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Ten Rules

By amy ross | Filed in japan, writing

I’m a little late, but I’ve been meaning to make a few comments about the Guardian’s compilation of Ten Rules of Writing from a host of different authors.

Sure, it’s cute to see what advice various famous authors have, and it never hurts to get a few tips on how to make this lifestyle work. But rules? Don’t most of us become writers exactly because we can’t stand following rules? It’s hard for me to imagine that the world’s next groundbreaking work of fiction is going to come from someone who always colored within the lines.

There just seems to be a lot of hubris for authors to claim they have figured out the secret of writing well, especially when it’s stuff like

Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
Fine, as long as you’re writing hard-boiled mysteries. Even Hemingway occasionally has people “ask” and “reply”.

Cut (perhaps that should be CUT): only by having no ­inessential words can every essential word be made to count.
What’s an essential word? Take this too far and suddenly you’ve cut everything… We’ll be left with no literature beyond defibrillator manuals.

Only bad writers think that their work is really good.
I suppose Truman Capote was a hack. (And believe me, the inverse is definitely not true — just because you think your writing is rotten doesn’t mean you’re a secret genius.)

Don’t have children.
Do I even need to comment on this?

Look, Mr. Important Author People, we’re all very impressed with your work, and we’re all very glad you’ve figured out a routine and system that works for you. But don’t assume this is a problem that only needs to be solved once, for everyone.

Oh, but I did rather like this one, from Margaret Atwood:
Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.

Now that’s writing advice! And I’ll keep it in mind on my flight to Japan tomorrow. Of course, I hate pencils and I happen to have invested in airplane-proof pens, so I guess even this rule can’t be extrapolated to everyone…

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Bento Madness!

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan

So this is indefensibly self-indulgent, but I feel like posting pics of all the bento lunches I ate in Japan.

Bento

bento

Bento

Bento Lunch

Bento Lunch

bento

bento

woooooooo bento.  and this concludes my japan posts for…  a while, certainly.  Let’s hope Idaho in winter gives me as much fun stuff to blog.

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Sweeping Up

By amy ross | Filed in japan

Classes start today!  Busy, busy and I still haven’t finished posting japan pics…

I’ve been meaning to share this quiet moment from our trip to Nishi Hongan-Ji temple. Apparently it was some kind of clean-up day? Huge numbers of old people had been bussed in and handed twig brooms in order to sweep up the leaves that were littering the courtyard.

Sweeping

This was late afternoon, after most of the leaves had been swept into plastic bags, and people were lining up to go as a man with a megaphone thanked them over and over. In the background is the so-called “Sunset Gate”, supposedly so beautiful it will distract you from the sunset. Since we were there at sunset, we were able to test this out — I’m afraid we weren’t entirely convinced.

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Japan: Land of Donuts

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan

You may think Japan is the land of sushi and ramen and lychees, but actually, the Japanese love donuts.  And the love doing fabulously interesting things to donuts.

Mister Donut!

No visit to Japan is complete for me without a trip to Mister Donut. Mister Donut was a fixture of my childhood, until they got bought out by Dunkin’ Donuts and became… not as good. I had thought Mister Donut had vanished from the face of the planet, but in fact, no — they just all picked up and moved to asia, apparently! But as Japan is never going to be satisfied with mere honey glaze and powdered sugar, we got chocolate with… I think pistachio crunchies? and a musically-themed holiday-oriented green donut of indeterminate flavor. But wow, adding whip cream to a donut is a good idea!

Back to Mister Donut

Oh look, another trip to Mister Donut. I was kicking myself for not getting the black sesame. Black sesames are kind of awesome — same flavor as white sesames, but sweet! Also, a strawberry donut that tasted like it had actual strawberry bits in it.

Not exotic enough for you?

Meat Donut

This is a beef stew donut. It seems weird at first, but actually, savory filled donuts are a fantastic idea! A wonderfully satisfying and portable meal combining meat and donuts — what’s not to like? This actually came in a little bag from a combini.

Browny Bagels

On a vaguely related note, I actually saw a bagel shop in Kyoto too… They seemed to have fruity bagels? Oddly enough, even though I’m a donut adventuress, I’m a bagel purist, so I didn’t try these.

Donuts

And lastly, a totally inedible donut. Or donuts, I guess. I don’t even know if “Donuts” is the name of the band or the album, but I spotted this in a record store.

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Kurama-dera

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan, scenery

I know it might be hard to believe from this blog, but I did do more than eat in Japan.  It was a little rough getting to any of the major sites scattered throughout the city, as I was located on a far, far outskirt (practically a suburb) — so any trip downtown was a considerable enterprise.

