Nani ga ue?

It’s been another weekend of adventures for me thanks mostly to the reappearance of the good weather. Admittedly most of the week was fairly dull, stuck in an office writing reports, hurray. To make up for that I’ve had some exciting culinary adventures instead. Now that I’ve managed to get my kitchen fully decked out with the crockery and utensils I need I’ve been delving into the world of Nihongo no ryori (Japanese cooking). It’s nice to try out new styles, plus the ingredients are pretty easy to get a hold of.

First dish up was toridon. This is an abbreviation of tori-niku donburi (鶏肉丼) This is a rice bowl dish (the donburi) where chicken is stir-fried with veg and served over hot rice with a raw egg, the heat from the rice cooks the egg. My own attempt came off all right I think. Next was stir fried tako (octopus). This was an experience. Octopus is a little trickier to cook than expected, you first have to simmer it to soften the meat, then strip the weird film from the flesh. Well worth the effort though. Finally I tried out my steamer to cook a bit of fresh salmon, with a couple of siumai and some veggies simmered in miso. I’m quite happy with the way the last dish turned out.

Snack wise not bought so much. I tried out some okonomi-karindou, basically loads of different types and shapes of karindou, it all tastes the same though. Also a new word in my vocabulary is Shuga (ginger). I’m a huge fan of the stuff, always have been so I’ve been giving some ginger flavor stuff, including some crystallized ginger, a try. Very pokey but very tasty. Last of the snacks were some doubutsu (animal) cookies. These looked and tasted great. Sadly I once again had a katakana fail. I couldn’t see the milk kanji (乳)so I figured they were safe. Sadly one of the ingredients was shortening and my stomach has been tender since. Damn you Japan and your ambiguous food labels.

Right so enough about food and on to more about my travels. Last Wednesday I attended a Japanese language exchange at the Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CAST) near where I live. This was organized by a group of retired members of the local community interested in meeting foreigners and sharing insights into Japanese language and culture with them. It was a lot of fun, a great way to practice in a friendly environment. I got chatting with a lovely Josei (lady) named Naomi-san.

When asked what I’d like to learn I told her I was very interested in Kanji. Every one seems to look at me as though I’m mental when I tell them this but I just can’t stand not being able to read anything, in particular bills and other letters. So she started me off with a few sample sentences and recommended I pick up some kids books for next time.

Now living up in the back end of beyond does have some distinct disadvantages, namely the street lighting is terrible. It gets really dark around here at night. I do have a decent light on my bike but it’s still apparently not enough. On my way home I smacked into a rather ridiculous 1-foot wall that protrudes into the pavement, I think it’s set up to kill cyclists. I was fine, thankfully many years of skateboarding and ultimate have taught me how to fall.

Sadly the bike did not get off that lightly. I popped the front tire, which wasn’t too hard to fix but I’d also done something to the front fork, which was now loose. I couldn’t get it checked till the weekend so I made an improvised a quick fix with some string and cellotape, thank-you Reuben for the inspiration. I was gutted obviously but more so because this bike had been given to me in good faith by Masunaga-san.

Determined to get it fixed I learnt some basic phrases, namely “kore wa kowarete iru.” (this is broken), “naosemasu ka?” (can you fix it?) and “Asobi” which is to have play or give. Armed with these key phrases I went to he local garage. The guys there were awesome. After playing around with the front fork a bit, removing the compression ring and fiddling with the bearings, they decided the best bet would be to bash the top head tube with a hammer to move it down slightly. This seems to have done the trick, a stroke of luck since I’d feared the front steering tube, a rather expensive part, was bent and would need replacing.

Relieved at the fix, I’m gonna have to buy those guys some beer at some point, I headed down to Aioi for some shopping. I’ve been severely lacking Internet access at home for too long and today I was going to sort that. I got to the KDDI shop at around 11:30 and it took two hours to process. I have no idea why. I had already filled out the paperwork and paid for the thing. Japanese just love admin I feel, everything here takes twice as long for some reason, I’ve yet to encounter that much praised Japanese efficiency.

