Mari - diary

Potato chips on rice ball

Monkey waiter at Japanese Izakaya.

Family Mart is one of the big convenience store chains, you may know them as "Famima" in foreign countries. Calbee is one of the Japanese snack companies. Talking about potato chips, it's Calbee in Japan like I wrote. Since yesterday, Family Mart started to sell a collaboration rice ball with Calbee. They are "consomme punch chips rice ball", "pizza potato chips rice ball" and "Korean seaweed paper rice ball".....hmm, strange but it sounds delicious. Potato chips will match rice balls, they are just fried potato. You will be able to try it. ､どうぞ

This is an ad of "Gazeta Mercantil newspaper". They say "understand the real value of money". There are Yen, dollars, and Euros. Manga, anime and the sex industry become new icons for Japan.

This is a joke TV ad of retail company "Grand Guardian Tokyo". It shows a near future robot type apartment. You don't need to walk to the station because your apartment will walk there in the morning. When an earthquake comes, you don't need to worry about anything. Even if a war happens, your apartment will protect you.... OK sounds good.

I had PC problems last night, my PC has to be so slow sometimes. If I have to buy a new one, I think I will buy Mac again. Here is the great news about a Mac user.  So cool!　Talking about PCs, I found an interesting desktop. Here it is. The boxes on the shelf will be this one. If you like Japanese mood rooms, please use those Japanese mood icons (for mac), today I found this trash box (for mac) too.

After you drink

Did you read this article? How China gets its troops to stand to attention - pins in their collars and crosses on their backs'. The Beijing Olympics will come soon.

Wired had an interesting article today. 'Hollywood 'Turning Japanese' With Anime Movies'. I can't wait for info about Spielberg's Ghost in the Shell.

My favorite blog Nifty Portal Z has this post today. She always has great and funny posts about food. Today she made edible 'Baran'. 'Baran' is the plastic green divider (ornament) for Japanese Bento. She tried to make it using pork, squid and fishcake and made a big lunch for herself. Ha ha but the funniest part is the strange English on the lunch box: 'The road of the life will become very hard. But we must overcome it.' I have no idea why they would put such words on a lunch box, is it because the box is too big and too hard to eat up?

I am sorry for not replying to the comments on the posts, Since I am off during the day until I start my new job. I drink a lot every night! (sorry!) and I'm being very lazy. I must be careful about my weight, I know. By the way, after you drink alcohol at a bar, do you go eat something? If you do, what a kind of food do you like to eat? In Japan, the standard after-drinking food is ramen, I guess people love to eat salty carbohydrates that are simple and easy after drinking and ramen fits the bill the best. But today I found this article: 'the best three people love to eat after drinking'. No1 is Ochazuke (rice with soup), No2 is Ramen and No3 is Ice cream (this is popular in Japan, ice cream wrapped in a soft rice cake. I like to eat Ochazuke, it's much lighter than ramen and it is good for the stomach because rice is easy to digest. We cook Ochazuke with green tea and top it with anything we have in the refrigerator. If you want to try it, I recommend using this Nagatanien Ochazuke powder. Look for it in Asian stores, it's pretty good!

Instant noodle

This is the ranking of National Trends in Instant Noodle Demands. I could guess China would be No.1 and I thought Thailand or Indonesia would be No.2, and the rank of Japan would be high. BUT! I didn't suppose USA is No.4. Do you eat instant noodles often?? What is your best noodle? In Japan, there is a huge number of instant noodle types, cheap ones, expensive ones, soy sauce base soups, pork bone base soups, etc.

Maybe you know the Nissin Cup Noodle series, but the kinds of soup are so different from Japanese ones. You can check it on wikipedia. My favorite taste is Curry, I want to try the Crab taste of China, and the Tom Yam Goong of Thailand. I am not sure I want to eat the Broccoli of Germany and the Cheddar Cheese of Mexico.

And do you know the Maru-chan brand? I saw many Maruchan products in CA before. In Japan they are well known for their instant  Japanese Soba and Udon series. But I can tell you ramen is much better than that, I recommend real Soba and Udon, not instant ones.

