Imported Cheese

A very good friend of a very good friend has been studying cheese-making in Switzerland and making cheese in northern Japan.

She kindly brought some for us to sample.

Delicious, dense, slightly crumbly, like a fine grana. I wish we could get this without involving quite so many airplanes.

Audi Systems

When in Japan, we use the subways and trains and sometimes bikes to get around on almost all our outings. Aya's family very generously offered use of a car.

This car:

We had no need for it, and were frankly a bit terrified of something going wrong on the very narrow residential streets, and so never used it.

However, the generous offers soon became increasingly insistent, to the point where we found the key at our table setting and, finally, on our bedside table. Part of having good manners is knowing when to accept something gracefully, so we took it out for a spin.

Jeebus.

It is loaded with stuff, of course. One of the coolest things was the back-up camera system. The yellow lines show where the car will go with the wheels at the current angle and the blue rectangle is straight back.

Putting complete faith in the camera system was more than a little off-putting, and when the proximity alerts started beeping there was a noticeable increase in heart-rate. It is amazingly intuitive, though, and worked perfectly.

It also has both a built-in and an after-market radar-detection system (circled in green in the dashboard pic, above). You might think that we wouldn't hear much from them unless a police officer pointed a speed gun at us, but that is not the case.

The Osaka Kanjo-sen highway is awash in speed radar, cameras, and all manner of radio frequencies, and these detecting systems will alert you to each with different beeps, jingles and announcements.

They will  also notify you of directions, toll booths, interchanges, off-ramps, on-ramps, merging areas, high-accident zones, changing speed limits, road conditions, traffic updates and about a million other things.

Having two competing systems in the car produced the most unreal cacophony of alerts, announcements and advisories, all playing over the enka  (sentimental ballads) on the stereo:

So where did we go in this over-powered, insanely noisy, fantastic car?

To the Leach Bar in the Rihga Royal Hotel, where they make the most amazing G&T, served in brass mugs.

JAL, Personal Ad, Eclipse Follow-Up Video

Japan Airlines (JAL) is really cool, and not just their new tail logo design.

The arm-rest on our Narita-Kansai flight had a somewhat old-school channel/volume controller.

But it got interesting.

Those four coloured buttons mean the same thing in any language.

Your bumpy flight is going to pass much quicker.
There were about 15 different games, in glorious 8-bit colour.

This little package had nothing to do with JAL, but we fell in love with its triple-entendre. Is it a snack? Or the best personal ad we have ever read?

Here is a follow-up on our last post: some video of the pin-hole cameras in the courtyard, waving their images of the eclipse in the morning breeze.

Osaka Eclipse

By pure luck and no planning on our part, we managed to be almost directly under the shadow of the moon during the eclipse on May 21. This was the first time for any of us in the house to be so close to the path of total occlusion, and a bit of mania overtook us as the moment of totality approached.


Using my father's recipe, we set up a pin-hole mirror to project the image onto a darkened wall.
A mirror is covered with paper in which a single hole (the aperture) has been punched. The reflection is aimed at a wall/screen in a dark corner of the same room.


The size of the hole dictates the focus of the image. Here, the lower image is the one coming from our one-hole-punch "pin-hole". It is out of focus and over-exposed because the hole is too large and too close to the wall/screen. The upper image is coming from a tiny crack between the covering paper and the edge of the mirror frame. The focus is much better, but the room is too bright to see it very well.

With more time to plan this, we could have set up multiple mirrors to direct the image to a much darker room. The word for "room" in Italian is, of course, "camera".


Outside in the garden, the camphor tree was doing a better job, making pin-holes with the gaps between its leaves.

We took quick glimpses of the full corona through a darkened piece of x-ray film, in direct contradiction of the warnings being broadcast on NHK at that very moment. Luckily, we had a doctor with us, although he was just as excited as we were.

