高野山の寺の晩御飯

高野山の寺で
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

A photo of me at dinner in a temple in the mountain-top village of 高野山(Koyasan). It was delicious and whilst I did regret taking Mr Vego there the meal did consist of a lot of the pickled vegetables his is little fond of. It was a fine spread! I love the way that traditional Japanese food sets everything out so prettily in little portions of ennumerable items. I pity the washer-up but it has a way of making you feel satisfied that doesn't really come with a meal of one bowl no matter how large. I'm not sure if it was this or the unbareable heat which had me eating so sparingly over the Summer, but the onset of Autumn and Winter (plus never-ending study) have put paid to that little trend . . .

I don't have much to say for myself today . .

Oh, the goes a little bug which reminds me of why I was up til 2am this morning!
I was giving my room a weekly once over and also trying to tidy away a whole lot of class papers so that I could get a handle on what homework was what, when I discovered a repulsive sight. I had seen a few little flying creatures in my room of late but I assumed they were the result of neglecting a little bag of decaying vegatable matter out on my balcony . . last night I discovered otherwise . . I strange covered water outlet that has evidently been harbouring a colony of grime and little flying things . . nausating as it was to deal with I put on my headphones and scrub away and I think my room should smell all the sweeter for it. I had been trying to take the 'live and let live' approach to the critters but while I could with the odd companion or two to maintain my sense of the natural world, an entire working network of the blighters was a few too many!

Did the usual toing and froing between school and home that Tuesday involves, and also took Lane's English class in 5th period. I tried hard but it was a bit of a flop with only two attendees - Hyok and I called it a night when Kaori had to go home early for her part-time job. Then I bumped into Ryoko in the computer labs and we sauntered over to the library, meeting Keiko for a chat on the way - it's cold but refreshing to be outside - you dress up warm to deal with the low temperatures but then you end up sweltering and faigued from the strength of the heating. My contacts were itchy all day as a result!

Anyway, in keeping with the photo I thought I'd give you a recipe as food for thought, or perhaps more . . It's very simple and yummy as!

Tofu-Chawanmushi

材料 (zairyou) Ingredients:
1 cake of tofu (225g) I used momen which is the firmer of the two most commonly available types of tofu in Japan.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
20 gingko nuts - Alex and I used packet ones so we didn't have to try and shell them but I think fresh is much better - I got some last week from Kyoko but have yet to eat them - should do that soon - apparently you just place a few in a paper bag in the microwave for a few minutes - take them out and they should be ほくほくする(hokuhokusuru - I can't explain that term terribly well but think of it as 'piping hot')
4 shrimp (Americans! Prawns! Bloody prawns! Vegos feel free to leave them out - we did as Alex may be allergemic to shellfishes and we weren't keen to test the theory)
4 shiitake
12 stalks of mitsuba (or young spinach leaves)
Seasonings:
1 1/2 cup of dashi (I think you vegos could easily substitute this with a bit of salty water of vego stock)
1 tablespoon of light (who's checking?) soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu)
1 teaspoon of mirin
1/3 teaspoon of salt

作り方 (tsukurikata) Method:

1. Rinse tofu, wrap in cotton cloth and press to remove moisture. Then puree in a blender (or if you are 'tough' like me, or simply lacking in a blender, you can have a go at it with a whisk or even a fork!)

2. Thoroughly mix tofu, eggs and seasonings.

3. If you've laid your hands on real gingko you need to crack and remove the shells, drop them in lightly salted boiling water to remove the thin brown skins that are apparently on them - I have yet to actually attempt this . . . Do similarly to the prawns should be wanting them - cooking them lightly in salty water. If using dried shiitake soak them in warm water until they soften, cutting off and discarding any stems (they always want you to do that - I don't get why!). Cut the mitsuba into 1-inch (2.5cm) lengths.

4. Pour water into the steamer and set over high heat.

5. Divide tofu-egg mixture amoung 4 cups, placing 5 gingko nuts in each cup and arranging mushroom and prawn on top.

6. Place the cups in steamer but do not cover them. Wrap the lid of the steamer in a teatowel so that condensation will be absorbed and be prevented form dripping onto the Chawanmushi.
Make sure it's tied up away from any flame . . we don't want any house fires! That wouldn't result in very tasty Chawanmushi at all!

7. Cook on high heat for 2 mintutes, then reduce heat and steam for a further 10 to 12 minutes. Shortly before the Chawanmushi sets sprinkle on the mitsuba.

8. To check they are ready insert a toothpick into the centre. It say 'When ready the soup should come out clear' - whatever that means - I just wobbled them around a bit and after about 10 minutes they were obviously set fine, though I must admit I put in more than the required amount of tofu.

9. If using the lovely Chawanmushi cups, a set of which I want sooo much, then cover before serving. Usually for Japan, generally eaten with both a spoon and chopsticks!
* Can also garnished with nori and grated wasabi.

Go forth and enjoy my friends!

This post has taken forever and now I must attend to my studies!

久しぶり yet again!

I blame the lack of photos to accompany posts for the lack of communications! Which is not to say that I have no photos but simply that I suck with t-t-technology and thus accidently used up my photo uploads by mistake. It has actually been a very busy period that involved a whole tonne of study, sightseeing, and shopping and eating (otherwise described as 'conversation classes'). I finally have some more winterish clothes so that I don't turn into such an iceberg! Also discovered some amazing 'hot socks' - little slippers made of polar fleece material which I liked so much that I bought a few pairs and they keep my toes toasty!!

I don't know that I can even remember half of what I have done this past week . . .

