Apologies + What is Usuter Sauce?

The better question to ask, actually, is: "Is there such a thing as Usuter Sauce?"

Declining Birth Rate in Japan? An economist suggests... Start A Handsome Tax!

Check out this article on SourceFed.

You know, heat on the jewels, they say, reduces semen count. Like, my wife is discouraging me from actually using my laptop on my lap. But you know, Japanese like taking a hot bath in the tub, like, every night. See any connection there?

Also, I see shy people. I see unfriendly people. I see distant people. I see "we can only be friends up to this level" people. I see reserved people. I see "this is the Japanese way" people. Open up. Go out. Date. Touch. Tradition is tradition, sure. But it doesn't have to stay that way. Not everything.

Well, that's just what I see.

Bento! #266: Cafeteria Tan-Tan Men + Gyoza

Thanks to Okada san for the photo.

I actually ordered this again on another day because I forgot to take a photo of it when I ate it with the tantanmen.

Perfect combination. Forgot the prices though, but I'm sure this is all around 500 yen only. 

Also, I forgot if they call the ramen as tantanmen or "Taiwan ramen."

Incidentally, today is also a "perfect combination" : 13.4.4 (April 4, 2013). 1+3 = four / 4 / 四 / よん / yon, which is sometimes pronounced as shi, as in "April" / 四月 / しがつ / shigatsu, which is the same pronunciation as for "death" in both Chinese and Japanese and so... it's an unlucky number in Chinese (like they don't have floors with the number 4 in their buildings). But it's not so much like that for Japanese (like they have 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th, and 40th to 49th floors, etc.).

Bento! #265: Fried Xiao Long Bao

510 yen for 6 pieces of this 上海名物 / shanhai meibutsu / Shanghai specialty that's sold at this small store in Machida, Tokyo. And about a 15 minute wait?

A story of love and hate in Japan

UPDATE: The original video has disappeared. Thanks to reader Grin Isobe who has pointed this out. I have since replaced the link. If this goes down again, I recommend to search YouTube for "japan a story of love and hate BBC". Alternatively, you can find the official video on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/ondemand/japanastoryofloveandhate.

Where can a white man go to not find himself privileged?

In case you didn't know yet, I ain't white. And being Asian, though not East Asian, I think if I studied the language (including their intonation/accent) and culture well enough, I could blend right in and no local would ever know except close friends. Alas, having an engineering and research "job," it is difficult to find enough time to become that person. It would be really great for life in Japan.

http://www.quora.com/Racism/Where-can-a-white-man-go-to-not-find-himself-privileged

Goodbye, Softbank.

Coffee mug from SoftBank, given to my friend who availed of one of SB's "promos."

I hope you continue to do well. I'll be cancelling my account with you soon. I hope you can also unlock my almost-3-year-old iPhone 4.

Bento! #256: Sarada Maki

There was some event one Sunday (last February 3, 2013 to be exact), and I didn't know what it was nor heard of anything about it. But they had a ton of maki (or rolls; more commonly known as sushi rolls) of different kinds at the supermarket. So I got me the "salad roll" / サラダ巻 which was a pretty good meal.

Bento! #254: Spam + Nori + Rice = Spam Musubi?

This was around 450 yen at the supermarket. I wanted the "low sodium" one, but it wasn't available when I went to the supermarket.

+

I bought the cheapest one with 5 packs of this size. I think it was not more than 200 yen for the 5-pack bundle.

+

rice

=

??

Don't come to Japan if you are this kind of gaijin.

Check out this video:



If you check out the video on YouTube, there are links to helpful information in the video description. The essence of it is this, but I still strongly encourage you to watch the video. It's not just meant for Westerners; it's for everyone even thinking of coming to Japan. But I hope you can understand English.

"If you can't adapt to different places... If you have trouble with the food... If you can't stand changing their culture... If you feel strange in a different place... Do not come here."

This Must Be the Coolest University Graduation Ceremony on Earth #japan

From Kotaku.com:

"...At the Kanazawa College of Art's graduation ceremony..., new grads dress up in costumes as they take to the stage and receive their degrees."

Image from Kotaku.com.

Check out the link for more photos: http://kotaku.com/5987807/this-must-be-the-coolest-university-graduation-ceremony-on-earth?post=57887644

Thanks to my friends R and C for sharing this link.

When you come to Japan, it's good to know the language.

Check out this photo:

Note: I already used 6 and so I'm left now with just 2.

You know what it is -- it says "colored spoon." Above it is the description of the contents in Japanese, and it says カラフルスプーン / karafuru supuun. Did you read that out loud? It actually reads more like "colorful spoon." This is just a trivial thing but this is essentially representative of things you might have trouble with when coming here.

Japanese-style marriage proposals #didyouknow #not-so-known-Japan

"Can you prepare my miso soup everyday?"

"Can you shine my shoes everyday?"

"Can you be my miso soup?"

If a "Gaijin" does it in Japan, it could be like this:

Bento! #248: Corn and Potato Salad

It's the one on the lower right, which you can see I ate with sanma yaki which I've blogged about earlier. You can also probably see that there's volumetrically more cabbage in there than either corn or potato. :D  It's コーンとポテトサラダ / koon to poteto sarada in Japanese, by the way.

Before cherry trees bloom, the plum trees bloom first.

The little buds already started to appear from about 3 weeks ago. But this week, they're not yet in full bloom. It is still a welcome sight, that reminds us that spring and cherry blossoms and more comfortable temperatures are just a few more weeks away.

Bento! #241: Sausage Napolitan (Spaghetti)

460 yen from 3F.

And as opposed to just plain sausage (sooseeji / ソーセージ) slices in other versions of napolitan / ナポリタン spaghetti here, this has one full-length sausage! (Sausage here is normally just 1/3 this one.) Plus there's some ham! Plus, there's some egg! Plus, some green pepper slices! Yummy. I love carbonaramara and her carbonaras, but for spaghetti, I love red/tomato-based sauces! (Same is true with pizza. :D)

Bento! #239: Another kind of salad from 3F

298 yen, as you can, see. Quite expensive, though this one has some olives, a slice of tomato, some radish, some yellow bell peppers -- which are expensive -- on top of the usual suspects. Plus it comes with a really nice salad dressing that I like a lot. The only thing I can surmise from its taste is that there's onion and vinegar. And maybe some black pepper. Which is good enough for me. :D

But, underneath all those fancy colors is nothing but shredded cabbage. And thus my claim of this being expensive.

Bento! #238: Chikin Namban Bentou / チキン南蛮弁当

This is sort of becoming a fad here, it seems. This one is 498 yen from 3F:

It is yummy, but not something I'd desire to eat again. Forgive the presentation below, it got a little messed up during transport:

And you can see there's that karashi again on the rice, and what looks like salmon roe, but is actually plum, I guess. And some black & white sesame seed sprinkles. As it seems, chikin namban as a food basically means fried chicken with tartar sauce. There's also a side salad of some seaweed, soy beans, tofu shreds, and carrots.

"Itsumo" lyrics and translation - final correct version?

いつも

Many have already attempted this before, but I think these are the exact words used in the lyrics of the chorus of "Itsumo," the rap song by Dice & K9, a Filipino rap group, as well as the more correct translation. "Itsumo" is basically a rap song in English, but with a melodic chorus in Japanese. To refresh your mind (or to introduce you to the song), here is the link to the official music video. Sorry, because of content restrictions, I can't embed the music video directly.

If you listen to the song without native-speaker-level Nihongo, or if you just check out the lyrics scattering around the internet, you might think it's this:

Itsumo kokoro we hoshi itsuka
dare katu mata koi nei utchitimo
itsumo kokoro nei eiro itsumo
anata dake no basho ga aru kara

Everyone knows what itsumo means - "always." And people have probably gotten the 2nd and 4th lines right, because they are the same exact lines in the popular song, "First Love," by Japanese-American Hikaru Utada (宇多田 ヒカル). But well, not everyone has. Here are the more correct lyrics in the correct Romaji form:

Itsumo, kokoro he hoshii,
Itsuka, dareka to mata koi ni ochite mo.
Itsumo, kokoro ni iru.
Itsumo, anata dake no basho ga aru kara.

Of course, when someone (specially a non-native Japanese speaker) sings the above lyrics, they probably won't come out as spelled out.

If we translate the lyrics now literally, we have:

Always, to my mind, I like
Someday, with someone again (I) will fall in love also.
Always, in my heart is (you?)
Always, for you only there is a place, that's why.

And the more correct(?) translation:

I always like to think that someday, I could also fall in love with someone again.
Because you are always in my heart, where there is always a place only for you.

Any objections? :D

Anyways, if you're interested, you can also check out Google's translation at this link.

Cherry Blossom Forecast for 2013!

Photos of blooming sakura trees in Yoshinoyama, from japan-guide.com.

This is the best resource I found on the web for cherry blossom forecasts. Note that these forecasts only come out usually in February, and they could change as the dates near. Also, note that the dates are different per location. Basically, the more up north a place is, the later the cherry blossoms bloom.