Category: experiences

Tunafish

In general, I don’t like going out in the weekends, even though here in Japan most shops, museums, and cafes are open. There are simply too many people around for my taste, and even those places that seem totally off the beaten tracks and are quiet during the week are crowded. Well, if you have ever been to an average Japanese home, you can imagine why people are fleeing them…

Anyway, I ran out of food on Sunday and decided to go shopping to the nearby supermarket. I happened to pass by the fish counter, and there was a tunafish on display, a whole Bluefin Tuna from an aquaculture, about 1 m long and weighing some 50 kg. And when I was told that they would start cutting it up and selling it in just a few minutes, I knew I had to stay and watch this.

At 11 am sharp the whole thing started; the fish was brought back behind the counter, and a young girl who seemed to weigh not much more than the fish started carving it up, under the noisy encouragements of her colleagues. First the head was removed, and then two relatively thin slices right behind the head were cut off the fish. A friend of mine called these parts kama, kind of the shoulders of the fish, and she said that these were the best parts of the animal, even though there is not much meat to them. It seemed to me that those three parts were sold whole and on the spot, but I am not sure.

Afterwards, a deep cut was made along the spine of the fish, and the skin was removed from the back in large stripes. The belly was removed next. It yields the fatty parts of chutoro and otoro, the latter being the most oily part of the fish from right under the skin and light pink in appearance. The last part to be cut from the fish was its back, called akami, there the meat is dark red and relatively dry; it is usually sold as maguro.

a pack of otoro tunafishBoth back and belly were further cut down by an assistant and then those pieces were packaged and offered to the onlookers. I bought a small piece of very expensive otoro. This little piece of 77 grams cost me almost 1000 YEN. I ate it as sashimi and yes, it was absolutely worth it!

It surprised me how much time it took to cut up the whole fish – about 45 minutes in total. The girl obviously did not do this the first time, and the knives were obviously big and sharp – and still you could see how hard she was working throughout. Every time she had finished cutting off one piece, she held it over her head like a trophy and thus presented it to the audience, and we were all clapping and cheering, which I found funny somehow. Altogether this was an interesting experience, and I wonder how this would be in the large fish market in Tokyo, at 4 am in the morning…

Preparations

When I came home the other night, I noticed strange marks all over the stairwell in my building. I wonder what they mean, since the gas, water, and electricity lines are running in a main utility shaft at the centre of the stairwell, and not in its corners, and the rain pipes run outside along the balconies. In any case, it does seem that my hope for quiet renovations has just been killed… signs for the renovation in my building

Interview

Yesterday, I had a job interview in Osaka, and I already have the impression it did not go well.

It started out not too well already: I answered an online job ad, and when I was invited to the interview and asked for my time preference, I said “Monday morning or early afternoon”, to which I received the reply: “Monday 16:30 is great for us!” So much for my plans for the evening.

Since I had to go to Osaka, I printed out the directions given to me by the company as well as a map from google. It is not good to be late to an interview, especially in Japan, so I factored in 30 minutes of grace period in order not to be late. Everything looked good – and then I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up nowhere near my destination. I asked somebody and this young woman was kind enough to accompany me to the building (I love Japan!); but even though I was just in time with 5 minutes to spare or so, I think this did not go down well.

I had to bring my passport and residence card to the interview, and my business manager visa was the next problem. The company usually deals only with individuals, and it is unclear if their standard procedures allow them to hire another company, which technically I am. Probably the paperwork has to be different. I promised to ask my lawyer about this, but I know that company policies are usually rather rigid here and people are not used to make exceptions.

The interview as such did not go that badly I think, but at the end I was ushered off the premises rather quickly. I am not sure whether this was because they were tired of me or whether there was somebody else waiting. My allotted time was up though, but in any case, it did not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling… I will hear from them within a couple of weeks, apparently.

A Man presses a "reject" buttionAltogether, I don’t think I made it. Too many little details that did not quite click. Oh well, I guess I’d better chalk this off as learning experience. Two things I have already learned: First, to give precise times when I am available (Monday from 9:00 – 15:00) and second, that no map is 100% accurate; and when I’m lost the best idea and time saver is to simply take a taxi.

Cat Cafe

I am sure you have heard about the Japanese speciality of cat cafes. They are normal cafes housing a number of cats that are allowed to roam freely and interact with the guests. The idea is to provide people who are not allowed to keep pets, with some sort of outlet and the possibility to feel like a cat owner for a short time.

Well, since I am a wannabe cat owner, and since I am not allowed to keep a cat in this apartment, and since I am thus feeling rather cat deprived, I went to one of Kyoto’s cat cafes this afternoon.