Roast Pork and Anciano Tempranillo

Recently we had good cause to wander into the bit of Main Street history that is Windsor Quality Meats (AKA Windsor Packing Co, not to be confused with another shop in North Vancouver) and lighten their stock by the amount of one pork shoulder, skin on.

Rubbed with salt and pepper, it came out simply beautifully:
 

Note the big piece of crackling on the block. It was next under the knife:

Speaking of the knife, it is a special treat to ourselves that we splurged on when in Sakai, Japan, last fall.

Sakai was historically a steel town, manufacturing swords, and later guns, for the Samurai. After the war, arms-makers were forced to apply their skills to other kinds of manufacturing, and Sakai became famous for its bicycles and kitchen knives.

A good reason to slice up a roast pork is the opening of a bottle of Tempranillo like this one: Anciano Gran Reserva 10 year-old Tempranillo from Valdepeñas. Spanish winemakers take the risk and burden of aging their wine for us, releasing it only on a pre-arranged schedule.

This 2001, then, has been aging gently, developing wonderful flavours, and is now somehow available to us for the unbelievable bargain of $16. Still tannic when opened, it could continue to age for another 5 years at least.

We left it for about 30 minutes and it opened up beautifully, showing red and black fruit, leather, spice and nutty-earth. It was still developing as we poured the last drops.

We were tipped off to this under-valued treasure by the weekly e-mail we get from Canada's own Wine Access magazine. This one recommendation alone is worth the annual subscription. If we were under the illusion that anyone actually read this blog, we would be much more reluctant to post about this case-worthy wine.

Hankai Tramway from Abeno to Myokokuji-mae, Osaka

One of Japan's three remaining tramways (light rail, street car, etc) is the Hankai. Its Uemachi Line runs south from Tennoji in Osaka and passes within a few blocks of Aya's house in Sakai.


Traveling at street-level gives such a different view of the city and we often go into Osaka this way instead of on the much faster subway line.


These three videos were all shot on an October evening. They are slow and rhythmic and not exactly action-packed, but they offer glimpses of life that seem to float in pools of light, and can be fascinating if you're in the right mood.


We know it's crazy to expect anyone to watch these videos in their entirety, but we love this trip and we wanted to share it.

Part 1 (10 min):

Notes:
0:01 pedestrian proximity
0:30 departure 
2:10 big turn away from road, into residential area
3:09 two platforms float in the darkness 
3:31 level crossing 
4:25 pass opposite train (one of many) 
7:17 cars on the tracks due to narrow road


A search on Youtube turns up many more videos by people who really take this kind of thing seriously.


We have outlined the three parts of the route we captured on this Google Map:

View Hankai Tramway, Uemachi Line, Osaka in a larger map

Here is a link to the real one on Google Maps , where you can activate the amazing Street View.

Part 2 (10 min):

   

Notes:
0:07 depart

1:40 big turn
6:50 crossing the Yamato River
9:00 big turn

Part 3 (3 min):

Notes:
0:20 depart
0:27 Pachinko Enjoy!
0:30 big turn

Fruit in Japan is a Different Thing

Fruit is done differently in Japan. You can order a shipment of perfect pears, directly from the orchard. They arrive the next morning in a special, chilled delivery van.

Perfect, singly-wrapped specimens.

Cruncy, juicy, sweet and entirely blemish-free. Do not dare ask about the cost.

Origami Coffee

These single-serving pour-over coffee packs arrived from Japan recently. They are as beautifully designed as they are fun to use.

The shiny foil packaging just falls open at your command. There is a little half-slit in the seam on the back. When you tug opposing corners the foil gently rips open, lengthwise, like a wallet. I would like to see what the same designers could do with those horrible tetra-pack cartons for juice and UHT milk.

The filter mouth is lightly sealed and opens easily. The coffee smells good, but not very strong.

Intelligent use of the cardboard keeps the frame sprung open. Why is "PUSH" written in English? Foreign words still have a stylish appeal in Japan.

These tabs go inside the cup, stabilizing the frame on the rim.

