tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71925112011-07-29T03:39:43.690+09:00To have no set purpose in one's life is the harlotry of the will -Stephen Mackenna-Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.comBlogger1761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1147235579772408732006-05-10T12:38:00.000+09:002006-05-10T17:19:16.590+09:00

Well this Asian Studies Major just saw the way the other half lives and works.First flew to Hong Kong (partly because flights to China china were all full, and partly to see the what british colony China looks like), a crazy, sweaty place. Got my (expensive) China visa in transit, then took a ferry to mainland china to Shenzhen (where people from Hong Kong go for flights into China and cheap

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1143166457437866942006-03-24T10:59:00.000+09:002006-03-24T11:14:17.453+09:00

recently being seperated from a usuable kitchen, I've been doing a lot of eating out lately. Yesterday, though, I spun by the convenience store near where I'm living now. I found a block of momen tofu. I can eat this stuff plain, but, sure of there being no myoga or kaiware daikon but unsure of there being any soy sauce back at the apartment, I picked up, what I thought was, a packet of nameko

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1143084541451512422006-03-23T12:07:00.000+09:002006-03-23T12:29:01.500+09:00

In January, a friend of mine from the states visited, and I decided to take him to an onsen down in Izu. Unfortunately it was dark by the time we got there, and couldn't really take in the scenery.I decided to head down that way again last weekend. After going in the onsen, we had a small snack of hiyayakko and daikon salad.The things that stood out to me were the myouga in the hiyayakko. It was

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1142576673240953472006-03-17T15:04:00.000+09:002006-03-17T15:24:33.250+09:00

well it's haruichiban today, whew! (couldn't find a very good hyperlink for it, so just look it up if you're interested). usually I feel bad when I do private things at work (pay my taxes, fill out summer school application forms, walking to the central post office next door to mail said items, working on this blog).Today, out of the blue, bucho waved me over. I don't like being waved over by

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1142308571579146512006-03-14T12:35:00.000+09:002006-03-14T12:56:11.606+09:00

The magazine that I write articles for is featuring one of their services with an image of, I kid you not, Hard GayI've only heard of this guy, but finally took the time to watch a few of his 'shows'. It's kinda funny the first time (especially the Yahoo one where he auctions his hard gay hat on yahoo auctions and actually makes a good sum of money doing it). It's kind of funny how it's become

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1141950338318210282006-03-10T09:24:00.000+09:002006-03-10T09:25:38.330+09:00

It's things like this who remind of why I'm needed at my job...

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1141027354023385222006-02-27T16:01:00.000+09:002006-02-27T17:02:34.090+09:00

I was dropping off a visitor at Tokyo station on Saturday a bit before lunch time. I walked over to Yurakucho via the International Forum, and rummaged through the Muji Flagship store. It's become almost daily for me, which scares me only sometimes. Anyway, as lunch approached, I decided that I wanted to eat lunch in Marunouchi at either one of two places. Out of character, I called my roommate

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1140402318217154432006-02-20T10:41:00.000+09:002006-02-20T11:25:18.273+09:00

When I bought yeast to make my calzones a few weeks ago, I had to buy a huge box of yeast. It was the only size avaliable. I had intended to use this tasty looking red onion and olive bread recipe for my stromboli crust. As I hate white bread, and whole wheat flour is hard to come by hear, I decided to experiment.My roommate very frequently buys expensive health foods, uses it once, and then just

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1140141649926912222006-02-17T10:18:00.000+09:002006-02-17T11:17:10.986+09:00

One of my friends is back in Minneapolis this week. He asked me if there was anything that I wanted from home. And there were quite afew things, there was one thing I really wanted. Stromboli from broders.I remember taking out the long strombolis to fill the display. So long, you had to cut them in fourths, and they were still huge. The vegetarian one was excellent; it had spinach, tomatoes,

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1139887339546075032006-02-14T11:46:00.000+09:002006-02-14T12:22:19.570+09:00

Last couple of weeks I've been trying a few different things in the kitchen. A couple of winters ago, I found this great gingerbread layer cake recipe. It has a cream cheese frosting and calls for candied kumquats. Kumquats are actaually a specialty fruit of Miyazaki, perhaps not suprisingly. Still, I thought that it would be way too sweet the first few times I made this cake and I was right.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1139546585464942132006-02-10T12:58:00.000+09:002006-02-10T13:47:25.773+09:00

I was listening to this story on All Things Considered via NPR's webcast yesterday, talking about how a lot of what we thought about low fat diets in the 90's isn't entirely correct. The important thing to do is to avoid Saturated fats, and focus more on the mono-unsaturated fats. The program breifly mentioned that we should also avoid transfats.Somewhat unrelated, my roommate was talking about

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1138065293816306672006-01-24T09:56:00.000+09:002006-01-24T10:14:53.836+09:00

With the move to our new office, there have been a number of changes.The first of which I'll talk about here, is the company bento. It's hard to believe sometimes, but someone somewhere makes a bento for every single person in the HQ of this company. To be honest, really, if we all had to go out en masse for lunch, I think it would be total chaos, not to mention expensive, and also impossible

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1137930536494832702006-01-22T20:40:00.000+09:002006-01-23T10:17:27.963+09:00

