A Shopping Day

I’m worried…..  We’ve been shopping almost everyday, and spent money everyday.  It’s been just over a week since we came here but we’ve already spent 1/3 of cash we brought!  What did we buy??!  We should slow down…

But it’s difficult to not buy when we see something we wanted or something nice with a reasonable price.  And, when it starts snowing we can’t really go out for shopping, so I guess it’s ok…  Just try to slow down a bit, and watch what we spend for.

A tea break at Starbucks.

We ordered chicken pie and sugar donut to accompany our drinks 🙂

After another round of shopping, we accidentally came across with my dad inside a shopping mall.  He said he just bought a pair of jeans from UNIQLO.  He was suposed to be at work…  :p

We had another tea break with him at First Kitchen.

D had teriyaki burger and melon soda float.  I had milk tea float with tapioca.

Milk tea float tapioca wasn’t sweet.  The syrop was served separate so I could adjust the sweetness to my liking.  I ended up not using the syrop though.  Just trying to cut-down calories…

Delicious Japanese Foods!

I’ve been eating lots n lots of foods here….   Most of them are Japanese food 🙂

I cook just simple dishes at home (such as grilled fish, simmered vegetables etc), but my dad sometimes buys us sushi, sashimi and grilled unagi (eel).

This sushi platter was from sushi bar which my dad often goes to.  It’s near my house, and we’ve been their customers since I was very little.

I visited my grand parents’ house (Hiro’s great grandparents), and they bought us sushi too.  Individually packed per person.

I told my mum that I wanted to eat buta-jiru (miso soup with pork), then she made to accompany the sushi.

Plus some small dishes including karaage and grilled chicken.

Tamago-toji Udon is one of my favorite.

Ama-ebi (sweet shrimp) sashimi.  Raw, of course.

Our usual breakfast on weekend at cafe.  I love Japanese bread!

Parenting Room in Shopping Mall Japan

I never paid attention on parenting rooms and babies/children play area in Japan until I had my own baby.  Since Hiro was born I appreciated the existence of parenting rooms in shopping centres in Perth.  They are clean, convenient, and roomy (most of them).

As I planned a homecoming trip to Japan, I was worried that there may be no such area in shopping malls in Japan.  I just didn’t remember seeing one.  So I was relieved to see such a clean, big parenting room in a small shopping mall near my house!  If a shopping centre in Shiga has like this, I’m sure there’s one as big as this or even bigger one in other prefectures.

Cushiony changing tables.

There is a scale for weight and height!

Sink to wash hand….

Inside breastfeeding area.

And, there’re many strollers for babies in shopping centres as well.  Few different kinds – the one attached to a shopping cart, the one with just a baby seat, and the one looks like a ride-on toy.

Getting Very Cold Here…

It’s been still our morning routine to go for a walk.  Here, the difference is that the temperature is much much colder than it is in Perth.  I hear it’s very hot over there…  over 37 degrees?  Here in Shiga, Japan, it’s about 10 degrees.  Plus it’s raining and pretty windy today, so I feel very cold.

I need to wrap Hiro up with extra layers.  Hanten, winter indoor jacket, is our must item.

As everyone probably knows, we eat lots of things everyday here.  Sweets, rice, noodle, okonomiyaki, etc etc.  When we go shopping, we can’t help ourselves to not buy the food at the stall or food court.  They all look so yummy, and cheap.

D loves stall-type (yatai) food such as yakisoba, takoyaki and okonomiyaki.  We ate them 2 days in a row.  It may be because Shiga is Kansai, but there’re are many shops/stalls selling these items everywhere here.

And my favorite Sugakiya ramen noodle.  D had yakitori-donburi and takoyaki.

Hiro is eating yummy Japanese food everyday, and he smiles a lot these days 🙂

Sunny Morning

It was a sunny morning so Hiro and I went outside for a short stroll.

It’s nice to go out!  It wasn’t too cold.  If it’s raining or snowing, we can’t probably go walking like this in the morning.  In Perth, going for a walk around 8AM had been our routine because while walking he always fell asleep and take nap for 1hour or so.  If he doesn’t take this morning nap around 8am (before his 10AM solid feed) he gets cranky.  So, walking using a baby carrier was a great help.  He loves the bouncy feeling, I think.

We walked pass the neighbourhood temple.  People were already working.

I can’t believe I used to swim in this river when I was a kid!  It’s all covered with grass now.

After this walk, he fell asleep as usual.  Already looks sleepy in this photo…

First Kitchen

First Kitchen, known as City Convenience Restaurant, is fast food chain serving variety of foods including burgers, soup, and pasta.  It’s not a place I go often, but D and I had lunch inside food court in a shopping mall.  The price for burgers is bit more expensive than McDonald’s and other chains, but we both liked the food.

D ordered teriyaki burger meal, and I ordered kid’s chicken nuggets meal.  Teriyaki burger meal came with fries and drink, like other chains, but you could chose the flavour of the fries – called “flavour potato”.  It’s like shaker fries of McDonald’s.  The flavours are unique: corn potage, flame-grilled mentaiko (marinated roe of pollock), soy BBQ, sizzling butter and soy sauce, butter, consomme, and French fries.  D chose soy BBQ.  It was good 🙂

There is sauce bar at the counter where you can get any sauces as much as you want.  The sauces are BBQ sauce, mentaiko mayonnaise, cheese sauce, and garlic mayonnaise.

I love Japanese fast food because their drink menu has more varieties.  I always chose tea (usually oolong tea).  You can also get hot/iced lemon/milk tea and cocoa with meals with no additional cost.

It may be just because it was weekday and there’re not so many people around, but they made all the food on order including fries and nugget.  Crispy and super hot.  With kid’s meal I got to chose a toy from a basket, and I got Stitches stationery kit.

We were thinking of getting some sweets there as well, but didn’t.  Their tapioca coconut milk float and shiratama cream zenzai (chewy dango with stewed sweet azuki bean and soft serve) looked yummy!

Change of Things – Perth and Japan

It started to be cold and windy since the second day. It’s raining, and the wind outside sounds like it will be snowing anytime soon. The air is cold – but the thing is that inside the shops, restaurants, or trains is quite warm and I don’t know what to wear. I only brought just few clothes because I wasn’t gonna go out much during the stay and also I thought I could always buy nice clothes here if I want to.

