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      • Symbol of Kitakami
        07/31/08
        The white lily is Kitakami's city flower.



        These ones are growing in a neighbor's yard. They also grow wild along the mountain roads in the area.

      • Into the Valley
        07/30/08
        Just on the other side of the Akita border, there's a beautiful hot spring valley. Small, old, rustic ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) and bathhouses line the one street running through town. The baths are hot and cloudy with minerals. The ryokan provide gorgeous views of the lush mountain

      • Impulse Buy
        07/28/08
        One of the loudspeaker trucks was circulating this morning. Its announcement was different from the others because it had traditional-sounding music playing in the background similar to the ramen truck, but peaceful rather than creepy. It turned out to be a guy selling watermelons from the back o

      • Oni Phone
        07/28/08
        In a nod to Kitakami's famous Onikenbai dance, a phone booth downtown has a pair of demon masks mounted above its doors.



        You might not want to try stealing 100 yen coins from the phones inside.

      • Rumblings and Musings
        07/24/08
        Until last night, things had settled down for us, geologically speaking. The aftershocks from the Iwate-Miyagi earthquake had pretty much stopped. Small tremors occurred occasionally, but nothing really out of the ordinary a shindo 3 here, a shindo 2 there.

        Until last night, when the g

      • When in Rome
        07/22/08
        After a little over a year on the Japanese cooking scene, I've gotten quite an education. I'm a bit of a purist, so I've been focusing on using seasonal ingredients and learning traditional techniques. As a general rule, I prefer to avoid processed things for example, I won't

      • Where the Green Fern Grows
        07/21/08
        A fern growing in the Juniko area (in Aomori Prefecture) of the Shirakami Mountains.

      • Looking Towards Home
        07/20/08
        Somewhere across that expanse of water (seen from the Goishi Kaigan on the Iwate coast) lie the shores of California.


      • Riding with Monsters
        07/19/08
        Do you remember the Pokemon craze from a few years ago? The Japanese sure do. In fact, it's still a craze here. It's even popular enough to be at the center of a joint advertising campaign between JR East and All Nippon Airways. From today until September 15, you can ride a bullet trai

      • Silver Zone
        07/16/08
        To remind motorists to watch for older people in the street, these signs appear in certain areas:



        Those areas are called "Silver Zones." Aren't the signs cute?

      • Monkey Business
        07/14/08
        Well, what have we here? What are you looking at?



        Oh, I see! You're looking at the fellow on the roof! And he's looking at us.



        Back in May, we were driving along the Sea of Japan coast in Aomori Prefecture. We got quite a surprise when we r

      • Mistaken Identity
        07/14/08
        A couple of months ago, we went on a mountain vegetable-picking trip with some of our local friends. Because we had no prior experience cooking almost everything we picked, we solicited cooking tips as well. For one plant, koshiabura, a friend recommended tossing it with cooked spaghetti and peppe

      • Tuna's Where You Find It
        07/11/08
        During dinner at the local Okinawan joint, we ordered a new-to-us dish that came with a mystery seafood topping. We asked about it, and got an answer we didn't understand: shi-chikin. While the owner's son disappeared into the back, we consulted the electronic dictionary, but couldn

      • C'est un Byoin
        07/10/08
        I haven't been able to determine whether it's intentional or a longstanding typo, but I love that the hospital near JR Mizusawa Station appears to have a French name:



        It wouldn't be too surprising for the name to actually be French. French has a larger influenc

      • Village Beauty
        07/08/08
        A pink waterlily floats in the lake beside the tofu-making shop at Battari-mura.

      • Tanabata
        07/08/08
        Yesterday, some places in Japan celebrated Tanabata, or "The Night of Sevens." Originally from China, the story of Tanabata is a sadly romantic one. It is said that a weaver of beautiful clothes (represented by the star Vega) fell in love with a herder (represented by the star Altair), c

      • Making Tofu
        07/06/08
        Yesterday, we went to Battari-mura, where we observed villagers making tofu the all-natural, old-school way. Tofu-making has a lot in common with cheesemaking, what with all the boiling, pressing, straining, and coagulating of curds. It's hot work, but the end product is well worth it.

      • Business Attire
        07/05/08
        When you attend a business meeting in Japan, your outfit has to be appropriate: a business suit and tie, a proper briefcase (one appropriate to your position within the company and meeting), and of course, a cheap pair of slippers. At many large companies, business guests are expected to take off

      • Lucky Shot
        07/03/08
        On Tuesday, I was out shooting photos around town when I heard a shinkansen coming. They're neat, so I thought I'd take a picture for the blog, not at all expecting this:



        It's the Fastech 360, which JR is apparently still testing on the Tohoku Shinkansen line.

      • Truth in Advertising?
        07/02/08
        There's a little puffery involved in any kind of advertising, but I wonder if Suntory hasn't gone just a leetle bit over the line here:



        The Miracle is more delicious than the King, and both are far superior to their compatriot, the less extravagantly named "Swee

      • And Now, a Word About the Dogs
        07/01/08
        During a walk through town a couple of weeks ago, a car pulled off to the side of the road, and a couple got out. The woman waved at us, calling out a question: Akisora-chan desu ka? She had met the dogs in the park a few weeks earlier, and had been quite taken with them. Aki bounced and wagged

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