Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Mino Yama with Home-visit Family!!

This Sunday was definitely one of the best days I've spent in Japan so far!!! But then again, days spent with Sena always are =)
I was invited to visit a beautiful mountain called Mino about an hour away from my home-visit family's house in Awaji. Although it was fairly cold, it was so nice seeing all the pretty scenery. Seriously, you should check out the pics on my photo-stream. I went with Sena, her dad, and our Lithuanian friend Julius(the guy in the middle of the picture). We ate momiji tempura, or deep fried maple leaves, which is very rare cookie-like treat apparently only made at this one site!! We were told to beware of monkeys because they steal things from your purse and eat your food, but unfortunately(or maybe for the best hehe) they had all retreated back to the depths of the mountain or something because there was not a single monkey in sight.
Afterwards, Sena's mother made mochi(in case you're not aware, its a glutinous rice-based ball of squishy deliciousness) in a special machine and we added a variety of toppings. There was SO MUCH! I was not aware of all the variations of mochi that existed. The less obscure ones included anko(red bean paste) and kinako(some delicious soybean-flour-thingy). The surprising ones were savory, including yuzu(a popular citrus here) and daikon radish puree, and nori(seaweed)-wrapped mochi dipped in soy sauce. But all of it was delicious!! At the end, Sena's mother let me and Julius prepare yakisoba(a very popular fried-noodle dish with carrots, cabbage, and a special sauce). It was so yummy!! I am so lucky to have a family here in Japan that I can visit sometimes!!! And what makes it even more amazing is that they're very understanding of my diet! Her mother gave me packets of vegetarian soup base, rice toppings, and extra mochi to take home with me. I am truly thankful of the Uemura family!!! =D

Tomorrow is labor appreciation day here in Japan, which is a national holiday. This means NO SCHOOL!!! Because it's just a day away from American Thanksgiving, a group of us are getting together to make a variety of tasty dishes at the seminar house. I'm on team falafel with my friend Varun. It should be pretty fun. Hope to blog about it later! ^^


Friday, November 11, 2011

11 11 11

Today is Pocky Day! In case you don't know, Pocky is a really popular snack made by Glico. It's basically just a bunch of chocolate dipped biscuit sticks that come in a lot of different flavors like milk choco, strawberry, men's(?) almond, etc.
In Japan,  a lot of people eat Pocky on November 11 because its 11 11 and all the 1's look like Pocky sticks, I guess. This year is especially interesting because it's 2011! Whether or not pocky day is just a ploy by Glico to get people to buy more Pocky, I think it's fun! I bought salty milk chocolate Pocky, which was delicious. I wanted to get almond crush because it's freakin amazing, but my slight allergy to almonds prevented me from doing so.

Happy Veteran's Day to everyone in the states! =)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Den-den Town/Maid Cafe!

