Yes We Can!

Akiyama Ryousuke sports the popular Japanese pose and slogan: Obama! Yes we can! His son went to the States in 2008, before the election, and brought this back as a souvenir. Note the presidential seal before he was even president! He was the soba maker of the night, and, to our astonishment, the architectural genius behind Omuta's own "Oregon" restaurant.


Akiyama Ritsuko shows off the awesome glazed ribs she made especially for our visit. Man, this woman can cook, and she doesn't even eat meat! She is an expert at the Japanese tea ceremony as well.


A sampling of the meal Ritsuko made: delicious bonito sashimi (and not bonito flakes, a favorite of Willow and cats all over the world).

Your New Ringtone

We don't listen to De La Soul that often, but tonight, this song came on the iTunes and we realized they were rappin' Japanese! Funny. You can make it your ringtone by clicking here. We can't, because it doesn't work in Japan.

Conservative Socialist Island in Japan

NY Times Photo
I just read this article, from the NY Times, about a small island off the northern coast of Kyushu (our island, as it were). This island, called Hime, runs in a peculiar way, and I'm curious how the federal government allows it. They are practically autonomous and are governed almost like a monarchy. This is especially interesting to me because our acquaintance in Omuta, an incredibly well-read, brilliant man who we called Saku (a Japanified version of the Western name Isaac), mentioned this idea to us months ago. He asked what we thought of the idea of having an uncontested mayor of a city, a person (or family) who would always be in charge. This way, he reasoned, you don't have political discord. The decision's already been made, so there is no family in-fighting, no idealistic struggles, no pitting brothers against fathers like the American Civil War. At the time, I was surprised by his proposal. He wanted to take away democracy to keep the peace. Now, I see that he was probably referring to Hime.

PS The above photo looks remarkably similar to the countryside around Omuta! Note the many layers of clothing on the women in the foreground, and the school uniforms of the boys in the back. Does anyone want me to bring any of these clothes home for them as souvenirs? Oh, and that bike? EXACTLY like mine!

Fuji Hanami and Fields of Tea

This past Saturday, Ben and I were taken on a beautiful drive through the countryside around Omuta. This was a treat for us as we don't have a car, and we wouldn't know where to go even if we had one. We often tell Yamaguchi-san that if it weren't for him we'd always be lost. The roads here are so small and windy.

It was a warm, late Spring type of day (it really is almost summer here-we both got bright-red sunburns while playing soccer yesterday with our new $7 ball). Our first stop was the wisteria (Japanese name: fuji) festival. Families were picnicking under the 230-year-old wisteria vines, which had been pruned and tied very carefully so as to make a huge canopy of flowers like a cloud over the whole park. It smelled sooooo good...


Next, we ventured to a nearby green tea farm. As we approached, we were surprised by the vastness of bright green rows in all directions. At the main tea stand, adorable older ladies gave us samples of very expensive, flavorful tea followed up with tasty green tea candies. Then, we took photos:

We love this bakery and its baker.

It's a little piece of the outside world, inside Omuta. Today, we bought waffles and hearty bread from Azusa, who trained in Tokyo and came home to roost in this town in 2007.

And isn't her logo cute?

Aha! It's a LOQUAT!

We've been seeing these trees everywhere, and I just couldn't think of the name. We used to sell them in the summertime at Portland Nursery, in the tropical fruits tent. Can't wait to taste some fresh loquats.

This is Omuta

I know this photo is boring, but it's our most often viewed sight. Our apartment is behind the camera, the green building is the drugstore we go to all the time (it's called Cosmo, like the flower, cosmos), and if you round that corner to the left, you'll find the cake shop owned by the Tsuru family. Our friend Keiko also lives past the drugstore about 1 block, on this street. 

They've been building this new mall since we moved here.

Kattachi Junior High School

current student body: about 180 / % unused classrooms: at least 60%

[All schools here look more or less the same; only the surroundings vary.]

What's this?

Why, it's Oregon, of course, serving up fine Italian cuisine like spaghetti a la fish eggs and nori. The interior does resemble Oregon a little bit: it's got a log cabin feel, and big wooden tables. So funny.

Bananas grow here! It's that warm!

"Camping"

Beautiful Miyazaki Countryside

We went to Miyazaki Prefecture over the weekend on a camping trip. There were 14 of us altogether, Japanese, American, Australian, and Korean (well, she's Korean-American, but it seems nice to round things out with 4 nationalities, and besides, I don't think she would argue). Anyway, it was fun to get out and do things Japanese-style. This meant cabins. And tatami. And hot showers, toilets with heated seats, comforters, and, to round things out, a dairy park, including a petting zoo, zip-line, slide, and ice cream. Here are some photos of the adventure, for your enjoyment.

Yuto at the farm:

Our buddies from Omuta: Ryuji, Yuto, and Yamashita-san:

Several members of the "camping" crew (looking like a college party?):

Wheeeeee!:

Wrap that baby in some more meat!

One great thing about Seoul was the street food. There were countless vendors like the one above lining the popular streets. Some of the snacks weren't our thing, like the blood sausage Chrystal mentioned below, but there was a lot that looked appealing. For example....

