Mari - diary

the ugly building in Tokyo

I 've introduce very a thin building and this usuless building called Thomason in Tokyo. Then today I will introduce one, which I think is the most ugly building in Tokyo.
Here it is, this building is the Hinomaru car driving school. This place is very close to my work, and every morning I have to see it from Yamanote line. Hinomaru means our national flag, but then why is the building is black?. For me it looks like Umaboshi or a blotch. Look from the side, another side, so shiney and Google earth. Whererever you look, it is just ugly. I think people living in the area would claim differently. But to me it seems a blot on the cityscape. The funny part is sometimes this round blotch is used for advertising. Look, this is the promotion of the movie, hmm this seemes much beeter than red blotch for me.

Eat GOLD. "pika pika" food

Have you ever eaten gold? It sounds strange if I ask such a question, however, a little bit of gold in a snack or in sake is not uncommon in Japan. In this entry, I would like to introduce edible gold."Pika Pika" is an expression for the brightness of gold. Pikachu's name came from this.

Gold raises the body's metabolism by promoting smooth blood circulation. Gold also prevents inflammation and even today it is used to treat tuberculosis or rheumatism. In the past, Chinese consumed gold for as an elixir of life (anti-aging agent) and in Europe, gold was taken as a special cure for spleen infections. So now you know, not only is it possible to eat gold, but gold also has medical purposes.
Olympic medalists don't have to pretend to just bite their medals, they can actually eat them. In addition, gold is not only found in food these days, but gold flakes are also an additive in high quality skin cream in China.

Kanazawa city in Ishikawa, Japan is famous for its lively activities in arts, crafts, and traditional culture. gold deposits and therefore gold leaf is an additive in many regional cuisines. The origin of Kanazawa's name came from the legend of Togoro. As the story goes, long ago, a potato digger named Togoro rinsed his potatoes in the river. One day while on his harvest, he spotted gold on his potatoes. He had struck it rich! This is the origin of the name Kanazawa. 金(gold) with 沢(swamp) is read as Kana-zawa. For your information, my last name is Kanazawa, which is a name common to goldsmiths. There are many Gold products maker in Kanazawa. I feel happy when I look at their shiny golden pages. An edible gold leaf will comes in the dimensions of 10cm X 10cm and will set you back \157 (4" X 4", US$1.48). It's more expensive than a bagel , yet it won't satisfy your appetite. In other words, I will never be able to enter a word of such luxury...

The standard method of eating gold is just as decorations on any kind of food with gold leaf. That is golden food. Gold leaves are available as furikake, which is seasoned sprinkles for rice, or in sheet form, in spray form and even in the shape of letters. Even if gold is edible, I think if you over do it and add too much, it won't taste Good at all.

[Gold level 1]
Sake & wine: Alcohol with gold in it can be found at big supermarket, even the one next to the station near my place.
Cakes, pudding, candy, Monaka(Japanese sweets), gold soba (buckwheat noodle): I think gold soba looks bad. Even if it's gold, sprinkle modestly.

[Gold level 2]
Golden coffee: the picture is very appealing me...!
Sushi: Hmm Sushi made with gold. Looks more gougeous?
Party dishes: All dishes are full of gold.

[Gold level 3]
Rice crackers: Golden heart shape. Why did they bother making golden heart rice crackers?
Golden ham: It looks like it's wrapped with aluminum foil. A little too much for me.
Golden omlet with rice: I saw a program on TV about a golden omlet withrice, which inspired me to while this article. Everything was wrapped up with a golden sheet. Compare it to a normal one.!!

Great commercial film of UK

It is Sunday, then I want to be lazy for today's post. Soooo just let me pick an interesting TV commercial of the world from my favorites folder. The first one is New Citroen from UK. CG? It's is a great job. And this Honda film is quite a contrast to that High technology- so analog, I mean. However this is an amazingly good job too. And I like this famous one, a duet of Bush and Blair.