Red-White Norwegian catThe first thing I noticed when I entered was the warmth – this must have been the most overheated place in Japan – and the rather distinctive smell of kitty litter. There was an extra door at the entrance to prevent the cats escaping through the main entrance. I had to take off my shoes, wash my hands, and indicate how long I was planning to stay before I could get further inside. When seated, I was shown a “how to behave” list: No flash photography allowed, no harassing of the cats (or other guests), and a warning that the cats may scratch and that there may be cat hair in my tea. And then, finally, I was left to roam around freely and to interact with the cats. The place was well adapted to the cats’ needs: fluffy cushions and blankets, boxes of all sizes, high shelves to hide upon, plenty of cat toys, and sufficient litter boxes. The only weird thing was the aquarium with the single goldfish inside. Cat TV, I presume?

Cat on tableThe cats were gorgeous. There were three young kittens in a little extra stall with extra charge and 15 adult cats in the main part of the cafe. The animals were of all colours and races – Russian Blue, Scottish Fold, Persian, and an amazing Norwegian Forest cat, among others. Unfortunately, I arrived at nap time, and all the cats were asleep. They were friendly and could be petted still, but I prefered to let them rest. Only when my hour was over, did they come to life again – and I felt a bit cheated, to be honest.

It seemed that the cats were well taken careCat on shelf of. Their coats were shiny and well-groomed in case of the long-haired cats, and although one was allowed to feed them, this was only possible with the food provided by the shop, a wise decision. Behind the counter there were some crates into which the cats would be placed at times to avoid overstimulation by the patrons. As for those, I expected the guests to be a bunch of elderly cat ladies like myself, but there were mostly young couples, which surprised me.

I spent a pleasant hour there, but next time I will go a bit later, after nap time. It is rather expensive – 1 hour there costs 1500 YEN, including one set of drinks and sweets – but if you’re really into cats, this is the place to go:
http://animalcafes.com/v/25475.html

Lottery

I am not sure if I mentioned it, but when you send nengajo New Year’s cards, most of the standard cards you can buy have a lottery number printed on the back. You then hold on to all the cards you received until mid January, when the winning numbers are drawn, and then you have half a year’s time to go a post office and claim any prizes you have won.

Prizes start from sheets with stamps (it is a post office lottery after all) for correct two-digit numbers, local specialities for the correct 4 digit number (this year you could choose among specialities from 38 of Japan’s provinces) and the first prize for 6 correct digits are a holiday trip, household appliances (TV, washing machines, etc), or 100.000 YEN.

nengajo lottery winning numbersThese are the lucky numbers for this year. Unfortunately, I was only 75% lucky: I had the 648 of the middle prize, but no 9 in front of it… Of course, since I only received seven cards, this was to be expected. Friends told me that they send around 100 nengajo each year, which means they should receive just as many in return. In that case, it is easier to be lucky, no?

Finances

Japanese currencyAs a business owner, one of the things you have to keep on top of at all times is your finances. It’s always good to know how much is coming in, and even more so, how much is going out. Thankfully I have always been financially conservative, meaning that I prefer to earn more than I spend, so at least this is not an issue. Last month has proven especially fruitful.

For the first time, my company’s earnings have exceeded my personal spending. Not that those two numbers have anything to do with each other directly, since I have to pay myself a salary in any case, but it still nice to know that I can support myself with my earnings. The next step will be to earn more than my salary, but this is not that easy.

Unfortunately I must confess that business is very slow, and that I am far from making enough money to make this viable. I am now applying left and right as freelancer for all sorts of jobs that are within my expertise, but even though I now have a visa that allows me to work in Japan, my other major deficiencies have not gone away: Not being a native English person who knows perfect Japanese. That makes things just as difficult as they were before. I am trying to get some online freelance jobs from abroad now, and I am making some money there, but by far not enough. I still have a few more months to go before I need to start panicking though. And as we all know: Hope springs eternal.

And hope is not always betrayed: I told you about working on my German tax return just before Christmas, right? Well, I have already heard back from them, in fact I have received money back, a total of almost 3000 EUR. Well, bothering some of my old friends in Germany about this has certainly borne fruit. I am very happy about this windfall!

Happy Isle

Last week, especially in the weekend, large parts of Japan got covered in snow. Finally, it’s winter after all! Especially the northern and western parts of Japan bore the brunt of the snow and cold, but even on tropical Kagoshima island there was snowfall – the first in 115 years! Even the temperatures in Okinawa dropped perceptively, a friend of mine was there last week and said he expected something else.

Anyway, Kyoto seems to be a Happy Isle in all this snow. It snowed heavily last Wednesday morning, and I only took this quick picture from my balcony before I went along the river to one of my favourite cafes. I arrived there very happy indeed – and totally soaked by the fluffy snowflakes the Japanese call “peony flakes”. In the afternoon, everything was over, and most of the snow had melted already.