Hot dogs wrapped in bacon! Score! Truth be told, I was on the lookout for hot dogs wrapped in french fries, but somehow I hadn't found them yet, which was weird because later they seemed to be everywhere, and sadly I no longer wanted one.

Chrystal took a picture of me walking in circles, licking my lips right after I finished the dog. Those things can be dangerous.

And here is Chrystal courageously chowing down on something mounted on a stick. She wasn't sure exactly what it would be beforehand, but they were very popular. Turned out to be a fried fishcake, with ketchup and mustard. Not too bad. They also offered hot-dogs wrapped in this, but we were too full.

Another pro for Seoul is the wealth of take-away waffle joints. Hell yeah! They'll put icing and honey, even ice cream, on them for you. We split one of the icing and honey variety, and it was good. Sadly, no picture. But you can imagine a waffle, right?

The Koreans are a donut loving people, and for that I salute them!

There were a surprising number of Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme shops in central Seoul. Even more surprising was how stylin' they were. I eventually talked Chrystal into patronizing one with me (D.D. of course, K.K. is second rate if you ask me). It was three stories high with big windows looking out onto the pedestrian street below, and tricked out with bright orange chairs.
I had an old-fashioned.
I should also say that in addition to the previously mentioned donut chains, there was also the Japanese favorite, Mister Donut, as well as a New York Doughnut Plant (which I have never been to, in the States, or Korea). However, perhaps the best donut I had was a Korean traditional thing from a street vendor, sort of a cross between a donut and a pancake, filled with a brown sugar/cinnamon/peanut concoction. It was delicious. If memory serves, they're called ho-tteok.

People and Places

By and large, we had a great time in Seoul because of the laid-back, friendly atmosphere, a feeling we got because of the Korean people around us. Everywhere we went, people were chatting, eating, waiting in line for awesome street food, happily shopping the numerous vendors for everything from belts to batteries, fake designer bags and fake designer underwear. And then there is the awesome history of the place, the gorgeous setting of the city in a flatland surrounded by mountains and granite cliffs, and places, like the superbly reconstructed Gyeongbokgung palace in the photo above.


The markets ranged from traditional to cosmopolitan. Above, we caught the breakfast rush at a meat market, where there were many specials on order, like the biggest blood sausages I'd ever seen, some pig brains, and many other icky looking objects that we kept our distance from. As we exited that market, we both decided that we were not adventurous eaters. I set my limit on the green-colored fish paste fried hot dog-like thing, complete with mustard and ketchup (it was pretty good to tell you the truth). Of course, there are also the chain stores and flashy lights that almost all big cities have these days. Those were the best for people watching, and were best late at night.


Finally, proof that the Korean peninsula is still very divided, here is Ben looking over the edge of a S. Korean visitors' center into N. Korea. That little hill you can see is N. Korea. (There was a line on the deck we had to stand behind to take photos. They don't want pictures of the DMZ and the towers with machine-gun toting soldiers in the hands of tourists, I guess).

Hiking in Seoul

First of all, we climbed this!

On one of our favorite days in Seoul, we took a subway to Bukhansan National Park, right on the outskirts of the city. It's a big park of towering granite cliffs and mountain peaks, with an unusual (for us) approach. First the subway, and then, starting at the station, a long market selling all sorts of off-brand (and real-deal) outdoor gear. Also, a bunch of tent-restaurants selling seafood. You hike through that, which was impressive, and then get into the park, and the climbing starts. About 2/3 of the way up, there was an ancient Buddhist hermitage, accessed by a pathway lined by paper lanterns.

Lanterns leading to a hermitage.


It was a hazy day, but when we got to the top (which was a very steep climb, aided by ropes), the tiny city was spread out before us.

The peaks are huge, bald rocks! The valleys below are are littered with enormous boulders.

We took a different way back which was.... precarious. We got a little jittery at one point, standing on a knife-edge with sheer cliffs on either side (really!), but then an older Korean couple came along and convinced us to go forward (in Korean, with gestures). We persevered, and I even lifted the Korean lady over a boulder at one point.

It was great to get out hiking... and afterwards go out for bbq (see below).

Seoul Food

We ate a lot of flavorful food in Seoul. We had some Korean fried chicken, which you see Ben eating above at a German-influenced "Beer & Hof" place near our guesthouse. A whole chicken was served to us alongside "coleslaw" (which tasted like an apple jolly rancher), kim chi (of course) and a few mugs of Hite beer (pronounced Hi-ta). It came with an appetizer of fluffy steamed egg in a ramekin.

We had looked forward to the Korean BBQ since we bought the plane tickets. Above, I'm relishing the second BBQ dinner of the trip after our hike in Bukhansan National Park (more on that later). Again, an assortment of kim chi, salad with that apple-y dressing, and delicious pork, garlic and onions grilled at the table and stuffed inside any kind of green leaf we wanted to try. Red-leaf lettuce, a perennial favorite, was good, but more interesting was the shiso-type leaf that added an almost licorice kick to the BBQ. We miss it already.

Finally, this was on the door of our room at the guesthouse, and yes, they still eat dog in Korea. We think we avoided it...

Robot Dances in Tokyo!

File this under cool Tokyo scenery, Japanese mad scientists, Austin/Portland bands, and evidence that robots aren't necessarily gunning to take over the world. They just want to dance.