A kick of endorphins

Love this video. Makes one wanna run: http://vimeo.com/4600647

Back to writing aka treasuring the memories aka keeping the learnings close to heart

This blog has been quiet for years. Focused on enjoying our lives here, taking the time to cave the thousands of moments has been left in the darkness. On the stepping stone to new adventures, it's about time to re-initiate the quest of capturing as much as possible of the beautiful 4 year long stay we have enjoyed in Japan. There will be a lot of nostalgic blog writing going on here, with new stuff added to the site every day. The new posts will be archived under the dates they took place and not the dates they were written. Sorry if this makes it a tiny bit unstructured, - but really...this blog is mostly meant for us to look back at 10 years from now.

World Cup friends

Since loosing the game to Japan, this happens whenever we tell a Japanese that we're from Denmark:

We get a merry laugh, - and a comment about us being very good friends of Japan. Well, we are very good friends of Japan, so dear Japan, - big congrats to you.

This pic was taken at the fish market in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

Irmã de coração

In Copenhagen we got a chance to meet up with our very special Brazilian friend Luecia, whom we hadn't seen for two years. Catching up whilst indulging in a goat cheese & watermelon salad is just as perfect as perfect can be. It felt like we hadn't been apart for a minute.

Wednesday Coffee

Since October 2009, I've eagerly jumped out of bed on Wednesdays to meet up with some of my best friends in Koriyama at the local Starbucks when it flungs the doors open at 7:30am.

This Wednesday I was in Copenhagen though. And it rained. And my Danish friends were either still sleeping or on their way to work. So what to do? I trotted to the nearest Baresso, - the Danish equivalent to Starbucks, ordered the usual soy latte sprinkled with cinnamon, took a fair look at my Japanese homework, browsed through my calender (which is sort of the secret hand shake of the Wednesday morning meetings), and sent my dearest thoughts to Keiko, Angela, Megan and Yuri. You are missed!

Adatarasan in Spring

The beauty of Adatarasan greeted us on a crisp Spring morning. With o bentos and water supplies stuffed in the backpacks, clutching the ski sticks there was only one way to go, - up.


Adatarasan is a 1718 meters tall volcano. It killed 4 tourists in 1997 with it's poisonous fumes, and it is still possible to see fumes today.

Henrik is as always trying to orientate, - not that it's necessary, - the red ribbons tied to branches here and there show the best way.


Surprised to find the volcano THAT covered with snow, - coming from small, flat Denmark, either there's snow in a country on any particular day, or there are not.


Yay! We made it to the top.


The view was stunning, though this shot barely does it justice.


On the way down, a crazy skier went fast, zigzagging amongst rocks and snow-free patties.


One of the best things about Adatarasan is that it some where close to the top, has an onsen in the midst of nothing. We stopped for a warm and soothing skinny dip and continued the journey down. Some walking, others sledging on a plastic bag. Oooh, - and we finished the day's adventures with a cup of coffee in Dake onsen village. Mmmm.

楽しかった！

Soba Salad

Together with Meg, Z and Keiko I(B) went to a treasure of a soba place. I swear, - this place serves the World's best soba salad.


Handmade cold soba noodles, thinly sliced radishes and daikon, grinded sesame seeds and topped with daikon sprouts, served with a yummy tsuyuu-like dressing and wasabi.

Fuji san aka 富士山

On our way to New Zealand this sight of a 3.776 meter tall beauty captured our eyes awaking the desire to reach the top someday.

Feeling hot?

Since the arrival here in Japan some two years ago, I(b) have been taken lessons in the art form of Chigiri-e.
Though I continue to feel challenged during the lessons (especially when it comes to sketching), I do love the hours flooded with creativity once a month in the company of a lovely group of women. As a side bonus, - the classes always doubles as culture lessons.

Always being considerate, the women share touristic pamplets, food and oddities (also combined as in food oddities), like here where Takeda-san introduces me to a 'cool sheet chest'.


It's basically a chemical treated 'fabric' that feels cold towards ones skin and thus helps one deal with the insane summer heat we find here at times. She is wearing one on her neck.
You really can get everything in Japan.

In Zen on a Saturday

One of our favorite restaurants in Koriyama is tucked away behind one of the many parks. It comes with a superb view of the cherry trees during Spring and the place is the perfect goal for a random Saturday midmorning walk which is just what we were in the mood for today.

