Live from Japan!

A few weeks ago Aaron and I had gone for a little stroll through Nagoya. As we were walking around we found a little diner that had a neon Leinenkugel’s sign in the front window. We were shocked, we were ecstatic, we could barely believe that their was an establishment so close to home that sold the brew we so closely associated with our hometown.

When we found the place, we weren’t quite hungry for dinner yet, so we decided to return once we were done with our shopping.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, last night I had an enkai with all of the english teachers from Kano High School. It was a great deal of fun. It was also quite a wake up call to me, remembering my interaction at my welcome party with the English staff, now so long ago. I have really made some good friends of many of the teachers now. I feel I am part of the group. I was more or less a part of the interactions all night, and able to joke and follow the conversation, even when the Japanese surpassed my ability. (But i was even surprised by what I could understand.)

Unfortunately this meant they were more willing to freak me out perhaps. Since coming to Japan I have eaten many things that I did not recognize. Ranging from “imo” which is NOT a potato as I know it. To sushi containing “organ of crab”, as it was explained to me. In this second one I was almost sad I had asked what it was that I was eating. Maybe, I thought, you are better off knowing.

Last night however I experienced an extreme version of this.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday night my school had an enkai to celebrate the retirement of both of our vice principals. Given that both are retiring this year, the party was a little larger filled with all the pomp and circumstance necessary for two people who have each given more than 35 years of service to working and teaching in Gifu. They are both awesome people and they will, for sure, be missed.

At the enkai there were so many traditional Japanese foods. Many of them were recognizable to me after having seen and tried them many times. Several still were unfamiliar.

Fortunately, I was sitting at a table with people who were willing to entertain my questions about the food. In fact, it was nice because it gave us something to talk about. Most of the time I would point to an unfamiliar food and say, “kore wa nan desu ka, eigo de” (What is this, in english?). The person I asked would look at the food, think for a minute and give me a reply. I found out that one of the items I ate, after I ate it and nearly spit it out, was oyster. Good to know that I don’t like that.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I was supposed to write a post about Popeye’s in tokyo, way back when and it kind of sat in my writing queue forever. I had started a couple of times and it just wasn’t flowing. Then I decided to revive that post with some information about a couple of pubs we visited in Osaka, but this also did not flow. I will give it one more try with some company from the Sapporo brewery.

Read the rest of this entry »

The big tradition here on Christmas is to go to Kentucky Fried Chicken. I have no idea how or why this tradition started, but I think it has something to do with the fact that they know that Westerners eat poultry on Christmas. Anyways, who were we to try to stray from tradition on our first Christmas in Japan. We went to KFC and enjoyed the fried chicken and now our arteries will probably need an entire year to recover from that attack. Anyways enjoy the photos!

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we got a package from danielle’s mom. She was sending us some class room essentials, stickers, candy, that kind of thing. Danielle got the bag at work, and for the most part I knew what was coming in it. Not specifics but general ideas. However, I learned a lesson about how you may not realize what you are missing.

Read the rest of this entry »

About a month ago we were invited over to Aaron’s supervisors house for a dinner party. I loved having the chance to visit a locals house and eat a homemade meal (not prepared by me).

They served many things, but the main course was te-maki (hand sushi). As soon as they explained what we were supposed to do, I couldn’t get enough. It was delicious, simple to prepare, and so much fun!

Sushi has always been a favorite of mine when we go out. But now, te-maki has become somewhat of a staple at our own home. A good meal to make on a busy night.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have some news for you all. Persimmons are a Gifu product. It’s true! The grow a lot of persimmons here. You want to know how I know this? Because danielle and I can’t seem to go a day without somebody giving us some persimmons. It has been rather crazy.

Neither Danielle nor I had ever had a Persimmon before coming to Japan. At first people were rather surprised of this and gave us a few to try. Before we could let our first few ripen, however, we had gotten 11, and they wouldn’t stop coming. We felt a little bad, but when one of our american friends tried to give us a bag he had gotten cheap, we both screamed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Outside of Tsukiji were a number of retail markets and restaurants where you could buy and enjoy many of the fish that we saw in person at the wholesale market. Ben referred to Tsukiji as the nine rings of fish hell, I suppose this retail area was just another ring.

As we walked around, seeing sushi restaurants packed with tourists, we decided to pass on the sushi. It was simply way too early for raw fish. At 7am in the morning, most of us were craving a proper breakfast not raw fish on rice. That didn’t stop us from walking around and looking at the offerings.

We looked, long and hard, for cuttlefish coin. I think that if we had found a restaurant offering it, we would have moved beyond the early hour, and treated ourselves to a bit. But, cuttlefish coin was not to be found.

We did, however, find common cuttlefish.

And cuttlefish tentacles.

And we found some sushi that we have no idea what it is. Sometimes it is funny when the English translations don’t help anymore than the Japanese.

One of the best things about going to festivals, in any country, is the wide variety of festival foods to eat and enjoy. While Japanese festival foods are a little different than those in America, they are just as unhealthy and delicious.

When we attended the Seki Sharp Things Festival and the Mino Paper Lantern Festival, I enjoyed the festival foods as much as the actual festival. There is always such variety and color in the food stands.

Read the rest of this entry »