A Teaching Moment

On Tuesday afternoon, I was walking outside from the gym back toward the main building at the school. School was over for the day, so the students were doing club activities and getting ready for sports or starting to practice. The volleyball team, some soccer players, and the track team were practicing some ceremonial marching thing for some event next month. Two girls, Ayaka and Moe (mo-eh) were sitting on the sidewalk watching the marching and the tennis players.

I sat down next to them and asked their names, and then apologized because they are both in my class, and had been earlier that day. We talked about the marching, and cellphones, and Moe's boyfriend, Manabu, who speaks really great English. When I say "talked," please understand that it's me attempting very crude Japanese, the two girls working hard to pull out and formulate English, and most conversations succeeding through a hybrid of the two languages. (Also, interestingly, I have noticed that Japanese students speak English better alone, but understand the gist of things best working with one or two other people trying to decipher meaning).

I asked the girls what clubs they were in, and both said "none." So I asked what sports they played. Again, "none." So I said "doushite?" which is "why?". Moe said that she used to play tennis and liked tennis, but she stopped. Again, I asked why, and she pointed to the tennis court and said, "Sempai. We fight." Sempai means "upper classman" or "older classmate" but also has some notions, sometimes, of mentoring (though apparently not so much). So it seems that some older girl was giving Moe shit so Moe quit playing tennis.

I told her that at least in March the older girl would graduate and be gone. I told her she should play tennis then, for sure. I also taught her how to give the finger (American style) and also the British V finger thing. And I said "gambatte" which is sort of like "good luck" but really means "do your best - try hard". They laughed and smiled and Moe said "OK!".

The next day, after school, she was in her sports clothes and practicing tennis with the rest of the team.

Sugoi.

Taberu

"To eat"

So... I've had my share of interesting things in Japan for meals, snacks, etc. First on the list -- raw Kobe beef. This was really good. It tasted sweet and sort of melted in my mouth. It was wrapped around something... some vegetable thing... maybe some kind of ginger? I forget. Whatever the case, it was excellent. I had this at the okonomiyaki shop.

Next... tan. Which is "tongue" in English. I had beef tongue (gyutan) at the yaki niku (fried meat) restaurant, a Korean style where you get a plate of raw meat and use a little grill on the table to cook it. Tongue was really really freakin' good. I loved the stuff. I've had pork tongue, too (buta tan) and it was pretty good.

Also at the yaki niku place, I had horomon nabe, which is intestine soup. The pieces of intestine were cut into pieces about 1" x 1", and they tasted sort of like boiled chicken. I liked it a lot. So far, so good. In fact, the only things I can think of that I really haven't liked have been pickled vegetables. The Japanese word for "pickles" is "tsukemono." Pickling happens differently here, too... sometimes it's done with brine or vinegar like in America, but often it happens in barley or other grain meal. It's hard to explain, but strange things happen when the juices are sucked out of the vegetables by the grain meal. Also, sometimes miso paste is used (fermented soybean, smooshed, makes good soup) and other things, as well.

Another interesting meal -- octopus and squid. Now, squid -- lots of people eat and love calamari. But ika (in Japanese) is served here raw, on sushi, in okonomiyaki, stained with squid ink, etc. I've not had the inky kind, but I have eaten the others, and aside from being chewy as hell, it's pretty good stuff, especially with shrimp (ebi) and pork in okonomiyaki. Actully, good ika isn't all that chewy, but it's more expensive.

Okonomiyaki is pretty interesting, in and of itself. It's often called "Japanese pizza" but that's a surface comparison at best. It sorta LOOKS like a pizza, and you can pick toppings, but it's really like a cross between an omelet and a pancake. More like the pancake. Made of cabbage, egg, flour, maybe bean sprouts, maybe green onions (negi), it's poured out on a grill or hotplate or frying pan into a circle and fried on one side. Meats like I listed and pickled ginger are pressed into the dough as it fries, then the whole thing is flipped over. After it is finished, flakes of seaweed (ao nori) are sprinkled on, along with a sweet brown sauce and shaved katsuo bushi (bonito fish). The heat makes the fish shavings dance. Sometimes Japanese mayo is crisscrossed on top of all this. At a counter, you often eat it with a metal spatula. Women tend to use the spatula to cut and serve, then use hashi (chopsticks) to eat.

Finally... the other day I had something I never thought I would ever eat. And it was fantastic.

Basashi, 馬刺し

These small, purple slices of nearly frozen raw meat were served with a thin soy-based sauce and grated ginger. It was fantastic, though actually got a little less appealing and more chewy as it thawed. I just got over the fact that it was HORSE when I took the first bite, and from there, I was convinced. Mmm, mmm, good.

ALT =/!= "Dwarf Planet"?

Kuriiningu Appu Nara

"Cleaning Up Nara" happened all over the prefecture today. Justin and Doug (the Shimoichi JETs) and I went to Yoshino (the last stop on the train line here) and helped by walking with a bunch of locals up the hill, picking up trash along the way. It was sort of... well... I think we GENERATED more trash ("gomi") than we pickedup, but at least we did get a bunch of glass out of some gravel. And I took this with my cell phone:



Yoshino Valley


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(in the original comments, Melina said "That's one helluva cell phone camera.")