The set course (the only thing on the menu) consists of 6 different dishes and is build around seasonal Japanese ingredients served with a western twist. The menu changes every second month. Here's a few shots of the three dishes we enjoyed the most this day.

Beets soup
I (B) loved the color of this beet flavored soup, and the way it matched the flowers on the table. Quite rare to stumble across anything with beets in our region which is traditionally not an ingredient found in the Japanse kitchen.

Fresh water eel quiche!
Till today, Japan seemed to be conservative when it comes to serving eel (see the bottom of this post), so this innovative savory quiche stuffed with eel and with wasabi flavored dressing on the side was quite a tasty surprise.

...and the dessert plate. Yum!
Green tea ice cream is always a winner as is a square block of dense chocolate cake. The slice of almond tart served with raspberry coulis turned out as a keeper too, not to mention the kabocha creme brulee :o)

Coffee Break
The random wandering continued after lunch, but as Summers are quite hot here (35C), - and not only hot but humid as well, those random walks are only bearable with sewn-in stops at air conditioned places.

It's not that we are the hugest fans of the concept of SB conquering the world, but it just happens to be the most cozy cafe in town. Soft chairs, great music, and soy as an option if one wanna opt out of milk. Also, the staff doesn't seem bothered with one lingering there for hours, so a weekend spent in Koriyama equals at least one cup at SB. It's located near the station, so fun place for people watching as well. The fan on the pic was given to us in front of the station. A commercial flyer one would just through away instantly, but a (free) fan decorated with commercials is a treasure in this climate and commercials or not, - this thing is being waved wildly around town. Hands down for the Japanese art of marketing.

Unagi no kabayaki
Time to end the lazy couple time and get social and adventurous, so we met up with Emiko and Yuko for the above mentioned traditional eel feast. In Japan it is believed that eel provides stamina and for this reason it's popular to eat 'unagi no kabayaki', which is glaze-grilled eel, during summer. It's served on top of rice and with a clear soup (suimono) made with eel liver served on the side. Apart from the soup, the meal is addictively good. Today it was served in a pretty lacquer box. The wood 'bottle' holds Shichimi togarashi which is a traditional chili spice made up of seven different kind of ingredients.

Zazen
We continued on to Fukujyu-ji temple in the neighboring village Miharu for a session of meditation led by a famous novelist and priest named Soukyuu Genyuu. It was our first time to experience traditional Japanese Zen meditation also named Zazen, and something we have been wanting to try for a while.

The fukujuushoku (Deputy head priest) is famous for having been awarded the Japanese award equivalent to the Nobel prize for literature and thus, despite the relatively small village of Miharu, many people find their way to his monthly meditation sessions. We were about 30 people this summer evening, which our good friend Keiko had joined us for as well.

The session started with the fukujuushoku giving a small teaching for then to guide us through a few stretching exercises before we were all asked to sit in either full- or half lotus position. Our recent stay at an ashram in India turned out useful here.

The meditation it self was initiated by a loud clap and the chimes of a bell. During the meditation session, the fukujuushoku would walk amongst us with a wooden stick called a keisaku ready to hit people on their shoulders if they seemed unfocused, fell a sleep or if they asked for it themselves as the hit is said to reset ones (Zen) mind. Not being really sure if he would go for the two gaijins made staying focused on the meditation quite challenging, but we treasure the experience nevertheless. He never did decide to hit us, instead we were treated with tea and cakes afterwards with the rest of the participants while he shared some words of wisdom. In Japanese.

Perfect Saturday.

A gift into the culture

Japans strong culture of gift exchanging is ever present in our daily life. A co-worker brings cake for Henrik to pass on to me (whom he has never met), friends bring souvenirs from recent holidays or day trips, the neighbor stops by with home cooked food, teachers bring flowers from their garden and strangers share knowledge, advices and rice crackers as we hit the road touring the country. Acquaintances share sacks of fresh vegetables and fruits with us.
Seldom a fortnight goes by without something finds it's way to our house and hearts. Quite overwhelming for someone coming from a culture where one has a tendency to only share with whom one has already bonded with.
We have become most grateful for the gift exchange ritual, which in many ways has served us to a better integration and understanding of Japan. When a stranger on the train decides to give us a paper crafted kimono doll it opens for conversation and thus breaks down barriers between us and the locals. A gift from a friend or an acquaintance makes us feel home and accepted in a culture where feelings are most often implicit. The gift itself teaches us about the local food culture, traditions and handicrafts as it often comes with a story about the place it was bought, the season of the year or the traditions of the country.
Today, our kind neighbor stopped by with a feast consisting of homemade tea flavored bread, jam and two different kinds of traditional Japanese sweets.

