More Food & New Year

Here's a moderately healthy lunch from my local convenience store. Top left is a Konbu-filled Onigiri, to its right is the self-explanatory "Delicious Sandwich", followed by what is closely equivalent to a minimal salt-V-8 (if I'm not completely mistaken, the words on the bottom of the juice bottle say "Hon-jitsu", or "Daily", so it likely contains all the vegetables I need in one day.)




Also, at 10AM on the 31st in NJ, I'll be ringing in the Rat here, so cheers to you all!

Mega!

Here, our beloved Donald* McDonald has introduced some amazing new sandwiches. First come the "megas". As you're likely able to guess, "Tamago" is "egg".
*****Blog Trivia Time again!!! ---- What popular electronic toy of the mid 90's, often found on South Jersey Boardwalks as a carnival game prize, had "Tamago" in its name??
These are basically like Big Macs, and like nearly every sandwich in Japan, they also have a hearty amount of mayo. This is one thing that surprises me, for being a stereotypically healthy nation, mayo is everywhere! Most convenience stores sell pre-made sandwiches, which are usually a variety of items on crust-less white bread, almost always there's some egg, and loads of mayo!
At least McDonald's impressed me, they use a pepper-mayo that actually has a taste and was pretty good.




Now we come to my favorite, sandwich #2. As you can partially see in the top left, McPork, or "Makku-Po-Ku" if you want the workers to understand what you want and not flip over the menu to the English side (seriously, it's McDonald's, I don't need it to be translated), is part of the "hyaku-en", or 100-￥, menu. This is a great deal. Plus, it's a break from the mayo-fest as McPork is simply a pork patty smothered with teriyaki sauce and topped with some lettuce... seems surprisingly healthy for a McDonald's item too!




*yes, the evil grinning clown mascot of this fast food joint is called "Donald McDonald" here. Of course, there's no official word.... maybe he's supposed to be Ronald's cousin?

Side note: In 2.5 days, I'll be ringing in the year of the Rat. If there are no new posts before then, I wish you all a safe & happy new year & send out the boar in style (here I might do that with some Makku-Poku)!
See you in Heisei 20!(that's next year, in their emperor-based year-numbering style)

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Last night I ate & drank to excess with the Kanekos.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever celebrated Christmas Eve with as much of a feast in the US as I did here last night -- we had Roasted Chicken, some sort of grilled chops, an eggplant, tomato sauce & cheese casserole, taco salad*, and an incredible chocolate & strawberry cake!
Also, there was loads of beer & Eiji's grandmom even broke out her secret stash of wine for the occasion!


**here "Tako" is octopus, and it had shrimp too
**note to Marr: Unlike George Martin, I didn't mention every spice on every dish, nor the color of the wine or the location of where the eggplant was harvested, and I think it made for a better & more readable blog post. If anyone needs more detail, let me know... but I will have forgotten by then! Ha ha! Merry Christmas & Happy belated Tenno Tanjobi!

Also, I now refer you all to the blog of a Moffett to read about coming here & see some Japan photos & in the "photos" section there's a good & quick video (with sound!) that captures the excitement of the Emperor's Birthday - he's 74 & going strong into the 20th year of his reign!

Visitors!

What better way to welcome some fellow NJians (including a Moffett & a soon-to-be-Moffett) that by boozing!! Hooray!

Now I'm sleeping -- gotta work at 8:30!

Christmas Tree

I picked this up at a little store on Shinobazu Dori (the main road near my place) -- it'll be a plant to last all year (I hope I can keep it alive!!)
Most of the decorations are "cell phone charms" -- one is a purple capybara (peeking out on the left side), but the legit one at top was sent by my parents.

What is This Device?

Workin'

So, my updates have been less frequent since work has started.
This should change soon, since I'll be getting my first visitors at the end of this week (which likely means that photos are also on their way)

Now I have the beginnings of a regular schedule. My usual work week is Wednesday - Sunday (most locals like to learn English when they're free, which is the weekend)
This is actually kind of nice, because I have free time when everything (ie- Banks... one thing we don't have is 'Commerce - Japan's Most Convenient Bank' - although Mizuho gave me some free goodies when I opened my account, so no complaints!)

On the bank thing, here's a "ridiculous technology" story: I got a bankbook when I opened my account, but am still waiting for a debit card. Here, even checking accounts have bankbooks (but you can still make transactions without them). But, get this, the books have some electronics in them that let them function as ATM cards.
So, I go into a bank's lobby, open my book and slide it into the machine... then do all the usual button pressing, (even making a deposit by haphazardly setting a bunch of bills in some special opening) and my book (this is a real book, with 20 pgs or so) comes out, with the updated balance printed in the right place, and I'm on my way. (for when I don't have the book on me, say when using a convenience store ATM, I can later just slide the book into one of my bank's machines and choose "update" and it will print all of the previous transactions in order, where they need to be)

Also, I'm really starting to take video screens everywhere for granted.
Information that appears on most trains' in-car screens includes: minutes until arriving at the next 6 stations or so, which side of the train the doors will open, lines that you can connect to at each stop, and even how long the train you're on is, and which car you are in!
Of course, at home the "connections" part would be a little limited, but I'd love to hear "now arriving at Westmont, with connections to NJ transit buses to Camden & Cherry Hill, etc....."

