SOFTWARE, JAPAN, SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND

So I’m going to interrupt my bento countdown to bring a special post.

A couple of months ago I discovered, on a local city government’s website, that an outdoor basketball court was at some park about 20 minutes away.

Most of last year I had been traveling 1 hour every Sunday to meet a co-worker at one of the best basketball courts in Tokyo. However, that particular weekend he was busy, so it worked out well that I had just read about that court close by. Although it was hard to find, the trip paid off because the basketball court was new and quite nice.

A couple weekends later I again traveled to the court to play ball (before it got too cold to play outside regularly). This time though something very fortunate happened.

Somehow the stars aligned and I arrived at the court right when 9 guys were trying to break into teams to play 4 vs 4 (one guy sitting out). 4 of the guys made up one group of friends, and the other 5 were a different group. The group of 4 asked me to join to play full court, which I eagerly agreed (in my broken Japanese response).

During a break between games, those 4 Japanese guys started asking some basic questions (which to me, being asked anything in Japanese is not really basic - but rather like a challenging mid-term exam). After some back and forth, rewording, and their occasional English vocabulary tossed in the mix (they could not speak English, but they understood a fair number of words), we managed to find a couple interesting similarities:

1) They all lived about 20 minutes from the court, and in the same city that I did (although on the other side of it).
2) It was their first time to ever go to that court (and my second time)
3) They were all the same age or one year different than me!

When we finished playing a few games the “captain” of their 4 man team asked me if I was interested in joining a team he was going to start. After a little thought, I agreed. The opportunity to learn Japanese and have fun playing my favorite sport seemed quite promising, so I exchanged emails with them and then went on my way back home.

Not long after, the captain of the team, Takumi, sent me an email inviting me to play ball again. I agreed and was surprised that the next time there were about 10 guys in his group.

Since then, they’ve reserved a gym on a couple occasions for us to play ball at (get out of the freezing cold air), which is something I alone would have been unable to do in Japan. And Takumi even went so far as to get everyone a team uniform. In fact, here we are in uniform after playing for about 2 hours at the gymnasium.

Although this might not seem that interesting to many of you, I dare say this event may have created the second most important social circle in my life here in Japan - friends.

Now, just a couple months after that one chance meeting on a new-found court, my social life has went from the textbook exchanges with postal clerks (which I couldn’t even get right) and restaurant staff to something that has meaning and sustenance.

Doors have opened. There is still hope for me yet.

It is Friday, and I hope you are having a great week! Today Im going to share a couple photos of my favorite bentos in Japan. A bento is the Japanese word for a packed lunch.

Although Americans usually pack a plate lunch or a bowl of food it usually consists of just 1 main item and some supporting item (like spaghetti and garlic bread, or soup and crackers, or a hamburger and fries), it is not the same in Japan. Japanese like to make their bentos from a variety of small samplings of each item. They do not fill themselves up on just one main course item.

Coming in at 5th place on my list of favorite bentos is this chicken nugget and gyoza dumpling bento. See all the different offerings in this bento?

A closer look at the label shows the 290 yen mark… very cheap (less than $3 for this bento). Unfortunately, this bento is the highest calorie bento and is the reason I don’t like it much. It weighs in at nearly 1150 calories!

4th on my list of favorites is this burger bento. The sauce and burger are quite tasty, and it even comes with a few potato wedges This bento has right at 950 calories and is rather good.

I’ll share my top 3 bentos on Monday, until then, enjoy the weekend!

So this post is a bit late, I hit the bed after several phone calls and internet account log-ins without remembering to post here. Now that I’ve been in Japan over a year, it seems silly to keep my Health Savings Account (HSA) open in the US. I’m now enrolled in the Japanese National Health System so I have medical coverage here, and the HSA wouldn’t really help here anyway.

I plan on canceling my HSA before my quarterly bill later this month. Now I just have to figure out how to roll my health savings out of the account into something accessible before any fees eat that money up.

On another note, when writing this post’s title I had to stop and wonder if my use of “an” was correct in front of the abbreviation. Something was telling me that “a” was not correct there when reading it, so I changed it to “an”… was I correct? Ever wonder the rule on “a” and “an” in front of acronyms?

http://www.gpuss.co.uk/english_usage/a_or_an.htm

The Friday before last I ate dinner and drank with my friend Sakuma san. Every time we go out and drink I learn a few new things about Japanese culture, language, and worldview which has been quite helpful in my stay here. Last time we ate together he ordered a particular dish that was new to me.

Extra large shrimp with shell included

I learned that the entire shrimp was a primary source of calcium for those that lived generations ago. The calcium comes from eating the shell, head, and even the tail. Nothing was left on the plate when we finished.

