Local Food

Here’s a couple of the local grocery stores in Kakuda. The first is a really common chain all of Japan, York Benimaru. It’s owned by the same company that runs as 7/11 in Japan.

The other is smaller and a lot less common. I’m not even sure if it’s even anywhere outside of Miyagi. It is however my favorite in Kakuda. It’s called Itochen.

The reason I like it is the meat there is so much cheaper than York. Actually almost everything is cheaper. It doesn’t have as much selection as York, but the cheapness and close proximity to my house more than make up for it.9

Doritos Air

Here’s something rare, a snack that was actually available in Canada first. I’m talking about “Doritos Air”. The puffed up version of the normal chip. These were actually out a couple years ago in Canada, and aren’t sold anymore. They taste exactly the same as back then.

Curry Learning

I love curry! Not just Indian curry or Japanese curry, but all of them from around the world. Which is why I was happy to find this bi-lingual book at the book store all about curries from around the world.

Just by reading it, I’ve learned a lot about curry. Did you know that curry power was invented in England, and that Japanese curry is a variation of English curry, not Indian. The book has lots of recipes from India, Sri Lanka (my personal favorite), Indonesia, Vietnam, UK, Japan, Thailand and Nepal.

I’m looking forward to making some of these in the near future.

Interesting Beer

Here’s some interesting beers that the wife found at Seiyu. She’s really quite fond on the Yona Yona Ale. All of them tasted really good. A bit of a warning though, they are a little bit expensive compared to the prices of the big brewers in Japan.

Grape Everything

One of the best things about Japan is there is tons of grape flavoured stuff. Candy, Drinks, Gum, etc. It seems almost every time I go to the super market there is some kind of new grape drink to try. Being a big fan of grape this is very lucky for me. An example is this “White Sparkling” grape soda.

I feel almost upper class when I’m drinking a soda called “sparkling”, like sparkling wine or something.

Chips for Men

Doritos has this special line of chips for men. The biggest difference is they are thicker and harder. I guess they think men have stronger jaws. Anyways this flavor was spicy chili. It was very good I’d have to say. The other flavor I’ve seen in this line is black pepper. Pardon the slightly blurry photo, it was taken in haste.

Shiroishi Castle

Last Saturday we went to visit Shirishi castle. It’s around thirty minutes from Kakuda. Supposedly it’s not the original castle. The first one got destroyed a long time ago, so a new one was rebuilt as a tourist attraction.

It’s not the biggest Japanese castle I’ve been too, but it still was really cool to visit. I often wonder why most Japanese castle are white. Maybe it’s for a specific reason.

In this picture here you can see some of the other parts of the castle, as well as some of the grounds. The view was really nice from the top of the castle. You could see all of the surrounding mountains and could even see Zao mountain.

We also saw a 3D movie as well. It told some of the history of the area ( I assume, because it was totally in Japanese). I just like watching 3D stuff it’s really fun to see spears and samurai swords coming right at you!

Cutting Edge

Here’s a video of some samurai guy cutting various hard to cut objects. I have to say it’s pretty amazing to say the least. Enjoy!

Saint Seiya

I got this really old early eighties manga at the book store in E Beans in Sendai. I’ve found that when it comes the Japanese comics I tend to like the older stuff better.

It of course features lots of manly posturing and tons of ridiculous fight scenes much like the one below.

Thousands of punches flying in one second. The only problem is that I can’t find any more books in English. Damn you lousy English book selection!

Super Garlic Curry

I got this at the grocery store the other day it’s spicy garlic curry. Even though it has flames on it, it wasn’t that spicy. It did however have five full cloves of garlic in it. A warning for the reader, don’t eat this and try to kiss the one you love!