On Ramen

Now that I can read some Japanese, I've discovered something.  

There are a heck of a lot of ramen shops in this country.

Japanese plumbing sucks... but it doesn’t drain very well

Warning: this post isn't for the squeamish. If you're the kind of person who can't even scoop the gunk out of the stopper in your kitchen sink, I suggest you stop reading now.

Still there? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.

This past Sunday I discovered a whole new world.  A multi-coloured world... of mould.  Yes, mould.  Let's see, we had grey, greenish-grey, blue, black, blue-black, orange, pink, and -- get ready for it -- a gooey, putrid white the likes of which I have never seen before. 

Where was this kaleidoscope land? In my bathroom; the drains mostly.

Before I go on, I should say that I am not a messy or dirty person. I keep my apartment tidier than most, and I clean regularly. It's just that I can't keep up with the plumbing here. In fact, it is quite possibly the one thing I truly HATE about my home in Japan.

I am used to certain things in a drain. I am used to metal pipes. I am used to airlocks and actual drainage. I am not used to plastic pipes with interlocking pieces that come apart and provide little nooks for things to grow. I am not used to constant pools of water that keep things wet and moist and collect scum just under where I stand to brush my teeth everyday.  I am not used to coming home from a holiday and smelling strange stinks because things have grown due to a lack of running water.  Appetizing, huh?

I spent at least two hours just cleaning the drains in my bathroom this weekend.  There are three.  The sink and the tub both connect to a larger one in the middle of the floor.  

The tub drain was the easiest to take care of. I keep a filter on it to prevent hair from going down, so it just needed a good scrub.  There was some mould inside, but it was all reachable with my sponge.  

The sink drain was horrible.  I removed the little metal filter with my fingers, only to discover a horrid, white slime.  It was inside the drain, coating two strange holes on the sides, just before the main pipe. It was almost a centimetre thick in some parts, smelly and it covered some more familiar blue-black stuff underneath. I had to scoop it out with my sponge. Gag!

The main drain was horrendous. I could see the black stuff around the top and lifted out the top cover to give it a good scrub, as I normally do. I was tipped off just days earlier to the fact that the drain could actually be taken apart even further and so after some investigating, I found that I could twist and lift the inner cylinder out. I was almost sorry I did. Inside, was the pool of never draining water full of grey sludge, and hair, and other things best left unidentified. The exterior of the cylinder was covered in some flaky grey stuff I could chip off. All of the pieces were given a good soak and scrub.  Anything that looked like it could be scooped out was, and tossed in a garbage bag.  I threw in several drain cleaning tablets and prayed.  

My bathroom is sparkling clean now.  But only for a few minutes, I'm sure.  

Strawberry Fields Forever

Ever have strawberries for lunch?  And no, I don't mean a few on the side, or added to a salad, or even baked in a pie. I mean just strawberries. Plump and juicy, plucked fresh. And, all you can eat.

Apparently, it's a thing in Japan.  People go "strawberry picking" here. But they don't really mean picking. They mean eating, devouring, stuffing-your-face-to-the-point-of-nearly-vomiting.

Okay, I may be making it sound bad.  It's not.  It's lots of strange and confusing fun.  Basically, you pay a flat fee (prices differ depending on the time of year), and you have 30 minutes to wander around a greenhouse and eat as many berries as you possibly can.  I managed about 36 -- it's a rough number because I was laughing so hard, I kept forgetting to count.

Number one was so juicy and sweet. Amazing! Two to 17 were average, some sweeter than others, but all generally good. 18 to 22 were superb! Strawberry 28 was the best I've ever tasted. I thought 31 would be my last, but then the condensed milk arrived and so I had 5 more for dessert.

Kirei Japan

Maybe it's because I came expecting to find beauty that it seems to appear everywhere in Japan. But, it's not always in the most likely places.  Yes, Miyajima, Matsushima and Nikko were pretty, but it is the momentary glimpses that are the most breathtaking.  

A full moon with a misty halo hanging above the school soccer field.  A bright red torii gate just beyond a turn in the road.  White cranes in a green rice field set against the jagged mountains, grey in the distance. Even the cabbages with their outer leaves tied up in librarian-style looking buns  are endearing.

