimidating. Almost as if they were allergic to the sun, the bustling calmed down around the same time, and the place seemed a lot calmer.

We went to the beginning of the market, to try breakfast at one of the famous sushi restaurants. Although they are crazy expensive, it could be a once in a lifetime experience and worth it, although the (violently-)niggling gut reaction of “It’s 7:30 am, you can’t eat toast let alone raw fish!” was being held down. That and the long queues - sometimes up to a few hours - for each restaurant.

Not having to wait too long, we chose Sushi Daiwa (寿司大和 – sushi big taste) as it’s the most famous. Breakfast was amazing – for £15 each we had 7 pieces of sushi, 6 rolled in seaweed pieces, miso soup and green tea. I was also offered beer, which I laughed at the prospect of. Until I noticed nearly every other customer drinking!

The place was tiny, and each guest(s) were looked after by a chef. We sat halfway down the counter. I’d never seen this style of sushi preparation before. The chef would clump a handful of rice together, put some fish and wasabi (horseradish-strength) on top and place it in front of you straight onto the counter. A very basic eating style complimented by highly regarded cuisine. The ultra-fresh tuna was outstanding but the other stuff was a bit too much for me to stomach, so Keiko ate quite a bit of my stuff – I did try everything though including, for the first time, sea urchin. Very sweet, but sticky. I couldn’t take photos, but managed this sneaky one, although someone got a decent clip on YouTube.


Afterwards, the sun was beating down, and we walked around the outer market, which had more fish, but also a flower as well as vegetable section. On the other side was Tsukiji Temple. It looked so out of place in Tokyo, being better suited to Paris or Rome.





It was in fact a Buddhist refuge, prayer hall and mausoleum, but famous for its large auditorium where many people come to (and it was evident) sleep. Luckily, we arrived at 7am, right when the morning service was taking place. I felt so lucky to stumble upon this new and desired sight; another Lost In Translation moment. It was very interesting, but again did nothing for me spiritually. We went downstairs to see the ‘places of interest’ but it looked like something out of a horror movie so we were soon on our way.

We took the train from Shimbashi – the area I previously described as future world – and arrived back in Gotanda about 8:30am. It was surreal because we arrived at the peak of rush hour, albeit we had been up for a good four hours already.

The rest of the day involved sleeping, eating lunch and watching The 40 Year Old Virgin (pretty good, but turn it off 5 minutes before the end), more sleeping, a bit more sleeping, the gym and then more sleeping.

Just as an afterthought I want to add that there are hygiene inspectors constantly scouring the area, and the whole place is deserted by 1pm every day, when it is sanitised.

An unbelievable experience!

*a good deterrent to stay back