A indefinite hiatus

Part lack of motivation and interest, part distraction by new interests, part simply being busy with life: this blog has suffered tremendously over the past few months.  Like a mediocre relationship, it has just continued when I felt it should just end.  Two recent blog friends brought up thoughts that have brought about a hiatus for this blog.

First, one friend wrote about purpose for a blog.  While randomness is fun, it eventually makes keeping the blog difficult.  While I was in HK, I was documenting my year in HK.  My new experiences and weird cultural moments made for fun stories; the blog made for a good way to relate those to my friends.  Somehow, this year in Okinawa has felt less like an adventure and anthropological venture than Hong Kong did.  Slowly, my blogging purpose seems to have slid away.

The second is the tension between a digital identity and a daily one.  I find that the blog looms like a dark cloud, needing to be nurtured and updated.  Social media has taken a back burner to my interests in reading and writing; email and the blog to my interest in personally communicating to genuine friends.  I find that social media and blogging also distracts from my other writing.  The blog has also nudged me into a style of writing that I feel is stagnant.

While in China, I once told a friend that I think we are in an era that has no goodbyes.  Instant updates, emails, twitters and status feeds let me know the intimate details of friends [and 'friends'] lives by the second.  In a previous era, a person might leave and you never know what happened to them.  It was a genuine goodbye.  So, this post is a ‘goodbye’ to the blog.  I believe it is more of our era’s goodbye than of time past.  Still, a sadness hits me even as I know the hiatus is a necessary and good step.  In any case, happy travels and I’ll see you!

Tokyo Maids

In Akihabara, where a heart of anime, manga, and electronica beats, are these costumed ladies.  Mostly they are cutsey maids, though there are also some faux men with husky voices dressed in anime suits.  The one above would energetically speak and hand pamphlets to each passerby.  The pamphlets are for a resturant/cafe featuring additional maids for anime and manga fans.  Mildy creepy, I mostly felt bad for her as she had to put up with boys laughing at her and rude people.  Like any pamphlet distribution job, I’m sure this one sucks.  This one has the added benefit of costumed humiliation, though.  Still, she put on a game face and chipperly handed flyers with a smile and a slight hop.

Capsules

After Sapporo, we headed to Tokyo for the new year.  The capsule business hotel is popular among men and travelers in Japan, so we thought we’d give it a go.  Complete weirdness.  Mildly like crawling into a coffin, my capsule had no window or ventilation.  The capsule made me feel like I was a tunneler in war time.  As a plus, you get a fun yukata to wear while you go to the communal baths and toilet:

Shabu shabu

Hot pot, Nabe, Sukiyaki, and, finally, Shabu shabu.  All those dishes share a similar attributes: a pot of boiling hot liquid, raw foods which are introduced at different rates, and communal spirit.  While in Sapporo, Shu lan and I gave shabu shabu a go.  We weren’t completely sure how to do it, so we asked the waiter.  His simple directions were to hold a  pair of chopsticks and swish them saying ‘Shabu…shabu…’  Dipping into a collagen broth, one takes the meat and slides it through the hot water in a ‘one two, one two’ motion.  After the meat and vegetable extravaganza, the broth is combined with egg and rice to create a lovely casserole like after meal.

One aspect about meals in Asia that I have loved is the communal component.  Western meals seem to focus more on my dish, my plate, my servings.  Most of my meals here, though, have been communal.  Large plates of food designed for the entire group; samplings of a variety of dishes and delights.  Any case, enjoy shabu shabu:

Soup Curry

I can’t remember how I found out about soup curry.  Likely, a guidebook or pamphlet mentioned it as a Sapporo hot new item.  I enjoy curry and was curious what a soup version would be like.

I wish I could say I was making up the name of the restaurant we eventually went to:  “Suage.”  I’m not sure how else to pronounce it other than the obvious ’sewage,’ which seems like a horrific name for a soup place.  Nothing like a liquidy substance with chunky bits served at a place named after the contents of a septic system.  Yummy.  Despite the plenty of soup curry outlets the guidebook or pamphlet I read led me to believe existed, it was the only one that we could find readily.  So, we plunged into the Suage.

