Tim’s Ramblings

Another post! It’s like I’m making up for all the days and weeks that I was too lazy to post anything…

Anyhoo, here is another little something that I picked up on my last trip to Japan.

Behold! The Gorone Makura!

What is this you ask? Let me explain. Makura is Japanese for “pillow” and Gorone means something along the lines of “lazily lying down” from the onomatopoeia in Japanese for being lazy and laying around, “goro goro” (it’s also the way we describe the sound of something rolling around…sooo basically you’re lazy lying on your side rolling around…). Combined, you get the “Lazy Pillow”.

I can imagine you are still confused. See…the holes in the pillow is just perfect for your ear. The pillow is juuust about 6.5″ cubed so if you’re lying down on your side and using this as a pillow, it’s firm enough to support your head, just the right height so make it comfy for your neck, and your ear fits in the hole so you can hear the TV or the radio perfectly. Yes. It’s designed so you can hear the TV through both ears even while lying on your side Awesome. I suppose you can also sleep on it face down and your nose can fit in the hole so you can breathe….but it might crush your eyes…

Is it really comfy? Eh… But it’s a funny novelty and I do find myself on occasion using it to prop my head up with the pillow on the couch’s arm rest.

I think it’s cool dammit! Here’s a few other shots from different angles :)

From my last trip out there, I finally remembered to take a picture of this…

This is one of those products that can really only fly in Japan and most definitely not work in the US. Over there people aren’t as sensitive to weight as over here. Probably because there is not as big of a weight issue as there is in the US. In Tokyo most women look…well…compared to US women, sickly and thin… Or maybe it’s just me. In anycase, talking about one’s weight is not really taboo. Even in a business setting, I’ve seen and heard them make off handed comments like “hey, looks like you’ve gotten bigger since the last time…too much stress?” and the like…to WOMEN.

A bit offputting to visitors from the US. But not as much to natives…

So, getting back on track, here are bathsalts called “Metaboo” from Japan.

The name comes from a combination of two words, “metabolism” and “boo”. “Metabolism” because it comes from “Metabolic Syndrome”, a generic term given to a combination of ailments stemming from being overweight including high blood pressure, high cholestrol, and so on. Metabolic syndrome is a buzz word in Japan right now with the the country alarmed at the “high” rate of overweight people. Which is laughable compared to the US but bad enough apparently that, due to nationalized healthcare, companies are being fined for every worker who is overweight…which means for guys a waist of no larger than 34″. Ha!

Anyway, and “boo” from the Japanese way of describing how pigs oink. Over there they say pigs go “boo boo”.

So basically they are calling people with metabolic syndrome pigs and selling bath salts to them. These are supposed to make you sweat in the bath so you can shed those calories and pounds by sweating it out in the bath.

I love how the pig has a outie that is accentuated by the lines. The big one says “Calorie burn in the bath” while the little one says “Sweating time in the bath”.

Can you imagine this in the US? Can you imagine a company attempting to sell a weight loss suppliment with a cute pig as a mascot? I thought the “McPork” from McDonalds in Japan was funny. But this I think really shows cultural differences in what they consider sensitive versus what we do.

…it IS a cute pig though…

(Edit 11/01/2009: Further accusation of photoshopping. I’m way too lazy to do that… Here’s proof. Go here: http://www.kuro-hitsuji.com/en/contents.html and click on “Best Way to Enjoy” to see it in “normal” English. Now, go here: http://www.kuro-hitsuji.com/jp/contents.html and click on the same location - middle row, middle link - and you’ll see the same images as I posted here. I only wish my photoshopping skills were this good…)

(Edit 10/30/2009: Due to some reactions to this, I decided to add more info. This is in the Lazona Kawasaki shopping mall attached to Kawasaki Station just outside of Tokyo at a restaurant named “KuraKuro Hitsuji” or “Black Sheep”. No, it is not meant to be offensive. No, it’s not photoshopped… Really…)

Wasn’t planning on a post today but I ran into this after lunch today and I just had to share. It’s too damn…bizzare not to.

As I was leaving an okonomiyaki shop, next door was what we here in Japan call, a Genghiskhan restaurant. Yup. The same name as the general with the golden horde that took over most of Asia from mongolia. But this is one of those “cook your own meat” place but modeled after the saying that his men used to cook mutton on top of their shields. So you get a dome of oiled steel to cook your meat on. Really really tasty stuff.