Last Friday . . oh yes! We had a trip to Kure with Drunk Sensei - went to the Kure Museum mainly the Yamato battleship and the naval history of Kure. Seemed a little odd to be visiting a place so obviously steeped in militaristic pride, etc especially as I was in a group half comprised of Koreans. Nor could we realy bothered trying to decipher the loads of Kanji and mainly contented ourselves with reading the amusing random English translations of area titles. Then we ate masses of suikiyaki - which is ace! - had lots to drink and got navy hats, before drunkenly making our way home to . . I think we watched a movie . . as we couldn't manage much else . . oh yeah! I think it was the samurai movie called 'When the Last Sword is Drawn' and I was evidently the only one paying attention as no-one else was moved to tears . . . many there were other reasons for that though . . I think O-san hung out with us then too - oh yeah! SHe came down at about 12pm in her PJs thinking no-one would be around - they were pretty funny PJs too - but pertty standard from what I have seen of the winter offerings coming out!

I do believe that Saturday must have been a lateish wake up after that night . . oh yes! no . . I still can't remember what I did that day . . Oh! that's right I there was a festival in town and so I thought to go in run some errands and check it out but then I got sidetracked and spent a whole lot of money on new items! A new hat, three warm tops at bargain prices and other miscellaneous goods for my countrypeeps for Christmas.
Then we had a group cooking session with some people at the kaikan (Alex, Ban-san (Vietnamese), Mika, Kuruma (both Japanese) and Helen? (Korean). That was yummy and fun, and followed by a late night walk with the girls.

Sunday I went to Itsukaiichi to meet up with Kyoko - we planned to go bowling but it was busy to we went to a secondhand bookstore an I bought some books that I indoubtably not have to read but I thought they'd be good practise when I get back to Adelaide. Then we had Chanpon for lunch, it is apparently a 名物 (meibutsu) of 長崎 Nagasaki (where I will hopefully get before heading back home, as my friend Ryoko is from there). It was a waayyy yummy - rice noodles, lots of vegetables and some seafood in a rich coconuty soup. Following which I shamed Australia with a woeful round at bowling. We then checked out the other side of the station where we found a Promart (the wholesale style grocers which stocks reasonably priced items that you might find hard to get in a normal supermarket. Though the best find was a sweets shop that sold traditional sweets and I got to eat more 黒ゴマ (kurogoma - black sesame) products. This time it was　ゴマ団子 (sesame filled mochi (pounded rice) balls) on a stick - super yummy!
Then I bought more Hot Socks and headed off to meet Maki at the Miyajimaguchi (宮島口)ferry entrance so that we could head over to Miyajima (again) to check out the autumn leaves in their final glories!

It is the most busy I have experienced Miyajima being and I must say that I thought that the colours I saw in Miwako were ust as good if not better, but I think these were past their prime. Maki and I wandered around for a while, up, down and around the 紅葉谷 (momijidani - Maple Leaf Valley). We tried to sabotage one of the noisome 鹿 (shika - deer) by Maki yielding up her biscuits to the creature, plastic and all, then went to indulge in 揚げ紅葉饅頭 (agemomijimanjuu - deep-fried maple leaf-shaped cakey sweets). We also ducked into the 千円 (1000yen) shop where I found a good Xmas gift for the Midge.
We decided it was dusky enough to prove it had been a day well spent and we caught the ferry back to go and have dinner at Maki's - Okonomiyaki - I really think that I will have to start a shop when I get back to Adelaide! No-one knows what they are missing! I spent a goodly deal of time trying to assist Maki with making her decisions about art school, etc. Don't know how I manage to give decent advice to anyone about how to choose for the future, given my own inability to help myself right now, but she seems to think I'm brilliant at it. Maybe I just know how to bullshit well when it comes to applications and work in the visual arts.
Her parents are so lovely and we hd a great time making the okonomiyaki ourselves - Hiroshima style no less! Which ain't so easy for those of your thinking it's just a case of that pour-it-all-in-and-flip Kansai thing!
Also of note is that they invited me to stay with them for お正月 (Oshougatsu - New Years) which is way exciting as I thought I might be spending the holiday of Christmas-like proportions with nothing to do! Apparently we 'have' to all pitch in and make the special New Years food ahead of time - You can see the disappointment writ clear across my face can't you?!!!!
They tried to get me to stay the night but knowing Maki's love for talking an staying up late, the fact that I had first class the next day and that I didn't have my textbooks with me, I politely declined. This proved fortutious as on the serene ride home I received a not so serene distress email to my phone with led to a conversation online that lasted til I was falling off my chair at 3am . .
. . and that's just the start of a week that features sleep deprivation - serendipitously, we studied a listening passage about sleep depravation in a class.

Other highlights included dinner with the English girls, a daytrip to 鞆の浦 (Tomonoura) near Fukuyama (福山), a sleepless Thursday night which led to insanely hyper-active behaviour all Friday and a drinking and movie session with Evan, Alex, Lane and O-san (The Island and Team America). Which brings us quickly to this past weekend when I hung out with Ryoko, had all-you-can-eat lunch with was yum but coincided with my fatigue catching up with me and thus sent me to sleep til it was time go out for dinner and first day of showing Harry Potter. Cos I've fallen for Harryyyy Potterrr! Other incidents of semi-interest but I must away! Then yesterday I dragged myself out of bed with difficulty and spent that day in the company of Kyoko window-shopping, chatting and checking each other's homework . . .

Then a story of memory fly above the table . . .

