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We had the urge for sweets today... well we have the urge everyday but it wouldn't be very healthy if we were eating sweets everyday right?? We picked up some yokan and mizu manju which is very refreshing in the summer and also got some warabi mochi and Mr Donuts Pon de Ring which is nothing like Westernized donuts. These Japanese style Pon de Ring donuts are very mochi mochi and delicious!

They say that multiple monitor setups increase one's productivity. I have always believed so and used 2 x 24" monitors for work and play. Lately though I have found that even 2 monitors is not enough especially if I want to watch golf in my home office while working. I decided to add a 3rd 24" monitor but I did not want to sacrifice anymore desk space. I picked up a lcd mount from yahoo auctions for a very cheap price of 750yen plus 500 yen shipping. Apparently they were clearing these out so the price was amazing. I was worried that a stand this cheap might not be strong but it is plenty strong enough to support my new Acer 16:9 24" widescreen which I had delivered from Amazon Japan. Maybe I should get a 4th!

 

A very nice neighbour lent us a furminator to try a few weeks ago and it was very good at cleaning up Saku's very thick fur. With the temperatures again rising and getting hotter each day, Saky has started shedding his winter coat... again. We went to Cainz to look for a furminator and they had some furminator like brushes that pretty much did the same thing. Using the furminatory style brush is like giving a light shave everything so we don't use it that often, only when  Saky is in need of a big cleaning. The little teeth are almost like mini razors that not only grab loose hair but clean up and virtually trim exisiting hair. Very clean looking dog once done. (^_^)

 

Yesterday  we went to Inba Numa to visit my wife's brother who works out there farming the land with fresh vegetables. Lake Inbanuma is a natural fresh water lake located in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture. The total surface area of the lake is 11.5 square kilometers, spanning the cities of Yachiyo, Sakura and Narita and the village of Inba. It is the largest lake in the prefecture. About 1,000 years ago, it was connected with Lake Teganuma and Lake Kasumigaura and formed a vast wetland. Due to the deposition of mud and sand inflowing from the upstream, Lake Inbanuma itself is presently divided into two parts; the west lake and the north lake, which are connected by a canal. We visited the windmill in Inba and then went for Soba in Narita.

 

We decided to go get more sweets today. We picked up our favorite cakes from SobuBert in Mobara and also grabbed some dangos. Saku is always jealous when we eat sweet stuff. If you have a sweet tooth then Japan is a great place to be. It's easy to eat a lot of yummy desserts because most of the cakes and snacks here are NOT overly sweet or rich. Just right.

 

We found a little shop by Kazusaichinomiya Station that sold Japanese style deserts like yokan and daifuku. A daifuku is is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans. What was interesting about this store called 角八 (Kadohachi) was that it had not only the very popular ichigo (strawberry) daifuku but also Mikan daifuku!  Very interesting taste and kind of messy to eat!

When I first arrived in Japan I had brought all my Canadian Credit cards with me. Of course it did not make sense to keep them since they all were paid in Canada in Canadian dollars. So I needed to get myself some credit cards because I do a lot of shopping online. After doing a lot of research online, many forums for foreigners in Japan mentioned that it was very hard to get a credit card in Japan.

Luckily I had been a Gold Amex holder for nearly 15 years so when I came to Japan I called Amex Japan and they gladly swapped my Canadian card for a Japanese one and kept my member since 91 status (this was my first credit card ever back when I was in university in Canada). One thing I noticed though was that Amex is not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard here so I realized I had better get another card. So I looked at applying to several gas station credit cards like Jomo and Idemitsu. Of course they all turned me down being a gaijin apparently for the fear that gaijins will run up a big tab then run away! 

It didn't seem to matter that I was a resident of Japan who had purchased a house and had no debt. Other companies turned me down as well like Beisia, Alpen Sports, Cainz, Sogo and others store branded cards. Finally I decided to try GDO, yes a Golf Digest Online Card issues by Mitsbishi UFJ. I though hey maybe since I am in the golf business they would approve me. I did my application on their website expecting to receive a thin piece of paper in the mail days later saying I was declined as I was with all the others. However instead of getting declined by mail, I got a phone call from MUFJ asking to confirm my personal details and fax my drivers license and alien registration to them... this was the first time any company had asked me this and I took it as a good sign. 

