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It's... Pink? Monday March 27
I have added another color scheme to this site in celebration of Japan's hanami, or cherry-blossom viewing season. I went with Kumiko to a nearby park on Sunday, but they weren't really open yet; I'm going back on Saturday with the Madison crowd. It should be perfect then.
School just got back underway today, and man, am I glad. I needed to put some direction back in my life, at least temporarily. Due to my spring break, friends in from out of town, recent developments regarding the job hunt, etc., I just have been doing things a little out of the ordinary recently. This is a good thing, I like breaking routines every now and then. However, next fall aside, I have a goal here until June, and I'm going to fulfill it. I've gotten a little far away from my studies in the past two weeks, and I'm glad to begin the realignment today. Feels good.
I read a whole opinion piece in the newspaper today about hedge funds. That made me happy; I know more basic investment terminology thanks to last quarter's business class. I only used my dictionary twice, and both times, I already knew the pronounciation of the word, I just wanted to verify the meaning. This is what they call in Japanese a jiman banashi, you know, where you just talk about how awesome you are all the time.
About the job search, things have cooled down a little in comparison to the last post. I'd like to say more about it, but as long as this site comes up when someone Googles my name, it'd be wise not to write about who I'm interviewing with and so on. We'll leave it that last week a new opportunity came up, and I don't know if it will turn into anything or not, but it looks promising based solely on the position of the person I was introduced to.
My research project for school is running about one week behind. This is why I am really stoking the fire to get back on track. Giving a fifteen minute presentation in Japanese isn't that hard -- giving one that is relevant, timely, and interesting is a bit of a challenge, however. Let's get started.
友達の旅行 Wednesday March 22
（英語の方更新した以上ここもしなくちゃ。）
就職活動が進んでいる。英語の方に書いてあるのは、「日本で就職できるはずだけど、仕事にこだわったら出来るはずのわけではない」っていうこと。確かにそうだー 最初からそう思った。大学生の時、若いうちに給料がよくて仕事がいやじゃなかったらいいんじゃないかと思ったけど、やっぱり２３歳になって、今年２４歳になったらだんだん・・・若くなくなっている？
この話だとマディの人達が「何言っているかい」とか、まだまだ若いんじゃないっていうかも。 若く感じてももっと若い人を見たら「あのときに今の経験が知られたら全然違う道を行くかな」と考えさせられる。でも、過去は過去で、しかも後悔あまりないんだ。
ふられた後、前の彼女に言われたのは「もっと前向きにしてほしい」って。やっぱり、ふられる方はいつもそうじゃなくて、なんか「自分はどこでミスした？？」と思っちゃう。その話はもう三年前だけど、その結果、今も「きっとあのときにも今にも前向きの態度が効果的でいい」と分かる。すごく分かる。そのときからずっと前向きの態度で暮らしていくようにする。
今の僕に戻ったら、ぃや、それじゃなくてー コンゴの僕だと、将来にニーズが出てくることを予想しているから、それに対応して生活している。何のニーズが来るかわからないけど、今月の上旬に覚えさせられたように時々予想できないこともあって、残念ながら何のニーズでもカネがあれば、ない状態と比べたらやっぱり楽だ。
僕は性格や精神の上に絶対お金持ちになるタイプじゃなくて、実は大学時代それを反発して専攻を変えてしまったけど、だんだん若くなくなるにつれてこの世が分かってくるんだ。今の僕だと、お金なしで暮らしていけるけど、将来だったら、分からなくて、用意した方がいいかな？
まあ、僕はそう思う。お金がかかるニーズ出てこない場合、寄付しよう・・・
でも（先日、僕はデモちゃんと呼ばれた。合ってるかもけど）、この話に加えたいのは、待遇がいい仕事かどうか別として、過去、現在、将来にお金のためにイヤな仕事をしない。「イヤ」という定義は人によって代わるけど、だいたい道徳に反するとか健康に悪い影響を及ぼすこと。
Little bit of this, little bit of that
This has been one crazy week. Who would have thought it's my spring break.
Let me begin by saying that I am very ecstatic to have Justin and company visiting Tokyo at the moment. I knew someone would take me up on my free tour guide offer at some point, and it only took six months. The summer is still available, folks. Or is it?