The Tokyo subway, since it became privatized a year or two ago, has been doing a really good job with a branding campaign. In the stations, With the slogan 'Tokyo Positive'. They've hired on the very attractive Yu Yamada to be the feature. I can't think of any better way to increase ridership (?, if that's the goal of the campaign). As I don't watch television, I wasn't aware that they were also

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1137916287960170022006-01-22T16:15:00.000+09:002006-01-23T09:26:30.686+09:00

In the snow yesterday, i ventured out to by some things for dinner. Didn't make it far before I realized in my no-traction shoes that I wasn't going to be making it very far. So I decided to turn left, and head into my favorite thai resturant just down the hill from where I live.The name of the resturant is Hot Pepper 2. This could be because of the free food weekly in Tokyo also called hot

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1136966467422731022006-01-11T16:44:00.000+09:002006-01-11T17:04:26.403+09:00

Not new news or anything, but my bucho (department head) is so nice. He's from ibaraki, he visited his kids at kyodai for new years, and has a really intentional gait where he walks with his hands in a fist so he looks like a cartoon character. He's a lot better than my old bucho; when I started working here, he rambled on about Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. This guy is just so earnest it's

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1136267632465018302006-01-03T14:34:00.000+09:002006-01-03T14:53:52.476+09:00

so my new year was quiet good. On the eve, I went to a little countdown in marubiru, the landmark building of the redevelopment of the marunouchi area outside of Tokyo station. There was an orchestra and huge womens choir singing, among other things, Canon. They chit-chatted with the conuctor and other people, and I noticed that there was a huge line of people waiting for the unlit millenario

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1136031143033707052005-12-31T20:33:00.001+09:002006-01-12T10:58:03.046+09:00

so I haven't blogged in awhile. thought I would drop a list of what I've been up to in recent weeks.went to a Olafur Eliassson exhibit at the Hara Museum near Shinagawaa beautiful exhibition that is totally devoid of any kind of understanding of art, and can be enjoyed simply for its beauty. Eilisson was responsible for making a 'sun' in the Tate Modern in London, and his studies of light in this

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1133489050052537132005-12-02T10:42:00.000+09:002005-12-02T11:04:10.063+09:00

After 30 years at the Mitsubishi Electric Building, Mitsubishi Electric has moved to...the Tokyo Building! Confused? Even more confusing is the that there is a NEW Tokyo Building. The New Tokyo Building is about 25 years old than Tokyo Building. We had a bounenkai there last night. Strangely it is next to the Yaesu Building. The Yaesu building is on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo station.You can

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1133234635510857152005-11-29T12:05:00.000+09:002005-11-29T12:27:31.456+09:00

On the way back to Yurakucho station after dragging a friend of mine with me to see Free Zone at the filmex film festival,(see it if you can find it. it won awards at the Cannes film festival) we were wandering down a small side street with several green grocers on it. We walked past one of them that had typical fare at typical prices. Except one thing. Avocados.....for 50 yen. 50 yen! At the

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1132883281310130472005-11-25T10:21:00.000+09:002005-11-26T09:56:30.793+09:00

Thanksgiving, over here, is not a holiday. We don't get two days off, there's not huge meal, no organizing of extended family.I still have managed to celebrate thanksgiving thanks to a friend of a former roommate of mine. Every year she organizes the expats (or in my case 'local-hire) in the area that she knows, and makes a great feast of, outside of the essential thanksgiving staples, carrot

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1132110955828999622005-11-16T11:50:00.000+09:002005-11-16T12:15:55.873+09:00

I've had a slight head cold for the last week or so. I normally just let the virus run its course, but when I was at Seijo Ishii I saw something. Throat drops. They're quite popular here, and unlike American brands, aren't disgusting. But what drew me into buying these throat drops is the Sudachi flavor that they had.Japan has a wide range of citrus, of only which a small amount is widely known

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1130934941882846142005-11-02T21:19:00.002+09:002005-11-02T21:47:00.773+09:00

Lest we forget how much we have to eat in the developed world today (actually in memory of 60 years since the end of world war II), Nihon Television broadcast a live action of the story turned animation Hotaru no Haka (Grave of Fireflies). It's the story of a brother and sister struggliing through the firebombings brought by the Americans during world war II.The ending, though, was dissapointing,

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1130592038535909972005-10-29T21:38:00.000+09:002005-10-29T22:22:45.926+09:00

In the U.S. I eat like a crunchy hippy. Organic vegetables, soy nuts and tamari almonds, the list goes on. I do miss those choices. When i was grocery shopping with my uncle and aunt during my cousins wedding a few months ago in Portland, OR, I was running through the isles like a kid in a candy store grabbing boca burgers, organic black berries and zucchini, and of course tofutti cuties.But

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1130588761191734082005-10-29T20:54:00.000+09:002005-10-29T21:34:58.590+09:00

This is really know suprise, but Japan is somewhat lacking in the bread department. What most may not know is that there is bread in most places throughout the country. Sadly, it is always something known as shokupan. Shokupan is essentially wonderbread cut very thick. Japanese (supposedly) love it because of it's pure whiteness. There are slight variations (some with flecks of walnuts or wheat

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1129117930462401402005-10-12T20:16:00.000+09:002005-10-12T20:52:10.513+09:00

Tokyo Station. The national hub of the bullet trains running to the west to Osaka and Fukuoka and also to the North, almost reaching Hokkaido. Decades after it was built within view of the Imperial Palace, it still maintains its red brick facade, a novelty in Japan where, even in Kyoto and to much debate, the original building was replaced by a gleaming 21st centure building. In front of Tokyo