We did a bit of shopping yesterday coz we needed something urgently for Hiro. Things here are pretty much different from those in Perth. We had to change some of our rutine. First, we brought our microwave sterilizer to sterilize the bottles and pump, but the microwave in my house is too small to fit the sterilizer! I can’t even put a microwave sterilizing bag. It ‘s very short too. I don’t know why my dad bought such small microwave… I guess they don’t have anything big to warm up? Hmmm… so we can’t use microwave sterilizer, we decided to do the basic method – sterilizing in boiling water. We needed a tray, drying rack, sponge etc to wash Hiro’s bottles so we headed to Daiso nearby and bought several stuff. Men, things at 100 yen shop always remind me how cheap I could get things around the house. 🙂

As I mentioned earlier, I brought my electric pump to express milk here in Japan.  Hiro is almost 9 months old, and I think I did a good job feeding him EBM (expressed breast milk) since he was born (considering the trouble of extra cleaning and time consuming).  And I’m still thinking to continue this until my milk dries out.  But, on the day I arrived my home in Shiga, I found that the electric pump is weird.  It kept stopping while pumping. I thought it’s broken due to the air pressure on the plane or something, but it turned out that the batteries needed to be replaced.  I guess it uses lots of power.  I was using this pump connected to power while in Perth, so I didn’t know how quickly I had to replace the batteries.  When I thought the pump was broken, I was actually thinking of stoping giving breast milk to Hiro.  Somewhere in my head I want to stop because it’s troublesome to express milk.  But I also think that I want to breastfeed him as long as I have milk.  So, the broken pump could be the opportunity for me to stop, but I guess I will keep continue doing what I do now until the time comes.

By the way, Hiro loves crawling on tatami!  The house is cold, and he escapes from blanket while sleeping, so he wears pretty warm (not too warm though) clothes on this futon.  Lucky I bought this baby circle crib thing from Amazon… otherwise he would be somewhere else (not on his futon) in the morning.  All the rooms are connected in my house (just separated with paper sliding doors (sho-ji), so he could be anywhere.  He seems to enjoy sleeping on futon, and has been pretty happy since we arrived here 🙂

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First Flight with 8 Month Old Baby

It’s 2AM, and dark and raining outside.  I should be tired and sleepy, but I’m writing this with a bottle of warm milk next to me in case Hiro wakes up for his feed anytime soon.  Everyone in this house is sleeping, except me and my bro.  I hear tv sound from his room.  It’s Saturday night (Sunday morning?) and I guess it’s the only time he can enjoy staying late during a week.

I arrived Kansai airport yesterday afternoon.  I must say I’m very happy and relieved that we are here finally.  Japan is not as cold as I thought – it’s raining, and it gets dark around 6:00 PM, but the temperature is not cold and I was kinda sweating when I arrived airport.  I’m not even wearing a jacket or pair of socks right now. (even at 2AM!)

The flight …..   was AWEFUL.  It wasn’t the worst because Hiro did sleep pretty well on the plane, but D and I (and maybe Hiro too) were exhausted.  We left Perth home around 9PM – Hiro was sleeping in his cot, but woke up in the car and stayed awake in the airport.  He seemed to be calm and quiet, and we thought he’d fell asleep with warm milk as soon as we get on the plane.  But, it didn’t happen.  He was obviously tired and sleepy, but couldn’t go to sleep and that made him very uncomfortable and irritated.  He wasn’t crying though – just wiggly and rubbing his eyes many many times.  I was trying to pad him to sleep, but you know the airplane seat is very narrow and I couldn’t really move around like I do at home.  I was moving him up to down, left to right….. and then, he started to gag and threw up everything he ate since 5PM, including pumpkin and all the milk.

It was a LOT of vomit.  He kept throwing up every 2 seconds for about 10 seconds, and I thought he was choking.  All the food came out through his mouth and nose, and my seat and clothes were completely soaked with his vomit.  I could hear everyone around me was saying “OH MY GOD…!”  I was in panic, and tried to settle him down quickly.  When I saw his smile, I was very relieved.

Luckily I brought a change clothes for him so I could change him, but I didn’t have my own.  I had to take my tops off and wear a cardigan on top of a camisole I was wearing.  Smelly….!  After changing his clothes he was still active, but in the end I managed to put him to sleep around 2AM – 2 hours after departure.  The flight was midnight so everyone was sleeping by then.  Then D and I could sleep a bit.  We book a basinet seat in advance – the seat is at the front so there’s lots of leg room, but we couldn’t put any baggage underneath or front of our seat.  We had to put everything in compartment above us.  That was bit troublesome when we wanted to get something from our bags.  This is what basinet looks like (Cathay Pacific) ↓

The another thing which was difficult during the flight was preparing milk for him.  As I don’t do breastfeed (express milk in a bottle) I had to bring formula in case I can’t express on the plane.  As soon as he sees a bottle he wanted to drink and started crying.  He didn’t stop crying so I had to feed him before the plane took off/landed.  He had to suck on something while taking-off/landing for preventing earache and he doesn’t take dummies all the time (only when he is sleepy and tired), so I was bit worried that he might finish the milk before the air pressure changed.  He cried a little, but it was ok on both flight.

From these 2 flights I learnt some lessons and now I know what I should and shouldn’t bring to an airplane when flying with a baby.  I actually had lots of baggages – 4 big bags + a baby carrier –  and some of the things I brought weren’t necessary at all. Everything was in different bags and it was so messy and stressful when I needed something and couldn’t find where it was and in which bag.  So from now on, I will prepare the followings for carry-on luggage.  Especially when using bassinet seat you’ll only get a net on the all to store your things.

• a pouch with 1 diaper, wet wipe, 1 disposable changing mat to put in a net in front of you … when you need to rush to toilet to change his diaper, you can just garb it and go.
• a pouch with a pair of socks, dummies, moisturizer and 1 or 2 toys

I will also prepare 1 bag containing baby bottles with 180ml of sterilized water and measured formula.  I brought few empty baby bottles and an empty thermo bottle, and got hot water from a cafe inside airport to make formula, but it was hard to cool down the boiling water when Hiro wanted milk.  It just took too long.  I found that I could ask flight attendant to warm up the water on the plane, so I thought I should have divided the sterilized water in bottles in advance and ask them to warm up to desired temperature.  It is much easier and stressless.

I brought too many diapers to the airplane.  I just used 3 diapers during 2 flights, but there’re more than 10 diapers in my carry-on luggage!  I brought an electric pump (which can be used with batteries) so I could pump at airport and on the plane, but I just didn’t have time for it.  I did it once on the plane from Perth to Hong Kong, but it was bit messy and I had to worry about washing the pumps.  I brought microwave sterilizing bags, but didn’t use it on the plane and at airport either.

