Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas '09
Christmas turned out to be great in the middle of nowhere. Emily and I spent Xmas eve in her town, Iwaizumi, and went to a restaurant/bar called Miyo-chan. Great start - we ordered some fried eggplant, tofu, and some basashi (aka raw horse meat), which was all very well prepared. Had a few beers to chase it all down. Right as we were finishing, however, the owners came up to us and invited the two of us to attend their little christmas party, conveniently being held in the booth next to us. Aside from Emily and I, there were 4 other people: the 2 proprietors, and 3 of their friends (one of whom's daughter I teach at Kita apparently). So of course we obligingly move ourselves over to the other booth, where they immediately break out a grill, what seems like an endless amount of lamb, multiple bottles of beer, whiskey, and sake, and some of the best if not the best homemade pickled vegetables and dried persimmons. The lamb was by far the best, as we set it on the grille for no more than 20 seconds at a time, searing the outside perfectly while the inside was still left raw and tender. Applied a bit of the soy based sauce following, and that was that. Spent the night eating, talking, and eventually trying our hand at karaoke. We even got presents from them, and I hadn't ever met these people before.
Woke up the next morning at about 830, walked around town a bit. While Emily contests that Iwaizumi is at the depths of boredom and solitude, its not without its charm. Situated in between 2 mountains, the first and most obvious thing about the place is the extent of the sheer natural beauty surrounding you. And with the trees lining the mountains, I can only imagine the effect those leaves turning red in the autumn can have on the place. Anyway, we walk around a bit, grab some breakfast at this quaint little cafe, stop by a DIY crafts shop that I'll definitely be back to, and then head back to her place to grab her car in order to go to our first real destination of the day, Ryusendo Caves. While we didn't actually enter this time (she's a bit strapped for cash and the entrance fee is 1000 yen), the surrounding scenery is sufficient enough to sate any appetite for that special kind of Japanese nostalgic beauty that you see so often in movies and paintings. Ryusendo is, in a word, gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Little streams running all around, trees spaced sparsely but affectively, there's a kind of lonely beauty about the place, esoteric in the way that it feels like there's a history there that can only be touched by certain initiates. But looking on it with those naive eyes perhaps makes it even more of an experience, allowing you to retain the awe of something so seemingly pure. And pure it is: Ryusendo is famous throughout Japan as one of the largest underground limsetsone caves, with what is considered some of the purest water in Japan (they have a thing for water up here). I tried some - its ok. Tastes like snow.
From there, we drove about 40 minutes north to Unoso, some cliffs overlooking the ocean that are very well known as a popular suicide jumping point. Fitting, considering the holiday, right? Apparently, the Japanese have quite a bit of superstition concerning that area, as in there's just something about the place that draws one to its edges. Suffice to say, that kind of occult shit intrigues the hell out of me so I was all smiles when we got there. And, as it turns out, there is no more beautiful place in the world than Unoso. Words fail in this case, so I'll leave it to you to decide what you think after looking at the pictures that follow. Funny though, when we were leaving a cop was walking towards the cliffs, asking if anyone else was there. Presumably, hes checking for suicide cases.
From there we went to my favorite kind of onsen (hot spring), and that is the homely kind. Small place, wanting for any serious decor, but nevertheless exactly what I needed after a day of hiking. There's nothing like sitting in a hot spring by yourself outside staring at the moon at dusk. Got out, drank a beer and had some onigiri while waiting for Emily, and headed for Miyako, where the Christmas dinner of Christmas dinners was just waiting to be assembled...
Pretty much the same menu as I offered a few days ago, but for clarity's sake, here's what I prepared:
- Seared Yellowfin tuna with simple tomato-cab-garlic-chili-pepper reduction as sauce, topped with caramelized onions.
- Bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage with boiled mackeral, and topped with cucumber and shiso, a bit of chili oil.
- Mashed potatoes (with soymilk and margerine) and broccoli, with wine & garlic aus jous.
Bangin'. I'm eating leftovers as I type this. Drank some wine, watched the Its Always Sunny Christmas special, and went to bed.
Christmas Eve
Ryusendo
Unoso
Woke up the next morning at about 830, walked around town a bit. While Emily contests that Iwaizumi is at the depths of boredom and solitude, its not without its charm. Situated in between 2 mountains, the first and most obvious thing about the place is the extent of the sheer natural beauty surrounding you. And with the trees lining the mountains, I can only imagine the effect those leaves turning red in the autumn can have on the place. Anyway, we walk around a bit, grab some breakfast at this quaint little cafe, stop by a DIY crafts shop that I'll definitely be back to, and then head back to her place to grab her car in order to go to our first real destination of the day, Ryusendo Caves. While we didn't actually enter this time (she's a bit strapped for cash and the entrance fee is 1000 yen), the surrounding scenery is sufficient enough to sate any appetite for that special kind of Japanese nostalgic beauty that you see so often in movies and paintings. Ryusendo is, in a word, gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Little streams running all around, trees spaced sparsely but affectively, there's a kind of lonely beauty about the place, esoteric in the way that it feels like there's a history there that can only be touched by certain initiates. But looking on it with those naive eyes perhaps makes it even more of an experience, allowing you to retain the awe of something so seemingly pure. And pure it is: Ryusendo is famous throughout Japan as one of the largest underground limsetsone caves, with what is considered some of the purest water in Japan (they have a thing for water up here). I tried some - its ok. Tastes like snow.
