It's dusk in Atsugi.

I don't know when or if I'll ever see this view again. The well-lit small building on the left is the empty 学生ホール / gakusei hooru / student hall in the middle of spring break at Tokyo Polytechnic University in Atsugi, my home for the last 3 years.

So many has happened in the last 3 years. I went to Japan, lived on my own, far away from family for about a year. Got married. Lived with my wife in our own little Japanese apartment that we call home. She gave birth to our first baby. I got a doctoral degree. I published 2 papers in an international journal and 1 in a Japanese journal. I made many new friends from around the world. I went to Europe for the first time. And many more things.

Today, I'm leaving Atsugi again. I'll still be in Japan though for just a little while longer. And this is far from goodbye from the Japan! Japan! blog. There's more to blog about Japan, but...

It's dusk in Atsugi, indeed.

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! #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.

Bento! #243: 八丁味噌ラーメン / hatchou miso raamen / Hatcho Miso Ramen

This was around 400 yen at the cafeteria.

It's... not something I'd order again. Actually, a (non-Japanese) friend of mine already tried this before I did and he didn't like it. When I tried it, it's fine. It's not so bad. But it's just not something I'd want. It does have egg, as you can see, some fried tofu strips, and even some chicken so, save for some veggies, it is quite a heavy noodle meal than usual.

Bento! #242: Tonjiru / 豚汁 / Pork soup

That's the one on the lower right. This is the first time I ever tried, and I only got the small one (小豚汁 / kotonjiru) for just a little over 70 yen from the cafeteria, to go along with my renkon (lotus roots) salad and chikin tatsuta don / fried chicken rice bowl. The soup was delicious. I'll probably try it as a standalone dish next time. :D

Bento! #236: Pork something something with some vegetables that turned out to be...

...vegetables with some pork. And it has this karashi / からし / mustard leaves(?) thing that makes it just... I don't want to order this ever again! :(

This was just under 200 yen, I think, at the cafeteria. Together with a yummy dessert, and "S" rice, it was just all a below-400 yen meal.

Bento! #221: Sutamina Buta Kimuchi Don

399 yen for an "M" size from the school cafeteria.

I like Korean kimchi -- which usually means cabbage that is like.. fermented? in chili paste? If you know Korean food, you know what I mean. But here, they mix the kimchi with other stuff. In fact, they offered one dish at the cafeteria for maybe two months now, but I never tried it. It didn't look too appealing -- it's like tofu in kimchi soup. Anyways, hence also, the buta kimuchi / 豚キムチ / pork kimchi. Now this is a "stamina" / sutamina / スタミナ version because it's topped with a semi-raw egg. This makes it more like the "Power Don" I've shown you before, but with kimchi (and also with sesame seeds). It's fine, but I don't think I'll have this again. Oh, and I ate it with spinach on the side, which I hoped to wash away the spiciness a bit. :D

Bento! #210: Hachioji-style Ramen

Hachiouji / 八王子, literally "eight princes," a small town/city in the far west of Tokyo such that it's already to the north of Atsugi (while central Tokyo is about 50km to the east of Atsugi). This one is 420 yen, if I remember correctly, from the cafeteria. The only thing different between this and the regular ramen, I think, are the onion bits you can see on the left. Well actually, I forgot if the regular ramen has half an egg and some spinach. This, also, by the way, is soy-sauce-based. Not bad but not great.

Bento! #208: Kanazawa Sauce Cutlet Curry

Or 金沢ソースカツカレー / kanazawa soosu katsu karee. 399 yen for an "M" size. This one uses chicken katsu instead of the usual pork, plus the sauce feels just a tiny bit spicier than the typical Japanese curry sauce. Came with shredded cabbage and the usual pickled radish.

Bento! #207: Creamy Cheese Hamburger

Or クリーミーチーズハンバーガー / kuriimii chiizu hanbaagaa. Only 294 yen from the cafeteria. Big slab of burger, with a creamy and cheesy sauce (note: it's not cream cheese), some salad veggies, and some fries. Yummy.

Bento! #206: Chikin Namban

Or chikin nanban / チキン南蛮 / fried breaded chicken fillet with tartar sauce and one other sweet oroshi sauce, comes with shredded cabbage / キャベツ / kyabetsu which I poured 1000 island dressing over. Namban actually means "southern barbarians," and was originally used to refer to countries south of Japan; i.e. the Philippines, Indonesia, etc. Note that the n / ん in Japanese, when succeeded by another syllable, is typically pronounced as m, like tempura should actually be tenpura. This one is 294 yen from the cafeteria. I ate it with my usual "S" barley rice, and salad bar salad.

Bento! #194: "Christmas Plate" + Fruits!