But recently the restaurant put up a gigantic poster that covers their entire front window that shows how to cook the meat in Japanese and English. Now…the Japanese is standard normal every day Japanese. But the English… Oh the English. I have to guess that they did this on purpose. And whoever did this did a pretty good job with just one weird part. You have to see this.

Click on the link to see the closeups!!

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…especially when in Japan since the cost is not JUST when you buy it but when you decide there’s no other way than to ship it back…and even more when they are ridiculously heavy books… Ooops…

Behold my current (and hopefully no more) manga purchases for this trip…

All of these are from Mandarake. The absolute final word in ridiculously good condition used mangas of all generations. And the ones I buy go for about $3.50 per book. Can’t beat that!!

So. In the back left are all 9 volumes of “Hellsing”. Some of you may have watched the anime (and it’s an awesome anime with a kick ass soundtrack!). Lots of fun. But this goes far deeper into the story. I’m not sure why the anime is so short! For godsakes! It’s Nazis creating vampires and other creatures to declare a new world order and launching an attack on England!! …and yes…I realize how unoriginal it sounds… But it’s pretty damn good so far. None of this was ever mentioned at all in the anime!

The small books in the middle on the bottom is the complete 4 volume set of “Appleseed”. Yes. By Shirow Masamune of “Ghost in the Shell” fame. I read it in English but never had the volumes or in its original Japanese. Very exciting.

In the upper right is the original 5 volume set of “You’re Under Arrest” (or “Taiho Shichauzo” in Japanese) by Fujishima Kosuke. He also did “Ah! My Goddess” as well. A prolific manga author with a rabid following, he even has a wife who opened up a cosplay shop… A manga/anime otaku’s wet dream… Speaking of “You’re Under Arrest”, in Japan another OVA of the series was released so it’s only a matter of time that it comes stateside. This, of course, means nothing to most of you so you can ignore that…

And finally, surrounding it all, are all 15 volumes of the seminal ultra violent manga series, “Fist of the North Star” or “Hokuto No Ken”. And this is where it gets ridiculously heavy. The original release is far more than 15 volumes. But once released and it becomes a major hit, it gets rereleased as a “bunko-ban”. Basically it is released in the same size as a typical Japanese paperback with far better paper, the drawings are also printed better…basically it’s the equivalent of it being remastered if it was a CD. Also it typically comes with either essays or liner notes and such in the back. And since there are ongoing story lines, the volumes are broken up based on the story as opposed to just when it was originally released in those giant manga volumes like Shonen Jump.

So basically it’s more expensive and it’s like the “adult” version. And makes it heavy. Incredibly heavy. But I wanted it…

Yeah…

These will be shipped home. I’m working through them as we speak though. I’m on volume 5 of Hellsing. Will start Fist of the North Star soon too. I might save Appleseed for the plane since they are small but…there’s nudity in that one sooooo I’m kind of weary of reading that in a plane… And Fist of the North Star has heads exploding and bodies torn apart and so forth sooooooooooooooo yeah… Maybe I’ll just go with “You’re Under Arrest”….

But in the meantime it’s 10:30 and I’m really sleepy… Long day tomorrow too….long long day.

Good night!

So…today I did some shopping. Bought stuff. No idea how I’m going to send it home. Looks like it will be another expensive day at the post office… Will post about this topic later.

On a different note….George Cloony is selling the new Honda Oddesy on TV in Japan. Weird seeing US celebrities on TV doing commercials…

Ok. To the point of the post. First a quick lesson in Japanese business. In Japan many of the workers (most of them are women) who work as clerks, secretaries, and other non-full time employees are called “Office Ladies” or “OL” for short. They all wear uniforms at work and you see them in the background in any Japanese company of a decent size. They are the ones brining coffee when you go have a meeting. They make the copies for you. Do a lot of the work in the accounting department. So on. Most are in their 20’s and 30’s as well.

So. Needless to say. There are those middle aged frustrated middle managers who like to take their pithy frustrations on the OLs. And the OLs bitching about their boss is a common theme on TV and such as well as in bars and restaurants. So…to cash in on this, I present to you a new series of cel phone straps!

Behold! The OL’s Counterattack (Pro Wrestling Version)!!

The balding angry manager and the moves that the OLs would love to do to them!

They each have a unique wrestling move. The closeup shots are behind the cut!

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It’s finally the weekend. FINALLY. The first week is over. And I have survived. My feet is still killing me from being on my feet for 3 days on hard concrete (the booth had carpet but…well…it’s practically non-existant) and the constant presentations, business meetings, and demos to booth visitors wore me out. Of course it wasn’t just me. EVERYONE worked their asses off. But due to that, I think for our first big booth in a major trades how in Japan was a big hit! Pics coming soon.

