goinggaijin.com – Page 123 – A European's move towards Japan

Yatsuhashi

In my attempt to explore Japanese food – especially sweets – I have come across one of the most famous sweets of Kyoto: Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi fall into the category “mochi”, but only barely so. They consist of very thin (maybe two millimetres) mochi dough at the outside, have about a teaspoonful of filling inside, and come in characteristic triangular shape.

I like them very much because they come in so many different flavours. The standard “green tea outside, anko read beans inside” is available everywhere and at all times, but Japanese also like the seasonal flavours like ringo (apple), momo (peach), ichigo (strawberry), or, right now kuri (chestnut). Black sesame is also a year round favourite, as is imo (sweet potato); and yatsuhashi are often bought as souvenir. The mochi dough outside, flavoured with a tiny bit of sugar and cinnamon – which you can buy fresh without filling or even dried – is not overly sweet, but the filling (not really marmalade, but some type of smooth paste) always hits you with the extra amount of sugar…

Renewal

Three months have passed since my last visit to the hospital and today was my new appointment to get a refill of my pills. Actually I went to the hospital on Monday already to have the bloodwork done on time, but the experience was pretty much the same.

As I got registered in the hospital’s database and received a nice plastic card with all my data on it last time already, all I needed to do this time was to go straight to one of the machines looking like ATM’s in the foyer and enter my card there. The display said something in Japanese, I answered in full trust “Yes”, and was issued one of those mobile-phone style beepers I talked about in depth last time. Going up to my department’s reception, I said hello and was pointed toward my doctor’s office, outside of which I took a seat. I had brought something to study, and as I was almost 30 minutes early, I was ready for a longer wait and took out my stuff. I hadn’t even finished getting everything out when the beeper went off telling me that my doctor was ready for me!

Inside, my doctor and I agreed that I was doing just fine and should keep the same amount of medication. Besides that, he suggested I should eat more sushi. Seriously! Part of my bloodwork shows variations from the norm that might indicate an insufficient protein intake. Yes, I have been eating very little meat and I do agree that there’s probably not that much milk in chocolate as I might like. I promised to be more careful in that matter and left him – next appointment in March.

From there, everything went as last time: Go downstairs, present printout to the accountant, wait for beeper to indicate price, pay, and leave. From my arrival in the hospital until I left it and went to the pharmacy the whole procedure took 25 minutes, and I’m happy to state that the longest thing in all this was the actual consultation. I guess it was just a slow day with not too many people, because I had to wait much longer when I had the bloodwork done on Monday. Today, however, the longest wait was at the pharmacy until I received my pills…

Tryouts

My studies having progressed as far as they could until now, I went to the library today and did a practice JLPT test in preparation for Sunday. I’m glad it was not the real test – I would have failed miserably…

The part with the Kanji turned out quite well, surprisingly. The daily practice I’ve been doing for months now obviously paid off. The reading part was less successful, but it was clearly a question of time. My reading comprehension is not yet automated, I still have to do a lot of translating, which takes extra time that you don’t have.

The biggest problem still: vocabulary. I know a sufficient amount of words – but obviously the wrong ones… A very mean part of the test is the one where a sentence is given, but part of it – four words to be precise – is scrambled, and you have to put the words in the right order; and the question asks only for the word on a certain spot. This is very difficult to begin with, as word order can depend on the speaker’s emphasis (just like in English), so you really have to know the grammar inside out. If you know the vocabulary, you may be able to educatedly guess your way around that, but if you don’t…

I did not do a listening comprehension this afternoon as the one spot where you could do that was taken. Oh well, tomorrow again…

Rain

Today I was ready to write about how cold it is in this old house and how I try to keep warm even without a heater and then… it turned out to be a very nice and warm day, with highs of 18 degrees! The warm weather however, came with a big drawback: It was raining quite heavily all afternoon. I’m glad I had gone out for shopping in the morning, and the afternoon, as grey as it was, was perfect to further my studies. So, all in all, I had a nice and productive day.

I’m sure there will be another opportunity to complain about the cold though 😉

Koyo

Few things draw the Japanese masses as easily as nature viewing. I have written about this phenomenon in my article on moon viewing in September, and it is well known even outside of Japan that the Japanese are crazy about cherry blossoms in spring.

Now is another time of nature viewing – the time of koyo, viewing the autumn colours – not just any colours, but those of the maple. The momiji or Japanese maple has small, almost dainty leaves of about 4 cm length, which are induced – by a drop in temperature below a certain threshold – to turn from green to yellow to orange and finally to a blazing red. This change can occur quickly and it is a rather short lived beauty. Right now the red momiji are on their peak, and Kyoto is packed with (mainly Japanese) tourists who go around exclaiming kireii – pretty at every step and seem to take pictures of each individual leaf.

Well, when in Japan… here are a couple of my own pictures

Growing

More space for the Japanese! Since yesterday, Japan is the proud owner of an additional tiny little island, newly made by an underwater volcano. It belongs to the Ogasawara (or Bonin) islands and lies about 1000 km south of Tokyo. It is not going to do much to alleviate Japan’s population density though, as it has (so far) only a diameter of about 20 metres. Besides, it is not clear yet if it is stable, it is possible that it will be eroded away again quickly, as has happened to the last island that was created there in 1973.