No wonder the Japanese like their cafeterias!
NB. This was not something that Kyoko wrote but a part of a presentation that she was collating, and that her other group members had written. Very interesting . . . I wonder if my Japanese sounds like that . . But Kyoko and a shop assistant spent a goodly deal of time discussion of my amazing Japanese prowess whilst I was trying on some clothes . . It was funny as the were talking about me and how I know lots about Japan, like lots of things that foreigners usually can't deal with and my use of Hiroshima-ben (dialect). However, they seemed to find it surprising that I would laugh at what I overheard, as if they hadn't thought I would understand . . well, it's always nice to have people tell you how good you are, no matter how humble you may be! But does this mean I should spend about 5000yen on a tiny little jacket, even if it is super cute ?

Ahhh!
That's nothing like bit of procrastination for producing a long post!
I will wait to update y'all on the rest of the exciting - stay tuned for the next thrilling installment!
Hopeing I should be able to get some photos up again soon to brighten this dull patch of ether.

OH! A shout out to Denni! I'm super glad you're not dead or anything! What would have happened to the earth if animal magmatism had fallen out of balance ?! Hope you recover well with that personal, sharply dresed nurse at your beck and call. I'm working on my wings but they're still not up to the long distances required for the trip home and back - I fear I'd end up crashing into a Bali jail or something to join all of my fellow countrypeeps.

I really must go home and do some homework now!! Oh dear! I feel like a white rabbit . . .

文化祭

文化祭
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Thought the blog was in need of a photo for enlivenment . . . What's with all that text, I ask you ?!

This is a photo of some of the Link girls making Takoyaki （たこ焼）batter balls with squid and other goodies inside . . hmmm Takoyaki . . haven't had that for a while lately. Anyway, the International Link club - tends to be kids that are learning a foreign language and want to do an international exchange. Lately the club appears to have gone to shit I and think that there has recently been a sucession, but these girls are all really nice and I'm quite good friends with some of them. From left to right there is Kaori, Keiko, Haruna (not so sure about that though as for a while I used to think two people were one and the same), my LOTR-loving buddy Marie, Akiko (don't she her all at often, but I think I remember her name arightly!) and Kana.

This was taken at the School Festival a couple of weeks back. Alex and I went up for the afternoon, ate a whole lot of Japanese style festival junk food and then felt tired so we called it quits at an early hour. It's was cool to see the festival in full swing though, especially interesting to note how the food all of the clubs made was still very Japanese in style despite being on the fast-food, random made-by-unskilled-kids-having-fun side. I suppose it was just one of those ocassions when the little things clearly reflect the overriding differences in culture, etc.

I had my Nausicaa presentation and I am supremely glad it's out of the way now.
I'm starting to feel really fat and gross these days for just not getting out enough due to the silly amounts of work that I have been trying to undertake.

It's interesting to observe the work ethics of the newer exchanges students and compare them to my experience last semester. Evan and I are surprised by how most of them don't really push themselves at all. They don't seem to grasp the idea that classes are to help you live life once you step out the door and are faced with a society speaking a foreign language. They continue to think of study as some sort of imposition and give the impression that they are quite happy to insulate themselves in some weird kind of little bubble of English language and Western culture transplanted; safe in their easy position looking on at the spectacle around them.
Of course, everyone is different and have varying aims, but it's so odd to compare our attitudes.
I suppose it's given me more drive to get out and enjoy myself in the country more before I have to come home again. Thus I should go home now and try and get some work done so that I have more time for hanging out with peeps on the weekend!!

OH!! A travesty occurred in second lesson yesterday! My 携帯 (keitai - mobile phone) feel out of my pocket - no big deal, happened many a time before - but this time with terrible consequences!! My little Kodama phone strap figurine suffered an untimely divison of corpus!! Now all I have of a once cute little guy is a distressingly ugly head! Wizard will be giggling with glee and believe this no longer necessitate his bringing out the scissors upon my return, but I'm sadddd. It were given me by a boy, don't you know!!

Now I should go home, rug up and take a constitutional!

黒ゴマ

Black sesame products rock my world!
The latest find it sachets of some weird mix of ground black sesame and beans that you added to milk, or soy milk, as the case may well be. I think this is the start of beautiful new friendship - oh! the long, late nights won't seem quite so lonely any longer! Given that I hate the taste of coffee unless it contains fatal amounts of sugar this could be the new power drink of a lifetime. As well as making me taste positive for opium - just an added bonus.

BTW tonight I had a lovely dinner out at an Izakaya just down the street with Alex and O-san - those girls are way fun! Plus the food was tops! I love お吸い物(o-suimono - hotpot of rice, salty stock, egg and often with fish)！ Don't understand the fuss about sushi in Australia when we are missing out on Chawanmushi, Suimono and Okonomiyaki! I'm all for Alex's idea of starting a new chain of restuarants!

Well, I give up on my Nausicaa report for the night - who's bleeding idea was it to study that blasted complicated manga for my self-directed study?! Imbecile! 知らない言葉はいっぱいあるよ！
Ughh! I have to be at school early again tomorrow!

I don't like Mondays

THEY SUCK!

Today was the day of the dreaded test that I have known was coming for some time. I hate the class so darn much that despite usually being such a conscientious student I just couldn't bring myself to bear coping with the grief of struggling with the unintelligible and absract grammar. I never do the homework as it's so much easier to do all of the other work that is required for all of my other classes and then tell the teacher it was just too hard - which it rather is!

I think that whilst my head is now rather split from the past 5 hours of grappling with the intricacies of minute differences of near identical grammar conjugation and usage, but I think I have finally come upwith some sort of hold on how one might go about trying to understand the stuff. However, this new found knowledge did very little to offset the otherwise highly unprepared situation into which I had cornered myself. Thus I now feel like kicking things hysterically and letting tears of immense frustration flow freely.