Yesterday, Reina and I were biking to the train station.  "ORANGES!" she yelled as we turned a corner. And there, over a dull, stone wall, hundreds of bright spheres and lush green leaves filled the sky.

My favourite is the persimmons in late fall.  Dark, gnarled trees, looking lifeless after having shed all their leaves, with plump, orange globes hanging from every branch.  

Now, I watch as other knotty trees spring to life.  White, and pink, and fuchsia blossoms like Christmas lights cover every limb and infuse the air with their sweet perfume.   

I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

On Japanese Plumbing

Question:  How do you know when the bathroom is overdue for a cleaning?

Answer:  When whatever it is that lives in the drains starts to show its face outside.
Oy, what is that?!?!?!

おしりかじり虫 !

Name: Oshiri Kajiri Mushi
Translation: Bottom Biting Bug
Ocupation: Biting bums

Occupation?  Okay, go with it.  Everyone else here seems to. And really, it is pretty fun stuff.  The bug-eyed guy with the four sharp teeth for chomping on ass seems fairly popular here right now.

I was first compelled to find out more about this creature because of one teacher who sits across for me in the staff room who is constantly singing the first bit of this ditty in a super cutesy voice.  It got me curious.

A friend posted this link weeks ago on Facebook and I had been sharing this video there, but it just didn't feel like enough.  So, here it is for all the folks back home - a taste of what is cool in Japan.  (Well, this and those great green sweatshirts that say, "Passing Fad" on them.)

I will also post a link for a website with some information about the origins of this little monster.  It's a cute story about a husband and wife team and their kitchen encounter.

Check out the PingMag story.

Monkeys!

I recall a deep, philosophical question once posed by a group of musically inclined young lads while pondering the possible ways in which large sums of money could be spent to promote amorous relations. I believe the exact words were, “Haven’t you always wanted a monKEY?”

Hey, who hasn’t? Cute and loveable, almost like mini versions of human beings. Trouble too, mind you, but that’s all part of the fun.

Realistically though, owning a monkey is probably not a good idea for most of us. It’s probably a very, very bad idea. So, the next best thing is socializing with monkeys in a snowy mountaintop setting.

“Where can you do this?” you ask. In Nagano, Japan.

On Saturday, I joined Caitlin, the queen of day trips, and two other friends for a trek to Yudanaka to see wild snow monkey’s at the monkey onsen. It was quite the journey. It was long, and a tad costly too.

Local trains from Ota to Takasaki (with a switch in Isesaki) – 700 yen
Bullet train from Takasaki to Nagano city – 4,410 yen
Local train to Yudanaka – 1,230 yen
Bus to Monkey Park – 250 yen

That’s 6,590 yen one way, or almost $64 Canadian. But hey, how else can you hang out with monkeys? And the ticket in to the Jigokudani (Monkey) Park was only 500 yen.

The truth is, I am not the best candidate for such an adventure. I am slightly afraid of most animals, including my cat some of the time. I freaked out for about 3 weeks this past July after Noah made me hand-feed a squirrel that scratched me.

But the monkeys were amazing! Even spotting them in the distance was a thrill. These lucky little monkeys managed a long time ago to take over a natural onsen and spend their winters soaking in hot water and being on display for tourists of all kinds.

I couldn’t believe how close you could get to these little creatures. You could see the wrinkles on their knuckles, their sunburned faces, the pinpoint pupils in their yellow eyes. And teeth. Despite all my attempts to stay safe, I managed to provoke an aggressive little guy into snarls and a wide-mouthed display of his chompers. I escaped unscathed. (Well, except for the giant bruise on my backside from the fall I took on the icy path back to the bus stop.)

You’re not allowed to actually reach out and touch the monkeys but they are allowed to touch people. Every once in a while a baby would poke a tourist or even leap up and latch on hoping for a bite of button or some other snack-like accessory. My friends handled this well. I don’t know that I would have.

http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm - This link should take you to a live camera of the monkey onsen.

Here are some more pictures of this winter adventure.