But this is not the topic of this post. This post is about yakiniku or Japanese style (actually it’s based on a Korean style) BBQ. Thin slices of various cuts of beef, pork, chicken, and even fish (usually squid and shellfish) are cooked over either a gas or, in this case, charcoal grill. It’s a communal experience and quite tasty as the meat has been marinating in either a soy based sauce, salt, or miso.

Last night, after we finished helping with the booth breakdown, we all went back to the hotel and later my coworker J went out shopping and I met up with her after about an hour at Kawasaki. Ended up shopping separately for a good 2 hours (where I almost bought a new camera…but that’s another story) and didn’t get to dinner until 10pm. Ended up at a yakiniku place called Gyukaku. It’s a chain but very good and the price is relatively reasonable with an “all you can eat” menu which is what we both did.

Of course…the one shot J takes of me is when I’m cooking veggies….

But I managed to get J (face removed by request) cooking some more meat!

Now. Most of you looking at the above pic probably said something along the lines of “…what the hell is that…THING..that looks…ew…?????!!!”. Let me explain…

The cuts along the edge is beef tongue (yum), the freshly placed cuts are just thin sliced sirloin, but the other two…weird ones…is what we call in Japanese “horumon”.

*Begin Tim’s Japanese Food Lesson*

Horumon is pronounced the same as the Japanese pronounciation for “hormone”. But it’s not the same. In general it is a reference to offal. Basically organ meat. The part everyone used to throw away. You go to a Japanese “Horumon Yaki” place and you can get everything from kidneys to lung to various cuts of different chambers of the stomach and so forth. In the standard yakinku world, horumon basically referrs to the large intestines of a cow.

Mmmmm.

The etomology of the word is up in debate. One theory is that it came from western Japan where the slang for “to throw away” is “horu” and “mono” or “mon” is “things”. Combined you get “horumon”. Another is that it really IS based on “hormone” but it was named such because these cuts of meat is supposed to give you more stamina and energy kind of like certain types of hormones. Ultimately, at least for some people, it’s just damn good parts of the cow that not enough people have leared to appreciate.

So, back to the horumon in the above pic. These cuts have been marinating in a miso based sauce and is quite tasty but also quite greasy. Ok. It’s really greasy. And tough…and chewy. But just like how duck fat is yummy, prepared well, beef fat is damn good too. Gotta cook it down for a bit longer than most other cuts of “normal” beef due to its toughness but otherwise, it tastes pretty much like I described above but also with a good hint of miso from the marinade.

*End Tim’s Japanese Food Lesson*

Anyway, enough of this. But for anyone who have not tried, tripe or offal or organ meat…when prepared well…can be awesome. You should all give it a try!!

We ended the super late dinner with some dessert.

I got a kinako (basically soybean flour sweetened) flavored ice cream with a molasses based sauce and small shiratama rice balls (very close to mochi). It was great. Especially with a small mug of hot tea. After eating all that meat and such…it was nice to eat something not oily!!

So there you go. This morning I have to pack and then I’m leaving this hotel and moving to my usual hotel in Kawasaki. Woohoo.

One more week to go!

Mmmmm…

Well, it’s not Japan only. You can buy this in the US too at Asian supermarkets.

What are these thin weird wood shaving looking things?

Strips of dried squid! Wooooo.

It’s actually pretty damn tasty. It’s like beef jerkey. But with squid. It gets more and more tasty the more you chew. And it tastes Well. Like squid. It’s literally just squid and salt. Dried. Yum!

Just like beef jerky, it’s good with beer too. Or anything really. Just something to snack on.

Anyway, the ones you can buy in the US seems a bit too over salted and tastes…fake. Might buy more of these to take back with me. Though I don’t think anyone would actually eat this unless you’ve grown up with it. It’s pretty strong…might be an acquired taste.

So yeah. That’s it. Just another informative post from the other side of the world!

Hell…at this point, I might start blogging about bottled tea or something :) What I really want to be doing is sleeping…long day and tomorrow is the first day of the trade show which means I’m going to be on my feet all day, have to translate a presentation, and then I am slated to have a meeting at 7pm which may go on for a while… Kill me…

(-_-)

Hm. And this post started off benign and sorta chipper. Oh well. I will survive!!

Same shot as the last post, just about 8 hours later!

