Go

I have to admit that the events of this post took place more than a week ago, but I’m only getting around to blogging about it now. As my last week in Japan starts, I’m getting pretty busy with classes, packing, and, you know, enjoying my last week in Japan. So you can probably expect lots of belated blog posts after I get back to the U.S. next Saturday.

So one of the extracurricular classes that we got to take was a class on the game of Go. This is the Japanese name for the game—it was started about 4000 years ago in China, and reached Japan and Korea soon after. The basic tools of the game are ban (a square-ruled board) and black and white ishi (stones):

9x9 for us beginners, 13x13 for intermediates, and 19x19 for the pros

We didn’t get to play right away though. First we got the rules of the game explained to us in Japanese. (He was contrasting the language used to describe Go on the board with the language used to describe Chess, hence the bit of English up there. Where we use the verb “to play” to describe the act of chess, the Japanese use the verb that means “to strike” to describe Go. It’s because of the way that you definitively and confidently place your stone on the board once you’ve decided on where to put it). (It makes a really nice, satisfying tap. You put one down and feel like you’ve accomplished something). (Even if you still have no idea what you’re doing….)
Then there was the explanation of more advanced strategies, and some students got the chance to go up to the board and make the wrong move (which they thought was right since the sensei was leading them into it). Then the Go sensei would explain the more strategic move.
It appeared that after a day of classes the strategy explanations may have been too in depth for Samik and Sandra, who developed their own use for the ban and ishi.

Finally, for the last half hour of the class, we were able to attempt our first haphazard games.

Meagan: Wait, is the game over now?

Veronica: I have no idea… yes… no, wait… oh yeah, I think it is….maybe…

At any rate, it was pretty interesting. I think I’ll stick with chess and checkers though. :)

The Cafeteria Menu

So the cafeteria here at HIF usually just serves the Russian University students, who are Japanese students learning Russian. Their menu is in Japanese, but they provide translations for HIF students while we're here.

I'm not sure how they obtained these translations.


They were pretty priceless though. The photo is courtesy of my classmate, Kristin, who also has an awesome blog over here: http://pocketabroad.blogspot.com/. (She has a 13 year old host sister who just this summer go her first boyfriend, and naturally hilarity ensued--I really loved that particular post: http://pocketabroad.blogspot.com/2010/07/musings.html) (The section pertaining to the Japanese teenager drama is under the picture of the menu)

Anyway, anybody want to guess what they were actually trying to say on this menu? :D This isn't an official contest, but just for fun, post a comment if you think you know what they're attempting to communicate.

Let's make this more interesting...

The other day we were doing a practice dialogue in class to practice our use of honorifics and talking on the phone. The example dialogue went like so:

Student: Hello. Is this the HIF office?
HIF office: Yes, it is.
Student: Ah, this is (insert name here) from Class C. Is Ms. Okada there?
HIF office: No, she is not here at the moment.
Student: Do you know about what time she will return?
HIF office: She should be back at about 2:00
Student: Could you let her know I have a question about my independent study project and will call back?
HIF office: I will let her know.
Student: Thank you very much!

I was sitting next to Lindsay. We looked at each other and knew that this dialogue had lots of potential to be much more interesting. Our following conversation went like so:

Student: Hello. Is this the HIF office?
HIF office: Yes, it is.
Student: Ah, this is Veronica from Class C. Is Ms. Okada there?
HIF office: No, she is not here at the moment.
Student: Do you know about what time she will return?
HIF office: She should be back at about 2:00
Student: Could you let her know I am currently being detained at the police station?
HIF office: I will let her know.
Student: Thank you very much!

We switched, and I have to say Lindsay beat me on the creativity end of things.

Student: Hello. Is this the HIF office?
HIF office: Yes, it is.
Student: Ah, this is Lindsay from Class C. Is Ms. Okada there?
HIF office: No, she is not here at the moment.
Student: Do you know about what time she will return?
HIF office: She should be back at about 2:00
Student: Could you let her know I have been shipwrecked on North Korea’s coast?
HIF office: I will let her know.
Student: Thank you very much!

Today Lindsay and I were next to each other again. This time, the dialogue was between friends, and one was complaining about a problem and the other was supposed to give advice.

Lindsay: I have no money!
Veronica: Then you have no choice but to become a thief.
Lindsay: Ah, but how do I do that?
Veronica: First, you become a ninja. And then you apply to the Yakuza (Japanese equivalent of the mafia).
Lindsay: Ah, great idea! I'll do that.