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128995617457025482005-10-11T10:10:00.000+09:002005-10-11T20:00:54.623+09:00

Two things I've grown to dislike about Japan are Udon and Roppongi.Udon(oou-doun), as most know, are the thick cut wheat noodles. Whatever way you eat it, you usually use tsuyu, which reeks of katsuobushi and mirin. Roppongi, the at once high end and seedy underbelly of Tokyo, houses 5 star hotels and Roppongi Hills and Africans hussling you to come to hostess clubs. I usually avoid going there.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128435147492176642005-10-04T23:11:00.000+09:002005-10-06T20:36:40.426+09:00

Japanese language is filled with onomato　poeia. Fuwa fuwa is something billowy, like smoke, whip cream or clouds. Kira kira is something clean and sparkiling like diamonds or, as I joke with my Japanese friends, gay white guys.Hoya hoya is the freshness/newness of something. It is most often used colloqually in reference to marriage. As I was looking for a resturant to go to with a friend of mine

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128315770312773242005-10-03T13:08:00.000+09:002005-10-03T22:43:55.776+09:00

I still remember the first time I saw Gobo. Called Burdock Root in English, it was in the produce section of the co-op near where I lived in Minneapolis. I thought this big long thread of a vegetable was so cool. Of course, I walked right by it because I had absolutely no idea how to prepare it.I'm a bit older and hopefully a little wiser now, and I now know how great gobo actually is. It can add

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128255145501740542005-10-02T20:58:00.000+09:002005-10-02T21:12:25.506+09:00

If you're going to cook, you're going to make a mess. After using organic this and free range that, you want what eventually is going down that drain of your to be nice to the world too right?The Germans, with the stereotype of always being one step ahead when it comes to this kind of thinking and creating of products, actually might be on this one. A company called Frosch, which means frog in

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128167627338649852005-10-01T20:38:00.000+09:002005-10-01T21:07:24.196+09:00

I have posted before about my love of Japanese vegetables. (I'll hyper link when I'm not using my mac) Their is such a depth and breadth of them that most people out of the country or at least out of asia don't really know about. But today let's talk about Komatsuna. It looks similar to spinach and perhaps kale, and I think it is nutritionally (green leafy vegetable, high in iron as well as

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1128045891010429852005-09-30T10:26:00.000+09:002005-09-30T11:22:57.780+09:00

Not suprising, but not immediately obvious, Korean food is quite popular in Japan. I often like to compare its prevelance to Mexican food in the US; Not absolutely everywhere, but definately something that is frequentl eaten and very easy to find. It's not suprising I suppose. Korean is just over the Japan Sea (or the Korean sea, depending on who you're talking to). I love Korean food. One of the

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1127827205908426862005-09-27T21:42:00.000+09:002005-09-27T22:20:05.973+09:00

My father always had an eclectic taste in music for being a dad. He was always trying to listen to the latest hip music. He would go to the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis and choose what ever the latest and coolest was.Sade is certainly not current or cool, and perhaps not even unusual for a parent to be listening to, but nonetheless growing up in my house Sade was something stocked in the wall of

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1126686129296645882005-09-14T17:17:00.000+09:002005-09-14T17:22:09.300+09:00

The New York Times seems to be interested in perpetuating the image that Tokyo is and has to be expensive. I think I can honestly say I have never spent $500 in two days in any part of Japan, including Tokyo. Tomorrow, I shall give the non-nitwit 2-day tour of Tokyo

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1124952425625063692005-08-25T15:23:00.000+09:002005-08-25T15:47:05.633+09:00

I'm at the age now where I'm starting to have nostalgia for things that aren't around anymore.Memories are a safe haven from current reality. It's nice to wrap myself up in memories of the past. Some of the vivid memories from my childhood include, trains waking me up on our boat at lake pepin. The long fall shadows driving around lake pepin, picking up our fall pickings of apples and cheese

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1124762790482665632005-08-23T10:45:00.000+09:002005-08-23T11:06:30.486+09:00

Burgerville, a pacific northwest fast food joint, is apparently switching to wind power for 100% of their energy needs. It's been pointed out that they're not buying direct from a wind farm. They're buying tokens from a big utility (still owned by some vestige of Enron) who is buying tokens from the power producer. The claim is that more tokens (basically a higher charge per unit) mean more of

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1124248341092717282005-08-17T11:40:00.000+09:002005-08-17T12:12:21.100+09:00

My company gave us obon vacation at the end of last week and the beginning of this week. So I decided to go to the expo in Nagoya, and hotaka dake, the 3rd tallest mountain in Japan. The expo was good. An eco epcot center feeling to it all. An in-company magazine which I am counsel to had been writing an article about the expo, and in addition to the fact that the Mitsubishi group had an

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1123475073533445622005-08-08T13:08:00.000+09:002005-08-08T13:35:40.673+09:00

I saw Wang Kar-Wai's film 2046 this weekend. It's just being released in the states, but it's been out since at least last year. It's swept all kinds of film festivals and done very well. I liked it, so I'll say the negative things first. Kimura Takuya is in it. He's a boy band god here, (as well as being pimped out to be in adverts like any unselfrespecting japanese talent would) and it's hard

