Seafood in Japan

Japan is only 225 km (or 140 miles) wide at its widest part.  That means that no matter where you live in the country, you are no farther than 112.5 km or 70 miles from the coast at any given time.  Fishing is huge business here in Japan - something that Travis and I have gotten to experience and enjoy.

About 20-30 minutes from Misawa there is a huge fish market.  Every single thing that they sell there was caught THAT DAY, and they throw out everything that they don't sell by the end of the day.  (Which both guarantees freshness, and explains part of the garbage problem Japan has).

The fish market had things that I couldn't even identify:

(I'm pretty sure it's an eel.... I think? :D)

things that I don't think I'd ever want to eat:

But such a good price!  3 for about $7.50!  (....it's only a good deal if you know what the hell to do with it once you have it!  lol)

So that is $35 dollars worth of Octopus tentacles.  Yummy???

So apparently if the squid is red it is 15x the price?  If only I read Japanese!

They also sell things at the Fish market that are not even edible - though still fish to be fair.

How would you like to own your very own blow fish?  You could eat the meat and possibly die - (If it isn't butchered properly, Fugu, or blowfish meat can be fatal) - or you could just own a hard dried shell of a deadly, stinky fish!

Travis and I weren't very adventurous, we only bought shrimp/prawns.  However, I have to say they were some of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen, and they cooked up deliciously.  We'll have to go back and try some more seafood soon.

Happy Easter!

I know for most people back home, Easter Sunday has just begun.  However for Travis and I we have had a very uneventful day of rest, relaxation, and a half decent Easter meal.  (If I do say so myself).

We spent most of the day playing video games and lounging about.

Travis found a new and unusual way of sitting in the recliner.  He swears it is the most comfortable position ever.  You know what they say, don't knock it 'til you've tried it!  Putting your head on the foot rest and watching the TV upside down just seems awkward.

He knew it was weird - look at him try to pretend he wasn't sitting all funny after he realizes I got the camera out.  Mwahhahaa.  [Though not that embarrassed, I did get his permission before posting these pictures online.]

 I did make a small effort to create an Easter meal for the two of us.  I bought a tiny smoked ham for the occasion, and decided I'd make scalloped potatoes and a tossed salad.  Nothing overly fancy - but somewhat Easter-ish.  On closer inspection I actually discovered the little ham that I had purchased had been pre-cut.  It was a bit of a set back (I've never seen a freezer ham precut that wasn't in the deli before) but it cooked up like a normal ham, and we didn't have to worry about carving!  I found my recipe for scalloped potatoes online, but it was more of a suggestion than the rule.  I managed to delete the butter from the recipe, and substitute skim milk for the 'heavy cream' recommended.  To make up for the lack of fat I tried adding onion.  Obviously not a replacement for fat, but I thought perhaps a replacement for a bit of lost flavour.  Honestly, the recipe turned out just fine without the butter or heavy cream - but I probably shouldn't have added the onion. It ended up tasting rather sweet in with the potatoes.  Not my best creation to date, but we both ate our serving.  Couldn't have been all bad!

Sufficiently suffonsified we have spent the evening watching a movie and fooling around on our computers.  (Blog writing anyone?)  It has been a wonderfully relaxing day - I hope your Easter is the same!

Politics Abroad

In one of the most technically advanced countries in the world, you would think that political advocates would have amazing electronic ads that are transmitted to the masses via ways us mere mortals would never imagine.  Japan has a reputation for electronics and technical advancements.  So how do they advertise for the upcoming election in the prefecture I'm living in?  They drive around my street with loud speakers mounted to their roofs spewing out campaign slogans (in Japanese!) louder than what I'd imagine a space launch would sound like up close.  

 (This isn't my picture, but it's a good example of the cars and vans that circle past our house every few hours.)




I've dealt with this type of  gorilla advertising before.  In Korea politicians advertise the same way.  Even fruit vendors will drive down the street announcing on their trucks loud speakers that the oranges in the bed are on special.  I used to bemoan those vendors, but no more!  At least once you were inside your apartment in Korea you could basically ignore them.  Today, I was in the shower, water running with the door closed.   In the bathroom with the window and the door closed.  In the back of the house, with all doors and windows closed.  If I were able to speak Japanese I would now be able to quote verbatum what the car driving by was saying.  It actually scared me, because it felt like the speaker was coming into my bathroom.  I wonder if they are breaking volume and noise ordinances when they drive by.

I know people back home are going through the beginnings of election fever.  Let me tell you, cherish those little lawn signs, and be thankful that no one has thought to put speakers on any of them to spout campaign promises!