I've been neck-deep in the job hunt for fall, and it looks like I have a decent lead at one company that I've had my eye on. I have no doubt that I'll get a job here in Japan; I have never worried about that. The issue is getting the right job for me, and thus avoiding what Michael referred to when he gave me a "talking to" last December. The summary of what he said was to watch out for meaningless jobs. When the bills come, you need money, and to combat that, you have to find something, anything (English teaching, et al). Unfortunately, that stops you from having the time to do other, cooler things. To an extent, he has a point. That's the beauty of advice. You can listen to it all, and decide how much is appropriate for you. I am lucky to have older brothers who have trailblazed ahead of me.
In this case, though, the advice is solid: if a job doesn't help you grow, don't do it. Done and done. The definition of "grow" is where Michael and I may differ, but we're both willing to accept the other's viewpoint. The current position I'm seeking will be a new direction for me, and I'll talk about it more, uh, if I get it, but for the time being I will say what I've said from the beginning about it: it will open doors for me, not close them, and you all know how I feel about that.
This past weekend and early week was very busy guiding the group around Tokyo and Yokohama. We went to Shinjuku and walked to Shibuya on Saturday, Yokohama and Kamakura on Sunday, Ueno and Akihabara on Monday. They went on their own to Kyoto yesterday (Tuesday), and so I have a couple of days here by myself to actually do some posting here, finish some homework before school gets going again next week (what?!), and get ready to hear one way or another about this gig.
僕は大好きな「よ～し」 Wednesday March 15
最近、英語の方も日本語の方も更新していないね。
僕は最近忙しくてあっちこっちに行ったりこれとあれをやったりしているっていう言い訳を出せるかもしれないけど、実はただ時間を賢く使ってないんだ。そりゃやめたほうがいいからやめる。よ～し
いいことが次々出てるからハッピー！！
就活はうまくいっていそうで、後三週間ぐらい分かると思うんだけど。「働きたい働きたい」と繰り返して言う僕は、ある程度まで、就いた後、「もう少し休みたいなぁ」という文句を出すかもしれない。バカかな、僕は。
ぃや、ただ、今自由に暮らすのを楽しんでいて、でもそれと同時にお金がなくてクレジットなんてを駆使することにちょっと気にしている。一方、就職できるはずだから、考えてみたらちょっと安心するけど。将来に就くはずだから、今飲まず食わず何とか暮らしていくのは不必要。 ・・・だろう？
大学の借金はまだまだ残っていて、しばらくなるべく働いてばかりいる生活だと、一年間以内返済出来るようになるかも。そういう風に考えたらあの「働きたい働きたい」という気持ちが沸いてくる。商売をやるための借金（つまり資本）を除いて、たんなる借金はいやだよね。
Breaking out of the routine
Every now and then I get "busy", which really means I'm not putting any priority on posting here. However, since my brain will likely be unable to access many of these memories in the years to come, I really should be doing a better job of chronicling my time in Kounan-ku.
Our spring break extends from Monday of this week all the way until next Friday; I've never had such a long time to sit back and enjoy spring. To ring in the holiday, I invited guests over for a meal on Monday night.
Of course, everyone knows I love to host, but there was also a certain practicality to Monday's dinner. Last week, I was rather stressed out, and when I'm stressed, I shop for food. However, since I was busy and stressed, I didn't end up cooking much, and the result was a full fridge. There was no way I was going to eat everything before it went bad, and also, when I have guests, it encourages me to venture out and make new things.
When I came up with the idea, I was in the company of "the guys" from my program, and thus it turned into a "guys' night". I have found another person who knows Euchre (!), so we're searching for two more currently. No one has cards, either, but that can be remedied. I will cut a check to anyone who mails poker chips -- chips, cost of postage, and a fiver for your troubles.
Anyhow, the theme was "Around the World". Simply, when you have all sorts of things to make (pasta, curry, grilled fish, okonomiyaki), there's no central cuisine-based theme, so you just make it all and pretend like you're cosmopolitan. Worked for me.
The Menu
- Butter-sauteed garlic & shrimp pasta (American-Italian)
- Broiled nishin (type of fish) w/ mizuba (Chinese)
- Okonomiyaki (Japanese)
- Tomato Chicken Curry (Indian)
- Yakisoba (Japanese)
Let me just say something about preparing raw shrimp.
Peeling: Not bad
Deveining: I've had better
Spices!
A touch too much tomato
Okay, now that that's out of the way. I have made the Indian Curry three times now, and it's definitely edible every time, but there's just something not right about it. It lacks the "punch" that Indian restaurants have. I'm not quite sure of the difference; if it's MSG, I'm going to be disappointed. Well, I haven't learned how to make saffron rice yet, and I serve with Japanese rice (not basmati rice), so it's not really that authentic anyway.
