Japanese Golf Clubs @ Inpakuto.com - All about Golf, JPOP and Japan

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.

 

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! (^_^)

 

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!

 

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!

 

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!

 

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.

 

Here's an awesome overhead shot of the Kiminomori Golf Community.  Near the top of the picture you can see the Kujukuri beaches and the shorline of eastern Japan which is around 13km away and where all the surfers hang out.  This picture is probably around 4 years old as towards the north of the course there is just dirt lands where phase 5 of the community now exists. Phase 5 is definitely the most affordable of all the houses in Kiminomori with prices starting at around 275k USD for a house. Of course all the best and most expensive houses back on to the course and many of those range from around 800k to 2.5 million or so!

 

One thing you notice when walking around Kiminomori here is that quite a few houses are using solar energy to power their houses. Solar Panels are attached to the roofs and they channel and store energy in solar cells that supply the electrical needs in the house. This has been around for a long time but is more evident with Japan more "Eco" concious than ever.  One thing I have found living in Japan is that my electricity bill is the highest of all utilities unlike Canada where the gas bill was always astronomical, especially in the winter. In Japan, the multitude of home gadgets and appliances, from the advanced heated toilets to the in floor heating all require electricity. Add the fact that I leave my computer setup on 24/7 and we have an electrical bill nearing $100 a month (gas is a mere $25.00 a month and water around $40.00).  The solar panels are interesting but a couple of  things need to be taken into consideration including initial investment and long term return. The initial investment is very large for an high end system and accoring to research here in Japan, would take 20 years for one to recoup the investment into solar panels. So long term return would depend on how long you stay in your house.  Typically in Japan, people don't move around much and a house is not looked at as much for an investment but rather an expenditure for long term living. So most will stay put in their house for many years and find it a worth while investment.

One of the reasons why there are many unique houses here in Kiminomori is because besides pre-built houses being sold, there are also plots of land being sold. Buyers buy a plot of land and build the house of their dreams. Lately I've seen more and more of these contemporary style houses popping up. Definitely very modern and hi-tech looking. I wish I could visit the insides. We love it here so much that my wife and I wish one day to get a piece of land and build our dream home too as one complaint with the pre-built Tokyu Home we live in is that the backyard is too small. Here's an example of one of the many cool contemporary designs here. This one backs on to the hole number 11 tee.

 

Was downloading today via bittorrent and hit a new speed record. It actually topped out at 7.2mb/sec but I was too slow to make the screen capture and only grabbed it at a very fast 7.0mb/sec besting my previous best top speed by a full mb. I do not have utorrent by the way set on any sort of encryption meaning yes, there is no throttling!

 

 

With over 2650 houses now in Kiminomori, its amazing its still growing. Even though I will probably post pictures of the nicer houses here they only make up perhaps 350 of the houses here (the brown pieces of land on the map below all backing onto the course). The other 2300+ houses are for commoners like myself and look more like the picture above.  Mostly built by Tokyu Homes, these houses are much more modest and you get far less land. For those who are interested in joining me they are starting a new section of really big million dollar plus homes next to park 10 Akebono Koen and par 12 Wakaba Koen backing onto the fairway of hole number 5! (^_^)

 

So people have been asking about how Saku, our Shiba is doing in Japan. He's loving it here especially since there are so many other Shibas. He did great to survive the long flight from Canada and has settled right in. He also loves the walks in Kiminomori and has made friends with Taro, Lon, and Komaru, all other Shibas. At first we were worried because as is the Shiba's character he can be pretty territorial and to himself but it seems he likes other Shibas especially Taro-chan who I should take a picture of cause he's so good looking. Maybe its that Shiba food we are giving him but he sure is happy!

 

Tonight we had a good dinner. I should start posting up our food. We do love eating out in Japan as it is the greatest place in the world for dining out however we also love staying at home. Last night we had amazing Sukiyaki (I should have taken pics!). Today was a more simple dinner. Sanma fish grilled with grated daikon, grilled tofu stuffed with natto, negi miso soup with wakame, tuna salad  and peanut miso. Tasty!