Unfortunately (though perhaps fortunately for my dignity) I can indulge in no such thing as I had mountains of work continung stacking up and to top it all off I must present my Nausicaa report this week - much work still required - and meet with my favourite little Korean buddy about our literature paper. I can't even clearly remember what I was supposed to be writing about . . Man, this is shaping up to be a great week already!

A quick summary of the weekend that kept me from my studies:

Friday night I did some reading on Japanese linguistics - all part of my dreams of studying SLA or something as part of post-grad studies - I'll just keep up the dreaming and 'light' reading. Following which I cooked up the vege dregs of my overly large fridge - perhaps the mould wasn't such a good addition to the overall flavour . . . Hmmm, speaking of which, I think I need a new bag of rice . . Will I ever move out to homestay ? Who knows - right now I just don't have time to try and think about that - It would require so much packing and the like and right now I hardly ever get a moment when I shouldn't be studying - I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew this semester . . . How depressing - I don't want my last 3 months to continue like this - It's not much fun.
Anyway, I was recently reprimanded for careening on with such excessive amounts of detail so I shall try to steer away from the constant harping on my current stresses.
Back to the weekend . . . Friday night people were supposed all be coming over for card games and drinking, however it was bucketing down most of the afternoon and way into the evening. This, along with the fact that as soon as the sun goes down these days it gets freezing, meant that a large proportion intended attendees piked! Whinging Poms, hey! Aren't you supposed to be used to constant rain and cold ?
It ended up a smallish but fun affair and I tried to teach O-san how to make a pineapple and banana cake. It may have been the 梅酒　ume-shu but was more likely just my lacklustre cake baking skills, which resulted in a cake rather stodgey instead of being fluffy as she had requested - I'm still waiting for all of those sponge cake recipes to start flooding in . . the current situation could only be compared to a creek in Kings Canyon at th height of summer.
We proceeded to play a number of card/drinking games whereby Hyok, Evan and Lane consumed a goodly deal of alcomahol (alco-ru in Japanese), Yonosuke turned the most red I have ever seen any Japanese person turn off so little drink, and I got see bits of the highly dubious movie version of Dungeons and Dragons or something while the fact it was all in Japanese probably added to the quality of the dialogue (This was apparently also the case with the lastest Star Wars travesty - judging from our groans of pain compared to the relatively positive impressions of people who followed the Japanese 字幕 jimaku subtitles)
We watched some American TV that Lane had downloaded before O-asn suggested we watch one of the movies she had downloaded. With difficulty The Punisher ended up the choice of the night and I quickly disappeared when it looked like one of the openiing scenes was going to involve the main characters entire family being massacred. . . . I can't help giving too much detail can I ?!

とにかく (Anyway) - I hopped off to my room, but did a bit of emailing before hitting the sack at the rather late hour of 2am. This set the trend for the weekend and meant I slept in til 11am and got very little down by way of study before I was due to walk over to the castle for meeting up with Higuma Sensei - aka Drunk Sensei - he proceded to supply all with drinks and food and despite feeling the need to go home and study I stuck about in town til about 10pm. I was happy that I nicked someone's coat and stayed about for the performances - I forget what type of music it was now - will supplement this post with that information later - but suffice to say that it was wayyyyyyy better than any Lion Dance you might see on a January or February night on Gouger St. It kicked arse! I also got to pose with one of the costumes (very heavy!) on as Higuma Sensei has the most amazing web of contacts (someone once suggested they thought he was somehow involved with Yakuza).
When I got home I figured I should do some work but couldn't bear the thought of the aforementioned grammar and so I stuck out to make some headway on the Honours thesis proposal for next year. Icck - I don't know that it ever made any sense but thanks to Midge for getting it a once over so that I could at least get something in today. I figured that having done so much work doing extra reading and finding out about all of my options I should make some attempt at the proposal - from now on I don't particularly care what happens.

Right, right, too many details!
Ran late to meet my English conversation student as I struggled to get up but had to take some books back to the Peace Park library. Ended up forgetting one anyway so will have to try and get back there soon as the book is now overdue and they'll probably start chopping of limbs in recompense. We had our English convo class and I worked hard for my pay, stifling back yawns. Then we headed off to a tea ceremony as Kikuko's friend is a teacher of this particular style of tea ceremony (which is not the popular macha 抹茶　tea ceremony of green and bitter fame). There I endured sitting seizai for some time which gave me a much better understanding of why it is that traditional old woman, geisha and the like walk around with that shuffling gait. The tea was clear and a little salty it seemed to me, and we received some yummy sweetish sembei (rice craker thingies, but these are not those glazed salty things of which Miss Aliese is so fond). Then it was off across the road ot another friend's glass engraving exhibition and then onto a tram off to west Hiroshima station and on to another friend's Okonomiyaki shop for a wonderful lunch! My lastest big thing is okonomiyaki with mochi in it - ace as! We hung out there for quite some time eating with her friends and I'm to go back for a party there on th 6th of December - sounds like it will be lots of fun. On a Tuesday afternoon after our usual lesson time which may mean missing some school - how sad!

Then Kikuko dropped me back home and I did about half an hour's work before Marie arrived for our cooking party. It was poorly attended but we had a really nice time - O-san (mapo dofu and chauwan), Marie (mini pizza type things on tiny gyoza circles), Alex (she made a fabulous dips and put them in the best bread cob I have eaten in Japan - with a pricetag to match!), Risa (Lisa - she actually hand-made zenzai and warabimochi! 手間がかかる！！ That's stacks of work!!) and I made a big improvement on my cake record with a very successful pineapple cake. Lane also came down and came us company which is always nice. Evan was wimpy and decided that study had to take precedence! Pansy!