The pasta "recipe", if you can call it that, I got from my father, the king of angel hair, shrimp, butter, and garlic. Quick, easy, delicious. Thanks Dad -- was a crowd pleaser. My tiny apartment got hot with 7 people in it, but somehow I managed to keep my shirt on while cooking.
I've been eating more fish recently; I have a broiler on my stove, and you literally buy a fish for less than a buck, take it home, chop its head off, wash it off once, broil it with salt, and you're done. Serve over rice. It's the easiest and healthiest meal I've done yet. What's more, if you serve it on a plate with soy and some Chinese green vegetables, it looks really authentic, like you know what you're doing.
The okonomiyaki has been a real pleaser. Since posting the okonomiyaki recipe, my Google hits have soared with people searching for the recipe. I've also had a lot of hits looking for "Japanese mayonnaise". Let me explain the difference: add some sugar to regular mayonnaise. Done and done. Haven't tried it, but it seems like it's the only difference to me.
Anyway, after the dinner, we all stopped at Madison for a drink; Teja and I played a close, but unended (the machine demanded more money) game of cricket. I wouldn't say I've gotten "in" to darts, but I will say I've been playing more since coming here. Sara, it's like the new pool. It's darts, and I'm terrible at it. I need to find a pool table so I can show off all the 1337 skI11ZorZ I acquired at Crane Alley and Esquire.
We convinced Hiromi-san (one of the Madison regulars) to come to karaoke with us, and yet again I was out late. In the past four days, I've been doing something every night. The result of this is that the overnight shift guy at 7-11 now knows my oden order exactly: chikuwa, tamago, daikon, and maybe a konnyaku if I'm in the mood. All for less than 300 yen! A steal!
Side note, I've used a lot of Japanese in this post. I think I'm going to start installing "tooltip"-like hover-over definitions; it's not fair to keep using these words when you really don't know what the things are.
From now on, I will get more serious. Today I have to buy a new suit, and tomorrow I'm going to wear that suit. Does someone want to give me a job? Only time will tell. I'll see you all on the other side.
Justin and Jeremy land on Friday! The first suckers to take me up on the Tokyo tour guide offer!
Zousui
(1) chicken breast, (2) mixed egg,
(3) soup base, (4) chopped mitusba
This recipe is simple, fast, and delicious. Moreover, since it eats like a soup, it's probably a great thing to eat if you have a cold or need to warm up from the inside out.
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggs
- 200g skinless chicken breast
- 100g parsley/chives/scallions* (US)
- 1/3 pack mitsuba (Japan)
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- soy sauce
- dashi †
Be careful not to boil the mixture,
as the rice has already been cooked
Preparation
- Cook rice, set aside.
- Chop fresh herbs, set aside.
- Mix eggs in a bowl until the yokes are completely mixed.
- Over medium heat, simmer 300-400mL of water; add 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce and dashi to taste (1 teaspoon should be sufficient).
- After dashi is fully dissolved, spoon cooked white rice into simmering pot, mix.
- Cut chicken into small bite-sized chunks, add to pot.
- Mix in herbs.
- Using a pair of chopsticks or a fork, dribble egg mixture into pot while continuously stirring. The key here is that the egg goes in slowly enough to not make large globs of egg.
- Stir well, simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Serve.
Notes
* I'm pretty sure that you can't buy mitsuba in the States; it's a fragrant, refreshing herb. Thus, my recommendation is to use an herb that has similar qualities that you enjoy. Scallions will certainly work, but something a little more chive-like and less onion-like will taste better, I think. Feel free to experiment on this point.
† In the States, there's a product called "Hon-dashi" which are tiny fish pellets used to make soup stock. The container is white, blue, and orange, and you will find it at most supermarkets and all Asian supermarkets. It's used in most Japanese cooking, so I recommend buying some if you don't have any.
This probably makes no sense Monday March 6
Well, here we are. I've discussed the idea of the "next step" before; after graduating from school, I didn't know what I would be doing at all in the future, and things just sort of fell into place to line up with what I wanted to do at that time.
That's a funny thing to say, "what I wanted to do". The truth of the matter is that working at Foellinger, despite being the best job I've held yet, was never on the menu for me. Coming to Japan has been on that menu since 2003, but I would have never imagined myself not doing the JET program. How could I even afford it? (Well, duh, Foellinger.)