Ok moaning aside I at least had one of my goals sorted. Next I needed to look for some kids books to use as reading material. The only place I’d seen for books in Aioi was the local co-op department store. They had a few but they were so expensive it didn’t seem worthwhile. By this time the ol’ tummy was a rumbling. Normally I'd grab some scran from a conbini but I was getting a little fed up of that. I was in Japan damn it, time to eat at some proper restaurants. Admittedly Aioi is very small, I’ve compared it to Birkenhead before and the similarities still stand, minus the pollution and smack heads.

What I mean is that quite a lot of shops and resteraunts are closed down on the main high street. Instead I took to the back streets and as luck would have it I came across a tiny little okonomiyaki place. It had maybe three teppans (large flat griddles) ad enough seating for about six people. It was by a very excitable old lady, how do I keep finding these places, and she had maybe 2 other customers.

So initial questions out the way, “Dochira kara kimashitaka?” (Where did you come from), “Sensei desu ka?” (are you a teacher), I could finally order. This okonomiyaki was ‘Hiroshima style’ (Hiroshima-yaki) apparently. Ingredients, in this case cabbage, beansprout and yakisoba, are pile between layers of batter and finally flipped onto a fried egg. It took a bit longer than Osaka style but it tasted amazing. The whole experience was a good laugh, the other customers seemed to be regulars and they were gabbing like the old ladies meeting they were.

So full up I paid and moved on, I’ll definitely be going back though to try out some other toppings. I carried on wandering the back streets and low and behold I came across a second hand bookstore. Yatta. It was full to the brim with light novels, normal books, ehon (picture books) and manga (comics). I was sorely tempted by the complete series of Ushio and Tora for 5000 yen. Might not sound like a bargain but when you consider that's about 40 odd 300-page comics I think you’d agree it was a great deal.

Sadly at the moment these manga are a little outside my reading ability, but it was easy to get lost in there. This place was ippai (full) of reading material, there was barely room to walk.  Japanese books are just so much more aesthetically pleasing than those in the west. Occasionally at home you will get a book with a nice cover but here it’s standard. There were many books dedicated to Doraemon, whom I belive has been designated an 'anime ambassador'. I though these books would be a good place to start but they were still a bit complex. In the end I settled for a book about Tanuki (raccoon dogs) and one about Sun goku (the Japanese name for sun wukong the monkey king). Due to the title of this blog that second purchase was almost guaranteed.

The day was drawing on and there were still a few more items on my checklist. Sometimes it’s nice to break from your standard path, it makes a mediocre shopping trip into a major exploration. One thing I noticed is that this side of Aioi was considerably rockier. I think project climb Aioi needs to happen at some point. Maybe when I’ve gotten myself a partner who lives nearby. Also I came across this big collection of crockery down a side street. Why was it there? Who was it for? What was its purpose? I have no idea but it was fun to contemplate ridiculous reasons.

My next big shock came when I reached the port. I saw two guys skateboarding, something I haven’t noticed anywhere in Japan. As I got closer I noticed they were adults not kids. Getting even closer, and to my surprise they both appeared to be over 50. Uso (no way).

I sat down and watched for a little bit and one of them came over to me and asked if I knew how to skate. “Hisashiburi da na.” (It’s been a while) I told him but gave it a go. His trucks were a tad loose but I could still ollie even after about 7 years. Mad I know. I had a proper chat with the guy. His English was amazing.

It turned out he had lived and worked in the emirates, Dubai, and had met a lot of English people. He was a lot of fun and we had a good chat about loads of things, the current situations of our respective countries, travelling, politics and how rubbish politicians are. He also taught me a new word “mondai” which means problems. That one will come in handy. I said my goodbyes and headed out to the shopping outlet to pick up the last few items on my list, breakfast stuff and a new spoon. After that it was time to head home, I’d killed eight hours somehow.