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1123214591167271332005-08-05T12:58:00.000+09:002005-08-05T13:03:11.173+09:00

My favorite food blooger and writer of chocolate and zuchini had a segment on NPR which you can listen to on your computer! She has been writing some columns for NPR for some time it seems, and now we get to hear her voice. I love the way she handles Scott Simon's somewhat awkward questions.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1123203443765151192005-08-05T09:51:00.000+09:002005-08-05T09:57:23.766+09:00

If Calfornia Lawmakers have passed legislation so that, if you've got one of these (hybrid engines) under your hood, you can drive in those carpool lanes by yourself (and of course wither other people) legally. Virginia enacted a similar law in 2000, and other states such as Arizona and Minnesota (yeay!) are considering it.A great idea to encourage people to by these kinds of cars. If hybrids

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1123043902730289392005-08-03T13:27:00.000+09:002005-08-05T09:51:22.843+09:00

The oldest OL that worked in our department disappeared for 'heart problems', but I have a feeling it's for other reasons. She was very flirtatious with this other guy in the department and I always used to see them in the subway coming to the office together (hmmm)She either looked drugged or unhappy most of the time, and i think I only saw her smile once or twice. I think she was feeling the OL

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1122450722082170842005-07-27T16:45:00.000+09:002005-07-27T17:02:25.883+09:00

After attending SAP's caviar party, all of the attendee's left en masse. The elevator ride down was odd however. As we passed a person waiting on the eigth floor the earthquake light on the display panel turned on and told us to get out. All of the rider's except me were Japanese, and they all said it was the first time they had experienced it. Earthquakes don't last long, and so once the

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1122441136533902142005-07-27T14:02:00.000+09:002005-07-27T14:12:16.540+09:00

After reading the beeb's article about his excellency bush it was hard not to think about it that way. Mao switched from the great leap forward to the hundred flowers campaign to cover his butt (and when he ran out of ideas), maybe he expects switching from 'war on terror' to 'enemies of freedom' and 'tools of statecraft' will somehow make his cultural revolution seem more palatable to us. Oh

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1122426516190781062005-07-27T09:55:00.000+09:002005-07-27T10:21:58.900+09:00

Mike noticed this article in wired magazine about Ford's new mariner hybrid SUV and how the Sierra Club is supporting it.Unfortunately, from the title of the article, it seems that the Sierra Club is a total sell out organization that is in favor gas guzzling cars.I strongly support what Sierra Club is doing. When I interned in DC, I realized that so many of these groups sit on the sidelines with

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1121925072921861762005-07-21T14:39:00.000+09:002005-07-21T14:51:12.926+09:00

Target sure has gotten a lot of press for being 'design for the masses' lately. And it's difficult for me to change my childhood perception of the place (which is based in my hometown...actually is based in the SUBURBS of my hometown). At that time, it was just a big cheap place where my mom bought us jams (remember those?) and mediocre stationary products for school ( I always preferred the now

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1121910811908323752005-07-21T10:44:00.000+09:002005-07-21T10:56:38.606+09:00

World Changing has this great post about plastic solar cells: Although the pale in comparison of efficiency of silicon panels (5%max compared to 15-20% for silicon) There price, $15/m2 (compared to $800/m2 for silicon) makes this seem like a somewhat viable alternative to an alternative.The ideas for implementation the world changing folks suggest, though, don't really seem to be in line with

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1121837662094447192005-07-20T14:27:00.000+09:002005-07-20T14:34:22.096+09:00

I love cooking. In Japan the french cheese Mimolette is pretty popular. Other than eat it, I wasn't quite sure how to prepare it.Plugging it into google I found a blog that had a recipe for a broccoli mimolette soup. It had great pictures, great commentary. The blog is called chocolate and zucchini, and it's run by a incredibly english fluent french girl named Clotilde. She and her husband

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1121405318376690582005-07-15T13:42:00.000+09:002005-07-15T14:28:38.410+09:00

It's funny, growing up, I was always known as a the good kid who would eat anything. My family used to go just about any type of resturant imaginable, and I never had issues with any of the food.I now know that most of the food in those resturants, while some most certainly probably are unchanged from whatever country they are originally from, definately takes things from those cuisines which are

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1121131212649087822005-07-12T09:55:00.000+09:002005-07-12T10:20:12.676+09:00

It's funny how one can unknowingly project one's life on the rest of the world assuming that either the norm or not the norm for the rest of the world. For example, Okra. Okra is really popular here. The funny thing is that neither side (those being Americans and Japanese) know that it's also popular in the other country and both assume that it originated in their country. Someone once told me '

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1120811260484969432005-07-08T17:23:00.000+09:002005-07-08T17:27:40.500+09:00

I try not to have cliche discussions about huge events as the media will do more talking than we can imagine or even tolerate. But Jamais over at worldchanging so succinctly stated how I feel and what needed to be said (even better than what Blair said): It's important to remind ourselves that we have in our hands the tools for our own transformation, and we can make the world a better place

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1120116460921912212005-06-30T16:16:00.000+09:002005-06-30T16:27:40.926+09:00

You know I think I'm pretty arrogant. I can say things that put people off, etc. But wow, this guy takes the cake. Pretends to be a pro tennis player (at age 19) tries to create credit card accounts in his father's name to pay his girlfriend who he's hired as his personal secretary, when his mom tells the bank about it and vocals distress over her son's behavior, the son offs both his parents