I've been happy with what has led up until now. Yet, things certainly do become more decided and patterned as you get older, and I am often told that by my elders. This sort of freedom I have disappears, and will disappear soon enough.
My mother often says that you can't predict the future, but somehow, things always seem to work out. She'll often add the expression "the way they should" to the end of that, but I don't know if that really applies. Saying "the way they should" implies that there is some natural order somewhere, and that, whether or not you can see it, things will follow that path.
I find myself to be more a naturalist: in this world, on a macroscopic level, the same sorts of things seem to happen, simply, as a feature of the human nature we all share. That then dictates the path of what "should be". In short, we have a consciousness about what should be on the basis of what is, and what we have observed experimentally to produce favorable results. The human mind has an amazing ability to recognize patterns, and this is yet another result of that.
In believing things will work out, I am simply resigning myself to the natural order of human life. It is, if you will, one sort of self-fulfilling expectation, and eventually boils down more to perspective than some sort of algorithm. Things happen, both on their own and by my hand, and I adjust my perspective to accept them as part of my life. Hence, they become my life, and I find the good in them.
Yesterday, I went to a park and sat on a bench for awhile. Despite living in a metropolitan city, this park has treed hills surrounding it, and thus for a short while I was isolated from the cars, streets, houses, skyscrapers, and trains that clutter my view.
I thought, "how neat would it be to live in the 18th century for just a little while?" The worldview was so much more limited then, but people were still people. Was really that different? I can daydream as I like, but as Michael said a few months back, I also have to remember that I need to eat dinner. And pay the rent. That's the world I live in now, and thus there is a certain stark coldness to reality.
She Hates My Futon Wednesday March 1
I've been borrowing a futon since I got here, so I decided that its time I actually go buy one for myself.
This evening, I found a real nice paisley green one for about a hundred bucks. This is the advantage to a system where there are no bedframes: you are essentially paying for padding and the comforter, and the utilitarian side of me rejoices. Who needs more than that? Todd and I lived like that for awhile, actually.
Speaking of, Naomi, do you still have that featherbed?
Anyway, there was one futon for the same price with free delivery, too, but let's face it: while I may be sensitive enough to appreciate the beauty of roses, I don't necessarily need to be sleeping on them every night. It wasn't even a tasteful burgundy or something like that; green and red, splashed together. Clearly, there was a reason this futon set was on clearance.
So, while I was in the futon section, I noticed some daybed-like pillows. You know, the kind you'd prop up against the headboard or something and watch TV. Well, I don't even have a bedframe, but I do have a wall, and watching TV from a chair just somehow isn't the same. Maybe I should get some of these pillows?
Then I walked over to where the regular pillows and sheets are. I also discovered chair cushions. I was thoroughly impressed, and it's a good thing I have absolutely no need for any more chair cushions (I have three that I bought for $2 each at the cheap-cheap store, and moreover, the maximum number of chairs in use in my apartment at any given time is two. I consider this a blessing, I fell in love with the ones I saw today, and they were $10 each).
There's really no conclusion here, other than to say that I am entirely comfortable with my masculinity, and I love shopping for interiors. Yes, it is possible to have it both ways.
I'm giving it a day to think about, if I still want it this bad tomorrow I'm getting it; I'll put a picture or two up.
Lastly, I should mention that the title of this post has absolutely no relevance. It is the title of a half-finished novel that was serially published on the Internet between 1998 and 2000, and it was utterly brilliant. Craig, the author, disappeared for awhile, but I just have discovered that MyBoot is back! Read She Hates My Futon. It will take you a few days, possibly, but it's addictive, and well-written. Sweet!
布団
先週末、個人的な理由をきっかけにして新しい布団を買うと決断した。
今日調べに行った。昨日、今日もその理由をもう忘れようとした結果、ただ、新しい布団が欲しくなっただけだ。今の布団は薄くて寝心地がよくないし、模様がちょっと。バラはいいんだけど、バラがあるからって言って格好いい布団になるわけじゃないよね。布団を見たら、「寝るためだけではなく、壁に傾いてテレビを見ること出来る枕あったらいいなぁ」って思った。
香港から帰ってきた後、正に「これは旅行とかじゃなくて生活だよ」と感じて、横浜にしばらく根を下ろそうかという気持ち。しばらくってどのぐらいかというと分からないけど、とりあえず「しばらく」。
したがってもっと寝心地がいい布団が欲しい。