Some News From Japan

Just in Time for the Year of the Rat - Click Here

Fraternizing with the Locals

Two nights ago (Wednesday), Eiji and I decided that we needed a good night of drinking!

It started in my apt, since I had hit a liquor store earlier (which advertises that it's been around since 1750 or so).
Then we hit a local establishment maybe 2 blocks from my apt. and right across from Nezu station.

It was tiny, and had a total of 3 customers when we walked in -- it was also Karaoke night (despite being Japanese, it is usually found in special Karaoke places and not in normal bars) -- some older dude who was boozing pretty hard asked me to sing some country song that he liked. I did, and he loved it! Maybe free beers are in my future?

In other news, I set up a bank account here yesterday! This was a challenge (even having my app already filled out), but I got through it, and the Mizuho bank in Seijo was full of helpful staff. The CSR even said my "hanko" (little stamp w. my initials that I had to have made for use on official documents) was "cute"! I guess just smiling like a dumb foreigner, but still being prepared makes some things very easy.

Working the afternoon/evening shift today -- then probably meeting Eiji to hang out downtown on Friday night.

Update

All is well here in Tokyo.
I've started actually teaching, and thus far it is going smoothly.
Also, today marks a rite of passage for me -- like most Tokyo residents, I can now claim that I've completely passed out on a train home & missed my stop (only by one, so the inconvenience wasn't huge!)
Also, I picked up my Foreigner Registration Card today (about a 30 min walk to the Bunkyo Civic Center -- which is right next to Tokyo Dome), so now the accouterments of life will follow (ie- bank account).

For those who are interested you can click here to see where I live on Google maps.
otherwise, the coordinates are: 35.723721, 139.773699

No exciting photos lately, but some will come, I'm sure.
That's all for now!

Work work work

So, reliable internet is still on its way -- but my neighbors are broadcasting again -- hooray!!

In other news, today is my real "first day" since I'll be going into the school & might even end up "team teaching" a lesson or two!

And, for those of you who were curious, the title of my blog is still truth. Yesterday was a close one -- no rice until around 8 PM, but since November 24th, not a single day has gone by where I haven't had the stuff -- and I love it!

New weird food item:: at a Korean BBQ place, I had raw liver doused in sesame sauce. Taste was good -- consistency was odd. Waiting on a Yoo to confirm how "usual" this item is.

Internet Down

No posts until the weekend.
I had been mooching free internet from the skies, but now it's unavailable at my apt.
I'm at Eiji's place now.
Should be setting up a service on Saturday, so this blog will be back in action then!

Training!

So, this whole week for me is training. Thus, the entertaining anecdote level will likely be down until Saturday.

In fun news, I've had the pleasure of experiencing rush-hour on the Tokyo Metro. I've been amongst the crowds who had an attendant "help" us fit on a train.

I guess most commuter trains aren't too different from this, but the silence of countless people still amazes me! At least I know "sumimasen", which is "excuse me", and the grudging politeness of others to make room when I need to get off a train is impressive.

Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

I've moved in. As promised, photos follow.
Also, fortunately one of my neighbors has an open wireless network, so it looks like I'll be getting some free access for a little while -- although I'll be setting up my own connection soon for reliability, an internet phone, and Madden!


Here's a view of the apartment from sitting on my "bed" (a futon, which is simply a pad on the floor, with bedding & a pillow).



Here's a view of the apartment from the entryway/kitchen. (unseen on the left is my bathroom)




Here's a view from the main room looking into my kitchen. The fridge/freezer is courtesy of Eiji, who no longer had need of this one. Plus the Kanekos equipped me with some instant coffee & cereal, which will be very nice to have before setting off on my first day of work tomorrow!



In the spirit of blogs past, it is contest time! Whoever can identify this kitchen appliance (which I purchased today at Japan's equivalent to Wal-Mart) will be given a free onigiri or nikuman of their choosing upon arrival in Japan! So, guess away!

Moving on Out

I'm moving into my apt. today! Even though it's tiny, everything that I have fits comfortably in there. Plus, I'll be picking up various necessary appliances.

Expect an explosion of photos on here once I'm settled in.
The neighborhood seems pretty nice. Yesterday, when dropping off a few items, an old lady was selling Bento lunches about a block away, there are two vending machines about 20 paces from my door, and in the other direction there's a convenience store (not 24 hrs. though) which I should be able to walk to in about 1 min.
So, convenience everywhere!

Friday

So, this day started off with grand plans to set up necessities of living here (a bank account & cell phone). Unfortunately, I found out that my temporary green card will not do for those, so I will have to wait another week or so. Hopefully the internet-based phone from Eiji's company will not be so paperwork specific!

Here are Eiji & myself, we were hungry (waiting for a friend to meet for lunch) and a little frustrated at the lack of success with getting paperwork done.



For dinner, we met Maki, Eiji's girlfriend, and ate at a Hawaiian place in "Shimo-Kitazawa", which is near where I will work & full of hippie-style college students.
Below is a Hawaiian-style take on "Onigiri", which are one of my favorite Japanese foods. Onigiri are rice balls, often entirely wrapped in seaweed, and usually filled with fish or some other delicious thing. Here, you've got a full slice of Spam bound to the rice! Japan is such a healthy place!


The waiter took our photo. We're drinking whatever the cheapest unnamed "Draft Beer" on the menu was. The guess is that it was the delightfully satisfying "Magnum Dry".