From there, we drove about 40 minutes north to Unoso, some cliffs overlooking the ocean that are very well known as a popular suicide jumping point. Fitting, considering the holiday, right? Apparently, the Japanese have quite a bit of superstition concerning that area, as in there's just something about the place that draws one to its edges. Suffice to say, that kind of occult shit intrigues the hell out of me so I was all smiles when we got there. And, as it turns out, there is no more beautiful place in the world than Unoso. Words fail in this case, so I'll leave it to you to decide what you think after looking at the pictures that follow. Funny though, when we were leaving a cop was walking towards the cliffs, asking if anyone else was there. Presumably, hes checking for suicide cases.
From there we went to my favorite kind of onsen (hot spring), and that is the homely kind. Small place, wanting for any serious decor, but nevertheless exactly what I needed after a day of hiking. There's nothing like sitting in a hot spring by yourself outside staring at the moon at dusk. Got out, drank a beer and had some onigiri while waiting for Emily, and headed for Miyako, where the Christmas dinner of Christmas dinners was just waiting to be assembled...
Pretty much the same menu as I offered a few days ago, but for clarity's sake, here's what I prepared:
- Seared Yellowfin tuna with simple tomato-cab-garlic-chili-pepper reduction as sauce, topped with caramelized onions.
- Bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage with boiled mackeral, and topped with cucumber and shiso, a bit of chili oil.
- Mashed potatoes (with soymilk and margerine) and broccoli, with wine & garlic aus jous.
Bangin'. I'm eating leftovers as I type this. Drank some wine, watched the Its Always Sunny Christmas special, and went to bed.
Christmas Eve
Ryusendo
Unoso
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Winter Break
Free as of 4 PM yesterday, until the 12th of January. KILLER. Everyone in town except for me and a woman who works in Iwaizumi about an hour and a half north of here are back in their homelands, so looks like she and I are going to be doing whatever the hell it is we do in Miyako a lot for the next week.
I'm thinking of cooking dinner for Christmas, which'll be a bit of a challenge considering the space limitations (not to mention lack of cookware), but so far I'm considering the following:
- Poached cod or red snapper with a mildly spicy tomato reduction, topped with caramelized onions.
- Shredded mackeral & bean sprout "salad" topped with grated shiso & cucumber and a bit of chili oil
- Mashed potatoes with broccoli, garlic & red wine aus jous. MAYBE throw my favorite mushrooms in there, but I'm pretty sure those are going to be pretty difficult to locate up here.
She suggests we go to KFC. Even if I habitually ate meat other than fish, that sounds like a terrible idea.
But yeah, I think that Christmas'll be pretty rad up here - nice and quiet, spent with new friends in a new place. Its funny how into Christmas the Japanese are without having the basest understanding of what the holiday means. Not that I care for the underlying religious theme, but I at least know of it. The Japanese, on the other hand, just love any reason they can get their hands on to throw up stringed lights and blow-up dolls of American things.
Speaking of Christmas, for my senior class yesterday I taught them about "The War on Christmas." Reason for that being, I was teaching other classes about Christmas in general and wanted to recycle as much material as possible. Turned out to be a good class, though a bit difficult for the students (a surprise considering they've consistently surprised me with their rather high level of english comprehension).Basically, I used that idea to introduce the concept of free speech and had the students write their opinions on that topic. I tried to be as objective as possible, but its near impossible not to point out, at least subtly, the inherent moral flaws of our nation's "greatest" right-wing thinkers.
There are a lot of reasons I like living in Japan, but one of them definitely has to be that I don't have to deal with those jokers on a daily basis.
Other news: Considering going from beard to Allman-Brothers-meet-Lemmy from Motorhead.
I'm thinking of cooking dinner for Christmas, which'll be a bit of a challenge considering the space limitations (not to mention lack of cookware), but so far I'm considering the following:
- Poached cod or red snapper with a mildly spicy tomato reduction, topped with caramelized onions.
- Shredded mackeral & bean sprout "salad" topped with grated shiso & cucumber and a bit of chili oil
- Mashed potatoes with broccoli, garlic & red wine aus jous. MAYBE throw my favorite mushrooms in there, but I'm pretty sure those are going to be pretty difficult to locate up here.
She suggests we go to KFC. Even if I habitually ate meat other than fish, that sounds like a terrible idea.
But yeah, I think that Christmas'll be pretty rad up here - nice and quiet, spent with new friends in a new place. Its funny how into Christmas the Japanese are without having the basest understanding of what the holiday means. Not that I care for the underlying religious theme, but I at least know of it. The Japanese, on the other hand, just love any reason they can get their hands on to throw up stringed lights and blow-up dolls of American things.