Low and behold, 1 week later my new GDO Visa card showed up in the mail. Not only am I glad I got a Japanese visa card, the GDO card has pretty good Golf related perks and rewards! (^_^)

 

We found a nice little teuchi (hand made) soba shop right by Togane Stagion called 手打蕎麦 逸香. As always we found the restaurant on Tabelog. Its a bit on the pricier side compared to other soba restaurants but the soba is very good. Firm and fresh with no floury taste that can sometime be associated with teuchi. We had tenzaru (tempura) and kamo sero (duck). Both were very delicious but what really blew me away was the dessert they had (which I forgot to take a picture of since I ate it so fast). They had warabimochi, a jelly-like confection made from bracken starch and covered or dipped in kinako. Simply delicious!

 

I don't really drink much alcohol and while everyone tells me nama beer is the best in Japan, the taste of beer just doesn't grow on me. I do however love sweet things as you can probably tell from this blog. So for me if I have to drink alcohol in Japan it's Chu-hi.

Here's Wiki's explanation on what Chu-hi is: Chu-Hi is an alcoholic drink originating from Japan. The name is derived from "shōchū highball" and is usually flavored with fruit or soda. It is a seasonal drink and can be served either hot or cold. The traditional chuhai is lemon flavored with a shōchū  base, though some modern commercial variants have a vodka base. The flavors available have recently also multiplied, including lime, grapefruit, apple, orange, pineapple, grape, kiwi, ume (plum), yuzu and peach. Sold in bars and restaurants as well as supermarkets, the alcohol content can be quite low, allowing those with a low tolerance for alcohol to imbibe safely.

My favorite is Horoyoi Chu-hi Lemon. With only 3% alcohol it tastes like lemon soda but is is still strong enough to put me to sleep!

 

We popped over to Ginza today to see one of my wife's favorite artists. Matsuya Ginza was having a Michael Sowa Exhibit. Before the exhibit we stopped to have some wonderful hand made Zaru Udon. On the way home we stopped at a very highly rated cake shop called Quil Fait Bon. You can check out the page on Tabelog here.  They specialize in fruity tarts and cakes and while the prices are on the high side, (it is Ginza afterall!) the cakes are delicious!

 

Having  been unable to walk much for the last month I have not posted any houses from the neighborhood here in while. We just love walking here in Kiminomori and usually walk at least an hour a day and sometimes even up to 4 hours!! Exploring the streets and houses and the forest and natural surroundings is more than we could have wished for. We still cannot get over how lucky we were to get one of the last houses here and how great this area turned out. Well here are a couple of more houses we like. The first one we dub "the hospital", as it is all white, modern and square and the second one we call "the embassy" as it has a secure and official look to it. These houses also back on to the golf course and are two of the very nice ones!

 

With the summer weather in full swing, my wife and I decided to make some changes to the garden and dress up my office window ledge. She added a three planters right outside my second floor window which does add some nice color. The neighbors across the street have thanked us for adding something nice to their view. (^_^)

In the back we removed a bunch of the generic "builder's" trees and added so far from second pic below to bottom, Kiwi, Biwa tree, Yuzu tree and a Mikan tree. I've got a 2 meter tall Momiji (Japanese Maple) coming that will round off the center of the backyard.  Sitting in the tatami room now and looking out on the garden is quite fun as is all the gardening work. Saku our dog sure loves it... I think.

 

Since moving to Japan and working from home I just cannot seem to get my desk organized properly.  Working around the clock and constantly referring to golf materials and doing picture taking just leaves my desk and office are a mess always after a day of work. My wife complains and I clean it up and the next day its messy again. I either need more shelves or just far less stuff. I guess its not so bad but with such a big desk I need to keep it more organized somehow!

 

With the heat really coming on now in Japan, it hit 30C early this week, Saku our Shiba is shedding every day. When he comes home from his walk with my wife, she has to always comb him or the house gets littered with his hair. He seems to enjoy playing every day while he gets combed!

He will be 5 in September but spent his life growing up in Canada. This past winter was his first without snow, which I know he will miss playing in a lot (my wife and I will not miss shovelling snow at all!). Saku will get to experience his first humid Japan summer and I hope he can survive it! He is already panting away in early May from the heat.