Lucky Pierrot's

Lucky Pierrots (Japanese pronunciation Rakkii Piero, or Rappi for short) is a burger chain here in Japan. They are a representation of the Japanese perception of American food culture – big, super-fried burgers, fries, soda, and ice cream. Also, like McDonald’s, they feature a creepy clown mascot.
I really don’t get why any place would use a clown as a mascot. They’re downright terrifying. (Alright, maybe I watched too much Batman as a kid. I’ve been pretty well convinced that “clown” is synonymous for “homicidal maniac”).

I find the Lucky Pierrot’s clown particular disturbing because the eyes have different pupils – a circle in one, a star in the other. The eyes of the Joker as drawn in Batman: RIP also have different pupils – one dilated, and the other constricted to a pinpoint. (I'm not going to post a picture of that particular version here as it may be a bit scary for the younger crowd, if they're reading).
Ok, so I read/watch too much Batman. I see the Joker in every clown I see.

But even putting the clown issue aside, Lucky Pierrot’s is still on my list of not-ok stuff. (Yup, I have an official list of not-ok stuff. It includes Ugg boots, Lucky Pierrot’s, froofy boy band songs, and my brother’s trucks). (Just kidding Tim.)

Anyway, back to Lucky Pierrot’s. Why is it still on my list of not-ok stuff you ask? Is it the heart-attack-inducing quality of their food? The chintzy décor? The prices?

Nope. It’s actually the kujira burger.

Guess what makes the kujira burger.
…

…

Are you ready for this?

That’s right folks. It’s a whale meat burger. Whaling may be internationally illegal, but Japan has unilaterally defied these laws and continued its whaling industry while claiming it’s for scientific research.

Well, some of the research specimen has been making it to Lucky Pierrot’s for the kujira burger. (The kujira burger is more expensive than the others, but to be served at a fast-food restaurant, I’m guessing what you’re actually getting in your burger is the excretory end of the digestive tract and other unsavory bits, ground up and deep fried. Yum).

It’s one thing to kill a cow for food. It is another matter altogether to hunt what are often endangered animals.

Sorry Japan. I draw the line here. Whaling = not ok.

Wagashi

Wagashi is a traditional Japanese sweet usually made with natural, plant-based ingredients and a whole lot of sugar. Yesterday I got to attend a class to try out making two different kinds: manjuu, and nerikiri.

Manjuu, according to our handout, comes in many varieties. But the general formula is an outside made from flour, rice powder, and buckwheat with a filling of an (red bean paste - 30% boiled azuki beans, 70% sugar!).

First, the cooking school teacher showed us how to do it. First things first, mix your sugar, flour, baking soda, and water to make your outside dough/paste.
Then, with that done, you let it sit while you divide up the an (red bean paste) into even-sized balls.

Then you divide up your outer dough into the same number of pieces as you have an pieces.
Then you wrap your outer dough around the an balls, which is a lot harder than it sounds and a lot harder than he makes it look in this video clip.
(And yes, I epic failed when making this video clip. But there are two solutions.
1. Touch your right ear to your right shoulder. Click play.
2. Turn your computer screen 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Click play.)

After that, you put your manjuu in this wooden box with slats on the bottom (and a thin piece of damp cloth) and spray them with a bit of water.
They then get steamed for 8 minutes in this contraption at the back of the room.
While the demonstration manjuu were steaming, the teacher set us loose to attempt our own manjuu.

Our tools of destruction

Perfectly good ingredients about to be victimized by our inexpert manjuu-making skills

Thankfully someone remembered to close the window before we did this step. (It was pretty gusty--you can imagine how this would have ended if it had been open... though I would have been able to get some pretty funny pictures...)


Caitlin does not seem to confident of her sugar and water mixing skills...

Folding the dough until it has the consistency of an earlobe. No, seriously, that's how he described it. He asked us what English word we had for that consistency and we realized that there really was no word. Epic fail, English, epic fail.

Spraying the manjuu before they get steamed.

The completed product looks pretty much like it does above, so I haven't included another picture. Also, they were delicious. Go team!

