The Fog

I took this eerie looking photo the other night while is was foggy. I thought it might make an interesting photo. I love to take night time photos. It’s really challenging to get it looking good, but when you do it looks really cool.

We seem to get fog fairly often in Kakuda. I’m guessing it has something to do with our close proximity to the Pacific ocean.

Showa Restaurant

On Friday the wife and I went to a “Showa” themed restaurant in Nagamachi. The traditional Japanese way of measuring years is not the same as the rest of the world. It’s measured by the the time the emperor is in power. So the “Showa” period was from 1926-1989. The numbering starts over with every period. So I was born in Showa year 50. Right now is the Heisei period. Anyways, it’s a complicated system, but that’s not the point of this post. Basically the restaurant is nostalgia themed.

As you can tell from the old fashion exterior. They also have old movie posters on the outside of the restaurant.

The inside is made to look like an old style neighborhood. You feel like you’re walk the back alleys of some old area.

The atmosphere was cool and the food was really good. It was basically your usual Japanese pub food. They also had huge beers, and special rates for all you can drink. I think we’ll definitely go back sometime.

Vindaloo

Today I went to Yamaya in Minami Sendai and found the holy grail of Indian curries in Japan. Packages of spice paste to make Vindaloo! It’s the first time I’ve seen it at a store since I came to Japan.

I think the reason it’s hard to find is Japanese people usually can’t handle spicy food. What they say is really spicy over here is actually not that spicy at all. Vindaloo being very spicy would generally make it very unpopular dish for delicate Japanese tongues. Somebody was adventurous at Yamaya though, throwing caution at the wind when ordering it. Well, I say thank you to that man. Don’t worry, I will buy all of your stock!

The Wire

Lately I’ve been super addicted to watching the HBO series “The Wire”. In the last couple weeks I’ve already watched two and a half seasons of the show. What makes it so good? Well the story is so realistic and intricate, and the ensemble cast has a lot of personality.

The basic premise is about police in Baltimore on one side, and drug peddling gangsters on the other, and their tug of war against each other. Also the series recently finished so there is a finite ending to it. I like having a ending to look forward to. So check it out!

Arcade Popularity

One of the most popular games in Japanese arcades is not Street Fighter IV or Tekken. It’s actually a mahjong game. You often see more cabinets for MJ4, than other arcade games, out numbering them by two to one usually.

People can buy a card to save their info on, and then play against other opponents all over Japan via the internet. It also has a touch screen to make it really easy for anyone to play.

The machines are usually busy everytime I see them. I haven’t played it myself due to it’s high usage of the Japanese language. Looks fun though. I’m sure this is Sega’s real bread winner.

Instant Spagetti

In my quest to find easy and quick stuff to make myself for lunch, I’ve recently been enjoying “Spa” brand spaghetti. It’s similar to the instant ramen noodles, but obviously it’s spaghetti and no soup either. My current favorite is the spicy cod egg flavor. It’s really good tasting and only takes around a minute to cook. How good is that!

Get in Line!

I had never seen anything like this until I came to Sendai. Roughly sixty taxi cabs all lined up in a neat grid at Sendai station. How many taxis could people getting off of the train need. I have personally never seen less than this amount anytime  I’ve walked pass. You’ll notice that most of them have their lights on, meaning that their engines are probably running. So if you want to stop global warming or such, this should be you first target. The upside is you definitely know where to go to get a taxi.

Cute Sign

I took this photo in front of an ice cream shop in Yamadera. It looks like a normal sign advertising the shop’s products.

What makes it cute is the little picture of obviously someones child or grandchild. Her name being Karen, is supposed to be the stores mascot.

She’s saying “Oichi ne”, which is like a cute childlike way of pronouncing “oishi ne”. “Oishi” means delicious, and “ne” is like when we Canadians say “eh”. Very cute!

Ironman

I picked up “Ironman” on Bluray recently. I really liked the movie. It was simple and fun. These big blockbuster type movies really shine on Bluray.  This one especially is fantastic. It’s filled with bright colors which really pop out in High Def. What’s crazy is the making of feature is almost as long as the movie itself. I had thought that most of the suit stuff was CG, but it turns out quite a bit of it was actually a real suit! It was very interesting.

Panorama

Here’s a really nice panoramic shot I took of Zao mountain. It was especially clear that day, so it’s quite spectacular. When I was taking the picture I thought I was in Switzerland or Austria for a second. Of course click on the picture to get a much larger size view.