I don't know how all these Shibas in Japan live outdoors. I guess Saku is spoiled. (^_^)

Getting stuck at home injured isn't such a bad thing especially in Japan. There is still good TV to watch and great food to eat. We've had great meals staying at home this past week.

I'm not much of a drinker. Those who know me will know I do not drink at all which makes me a social outcast in Japan (^_^). I have been trying much lighter drinks like Chu Hi (second drink on the right) and coctails that they sell at the super.  I can pretty much have half a can shared with my wife! We also found Hoppy (first drink on the left), a beer like drink with 0.8% that supposed to be mixed with Shochu but I drank it straight. 

Meals this week were good! Starting from the second row below and left to right, minced katsu with Japanese curry! Kimchi fried rice, Miso soup with chives and eggs, boiled spinich with natto sauce, tofu, fish and veggies!

Third row features more veggies and bincho maguro sashimi with rice and tarako (fish eggs). Next to that was hayashi chu ka, cold ramen noodles with vegies and fried eggs and sauce.

The last row was home made okonomiyaki and more fish and pototatoes and rice with... yes butter! Butter gohan and Miso!

Bad news. I suffered a bad stress fracture in my right heel the other day after stepping down hard off a ladder onto my heel. It swelled up and was in considerable pain so I visited, for the first time ever, a hospital in Japan. My wife took me to Oami Hospital which was about a 10 minute drive away.

I was pleasantly impressed with the organization and facilities for small town Oami. The hosipital was busy but everything moved quick and what surprised me the most was the cost. A visit with the doctor, 3 x-Rays and crutches on loan and the cost for everything was 6,900 yen (about $70.00). 

While the price was the good news, the bad news is no weight on the foot for 4 weeks, maybe even more depending on how it heels which means no golf for me and home confinement for the next few weeks. Boy the wife will have to work hard now take care of me!

 

Yesterday four of us went to Shibuya to watch the AKB48 Concert and see Oshima Mai or Maimai as she is affectionately known graduate from AKB48. What a horrible day to go to Shibuya as it rained hard and all day. Shibuya was still crowded though as even heavy rain does not stop people in Japan from shopping or tourists from visiting. No signs of a recesssion even in foul weather.

One very challenging thing was walking in Shibuya(which is hard enough on a sunny day) with an umbrella. Unlike back in Canada where walkers frequently get caught in a rain storm without an umbrella, the typical Japanese will not leave home without one even with a hint of rain in the forecast. So with a big rainstorm going on, Shibuya was covered in umbrellas bumping into each other and looking almost like a parade of some sort. I should have taken a picture but with it raining so hard I had a tough enough time holding my umbrella.

The concert was great. The atmosphere kicked ass and my wife enjoyed it much more tha Hello! Project Winter back in 2004 at Yokohama arena. Perhaps it was the more intimate surroundings of NHK hall or simply the more well behave otaku, we danced and sang along for the whole concert which my wife's best friend and boy friend also enjoyed (first time jpop concert go-ers!)

Pictures with my keitai below of outside NHK Hall and the lobby where many well wishers sent flowers for Oshima Mai's graduation.

First of all I have decided to take advantage of the new keitai (cell phone) I have and take all pics for this blog using the Docomo D904i I mentioned in yesterday's post. So from now on all the pictures on Japan will be taken using the keitai (I will still take pictures of golf clubs with my real camera).

Today after visiting the Geotech Office in Chiba, my wife and I headed over to Parco by Chiba Station. We ate Hamburgers at Village Vanguard on the 8th floor. It's a well known burger chain with a fusion of whopping big juicy Japanese and Western style sloppy burgers. I must say it was quite delicious and I was stuffed all day. But it gave me the energy to shop all afternoon with my wife.

The other day Sasaya-san from Gold's Factory and I were discussing views on the so called recession in Japan. He and I agreed that we should appreciate the great things here in Japan, just like the way I do. Honestly when I go shopping, I rarely ever see or feel any evidence of this recession in Japan. Stores are stocked with the latest goods and new arrivals. There are still cool clothes and gadgets to buy. Restaurants are still full with people eating out. We dropped by ABC Mart to check out shoes and all the latest Limited editions were there and we bought new shoes. My wife got a pair of funky high cut New Balance shoes and I grabbed the ABC Limited Adidas SuperStar II CH as featured by Jpop group Dragon Ash.