Then I passed up a walk with O-san and Alex and procrastinated over my test preparation. I talked to Wiz for quite some time, finalised and sent off my proposal, did 30 minutes or so of study of grammar, had a message from a boy and reflected on how much I love to get emails - Thanks to all of those people who sent me distracting and amusing emails this weekend - everyone played their part in assisting my methods of procrastination and keeping me happily engaged in other activites, and generally feeling remembered and friend-bound!

You know what I noticed today ? Oh - it's different on this computer but on another earlier today the cursor would disappear almost right off the screen on all sides except the lefthand one. This led to me feeling that I could express a little of my frustration without injury to myself or others by repeatedly careering the arrow into that side and watch it beat itself up against the computer's edge . . . hhhmmmm - I reflection, perhaps that's a little bit of bizarre thing to take delight in. I didn't particularly indulge in my discovery but I did note this urge in myself and feel that I should a bee-line for a soft surface for a nap.

Well, this post only goes to cement, for those of you not previously aware, of my inherited (from Nanna Norma) ability to string a series of fairly minor events, facts and happenings into a missive of epic proportions.

I really came to the computer rooms to get my homework done for Sakoda Sensei　（迫田先生）. Due to the impending test in 4th lesson I couldn't go to the lower level Japanese class as I usually do. I regret this as I feel that in terms of practical applicability and all-round general usefulness these class are far in advance of stupid bloody 中級日本語！ I did drop by before the lesson though to make my apologies though I sent an email last night, and I was rewarded for popping by with a black sesame seed sweet (halva step aside!!) from Kyoto - I forget the name of them now - but they are triangular in shape, (as is usually the case) made of rice and often contain an (餡) paste and are a famous 名物 (meibutsu specialty food product)of Kyoto. These were the best!! I am a huge fan of 黒ゴマ(kurogoma black sesame) and have never had these before - get me back to Kyoto today, baby! I'l take anoterh round of that rocking tofu iceceamm too, thank you! It's perhaps fortuitous that I do not live in Kyoto - city of Tofu!

This week's assignment is to write about making a tradtional food of your country - can anyone else see this particular topic appealing to me in the highest?!!!!

What's the time ? I might go soon and look at the road and swear a lot cos I'm not on the bus . . .

Special thanks in this post goes to the lovely Ms LSD for sending me music that got me through the hours of study today minus lunch - Also, I suppose, some credit must go to those crazy Adelaideans who made the stuff our of the sweat and inspiration in the first place!! brillig, frequent seahorse, eiderdown, papertiger, ianto ware and other assorted less frequently listened to, but none-the-less enjoyable, peeps! Why she didn't put herself being brilliant onto the CD as well I don't know - it's been far top long since I got to hear her great work and I'm miss it!! You must all make up for my missing out and check out her site and get to a gig pronto!!

If you don't hear from me from some time to come now that this is because you are demanding too much - look at how much I have just written!!! No, really, I will have turned into a study bug and they don't have big enough digits to effectively utilise keyboards.

The Japanese conspriacy continues . .

The other band I couldn't think of the other day that reference Japan/Japanese in a song is Placebo! First they tried war, then the economy and now it's music . . . we've already had bubble(gum)-music . .

Didn't really get any study done today, but I did some important letter writing and got off presents to my little cousins. Feeling a lot better, thanks to all who sent messages of concern - I even managed to get out of my sickbed-smelling pjs today and decided they needed a wash so I went through the rigmarole of putting a load on and once I'd finished hanging it all up I realised that I forgotten to include the very items I was most intent on washing - silly billy - perhaps not so well yet . . or perhaps that's just normal forgetfulness and old age kicking in!

Right - here goes - I'll try and get in some good quality study and then just call it a night.

Anyone who hasn't yet received a postcard and feels that they are in order to do so one should send me their address as you can be sure that that is the only thing that stands between you and your own exciting piece of Japan!

I am also putting out a call for any good recipes for sponge cake. O-san, my Chinese friend at the kaikan, always wants me to teach her to make cakes and the like as she says Chinese people aren't big cake-makers going in for mandu by way of preference for sweet items. Apparently she's keen of fluffy cakes - damned if I know why, I hate them! Japanese cakes are all like that - just air - not that I'd really know as they are also all full of milk!
So, O-san wants me to find her a good sponge recipe . . . All of you cuisine buffs out there get to work! Pippa and Shelley - I'm looking at you!

東大寺 (Toudaiji - Toudai (east+big) temple)

東大寺
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Man, do we ever look hot in this photo! Strange that it's now so chilly it's getting hard to remember how unbareable the heat seemed to become.

I dazzled a boy with my wits and Japanese language prowess to get him to take this photo - He then insisted on taking another (this one) as he felt his first effort left something to be desired. We probably looked better in the first but you can see the temple better. This building houses the large buddha that I posed earlier and I believe it is the largest, or one of, wooden structure in the world. But when you consider that this current building is significantly smaller than the original, which was destroyed by fire, like so many other old sites in Japan!
Even as it is the building is impressive in scope - I loved the innumerable beams, lofty ceiling and massive wooden support pillars like the monstrous trunks of some giant man-made forest.

I wanted to post a photo that I took of the city lights from my bedroom window last night as a battled insomnia til 2am (does that count as insomnia ?) But somehow I messed up yesterday and my photos got posted up twice thus using all of my months downloads - dammmit! I was being so sparing!

