Cross-Cultural Issues
25 Jun 2009, I talk a little some issues I have faced in working half-way around the world.
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Eclipses Are Exciting.
I've been a big old bag of crazy lately and it's been leaking out in the form of general crankiness. Boo hoo. It will pass. Apparently, so will the moon. Between the sun and the earth. Over Korea (and much of the rest of Asia, but who cares about them). Tomorrow, between 930 and 1130am. I'm just geeky enough that this snapped me out of my funk and gave me something to look forward to Wednesday morning, but only after I wondered why none of my students had mentioned it yet. Surely some of them are dweebs? Hopefully none of them stare directly at it, though I suspect that at least a few will.
I'm suddenly reminded of that episode of Heroes where the eclipse caused everybody to temporarily lose their superpowers. This resulted in several meaningless plot points, which ended with as much predictability as the writers could have possibly fathomed. In other words, it was just like every other episode of Heroes, but with an eclipse. Thank goodness for hiatus.
South Korea Trip - Masan 마산
Alright you can check out the video of my trip from Busan to Masan in South Korea. The trip in total was 100 kms. I rode the #14 highway out of Busan to Masan. On the trip I checked out an Amusement Island and a Mexican Restaurant.
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers,
Jeff
Pixar Ups the Ante With Its First 3D Animation
UP
Directed by: Pete Docter
Release Date: July 30 (in theaters everywhere)
Last year’s “WALL-E” proved that animation isn’t strictly for children. Its thought-provoking themes and creative story wooed parents and kids alike. Pixar’s latest film, “Up,” looks every bit as imaginative. For the first time, the studio has chosen an elderly man as its lead character. But that isn’t the only first for Pixar – the film is also its first venture into 3D animation and its first production that premiered at the Cannes film festival.
The film’s unique spin on a familiar genre is only one of its many qualities.
REEL AROUND THE FOUNTAIN
I dreamt about you last night
And I fell out of bed twice.
You can pin and mount me
Like a butterfly.
- Morrisey
And I fell out of bed twice.
You can pin and mount me
Like a butterfly.
- Morrisey
Lazy Sunday Afternoon
Up until now, my Tokyo food experiences have largely consisted of the the sporadic grazing mentioned in the previous post, and a few excellent tonkatsu sanwiches from the convenience store. As such, I was beginning to think I was being priced out of the bulk of Tokyos food hotspots. A trip to the tourist mecca of Asakusa on Sunday changed that however, as I came across some unexpected street action and got a glimpse of Tokyo life into the bargain.
As one of Tokyo's oldest areas and the site of the Senso-ji shrine, Asakusa positively heaves with tourists (and the kinds of businesses designed to cater for their every need.) Here you can buy everything from Kiminos to rides in people drawn rickshaws (jinriksha.) To cater for the hungry masses, numerous Japanese restaurants line the narrow streets, and the area directly in front of the shrine is home to a small collection of street carts and food tents.
It was in the later that the fancies of my over-active imagination finally began to take physical form. Trays of roughly hewn takoyaki stared up at me from the carefully arranged cart of one vendor, while skewers of sliced scallops, chicken and pork begged an introduction to the grill at another. Further on, a hotplate heaved with a writhing mass of yakisoba noodles, and an old man fried up a heavy batter of what I guessed to be okinawaki, the thick heavy pancake not dissimilar to my own beloved pajeon.
Yet despite everything on offer something held me back. Amid the trinkets and the touristsm, the food seemed somehow laboured, a way to spin a couple of hundred yen from the passing temple trade rather than anything authentically Japanese. With a hefty price tag starting at about a quarter of my meagre budget for the day per item, I made an executive decision to walk on by and see if I could score something else instead.
I'm glad I did. No sooner had we left the temple area did we stumble upon devotion of an entirely different kind - directly in front of us hundreds of Japanese men were congregated in a large hanger-type building, cigarattes drooping from their mouths, faces upturned towards tv screens blaring the frenzied excitement of a horse race. In an alleyway branching away from the main building, smaller groups hunkered around countertops and tvs, drinking, smoking and eating yakatori straight from an outdoor grill. It was at one of these that, after showing a mere flicker of interest, I was graciously made way for, and my first genuine street food experience of the trip finally began.