Thankfully, it was delicious.  A bit like a stew and a traditional curry had a baby, it was a spicy delight. I’m not sure if one could just add more water or stock to a traditional curry or not, but I would like to try to recreate it.

Hokkaido Ice

Despite the foot of snow, I still partook in ice cream.  Famous for milk, dairy products in Hokkaido are delicious.  I heard rumor of lavender ice cream, which I unfortunately never found.

Take heart, though, I had some interesting flavors.  Namely: tomato ice cream.  Tasting much like ketchup mixed with water, the picture below shows Shu lan’s reaction to the unique flavor.  We also tried honey suckle and cheese flavored ice cream. Nothing could beat the natural ‘milk’ flavor, though.

Hokkaido Food Roundup

Aside from ramen, Hokkaido also had some delightful dishes with cheese, cream, and lamb.  When we talk about our trip, people wonder if we did anything other than eat.  One meal favorite, the so called ‘Ghengis Khan,’ is a meaty extravaganza.  We had fresh seafood at the market, where I learned to love sea urchin.  I’ll let some photos of food speak for themselves:

I will do some individual posts on ice cream, soup curry, and shabu shabu.

Getting a good soak

Shu Lan and I don’t ski or snowboard.  Though Hokkaido is famous for its powder, we decided it would be nice to hit up another Hokkaido famous locale – the onsen. Days filled with alternating hot and cold baths, saunas, and nakedness simply cannot be bad.

Unfortunately [or, perhaps fortunately depending on your point of view on naked old men], I don’t have pictures of the actual onsen.  But, I do have some lovely pictures of Jozenkei, an area south of Sapporo that has famous onsens.  We also boiled some eggs in the sulfur springs, which turned out soft and delicious. I even made a tiny snowman, sans hat and accessories.  The steaming hot water with the icy white snow made for some lovely scenes.

The ferris wheel of death

The ferris wheel holds a place of nostalgia for me.  I fondly remember circuses and carousels in my childhood, and ferris wheels have a place among those joys.  When we arrived in Sapporo, we saw a light ferris wheel on top of a tall building.  What more 50’s ish romantic night  could you ask for than a couple’s ride on a ferris wheel.  I bought the tickets and we, like teenage kids, joyously bounded to our carriage.  Only as we slowly glided toward the apex did I realize that I have never been in a ferris wheel before.

Suddenly, I was struck by terror.  Here I am, trapped in a tiny box encased in glass, slowly moving up on a machine that is tethered to the tallest building around.  Shu Lan was gleeful.  I often drag her to rollercoasters, which I love. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t shake my fear. I even felt like I might get sick.  I constantly felt like I was going to fall.  But, the view was fantastic:

A side note, these pictures look like it should be 8 or 9 PM.  It was 5:20.

Beer-o-rama

Today I bring you pretty colors:

Sapporo, famous for the beer that bears its name, also houses a lot of other Hokkaido brews.  Interestingly, Sapporo doesn’t seem to be very popular in the city itself [in truth, the exported Sapporo is slightly better than the 'classic' commonly served locally].  Back to the beers above.  One of them is Sapporo brewery’s Oyster Black, a delicious brew that makes a Guiness look amateurish.  The other three come from the Abashiri region, which is most famous for its prison.  One of the beers is a green tea beer, aptly colored green, another a potato beer, pink and purple liquid, and the other a lightly colored blue beer. Unfortunately,  after you get over the novelty of fun colors, those beers were fairly terrible.  But, they make a fun picture.

Despite those disappointing ones, I had several delicious beers from the Otaru and Kushiro area.  I wrote in my journal, ‘Japan is doing some wonderful things with beer’ – a statement I thought would never come from my fingers.

This trip, after I enjoyed my Nth beer, Shu Lan asked, ‘Why do all our holidays seem to center around beer?’ I, up against the ropes, just smiled and looked at the snow.