Sunday started bright and early, emphasis on the early. Last week I’d planned on going hiking with Arnaud and some of his friends but it had been rained off. The spurt of good weather had lead to the trip being rescheduled for Sunday, hooray. The downside was to get to the station on time I’d have to get the 6:50 bus, gotta love living in the sticks.

I met up with Sam at the bus stop and he looked as thrilled as me at the early start. We set off for Aioi station to meet Arnaud. Upon arrival we were introduced to Michael (pronounced Mik-hail) a PhD student here for one year from the Ukraine. He was also working at Spring8 and had been here 7 months already. After a few initial hiccups with him thinking I was French we got on pretty well. He was unusually using the visit to Japan to practice his English, which I was amazed to hear he had only been studying for 3 years.

We boarded the train and set off for Ashiyagawa station where we would be meeting the rest of the hiking group. As it got closer to 10 o’clock the weather was just getting better, it looked to be a good day to go up some mountains. The rest of group were predominantly made up of JET’s (Japanese exchange Teachers) and their former students. It’s nice to have meet ups like this I guess to take a break from speaking Japanese all the time.

The group was pretty diverse in fact, the organizer was a lady named Kelly, later nicknamed K-dog by myself and some of the other guys, who was from California. Also from California was a guy named Ryan. There were a pair from Austin, a guy named Len who proved the point that someone always has a bigger camera, and a girl whose name I’ve completely forgotten. Next up a guy from New Zealand called Gerard and Lewis an Aussie whom I’m guessing was part aborigine, these guys understood sarcasm thank god.

There were of course a few locals also. Yuka who worked in Himeji and was a close friend of Gerard’s, Next Anna whose English was incredible, I found out later she studied in the states for 4 years which explained a lot. A guy named Tomomitsu who was a friend of Arnaud’s and lastly Takehiro a former student of Kelly’s and the group’s youngest member.

A lovely diverse bunch as I said and great craic the lot of them. So we were all assembled by about 10:30am we set off for the hike. I was informed that the region we were passing through them was one of the most expensive n the prefecture. I can totally believe that it was “ded posh”. Well I think you just need to let the pictures I’ve taken speak for themselves really.

At first I was storming ahead with Sam and Arnaud but felt it would be a good idea to have a chat with some of the others. I had a really good time talking to Ryan actually. He was pretty laid back and had a similar sense of humor to myself. He and Kelly were very close to my age and it was nice to finally talk to people about something other than work. Kelly it turned out was full vegetarian and so sympathized with my food plight, if you have a picky diet Japan will not accommodate you haha.

Anyway there were a large number of school Kids about on the way up to rokku garden which concerned me slightly. When I say school kids I’m talking like 6 to 8 years old. This was a hike right? I guess it was more about the company than how challenging it would be anyway. At the start of the trail was a gateway with a shop and a few restaurants, I half expected a turnstile. I’d heard this trail was popular and I guess Snowden has a railway track so I shouldn’t complain.

The heat was picking up as we set off but fortunately the tree cover was pretty thick, keeping us fairly cool. I was amazed to see Lewis had grabbed himself a a beer from the shop, lets not go down the stereotyping route. We had a nice chat with Gerard as we scrambled over some rocks about rugby and it’s vast superiority to football. I also shared an interesting tidbit I’d learned a few weeks ago. It turns out the term soccer actually comes from English public school boys, you know the kind that use the term ‘ruggers’ tales of interest.

The trip to the top was fairly straightforward, in fact there were even ladders at one point. Of course my inner monkey meant I couldn’t resist going off the beaten track every now and then. There was just too much bare rock about and I am a crag slag after all. I did scramble up a nice rock face near the top and was rewarded with a truly amazing view. Len also followed me up. He said he couldn’t resist climbing things as well.