I think the most expensive instant noodle that you can buy anywhere will be Nissin Goota. It's about $3. The most reasonable one would be Nissin Chicken ramen or Nisshin Demae Iccho, they are about $1.

I heard Ippudo, famous for Kyushu type ramen (Pork bone base soup), is getting popular in NY now. Nissin collaborated on such popular ramen shops: Ippudo, Sumire (miso base soup), Santoka (salt base soup) and they had released a special ramen like this.

If you come to Tokyo, you may try this shop 'Akiba-noodle'. They have over 400 kinds of instant noodles and you can pick out, walk and eat what you want. Here is the inside of the shop.

I will go Oden restaurant tonight

Slashdot says some NGO sites had cyber attacks.  Hate that news. Ah I want to go to this 'mode exhibition' at the Metropolitan Museum. I fell in love with this Oyster Dress, it is just a work of art!

Hmm ridiculous...Real Mario and real Homer and this is real kitty real kitty.

I found this strange old Japanese TV ad of athlete's foot remedy. But why do you call it athlete's foot? We say MIZU-MUSHI (water insect). I read that many farmers who worked in the rice field had athlete's foot and they guessed some insects lived in the water and caused the itchinessa, and that is why we call it mizu-mushi.

In Akihabara, a funny English lesson school opened. It's cosplish, where cosplaying foreign people teach English. Here is their official site. The site has many foreign Otaku site links. 'Anime That' is a big download site and Otaku Times is an otaku magazine in London! very useful links.

I will go to 'Nerimaru' which is an 'Oden' and Japanese noodle soba restaurant. Nerimaru was named from neri-mono; neri-mono means kneaded food (we say surimi). For example, in Oden there is fried kneaded tofu 'Ganmo', steamed kneaded fish paste 'Chikuwa' (Kamaboko and Naruto maki are similar food), fish mince 'tsumire' etc etc various knead food. We don't call Japanese soba noodles nerimono though, probably because it's made from soba dough. When we eat Oden at home, we buy an Oden set or each item and cook them in a pot. Convenience stores in Japan keep hot Oden pots and sell Oden in the winter season, so we can buy it cooked there, too. Maybe those oden pots will disappear at the end of this month, and then finally spring has come. By the way, my favorite Oden item is 'egg'; the egg turns brown and tasty by soaking in the broth in the Oden pot. (and it can be cute too!)

The unique restaurants in Tokyo3

This is an interesting site: 'Do you believe in God?' People in the world answered the simple question 'Do you believe in God?' The result of Japan is Yes 31% & No 69%. I didn't reply, because I am not sure I am believe in God actually. I can sense some holiness or power in many things like a blue sky, a huge ocean,

morning light, the perfect beauty of flowers etc...but I won't give them any name.
I read WAKAME is getting popular in Spain and Spanish cooking shows have wakame recipes sometimes. Do you eat wakame? I love it, it has rich minerals and no calories, very healthy food. The most popular way to eat wakame is miso soup in Japan, but the easiest way to eat wakame is wakame salad. I recommend this wakame and cucumber sunomono too. You can use mayo instead of those vinegar souces -- it's mayo wakame salad. Simple, but yummy and healthy food.

I wrote these posts the unique restaurants in Tokyo1 and the unique restraunts in Tokyo2. Basically I don't go to those theme restaurants, but of course it will be nice for tourists. When I was asked some recommendations, I replied to them 'Akasaka Ninjya' or 'Gonpachi'. Since I didn't write about unique restaurants, I will pick some from the restaurant group 'Diamond Dining' today. They make various types of restaurants with Japanese themes, fairy tales, etc. I don't think you can experience really nice food or authentic style, but as entertainment, you may enjoy them.

Tsubomi : Their theme is flowers. They have unique flower bud tables. You can enjoy Japanese food and soba. The shop is in Shinjuku near Isetan department store.

Temari : Their theme is Japanese ball 'temari'. They have temari shaped tables. Their main dish is small round sushi 'temari zushi' (small round sushi). The shop is in Shinjuku near Mitsukoshi department store.