Anyway, you'll have put up with this one of Mum and me in Nara - apart from bein so hot the sky was a perfect blue and it was an enjoyable day. I even managed to ring the special Tofu and Vegetable restuarant that I like to frequent when in Kyoto and make a booking for that evening! Yay for superior phone-calling skills!
Unfortunately, while the restuarant is great and the food amazing, a large group of gaijin came in halfway through our meal and reduced the experience for me considerably - but that is a story for another day!
I should try and do a little study before I go downhill again and have to return to bed!

I read an entire book yesterday! It was an easy and amusing read, but now I'm onto The Origins of the Japanese Language - damn it's a heavy tome! Not so much in weight but in style. The author has just spent 30 pages of convolutedly constructed sentences defining the precise meaning of the title - for goodness sakes man! Get your act and editor together!

明け方 (akegata - dawn)

明け方
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Last night I crawled into bed around 7:30pm, no presentation written and that was it! Despite having intermittant disjointed dreams I didn't wake til 10 to 6 and as I didn't doze off again for over half an hour I got to see the dawn for the first time in a long time! Inspite of my dizzy head I felt compelled to do something with the moment other than down more cold syrup so I took this photo whilst lying in bed. It doesn't really capture the spreading orange and blue glow, or the remaining lights blinking on city buildings but still, it's a record vaguely indicative of what I can see every morning - or what I would see should I not have stayed up excessively late and thus actually be awake at this time of morning.

In the end this morning I decided that, given my head was having difficulty concentrating whilst I was lying down and my eyes are so hurty that they constantly close to springing to tears, I could afford to stay home. So, I hear you ask 'what am I doing out of bed ?' To which I reply 'the world waits for no woman, no matter how sick' and the thesis proposal is still due monday, along with my incomplete presentation tomorrow. However, no-one has seen fit to respond to any of my emails to date and thus I am waiting a little bit longer before heading back to bed! The intermanet is ever the perfect procrastination tool!
Hopefully, I'll recover somewhat by the afternoon or I may as well stay sick for tomorrow! What a chore illness is . . . I really hope I haven't given this to Alex too!

One big bugger . . I mean, Buddha

Daibutsuden, Nara
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

The famous giant Buddha at Nara - it really was a most impressive thing! I was also lucky enough to go twice! The second time I was inundated by Middle School kids from Tokyo wanting to practise their English - ha ha! I was unrelenting in my use of Japanese . . . (what a mean cow!)

I wish that I could take some solace from looking at this rather inspiring sight, but this cold is really getting to me and I just missed the bus home and have to wait over half an hour for the next one. That wouldn't usually be such a problem at all, but tonight I just can't manage to do anything of value.

I had to go home for my teaching session after second period, and upon my return for 4th period my head started hurting and I wished I hadn't bothered with the return trip. There was the second of the presentations of students' interviews with their family members about the postwar period though, which was interesting. However, following this I had started with the best intentions of sticking around at school to try and make some good headway with my presentation for Thursday's Japanese class. I just can't do it!!! It's a struggle to keep my eyes open and every time I move my eyes from the screen to the keyboard (this'll teach me not to be able to touch type better!) I see a weird and horrible flashing yellow squiggle . . . Oh! I have just realised that it's a cord running to the keyboard from the computer - hmm, is this a good discovery or a bad one ? Not sure it's any better a reflection on my state of health . . .

Anyway, I just can't seem to muster the energy for anything and I really must! This bloody presentation has to be presented on Thursday and I should have got it done last week, but didn't.
I have to present about reading Nausicaa the manga and whilst it's enjoyable to read it's slow going with a lot of obscure kanji, particularly unusual combinations of kanji, that are rather specific to this highly imaginative fictional work. Bed is beckoning so invitingly, but Ryoko has agreed to check my work for me tomorrow afternoon and I know if I don't get a little more done on it before tomorrow I'll be up the proverbial creek!
Colds are poo!

But my English conversation session was fun and on Sunday we will be going to a Tea Ceremony and out for Okonomiyaki!
Oh! For the weekend to be here already! I hate to wish the short days of my life away but I doubt this week will be any fun at all!
Well, I should away to this bus!

頑張ります！

紅葉 (kouyou)

Amazing colours of autumn
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Dudes! They have a word especially for to be describing leaves turning red and yellow. They love to look at nature! Not necessarily, get out into it though!

I like this photo from our trip today. I took a few but some disppeared somewhere . . plus it always feels better to be out there in it rather than just looking.

It looks a little calendarish - you know that pretty, but see it anywhere so it's just another 'nice' image . . . but the colours really were so beautiful in all the pouring rain - wasn't too cold though, thankfully - hmmm . . I wonder how much colder it will get ?

How autumnal of us?!

How autumnal of us?!
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

This looks like the archetypal autumn scene . . . we have wood fire, red leaves, grey sky with rain threatening, Alex all rugged up with scarf . . though I'm not sure how I managed to capture her right at the moment when she looked most asleep at 12noon!

Despite yesterday's weather being perfect, though slighty on the cool side, today when we had a long-awaited picnic it refused to stop raining!

Our Yaki-niku BBQ was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed chatting to our teacher and his wife who is currently back in the country from England, but who used to techer here too. They know a lot about the area, having been here since 1987, and it was good to hear about their experiences.

The lunch was yummy, as Yaki-niku tends to be . . pity about it costing 3000 yen just so I could eat vegetables - I could have bought sooo many vegetables for that much money. C'est la vie!

But to make up for that, when I went to check out a pottery exhibition on in one of the buildings there, the people were packing up their work and they got all excited and three of them came over with 'presents! presents!' - Ahh! reverse-discrimnation! I now have two nicely made sake cups and a sleek tea cup! Score!