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1119836103200450472005-06-27T10:22:00.000+09:002005-06-27T10:35:03.206+09:00

with the heat coming (and the fact that my roommate's mother gave us some western sized-cucumbers) I made some gazpacho this weekend.I've been making gazpacho for years. A friend of mine and I took a trip to portland, OR where we ate at this great spanish resturant downtown, fernando's hideaway (no, it's nothing like the SNL skit). They signed me up for their newsletter, and one of them had a

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1119835355048460692005-06-27T10:13:00.000+09:002005-06-27T10:22:35.053+09:00

Well we're finally hitting my least favorite season in Japan; summer. It's not so bad yet. The days are pretty hot, but going out in the evenings are great, a little bit breezy and warm. My friend and I were walking around Shiodome last night and it was great weather. By the time august comes around, it's just unpleasant all the time.But coming back to the apartment, it was just hot. The japanese

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1119320924290776302005-06-21T10:45:00.000+09:002005-06-21T11:28:44.296+09:00

I've been tagged by someone who, because of seeming 'incidents' I can't reference or link to, but hopefully that person will pass through and see that I did fill out the book meme(although I can guarantee this person will be disappointed in my book choices):Number of Books owned:Oh, lots, but I've bounced around so much that most of them aren't with me. I did sell a lot of the ones I had at my

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1119318295432925812005-06-21T10:39:00.000+09:002005-06-21T10:44:55.436+09:00

I would just add this onto my favorites in that column to the right, but last time I tried to play with that I destroyed my blog, so I guess I'll just have to do this for now.World Changing is a great blog writing about so many topics that I like :urban planning, green architecture, etc, etc etc. I've put it in my favorites. Many 'greens' can be very pessimistic and what I like about this website

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118630113693024602005-06-13T11:10:00.000+09:002005-06-13T11:38:24.070+09:00

This morning I got an inquiry from our American counterpart. She wanted to confirm my address, saying 'the office is on Chiyoda-ku street right?':-)Let's break this down with a graphic:This is Tokyo. Let's start out by saying Tokyo IS NOT a city. The US is divided into states, Japan is divided up into prefectures. Tokyo is a special status prefecture.Now, what most people think of as Tokyo, is

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118377577995152452005-06-10T12:48:00.000+09:002005-06-10T13:26:18.000+09:00

most non-japanese point the finger at Japan for its excessive use of waribashi (disposable wooden chopsticks). I avoid using them whenever I can, but at the office they are avaliable, and my mind has just never been in the right place at the right time to bring non-disposable chopsticks with me to the office.brooding over my poor planning, I decided to ask someone in my department what they're

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118279234900582962005-06-09T09:47:00.000+09:002005-06-09T10:07:14.906+09:00

There's plenty of good food in Tokyo, so I don't complain about it very much (we actually have better indian here than in the states in my opinion). But I really miss my co-op a lot. A good friend of mine introduced me to minea long long time ago, and I've been hooked ever since. Things I can get there but not here:Knudsen Cherry CiderTamari Roasted Almonds (kind of ironic, huh?)Flax Seed

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118208094590252922005-06-08T14:17:00.000+09:002005-06-08T14:24:53.826+09:00

We all know google does fun things with there logo on the search page.Well today the theme is Frank Lloyd Wright with guggenheim in NY making up the second G and fallingwater making up the L and E (unfortunately MY favorite, the Robie House wasn't used.)

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118207267328465642005-06-08T13:58:00.000+09:002005-06-08T14:07:47.333+09:00

The NYT is running this article about women upset about people being upset seeing them feed their baby in publicNow, if I was a woman, which I'm not, I would do ANYTHING I could NOT to be seen feeding my baby in public. I don't even like being in my own house with no shirt on. One woman poses the question after someone was made uncomfortable seeing her feed her baby on an airplane 'it's not like

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118123307769180862005-06-07T14:35:00.000+09:002005-06-07T14:48:27.773+09:00

I've realized, through talking to my friends, etc., that people in my office do have some unique expressions that they themselves have never used.そもそも: this shows up a lot. it's more or less a formal way of saying まさか or 'In the first place'そもそも修正を頼んだのか 'I don't seem to remember even asking for this to be proofread' It sounds angry like まさか too.若干: for the longest time I thought this was 弱感, but

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118042740069151662005-06-06T15:28:00.000+09:002005-06-06T16:25:40.076+09:00

taking the train back on saturday night, it's true that there are a thousand narratives in each train car. To my right are three japanese looking people. I figure they're Japanese until they start speaking perfect english with the english mannerisms. Then they switch to perfect Japanese again. It's really unclear what relation these people have to each other. Suddenly one calls down the subway

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118038348139709982005-06-06T15:03:00.000+09:002005-06-06T15:12:28.143+09:00

My office building, for Japan anyway, is quite old. From the outside it doesn't look like much. 1960's bland low level (12 story's about) building.Inside too not much to speak of. It's the details, though, that give any character to this building. This is the lighting from the stairwell. Instead of planting the florescent lighting on the ceiling, which is status quo anywhere these days, they

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1118020436163183582005-06-06T10:04:00.000+09:002005-06-06T10:13:56.170+09:00

going to the thai resturant down the hill from my place friday night turned out to be quite the experience. When the owner of the resturant gave me my order of broad noodle pad thai, this guy suddenly came in firing really fast and kind of difficult questions to the owners. What I could make of it, This guy was a representative for NHK, and he was looking for non-japanese to participate in a show

