Instead of retyping lots of things, I'll just link to two livejournal posts I made which should explain EVERYTHING (ha!).
Explanation
CD tracks
Event!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
A post about sushi, as a metaphor for the challenges facing Japanese society
I love Kaiten Sushi. Let me explain.
Kaiten Sushi is a type of sushi restaurant where the sushi comes along on little plates on a conveyor belt, and you pick up the plates you want and eat them. Each plate is color coded so you know how expensive it is. It's fun, and you can eat exactly how much and what you want. Plus, in Tokyo, it's pretty cheap.
For more info, see wikipedia article.
But my post today is not about just any old Kaiten sushi places, but a specific subclass. The dollar store of sushi, I'm talking about the 100 yen kaiten sushi places, where EVERY PLATE IS 100 YEN! (105 with tax).
As you can imagine, this is the lowest rung on the sushi totem pole, but in the busiest areas of Japan, like, say, Tokyo, they can actually be quite good because of the extremely high volume.
There is a place in Shibuya I found, hidden in the middle of the crazy shopping district, very small but always full, that I've been to a lot. 10 plates is plenty of food, and that's about $9 for a sushi dinner of 20 pieces! Not bad. Of course, they didn't have the most expensive types of sushi, or the greatest selection, but they had all the basics like salmon (sake), tuna(maguro), yellowtail(hamachi), clam(asari), scallop(hotoke), eel(unagi), sea eel (anago), and various rolls, etc. Sometimes I think they put on a bit too much wasabi, but that's easily rectified with a little chopstick work. The place has a 7 plate per 30 minute minimum for singles, but for me that's no problem!
Now, I was feeling adventurous the other night and decided to search out another 100 yen kaiten sushi place I found on the internet. It seemed pretty popular (a big chain around the country), so I went to check it out. They had almost 60 different plates of sushi, ALL for 100 yen, and even had some of the best types of sushi like fatty tuna (toro) and crab (kani) and even steak sushi (steak :) ). Anyway, when I got there there was a line of nearly an hour. I took a number and signed in with a touch screen machine. Since I was alone, I got in pretty quick and they ushered me to my seat.... Wow, this place was high tech.
Let me try and describe it. Unlike most kaiten sushi places, nobody had stacks of empty plates in front of them . Instead, there was a slot for you to stick your plates in front of you. Plus, there was a touch screen when you could order specific dishes for each seat. when I ordered one, it came along the belt a few minutes later and the screen beeped louder and louder until it was right in front of me... dang.
The sushi was excellent, but all the sushi chefs were hidden behind in a kitchen where the conveyor belt disappeared into before emerging on the other side.
Compare this to my usual place in Shibuya, where there are 4-5 sushi chefs in the middle of a small ring, constantly yelling orders at each other in a sing-song sushi chef fashion. One of the an older fellow who's probably worked there for 30 years, the rest young-in's that look like they're fresh out of high school or college... With people all around and precarious stacks of plates obstructing people's views of the sushi... Where the seats are WAY too close together and the menu on the wall is covered in corrections and additions depending on that day's selection.
Perhaps my point is that, Japan is a master of efficiency, no doubt, but there is a point at which it becomes too much. Will I go back to the nearly fully automated place? Maybe. But will I keep coming back to my little haven of old-school sushi rotation? You bet.
Kaiten Sushi is a type of sushi restaurant where the sushi comes along on little plates on a conveyor belt, and you pick up the plates you want and eat them. Each plate is color coded so you know how expensive it is. It's fun, and you can eat exactly how much and what you want. Plus, in Tokyo, it's pretty cheap.
For more info, see wikipedia article.
But my post today is not about just any old Kaiten sushi places, but a specific subclass. The dollar store of sushi, I'm talking about the 100 yen kaiten sushi places, where EVERY PLATE IS 100 YEN! (105 with tax).
As you can imagine, this is the lowest rung on the sushi totem pole, but in the busiest areas of Japan, like, say, Tokyo, they can actually be quite good because of the extremely high volume.
There is a place in Shibuya I found, hidden in the middle of the crazy shopping district, very small but always full, that I've been to a lot. 10 plates is plenty of food, and that's about $9 for a sushi dinner of 20 pieces! Not bad. Of course, they didn't have the most expensive types of sushi, or the greatest selection, but they had all the basics like salmon (sake), tuna(maguro), yellowtail(hamachi), clam(asari), scallop(hotoke), eel(unagi), sea eel (anago), and various rolls, etc. Sometimes I think they put on a bit too much wasabi, but that's easily rectified with a little chopstick work. The place has a 7 plate per 30 minute minimum for singles, but for me that's no problem!
Now, I was feeling adventurous the other night and decided to search out another 100 yen kaiten sushi place I found on the internet. It seemed pretty popular (a big chain around the country), so I went to check it out. They had almost 60 different plates of sushi, ALL for 100 yen, and even had some of the best types of sushi like fatty tuna (toro) and crab (kani) and even steak sushi (steak :) ). Anyway, when I got there there was a line of nearly an hour. I took a number and signed in with a touch screen machine. Since I was alone, I got in pretty quick and they ushered me to my seat.... Wow, this place was high tech.
Let me try and describe it. Unlike most kaiten sushi places, nobody had stacks of empty plates in front of them . Instead, there was a slot for you to stick your plates in front of you. Plus, there was a touch screen when you could order specific dishes for each seat. when I ordered one, it came along the belt a few minutes later and the screen beeped louder and louder until it was right in front of me... dang.