We arrived Kansai airport around 3:30m PM, and reached home around 6PM.  My dad, mum and bro came to airpot to pick us up in a big car (to fit extra parson).  Hiro was awake after 6PM feed, but slept from 9PM until 6AM next morning!  He must have been so tired.   But thanks to that, D and I could get a good sleep 🙂

Character Kamaboko

Over the long weekend we had sister-in-law’s baby shower, and it was such fun.  I ended up staying there for 5 hours. I enjoyed the games and talking with other guests. The cake was so cute – a shape of pregnant belly. It was actually a velvet cake, and everyone seemed to be shocked when they saw the very red sponge inside :p Looked like bleeding… too realistic.

Sister prepared a small baby bottle filled with roc candies as “thank you” present for the guests, and the roc candies reminded me of kamaboko (fish cake) I used to eat while I was a kid.

There are many kinds, including Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Disney characters etc.  They are great item to decorate bento box!

3 Months in Japan

Many of my friends have left Perth for a 2-week-holiday as school holiday has started. Some of them will not go back to Japan because they still worry about radiation.   Yet they all say “I envy you…” when I told them that I will be watching New Year’s tv show in Japan while snuggled in kotatsu and eating mandarin (mikan).  Kotatsu, mikan, cat and snow… it is a typical scene of Japan’s winter.

Friends ask me how long we will be away, and I answer “3 months. But D only stay for 2 months”  Then they all say “ONLY 2 months?”   … To think about it, 2 months is a pretty long period.  D will be able to speak Japanese maybe!  Then I realize, Hiro and I will be there for 3 months and 3 months is even longer than 2 months.  What are we going to do in Japan for 3 months?!

We do shopping, yes, and going out to eat, yes.  But we can’t do that everyday for 3 months.  3 months is long.  Hiro will look different after we come back here. What will we do?

… Well, it will snow from around Christmas in my hometown, so we will probably stay at home most of the time.  Daytime is short in winter in Japan, as the sun rises around 7am and sets around 4~5pm.  I can imagine myself being in kotatsu most of the time 😀  We will play with snow, go grocery shopping at nearby shops, watch DVD, and eat a lot of food everyday.  I go catch up with friends, let my grandparents play with Hiro, and take lots of photos.

I think this will do.  3 months may be not too long after all…  I hope D and I don’t forget English!

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Coupon Websites

It’s been great….  Things are getting done one by one as I planned in my head. 😀   I had few things that I wanted to do before going to and while staying in Japan, such as going to a salon and having hair cut, and my schedule is looking pretty good now.

At coupon websites in Japan, such as Groupon and Ponpare, I was kind of hoping that they’d have coupons for hair salons and restaurants in my home town.  We won’t be able to travel around Japan this time as we have Hiro and it will be snowing.  Then, few days ago, Ponpare was selling ¥1000 worth Hot Pepper (a monthly and free coupon magazine) points for ¥100!  This means that I could get ¥900 off the price at salons listed on Hot Pepper.  I bought it straight away!  ¥900 is big!  It’s worth more than one meal at McDonald’s for D and me. 🙂

I was planning to stay at a hotel for few nights near my grandparents’ house sometime in November, and I found a few-thousands-yen-worth accommodation voucher for ¥100 at some coupon site (I don’t remember which website) as well.  Now, we are basically staying one night for almost free. 🙂

Somethings are worth waiting.  Lucky I didn’t make a booking for the accommodation already.  Now, my booking for haircut is done, accommodation has been booked, and a car for us to use during 3 months has been organised (by my dad).  I just need to rent a baby car seat online, which I will do sometime soon.

At my friend’s house, the other day, we were talking that how nice shopping in Japan will be.  There are many things (useful things) available at the shops, and they are cheaper and better quality than things here.  I’m so going to buy many things in Japan.  It’s ok, because I won’t be shopping anything for awhile in Perth after coming back here!  Baby goods are surely in my shopping list, including feeding, bathing and toilet training items, as well as homeware and kitchenware for myself to use :). Lucky I have D this time, as he can bring some of the stuff back here in Perth.  🙂

Japanese Automatic Toilet

I wrote about automatic bidet toilet seats earlier, but here again I just want to re-write about it.

Apparently there are several automatic bidet toilet seats available in Australia.  Most of them fit standard-sized Australian toilet and just need to be simply replaced with the existing one.  You will need power point in the toilet to use electronic toilet seat though.

Automatic bidet toilet in the bathroom is a very common thing you can find in Japan.  72% of Japanese households have one of these (REF), and almost all of them are TOTO brand.  TOTO has many advanced features rarely seen outside of Asia, and it designs the world’s most sophisticated bathroom products, elevating the bathroom from the merely functional to a total relaxing experience. I find it little funny that the oldest type of toilet (squat toilet) is still somewhat common in public places and some households in Japan, as well as these advanced electronic toilets.  Some public toilet (female) have three kinds of toilet : squat (hole on the ground), non-bidet, and bidet. It’s just because some elderlies still prefer squat style.  Most of the squat toilets are automatic though.  It flashes automatically when you leave the toilet.

Had been living in such environment, it is natural for Japanese people to long for one of these automatic toilet seat to have in the house outside Japan too. I know several Japanese families in Perth installed TOTO toilet seats in their houses, and they look so great….  I always wished I had one at home too.  TOTO brand is very expensive (I think it’s around few thousands dollars) compared to other brands, but is the best according to all the reviews and product information.  But, not everyone can afford few thousands on a toilet seat.  I think the cheaper ones are ok and still do the job –

With these demands from Japanese custoemers, Zakka Box in Mount Lawley started selling electronic bidet toilet seats at shop.  They are Korean brand, and are much cheaper than TOTO’s.  When I visited the shop, the owner told me that she actually installed TOTO toilet seat few years ago and it’s been amazing all the guests who visited her house. Having an electronic bidet toilet seat is one of Japanese people’s dream who live here (of course other people dream about it too), but TOTO brand is too expensive to buy.  Now she sells these Korean bidet toilet seats, and they have became popular item, she said.