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117692967881258042005-06-02T15:06:00.000+09:002005-06-02T15:16:07.886+09:00

I finally bought a suit yesterday! I had pieced one together at H&M a few years back (all under $100 mind you, and I wasn't looking shabby at all) but lost the jacket in transit somewhere.I picked up a glossy black pinshtripe number. I look fan tas tic... in that hustler/gangster kind of way.I picked it up at Zara in Harajuku. JETRO published this document about Zara and its success in Japan.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117690852430901922005-06-02T14:37:00.000+09:002005-06-02T14:43:01.766+09:00

I guy named Travis (what great name!) started this photo blog of his subway commute between manhattan and brooklyn.I've been looking at it for a couple of months, so take a look at his archives; there's some very beautiful atmospheric,etc, moments captured. It's pretty amazing the range of subjects he's made with something seemingly limited as a subway.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117606416078957052005-06-01T15:06:00.000+09:002005-06-01T15:13:36.083+09:00

Today, by demand of the environmental ministry, office workers (the men anyway) are encouraged to not wear neckties to the office. This is in response to the putridity of Japanese summer and the resulting high costs of air coniditioning thousands of people in ubiquitous black suits and ties.It even made the NHK news today, with people (from the environmental ministry it seemed like) saying '

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117586549291842302005-06-01T09:18:00.000+09:002005-06-01T09:42:29.296+09:00

I know I've got some strange and boring interests. I really like silence. If you have ever seen abre los ojos, the opening scene when he's walking down an empty street in Madrid, and also the final scene when he's considering jumping from the building, are both so beautiful to me.I guess you that might explain why i like these abandoned houses Kore Eda's film Afterlife takes place in a building

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117500378213382222005-05-31T09:38:00.000+09:002005-05-31T09:46:18.216+09:00

People often give you bland compliments about your language ability.Yeah, sure, I can text my friends on my cell phone. Sure, I can go to city hall and register. I can even go to the hospitol and do fine. I can even watch the news and read a newspaper, and translate reasonable well into English.The test of anyone's language, though, is perhaps using it correctly in a business letter/emailWhich I

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117431641733988672005-05-30T14:16:00.000+09:002005-05-30T14:53:19.990+09:00

Dale Chihuly's great glass blowing structures with, according to his biography ' ' highly baroque, writhing elements' are being displayed at the Kew Royal Gardens (click here to view the BBC's picture log of them.Dale, who grew up outside of Seattle in Tacoma, has an interesting educational history; He studied at University of Wisconsin (madison, I'm assuming) in the nations first glass blowing

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117174803438702012005-05-27T15:12:00.000+09:002005-05-27T15:20:03.443+09:00

Something I never talk about but is squarely in the back of my mind, is that I would like to have my own children someday. This won't be happening soon of course; the other half is still a twinkle in my eye, and graduate school hasn't even started yet, let alone been paid off. Still, I do think about the logistics quite often, and surrogacy has always been the option I've thought about. The NYT

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1117085437242966432005-05-26T14:20:00.000+09:002005-05-26T14:30:37.246+09:00

Japanese people love making there own english words in Japanese. I've had the 'luck of working with some of them recently. They are probably the hardest thing to translate. With kanji, the meaning is all right in front of you, but with loan words, you're not sure what they're pointing at. examples:メーカー: read as it's written, it's 'maker'. For example an 'electronics....maker'? doesn't sound right

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116986316987549462005-05-25T10:40:00.000+09:002005-05-25T10:58:36.993+09:00

The final film in the EU film days festival was a German Film called Gun-Shy (Schussangst) A freakish tale of a lonely civil woker, Lukas, delivering meals to elderly and handicapped when a girl throws herself in his lap (metaphorically) for very unapparent reasons. We find out later that her step father is having sex with her after her Kendo classes, but it's very unclear whether she has a

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116903712905774092005-05-24T11:30:00.000+09:002005-05-24T12:03:53.280+09:00

The Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo showed Nobody Knows Anybody (Nadie Conoce A Nadie) on Monday.A member of the Spanish Embassy introduced this film with a (long) speech about the history of Spanish cinema. What was more interesting was the great spanish lisp he had and the fact it took him about 5 times to pronounce Spain 'Espain' in Japanese.Written by Mateo Gil (who also wrote one of if not

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116815137374605782005-05-23T11:15:00.000+09:002005-05-23T11:25:37.380+09:00

A film directed by Algimantas Puipa from Lithuania's premier studio, Lithuanian Film Studios, this is a film about a boy whose father is sent to Siberia. Upon the father's return he gives his son a necklace made of wolf tooth.And that's about all I could get from this film (and that's with the help of the blurb about the film in the pamphlet) Obviously, I am open minded about film. I thorougly

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116813664050513882005-05-23T10:47:00.000+09:002005-05-23T11:01:04.056+09:00

To call this a film would be misleading as its an almost four hour exploration into 4 smaller, unrelated stories. It's kind of a...well, I'll let those at the Chicago Film Festival explain it. For me it was an ambling, unrelated, and crushing 4 hours. I left the theater almost in tears and very frustrated about the nature of life. But, as this was made by a Monty Python-esque, it's hard to tell