Totoro broke Daddy's umbrella and it's pouring!

Totoro broke Daddy's umbrella and it's pouring!
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

I was doing pretty well with my postings this holiday week until I wore myself out with . . . hmmm . . . not sure what as I have little to show for myself but I must have been doing something . . .

I believe that Wednesday turned out to be one of those frustrating days where no matter that you stayed inside all day and tried to do work, whilst outside the day glittered with beckoning perfection, you really achieved nothing very much!
I think the better part of the day - once I awoke late - was spent in comtemplation of the future and what topic I could choose for a thesis, if any.
In the evening Katsura, Alex, Evan and I had pasta for dinner whilst watching 'The Life Aquatic' which whilst amusing, was a little hard to follow in the noisy environment and probably not quite as funny as 'The Royal Tennebaums' - Are they by the same people ? It seemed likely . . .
We all found the music highly amusing - though I failed to pick that the familiarity of the melodies was because they were all Bowies. Made me think of brillig and wonder why so many bands reference Japan in their lyrics . . .
I will stand corrected but I do believe that this occurs in two brillig songs (though one is a cover). Obviously The Vapors and then the Hilltop Hoods get in on the action . . . Right now I can't think of the other band I noticed the other day . . .
Maybe it's part of a huge tourist conspiracy . . .

Thursday - again I awoke late . . .
Alex and I head up to school about midday for the school festival which turned out to be a whole lot of food stalls, some second-hand clothing stalls - called a 'free market' - and not much else. We both tired of the rigours of eating by about 4pm and decided to head home as things were unlikely to work themselves for a good few hours - and compared the excessiveness of an Australian fireworks show - or those specially displayed by fabulous magical people - the Japanese don't really know how to put on a fireworks display! They think that five minutes is sufficient! I think it must be the whole 'less is more' aesthetic that is so prevalent here. All the kids get so super excited about 5 fireworks! Maybe that's the way to go if you want people to always be coming back for more; in anticipation . . .
So, I tried to study and believe I had some horrible and unsatisfactory msn chats - the intermanet - such a wonderful and cruel invention!

Friday . . . yet another nice day spent in vain . . . More study, reading, thesis consideration . . .
Maki came by after 4pm and we had a good chat about life, the future and unvierse and everyth . . no, hang on! we forgot about the dolphins . . . - it was my first 'normal' angsty girly talk that I've had in Japan with a Japanese friend - no Julie for that anymore! *sadness*
Then we made tuna patties, a nashi & coconut crumble which were all pretty nice and then we tried to watch a video lent me by a friend. This led to the tap egetting stuck and having to have extensive discussions with the security guard, which is never much fun - they must go out of their way to find the wackiest guys in Japan just for us. But later when I was washing up, listening to 'Pterodactyls' and Eiderdown he came along and started chatting to me about how good my Japanese was - yay! Anotgher late night . . .

Saturday I woke late, but managed to finish my book 'A short history of Japan' which I was scurrying through looking for a thesis ideas. Then I dashed out to get a train to 新井口 (Shininokuchi) to meet up with Kyoko for some conversation practise and shopping - perfect combination! We then had a lovely, but huge! lunch at a tradition Japanese restuarant where Kyoko's friend works - and after we went for some afternoon karaoke all together.
Kyoko's Mum also sent some persimmons along for me - I like this already without even knowing her! Persimmons here a brilliant! But strangely, share a name with oysters!
To continue the trend of non-studiness I caught a tram into town, considered some second-hand Japanese Harry Potter books before heading off a nomi- and tabe-houdai with the Art club! We all know what that means - all you can eat, but Japanese style! Actually, the restaurant was Chinese and all I can say is that it's lucky I'm not so full-on about my abstinence from meat in Japan . . .
Then I didn't do Australia very proud at bowling . . . But I did discover that at "Hiroshima Park Lane" aka the bowling alley - they have a DRINKBENDER - ahhh! don't we all wish we could have one of those just sitting in our bowling alleys ?

Now we get to the relevance of the photo . . . We found Totoro - he really does exist!! At Miwako, an hour from Hiroshima . . urban sprawl did kill him at all - he just went commercial - the whore! Plus, he broke the umbrella that Satsuki and Mei lent him - what did they get ? Seeds! I ask you!
We went there for a BBQ for one of our teachers' seminar. Unfortunately, Evan woke late, when I buzzed his room, and in his rush to catch the bus his bike broke and he took a tumble - poor guy was out of sorts after that. I woke with a cold and thus the day was a little marred for me too. But the car trip was beautiful - Whilst the trees have yet turn red in Miyajima, they are out in all their glory higher up the country. I can now really understand why the Japanese are so keen on their autumnal motifs and colours!

Miyajima with Ryoko & a day of contented rest!

