I was running errands Monday morning when I walked past a line at 鮮魚 吉本商店 (Sengyo Yoshimoto Shouten) or Yoshimoto Fresh Fish Shop. I have no idea what the big deal was but there must have been cocaine in the carp or something.
Japanese love uniforms for school kids (from elementary to high school and sometimes college). These kids are just wearing white and red caps (I think they’re reversible), but they’re ready for a field trip with their art set/clip boards(?). Some schools have the kids in a pretty elaborate set of navy blue coat, shorts, and …
キャットスマック (Cat Smack) Found this one today while looking through the local chirashi (チラシ) junk mail. Wrong in so many ways, but funny.
Japan has invented some awesome games from Street fighter to Dance Dance Revolution, but one of my favorite games/toys is the kendama.
Now kendama has nothing to do with Ken’s balls, though I’m sure barbie wouldn’t mind if it did.
Kendama (剣玉) was invented way back in the day, maybe even before the Last Samurai (useless …
Had this lovely 680yen (about $7) hokke teishoku (ほっけ 定食 mackerel set) for breakfast this morning at Miyamoto Munashi (宮本むなし). Miyamoto Munashi is a Japanese set menu or teishokuya (定食屋) franchise where you can get all sorts of Japanese eats from kara’age (fried chicken) to hambahgu (hamburger steak) with side dishes for a reasonable price. …
My friend Ben put me onto this one. Its a little youtube video about learning Japanese. In this episode they go over abbreviations for English shop names. You have to watch it until the end to really get the gist of it.
You can check out the rest of their videos on youtube here.
「恵みとスリルに満ちた子育て」(Megumi to suriru ni michita kosodate – Child rearing full of blessing and thrill) is what this sign in front of Kobe Bible Church says. Hmm…?
By the way, perhaps because of it’s upscale history the Rokko neighborhood where I reside has quite a few churches. Five minutes walk away is a Protestant church and …
Those little delectable meat wraps are called gyoza. Originally a Chinese (dem geniuses) dish, gyoza are pork wrapped in dough skin. If you’ve had these before, you might note that these have no burn marks. That’s because they are sui-gyoza (水餃子 water gyoza). This is the original style, and in China the standard. In Japan …
Starbucks Latte. You can get one of these or any of the other Starbucks selection from pretty much any combini around Japan.
I think the price point is a bit high and considering Mt. Rainier, Doutor and a few others make some really good combini coffee too.
Price : 4/10 (smaller than some of the others)
Taste : …
I’m sure everyone has seen at least one of the “Japanese Tradition” videos on youtube. I just happened to google it again the other day and came across some of the other ones in the series. They are a great satirical look at life and Japanese traditions.