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116812130247835882005-05-23T10:13:00.000+09:002005-05-23T10:35:30.253+09:00

Friday, the Swedish embassy showed the Austrian film, Come Sweet Death (Komm, süßer Tod). Directed by Wolfgang Murnberger and based on a novel by Wolf Haas, It's a dark comedy about a ex-detective, Brenner, who starts working on an ambulance crew. A nurse on the crew is murdered, and Brenner plays the detective for the force while finding foul play with the help of a childhood crush.This film is

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116570931027446122005-05-20T14:55:00.000+09:002005-05-20T15:35:31.033+09:00

Boss is in Kyoto, no press release today (although possibilities of sending solar panels to Amchi doctor communities in Tibet have come to light. wow!) And it's tea time.One of the best things about Japan is the relative quality of the convenience stores (or as they say here 'konbini'. Maybe it's not quality really. All I know is that the first 7-11 I ever went to was in Japan, and when I check

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116553197611249782005-05-20T10:30:00.000+09:002005-05-20T10:39:57.616+09:00

Wow, I forgot about these other ones in my cellphoneHere's a (very blurry) picture of my apartment taken from the 'living room'. The black smudge on the right is the piano, The black rectangle under the left lens flair is the kitchen, and the white rectangle under the right lens flair is the door from the entry way.This is a picture of Mizumoto Koen. My host family used to live near it, and

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116552411051914182005-05-20T10:17:00.000+09:002005-05-20T10:26:51.056+09:00

I got trigger happy with my cell phone camera yesterday, but for good reason I think.I think the idea of shark fin being a delicacy is disgusting, and I shudder at the idea of a shark having its fin being hacked off, and dropped back in the ocean to bleed to death. Apparently they think differently here; This is a shark fin is a glass case outside of a resturant in Tokyo station (I was trying to

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116550891864187272005-05-20T09:26:00.000+09:002005-05-20T10:01:31.870+09:00

The Swedish Embassy showed a film from Luxembourg called Globi and the Stolen Shadows.Globi, known as the Swiss Mickey Mouse, was apparently a character used in advertising for a Swiss department store, Globus. As often happens, he became a recurring character and is now very famous.The film seemed like an ok rehash, and had a Disney afternoon mid-quality far-fatchedness quality to it (the story

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116548721868239762005-05-20T09:15:00.000+09:002005-05-20T10:08:56.960+09:00

The Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo (with its awful Le Corbusian inspired (and only that) architecture) hosted the Slovakian film Orbis Pictus. It's the story of a young girl, Terezka, who takes off on both a physical and psychological adventure to find her mother. To follow suit, just before she leaves her boarding school she rips a page out of the Orbis Pictus to guide her way to her

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116476086214790692005-05-19T13:06:00.000+09:002005-05-19T13:14:46.220+09:00

My japanese roommate with flawless (spoken anyway) English and I were talking last night, and I brought up the topic of what it's like to meet Americans (etc.) of Japanese decent, especially second generation ones.He kind of shrugged his shoulders, made like he was going to say it was nothing special, but then he said 'they all wear L.L Bean, I feel sorry for them (kawaii sou).Can't say that he's

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116381204452176002005-05-18T10:47:00.000+09:002005-05-20T10:09:51.366+09:00

Today's film in the EU film days series was a British Film called Greenfingers. A film about a group of prison inmates who are being reviewed for parole and allowed to live in a low security area while the prison tries to teach them skills. They bumble on to gardening. Madness ensues. The film has a very 'Brassed off' meets'waiting for guffman/best in show' feel to it. Certainly not an arthouse

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116380278679982052005-05-18T10:13:00.000+09:002005-05-18T10:37:58.683+09:00

Minneapolis is filled with a lot of great things. The lakes and parks make Minneapolis beautiful in almost every season (yes, even winter). Minneapolitans also have a kind of innate concern for the environment, and, even though it was founded by non-native Horst Rechelbacher, Aveda is a very Minneapolis kind of company (although it was a much more Minneapolis company before Estee Lauder made it a

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116229091217357812005-05-16T16:24:00.000+09:002005-05-16T16:38:11.226+09:00

I met the Dirty Foreigner this weekendI was at one of my favorite Yakitori resturants yesterday with a good friend of mine from Minneapolis. They told us it would be a 30 minute wait for a table. So we said fine, and stood by the entryway.Then a large group of baby-boomer age americans trumble in, since I'm standing between the waitstaff, I unvoluntarily became the translator for this

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1116209556591473252005-05-16T01:07:00.000+09:002005-05-16T11:12:36.596+09:00

During my stint in D.C. I was a poor college student.Much to my suprise, I found that the National Gallery had monthly film festivals (film noir, iranian film, Japanese new wave) every month on the weekends. I saw so many interesting and also good films during that time.Ever since then I've always kind of missed taking the Metro to smithsonian station grabbing some wonderful albeit gringoized

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1115956910070188422005-05-13T12:47:00.000+09:002005-05-13T15:12:38.640+09:00

My college roommate's wife was noticing videos for dogs on her blog. Basically leave the TV on, and your dog can more or less live vicariously through the cute dogs jumping in puddles, eating wood flooring or whatever while you're out running errands. Japan, on the other hand, is producing a different product. This one is not for the dogs, but for the potential owners of dogs who want so much to