A Japanese bag maker and cool design work by GAS

Generally speaking, the Japanese love brand name so it's been said. Louis Vuitton opened its biggest store in the world in Tokyo. And it was they said made a 125 million yen in profit on the first day of business. Where is the reccesion? Crazy. Actually many Japanese ladies have French or Italian brand bags as if it is part of their uniform.

But for the young men's casual bag market, one Japanese bag maker is very popular here. It is Yoshida Kaban.　Yoshida Kaban is an old maker of quality handbags , which wa established by Mr. Yoshida in 1931. Kaban means just "a bag" in Japanese. Their main brand is Porter, which has good design and superb functionality. Then Yoshida Kaban seems to have started their new brand "YOSHIDA" for the worldwide market.  This ipod cases are some of the new products resulting from collaboration between Yoshida Kaban and GAS. They were previously sold in through colette in Paris only they say, but they will start to sell in Japan soon. The case design is by Yoshida and the cover designs are art works of various designers aroun the world, which are selected by GAS .

I like this collaboration!  GAS is one of my favorite design work sites to see in fact I like them about the same as I like shift. Unfortunately I could not go, but my friend said, this SOUND x VISION2 event was interesting. Their pressing issue is always so very cool. And sometimes I use this GAS BOOK part as my screen image of my cell. Please check it out!

Japan football supporter song is an old disco music tune.

Genghis Khan. Of course it is the name of a guy in the history of Mongol China. Then it might remind you of this mongolian BBQ? I hardly eat lamb or mutton, actually I cannot remember when I ate it last. I can tell you it is not a popular food in Tokyo. However I heard recently some Genghis Khan restaurants have opened in Tokyo. Hmm actually I heard lamb is a healthy meat, and Japanese love healthy stuff?!  What I did not suppose we could eat Genghis Khan fair in such a fashionable place.

Anyway when I hear Genghis Khan, I am reminded of this old disco music(ram). It was a hit song from Germany group (The group name is Genghis Khan too, confusing). By the way Japan's national football team will participate in the World Cup Qualifying next month (first game is "vs, NORTH Korea"). And tomorrow National team will have a prelim match with Kazakhstan. At the game, the biggest supporters team "Ultra Nippon" (Japan is "Nippon" in Japanese). will sing this Genghis Khan.  Why? because they picked this song as their supporter song for the next 2006 world cup in Germany. I think this is a good choice, since the song came from Germany, the melody is easy and it has a special kind of enthusiasm. They changed the lyrics to "everybody let's go Germany!! Gen Gen Genshis Khan!!" like this. I am acquainted with a producer of this supporters song in business, since tomorrow our site will start a song DL service on our mobile site. I hope many fans download it from our site, but most of all I hope Japan can go to the World Cup! Yes I love football!  And I want to go to Germany!!

This week, my wife will have an affair with. ..

Books originating in amature blogs are published often in Japan. I talked about "a train man".  And now it' s going to be a manga on comic.  A several days ago, I wrote about "An oppressed husband and his diabolic wife". Well I though it is a funny blog that is a sort of husband bragging about his wife.  BUT! A domestic violence web trackbacked to my post!!! Oh God!! xlkjdfoaieanlksgaioajsfd!!! uh-oh...

Today I will introduce a new book which originated from dialogue on a Q&A message board on the internet for just two weeks or so. The book title is "This week, my wife will have an affair with him".  Yes, this time it is more serious issue. It was started a question at 04-01-28 19:05 which was written in "Oshiete goo = Help me goo" which user helps each other on any question. (I 've used this before for a stupid DVD player's setting.) "Question: This week, my wife will have a love affair. I am going to break into the Hotel where they meet, and I will try to bring some end for this. Is this a correct way?  What should I do there?". He "goahead & Co"(handle name) has two kids and a wife who married 5 years ago after a long relationship. He is very busy with his job, and his wife was always complained about it. He felt something was wrong and sneaked a look at her cell. Then he knew she had a love affair with her ex boss.   He was suffering from it of course, but did not know what he should do because he loved his wife and kids very much.  But one day he found out the date and place they would meet by their mail. As far as he knew from details of information. he could not ignore things anymore. Then he put that message on the board.