M. and I got lucky one day, though, when I — sick of walking — suggested we spend a relaxing sunday taking the suburban train as far as it would go, just to see.  Little did I know that the last stop on the nearby line is the famed Kurama-dera — a gorgeous temple located most of the way up a steep, forested mountain, known as the point where Mao-son stepped onto the earth from Venus 6.5 million years ago. It’s also the birthplace of reiki.

Of course, we didn’t know this when we got off the train. We saw a gate a the foot of the mountain and figured the temple must be a few yards inside. So we start off on foot and pretty soon we’re climbing a steep hillside covered in lush green forest and dotted with tiny shrines, statues, and pagodas.

Spout

It was cold, too! There are icicles dripping from that water spout.

Kurama-dera

A rare bit of sky visible around this giant cedar. (A lot of the particularly magnificent trees were wearing these little belts, though I think the most sacred was near the top of the mountain.)

Kurama-dera

That’s the mountain peak, just behind the roof of the main building. It’s actually farther then it looks… or maybe I was just really tired. Inside, there were a few other pilgrims and tourists praying or walking around, but this one woman was making really intense hissing noises, like an angry cat. Then she started… yowling I guess. I think it was Japanese words, but it sounded a lot like cat yowling and shrieking. I got nervous and left, but everyone else acted like this was no big deal. Never heard anything like it in the downtown temples.

Kurama-dera

The view from the temple porch. That visible building is a restaurant/refreshment point a few feet below the temple. Oh yeah, and see? Japan is wall-to-wall people. ;)

Kurama-dera

We did make it all the way to the top of the mountain (huff, puff) to see these exposed roots (kinone michi)… Very cool, but I admit that my calves were aching for about a week afterward every time I went down stairs. I joked that the little ballet flats I was wearing were totally inappropriate to the hike, and all the gaijin we saw were wearing big hiking boots. But on my way down I saw a Japanese girl wearing thigh-high boots with spiked heels (these are quasi-ubiquitous among young Japanese women this season) and I thought, now that’s a real challenge.

Dango

And hey, I couldn’t go a whole post with no food at all! We needed a rest at the bottom of the mountain (and to warm up!), so we stopped in a little tea house for hot tea and dango, dipped in mitarashi, with red bean paste and crumbled peanuts.

All in all, I think Kurama might be the most incredible place I’ve seen in Japan.  Of course it’s not a contest, and I saw many amazing things, but this was a truly awesome experience.

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Oink oink

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan

Hey, guess who figured out how to get the photos off his mobile phone!  Yes, M.  And wow, I’m so jealous now of his eight megapixels…  His photos are gorgeous.

So remember that piggy-looking pork bun I was talking about yesterday?

Piggy!

Well, if that isn’t just the definition of kawaii.

Piggy tail!

And his little piggy tail!

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Japanese Junk Food, Part 2

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan

Straight from Japanese combini (circle k, seven eleven, family mart, etc.) to your computer, it’s more fabulous Japanese junk food!  (See previous junk food here)
pop rock chocolate wafer

First up, it’s a wafer cookie with pop rocks inside. Or at least, that’s what the packaging seems to by indicating to my uncomprehending gaijin eyes.  I mean, isn’t that what’s suggested by that inset that says “soda” and shows lots of bubbles coming out of the blue pebbly things?  Assuming I’m right, this candy gets a 9/10 for concept, but the execution was a disappointment — I didn’t get that tell-tale poprock fizz at all.  Maybe the concentration of rock wasn’t high enough?  I’m not totally sure of the physics here.

shrimp burgerShrimp burger! They sell these premade in little bags, the way we sell twinkies — but they’re actually good.  Talk about convenience food!  Also confirms my theory that everything is better with a ton of Japanese mayo.

Every BurgerMore hot burger action!  Except not hot, and in fact, only resembling burgers.

tiny burgersTiny burgers, made of cookie and chocolate and a layer of peanut butter “cheese”.  These are freaking adorable.  Also, the “bun” tastes like toasted sesames.

POCKY. for men.A mystery.  In America, marketers are always insisting that chocolate is for the ladies, so I’m not sure what everyone’s favorite Japanese stick treat is getting at here, with their “male only” candy.  You might assume there was another box on a nearby shelf containing “Women’s” pocky, but no.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand my number one favorite combini snack is not featured here.  The only picture I have is currently (and tragically) trapped on M.’s phone, so you’ll have to make do with someone else’s depiction:

It’s a warm pork bun…  shaped like the world’s most adorable little piggy!