Miyajima with Ryoko
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Today (Tuesday) was soooo great!
I slept in because Alex and I had a midnight snack last night (Monday night) - porridge and toasted mochi - yummy.
Then I had a leisurely morning basking the sun streaming through my window as I read a book. This was followed by some rushing around to hide dirty plates before my English speaking lesson person arrived bearing me gifts of yummy rice and bean sweets in a beautiful lacquered box which she said I could keep - I wish that all my future jobs will be as cushy and well-paying as this one!
After this with my usual impeccable timing I knocked on Alex's door as she was in shower - somehow no matter what time I go past and knock she's in or just out of the shower - poor lady!
We both concurred that the day was too perfect for spending indoors and took a walk to the English language library in the Peace Park where we were accosted by a group of kids on their Primary School trip from Osaka. They then stood around trying to ask us questions in English whilst we were amused by their Japanese.
I found some really interesting books at the library and we happily perused many a cookbook and decided to cook up a storm this evening.
We walked to the Hondori for to do a little shopping as Alex was hungry and also in need of a new pair of shoes having misplaced hers somewhere yesterday or Friday sometime.
This resulted in a visit to Mr Donuts, me becoming engrossed by a crockery shop where I bought two bento boxes as they were too cute to pass up - have to get organised for Christmas, don't you know! Then we headed to see the Totoro shop, but got distracted at UniQlo where I finally purchased a pretty pink wool/chasmere top and impulsely bought a belt for about the first time in my life - mainly because it matched my outfit but I'm soooo happy I have it now! It seemed like a large amount to outlay for a small accessory but it's a lovely maroon colour and I've just noticed that the embossed pattern on it is sakura! A perfect functional item to remember my trip by when I return!!
Checked out the San Freece Hiroshima soccer team shop looking for a gift but it was already shut - some lovely purple striped beanies were noted through the window!
We then meandered home along the river, dashed to Fresta for some tofu and other items, bumping into the ever-friendly Moe from our Linguistics seminar, before returning once again to the Kaikan for feast-making!
Alex made up some lovely mushroom and udon soup with a side-dish of ginger eggplant whilst I exceeded even my own expectations and turned out edible Chawanmushi!! Yay for the newest addition to my stable of cookable dishes!!!

I then retired to consume the last of my sweets from my student lady and chat to some A-town kids online and basked in the glorious reflections of a clear Autumn day of leisure . . .

Too bad tomorrow will have to be spent doing a whole lot of study . . . However, I suppose one needs variation in order to appreciate the good times!

Tomorrow we plan to do some more cooking and watch a movie with one of our newer acquaintences . . . I like it when I have more time for trying out crazy new ideas of the culinary variety!

But for now, I'll to bed!

Oh yes!
This photo is of me and Ryoko on Sunday afternoon post walk to the top of Mt Misen, when we wandered out onto the sand in front of the Torii of the shrine. Photo is a bit dark - but it fulfills the touristy requirement of capturing us at yet another 'must-see' sight. Miyajima is quite lovely though . . I'm so lucky to be living in a region so close to a number of the 'must-sees' of Japan!

Live at the Budokan

Live at the Budokan
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

One for the gipper . . . This photo may not be so interesting but for history's sake is one that had to be taken and posted . . .

Who ever thought that years after always having heard "ladies and gentlemen, thank you and goodnight Rene has left the building" and "live! at the budokon (sic)" as random catchcries of the household, that I would one day come face to face with the place and realise it was called the Budokan and in Japan of all places!
Always sounded like it'd have in be somewhere near Alaska to me . . . maybe you had to know that song too . . .
We happened upon this on our way to Yasukuni Jinja to see what all the fuss was about . . . Funny how countries that were victims of Japan's ultranationalism and visions of global conquest would be displeased by continued reverence for a place that enshrines A-class war criminals, hey ?

Sometimes it seems to me as if my life is a series of scenes strung together by a continuous stream of songs . . .

I love midweek holidays!!

Dinner in Shinjuku

Dinner in Shinjuku
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Oh! for the life of leisure and travel now that I am in the throes of student insanity! When did doing so many classes seem like a good idea ?
To say nothing of trying to come up with a half-way decent thesis proposal for next year!!! Epp!
I all can say is thank goodness for one-day school weeks!! That's right, folks! This week is school festival and thus Monday was our one and only day of lessons - but that was an effort to get through! First through to Fourth - ickk! Thick with paper handing-in, tests, incomplete homework and other assorted errands squeezed into the non-existent sparetime!
I have soo much to do in the week though that no lessons is unlikely to make me less busy!
英会話(eikaiwa - English conversation class - see how much more effecient the Japanese is ?!) tomorrow with my ridiculously effervescent house-wife student. She's so bubbly and excited that the time flies, but I can imagine that other Japnese people might think she's a little unusual!

Some fun scheduled in for the week - can't be all work and no play! Case in point being all yesterday spent in the ever-pleasent company of Ryoko (良子 - 'good child' as she so wittily points out in her email address) on a daytrip to Miyajima, location of the famous Torii (great red 'gate' out in the sea) of Itsukushima Shrine. I climbed Mount Misen for the second time (much better weather this time, being quite a bit cooler than the humid spring day we chose last time) whilst it was the first Ryoko had been to Miyajima in ten years! To be fair, she is from Nagasaki!
Then at the top we did the quintessential Japanese thing to accompany hiking - bento eating! Ryoko, to my surprise had prepared a beautiful little feast, which we enjoyed on the cool mountaintop!
After the descent we indulged in Momiji-mandu (maple leaf-shaped little sweet cakes filled with a variety of different fillings - traditionally, 餡 'an' (red bean (adzuki) paste), which presumably put back on whatever we walked off!

Anyway, I ought to get to bed as I almost fell asleep at 8pm and now it's near 12.
But . . . Shinjuku. I think that is where we went . . .
It was super, unexpected fun to hang out with Bonnie whilst in Tokyo during the summer holidays. I was dazzled by the Tokyo train system, but eventually got us to a show that Bonnie had told us about - it was interesting to meet her friends and hear about a different style of being a gaijin in Japan.
She also kindly agreed to meet up with us again and show us some sights, which turned out to be a fun and long day of shopping, sight-seeing and food. She had certainly discovered some interesting places and took us to the top of this huge building for dinner at an Izakaya-ish (traditional homestyle/pubish) restaurant with a commanding view of the strawberry scattered Tokyo skyline.

楽しかったです、ボニー！　お世話になっておりました。　どうもありがとうございます！