In the early days people are stiff and formal to him, but after a while they talked with each other. Everybody sensed his pain, sorrow, suffering then preetty soon started talking seriouly. Some said "you should punch him and get her back to you, that is all." Some said, "it would be time for divorce". Some talked about their own experiece.. and so on. "goahead & Co" replied to all messages honestly, then decided to go to the hotel, but no violence, instead told her he would choose divorce. Then the day had come....To tell the conclusion, they did not get divorce, They tried to, but they could know their true feeling the hard way of this experience. They could realize they pretend they were okay and did not see the problem.
Yes this is all-too-common story all over the world.But his way of talking, his words sounds so real on the board, and in as sense people experienced those hard two weeks as if their own until this Q&A board closed at 04-02-12 15:12.

I read them all. He seemed to be content with his choice at the end. That is nice. Yes the book has a happy end. If I were him?? Hmm always before making a decision was worst time for me, even I chose an end. You know, there is no correct answer, so if you try to choose it, things will be difficult.  Making my mind up not to regret,  that is what I will try.   How do you think?

Who is Fujiko Mine?

I read this in PEN too. In Italy, when young guys are asked, "who is your type?", some reply a Japanese woman' s name "Fujiko Mine".  Who is Fujiko Mine? She is an animation character who apprear in Lupin the 3rd by Monkey Punch. That PEN introduces an Italian boy who wears Lupin's T-shorts who said "I do not wear a Spiderman T-shirt, but Lupin's T is cool". Lupin the 3rd seems to have established a sort of position as a foreign character in Italy. This is a good English Lupin web ; I will introduce Lupin the 3rd as short as possible ( it is very hard !).

Lupin the 3rd originated as managa : (pic). Then in the 1970s animation started on TV and got to be very popular in Japan. There are 3 TV series, some TV specials and movies.  Regarding the TV series. The second series is the longest one and world-wide recognized. Actually in North America the scond series  is currently showing on cartoon TV. However I love the first series : (pic) and many Lupin lovers will agree with me. If you like Japanese animation, you will notice the graphics  were designed by Hayao Miyazaki. Actually he's directed the entire story since 7th episode.. Personally I am not Miyazaki fan, but I like the graphic of the first Lupin very much. Look at the first Fujiko, the second Fujiko, and the 3rd Fujiko.  At any rate the first is the most beautiful one to me and a little bit erotic too. The first series was aired before the Lupin became so famous, not only the graphics, but also all of other stories and settings were not childish,  and evev adults could enjoy them enough.

The story is simple, Lupin, his buddies Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa steal various things around the world. Fujiko is Lupin's GF : (pic) and sometimes cheats on him. Zenigata is his fervent soul ribal who is the police captain for Tokyo's metropolitan police. Lupin is good because he is charmed, super positive, cheerful, cool. Moreover the first Lupin could describe his romantic part, pride. (Lupin was captured once : (pic) in the first series. but he did not escape on the day of "death penalty" on purpose because of his pride. I like this episode! I found a figure!) If you do not see any Lupin The Castle of Cagliostro is good as a first Lupin. It is directed by Hayao Miyazaki. (Actually Claris is just his type) and easy to find English version in the North America. Ah I heard Hollywood will remake this animation too. Who play Lupin? Hmm No need of a real Lupin the 3rd for me.

Ladies only train car

A study says commuters can experience greater stress than what fighter pilots going into battle or riot policemen feel, according to a report Tuesday by the BBC. Hmm London people have same stress as us maybe. In Japan' s metropolitan areas, most people go to work by train. If you'  ve visited Tokyo once, you know that morning trains are a sort of hell. If you pass a coming train because since it is crowded, you will not get a train until noon. In the morning time, what you should do is just throw yourself into the train without thinking about it.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announces the level of the congestion rate.
100％：Fit Capacity; People can sit down a seat, hold a strap or poll.
150％：People can read an unfolding a newspaper.
180％：People can read an folding a newspaper.
200％：The body touches each other and feel pressure.
250％：Whenever the train shakes, not only the body has to incline and cannot move , but also the arms.

