Friday, September 22, 2006
Japanese Product Roundup
So I'm betting that quite a few of you are wondering what awesome crazy new electronic gadgets are on the Japanese markets these days and why I haven't shared my thoughts on them with you.. Well keep wondering, I'm not talking about those products today. What I am talking about is snacks. Super-awesome face-filling morsels of goodness (I may have actually seen that slogan on a pack of something somewhere, so don't laugh, or rather, please do..).
Our first contender is something that on first glance sounds both extremely disturbing and oddly intriguing at the same time..
Mitsuya cider's new flavour... with condensed milk?!? It may or may not be visible on your screen but the red text reads, "Cider Meets Condensed Milk", which is really weird considering this is a carbonated drink. I first noticed this on something like my second day in Japan, and I've had it once or twice since then. Unfortunately, it doesn't really taste much like condensed milk. For that matter, it doesn't taste much like cider. Maybe they both got confused enroute to the rendezvous point and two entirely different flavours decided to meet up: bubbles and sugar perhaps.
Continuing on the theme of condensed milk, there's a couple of really tasty ice cream bars that I've been frequently making a pig of myself on. The first is this chocholatey goodness bar (not the actual name) which as the picture shows is filled with condensed milk. The second, for which I don't have a pic, is like shaved ice on a stick. Picture a bar of strawberry flavoured shaved ice, surrounded by a layer of hardened condensed milk. But just when you think that's all there is, when you get to the middle, there's the same soft condensed milk as the chocholatey bar. Aaahh.. goodness.
And not to be out done, just when you thought that things couldn't get any more interesting, let me present to you.. chicken wing flavoured chips. Well more like a "Cheeto-esque" kinda thing, but it comes in a bag and is supposed to taste like chicken wings.. 'nuff said. When I saw these in the convenience store there was absolutely no question... I had to buy them.. They taste surprisingly ok, and even slightly like actual chicken wings (the dry kind with just seasonings and no sauce), so I was much impressed. The package says that it's apparently good with beer.
Our first contender is something that on first glance sounds both extremely disturbing and oddly intriguing at the same time..
Mitsuya cider's new flavour... with condensed milk?!? It may or may not be visible on your screen but the red text reads, "Cider Meets Condensed Milk", which is really weird considering this is a carbonated drink. I first noticed this on something like my second day in Japan, and I've had it once or twice since then. Unfortunately, it doesn't really taste much like condensed milk. For that matter, it doesn't taste much like cider. Maybe they both got confused enroute to the rendezvous point and two entirely different flavours decided to meet up: bubbles and sugar perhaps. 
Continuing on the theme of condensed milk, there's a couple of really tasty ice cream bars that I've been frequently making a pig of myself on. The first is this chocholatey goodness bar (not the actual name) which as the picture shows is filled with condensed milk. The second, for which I don't have a pic, is like shaved ice on a stick. Picture a bar of strawberry flavoured shaved ice, surrounded by a layer of hardened condensed milk. But just when you think that's all there is, when you get to the middle, there's the same soft condensed milk as the chocholatey bar. Aaahh.. goodness.
And not to be out done, just when you thought that things couldn't get any more interesting, let me present to you.. chicken wing flavoured chips. Well more like a "Cheeto-esque" kinda thing, but it comes in a bag and is supposed to taste like chicken wings.. 'nuff said. When I saw these in the convenience store there was absolutely no question... I had to buy them.. They taste surprisingly ok, and even slightly like actual chicken wings (the dry kind with just seasonings and no sauce), so I was much impressed. The package says that it's apparently good with beer.
... to the East Side (so to speak)
Well, after much deliberation, calculation and counting of yen, I finally made the plunge and moved to a larger apartment. It's nice.. It's very nice. I've got a balcony I can actually stand in, a closet I can actually put stuff in, a washing machine and internet included. Only downside is that is an extra 5 minutes away from school, which brings my one way travel time to about 30 mins by bike every morning; good exercise though. Here's a few pics to compare and contrast..
First, my old place..
This is the room in general.. it has a very efficient rectangular shape, which means that once you put a bed in it, there's no room for anything else. The door on the left leads to the bathroom.
And my balcony, which was pretty convenient for hanging my laundry to dry, but I couldn't use it for anything else. The shot you see is of where a hornet's nest used to be. One of my first tasks when I moved in was to kill all the hornets and get rid of the nest.. charming, no?
My fridge and microwave do take up some space in the main room, but its very worth it. You can see here the doorway into the kitchen/bathroom/vestibule area
and lastly my kitchen with actual shelves to put my pots and ingredients in, and a real stove (no hot plate that looks like it came from a grade 10 science class)
First, my old place..
This is the room in general.. it has a very efficient rectangular shape, which means that once you put a bed in it, there's no room for anything else. The door on the left leads to the bathroom.
This is the "kitchen", which is in fact right next to the bed. The black box in the bottom is my fridge/freezer. The freezer was just large enough to hold one small ice cube tray.
The closet here is about 2 feet wide, so I was glad that there was extra storage under the bed. Still not the same as a nice big closet though.
And my balcony, which was pretty convenient for hanging my laundry to dry, but I couldn't use it for anything else. The shot you see is of where a hornet's nest used to be. One of my first tasks when I moved in was to kill all the hornets and get rid of the nest.. charming, no?And now for my new place. Let me start by stating that my new place has two separate areas, and I'm exceptionally glad for that. The kitchen/bathroom area is separated with the main living area with a door.
The main living area has space for a bed (which I'm not using right now, because it's hard as a rock), as well as a small table and some walking around room..
My fridge and microwave do take up some space in the main room, but its very worth it. You can see here the doorway into the kitchen/bathroom/vestibule area
and lastly my kitchen with actual shelves to put my pots and ingredients in, and a real stove (no hot plate that looks like it came from a grade 10 science class)And that pretty much sums up my move. George and Wheezy would be proud I think.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
If you only go to one castle..
After many weeks of procrastinating, I finally made the hour train ride from Osaka over to the city of Himeji. Himeji is home to the only castle in this part of Japan that has never been bombed, burned, or blown-up, although it has been besieged several times. So of all the castles that you'd (or I'd) be likely to see, its the one that is most like the way it was back when it was actually used, back in the 1300-1500's. So rather than a museum inside the shell of a castle like Osaka castle is, its a real castle keep with only one floor dedicated to museum-esqe stuff and the rest is pure, old-style castle.
Like the title of the post says, if you only go to one castle in Japan, go to Himeji. Not only are the castle keep and bailey intact, but the city itself was built up from the old castle town, so it has a similar general shape as it did back in the day. On the left is the view from the top floor of the castle looking out towards the main train station of Himeji.
The right is what the inside of one of the hallways in the western bailey looks like. They're not all this nice and bright, but this one had the windows open and the wood was relatively new, so it had a nice golden colour as opposed to the standard "old building brown" that is common in so many temples and such in Japan. 
Finally one last image of the castle from the outside. And a link to more pics here