I have an action-shot of me taking my first bite, but I’ll spare you the grisly imagery.

Ok, here is the picture post friday… well, this week we will call it the Pizza post

Ever had an egg on a pizza? I have! Pizza in Japan is always an exciting experiment in flavors

Spread the yolk around. mmm, tasty

And if you aren’t interested in egg pizza, maybe you can settle for a bacon-potato pie at McDonalds?

Not bad at all, and it is less than the price of a small fry (small fry was about 200 yen / 2$!).

Today, on my way to the office, I thought about Japan’s favorite pastime. Everyday millions of people make their way to the trains around Tokyo in rushed fashion. Often as if they are completing a never-ending 100-yard dash.

Men and women, young and old, everyone is included in the morning and evening rush for the trains. I’m often amazed at how some of the ladies can descend a flight of steps in high-heels as quickly as some of the guys in soft-soled business shoes. Likewise, I’m often surprised at how nimbly some middle-aged men can jump into the train even when the doors are already half-closed.

Every morning it is the sound of other rushed footsteps that really gets the adrenaline going. Join in the frenzied rush for the train, or take it slower and admire the others that dash ahead? Either way it’s an interesting and fun experience.

This is going to be a super short post, because it just doesn’t require much to spell out the fact that I love chips. Tasty, unhealthy, deep-fried / baked / kettle cooked, spicy, salty, cheesy, sour-creamy, peppery, any-way-you-make-them chips.

In Japan my love has not disappeared, in fact it has only expanded to include many new brands and flavors.

On the right-side-of-the-bag-on-the-right (see comments) is a spicy flavored chip, and on the right is a Hokkaido-cheese flavored chip. Hokkaido is the large island that looks as if it is attached to the main island of Japan. Seems Hokkaido is pretty famous for cheese, beef, and cheese-flavored chips.

I even like mentai flavored chips… you remember my post about mentai chips?

night is here, time for sleep

Today was a long day at the office. I dont normally travel to the office on Friday, but I made an exception this week to add a little more security to the PCs that were there. Although I am definitely moving toward the Mac full time (unless it proves to be stubborn like it was last night when it wouldnt find a network drive after a reboot), I still think security on the office network is important.

But what am I doing? This post isn’t about work. Instead, let me talk about ochazuke.

Ochazuke is a mix between soup and a rice-bowl. Rice-bowls are bowls of rice with some topping (beef and onions, raw fish, chicken and curry sauce, or veggies and sesame) and are pretty standard meals in Japan. Ochazuke takes it to the next level by providing a small pot of flavored soup to pour into your rice-bowl. You can pour as much, or as little as you like, but in most cases it ends up being a 50 / 50 mix and is a good change of pace.

This photo was from 2 weeks ago when we went to Akihabara to buy stuff for the pc and mac. I ate “maguro” which is a raw tuna rice-bowl (pictured above). I definitely love rice-bowls, and occasionally have the desire to eat ochazuke, but I think most westerners would prefer the standard Gyu-don rice-bowl (cooked beef and onions in a very tasty sauce over hot white rice).

Enjoy the weekend!

Yes, today is my JapanDay, as I like to refer to it. Much like a birthday, today is the day that I came to Japan 1 year ago. Today is a very important day, it marks an important change in my life, one that I am very happy for. Just like any special day (this being one of the most important ones) I desired to celebrate, and celebrate we did.

Ayako and I went to a Shabushabu restaurant to eat and drink (it also was a nomihodai = all-you-can-drink alcohol place). At a shabushabu place they give you raw meat and vegetables and you cook it in hot boiling water / soup at your own table. It was also all-you-can-eat, so if you like vegetables, meat, or noodles better - you can surely get your fill.

So we feasted and drank the night away. Unfortunately, all I can share with you are these photos. Rest assured, if you were around you were invited, I would turn no friend away from such an important event as Japan day

Sorry, my regular phone’s camera is pretty bad, but hopefully you can see a little bit of shabushabu. (not to mention I didn’t rotate these images, apologies for the laziness)

Ok, so I’m going to give myself a cookie, one filled with “anco” (sweet bean paste that is popular in Japan). Here it is:

It’s almost 3am here and I’ve finally pulled my PC back from the precipice of doom. Today was the longest day.

Mac lovers will be glad to know that during the last 4 hours of this downtime I’ve managed to setup most of my day-to-day software on the macbook. That at least puts me one step closer to using it regularly.

Outside of PC / Mac stuff, the commute to and from the office was rather uneventful. I reviewed kanji cards on my DS during the train ride, and just like everyday the other commuters were all as silent as can be. The trains in Japan are both clean and quiet… although often a bit too full.