The bread was still warm and with a lovely sweet scent of black tea. Impossible to resist, despite our mainly wheat-free diet. The cakes were as always a treat.

Looking back

Here's a random list of things we have received during our stay here: Dried squid to be used as a sake cup, fermented soybeans aka natto, Scarfs, textile xmas decoration for the wall, cakes meant for tea ceremony, chop sticks, candle in the shape of a Daruma doll, Ceramic figurine, a full tempura and udon meal served at dinner time, jewelry made of bamboo, marinated pork, fresh ginko nuts, green tea coated soy beans, tofu muffins widely known as tofuffins, branches of fresh edamame, ikebana decorations, cell phone straps, fans, eco bags, chatecs with japanese flower print, lip balm, peaches, apples, pears, melons and strawberries, corn, cucumbers and beets, rice crackers, sake, lacquer box, freshly harvested brown and white rice, homemade umeboshi, pickles, homemade yoghurt and a sponge made of seaweed to name a few....

Of cause it's expected that one returns the kindness of a gift, with another gift at first coming opportunity, which gives us a wonderful chance to share Denmark with our friends and acquaintances here.

Hopefully the joy of giving and exchanging cultures is one we succeed in bringing with us and practice also outside Japan.

Few things in the world can top...

...moments spent in a Brazilian hammock together with the nephews.


Vi savner jer.
xox

From free range, - to a full range!

Shopping for eggs in Japan isn't quite as simple as in Denmark.

This picture was taken at the farmers market attached to the outlet mall in Nasu.

At the local supermarket in Koriyama, we also tend to have a good selection to choose from. Some eggs are with high levels of Omega 3, others with Iodine etc. We do miss having the choice of simple free range organic eggs though. Japan might be able to learn a few things about animal welfare from Denmark.

Detour to India

Henrik succeeded in granting two month leave of absence from work, so we dusted off the backpacks and went off to India for a two month journey to experience the country while spreading the word about diabetes. The journey began 25th of February 2009 and we returned to Japan in mid April 2009 after the fierce sun in Rajasthan had proven stronger than us. India left a tremendous impact on us and we are already talking about when it might be possible to do a second trip out there. So much to learn.

For the full recap go here.

The fruits of Autumn

Persimmons are hung in rows to dry, for later to be enjoyed as a C vitamin rich snack.


A natural ailment for sore throat. 'Karin' pickled in honey. My Ikebana teacher surplied the fruit. The honey was bought at Kokoroya, an NGO helping mentally challenged people and local farmers, while promoting chemical free produce.

Tea Ceremony on Bunka no hi

'Bunka no hi' is the National culture day in Japan and therefore a tea ceremony was arranged in one of the local parks.
A good friend and her mother invited me(b) to join, and that is an invitation I would never turn down. The atmosphere alone is reason enough to join, the air tingling with respect, humbleness and discipline. The joy of being surrounded by beautiful kimono clad ladies is another good reason for signing up. The excellent tea a third. Tea ceremony is almost like a group meditation where the World is no bigger than the tea ceremony room and everyone's attention is on the art of making and enjoying the tea.

I got the chance to participate in two different kinds of tea ceremonies. One was Iemotosenke, the other omotesenke.


The women on the far left is my friend's mother.

We know Japanese?

As expatriates in Japan the question we seem to get most often is "Are you speaking Japanese?"
Our answer continue to be the same, that we are trying to learn it, - hoping someday to make it to 2-kyu, but doubting that it will ever happen.

One's level of Japanese is measured in kyu's were 1-kyu means you are 100% fluent speaking and 4-kyu means you are on a very basic level.
We are somehow in between 3-kyu and 4-kyu. We would fail a 3-kyu due to the grammar, but our vocab would be sufficient to pass through though...we think...

These days studying has become a challenge as our classes continuously are canceled due to Henrik's busy work schedule. Self discipline is not really our strong side, when there are tons of (other) fun things awaiting outside the door. And there are ALWAYS tons of fun things awaiting outside the door.

But there is still hope. Few weeks ago, a good Japanese friend introduced us to a language community on the web, iknow.co.jp. Its originally made for Japanese learning English (Generally Japanese people are very interested in learning English) but recently the site also offers the opposite,- that English speaking persons can study Japanese.