Next up was nerikiri. It has the same filling of red bean paste, but the outer paste is made of a mix of Gyuhi (a soft type of mochi) and Shiro Koshi An (bean paste made from navy beans and greyish off-white in color). It is typically used like clay to make decorative-looking wagashi. We added food coloring to the ones we did to make them pink.

Once again, we had the demonstration by the master who made it look easy and did the whole process in about 2 seconds flat.

I took this picture of the mirror behind the demonstration counter. It lets you see a different perspective of what's going on up front. The two pink things in front of him are the nerikiri in progress.

Then we were set loose once again to try our hand at it. It was pretty simple. You wrapped the red bean paste with the pink nerikiri paste and then shaped that ball into something pretty like so:

This was my final product:
And then me and the final product. :)

Yay! It happened in a kitchen and I didn't screw it up!

Last picture of the day is some fancy nerikiri that they put out for us to ogle.

Homesick?

A lot of people have been asking me recently if I'm homesick. In the traditional sense of the word, I would have to say no. I don't really want to go back to the U.S. yet. I really like it here--the food, the culture, the weather. However, it would be really cool if friends and family from the U.S. could come here, because there's lots of stuff I would love to share with them.

On a minor note, however, I would sincerely like a granny smith green apple.
When my host family said that they had green apples, I got so excited. Unfortunately, by green apple they meant:
...which is more like a yellow apple. :(

Oh, and brownies would be nice too.

Dryers

So while we were waiting for the bus for the Sapporo trip, someone commented bitterly that the clothes in their bag were still wet from the washing machine. I said “Oh, you don’t have a dryer at your house?”

Suddenly everyone else turned and looked at me and said “You do?”

In that moment, I became the most envied person at HIF.

Vehicular error

What you can see above is the typical mailbox in Japan. All the mail delivery vehicles are red too.
However, I did not put two and two together for a while and was convinced all the guys on motorbikes with red boxes on the back were pizza delivery guys.

Then the other day while sitting in class we heard a vehicle go buy playing ice cream truck-like music. We all perked up and started commenting about ice cream.
Then Osaka-sensei informed us that the music was actually from a trash truck. I’m glad she explained this because she likely saved some of us from chasing down one of these trucks and then being very disappointed.

The Narrative of Sapporo II: The Two Beers

After my adventure the Chocolate Factory, I returned via the subway to downtown Sapporo. Being the art-interested person that I am, I headed toward the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art.

The subway train

Turns out that they will accept an American college ID for the discounted student ticket. :D

I really liked the collection there, it was all by Japanese artists and refreshingly different from collections I’ve seen in art museums in the US. I really liked this one piece called Kaze (wind) by Sunazawa Bikki.
I was able to do some sketches of this piece and others at the museum since I was flying solo at that point.

Also, it was raining that day and they had a very convenient thing just outside of the museum entrance.

It’s an umbrella rack. You lock your umbrella into one of the slots and take the key with you. When you leave, you unlock your umbrella and leave the key in the slot for the next person. So convenient! They had the same system for your shoes in an izakaya (Japanese style pub) I went to with friends back in the beginning of June. You put them in the locker, take the key, and then grab your shoes and return your key to the locker on the way out.

After the museum I visited the old government building in downtown Sapporo. It had some really gorgeous ponds and gardens around it.


I did a bit of souvenir shopping (got a yukata for myself!) and then I met up with my friend Meagan again in the evening and we walked a very long way to the Sapporo Beer Museum… only to find it closed. :(
But there was this cool train engine there. (I had my picture taken with it because I figured it made an interesting parallel with last summer when I had my picture taken with one of the emergency diesel generators at the power plant I was interning at. Now my summers will not be complete without a picture of me and an absurdly large piece of machinery).


Luckily we also figured out that there was a subway stop just off the edge of our guide map and we were able to take that back to downtown Sapporo.

Sapporo is famous for the beer brand and also for its miso ramen, which consists of thin noodles in a miso (soybean paste) based soup. It is also much more delicious than I just made it sound. And the real ramen over here should not be confused with nor even compared with the 10 cents per block o’noodles stuff over here. So, for dinner, we tried to find Sapporo’s historic Ramen Alley.

Ok, I have to admit this was the only time I failed at navigation over here. But it was really crowded and crazy in this particular part of town and the Ramen Alley actually turned out to be really small and hard to notice.