This article talks about the reactions of Japanese customers to the item:

Shiori, age eight or nine, and her grandmother, who was over 60, were two of the more vocal purchasers. Shiori, spoke first, “That pig is just so cute!” They talked at length about the cute floppy ears, the cute snout, and the cute pig shape.

That describes pretty accurately the conversation M. and I had when we saw it, so I guess we’re turning Japanese.

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Focus of the Nightclub

By amy ross | Filed in japan

Happy New Year!  I still have more Japan for sharing.

Much as Americans have a fetish for Japanese video games, anime, and manga, the Japanese also flirt with American culture…  sometimes in unpredictable ways.

This department store had a really vast t-shirt collection on display.  Some of my favorites:

Des Moines HawkeyeHawkeye: The Outdoor

The Mushroom Is DeliciousThe Mushroom Is Delicious
Let’s make a delicious stew from pork and the mushroom!
S in D muchroom, SinD canned food company

Strange T-ShirtsRock Don’t Stop Music, Rubber Soul Crusing

Yeah, pretty unfathomable.  And check out those fedoras!  Those were really big, in fact — not just on the mannequins.  There was a huge display with all kinds of fedoras, from gray to polka dots to furry and orange.  Did they really expect people to buy and wear these?  I saw people in some pretty goofy outfits, but nothing like that.  And suspenders, too…  I felt like they were really pushing a mid-80′s, post-punk, Ducky-on-Quaaludes vibe.  Not sure anyone was buying.

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Pizza and Eels.

By amy ross | Filed in food, japan

At the Emperor’s Birthday dinner the other night (boy, that sounds impressive, doesn’t it?), we were asked what we’d seen of Kyoto so far.  I mentioned a few shrines and temples…  “You haven’t been to Nishiki Market?  You must go to Nishiki Market!”  And M. was promptly given the following day off for this purpose.  So we went.

Nishiki Market is a centuries-old covered market in downtown Kyoto, filled with tiny stands selling all the various ingredients that show up in the Kyoto style of cooking: pickles, dried foods, fresh seafood, and vegetables mostly, plus also an apparently famous kitchen knife store that was founded by Aritsugu Fujiwara, a master swordsmith, over 400 years ago.  (I just found that out via wikipedia, but we did visit the store and it was pretty amazing.)

Things we saw:

fishmonger

Fish for sale. Those are splayed-out eels up top, with their spines all swirly. The pink blobs in the foreground are fish ovaries, still filled with millions of fish eggs. It seems a little weird, yeah, but if nature gives you a perfect carrying case for roe, why not use it? And of course oysters to the left. (Does anyone know what that white, brainy looking stuff behind the ovaries is? I haven’t a clue.)

Tako

Octopus tentacles.

And fresh eels! Ooh, squirmy.

When we reached the end of the market street, we turned a corner and discovered that it ajoined with a much more modern mall-type structure. So then we wandered through past movie theaters and food courts and eventually wound up at…

Shakey's

Shakey’s Pizza. I had never actually seen a Shakey‘s outside of that Southpark episode when Cartman uses stem cells to clone endless Shakey’s Pizzas. So it seemed appropriate to go for the first time in Japan.

Lunch Viking

We had the Lunch Viking (!) buffet. You’ll have to tell me how close this was to the American version, since I don’t know.

Shakey's

The pizza on the right is fairly ordinary pepperoni and green pepper. On the left is, I think, barbeque pork and corn. There was corn on a lot of their pizzas. Oh, and not shown is the surprisingly tasty custard and chocolate sauce pizza they served toward the end. There were also pastas and fried potatoes (which struck me as weird with pizza, but I gather they do that in the states, too?), and just in case none of this seemed like “real” food, they also had big pots of rice and japanese curry.

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More signs

By amy ross | Filed in japan, signs

sleepy sanglier

Ooh, I forgot, there was another sign I wanted to share. M. says this is an ad for a restaurant, and what else could it be? But it seems odd… I’ve never seen wild boar on any menus in Japan. I really wanted to investigate but could not figure out where it was directing us, if anywhere.

M. and I also disagreed a bit on the content of the image. I said, “aw, the cute boar is sleeping!  While flying dreamily through the air!”  He said, “the boar’s not sleeping or flying. Its eyes are closed and its legs stretched out because it’s dead and trussed.” So, okay.  Still, as slaughtered game go, it’s pretty adorable.

Also for some reason I liked this sign, at one of the temples we visited.

Western Style Toilets

I don’t know why, it’s perfectly understandable (and true!).  I just thought it was cute…  ’cause, where else would you keep your toilets?  (It was a gorgeous bathroom, by the way!  Huge and empty, way way underneath Higashi Hongan-Ji temple.)

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