 
Our group at the maid cafe 'ai-ai'
My friend Lia(the middle maid in the picture) and I are doing a project on the culture of Akihabara and Den-Den town. Sooooo we decided the best way to research would be to actually experience it. FIELD TRIP ADVENTURE TIME!!! Akihabara is in Tokyo, which is pretty flippin far away and expensive, so we opted for Den-den town, or Nipponbashi, in Osaka.
Ok so here's a briefing on the subject: Akihabara is the birthplace of otaku culture. In other words, crazed fans of anime and idols flock here, as well as technologically-obsessed people in search of electronic parts. Maid cafes are also popular; usually frequented by older men, here you pay for a meal or a drink and are served and entertained by cutesy young girls dressed up in maid costumes. Nipponbashi, colloquially known as Den-Den town(or electronic town) is basically the Akihabara of Osaka. Here you will find cheap electronics, retro video-games, anime, manga, porn, idol memorabilia, and (of course!) maid cafes.
Today we explored Den-Den town and came to the conclusion that: 1. maid cafes are pretty awesome, 2. it's a cool district, but after a while you end up looking at the same stuff for hours and hours, and 3. you can find USB flash-drive phone-charms which can store 2GB for 100 yen each(roughly $1.30).
I think we all agreed that the maid cafe was by far the best experience of the whole trip. At the place we picked, 'ai-ai', the staff consisted of several young girls and 1 male all dressed as maids. The walls are plastered with 'moe' anime posters which they encourage you to look at. While you wait for your food(which is pretty delicious--fried rice, spaghetti, ice cream sundaes, heart-shaped waffles, and tapioca milk tea all grace the menu), the maids engage you in conversation, teach you how to make balloon animals, and even let you choose which anime to play. And once your food finally arrives, they ask you what you would like them to draw on it(in ketchup for savory dishes or chocolate for sweets). I asked for '愛', or 'love'. After we ate, they asked if we would like to dress up as a maid for 500 yen, which  I felt was too expensive, although my friend Lia really wanted to do it. We then took a picture with a few of the maids with Lia dressed as one. Then they brought out a 'balance-testing' skateboard with a ball underneath. The idea is to center the ball from one side to the middle whilst standing on the skateboard. Everyone tried and did pretty well. And then my turn came. This is when things got pretty funny. I stepped on the skateboard, and literally 2 seconds later I fell on the floor. The male maid who was standing behind me attempted to catch me, but ended up falling on top of me instead. It was pretty epic. And pretty fail. But we laughed it off, and now everyone knows exactly how clumsy I am >__> My friend video-taped the disaster, so there's probably some embarrassing video floating around facebook or youtube by now...
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the maids(aside from our group picture, which doesn't make much sense at all), so I have no photographic evidence of this amazing cross-dresser.
 
My initial impression was that maid cafes are basically a place for old perverted men to fawn over girls who are way to young for them. Perhaps this is mostly true. Indeed, even the bathroom(there was only one) had several 'moe' posters, some of them borderline hentai(perverted).  Besides us, most of the clients were men, but the ages ranged from college-aged to middle-aged. This surprised me, but it was refreshing to see younger people going there to hang out in a group. 
In short, I now feel that as long as you're not a lonely old man looking to fantasize over barely legal(if even) girls, the maid cafe culture is not a bad thing. The environment is fun and relaxed! I would highly recommend visiting one, especially if you're here in Japan =). 

Side note*** Sorry if I throw in random Japanese words often without translating them properly. Some things are used so commonly here that I can't really think of how to define them exactly in English. Such is true for 'moe'. Honestly, it's hard to explain, so if you're interested, I'd suggest wikipedia-ing it, as I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links like that here. ^^

Thursday, November 3, 2011

INFES/Fashion Show

Oh my god, do the Japanese know how to put on a show! Today and tomorrow Kansai Gaidai is holding a bunkasai, or cultural festival, called INFES. The Japanese students have Wednesday through Friday off school for preparation, although international students only got today(Thursday) off as 'culture day'. But man, did the preparation pay off!!! There are huge posters everywhere around Gaidai with pretty pictures advertising things, and booths selling all types of yummy food. I bought and ate wayyyy too much! But really, how can you resist parfait bowls, tempura ice cream, or this weird savory dish filled with konnyaku(or potato/cheese/tomato)??! Oh, and there was the blueberry and cream cheese bagel at the jazz show... let's hope tomorrow has the same food! 
It seriously is like having a mini carnival on campus, though. Minus the rides. But who cares about rides when you can watch(or participate in!) a fashion show, Kpop dancers, karaoke, cover bands, and visit cultural booths? Which brings me to my next point.....
THE FASHION SHOW WAS AWESOME!!! I got to model for the international fashion show! My friend Heather who made the costumes(with the exception of a last-minute skirt she asked me to make and a kimono-cover up she bought) was unable to model her outfit because she arranged to meet a friend in Osaka. Soooooo, I had my first ever modeling gig! It was soooo much fun! We had two shows, but the latter was by far the most successful. I made so many friends and bonded with the ones I already had!

Also, the Kpop dance show was AMAZING! I am in awe of the talent that three of my fellow UF classmates and some other Kansai students have when it comes to dancing! They put on a great performance, and put so much effort into practicing!!! =D Seriously, I wish I could dance that well! And now I've grown to like Kpop again... hehe
I can't wait to see what's going on tomorrow! This week has been such a blast!