Anyway, we eventually got there. (If you stand on a street corner with a map and look confused for long enough, inevitably a Japanese person will take pity on you and try to send you in the right direction). (Though in our case we were sent in the wrong direction, but figured in out in the end). We picked from one of the many ramen shops and ordered our miso ramen. Not unexpectedly, it was delicious.

Afterward we headed back to the area of the train station. Out in front of the station, they had a summer beer festival. This consists of lots of tables outside and some vendors with beer and bar-type food. Also, good music. Meagan and I decided that since we were in Sapporo, we may as well try Sapporo namabiiru (literally “raw beer”, actually just beer from the tap).
Ah, the sweet taste of a drinking age of 20. (The beer was good too).

Next time, the conclusion of my adventures in Sapporo! (Or maybe some other posts between that if I’m feeling too lazy to type another huge post. Scratch the maybe and insert a highly likely).

Warning: Laughter May Occur

I don't want to overload you with posts, but I did want to post this video before I forgot. It's a hilarious parody of the various mistaken beliefs about eating at sushi places. Don't believe any of it. Just enjoy.


P.S. If you want to see a bigger version, just click the box with the four arrows in it on the bottom right of the video.

The Narrative of Sapporo I: The Fellowship of the HIF Students (Or not)

(I’ve got a lot to post about Sapporo. To make it easier for everyone at home, I’m going to break the Sapporo blog post up like an epic film—trilogy time! Here’s the first installment.)

Last weekend HIF set me and 33 other students loose in Sapporo.

Sapporo never saw it coming.

Just kidding. Despite the fact that nearly all of us are old enough to buy alcohol here in Japan, shameless shenanigans did not ensue. Indeed, we kept it to levels of dilute debauchery. (And here’s some additional aggravating alliteration!)

Here are some pictures that I took in Sapporo the first night that we were there:
Yup, there’s a Ferris Wheel on top of one of those buildings.
Our room in the Sapporo House Youth Hostel was a little less glamorous:

The best part was you didn’t need an alarm clock because the train tracks ran right over the hostel. I now know that if I ever need to take a train late at night or absurdly early in the morning, the Sapporo train station has me covered.

I took the chance to gallivant about the city on my own as much as possible. As nice as it is to hang out with groups of other HIF students, when it comes to sightseeing, I’d like to see what I’d like to see, not just go shopping and bar-hopping all weekend.

(I have a particular disinclination to group sightseeing after my trip to France in high school – at that point, staying with the group was mandatory. When the group of my high school peers was given the choice between the Louvre and shopping, can you guess what the group of mindless consumption driven* teenagers decided to do? Yeah. Shopping. I was robbed of my chance to explore the greatest art museum in the world and subsequently dragged along to the Louis Vuitton store where I was used as a human calculator to figure out the dollar cost of various purses). (Gee, did that sound bitter?)

Anyway, during my travels on Saturday, my friend Meagan and I went to the Shiroi Koibito Park and Ishiya chocolate factory. Oh yes, I found a chocolate factory in Japan. I’m a chocoholic—I’ve got radar for these sorts of things.
They had a museum with all sorts of cool stuff, like these over-the-top decorative antique hot cocoa cups:


And then all these old school chocolate boxes:


Heck, even the trash can was pretty ritzy (apologies for the awful picture quality on this one!):
And they had these adorable signs when there was a staff entrance:
I’m not quite sure where the cat theme came from, but you also had to follow cat paw prints on the floor throughout the museum.

After the museum and an exhibit about how they make chocolate (that was in a tunnel that was designed to look like it was made out of molten chocolate) you got to see the factory:


You can see them making the Shiroi Koibito cookies that the Ishiya chocolate company is famous for and that the park is named for. They’re comprised of these two thin buttery cookies with white chocolate between and they’re sold exclusively on Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island. We got complimentary ones as part of the tour. :)

After the tour, we stopped in their Chocolate Lounge, which had an amazing view.
I got white chocolate milk (so decadent!) and some chocolate cake (ganache, maybe? At any rate, it was delicious!). Meagan and I were goofing around a bit so I have this lovely picture of me. I am clearly unable to keep a straight face when posing with chocolate goodies. (Actually, I find it difficult to keep a straight face in any situation, desserts involved or not).


After that, Meagan went to meet her Japanese teacher from her home university who was also in Sapporo, and I found my way to the Hokkaido Modern Art Museum… which I will describe in The Narrative of Sapporo II: The Two Beers!

*Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the movie reference here.