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1115944449449467132005-05-13T09:20:00.000+09:002005-05-13T09:34:09.513+09:00

Michael made a comment in my last post about coffee machines in my last post.And it made me realize that we don't have a coffee machine. We have what you might call a 'drink center'. It dispenses hot or cold green and oolong tea as well as hot or cold coffee. You can also have just cold or hot water.It was interesting when a US rep was visiting earlier this week. We had a board meeting, and we

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1115860019940773262005-05-12T09:47:00.000+09:002005-05-12T10:07:00.003+09:00

Mornings. I'll never forget mornings at Japanese camp in junior high. Showers were so packed in the morning that with my group of friends I would head down to the lakeside, and we would all hop in the sauna together. Then we would bathe in the lake (with biodegredable soap of course) Then we would rush back to our uchi (cabin, mine was called Fukuoka) to make in time before rajio taisou (radio

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1115792000035560022005-05-11T14:40:00.000+09:002005-05-11T15:13:20.096+09:00

Working for a gigantic company, you are obviously going to have offices in other countries. We have offices in Europe, South America, etc, but the one office we have the most contact with is our US office. Yesterday we had the director of the media relations department over there come over here for her annual visit. After our meeting, we went out for lunch at the West Park Cafe in the maru biru,

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1115617129636400652005-05-09T13:53:00.000+09:002005-05-09T14:38:49.696+09:00

I spent the last half of my Golden Week in Taiwan. Here's a rundown.Good Things about Taiwan:1) Yushan National Park2)Taipei's enviable, MRT subway system3)Taroko Gorge formed from limestone that changed to Marble, causing sheer cliffs with beautiful streams and scenery4) Food and the vendors that sell it. Apparently in Hong Kong as well, they have a vendor where you pick all the fresh vegetables

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1114574110936850612005-04-27T12:42:00.000+09:002005-04-27T12:55:10.936+09:00

I've been away from my blog for awhile it seems. I've lots the blog itch a little bit, mainly because I haven't had anything that seems worth telling my able-to-count-on-one-hand readership.I did get a new supervisor, which is good. The old one was a crazy christian guy that swore like a sailor and was angry at everybody because of company policy making him retire at age 60. The new guy is from

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1113198230516395812005-04-11T14:14:00.000+09:002005-04-11T14:43:50.516+09:00

I long ago gave up running in Japan. Why you ask? Japan is not a very navagable country. Streets are not organized, not logically connected, and are narrow. This makes the streets which ARE navagable crammed with cars at all days and times of the week. One would think the countryside would be better, but the streets are just as narrow, and while they do have the not (as) crowded factor going for

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1112604316345213272005-04-04T17:37:00.000+09:002005-04-04T17:45:16.346+09:00

Riding the subway to the Muji Flagship store in Yurakucho yesterday, I saw some kid wearing The Pump tennis shoes, a Jurrasic Park wallet, and about 4 tamagochi's hanging from his neck. This is odd. Kids are always decked out in the Ultraman/Power Ranger-esque character paraphanalia, especially the shoes, and Tamagochi went the way of the those bronzed snow queens years ago. Even one of my

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1112321084138257892005-04-01T10:59:00.000+09:002005-04-01T14:09:52.450+09:00

This is a great story looking at a BBC April Fools Joke about Spaghetti Plants. Aparrently, pasta wasn't the ubiquitous staple it is today in 1950's Britain. My favorite parts are about frost impairing spaghetti growth.

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1111642262249280712005-03-24T14:30:00.000+09:002005-03-24T14:41:03.023+09:00

In my state of self pit yesterday, I forgot to mention that Kenzo Tange died.Kenzo Tange was one of the Japan's first post World WarII architects. He was a major player in the metabolist movement, and educated other architects like Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, and Fumihiko Maki. He designed famous buildings like the Hiroshima Peace Center and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.I do

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1111543101452268042005-03-23T10:49:00.000+09:002005-03-23T10:58:21.453+09:00

Not in a very good mood today. A mystery loan payment sucked out the money I had saved for my labtop I was planning to by next month. Called parents, but wouldn't answer the phone, most likely screening their calls for solicitors old school style (the funny thing is I think they have caller ID). That and I really miss someone who I often feel like has forgotten I exist (I suppose that goes for

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1111464267779668812005-03-22T12:00:00.000+09:002005-03-22T13:04:27.783+09:00

I'll never forget right before I came over here the first time I was getting a haircut. The conversation turned to Japan of course, and he said 'well, hope you're ready to eat a lot of rice'.Which is kind of true. You cannot, however, forget about the diversity of rice...products avaliable here. Let's begin.Osenbe: Rice crackers, and no, as most educated people are already aware of, not those

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1111197017575989192005-03-19T10:49:00.000+09:002005-03-19T10:50:17.580+09:00

What flavor are you?what flavor pocky are you?[c] sugardew

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7192511.post-1110949869540598682005-03-16T14:01:00.000+09:002005-03-16T14:20:18.086+09:00

I am experiencing my first bout with Hay Fever, Japanese Cedar style this year. Growing up I always had allergies to all sorts of things; dust, pollen, animal dander, and my worst, tabacco (this one was a blessing actually, I have a legitimate excuse for not being around smokers). This would mean I'm used to what allergies do to you. But this hay fever was like nothing I've experienced. My

Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02520129476473236507noreply@blogger.com0