The problem with going up is you have to come down and there weren’t many obvious ways to do so. I managed to skirt around the rock face and found a path down. I unfortunately hadn’t considered Len. He followed me but well he’s a lot bigger than me and must have slipped and hurt is hadn’t. He was aright but I felt pretty guilty sometimes I do need to be a little less reckless I think.

Either way we all made it to the top for some phenomenal views of Kobe and Osaka, and just in time for lunch to. The disadvantage of the easiness of the route was that the summit was jammed. there were very few places to sit and enjoy lunch. Eventually we managed to find a spot on some rocks that would accommodate us all. During our lunch we spotted a “yama neku” (mountain cat), though it was more likely a very lost moggy. Also at some point someone’s bag was nicked by a “inoshishi” (wild boar). I had to giggle at that it was just not a sentence I’d expected to hear.

All fed we decided what to do next. Some of the group wanted to carry on to Arma onsen. Whilst I was well up for some hot spring action it was already 1 o’clock and the hot springs where another 2 hour hike away. Maybe another time. Instead we started to make our wa back down. The ascent was much more straightforward and culminated in a shrine and another nice panoramic viewing area.

All in all it was a fun outing and I’m glad Arnaud invited me out. It was nice to meet more new people and also good to interact with some none Japanese or Koreans. I know I should embrace the culture but until my language skills come along the majority of conversations will only last about 5 words before one person doesn’t understand something. Plus it was nice to not have to talk slowly for a change, that does get a bit annoying.

On the way down myself K-dog and Ryan were having a natter about the annoyance caused by Japanese paper work, oh don’t get me started, when someone noticed a rather peculiarly named drink. Say hello to white water for men. Japan is filled with a wide range of inappropriately named products. I hope to find more and report them back. This one is definitely top of the list right now, especially as one of the ingredients appeared to be sex milk, according to the kanji. Sadly it was sold out, most likely because other tourists had found it hilarious and bought some.

At about 2:30pm we reached the hankyu station and it was time to say our goodbyes. I’d had a lot of fun, I’ll definitely need to keep in touch with these guys. It was nice to talk about stupid things, quote family guy and not worry about the hundreds of hours of beamtime I had coming up.

So by my reckoning the station we were actually not too far from nakatsu station. Arnaud had told me earlier he’d be interested in playing a bit of Frisbee, Sam was also in and we also brought Tomomitsu and Yuka along for the ride. It was only about 5 stops away and Japanese trains are incredible so we’d be there in no time. I text ahead to Yuko to check there would be people about, though I wasn’t too worried the weather was pretty good.

As we got closer to the field the wind picked up slightly. Nothing by UK standards, some of the conditions I’ve played in are truly horrendous, but Arnaud voiced his concern. I said it would be fine. It was at this point I got a call from Yuko, apparently over 30 people had showed up today. Amazing. I was really excited and couldn’t get to the field fast enough.

There were two pitches set up and loads of people I didn’t know. Graham and Dennis had actually showed up today which was cool. I’m hopefully going to a tournament with them later on so it was nice to finally play with them. As people started to get more tired we opened up the game to a full pitch and the fun really started. It was nice to get the ol legs pumping and play some real ultimate, even managed to get a layout score in.

Sam and Arnaud also really enjoyed themselves and said they were definitely interested in getting something started closer to home. Definitely good news for me. Whilst the Osaka guys are nice its just so much travelling, plus we needed to leave at 5 to get the last bus home. Still I hope they’ve been bitten by the Frisbee bug, just need to work out a way to spread the word.

All in all it’s been a great weekend. Met plenty of new people and I’ve gotten to know Sam and Arnaud much better. They really are wicked guys and we’re all in very similar situations. I shared my IPod with them since Arnaud asked what kind of music I was into. I was very impressed that Sam knew quite a few of the bands on there, and also claimed to have all of Rhianna’s albums. Absolute legend. On the way back to the train we also saw this killer bike, it had like six fenders, mental, and definitely needed to be photographed.

Dewa mata ne mina-san