Posted by Barron • Living • Japan • Personal • Random Thoughts • Comments • Permalink

Here are a few things about Japan that I just don’t get:

Crowding into an elevator when there is an escalator just over there

Sure, we are 6 floors up, but I’d rather take an escalator, where I can relax and maybe see interesting things rather than pack into an elevator with 12 other people, have to try to push my way in and out, stop at each floor and get out of the elevator to let people out, then squish back in. All the while, trying to avoid uncomfortable eye contact, and also not touch anyone lest they think I am chikan. Oh, and repeat for each floor til we reach the bottom.

Plain Mochi

Mochi is rice that has been pounded into a dough. Although you can eat it year round, it’s often served at New Years in a soup. I was watching a show on tv, and one of the hosts had a big bite of mochi, and of course exclaimed"Oishii!!!" (delicious). I was thinking “No way, how can you say that big lump of tastless dough is delicious.” There’s a lot of delicious Japanese food I’d rather fill my belly with than mochi. However, one of them is not…

Dango

Similar to mochi, dango are balls of usually rice flour, and put on skewer. I remember being at a festival and getting handed a skewer of three mitarashi dango. They looked delicious, these little balls covered with a golden brown sweet shoyu sauce. Only after I bit into it and found out that I was eating another tastless lump of dough, did I realize that it was not nearly as delicious as it looked.

Posted by Barron • Living • Japan • Travel • Personal • Random Thoughts • Comments • Permalink

I must say that JAL and ANA>American Airlines. The stewardesses flight attendants for JAL and ANA are so hot. AA, well lets just say they don’t discrimitate based on age…

Seriously though, the service on JAL and ANA is top-notch. They give toys out to the kids on the plane. The food is actually good. The flight attendants are always courteous and never give any sort of bad attitude. Even the JAL and ANA staff at the airport are great. I wish I could fly JAL or ANA every time we fly. Come to think of it, the AA staff at Narita was just as good as the JAL and ANA staff. Could it be that it’s just Japanese training and culture?

Posted by Barron • Living • Japan • Personal • I Like it! • Comments • Permalink

On our recent trip to Japan, I had the pleasure of using a washlet several times. For those of you that don’t know what a washlet is, it’s basically a toilet seat that shoots a stream of water at your privates for that clean, fresh feeling. The toilet seat also has a heater in it. There are a couple options, like a bidet stream of water for females, the oshiri stream of water for your buttinski, and then there is a forward/back position adjuster, and sometimes a strength adjustment. Sometimes there is also a some kind of ventilation system for minimal odor.

The only thing I am not sure about is if you are supposed to wipe before you use the stream of water, then wipe again, or just use the stream of water, then wipe. I did the former, in case you wanted to know.

Several months ago, we put an electrical outlet (with the help of a friend) behind the toilet downstairs, getting ready for a future washlet. I think that time is coming soon!

Posted by Barron • Creativity • Film and Video • Music • Personal • I Like it! • Comments • Permalink

Theme song from Detective Conan anime, by ZARD

Posted by Barron • Creativity • Hobbies • Living • Travel • Comments • Permalink

We arrived back home on Friday, and had a strange weekend due to jetlag. Unfortunately, the weekend is over and it’s back to work/school. Today Bay, Koa and I met Jeremy and May at the lake to do a little fishing and r/c sailing. We ended up at Brushy Creek Lake and sailed there. It’s a great location for r/c sailing, much better than Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock! We had a good time, and there was a strong wind to keep the boats moving along.

By the way, I am still writing the daily photoblog of our Japan vacation. I want to go back and write more captions and titles to the Flickr sets as well. I am going to post the blog entries in their intended dates, but put a note in the current date so you all don’t miss them.

Posted by Barron • Creativity • Film and Video • Living • Japan • Personal • I Like it! • Review • Comments • Permalink

Just watched this movie (twice) on the flight home. Excellent film! A real tear-jerker, though.