Taiga no Mai : Their theme is Samurai. Taiga is named from NHK history Taiga drama. They say they serve meals related to some well known samurai. The shops is also in Shinjuku, next to Isetan department store.

Yozakura Bijin : Their theme is Yukaku (red-light district) in Edo. You can enjoy Japanese food and alcohol in such colorful rooms. You may think this is the world of SAKURAN. Those yukaku were protected by guards. SO this Yozakura Bijin also has a guard restaurant Dateotoko next to it. Dateotoko serves chiken mainly. Those two places and a burglary theme place Shichiemon, are all in Ikebukuro.

Japanese original western food

I wrote about Japanese original foods with foreign country names.

Turkey rice : It is fried rice with pork cutlet and spaghetti. There are several stories about the origin of this name. Some said it came from Turkey, but I don't think a pork cutlet food came from an Islamic country. Some said fried rice meant China and Spaghetti meant Europe. Pork cutlet is the bridge between Western and Eastern, so that the meal was called Turkey. Hmm, it sounds reasonable but it's too much. Some said Spaghetti was red, rice was white, there are three colors on the dish. So the meal was called "tricolor" first. This sound very true for me. There are many such stories for that name, and we don't know the truth actually.

American dog : I tried to find why we call it American dog sometimes but I couldn't find any information. Maybe it came from the U.S simply.

Napolitan : Long pasta with Tomato Ketchup or tomato-based sauce, onion, button mushroom, green peppers, sausage, bacon and Tabasco sauce is called Napolitan. It was made at Hotel New Ground in Yokohama. After ww2, the hotel was used by GHQ and there is still a room where Douglas MacArthur stayed. The hotel must have cooked some western-like food for GHQ. That would be the reason why Napolitan was made there. This blog is a Napolitan blog, he eats napolitans almost everyday.

Siberia cake : This is sponge cake with sweet beans cake "Yokan". I read the name comes from the fact that it looks likes a railway or the frozen ground of Siberia.

All foods are Japanese original but look like some western foods. We call such food "Yoshoku". Here is the typical Yoshoku menu.
Curry rice : Of course, the original is Indian curry. Japanese curry is more sticky and heavy. Like wiki said, it is arranged into curry udon"" or "curry pan". My Indian friend said, Japanese curry is completely different from India but he likes Japanese curry too.

Korroke : It's a deep fried dish originally related to a French dish "croquette". Popular korrokke is mashed potato and mince meat. I loved the one with crab meat and white cream. In Japan, Korrokes are sold in the meat shop, freshly-fried ones are so delicious.

Hayashi rice : It's a kind of stew that contains beef, onions, and button mushrooms, in a thick demi-glace sauce which often contains red wine and tomato sauce. We eat it with rice. The name would come from hashed beef.

Cutlet and fried : Pork, chicken cutlet is typical menu item of Yoshoku. Actually an assortment of fried dishes (this would be shrimp, oyster, crab and cream) was my favorite menu when I went to yoshoku shops.

Omuraice : It's fried rice covered by omelet. If you watched the Japanese movies Tampopo, you would remrmeber the Omulet.

Yoshoku restaurants were popular after ww2 because people sensed some western mood there, but the number of Yoshoku restaurants are declining. Maybe it is easy to try original western and ethnic foods, and most yoshoku menu items are possible to cook at home because we don't need to use any special seasoning for them. But still people love those "original Japanese western foods" :-). In Tokyo, Yoshikami in Asakusa, Taimeiken in Ginza are well known. (Taimeiken serves that Tampopo omurice). Here is an English menu of Yoshoku restaurant in Yokohama.

natural sweets in winter season

Wow, maybe he has to be shaved because of skin trouble. Funny....

Did you check wikileaks? Since last week the main site was blocked. I can't access it but I still can read this this mirror site. There are not so many Japanese topics yet, but I am very curious to read this site. 2ch has a similar thread and I read often before about my company too. But since 2ch is a public message board, sometimes they are just complaining.

I think I wrote about this, but I found the original file : "2004 global sex survery report" by Durex. Japanese think the sexiest feature is the breasts. (European people tend to think "it's eyes". Romantic!) Frequency of sex in a year is 46 which is the lowest in the world. (The top is French, who have 137 times.) And we have unprotected sex more than average. Wow...Sounds like a very plain animal, we Japanese are.

