I am going back to Japan

Just for 2 weeks, I will be in Japan next month.  This trip was planned just recently and I am sorry for such short notice to Bagelier customers.

One of the purpose on this trip is staying with my family on my dad’s special birthday – he is turing 60, and we are planning a small family trip to onsen (hot spring) to celebrate his kanreki.   In Japan, turning 60 is a major big deal.   It’s when your life has come full circle, when the clock resets and you start a new cycle of life. Interestingly it’s usually only a major celebration for males—I guess women don’t want to celebrate turning 60, not so much.

And actually my mum’s birthday is also on March, so we are celebrating both of them on the onsen trip  By the way she is turing 51!  Yap, 9 years age gap.

It’s just a short holiday, but I’m so excited about this trip.  I think I won’t be able to go back to Japan for a long time after this trip, so I will try to enjoy Japan as much as I can.  :)

I hope I can see sakura and ume over there.

To Bagelier customers:

I will be away from March 10, 2010 to March 30, 2010.  I am sorry for the inconvenience.  Please place orders by 8th of March

Funcy Japanese Drinks

As you may know, there is a wide range of products available in Japan.  Some of the products, you don’t even imagine that exist in this world!  Although I was born and grew up in this country, these things surprise me every time I go back to Japan.

Because of many businesses running across Japan, there are so many competitions going on between those companies.  Drink is an example.  A company produces a pet bottle of green tea named “oishii ocha” (delicious tea) and another company produces green tea named “ureshii ocha” (happy tea).  Naming of drinks is also a war, as company B can’t use a name which has been already taken by company A.  So, you get to see drinks named “o~i ocha” (hey, tea), “kore ocha” (this is the tea” etc etc

A drink company, Sangaria sells some unique drinks.  Standard drinks such as tea, juice and soda …

and …

Beer for kids! 

… NO, of course this is just a soft drink (non-alcohol)  :p  Looks like beer, and the name is “kodomo no nomimono” (kid’s drink).

Sangaria’s popular drink, Osaka’s cafe style mix juice drink is now available as sake (Japanese alcohol drink).  Sangaria’s mix juice is one of my favorite, and now I’m curious to taste this sweet sake drink!

Love Food for Any Mood

As a promo for McDonald’s five new Value Lunch Deals, they started this “Mood of the Nation” site.  On this website you can see how the whole country is feeling right now and why.  By the way today’s Western Australia people are feeling…  ”Peckish”  

It’s just a cheeky simulation thing, but $5.95 lunch set menu is a pretty good deal.  You can chose from 5 lunch deals : Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, Seared sweet Chili Wrap, Seared Tandoori Wrap, and Quarter Pounder. 

They’re available Monday to Friday between 12 and 2PM at participating restaurants, but only for a limited time.  :)

Sakura Sushi

Sai Koh Sushi Japanese restaurant changed its owner few months ago, and now this place is called Sakura Sushi.  

The menu is quite similar to before, but there’re several new items listed on their current menu.  I haven’t got chance to go there and try the food yet, but I recently had a chance to have a little chat with the owner about the menu.

Some new items are Okonomiyaki as entree, which is savory Japanese pan cake, and Miso Katsu Don, which is chicken katsu served with tasty miso-dare sauce.  Miso Katsu is a kind of Nagoya food in Japan, and it’s very nice  I may want to try it on my first visit.

One thing I noticed on their menu is “Potato Cake”  I can’t imagine it as a Japanese food – well, we eat potato cakes in Japan, but I was curious to know why they put it on the menu as a Japanese food.  I asked the owner, and she said that it’s a kind of Japanese food which is a deep-fried dish with potato and vegetables.  …  croquette ??  Is it ??  I just noticed now :p

Sakura Roll Sushi ($7.00 for 5 pieces) contains raw salmon, tuna, crab stick, egg omelet and coated with tobiko (frying fish roe : they describe the frying fish roe as “caviar”).   It sounds nice  I wish they add avocado!  I love avocado.

The prices are fare, around $4.50 ~ $13.00 for entree and $9.50 ~ 24.00 for main.  The owner couple are very nice people and that’s one of my reason I would like to go there in near future

Shop 11, Ranford Shopping Centre

Doraemon iPhone App

Yahoo! Japan released 16 free iPhone Apps simultaneously at Japanese iTunes Store. By locating each app on the screen correctly, like solving a number slider puzzle, you can depict a face of the most famous character in Japan, Doraemon.

5 out of 16 are practical function buttons, such as calculator, kitchen timer and clock.  Other 11 are actually Doraemon comic stories!  For example, if you press “Time Furoshiki” button, you can read the episode from original Doraemon comic book on iPhone screen.  (those comic stories are written in Japanese) 

I love Doraemon and I installed all of them right after I knew about this.  Reading those comic recall a memory of childhood.

And, just few days before knowing this Doraemon iPhone app, I was watching DVD of Doraemon movies.  In Japan, current Doraemon cartoon on tv had been changed a lot compared with the one I used to watch while I was a kid.  The voices of Doraemon, Nobita, Shizuka-chan, Jaian and Suneo all changed as well as illustration of the cartoon.  I liked the original voices, and watching DVD was really fun to me.  I remember watching those Doraemon cartoon on tv and cinema back in Japan.  :)

There are many Doraemon movies, but my favorite is the very first movie episode :  Doraemon: Nobita\’s Dinosaur 2006.   (>v<)