Here are the brief functions of the two bidet seats she sells at shop:

1)

• instantaneous heating for 24 hours
• one pocket two nozzles
• self-cleaning nozzle
• bubble cleaning – air pump motor
• turbo – for reglar motions
• automatic drier (adjustable temperature)
• occupied seat sensor
• warm air drying
• adjustable warmness on seat
• kids lock

2)

all above functions, plus

• stainless nozzle
• deodorisation with aromatic
• ultraviolet sterilising illumination
• etiquette tunes
• luxurious remote control

You know, actually you can look it up on eBay to find it cheaper, to tell the truth.  But, buying from an actual shop and the shop you know may be better  – in case it breaks or got problems, you can always ask for help.

By the way, I found this very funny…

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Okuizome

Okuizome, literally meaning ‘first eating’, is a traditional Japanese ceremony in hopes that children would never worry about food in future.  It’s held either on the 100th, 110th, or 120th day after the birth.  Of course the baby can’t eat anything yet, so baby  just “pretend” to eat.

For this ceremony, traditionally we prepare fish, beans, boiled vegetables, soup and rice (white and red mochi (sticky rice ball) or red sticky rice (sekihan)).  Stone  is also prepared to wish a baby to have strong teeth.

I didn’t do it for Hiro just because I thought it’d be hard to prepare such a feast without being in Japan.  But, after receiving this photo from my friend and hearing the story, I kind of regret that I didn’t do it for Hiro.  I’m not really a traditional person but would like to keep some Japanese tradition.

I remember my friend (who lives in Japan now) did this okuizome ceremony in Perth few years ago, and I now admire her for doing it.  I think it’s important to keep such traditions, old manners and customs alive.

Since we are in Australia and can’t follow all Japanese traditional ceremonies for Hiro, I’d like to take him to shrine for omiyamairi when we go to Japan in November.  People usually visit a shrine for Omiyamairi 31 days after a baby boy is born (32 days for girls), but I think it’ll be still ok to pray for his or her health and happiness. 🙂

Talking about omiyamairi, he is also going to get baptized in church sometime soon, I think. I’m not catholic and don’t know much about catholic ceremonies, but I hear babies are usually baptized soon after birth. Hiro is already 6 months now :p
Well, he is lucky experiencing two kinds of ceremonies. We don’t know if he choses to be catholic, Buddhist or something else when he grows up, but it is all up to him and we respect his decision 🙂 It’s good to have many options open.

Shopping Baby Stuff Online

I’ve started buying things from Japanese online shops that we may need while we are in Japan.  Most of them are baby stuff; baby carrier, baby record goods, etc.  Some of them are cheaper buying in Japan, and I can find more variety of goods there.  For example, I bought this baby carrier called “Clmin”.

Baby can “wear” it as if s/he wear a pair of pants, and it’s easy for mum to wear too.  The supportive & durable material is used for comfort for both mum and baby.  I found it on sale at ¥1980 (about $20 AUD) and bought it straight away.  All the reviews are good.

And, I was going to rent a small baby stroller so that we could put Hiro down when we go outside for a walk or shopping. The cheapest rental price I could find was ¥800 per month plus a shipping fee of ¥2000.  Then, I found this stroller for ¥2990 from an online store.  It’s light, easy to maneuver, and is exactly what we were looking for.  We’ll be in Japan for 3 months and it will be cheaper than renting one, so I bought this too.

When my in-law told me I should buy Grobags from Bambinipront (coz they were doing sale) I instead found this First Year Sonogram Frame. You can display photos of 3 milestones in baby’s first year, and I thought it’s so cute.  I have my favorite ultrasound photo of Hiro and I thought it would be nice to display it on this frame. It’s around $27 at Bambinipront.  I searched this item online in case somewhere else sells it cheaper.  Then I found one Japanese online shop selling this for ¥1050.  I’m very happy I bought this!

Oh, by the way I was surprised to know that you can get a “talking” potty in Japan!  It talks “good job!” “well done!” in this an-pan-man (Japan’s popular kids’ character) voice.  Very cute!  Then, D said “well, I’m not surprised.  Japanese toilets are high-tech!”. Even for babies !?:p

Sparkling Drink

Many people would probably long for soda drink when they are thirsty.  Coke, pepsi, Mountain Due, Fanta… there are so many kinds in the market.  But, did you know there’re more unique sparkling drinks sold in Japan?

Coffee, tea, chocolate, fruit juice….  you can find them in sparkling version in Japan.  I wonder how they taste like….  I’m sure some of them are not great.  For example, when I’m thirsty I wouldn’t want to drink sweet chocolate.  I would definitely go for a can of coke or soda water.

Kirin, one of the largest beverage company in Japan, started selling this sparkling green tea in their Nama-Cha range few months ago.  This sparkling green tea is lightly fragranced with yuzu juice.  As being a green-tea-lover, I wouldn’t mind drinking this!  It’s not sweet like chocolate.  Well, it’s green tea, so it should be healthier than other soda drinks, right?

Oh, in Japan, ocha (green tea / Japanese tea) is not sweet.  There is nothing added – just tea leaf and hot water.  I really hate sweet tea….  I don’t mean those English tea like earl grey, I mean some sweet Asian tea like Jasmine Green Tea….  Pokka used to sell (or, maybe they are still selling) genmaicha, oolong tea and mint green tea with SUGAR here in Perth.  They are too sweet.  It’s not tea to me!

So, if you think Japanese people drink those sweet tea like Jasmine green tea everyday, you are wrong….  We drink unsweetened tea daily.  Personally I can’t drink sweet beverage with rice and miso soup.

I remember D told me the other day that there’re supermarkets in America selling only soda drinks.  Then I told him “well, I’m not surprised.  If you go to Japan you will see lots and lots of kinds of tea sold there.”.  Even at a convenience store, you will find many kinds of tera drinks, both cold and hot.

I’m sure it’s not only in Japan.  South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries may be the same.  In fact, there are so many kinds of Chinese tea in Japan and they are very popular.

Ummm  I sometimes miss the convenience of living in Japan.  When you are thirsty just look for a vending machine or convenience store, and grab a bottle of dink with one coin.

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Rice

Rice is something I need to eat at least 6 times a week.  It’s just because I’m Japanese and rice is the source of everyday power… My grand parents and parents used to tell me “if you don’t eat rice, you have no energy to do anything.”  Because I was raised with rice (2~3 times a day for 365 days), my body really became like that – I get no energy if I don’t eat rice for 2 days.

The typical breakfast at my house was rice and miso soup.  When I woke up, rice was always in a rice cooker – freshly cooked each morning.  Although my dad enjoys eating toast and coffee in the morning at cafe these days, he used to only eat rice while I was a teenager and that’s why my mum cooked this “Japanese style breakfast” everyday.  Leftover from last night’s dinner was usual side dishes, plus some pickles and seasoned nori (seaweed) or furikake (rice seasoning).