And the big building right outside my window…I wonder if the office workers can see me?? NOt today though since it’s a holiday. The top floors seems to be some nice hotel rooms too…hm.

(^_^)

Yup. I’m back. My 2 month hiatus is over and I’m back on another 2 week stint here in Japan.

This time I’m here with 2 C-levels as well and we have meetings on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday here so they are going to Kyoto while I am going to be working) and we have a trade show Wednesday through Friday with 4 talks that I will be giving with our CTO during that time. Wooo…

One new development though! Our office is not officially opened here in Tokyo! Very exciting. Of course…this puts more pressure on us to make sure we produce the sales and such to validate it… BUT, exciting none the less. So, to make things easier while the two C-levels are here, we got a hotel right down the street from our new office. The Hotel Villa Fontaine Mita. Ooooh. Sounds fancy huh? And to be honest, for a business hotel it IS nice. Nicer than the one I usually stay in. But the rooms are freakin’ SMALL. The room I usually get in the other one is a bit bigger… However, since it’s basically here for me to work and sleep, I guess it’s ok. Here’s the entire room (I’m not kidding…this is it…).

So it’s nice. New. But small… At least I can open my luggage though. That’s more than I can say for the smallest room (the single) that I’ve been in here in Japan before. And I do have a nice view of the Hamamatsucho and Shinbashi skyline in front of me from the one little window.

The bathroom is right on the other side of the wall that the bed is against. It’s a very basic clean utilitarian bathroom with the prerequisite electronic toilet (LOVE IT!).

And as for the view out the window, I can’t see if when I’m sitting at the desk due to the angle but if I lean forward and crane my neck to the right, I can catch a glimpse of the Tokyo Tower. My handy little Canon camera got a nice shot of it sitting on the window sill. If nothing else, the lights are certainly pretty!

(you can click on the pic for a larger image!)

Now I should be going to bed. I was at an all time low around 10pm but I fought through it since I had to look over some presentation material for the show…and I just came back after trouble shooting a coworker’s laptop (her card is messed up and won’t detect a LAN cable connection…luckily I had my tiny portable wireless router so I let her borrow that one since her wireless is still working…weird…and lucky…) and now that it’s midnight I’m awake again…which is amazing considering I only slept for about 2 hours on the plane and I’ve been up since 8am Saturday morning….

Yeah.

Bed time.

Just a short post this time. Just some additions to the food post from the other day.

Today is my last day on my own here in Tokyo, at least for this trip. I check out of the hotel tomorrow morning and head over to my parent’s place and spend the night there, then I take off for Cleveland Sunday. My luggage has already been sent ahead of me to my parent’s place via “takuhaibin” which is like a much more convenient door to door delivery service here in Japan. Even my luggage that weighs close to 50lbs. was only $15 and was there in a day. Now…my package I sent back to the US filled to the brim with books and gifts and such….well…that cost a hell of a lot more…like waaaaaaay more than 10x more… But that’s a different story…

Anyway, so today, after work, I decided to have some sushi for dinner. But I wanted a more casual relaxing meal so I headed out to an everyday kaiten zushi.

Yup. The “sushi on a conveyor belt”.

Good stuff. The fish is decent. Not top class but certainly better than…you know…most Cleveland places :) The ikura (salmon roe) is manmade (you can tell since the little orange ball inside floats in the fake ones) but of decent quality. And it’s comfortable. I had a beer, a bowl of miso soup with stock made out of tiny clams, and about 9 dishes and it all came out to a bit over $20. Not bad.

Meanwhile, on the way home, I walked by a game center and realized I never took a picture of the seasonal crane games. Here in Japan, it is the hot humid rainy season. I stress the humid… And in another month, the humidity will go away but then it will just get hot. Sizzling hot. So, to help with the heat but also make some cash too, new sets of crane games come out during this time of the year.

The Ice Cream machines.

To maximize profit, 4 can play at a time. And it’s not some crap ice cream either. Very good quality stuff. But while I was watching, not one person won one. Ha.

Meanwhile I, myself, won a cool Dragonball floor mat. Woo.

Anyway, food post. Right. The final 2 pics are once again, a very typical sight here in Japan but still cool. It’s one of 100’s of dessert stores.

Mmmmmmmmm.

They are all sold in individual sizes. The first pic shows a whole bunch of different puddings and flans as well as some jello. The second are the individual cakes, cheese cakes, and other pastries.

So. Pretty. And really good too! When you buy some, they will individualy box them for you and everything. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Anyway there you go!

(^_^)