 

I love houses and here in Japan the style of houses really vary. In Kiminomori there are all kinds of houses of all different styles, from European to Western to traditional Japanese. I'm going to take pictures of houses around the neighborhood whenever I go for a walk from now on so I can post them here for people to get an idea of the type of life here in Kiminomori Golf Community. The first house is one I walk past on the corner every day. My wife and I call this one the mini castle. I don't know who's house this is but its a beauty!

 

One of the great things about living in Kiminomori is not just living on a golf course but how the whole community is planned out and its actual location. Kiminomori is located in Oamishirasato, a resort style town right in the middle of Chiba prefecture. Kiminomori is located on a mountain top about a 6 minute drive from Oami Station on the JR line. It is also located only 13km away from the Japan east coast and surfers paradise known as Kujukuri beach, the second longest beach in Japan. Oamishirasato has a population of just under 50,000 people and growing thanks to its commuter status as a popular living place for those who commute to Tokyo but want the resort style, country living.  While Oami (as most people call it) is small,  as I mentioned in a previous post, borders along two much larger towns, Togane and Mobara for convenience. 

One of the pleasures we have is taking a walk every day in Kiminomori as the community features numerous parks bordering along the golf course as well as lots of forests and nature. I frequently bring my camera with us on walks and take snapshots of the golf course from the various parks around the community. The first picture below is the park that faces our area of housing in Kiminomori called Mugiwara Koen (Park) and then various pictures I take of the course from different parks around the neighbourhood.

One of the greatest things about living in Japan is the internet speeds. I only dreamed of having connections like this back in Canada. Oh yeah they don't throttle torrents here.

 

Time to give an update about living in Japan. My wife and I are very happy and lucky. The timing for our move back in the summer was perfect as it was right before the Japanese Yen began to strengthen. If we had moved now we would have lost so much on the exchange that we would not have been able to buy our house.

Life in the suburbs has been great contrary to popular belief.  As much as I love Tokyo I realize I don't have to be there all the time. As a matter of a fact I've only been once (and it was to Akihabara) in the last four months. We can get everything around here as Oamishirasato is bound by Togane and Mobara, both with plenty of shopping. We can easily get to Chiba city from here as well either by car (it definitely helps having one outside of Tokyo!) or by Express bus which stops 2 minutes from our house and takes 30 minutes to get to Chiba Station.

Even though I live on a golf course and work from home, I haven't had the time to play golf as much as I would like to. It's been busy settling in to Japan and getting my daily routine in check. Our dog, Saku, a  4 year old Japanese Shiba Inu which you may have seen here and there on this blog, just made the 20 hour trip (transit time included) to re-join us in Japan. It's kind of a homecoming for him! So far he loves it except he is no longer the only Shiba in the neighborhood. There are at least 10!! So I've been working his routine into our schedule as well. The spring will probably be much better for golf, especially since all my neighbors are golfers.

In general living costs have been less than expected. The gas bill is considerably lower especially since the houses here are not centrally heated. Electricity and water are the main costs, and I figure my electrical bill will rocket now that all my computer gear has arrived and I never turn them off. Grocery shopping is always fun. Some stuff is more expensive than Canada but lots are not. And one thing for sure is quality for everything at the supermarket is superior.  Fresh takes on a whole new meaning here.

The largest expenses for us were obviously buying the house and car but beyond that furnishing the house and now coming up next month for my used Nissan Cube, SHAKEN. Shaken is the compulsory car inspection that takes place every two years (new cars are only inspected after the first 3 then go to a 2 year interval). This keeps polluting cars and hazards off the road. It can get costly as there are taxes and insurance to pay and if they find things wrong with your car, you need to pay for repairs to keep the car on the road:

1. Compulsory Automobile Safety Inspection 
2. Weight Tax 
3. Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance or CALI

Ah and there is the cost of internet monthly as well. It's pricier than Canada but considerably faster and they don't throttle me (at least not yet). I'm on Hikar Flets, 100mbps fiber to the home. Pretty good I must say. Well I'm off to Chiba to get some Christmas shopping done and dropping into Dospara to pick up some more computer gear. Will update again soon!

 

The article is called "100 Questions for Overseas Otaku". I was "lucky" enough to be chosen April's Otaku of the monthFor those of you who don't know, an Otaku to put it mildly is defined as: