When I first came to Japan, I didn't really fancy onigiris, and never understood why it was such a popular snack/ breakfast among the Japanese.
But these past few months, I have sort of developed a liking for these japanese rice dumplings. The default of choice for me are the salmon ones, because salmon tastes nice and salty, so onigiris with it can hardly go wrong.
Just now, I went down to the conbini to hunt for snacks.. hehe... and to my surprise, I saw a (maybe) new onigiri - cha-han onigiri. Cha-han means fried rice (chinese style). It looked pretty good, so I bought one to try... and it tasted great!! yum yum...
Too bad they don't have it every morning.. or maybe they do, but by the time I arrive, they are always sold out??
Good simple innovation I think, I wonder whether it will catch on? Haven't seen anywhere else selling this.. hehe.
Haven't been updating this blog for like ages... also can't bear to see what state this blog is in now...
Have been busy with some work, as well as doing up my Sayonara Sale blog. ermm... sayonara sales are sales organised by ppl who have been staying in Japan for some time but are leaving soon, to sell off their stuff at low prices to mostly other foreigners, who also need the items on a short term basis.
Yup, my time in Japan is finally almost up. mixed feelings about this, but guess whatever the case is, I will still be coming back in a month's time.
There's a list of various things which are top 3 in their own category (list drafted out by japanese i think, hence subjective ones are, well, rated from japanese viewpoint), for example:
World's 3 largest Rivers - Amazon, Nile, Mississipi. World's 3 best Musuems - Hermitage (Russia), Lourve (France), Metropolitan (NYC). World's 3 top Cities - NYC, Tokyo, London. World's 3 best Nite Views - Napoli, Hakodate, Hong Kong.
etc. etc.
but not to worry... Singapore is top 3 in one of the categories!!!
If you can read Japanese, well guess you will be laughing your heads off by now... if not, well, I am proud to say that Singapore's Merlion is one of the Top 3 disappointments in the World!!
Copenhagen's Den Lille Havfrue (Mermaid) takes up 2nd spot, and the 3rd, most lists say Brussel's Manneken Pis (Peeing Monk), but some say Sapporo's Clock Tower, or Sydney Opera House. But undeniably, Singapore comes out tops here! (since 1994 according to here)
and interestingly, to Japanese, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear Singapore is Merlion. and if its so disappointing, its quite sad to see what their initial thoughts of Singapore is rite? hehe... anyway give a few more years and I think they will update the top 3 to include the Esplanade too ;p
anyway this came up when I was chatting with my band mates during a booze session just now... heh.
For the whole list, you can view it here. In Japanese though.
After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top ten for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche. -based on a Consumer Report done in America.
it's interesting to see that many Singaporeans think that European cars are the most reliable, but that is not so true. well, at least this year's report says something about this.
now this is one place i definitely wanna visit before i leave japan...
The newly opened Absolut Icebar in Nishi-Azabu. Everything, from the walls, bar and artwork, to the cocktail glasses, is made from crystal clear ice from the Torne River in Sweden. Guests are provided with capes and gloves upon arrival. The temperature is set at minus 5 degrees Centigrade. (Source: Crisscross.com)
this bar looks so cool!!!!! one way or another it must be... heh.
headlines read "Man handed 12-year term for murdering wife after she scolded him for not working"...
58 year-old man, who had some chronic disease and so couldnt work, stabbed his 46 year-old wife who ran a restaurant, because he had enough of being regularly scolded by her for not working.
interestingly, he got only 12 years behind bars... and more interestingly are the words of the judge...
"The defendant committed the crime in a fit of anger, but it cannot be denied that the defendant was at fault for her attitude toward him..."
that sounds ok, but when i checked the original japanese story (as i suspected that there might have been some error in translation), it is written as follows...
「一時の激情にかられた動機は短絡的だが、被害者の言動に落ち度がなかったとも言えない」
in english, the words in bold above should actually read "... it cannot be said that the victim had no fault in her attitude towards him..."
yeah... amazing hor? it seems that in the jap society, the wife cannot anyhow scold the husband...
august, damien, calvin, joanna and I went to Kawazu, in Izu, on rented car last saturday. The purpose? To see early sakura blossoms and to have a nice dip in a nice onsen with nice view. so lucky readers, you can expect to see some nice pink flowers and some naked guys in this post!
we reached the place just after noon, and there were expectedly, a lot of people there. I'm not sure whether it's for the whole of japan, but I heard that the sakura blooms earliest in these parts, hence august, the planner who doesn't plan, jioed us along there.
ojisans taking pictures under the sakura tree.
close up shots - this breed of sakura are supposed to be pinker than the others... or are they? hmm..
3 shuai ges and 1 fatso.
it wasnt a particularly pretty place - imagine kallang river beside, say potong pasir. what's nice are the sakura and the yellow flowers...
yellow flowers... nice hor? nicer than pink anyway ;)
there were of course lotsa stalls set up to earn the tourists' money... mostly food stalls, but there was a monkey busking as well.
of particular interest was this...
guess what?
closer view... still dunno?
yummy.... for those who still dunno... its CHICKEN SKIN!!! 400 yen for a cup, a tad expensive.. but the enjoyment - priceless!!
what can be better than having chicken karage on one hand, and chicken kawa on another... ok lah.. lots ;p but still.... pure bliss!
there was a shop selling fishes, and got samples with which we can bbq by ourselves... tasted like ikan bilis.
the monkey on stilts... amazing how he picked up the long stilts all by himself, climbed it without any help or support, and walked ard on it!
not sure what this building is for, but its here cos it looks interesting!
afterwhich, we proceeded to a nearby, advertised onsen with nice seaview... we sort of didnt know where it was in the first place, and was pretty apprehensive about going in when we saw the outside view...
looks kinda gross rite?
well, fortunately the interior looked new, and it was half-priced at 500 yen, because some parts are undergoing renovation! hence it became a real too-good-to-miss deal.
there they have an open-air onsen overlooking the sea, and another mixed-sex onsen. sadly, you have to wear their swimming costumes. and even worse, no gals whatsoever when we were there ;p only gribe about the place - not enough shower heads.
a bit paiseh at taking pics at first, so august took one through the doorway of the changing room.
realising that the uncle with the nice butt was taking pics liberally, august became more liberal with his shots as well.
4 of us nekkid... hehe... nice view hor? the pics in the advertisements dun have the metal bars leh...
another of us, with another backdrop.
1 taken in the mixed onsen... nobody else one leh.
after the great onsen, we went back to take some night shots before leaving the place...
me, damien, joanna, august, calvin
we had our dinner at a nearby viking restaurant. viking meaning buffet in japan. for 2000, we had a nice yakiniku buffet, plus other food as well... quite good deal hor? considering what's available...
all scallops!!! muahaha... i must have eaten like 10 scallops on that nite!