Thanks to Okada-san for the photo! Also in the photo: some girl left a hair clip(?) and we included it in the photo. :D

Christmas Plate / クリスマスプレート / kurisumasu pureeto, 460 yen from the cafeteria. It was their holiday special; I got this on December 21, 2012, the last weekday they were open before Christmas. Incidentally, on that evening, there were probably two Christmas parties in campus. I saw at least three Christmas trees. Cool.

The "Christmas Plate" consists of omelette rice / オムライス / omu raisu, with demi glace sauce on top of the egg on top of "ketchup rice." Plus some roast chicken fillets with salsa on a bed of fries. And mashed pumpkin salad on a bed of lettuce.

I also got the bowl of fruits, another special maybe only for this day, with pineapple (パインアップル / painappuru), kiwi (キウイ / kiui), strawberry (いちご / ichigo), orange (オレンジ / orenji), grapes (グレープ / gureepu, or 葡萄 / budou), and apple (りんご / ringo), all for only 180 yen.

Yummy, yummy, yummy. I love salsa!

Have a yummy new 2013, everyone!

Bento! #193: Spicy Soba

It's the bunch of noodles by the top of the photo.

From the "buffet" cafeteria. Didn't check what it is actually called in Japanese - sorry! Anyways, it wasn't so spicy, and in fact it tasted great. :) No spiciness, no fireworks. Nonetheless, have a great 2013 ahead!

Bento! #192: Stir-fried pork with cabbage and green bell peppers

I forgot to check what this is called, but that's exactly what it is. There are some onions and black peppers and maybe soy sauce for seasoning. Tastes a little bit like some Filipino dishes. I put it on a bed of lettuce as well, and got two cherry tomatoes, cream puff, rice, and Chinese-style soup. All for under 400 yen. Pretty good.

Bento! #190: Tan tan men

Very spicy, Chinese-style ramen noodles. But this is actually Japanese-style, with the egg and the little bit sweet meat, and not very, very spicy unlike in actual restaurants and maybe unlike in China. To me, it looks like spaghetti with the water undrained. Check out Wikipedia.

Bento! #186: Chiizu Guratan Hamu Katsu

Or チーズグラタンハムカツ / Cheese Gratin and Ham "Cutlet." It's just 105 yen each from the cafeteria, it's that thing on the lower right. I also got sasami chiizu katsu / ササミチーズカツ / chicken fillet and cheese "cutlet," that thing on the upper left (157 yen each), but this time I used tonkatsu sauce, instead of ketchup. For the CGHC, I tried it with ketchup and mayo.

It's the typical thickness of ham, but it's not how thick it is in their photo. But oh well. This felt more like okonomi katsu though. With not so much meat, this felt more carbs than protein. Won't probably try it again, but who knows. :D

Bento! #185: Buraun Soosu no Yasai

On the upper left, the "Vegetables with Brown Sauce" / ブラウンソースの野菜. But, they explained that it's basically demi glace sauce. Just as I suspected. There's broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and pumpkin in there, but I didn't get potatoes. This whole plate -- inclusive of two grilled chicken fillets, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, half a frankfurter with ketchup, and two cream puffs (ice cream inside!) is just 498 yen. I also have 98 yen (i.e. not so much) of rice on the side.

Bento! #180: "Hashed Beef" Omelette Rice

Or, ハッシュドビーフオムライス / hasshudo biifu omu raisu, still a part of the "X'mas Aussie Fair" at the cafeteria here. 399 yen for an "M" size. It's more like omelette rice with brown sauce. Not so much beef. Wouldn't wanna try this again. But what can you do, you can probably say that, here, eggs are generally more expensive than regular beef, especially Australian beef. Oh, and they described the omelette as "soft scrambled eggs." That's just exactly what it is.

Bento! #179: Ton Kara Raamen

Sorry for the blurry photo!

Or, spicy pork ramen. Ton / とん = buta / ぶた = 豚 = pork / pig. Kara(i) / 辛(い) = spicy. Whoops, I forgot how much, but somewhere around 400 yen. Or less. Or more. I forgot, sorry!

Bento! #177: Oojii Biifu Don

Oojii biifu don / オージービーフ丼 = Aussie Beef Rice Bowl. Apparently with shariapin soosu / シャリアピンソース / Chaliapin sauce, which as they explained is a minced onion sauce. They also call it "grilled beef," but it doesn't really look like grilled beef to me. It's more like boiled beef strips. And it felt oily - may be it was fried? Here, the word "grilled" / yaki could mean either fire-grilled or teppan-"grilled" (which is more like pan-fried). Anyway, comparing this to the previous Aussie Fair meal I had, apparently it would seem to them that Australians would always have potato and broccoli to go with their beef. In this case, it's actually three star-shaped hashed browns (or ハッシュドポテト / hasshudo poteto / hashed potato to them). I got the "M" size don for 399 yen.