I was surprised to know how expensive rice was in Perth since I came here.  I mean, short grain rice.  I’d never paid money for rice as my family own rice fields and grow rice by ourselves – so rice was always in our kitchen.  Lots of them.  Here, I need to “buy” rice from stores and I felt it’s bit strange at first.

I had never eaten long grain rice while I was in Japan, but I like it pretty much now.  I like the little dryness of long grain rice when eating with something soupy such as curry.  They are cheaper than short grain rice (or Sushi rice) too.  But, when making sushi, onigiri or zosui, I need short grain (or medium grain) rice.  The stickiness is very important when making those Japanese food.

Some of the short grain or medium grain rice sold here are from USA, Taiwan, Korean and elsewhere.  As long as the rice was grown in water like Japanese rice, they taste pretty alike.  In some countries, rice is grown in soil and it tastes different.

Rice imported from Japan is always expensive, but the price of rice (short/medium) from USA and other countries had suddenly increased few years ago because of drought.  Now, the price had dropped little bit, but I still feel they are expensive…  I found Korean rice is cheaper and is very good quality.  Japanese rice, such as Akitakomachi, Akitaotome, and Koshihikari, are very expensive – even in Japan.  They are like brand. Omi-mai is the rice my family grows, and they are very good too.  Oooo I just miss eating it.  I think my dad should consider exporting his rice to Australia.

When buying rice here, you should be careful that some rice is more than few years old….  Rice should be eaten within one year after harvest.  At my house, we replace old rice with new rice after harvest season each year.  New rice (shin-mai) tastes so juicy and fresh.  You need less water to cook as they are so soft and fresh.  When preparing some rice sold here, if you think they are pretty old, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before cooking (or add more water when cooking) so they become softer.

Ummmm  I feel like having wafu breakfast for a change.  I need to be away from peanut butter toast!

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Donuts!

Donuts are definitely one of my tea-time favourite.  I was just browsing some Japanese donuts websites and they all look so yummy…. !

I love going to MisterDonut because they have many shops across Japan, even near my house, but there are other donut shops in Japan includes franchised and private-owned.  Here are some of them.

DoughnutPlant is one of popular franchise shops originally from New York.  They don’t only sell bakery donuts and sweet donuts but also bagels and donut cookies.

Their products don’t contain eggs.  Their sweet donuts (cake donuts) contain kanten (agar), and it tastes like fluffy sponge cake.

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Canezees Doughnut are hand-made and fried in rice oil.  Their donuts don’t contain eggs, and use dark sugar instead of white.

They have unique flavours such as Black Sesame Kinako (soy powder) and Yuzu Lemon.  They re-use the oil which has been used to fry donuts as fuel on their van!

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Zen Donut are baked, not fried. Zen donut uses Japanese products in their donuts, and the flavours are very unique.  Soy Milk Sesame, Ho-ji-cha Tea, Bamboo Charcoal, and Warabi-mochi are some examples.

They also sell karinto, one of my favourite Japanese snacks!

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Floresta sells donuts made from only natural ingredients, called ‘nature doughnuts’.  The owner started selling donuts from a stall inside shopping malls in Nara prefecture, but now they have 30 shops across Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

They sell seasonal donut desserts as well.  Now, during summer, they are selling donut and ice cream sundae.  Sounds yummmm…

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Hara Donuts use soy milk and tofu extract (okara) in their donuts.  Their hand-made fresh donuts are naturally delicious and so healthy!

Again, their flavours are unique – spinach, carrot, sweet potato, kiwi, passionfruit, lemon tea, sakura , etc.  They use fresh fruits and vegetables in their products.  By that, you can know what they are trying to tell you – the simple, natural ingredients are the best.

They also sell donut ice cream.  Bitter chocolate, purple sweet potato, and pumpkin etc etc…  You won’t  get bored with these unique flavours.

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Miel Donut is another shop selling baked donuts, not fried.  Although they only have 8 flavours, all of them look delicious~! Baked Sweet Potato and Rum Raisin sound good. 🙂

As their donuts are baked, the texture is soft – just like butter cake.  The best way to enjoy a baked donut is to lightly warm it up in an oven toaster.  This way, you can create the contrast of fluffy interior and crispy outside.

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Japan Now

Time flies… It’s already mid-August, and winter is almost over according to the calendar. I feel that we had a lot of rain this winter – just like it’s supposed to be.

In Japan it’s the end of summer according to the calendar, but people are struggling in the hot heat. It recorded the highest temperature of the year yesterday, and many people are getting sick from sunstroke. In Japan it sometimes stays hot until Sep to Oct. I remember hating the practice of Autumn carnival at the school around Sep because it was so hot. I could feel the sky was getting high (sign of Autumn) but the air was still hot.  Drinking cold barley tea on the break was HEAVEN.

Today, it’s been just 5 months since Japan’s huge earthquake.  5 months already…  People seem to be still struggling over there, although things are getting better.  As it’s almost Obon (a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the deceased spirits of one’s ancestors), many people will be visiting cemeteries to pray and offer foods to their ancestors.  We believe that spirits come back to our world on this day – so we don’t kill any insects during Obon season.  Even a spider – because it could be our ancestor’s spirit.  It is a time to honor, welcome, and free ancestral spirits.

During Obon it is one of the short holiday period, like Golden Week in May, and people go back to their homes (just like Christmas) and spend time together with families.  There are usually big jam on freeways and rains stations and airports are packed with people.  My dad says his work’s been very busy and it will continue like this until Obon holiday.  I hope he can relax during the holiday 🙂

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WeCareJapan: Light / Cotton Blanket x 10000 !

A volunteer group in To-hoku area, Japan, is seeking for help in order to support the victims in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi prefecture.

With the rise of temperature, people are suffering from a heavy infestation of mosquitoes and flies – Pesticide, Mosquito Coils, Insect Sprayers are urgently required.

Light / Cotton blankets x 10000 are also required ; The light blankets are required for people in evacuation centres, temporary housing and people staying at their own houses. They have enough warm/wool blankets but they are too hot for summer.

