Taiko!

Loud drums in a big, echoing room? Never gets old.

Fukuoka Tower

They say you never really see your town until someone comes to visit. Now, Nana and I get around Fukuoka quite a bit - but somehow we'd never managed to get up Fukuoka Tower, despite the fact that we ride our bikes right past it about a billion times a week.

(Yes, that's yesterday. And pretty much every other day.)

This weekend, we had a couple sunny days and some friends from Korea in town on a visa run. The tower was on the top of their list, so we were more than happy to oblige. Perfect timing, too: we got to the top just in time for sunset.

Looking up from the base. As you can see, the thing's actually empty -
just a run-of-the-mill radio tower sheathed in reflective glass.

Looking north, over "our" beach.

Looking east, over Hakata Bay.

Looking south, towards the mountains.

Hey, I can see my house from here!
It's down by the confluence of those little rivers.

Looking west, towards Itoshima.

That mountain is Gofuji, which is Japanese for "little Fuji."

Of course, the views aren't the only attraction on the observation decks - the tower is also home to the obligatory kitsch. Take, for example, this, um, sculpture?

"Something will happen when the lovers touch the wings."

Nothing happened.

Seems me and Nana were the only ones without the spark.

 Apparently, serious lovers could buy a heart-shaped lock, write a love note on it, and latch it to the observation deck railing. According to my sources, this is a thing.

Also a thing? Tiny Shinto shrines, 123 meters up in the air.

 Anyway, the whole experience left us feeling very enthusiastic.

Bonus: Some cool night shots, as we made our way from the tower to Nishijin.

Early Morning Bike Ride

I've got to say, it's a lot easier to get your morning exercise in when the bike ride looks like this:

Don't let the sunshine fool you, though - February here can still be bitter, bitter cold!

Wednesday Weirdness: Our Local Gorilla in a Bikini

No matter how you look at it . . . it's a gorilla in a bikini scaling the apartment block across the river.

I don't even think it's advertising anything. It's just there. Taunting me like the Great Gonzo with its blatant defiance of gravity and good taste.

TheSenseitions at ZOMG, Candy!

Our friend Rosa has a candy blog (linked to at right, or here: ZOMG, Candy!), so occasionally we send here some of the strange things we run into overseas. You can see all the things we've sent here. I sent a bag of weirdness when I was back in the US over winter break, and Rosa's just started putting up reviews.

When I pick stuff for Rosa, I try to prioritize three things. First, it has to ship and travel well in all weather, which knocks out chocolate, and be acceptable to customs. Second, I don't get anything expensive or upmarket, since in Japan those candies tend to imitate Western products more closely and therefore are probably less interesting to a candy blogger. Also, they are hard to find in small portions, and I figure Rosa doesn't need a ton just for tasting. Third, Japan is really into local things, so I try to get her products which are hard to find even here. I just sent Okinawan Hi-Chews (candies with a Starburst-like texture) and have some Kyoto specialty Kit-Kats which some day I'll remember to put in the mail.

Unless the product has an awesome name, like Crunky Nude Balls. Then all bets are off.

Diet and Exercise . . . in Japan!

In our last post, we took a look at a week of typical dinners at our place. It turns out those dinners won't be so typical any more.

On Friday, my doctor has recommended some major lifestyle changes: lose a bunch of weight, double my daily exercise, and radically alter my diet.

Some of you know this already, as Nana's been in touch with our herbivorous foodie friends, looking for recipes, tips, and tricks. Others are probably hearing this for the first time, and might be fretting about their holiday menus. (Don't worry, Grandma, we'll figure it out!) But I wanted to post this as soon as possible: partly for motivation, as by committing publicly I'm making it a lot harder for me to let myself fail, and partly because treating something as an interesting, blog-worthy experience can really take the sting out of what would otherwise be a big pain in my (hopefully diminishing) butt.

So over the next few weeks, expect the occasional post about how the typical diet-and-exercise strategies have to be tweaked when you're living in a country where you don't really speak the language and you can't identify half of what you see on the supermarket shelf.

And if you like, wish me a hearty ganbatte!

So what do we eat in Japan?

Sometimes, we're guilty of letting this blog depict a life we don't lead. A life of constant adventures, cultural and culinary. Readers would be forgiven for thinking we spend every afternoon visiting temples and every evening eating Japanese food.