The JapanTimes has an article about it, including a cool picture; and even more cool is the footage by the Japanese Coast Guard, that can be watched on yahoo.co.jp here.

Happy Birthday Atarashii Jima!

(which simply means new island, and is not its official name…)

Studying

10 more days until the big test – and I’m getting slightly nervous… So, I have added yet more study time and try to keep my head down. Mostly at least.

Sometimes I have to go shopping – feeding the body is essential to be able to feed the mind. And at the moment it’s beautiful weather in the afternoon, nice and sunny, picture perfect time for the autumn colours that are famous in Kyoto, so I’m running around feeding my camera too.

Anyway, in case you find my posts lacking the next two weeks – you know the reason why. I’ll be back soon in my old shape, promised!

Macabre?

Sunday was nice and warm and pleasant – so I decided to go out and take some photos. It’s the height of the autumn season and the leaves of the maple trees are ablaze in red and orange and yellow…

I started out alright but then, somehow, I got sucked into the large cemetery that lies on the grounds of Kurodani temple, and I spent almost 2 hours there wandering between the graves, old and new… The spot is beautiful with lots of trees and bushes and greenery between the tombstones. I like cemeteries in general, the peace and quiet… That’s probably because I am Austrian – being a bit macabre lies in our blood. In Europe, the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery in Vienna) is the largest by number of interred and second largest by area – and there are not many things a proper Austrian enjoys more than a scheene Leich (a nice funeral)…

The Castle of Crossed Destinies

Imagine the following: It’s Japan, at the end of the 17th century. You are the shogun, the most powerful person in the country. Everything runs well, you have a lovely spouse, an attractive concubine, and a countless number of admiring – and admirable – courtiers. But then, your one and only heir dies unexpectedly from a disease – and suddenly securing succession for your family by producing another heir becomes paramount. The usual courtly intrigues are reaching a new peak when the only solution is to ramp up your sex life, but…

…what if you’re a woman?

This film, based on a manga, turns history upside down by assuming matriarchy throughout 17th century Japan. The 5th shogun, Tsunayoshi, is a woman who desperately endeavours to conceive a daughter to secure her family’s succession on the throne. Interwoven with her story is that of Emonnosuke, a court noble from Kyoto who enters Tsunayoshi’s services as potential mate and remains at her side throughout her difficult task.

The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Ooku Eien Emonnosuke), 2012, 124 min
Director: Fuminori Kaneko
Cast: Miho Kanno (Tokugawa Tsunayoshi), Masato Sakai (Emonnosuke), Toshiyuki Nishida (Keishoin)

The old problem of succession seen from a completely new point of view. Even in matriarchy, taking a different man to bed each night is frowned upon, and it does pose quite some difficulties for Tsunayoshi. Some true historical facts are hinted at, like the ban on killing dogs, but the film lives mainly from the reversal of the sexes and the elaborate costumes and stage designs. There is a lovely happy ending, though…

This film is available in Japanese from amazon, but I have not found a version with subtitles.

Hairy

After three months, I finally had to do it: go to the hairdresser. I have a short cut, and when the hair in the neck starts to become unmanageable and starts to bother me, I have to go, no more excuses. The last time I went was during my vacation, so this was the first time ever I had my hair cut in Japan. Part of the reluctance can be ascribed to the fact that this kind of service is very expensive in Japan – the cheapest price I have seen anywhere was 2500 YEN, and that’s just the cut, washing not included!

Anyway, there is a small hairdresser’s shop close to my place, and I went there, armed with the essential phrases on a piece of paper. Once the old lady who was buying shampoo had left, it was my turn. “Kami o kitte kudasai – please cut my hair”, I said, and then “Mijikakute, ushiro de motto mijikai! – short, and in the back very short!”

The proprietor looked somewhat unhappy, sat me down and reached for his catalogues. In Asia, long hair is de rigueur for women, unless you are a really old crone and thus beyond redemption. Women my age and below must have at least a chin length cut. I also flipped through some catalogues, all the models looked like twelve year olds, all sporting hairstyles that were young, trendy, and probably took hours to do… Hence, nothing for me. My approach to hairstyling is: wash, brush, air dry. If it isn’t properly styled within five minutes, it’s a waste of time, so I tend to have those very short, self-styling cuts. Once the hairdresser got over his shock and chose a style (essentially the one I had but significantly shorter), he took to work. We did some chatting – as much as I can do it with my limited vocabulary – and work proceeded nicely. Also here, as in other Asian countries, the washing happened after the cut, probably to remove all those annoying little stray hairs that are usually left somewhere.

I am happy to say that I like my new old haircut, the whole affair was unspectacular and easy – but the biggest surprise came at the very end: I received a hefty discount of almost 40 % – and the owner said for the rest I should go out and treat myself to something nice to eat!

I love Japan!