If anyone is interested in sending blankets for those people, please pack them in a box and send to the address below:

〒107-0052
東京都港区赤坂7-4-7　Chez Ireneビル2階
レスキュージャパン
井手口たき
080-3343-8806

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Chez Irene Building 2F
7-4-7 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, JAPAN  〒107-0052
“Rescue Japan”
Taki Ideguchi
phone# 080-3343-8806

They said that there’s no specific rule for the items: e.x. the blankets can be used ones, but I’d recommend to send new ones…  If the box is more likely to be bigger than a normal sized cardboard box, you’d better sending it to their warehouse rather than their office.  Please contact Taki-san at ” [email protected] “

Socks for Japan

One of Umeboss viewer gave me a link to this website and I just wanted to show it here… (thanks Achan!!)

This website shows a way you could help Japan, directly and meaningfully.  Many of the survivors ended up barefoot after fleeing in a hurry.  Socks aren’t primary support, but a token of care that will last beyond their small mid-crisis comfort.

They have stopped accepting the donation already, thanks to the people outside Japan who have participated in this.  Still, there should be other ways to get involved in volunteering without actually going there.  Any info are welcome…

Earthquakes

It’s been almost 4 months since Japan’s huge earthquake which happened on March this year, and people in other countries may think that things in Japan are back to normal already, but actually they aren’t.

People at damaged area (To-hoku area) are still suffering from hunger – I heard some people get only 2 rice balls a day.  There’s not much protein foods supplied to the area.

There was another big earthquake in Nagano prefecture yesterday.  There’re quite big damages over there, and people are obviously frightened: thinking when the next earthquake will be.

My friend in Tokyo told me this morning that her company banned using air-con in the office.  It’s summer in Japan now, and it’s been over 35℃ everyday, plus very humid.  My friend said people may get heat stroke!

Japan gets lots of earthquakes, but it’s been having way too many recently.  I’m worried Japan island may sink… I hope it doesn’t happen!!

Japanese Coupon Sites

There are few coupon sites in Japan now, and I’m subscribed to their daily deal emails.  It’s just that Japanese coupon sites offer much better deals than those in Australia.  Australian coupon sites, such as Scoopon, DealMe, LivingSocial etc, offer quite same deals over and over and I’m little bored with them.

I check deals at Groupon and Ponpare at the moment, but I prefer Ponpare.  Their deals are more interesting than those at Groupon.  So far I’ve purchased 4 coupons from Ponpare:  ¥500 worth MacDonald’s voucher for ¥100, 86% off hotel stay at hotel in Osaka Umeda for ¥10000 for two, 80% off skin whitening masks for ¥1050 etc.  These things are what we may actually use!  Groupon’s offers are always discounted hotels, discounted restaurants, and discounted activities.  I like Ponpare because they have lots of free-shipping items on deals and they are pretty cheap, such as more than 50% off on organic shampoo set, electric items, photo print services and fashion items.

Sigh… after checking these interesting offers for hair salon, I wish I were there right now!  Cut, colour, perm, etc etc are so cheap and these salons are pretty well-known.  I’d pay ¥2000 hair colour package without hesitation.

I’m checking these up everyday so that I can use the coupons when we go there 🙂  I’ve ordered several ¥500 worth MacDonald’s vouchers already, so we may be probably spending lots of time at MacDonald’s this time :p

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We got our tickets!

We got out tickets… finally.

First, we were thinking to fly with Malaysian Air as I found a very good price at H.I.S. Travel.  It was $210~ + tax ($780) return!  Less than $1000 from Perth to Osaka is very very cheap.  Besides, Nov ~ Jan is high season.  I called them up to ask the details such as transit hours.  The flight time is good too – leave Perth afternoon, and arrive Osaka in the morning.  Transit hour was just 1~3 hours, so it’s good too.  But, the thing is that the ticket was open for only 35 days, which means we have to come back to Perth within 35 days.  I wanted to stay in Japan longer, so I didn’t take it.

Next, I again found a good deal at H.I.S Travel.  It’s JAL (Japan AirLine) flight, and is $235~ + tax ($804) return.  It’s just above $1000 so it’s not bad at all.  And, it’s JAL so I thought it flies direct to Osaka.  I called them up to check what the deal is.  Then, I found out that it wasn’t a direct flight – there’re actually 2 transits and we need to catch 4 planes…  Fly domestic from Perth to Sydney, then move to international terminal, fly from Sydney to Narita, then take domestic flight from Narita to Osaka.  Hmmm, even though Australia and Japan are familiar places for us and we won’t worry about what to do at the airport, but again, we have Hiro and I don’t think transiting 2 times is going to be a comfortable flight. So, I didn’t take it either.

And, as I said on earlier post, my sister-in-law offered her mileage at Garuda to us.  Why she doesn’t use the mileage is because she can’t use it for the flight from/to Australia (for some reason).  So, we can’t use the mileage for the flight from/to Australia either.  We could buy 2 tickets separately – a flight from Perth to Bali, and from Bali to Osaka, using the mileage on the flight between Bali and Osaka.  But, there’re some concerns…  Firstly, we don’t trust Garuda because it delays often.  Secondly, we didn’t really like Bali airport from our terrible experience (post), and I thought there’s no space to relax with Hiro.  Toilet was dirty too…  Thirdly, we will have to fly with Garuda between Perth and Bali too, otherwise our luggages won’t directly go to Osaka/Perth.  I checked Garuda flight details between Perth and Bali, and found out that the connection to the flight to and from Osaka is really bad.  We could pay and use the lounge at the airport, but we’re not sure if it’s really a good plan.  Sister-in-law asked us to fly from Perth to Jakarta, then stay at either airport hotel or her house, and on the next day we fly from Jakarta to Bali, then Bali to Osaka.  I didn’t like it because there’re so many flights, and we will need to buy 3 tickets!  And, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with using her mileage too. So, although it was a very generous offer, we didn’t take it.

Then, we thought why not buy that Malaysian Air cheap 35days open ticket from H.I.S for D (as he can only stay in Japan for 1 month anyway), and buy a standard fare tickets for me and Hiro. The standard ticket wasn’t so expensive considering it’s high season.  We called up H.I.S to reserve our seats first. Then we were really going to go with it.  But, D wasn’t actually 100% happy with the flight schedule… The cheap ticket only applies for the flight departing Perth before Nov 23 (or around there), which means D will have to head back here before his birthday (as this ticket is only open for 35 days). And, he will also miss spending Hiro’s first Christmas and New Year’s Day together.  Hmm… now what?