Sandwiched between a large Chinese man and a friendly Japanese guy called Nokiyoko, I ordered two skewers of chicken yakitori at 100 yen a piece. Our companions then topped up our order with a tall cold bottle of Asahi beer from Nokiyoko, and a trio of shrivelled pink berries from the Chinese man (the impending consumption of which sent him into convulsive fits of laughter.)
The chicken was good, smoky from the grill and boasting a pleasantly sticky teryaki sauce. The berries for their part delivered a salty kick, followed by a jaw twisting sourness that can only come from an extended period of pickling.
The beer was cold.
Sarah and I sat awhile shooting the breeze woth Nokiyoko and taking a welcome break from the sun and blisters of a shotgun Tokyo visit. While the yakatori wasn't the best I've had on this trip, the atmosphere certainly was, reminding of the supreme value of food and the reason I'm investing so much time into writing up the littlest details of my daily curbside travails.
Dotseom
20 Jun 2009, I try to get of the mainland for a few hours, but the link to the island in the sea's been closed leaving me stranded in the bay. It was nice to see Masan from 마산만 Masan Bay nonetheless.
Same/Same - PUNCH!
In Korean culture, nothing says I ♥♥♥ you more than going out and about with your special someone dressed up in matching outfits.
Yeah, I'm sort of confused by the whole idea as well .... but a party is a party.
"You can no more win a war than you can an earthquake".
DEEP.
Click/click.
Yeah, I'm sort of confused by the whole idea as well .... but a party is a party.
"You can no more win a war than you can an earthquake".DEEP.
Click/click.
Tokyo Grazing
So it turns out Tokyo isn't much of a street food town. I came here expecting to see stall after stall of vendors selling everything from takoyaki to sashimi, but so far I've yet to lay eyes on a single solitary pushcart or portable grill. As such, my dream of eating cheaply in Tokyo whilst filling post after post with lurid descriptions of food I can only dream of, looks like it might be over before it even began.
But that's not to say I haven't been eating well. Since arriving yesterday afternoon we've spent a fair portion of our time peering and gesturing our way into some of the most interesting meals I've had in a long time. Tokyo heaves with little nook and cranny eating joints and food halls, and though they may not be strictly street, I think they nevertheless deserve a write up.
Freshly checked into our traditional Japanese inn (i.e. expensive and lacking in amenities) we popped our Tokyo cherry by ducking into one of the many ramen joints that line the main street of our new hood, Takodanababa. These places have a novel way of keeping human contact to a happy minimum by requiring you to purchase a ticket for your meal at a vending machine. As everything is in Japanese, this could easily have turned into a hit-it-and-hope situation save for the friendly cook who came out to give us a helping hand.
When the smoke had cleared, I ended up with a crispy tempura of onions, carrot and potato on a bed of thick round noodles (not shown in picture.) Surprisingly, everything on the plate was cold, which perhaps has something to do with how everything there seemed to be focused on a speed - a few customers came and went in the time it took for Sarah and I to fumble through our own meals.
Later that night, we decided to hit Shinjuku and Kabuchiko on the the hunt for food and sleaze. Unfortunatley, Kabuchiko didn't turn out to be the all-out assault on morality we'd been hoping for, but foodwise things went a little better. Our first stop was a small beer and yakitori izakaya close to Shinjuku station. I ordered a skewer of chicken thigh, another of crispy chicken skin and one of pork cheek. The meat was tender, flavoursome and daringly pink, coated with a slightly sweet/spicy "Japanese sauce" and infinitley morish.
Still hungry, I then moved on to a standing-only takoyaki place I'd spied round the corner. Here, four substantial octopus balls were of a reasonable price and came covered in Japanese mayonnaise and katsuobushi. The balls were crispy on the outside, mouth searingly hot and possessed of a substantial pearl of octopus in the middle.
We kicked off Saturday in the upmarket district of Ginza for a cruise of one of the many upscale department store basement food halls called depachikas. My search turned up a couple of free samples and an exceptional olive, anchovy and cheese calzone that cut me to ribbons with a sharp/salty edge that made me think I'd momentarily left Asia.
Later, we rounded off the day with a Tonkatsu, the breadcrumbed pork cutlet closely related to the Korean doncass that used to brighten up my Friday lunchtimes. The cutlet was thick and juicy, covered with flaky golden breadcrumbs and swimming in a curry sauce that reminded be fondly of my teenage half-and-halfs (half fried rice, half chips and curry sauce at the bus shelter)
That's it so far - hopefully I'll see some street food soon and really get the trip started!
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