Simple Food

It may be because I’m trying to do so in my head, but my mind is already in Japan.  Wouldn’t it better and more fun if I think about Japan a lot and tell myself “hey you are going to be there in few days!”  It’ll make myself feel more exciting once I arrive Japan.  :)

What certainly enhanced this feeling was this sekihan (red sticky rice)

Sekihan is sticky rice cooked with azuki beans, and it’s a traditional Japanese dish for celebrations.  My friend cooked it for me when I visited her house last week   As you can tell from the photo, it was so delicious…!  

Sekihan with soup and pickles: it may look like a tiny meal, but this is how I like the meal to be!  I always thought a meal in Australia is such huge portion.  I’m even happy to just eat a bowl of steamed rice with pickles and a bowl of soup every night!  (especially after watching Grave of Fireflies)

Too much is not a good thing, I believe.  ”Just right” or “little less” is the best. (腹八分目)  It’s not only for food, but other stuff as well such as toys, clothes, time, etc.  If there is a limit, whatever it is, you will appreciate it.

I’m seriously thinking to stay in a temple while I’m in Japan!  Even one day, experiencing monk’s life in a temple may clean up my mind and spirit.  … I don’t think staying in a temple will happen to me this time, but I hope to visit a temple and sit down there, listening to myself.  While I was a elementary school student, it was a school’s event that all students had to visit a temple to listen to a monk’s story.  Back then I kind of didn’t like it and thought “why we had to come here in such a hot day” etc.  I didn’t appreciate it.  So were other students.  Now, however, I miss it, and appreciate the monk who took his time to do even though we (students) weren’t keen to the story.

Bagels from … Ham Company?

The Nippon Ham group established structures for large- scale meat production, processing, and export, and it operates subsidiaries around the world.  (English site)  Most of processed meat products you get to see at supermarkets in Japan are Nippon Ham’s.

.. I wasn’t searching for this meat company, I was actually googling “bagel shop in Japan”.  Then I found this “delicious soft bagels and pizzas online shop - Nippon Ham”   … Nippon Ham = bagels??  

I clicked the Nippon Ham site, then I found that this company now doesn’t sell only ham and bacon, but also salad, pizza, bread, curry, dressing, and even bento boxes! :p

You can see bagels are now getting to be one of common food people eat at home everyday in Japan.  These bagels from Nippon Ham are well-packaged for commercial sales, and of course Nippon Ham is not the only company which sells bagels in supermarkets.  Plus, bakeries, hotels, restaurants and cafes also serve bagels as standard menu.

I will try to eat many bagels in Japan for the next few weeks

My Friends are Everywhere..

As I’m from Osaka College of Foreign Language, my friends from the school are all interested in other countries and traveling the world.  I was taking Studying Abroad Course (major in Animal Science) and most of my classmates flew to America to go to universities after graduation.  I, on the other hand, chose to come to Australia instead of America.  Major reason for this was that I thought Australia was surrounded by big nature and wild animals.  (which is true)

I was browsing the college website the other day and I noticed there’re photos of my classmates on the site.  It recalled the memory of my last home-coming trip - I had a small gathering with my classmates in Osaka and could catch up with them.  After that, they seem to be doing fine and some of them are again going overseas for further career

One friend, who is also from Shiga prefecture, went to America to study animal behavior at an university.  Since then she got a job at one of her work-experience place and now she is working as a dog trainer in America  It had been her dream to be a dog trainer and she seems to be so happy.

Another friend, Haru, she studied preschool education in New York and moved to Hawaii after graduating an university to work as a kindergarden assistant teacher.  Then she went back to Japan, worked in a International kindergarden for awhile, and now she is flying back to America, Portland to work as an assistant teacher for one year.  She is so determined

Another one, who also chose to come to Perth, Western Australia with me after graduating the Osaka college, worked in Japan for few years after graduating from school in Perth.  Few days ago she flew to Ireland!

I’m not planning to go overseas and work at this point.  I will probably stay in Perth and just lead my life here  But in future, maybe when I’m much older, I would like to go to other countries and do some voluntary work.  It is one of my dream!

Photos from Japan

These may be silly photos, but I just post them on Umeboss so that I can delete from my computer’s desktop :p 

You can watch NHK news on SBS every weekdays (early morning and night time), and I watch it sometimes.  Watching your country’s tv show make you feel home  I always thought this Otenki onesan, weather woman, on NHK news REALLY look likes my friend!  She is cute…

Some people who understands Japanese kana (a syllabic Japanese scripts) may be able to read what’s on th e weather board…  The sunny signs with orange color is creating two katakana  ”エロ” = erotic….  What a coincidence..   

This photo was taken by my mum, on a subway.  This man fell asleep, and unluckily his wig fell down… :p  I wonder what he did when he woke up.  This photo has been my mum’s caller ID on my phone (^口^)

Grave of the Fireflies

You can watch this film on SBS tonight, 12:20  (midnight) !!! (Perth time)

Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no Haka) is a 1988 animated film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work. (wiki)

I believe this is one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made.  The story is about a brother and a sister, Seita and Setsuko.  Their mother is caught in the air raid during World War ll, and dies from her burns. Having nowhere else to go, Setsuko and Seita move in with a distant aunt, but the aunt didn’t welcome them.  In the end they leave the house and move into an abandoned bomb shelter.  They’re so alone, and Seita (brother) tries to protect young Setsuko, but they have no food and no parents.  As time goes by, Setsuko suffer from hunger, and she passes away 7days after the war ends.

The story is very sad, and educational to people who don’t know about “war”.  I’ve seen this film many times at elementary school and home, and it told me that a war gives nothing but sadness to people who live normal lives.  This film makes me cry every time I watch.  One of my favorite film of Ghibli.

You can watch this film on SBS tonight, 12:20  (midnight) !!!