Then, D found that Cathay is not that expensive either. He checked the fare on the dates he wanted to fly, and it turned out that total for three of us is actually about same as the one with Malaysian Air. Most of all, with Cathay he gets to stay his birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Day in Japan with us 🙂 . The flight time and transit are good too, arriving Osaka in early afternoon. Flight between Perth and HK is around 7.5 hours, and between HK and KIX is around 4 hours.  So, in the end, we decided to fly with Cathay and reserved our seats. 🙂

Now, thinking that we will be in Japan in 4 months, my head is busy planning our homecoming trip!

It’s winter, so seafood is its season!

And, I’m definitely eating one of my favorite food – Japanese omu-rice with demi glace sauce!

And, we will probably take break a lot at Misdo, McDonald’s, Mos Burger, and other fast food chains between shopping….  Can’t wait!

Japan Trip

Hmmm… my head has been so busy thinking about the flight to Japan.  I was originally thinking to fly with Hiro and D, three of us all together and come back to Perth all together, but now I’m kind of thinking to stay in Japan little longer with Hiro.  D has to come back to Perth after 4 weeks or so due to his work.  D and I always flew together all the time when we went to Japan, or anywhere, but I think just 1 month is bit too short for me this time.  Besides, I’m not working now so I can basically go anywhere outside Australia for as much as I want!

The biggest concern is, this time we have Hiro.  I have no idea how it’s going to be…  If he stays quiet or sleeps on the plane all through the flight, it’d be great.  But, what if he keeps crying…?! 🙁  And, if I stay in Japan longer, I have to fly with Hiro by myself on the way back…!  ….. I already feel tired by just thinking about it.

It might be much easier if there’re direct flights from Perth to Osaka, but there is not, so we have to transit somewhere:  we fly to another state in Australia and fly directly to Osaka, fly from Perth and transit at another country, or fly from Perth and transit at Narita then take shinkansen (bullet train) to my hometown.  Thinking about a transit with Hiro is already a big headache to me, but I have to think which method is the easiest for us.  Oh, and, the cost also matters.

Then, D’s sister offered us to use her mileage at Garuda.  I wouldn’t think about flying with Garuda with Hiro because of our terrible experience (post), but she told us to fly with business class.  We still have to pay the difference, but after getting the quotation from her travel agent it’s actually cheaper than paying economy flights.  I’ve never flew with business class before!

We are still thinking about it though…

There’re more concerns and things I keep thinking about, like, what if Hiro gets sick in Japan, etc etc…   but who knows?  Maybe nothing bad will happen and everything may go smoothly. 🙂  Now I will just think about good stuff, like , what we do in Japan,  what to buy in Japan, what to eat in Japan, etc etc!   The damage from the earthquake (post & post) is not fully recovered yet, but I hear things are getting well, so I hope I can enjoy delicious seafoods there too.

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Mos Burger – Fruity Miso Chicken

Mos Burger’s new Spicy Fruity Miso Chicken Burger seems to be a  big hit since its released day May 26  🙂

With the concepts of “burger with flavour of Japan”, “burger which catches Japanese people’s hearts”, and “burger: nothing like others”, this new chicken burger is only available for limited time only!

It consists of flame-grilled teriyaki chicken, fruity spicy miso sauce, onion slices, tomato, lettuce, and spicy mayonnaise.

The chicken thigh is marinated with wafu (Japanese flavour) based stock, then flame grilled.  The signature miso sauce is made with 3 kinds of miso : Sakura miso, Kome (rice) miso, and Haccho miso.  It also contains grape juice, raisin, blueberry, roasted soy sauce, red ginger, chilli powder, sweet sake, etc etc….  total 45 ingredients!  The balance of sweetness, spiciness, and sourness is just right – according to the people who tried this burger.

Sounds and looks so delicious!!  Ummmm I wish I was there 🙁

What to Eat in Japan, and Where?

When planning a trip to Japan, you might wonder where the best tourist destination is.  It totally depends on what you want to do there, and when you are going.  But, anywhere you go, one of the highlight of the trip will be experiencing delicious Japanese food.  Here  is a list of places and foods Japanese people enjoy when they travel within their own country.

Hokkaido Island

As the biggest prefecture in Japan and having many farms across the island, Hokkaido has many speciality food that are locally produced.  Dairy products, lamb meat, potatoes, corns, and seafoods…  There are so many choices of food to explore in Hokkaido, but Ramen Noodles (Miso Ramen in Sapporo, Shio Ramen in Hakodate, and Sho-yu Ramen in Asahikawa), Jingisukan (grilled mutton dish prepared on a convex metal skillet), crabs (Zuwai, Taraba, Ke-gani), Jaga-Butter (baked potato with melted butter), Soup Curry (Japanese curry with soupy consistency and lots of Hokkaido vegetables), Kaisen Donburi (sashimi donburi), Nama Caramel (raw caramel) are the must to try.  And, there’re well-known brand beer breweries such as Sapporo Beer and Asahi Beer (both originated in Hokkaido).  Even if you don’t drink beer, I recommend to visit beer gardens – they serve lots of local foods and they are cheap.  Although it’s not a Hokkaido beer, I’ve been to a beer garden inside the Kirin Beer brewery and I enjoyed all-you-can eat for almost all the foods I listed above.  Unlimited crabs and meat…. and of course freshly brewed beer.

Main Island

As a main island there are 34 prefectures and each prefecture has its own speciality food.  For example, Ise Ebi in Mie prefecture, Kobe beef in Hyogo prefecture, pickles in Nara prefecture, and Hiroshima-yaki in Hiroshima prefecture.  But, I think Kyoto, Osaka and Aichi prefectures have the most unique foods to enjoy.

Nagoya in Aichi prefecture is famous for Tenmusu (rice ball with tempura), Kishimen (flat udon noodle), Tebasaki (deep-fried chicken wings immersed in sweet sticky sauce), Miso Katsu (pork katsu with sweet red miso sauce), and An-kake Spaghetti (spaghetti with starchy tomato sauce.  The foods there are very well-seasoned, and thick taste.

On the other hand, Kyoto offers very traditional, thin taste foods.  The finest dining experience is kaiseki, a set meal where every course has been planned out to compliment and balance the others. Tofu foods are also famous in Kyoto, and is one of my favourite Kyoto food.  There’re some Japanese style restaurants offering a set menu of tofu foods, and that’s one of the food I recommend if you want to experience Japan!  And, don’t forget the sweets. You’ll probably find many cafes almost everywhere in Kyoto, offering some traditional Japanese sweets (wagashi).  Matcha green tea sweets are the most popular among all ages.