He just played Metal Gear Solid to take a picture of "ha ha ha good timing!" of enemies. Here is 1 and 2.. I don't play the game, though I understand he set everything very carefully and they would be miracle timing.

It's cold. Actually it is the coldest season in Tokyo now. Usually I have over 45 minutes walking at night, but it's too cold to go out so that I have to be careful not to gain weight. When I need something sweet, I try to choose natural sweet stuff. Dried Sweet Potato (hoshi imo or Kanso imo) is nice. Like other dried fruits, potato gets to be sweeter. If you can't find it at the store, you can cook it by yourself. Steam thin sliced sweet potatoes and dry them. That's all! Or another one is roast orange (Yaki mikan), cook a small orange in a pan or net. (this is a special roast orange pod!) That's all. The orange gets to be sweeter and its hot juice makes your body warm, and works for your cold too. Try it!

Gyoza

Tow cute animals topicS

Two cute animal topics. Dumbo fell down. I have never seen the bottom of elephant's foot. Ahh cute...his hairy back is cute too. Another one is this cat and dog, the cat want to play with him. Cute too.

For Rio's five-day Carnival, Brazilian model Angela Bismarchi has her 42nd plastic surgery. It's closing in on the Guinness World Record of 47 surgical procedures held by 52-year-old "Cindy Jackson". And this time she will change into Japanese like to celebrate this year: the centennial of Japanese immigration to Brazil. Here is the result. Hmm not so bad, but appearently she is foreigner. I don't think she didn't need to do that...By the way both ladies are beautiful, may there will be scar on her head and back of ear lobe, they had really good job. WHY?

Since yesterday, this news is big."China-made dumplings sicken". were sick and big restaurant chains say they will stop using food made in China. I want to be nervous, but I should be careful to buy food at the supermarket now. As instant dumplings, I like Dumplings by Ajinomoto. But I must tell you my hand made are best :-p. Here is my recipe:

Chop long onions, garlic chives, boiled cabbage, and garlic, and mix them with minced pork. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil, then wrap them with dough. Cook with pan, steam first with a lot of water and after the water is gone, cook with high heat, so that the top of the dough can be soft and the bottom can be crispy. Try it. By the way, Utusnomiya city in Tochigi Pref is well known as Dumpling city, there are many and various type of Dumpiling restaurant.

Can you eat??

Two sad car accident here and here....(ha ha ha don't laugh, it's so serious)

A Japanes sweet shop sell a beetle larva chocolate. They have another larvas too. Sorry impossible to eat for me.

I didn't know (Japanese air line) TV adthis crazy ANA . Was this aired in North America? Have you ever seen this before?? But maybe their way would be okay because Tokyo is the best geek vacation place. right?? (thank you! I like the best always :-) By the way, ANA has strange ad sometimes, this was the one they opened Chicago line.*

ochaduke bar

Lovely!! This is a Dutch artist? "Maps by clothes." I got Europe and Africa, but I'm not sure where no.3 and no 4 are from. These are other art worksother art works from Amsterdam.

This is a Japanese Kit Kat collection on flickr. I have eaten green tea and strawberry milk. But I love the standard one most. :-)

Do you know Ochazuke? It's a kind of Japanese rice with soup, you can enjoy variations of soup and toppings. Basically we had an image of Ochazuke as a B class food; people eat it after dinner when they still need a little bit more or they don't have enough time to eat regular food. However since a few years ago, we find some Ochazuke restaurants. At lunch time there are long lines in the shops. Then today I found an Ochazuke bar. You can enjoy alcohol and finish drinking with a cup of Ochazuke. Sounds nice to me. If you want to try it, the easiest way is to get an Ochazuke powder. The most famous one is "Nagatanien" Here is the TV ad. I think you can find them in Japanese super markets. Try it.

I didn't know "Fist of the North Star" was aired in foreign countries. This is the Japanese original opening theme, and a guy made a REAL opening theme by himself. ha ha ha