Then they say they will try to achieve that all trains can be filled to 150-180% at most. Hmm you' re thinking "what a low level goal"?  "Why is it not 100%"? Yes it is true, but still it means much better for us. Unfortunately this is a Japanese site, but please look! Tokyo people have to be patient for this torture everymorning. Chuo line is 218%, Saikyo line is 211%, and Tokaido line is 225%.

Then of course we have a molestation problem; so far this year I could find some news already like this and this.  In Kansai area, there are ladies only train cars and the number of them is more than in the Tokyo area. But in Tokyo area, JR and other private train companies are reluctant to increase the number of ladies only train cars. Because it may cause troubles on crowded mornings. Today this news says the metropolitan police have urged train companies to increase Ladies only cars. hmm I may agree, but in a sense it would be inconvenient for women too. It sounds a little bit  we are forced to choose Ladies only as our only possiblity. First of all, the metropolitan police should set a more serious punishment for molestation. How do you think?

How to cook delicious rice.

I read a rice ball shop opened in NY in last year-end. It is Oms/b (omusubi = rice ball), the shop owner is Japanese and she says she opened this shop because sushi was easy to find in NY, but she could not find a rice ball shop. From what I read, they arrange rice ball a for New Yorker's taste. Teriyaki chicken, fried shrimp, beef, prosciutto and even pastrami variations, and wasabi ginger?! She says she made it because many people asked wasabi and ginger. ( Rice ball is not sushi, so we do not eat wasabi or giner with them). Anyway I am glad to know people in NY like it!

In Japan, the rice ball is a very popular food of course and like I wrote before in a convenient store topic, 7-Eleven's rice ball profits exceed Denny's entire annual sales! Greggman.com has a review of convenience store's rice balls. To eat them, you need to know how to open them actually. ha ha. By the way, We have a rice ball shop too, this shop is in Ginza. Their No1 selling item is Karashi mentaiko, it is a hot and spicy cod egg which is Hakata city of Fukuoka prefecture's special. In Japan, traditional style rice balls are more popular than new arrangements. Since a long time ago, the rice ball was a sort of lunch box which was wrapped by bamboo leaf, and some shops  still use them. This is very nice because of bamboo leaf's good smell.

Anyway some sales points for a rice ball shop are that they care about the water, the rice,  the nori, how to cook rice and how to hold rice. Yes, to make good a delicious rice ball, its stiffness is important.  I checked out  this Japanese site,  they teach us some good hints for rice balls.

How to cook delicious rice ( For Japanese rice )
As soon as you pour water into rice, begin running tap water. This reduces the strong bran smell.
Without water, wash rice as if you scrub rice delicately with your palm.
During washing, when water begins to turn white, run water quickly.
Wash rice for 3 minutes.
Soak rice in water for at least one hour.
Use cold water to cook rice

Points!
For 3 cups of rice (180cc = 1cup), add a 5cc Honey. (I've just known this, I will try!)
Do not push the rice. Try to hold rice softly.

Anyway rice ball is called Omusubi and Onigiri in Japanese. Both mean "to hold" Ah My favorite rice ball? It is hard to pick one; today's feeling is Yaki onigiri

Simple designs give us a strong message.

Here is a magazine I like to read called "PEN", it's a sort of life style, design,  art magazine. This month their special is about Advertising. They introduce great now and old creators's wonderful works.

For example, from Old America, they show Lou Dorfsman who was vice president and art director for the CBS network  ( I could hardly find good web pages about him in the U.S.) and George Lois is famous for  his esquire magazine covers. Seymore Chwast who makes very playful happy design. I enjoyed seeings some of the beautiful "stoic" work by Wim Crouwel as big name of anti-advertising,

Anyway the cover for this month is artwork by Yuji Tokuda. This is one from his [ retired weapon ] project.  He is an art directore for Japan's biggest advertising agency Dentsu. I like this summer bargain poster of Laforet , this postcard design, and this work for Kessels kramer ( this "do project" web page is fun!)  Anyway the simple designs give us strong a message.