Osaka’s speciality foods are, needless to say, Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. Some people say that you’ll find takoyaki shop every 3 minutes in Shinsaibashi and Nanba, the centre cities of Osaka.  They are more like take-away food, but there’re many eat-in takoyaki/okonomiyaki restaurants as well in Osaka offering a wide selection of menu items to choose from.  A takoyaki restaurant I’ve been to had more than 30 takoyaki menus.  Fugu and Kushi are also nice food to try.  Kushi is a skewered and deep-fried food, and the experience of deep-frying and eating the various foods at your table in a Kushi restaurant may be fun.

Shikoku Island

Shikoku, meaning “four countries”, has some famous speciality foods too.  Sanuki Udon in Kagawa prefecture, Katsuo-no-Tataki (seared raw bonito eaten with special tangy sauce along with garlic slices and condiments) in Tosa prefecture, and Mikan Orange in Ehime prefecture.

Kyushu Island

Kyushu island has unique food items thanks to Nagasaki port.  This port in Nagasaki prefecture was the first port where a foreign ship arrived in Japan in 1550, and the only port where trade with foreign countries was permitted during Japan’s period of isolation.  Nagasaki prefecture is famous for Chanpon (noodle dish with white soup, thick egg noodle, and lots of seafood/pork/vegetables) and Kasutera (Japanese sweet sponge cake).  I must say Chanpon is one of my favourite food in Japan.  Kyushu is also known for a wide range of Sho-chu.  Especially, Kagoshima prefecture is famous for Potato Sho-chu.  The sho-chu is very strong alcohol, and people in Kyushu are thought to be strong drinkers.

Okinawa Island

As an island located in the South, this prefecture has tropical climate and very unique culture.  You can read about this place here, but the famous Okinawan food are  Go-ya chanpuru, Rafuti, Mimigaa and Saataa andagi. (non of them sound like Japanese, are they?)  Awamori (alcohol made from rice) is also famous Okinawan item.

Coral Moon

The other day we went out to get passport photo taken.  He (no, I) chose to wear the  UNIQLO suit we got from Hokkaido friend.  It was still little too big for Hiro, but it could fit.

Oh my gosh, I should have called up the photo place beforehand so that they could have prepared for the photo shoot for a newborn…. There’s only one staff there, and she took about 20 minutes to look for a white cloth and decide where to take photos.  Anyway, after several tries and milk spitting up, we could manage to take one ok photo.

As Hokkaido friend’s son(my former student)’s birthday is coming up, I have been searching for a nice gift – a birthday present, and also to say thanks for the gift for Hiro. The last email I received from her said that she uses Australian brand cosmetic called “Coral Moon”.  I’ve never heard the brand before, but after searching online I found that this brand is pretty famous in Japan (more search results in Japanese than in English).

Coral Moon is operated in Noosa, Queensland, producing the natural skin care and aromatherapy products.  I wonder if there is any shop selling Coral Moon products in Perth.  Their products looks good, I may want to try one. 🙂

I’m pretty sure I’ll buy one or two Coral Moon items for my friend, but I’ve gotta think about the gift for her son too.  He is turning 12 (I believe) this year….  Wow I can’t believe it.  He was so little when I was teaching English to him in Japan!

I think I will look for something Australian or English related item.  I wonder how good his English is… I know it’s very hard to keep track of other languages if you don’t use them.  But, Hakodate is a famous city in Hokkaido and I’m sure there’re many foreign people living/traveling around the area.  Maybe he’s got one or two English-speaking friend? 🙂  Hope to see them in Hokkaido or Perth sometime in near future.

Sakura Blossom

A photo from my friend.  She said that sakura is at its peak in Shiga now.  This is taken around Hikone castle (near my house).  I remember going there every spring to enjoy hanami (sakura viewing)

Sakura blossom is one of the most beautiful things in the world!  I really like watching sakura in Hikone castle – the view is amazing.  (my another post about Hikore is here)

Did you know that there’re about 340 species of sakura trees in the world?  In Japan, the major one is “somei yoshino“, but there are many many other kinds of sakura.  And, cherry trees display various growing habits and come in different shapes and forms.  Some of them are called “shidare-zakura” (weeping cherry trees) – they have drooping branches because of the soft branches.

“Shidare-zakura” is my favourite one.  So beautiful…  Especially, in the light-up at night.

Hitori Cafe Time

3 am – outside is, of course, dark and quiet, and the air is nice and cool.  It’s been almost 6 weeks since I started being awake this early, and I’m used to it already.

After feeding and putting Hiro back to sleep, I sometimes sit on the cozy sofa in the living room and take a nap, or stay awake until his next feed.  After awhile I start to feel hungry and make myself breakfast.

This morning I felt like toasted ham, cheese and salad sandwich.  With black coffee (decaf), of course.  And, smelling the toasted bread reminded me of “morning” (= breakfast).  In Japan, cafes offer cheap breakfast and it’s called “morning”.

Going to a neighbouring cafe with my dad to have “morning” on weekend morning has been a ritual for a long time.  That’s what we do every weekend morning while I’m back in Japan.  The “morning” starts from 8am and finishes around 10am.  I’m normally awake before 8am, and when dad wakes up we head to a cafe together.

The “morning” is not a special food, really.  It’s just a set of salad, a hard boiled egg, toast (thick slice!) and drink. (depends on the cafe)  It costs just few hundreds yen and is nothing special to talk about, but I just love having this “morning” in a cafe with my dad (and sometimes with mum and bro).  It reminds me “oh, I’m in Japan with my family now.”

Now I’m here in Perth enjoying the “morning” time alone, and I miss the family “morning”.

The Fukushima Fifty

Did you know that there were 50 people left at the Fukushima nuclear plant who have battled to cool down the overheating reactors since the disaster on March 11?  They are a band of lower and mid-level managers at the plant, and they were, of course, aware of the danger and the outcome of being exposed to radiation – death.

Although the heat from the damaged reactors were sweltering, they had to wear protective bodysuits to protect their skin from the poisonous radioactive particles – … but radiation seeped into the atmosphere minute by minute.  They did this, sacrificing themselves, because someone had to.  They left families behind… telling them that they won’t be home for a while.  One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: “My dad went to the nuclear plant, I’ve never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.”

Later, 150 colleagues joined the original 50 and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation.  But by now, 5 out of 50 are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.

Tokyo Water Bureau officials said levels of radioactive iodine in some city tap water contained two times the recommended limit for infants, and the government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.   The U.S. have halted all dairy imports from Japan and will screen all other foods before allowing entry.

www.dailymail.co.uk