The truth is much more mundane: we spend most days at work and most nights at home. In fact, we eat at home about three nights out of four, depending on how crazy things are at work. A lot of what we eat is essentially American, but often with a couple unexpected substitutions or a little Japanese twist. Nana, who is really the field marshal of our kitchen, does a great job with a limited palette, given all the things we just can't get, or can't get cheaply enough to eat on a regular basis. She manages to keep our diet fairly healthy, too - though not so healthy that a weekly trip to the ramen shop can't put my cholesterol right back through the roof.

Anyway, here's a brief look at a week of meals at our place.

Saturday:

On weekends, we go to the grocery store, which generally means fresh salmon for dinner. Salmon is cheap here, and it's super-easy to cook in the little fish oven that's built into our range. Some weeks, we do it teriyaki style with rice and a salad. This time, we went a little more European - an thrown-together dill sauce, some sauteed potatoes, asparagus, and onions. A baguette, some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the side.

Like many weekend meals, this one was a joint effort: I did the fish, Nana did the potatoes, and we both kept an eye on the veggies.

Sunday:

Enchiladas. Mexican is a sure sign of a recent Costco run, as that's the only way to get affordable cheese and salsa of any recognizable sort. The tomatillo salsa was actually made with these mild little green peppers you can get pretty much everywhere here. For the filling, Nana used ground chicken, onion, paprika, cumin, and a whole bunch of cabos limes. (Apparently, they're a big thing around here.) We also had some tomato rice in there, all wrapped in a (frozen) corn tortilla from Costco.

Monday:

Weekday meals are often a bit simpler, as we usually get home late from school. For this one, Nana made shrimp with butter, garlic, onions, mushrooms, and asparagus, over rice. Usually, we try to leave enough leftovers for lunch the next day, unless there's a good lunch at school. Sometimes such plans do not come to fruition.

Nana does most of the weekday cooking: she says it relaxes her, whereas cooking at the end of a long day just stresses me out. I usually go for a bike ride instead. It's my job to clean up after the meal, at which time Nana usually curls up on the couch in a metabolic stupor.

Tuesday:

There's usually some pasta in there at some point in the week. That's penne with canned salmon, onion, and broccoli  rabe. Kind of like a pasta primavera. The sides are "jalapeno" poppers made with the leftover little green peppers, a bit of cream cheese, and bacon. According to the doctor, precisely the kind of thing I should never eat again in my life. Which means it was absolutely delicious.

Wednesday:

We went out. Wednesday is after-school meeting day, meaning sometimes we don't get out of the building until well after 6. Some weeks, when we're feeling particularly pole-axed, we'll stagger into the Lotteria, which is a McDonald's-esque Japanese fast food chain . . . founded by a Korean. (It's complicated.)

Other weeks, we'll pop into Menchanko-tei, a Fukuoka-based chain that specializes in noodle soups in the style eaten by sumo - with smaller portions, of course. This Wednesday, I opted for a yasai banzai ("10,000-year vegetable" or "longevity vegetable") menchanko, while Nana stuck with the classic. Those at the top are fried burdock sticks. Burdock is this freakishly delicious and healthy root vegetable that's cheaper than dirt in Japan.

The little side bowl in the lower right is for cooling and seasoning your noodles. Nana likes hers unadulterated, but I usually take mine with a hefty dose of yuzu paste, a condiment made from a bitter Japanese lime, soy, and a liberal dose of hot pepper.

Thursday:


On Thursdays, we're so busy we can't even remember to take a photo. Thursday is the only day of the week we're committed to getting out of school on time, as that's the only way to make our 4:40 Japanese lesson downtown. Luckily, the lesson lets us out right between Daimyo and Tenjin, two of Fukuoka's culinary hotspots. There's no telling what we'll end up eating on Thursday - though this time it was just a simple Hakata ramen.

Friday:


Fridays, when we eat at home, we usually throw something together from all the perishables left in the fridge. This usually takes the form of some kind of omelette or stir-fry, though occasionally pancakes are involved.

Yesterday, however, was parent-teacher conference day, so we didn't get out of school until late. Solution? Dinner with two of our Japanese colleagues, at a local place known for its hand-made udon (chewy wheat noodles). I had some udon soup and Nana had some soba (buckwheat noodles), each with another portion of fried burdock.

Conclusions:


Seven nights, three home-cooked meals - the sign of a week a bit busier than most.