Basically the site offers simple intelligent built up courses that extend your vocab through useful phrases. Its very flexible and an algorithm makes sure you learn what you need to learn.
The real strength of the site though is the community and the tools supplied to support it. Journal and shoot boxes for example make it possible to communicate with each other and this is very much done here. It's a buzzing community. B's first journal written in Japanese resulted promptly in five comments from Japanese users. Besides being encouraging it also opens up for opportunities to practice your skills with native speaking Japanese.

Big Brother is also incoporated in the community. You can easily see how many words and how many minutes any user has studied at a given date...and they can see your effort as well. This works very much as a whip to study as often at possible.

All-in-all a great site we hope (and these days believe) will keep us on track for a while.

Food cravings

I always have food cravings. Food cravings for any kind of Japanese food. Preferably Japanese food cooked by Japanese people.
Food here is made with such care. Focus is solely on the ingredient, its quality and freshness. The Japanese acknowledge that food taste better when it is in season. It's common to shop for groceries almost every day, thus securing fresh ingredients for every meal. The trolleys for groceries at the supermarket are no bigger than a shopping basket. That says a lot.

Right now chestnuts, persimmons and grapes are at their peaks.
Chestnuts are delicious cooked in rice with mirin and a pinch of salt. Persimmons are perfect tossed in Shiraae - a mixture of grinded white sesame seeds, miso, mirin and tofu. Grapes are superb as juice.
Takeda-san from my Chigiri-e group gave me a lot of grapes the other day. I mashed them and cooked them on low heat for 10 minutes. Then I sieved the juice. It gave me two big glasses of thick yummy sweet grape juice. So tasty that it was all gone within seconds. A perfect way to start the day.

P.S.: I wanted to dazzle my sis on visit with homemade Kuri-gohan (rice with chestnuts). I ended up with exploding chestnuts in the oven. For those of you who want to do the trick as well, - don't cut a cross in the chestnuts before you heat them in the oven. For those of you who want to avoid the explosions, do as my Ikebana teacher taught me today: Just soak the chestnuts for a while and you can easily peel them without using the oven at all!

A day in the golden field

After only three hours sleep due to Mikas wedding yesterday, I am surprised I didn't fall asleep amongst the ricestacks near Yabuki, an hours drive from Koriyama. But no, today was all about harvesting rice, so no time for idyllic napping, despite the inviting laid-back atmosphere that always greet you on the countryside. I love the countryside.
The trip was organized by a threesome, - a local NGO for mentally challenged people, Kalmia which is an international organization in Koriyama and the owners of the field, the local sake brewery whom I assume will use the harvested rice for making at least cooking sake.

Equipped with a small scythe for cutting and softened weed for bundling the work came around pretty easily. Here it is my Malaysian friend Shy, who almost disappeared in the ricefield.


Bundling with Ayako-san.
Confused frogs jumped around our feet, wondering why we cut down their golden rice-forest.
We were around 50 people cutting down, bundling and stacking the rice.


Here is the field well halfway through:
Afterwards a celebration lunch was arranged with mochi in tons of variations, the local community performed a traditional danceshow and the day was rounded up with a quiz in Japanese about farming in Japan. I have no idea how I ended up with a price. (I think I owe that one to Shy of Robyn).
Here we are, the whole group from Kalmia:



This fellow is my favorite resident in Yabuki. I absolutely adore him.

Tons of babies

Today's Ikebana decoration was chosen to honor the fact that Mika is getting married in two days. The small bell peppers you see at the bottom of the decoration symbolize fertility, so this was Gunji-sensei's way of wishing Mika a happy and productive marriage. Here is Mika with Gunji-sensei's decoration and Mie-chan: Ikebana was also very special today because my sis attended the class. Gunji-sensei had gone out of her way to prepare a good experience. Japanese people tend to show a hospitality that can only inspire.

Sis made a beautiful autumn decoration with german iris and red berries.










As Mika had to hurry on for wedding pic shooting, Gunji-sensei had arranged for another woman to come and help with translation. Lots of regional handicraft was showed and discussed.
The red cow on the pic is the Akabeko cow, a famed toy from the Aizu region.

After all the 'hard' work a feast of a lunch was served. It included various types of tempura, tofu, cucumber and crab salad, mountain vegetables, the best seasoned rice I have ever had and a deluxe miso soup and nuka-pickles. We got to help arrange it, which was quite fun:-) We also got to taste a homemade healthy fruit/vinegar drink. I don't remember the name of the fruit though. Itadakimasu! :