Tokyo Disney

I've tried different ways to show everyone my pictures - the easiest is Facebook, but I understand many of you don't have (or want!) accounts. I've just recently discovered a slide show website that allows me to create a video of my pictures. I thought my pictures of Tokyo Disney would be the best to test this new program out.  Please let me know if it works/ doesn't work for you!  Enjoy!

Tokyo Disney - how to create a free slideshow

Internet through Poe

As I wrote in my previous post, both Travis and I are very thankful that we experienced the March 11th Earthquake and subsequent Tsunami with very little damage. Travis lost his favourite coffee mug, and one of my scrapbooks fell off the bookshelf one to many times and the cover was ripped off past the point of an easy repair job. We were unable to get the internet on March 14th as originally scheduled because of the disaster, and although we were disappointed we understood. Other much more vital things had to be done in areas south of us - those that had been hit the worst.

Japan has proven itself to be incredibly resilient. It took only two days for power, cellphone service, and clean water to be fixed and brought back into our area. A friend of mine from England posted this article from the Daily Mail, commenting "In England, this would have taken 6 months!".

Japanese Road Repair

I have to agree, in Canada there is no way that the road would have been repaired within a week! This is a country that knows it lives on a major fault line. A tragedy struck and within hours the Japanese were working to clean up the mess and repair what had been broken.


That being said, after a couple of weeks, we were wondering what the problem was. Eventually I called the internet company, explained that we had been waiting for internet since December, had had an appointment scheduled for March 14th, and was wondering if I could reschedule the appointment for sometime soon. It was a long frustrating phone call that amounted to "We will help you when we start doing appointments again, we don't know when that is. The company that we liaise with will tell us, and then we will let you know. We don't know when that will be. Don't call us, we'll call you."

Seriously, it took them 6 days to fix the major road ways - what on earth could the INTERNET company be doing for so long? Power companies, water companies, etc. I could understand - they were needed desperately down in Sendai and Fukushima. But the internet people?

By the time our new appointment was scheduled (for April 15th - that is 109 days after we originally paid the company to come and do the installation!!!!) I was so pessimistic towards the entire thing I was convinced that when April 15th rolled around they'd either not show up at all, or call and tell us they were unable to make it - and try to reschedule for mid-May.

When they finally did show up to do the installation yesterday I was completely nonplussed about the entire situation. My utter lack of excitement brought to mind the first stanza of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven":


Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more." [exc. "The Raven" Edgar Allen Poe]


When the internet guy rang the doorbell, and I was half convinced he was just here to say "Sorry, you can't HAVE internet!" laugh maniacally, and run. Possibly while kicking small puppies out of his way.


That being said - once the modem was finally connected I was extremely excited. It took them 2 hours, a power drill, and one guy up on a cherry picker working on the electrical lines outside the house but it's HEEEEERRRRRRRREEEEEEEE. Hopefully within the next few days I'll be able to get some pictures up onto the internet and share them with you all! (Along with much more upbeat posts I'm sure. :D)

Living in the Land of Earthquakes

Travis and I were North of the earthquakes epicenter. We were very lucky, not seeing any water. The Tsunami didn't reach our little area of the island at all.

(We live in Misawa, which is in that unlabeled section in the north eastern part of the country).


We did experience a 4 minute 9.1 magnitude earthquake, followed without an hour by two aftershocks of 7.5 and 7.2 respectively. I was at home when they happened, and after sitting in a bathroom door frame for a minute or two, stayed outside across the street with some neighbours waiting for the house to stop moving. Travis was at work, his first day back after being in Korea for two weeks.

We immediately lost all power and gas. This meant no lights, no heat, no cooking. About an hour or two after the quake we also lost cellphone and 3G services. We were notified that tap water was no longer potable (bottled water only), and that we should not take showers. (Without a water heater we weren't that tempted anyway... just washing our hands it felt like their were icicles stabbing us.) This lasted for about 50 hours. Late on Sunday night we got power back, and on Monday morning phone and 3G was back up and running. It wasn't a fun experience, but both Travis and I count ourselves extremely lucky. We had bottled water, crackers, granola bars, and other food that didn't have to be refrigerated or heated. We were safe, and had lots of blankets to keep us warm. Travis was even able to get a message out to family (from work) that we were safe.

Even now we have aftershocks pretty much daily. It's sad that we've begun to ignore them really. I have a barometer. Unless the bar opens and pop cans start rolling across my living room floor again, or the books fall out of the bookcase, the earthquake isn't worth worrying about.

Everything seems to be working its way back to normal now, and we're even planning on traveling next weekend! Hopefully we can make it up to Hirosaki for their cherry blossom festival. That sounds like a much better thing to experience while in Japan!