Snowy view from my windowLast weekend was very cold, and there was a heavy storm over Kyoto on Sunday. I noticed to my alarm that even here my windows are not entirely tight after all; it’s not nice watching the curtains move with the wind when the windows are closed and securely fastened. Anyway, to my chagrin, there was no more snow, and it seems that, as the temperatures will go up again tomorrow, that there will be no further opportunity this year. This really doesn’t do – one or two days of snow per winter are simply not good enough for this mountain girl! Maybe I should consider moving to Hokkaido?

Renovations

Last week I received a large, thick booklet informing me about the pending renovations in our block of apartments that will be carried out this spring. As far as I understand, this concerns only the buildings’ outside: the balconies will be renovated (how exactly, I am not sure), and the whole building will receive a new coat of paint. The booklet describes other types of work, but I am not sure whether they really will replace any of the wires and pipes. I would not mind getting new water pipes though – the old ones are very rusty and would really need to be replaced.

constructionAnyway, since the work is scheduled from February to June, and from 8:00 until 18:00 on weekdays, I hope it will not be too noisy for too long. Work on my building will start only in Mid March, when the scaffolding will be erected, and I’ll have to remove all personal belongings from the balconies by then.

The whole renovation appears to be planned down to the smallest detail. The document I received has 28 pages in total, and besides a detailed schedule for each of the four buildings in the block, it is also stated for example who is in charge of the work (photo included), what types of clothes and badges the workers will wear, which parking lots cannot be used in that time, and which type of further information will be sent in leaflets of which colour. Since the building will be painted, there will also be days when we are not allowed to hang out laundry to dry, and these days will be announced one day in advance, at 3 pm.

And if there are still questions unaddressed, there is a meeting this Saturday to clarify all the details. Since the meeting will be in Japanese, it is probably a bit pointless for me to show up, but still, I am deeply impressed about the care that is being taken here! We’ll see how impressed I will remain once the work has started. I am sure you will hear about this more often in the future.

Don’t Panic!

Warning of increased electricity billTogether with my last electricity bill I received, in the beginning of December, an extra leaflet that warned that the next bill in January would most likely be much higher than usual. The leaflet was reassuring and explained the three reasons for this:

  • the increasingly cold weather requiring more (electrical) heating
  • the New Year holidays during which more people would stay home
  • and, also due to the holidays, an increased billing cycle

It was nice to tell me, but since the leaflet was in Japanese, probably every household had received it, which I find interesting. Shouldn’t the Japanese know these things? Anyway, there was no reason to panic, and I felt well prepared.

Until today, that is, when the latest bill arrived. It was more than twice as high as the last one! I was quite shocked, because although I am wearing several layers of warm clothing at home, I am still feeling cold, especially in the evenings. Of course, I am only heating a single room – the office, where I spend most of my time – but I have to admit that I do not heed the electricity company’s advice of 20 degrees is enough. Perhaps it is for the Japanese who seem to be more tolerant to cold in general, and maybe it is for those who cannot sit still for more than 5 minutes. But for this particular European leading, nay, celebrating, a sedentary lifestyle…

Anyway, since it is my own choice between a small bill or warm feet, I know which way to go. Besides, I figure that it’ll even out again in summer, where I will forgo aircondition…

Kagami Biraki

Japanese kagamimochiAs promised a week ago, I actually did eat the kagami mochi yesterday, on the day of kagami biraki, the breaking of the mirror. When I opened the package, the mochi appeared clean with a shiny surface and a consistency a bit like that of a wax candle. It also had a similar taste, so that did not bode well for my cooking experiment.

Friends suggested that I cut off the hard outer shell of the mochi, but since I had left it in the package, it was clean and comparatively soft, so I did not do this. I did cut the two layers apart though, although I have read somewhere that cutting the mochi at all should be avoided for some reasons clouded in superstition. As I have a gas range, I could at least cook the mochi the recommended way – by simply frying it over open fire. In the beginning it was too hard to put a chopstick through, so I just stuck it onto a knife and held it over the flames.

For a while nothing happened, but then I could hear some crackling sound and the outer shell started to crack and crumble. Small pieces could be torn off and they were nice and crisp – and hot – and the inner part of the mochi was soft and sticky. Soon this part dried out and became crispy as well, so it was a little like eating chips.

While the consistency did improve, the taste did not, unfortunately. I had anticipated this and had prepared a nice salad to go with it, so it was fine. In hindsight, I should have probably put some soy sauce onto the mochi pieces before eating them, but obviously only a real Japanese would think of that. No photo of the finished meal this time, since I was busy frying and eating and I have not yet grown a third arm to hold a camera at the same time. Maybe next time…