The instructions say to pour a trickle of boiling water as though you were writing the letter の ("no") repeatedly. Things like that make us miss Japan.

A little hot milk. The experience was more fun than the coffee was good. It is almost worth using your own fresh-ground coffee instead of the stuff that comes with it . But if you do that you may as well use your own filters. This is more about convenience and fun. And, since you just throw the whole thing away afterward, guilt.

YVR Sculpture

Most flights to Japan from YVR board at a gate near this wonderful statue. The dynamic pose, the flowing lines and shapes, the hilarious eyes are always a pleasure to see.

More From Our Trip To Japan In April, 2010

Sakai is a metal-working city, with a long history of manufacturing swords, guns, and, after the war, bicycles. We have some nice kitchen knives from Sakai which we bring back with us regularly to be sharpened by the people who made them.

This is how they make some kinds of knives; grinding forged steel blades one at a time on the big wheel. Keith got to try on a fresh blade (that could be fixed if he messed it up). The handles are very wobbly and it takes both force and concentration to get an even grind along the edge.



Aya's uncle sent us some madai (真鯛, or "red sea bream") he had caught near his home on Kyushu. They came in a special cooler-truck and the door-to-door delivery was about $25. Same-day delivery in Japan is just operating on a completely different level.

Bunches of fresh garlic in the local market.

Spring turning to summer; the sakura at the top of the hill in full bloom while the green bamboo grows lush below.

Shigaraki Pottery

While in Japan in April, we visited Shigaraki with Aya's family. One of Japan's six famous pottery towns, Shigaraki is renown for its local clay beds and traditional wood-fired kilns. Tea Masters in the ancient capital of Kyoto created a national demand for Shigaraki pottery with their appreciation of the local artisans' unique wabi-sabi style.

From Wikipedia:
"Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and the suggestion of natural processes."

Tim and Keith tried their hand at undoing a thousand years of national prestige.

A few weeks later those that survived the firing showed up in a package. They had been glazed by the shop workers according to our selections of colour and style. We bought some appropriate display props for the photo shoot.

Tim's tea cup is truly magnificent; balanced, attractive, light-weight yet substantial.

Here Keith tried to mimic a particular style. The walls ended up rather too thick, but the glaze helps its appearance.

Don't know what was going on here. The bottom shrank alarmingly. Cute, in a funny way.

This is more like it. Light and colourful, and a fingertip finds its way inevitably into the dimple. The shop worker applied the glaze very thoughtfully with a big drip down the inside, just opposite the dimple.

QR Senbei

Here is a great example of Japanese technology's bleeding edge catching up with the ancient traditions, or perhaps vice versa. These delicious senbei crackers, individually wrapped of course, had designs printed on them in (hopefully) edible inks. They were all traditional icons like a spinning top toy for children, a "shi-shi" (lion-god) costume and so on. The one that grabbed our attention was the QR code printed directly on the cracker. You capture it with your cell phone and it takes you to a website (for mobile phones only) with promotions or other information. If you are interested, the link is http://m.daimaru.co.jp. The "m" is for "mobile" and means the page won't display on a regular computer.

Sakai Apartment

Events with both family and friends took us to Sakai, Japan (just south of Osaka) for six weeks in April and May. We got set up with computers and internet access there and were able to continue working on projects, too, if not always as smoothly as we had hoped.

Here is the view from our second-floor apartment, facing west. The Nankai Koya line passes under the overpass on its way to Namba station. The sound of the commuter trains is somehow very comforting, especially when echoing over a warm spring night.


Kitsune soba for breakfast! Slightly sweet deepfried tofu in dashi soup with buckwheat noodles. And many salads with about one hundred ingredients each, including shredded crab, tiny translucent fish, bamboo shoots, cucumber, spinach, seaweed, sesame seeds, and skinny mushrooms.


Mario from Caffé Rustico gave us a pack of espresso ground coffee when he heard we were going away for six weeks. We thought of him and his wonderful café every morning when we brewed up our cappuccinos.