Japan is a place where there are always many "limited" editions. It can be winter version of Melty Kiss Choco,  or Hokkaido only Nama Caramel, Limited Edition Black Driver from Mizuno or these Limited Edition Adidas shoes.  The fact is people buy them until they are sold out. People line up for them and pay top dollar for them. That doesn't seem like a recession to me. (^_^)

One thing I should talk about more on the blog these days when it comes to living in Japan is technology. It is everywhere here and advanced. After living here for nearly 8 months here is my take. Technology in Japan is hard to live with and it is also hard to live without. I consider myself a technical otaku (nerd). I build computers, overclock them, always buy the latest gadgets... but, I do admit there are times where I feel overwhelmed by technology in Japan. As crazy as that seems there has been a few times in recent months where I wished things were just simpler. 

Sometimes I wonder how people who are not technical or advanced figure out how to work everything in Japan. Perhaps it is that they are so used to it and have lived here all their lives so technology is commonplace. I sometimes struggle just to use our range/oven/microwave called the Sharp Healsio. It is NOT easy to use but it is quite a gadget. Sometimes I wish I could just push Start and Stop. But things are always much harder and I have to imagine that the majority of people do not use electronics and gadgets to their full capabilities.

 It is now getting hot in Japan and it took me a while to figure out how to turn off the heated toilet seat. I also got a new keitai or cell phone as people outside of Japan know it. Keitai technology is so advanced in Japan as many people rely on it not only as their primary source of communication but for many as a replacement for a computer even. So yes a keitai can do everything, from watching TV, to acting as a GPS locator to a Bar Code scanner for purchasing drinks from the vending machine. I love gadgets but I will admit I do not know what half the functions are on my new Docomo D904i (actually over 2 years old but for me like new (^_^)).

Keitai's are so cheap here used, I can actually switch to a new one every few months but it will take me that long to figure out how to stop receiving message R & F through iMode, properly install iAppli's, what PushTalk is, what Chara-den is, what Machi-chara is, what the Kisekae tool is.... yeah I have not figured this phone out yet but it is very cool. (^_^) 

 

One more week until the AKB48 Concert in Shibuya at NHK Hall. I've got 4 tickets so my wife and I are going with her best friend and her boyfriend.  Its going to be a great concert! Now all we have to do is figure out what we want to eat as Shibuya has so much to choose from!

 

If you haven't noticed on the blog, my wife and I are big fans of ramen noodles and I'm not talking about the instant kind. We found a shop in town here that received very high ratings from many diners who have eaten there, praising it for its wonderful home style cooking. It was about a 10 minute drive from our house and no wonder it's like home cooking, the restaurant is actually someones house! Hanakichi as it is called after their pet dog, is only open Wed-Saturday, four days a week. They specialize in home style Japanese cooking when it comes to things like ramen and noodles we ordered one Shiyo Ramen and one Shoyu Wonton Noodle Soup. The taste was as the Japanese put it very yasashii, simple and delicious. We're definitely going back for more.

 

One of the great things about living in Kiminomori Golf Community is that it is so isolated on a mountain surrounded by nature. This makes for great walks and exploring. Our Japanese Shiba-inu, Saku who was born and raised in Canada and has now returned to Japan and loves it here.

A quick 15 minute trek down the mountain yesterday on one of the many mountain paths coming down from the golf course and community led us to one of the big ponds neighboring Kiminomori. Many people were fishing and picnicing and enjoying the nice weather. A nice lady working in the fields gave us some fresh green onions on the way home and it went well in our miso soup!

 

The weather has been great lately and the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom.  Temperatures are now consistently over 20C so we headed over to Mobara Park where the Sakura looked simply awesome. Here are some of the pictures I took.

My wife and I headed over to Togane Park by Togane Station where they were having their Sakura Festival. The weather has been strangely cool this last week in March and the Cherry Blossoms are not really coming out yet. There is a pond in the middle of Togane Park as well as a famous Ryokan (Japanese style Inn) and Togane High School, where kawaii super idol Ogura Yuko went to school.  Below you can see a picture of her school, the pond and inn. We're gonna head over to Mobara Park when the weather gets better to see the Cherry Blossoms there.