The sushi was excellent, but all the sushi chefs were hidden behind in a kitchen where the conveyor belt disappeared into before emerging on the other side.
Compare this to my usual place in Shibuya, where there are 4-5 sushi chefs in the middle of a small ring, constantly yelling orders at each other in a sing-song sushi chef fashion. One of the an older fellow who's probably worked there for 30 years, the rest young-in's that look like they're fresh out of high school or college... With people all around and precarious stacks of plates obstructing people's views of the sushi... Where the seats are WAY too close together and the menu on the wall is covered in corrections and additions depending on that day's selection.
Perhaps my point is that, Japan is a master of efficiency, no doubt, but there is a point at which it becomes too much. Will I go back to the nearly fully automated place? Maybe. But will I keep coming back to my little haven of old-school sushi rotation? You bet.
Immediately after Nikko
I dove into the insanity known as Comiket. There are lots of stories that happened at comiket this year, but frankly I'd rather just remember these pictures.
Spur of the moment, a trip to Nikko...
I decided at 4 AM to go to Nikko before Comiket, which meant I got about 3 hours of sleep, got on a train around 11 AM, hiked around till dark, stayed at a B&B, hiked around again till dark, got back on a train and ended up eating dinner at the best kaiten sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
Thankfully, I took lots of pictures and videos:
Please read individual comments for more specific descriptions. Oh, and I didn't take any pictures at the sushi place.
Thankfully, I took lots of pictures and videos:
Please read individual comments for more specific descriptions. Oh, and I didn't take any pictures at the sushi place.
Christmas in Tokyo...
Okay, so I didn't do much for Christmas. 1, because I'm Jewish. 2, because it was my birthday.
Well, I did go to a party with other graduate students from the department (it was lamesauce), but witnessing real Japanese people doing Karaoke and then doing it myself was a good experience. Saw some odd sights in Shibuya, though:
And a video.
I guess it's a tradition?
Well, I did go to a party with other graduate students from the department (it was lamesauce), but witnessing real Japanese people doing Karaoke and then doing it myself was a good experience. Saw some odd sights in Shibuya, though:
And a video.
I guess it's a tradition?
Friday, December 21, 2007
Symbolism and Nostalgia I shouldn't have...
Haven't posted in a while. Perhaps because after the trip to Kyoto everything seemed somewhat tame.
Although I did go to a conference in Osaka the next week. But Osaka, to be frank, was nothing particularly interesting. It... FELT different than Tokyo. More like a US east coast city, maybe. And for some unknown reason they stand to the right on escalators instead of on the left like the rest of Japan. Oh, those silly Osakans...
Anyway, about once a week outside my apartment I hear a truly old-fashioned tradition go by. Whereas in america we have the ice-cream truck and its silly carnival jingle alerting kids to its presence, in Japan there are the "yaki-imo" trucks (roasted sweet potato), which has a load-speaker over which the driver shouts in a singsong voice "yaki-imo! oooiiishiiii, yakiimo! Irasshai! " etc...
Anyway one goes by my apartment once a week or so.
But today I actually walked past it, and to my dismay, the sing-songy voice over the loud speaker wasn't the driver of the little truck... it was a recording.
When I stopped to think about it, it's really quite representative of how Japan treats its traditions as a whole. I wouldn't be surprised if the sweet-potato vendor gets subsidized by the government just to stay in business.
In other news, I plan on going to comiket... And this time I'm doing it HARD CORE. Yeah, you know you want to come. Right?
P.S. I am soo getting that limited edition Hatsune Miku muffler.
Although I did go to a conference in Osaka the next week. But Osaka, to be frank, was nothing particularly interesting. It... FELT different than Tokyo. More like a US east coast city, maybe. And for some unknown reason they stand to the right on escalators instead of on the left like the rest of Japan. Oh, those silly Osakans...
Anyway, about once a week outside my apartment I hear a truly old-fashioned tradition go by. Whereas in america we have the ice-cream truck and its silly carnival jingle alerting kids to its presence, in Japan there are the "yaki-imo" trucks (roasted sweet potato), which has a load-speaker over which the driver shouts in a singsong voice "yaki-imo! oooiiishiiii, yakiimo! Irasshai! " etc...
Anyway one goes by my apartment once a week or so.
But today I actually walked past it, and to my dismay, the sing-songy voice over the loud speaker wasn't the driver of the little truck... it was a recording.
When I stopped to think about it, it's really quite representative of how Japan treats its traditions as a whole. I wouldn't be surprised if the sweet-potato vendor gets subsidized by the government just to stay in business.
In other news, I plan on going to comiket... And this time I'm doing it HARD CORE. Yeah, you know you want to come. Right?
P.S. I am soo getting that limited edition Hatsune Miku muffler.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Latest update for Kyoto trip pictures, one more day's worth
Check out the gallery again at http://picasaweb.google.com/samuelp for the latest pictures.
Also, I used the mapping feature that is built in so you can see EXACTLY (well, mostly exactly) where all the pictures were taken! Neato. Just click "view map" in the gallery section. Especially impressive for the final day, Kurama Mountain.
Also, I used the mapping feature that is built in so you can see EXACTLY (well, mostly exactly) where all the pictures were taken! Neato. Just click "view map" in the gallery section. Especially impressive for the final day, Kurama Mountain.
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