Speaking of Christmas, for my senior class yesterday I taught them about "The War on Christmas." Reason for that being, I was teaching other classes about Christmas in general and wanted to recycle as much material as possible. Turned out to be a good class, though a bit difficult for the students (a surprise considering they've consistently surprised me with their rather high level of english comprehension).Basically, I used that idea to introduce the concept of free speech and had the students write their opinions on that topic. I tried to be as objective as possible, but its near impossible not to point out, at least subtly, the inherent moral flaws of our nation's "greatest" right-wing thinkers.
There are a lot of reasons I like living in Japan, but one of them definitely has to be that I don't have to deal with those jokers on a daily basis.
Other news: Considering going from beard to Allman-Brothers-meet-Lemmy from Motorhead.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Real Deal
So I'm going to rescind that last post, attributing it to what I have decided may or may not be the first signs of a slight case of culture shock. If I were living down south, near a larger city, I imagine I wouldn't be so... I hesitate to say bitter... put-off, but the truth of the matter is - I've never lived in a tiny city far from anything at all resembling my former hobbies and habits. So of course an adjustment period is to be anticipated. And the last post was a bit of a lie anyway - I do have prospects for a social life, and those will be detailed forthwith.
First and foremost, here's a cool/probably-incredibly-surprising bit of news: I've just started practicing with a BREAK DANCE CREW. Huh? Yeah, for real yo. I've actually got "practice" in a few minutes so this post may end up being a bit short than I/you'd like. But yeah, what the hell is an inflexible person like me doing in a dance crew? You got me, but the dudes and chicks in it are pretty cool, its pretty good exercise, and more than anything I figure its high time I learn how to school an opponent on the dance floor. Practice is held in this incredibly large bar, as far as Japan-standards are concerned, with an older woman tending. She's cool as hell, talkative, and is real keen on giving us samples of local spirits/wine. I can tell you right now, don't even think about trying Iwate-made red "wine". If I 'm not mistaken, they just got an empty wine bottle, filled it with Thunderbird, and slapped a nice-looking label on it. Dreadful stuff.
This is a bit tangental, but its also worth mentioning I had my first BOE-viewed class on Wednesday. I wasn't particularly worried about it before hand, having had all my prep work done for quite some time, and afterwards, having heard the results, was more than pleased with my reception. HOWEVER. Interac paid me a wonderful call not 2 minutes before the start of that class with some news concerning water, burst pipes, and my apartment. Talk about serendipity. I wouldn't call my class anything close to a fugue state, but that's not to say I was really paying attention to what I was doing, concerning my brain-power to thinking "shit, what's broken...?" Fortunately, they lied. I got home and nothing was leaking, wet, or showed any signs indicating anything at all had been/continued to be wrong. I'm still not really sure what the fuss was about, but I know that whatever it was it wasn't my fault, and it also explained my water bill for this month being astronomically high. So that worked out well.
Gonna cut this short - gotta go make an ass of myself.
First and foremost, here's a cool/probably-incredibly-surprising bit of news: I've just started practicing with a BREAK DANCE CREW. Huh? Yeah, for real yo. I've actually got "practice" in a few minutes so this post may end up being a bit short than I/you'd like. But yeah, what the hell is an inflexible person like me doing in a dance crew? You got me, but the dudes and chicks in it are pretty cool, its pretty good exercise, and more than anything I figure its high time I learn how to school an opponent on the dance floor. Practice is held in this incredibly large bar, as far as Japan-standards are concerned, with an older woman tending. She's cool as hell, talkative, and is real keen on giving us samples of local spirits/wine. I can tell you right now, don't even think about trying Iwate-made red "wine". If I 'm not mistaken, they just got an empty wine bottle, filled it with Thunderbird, and slapped a nice-looking label on it. Dreadful stuff.
This is a bit tangental, but its also worth mentioning I had my first BOE-viewed class on Wednesday. I wasn't particularly worried about it before hand, having had all my prep work done for quite some time, and afterwards, having heard the results, was more than pleased with my reception. HOWEVER. Interac paid me a wonderful call not 2 minutes before the start of that class with some news concerning water, burst pipes, and my apartment. Talk about serendipity. I wouldn't call my class anything close to a fugue state, but that's not to say I was really paying attention to what I was doing, concerning my brain-power to thinking "shit, what's broken...?" Fortunately, they lied. I got home and nothing was leaking, wet, or showed any signs indicating anything at all had been/continued to be wrong. I'm still not really sure what the fuss was about, but I know that whatever it was it wasn't my fault, and it also explained my water bill for this month being astronomically high. So that worked out well.
Gonna cut this short - gotta go make an ass of myself.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Starting to Get Bored Up Here
Wow, there's really nothing to do in MIyako aside from work-related things. Can't wait to get myself down to Tokyo for New Years, though it looks like itll only be for a few days. I should probably start looking for jobs down there too...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)