Talking to other people made me realize that I haven't been broadening my mind lately. Or I've been focusing too much on Japanese and technical studies (although it never feels like enough).
So Dain's post on suggested reading was very interesting.
I have read Baghdad Burning before, but not lately. It's a well-written first hand account of life in Baghdad: "Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation."
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
french pâtisserie
I love living in Japan.
There's a new French pastry shop down the street from my apt, Le Pommier Salon de Thé. The pastries can also be found at Isetan department store apparently (possible only until the middle of June). After noticing the new shop half a year ago, I finally dropped by one day with a friend. We both got a pastry and I enjoyed a delicious cup of semi-sweet hot chocolate while my friend went for coffee.
The shop is bright and pretty, and the pastries! Divine. I'm a sucker for rice pudding so I tried the yuzu version, which was tasty but not as transcendant as the yoyo aux fraises, one of the chef's specialities. I am going back this weekend and getting a yoyo! The pastries are really reasonable considering how yummy they are. There's an expensive Italian cafe in Shimokitazawa which charges the same amount for pastries half as scrumptious and half as big as Le Pommier's desserts.
It's funny how inelegant I can be, writing about such an elegant place. Perhaps it's an inverse relationship? The more elegant the subject, the less refined my writing becomes?
There's a new French pastry shop down the street from my apt, Le Pommier Salon de Thé. The pastries can also be found at Isetan department store apparently (possible only until the middle of June). After noticing the new shop half a year ago, I finally dropped by one day with a friend. We both got a pastry and I enjoyed a delicious cup of semi-sweet hot chocolate while my friend went for coffee.
The shop is bright and pretty, and the pastries! Divine. I'm a sucker for rice pudding so I tried the yuzu version, which was tasty but not as transcendant as the yoyo aux fraises, one of the chef's specialities. I am going back this weekend and getting a yoyo! The pastries are really reasonable considering how yummy they are. There's an expensive Italian cafe in Shimokitazawa which charges the same amount for pastries half as scrumptious and half as big as Le Pommier's desserts.
It's funny how inelegant I can be, writing about such an elegant place. Perhaps it's an inverse relationship? The more elegant the subject, the less refined my writing becomes?
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
5 day weekend!
It's Golden Week! The trains and roads are pretty empty because most people in Tokyo have raced off to other destinations near and wide. It's kind of nice to be able to sit in the trains for a change.
I'll be wrapping up some lingering tasks tomorrow, including brushing up on Apache Struts and cleaning off my desk. The day after will be devoted to some cooking practice. And after that, exercise.
I caught the end of a very interesting documentary by NHK last night. Fascinating in fact. They simultaneously filmed 3 locations around the world. New York, China, and a small island country called Tuvalu (a series of 9 islands). One translation of the documentary title is "Smoke and gold and the sinking island." Rising water levels threaten Tuvalu and its population's existence. NY brokers turn air into gold, by bartering emissions rights between countries. And China furiously churns out greenhouse gases. That's the surface, at least.
Frankly, I don't think the New Yorkers come out looking very good, but that's my opinion.
I'll be wrapping up some lingering tasks tomorrow, including brushing up on Apache Struts and cleaning off my desk. The day after will be devoted to some cooking practice. And after that, exercise.
I caught the end of a very interesting documentary by NHK last night. Fascinating in fact. They simultaneously filmed 3 locations around the world. New York, China, and a small island country called Tuvalu (a series of 9 islands). One translation of the documentary title is "Smoke and gold and the sinking island." Rising water levels threaten Tuvalu and its population's existence. NY brokers turn air into gold, by bartering emissions rights between countries. And China furiously churns out greenhouse gases. That's the surface, at least.
Frankly, I don't think the New Yorkers come out looking very good, but that's my opinion.
Friday, April 07, 2006
sakura
Also known as cherry blossoms: 
They came unusually early this year and most areas in Tokyo have already completely bloomed.
In other news work has been super busy.
They came unusually early this year and most areas in Tokyo have already completely bloomed.
In other news work has been super busy.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
buggy search engines
You know there's something wrong when you're trying to go from Tokyo to San Francisco and Northwest tells you to fly from Tokyo to SF to Seattle back to SF. I'm sure there's a good reason...
rubik's cube mania
Random late night tv can be very interesting.
So there's this show featuring a former member of Morning Musume. Morning Musume is a long-lived group attesting to the power of fanboys in Japan. And the consumer strength of young girls. Because I think they must be the reason that this revolving door group of fluctuating numbers of girls has survived so long. Also, their manager is a very good writer of catchy pop songs.
Anyway, there's Yaguchi the singer, and this comedian guy, who host this late night low budget variety show. Yaguchi is surprisingly funny and charming. I like her a lot, even though her music isn't so good. The comedian guy is pretty funny too. He's actually a big rubik's cube maniac, and holds some certificate that you can get attesting to your rubik's cube prowess. So, lately, he's been matching up against other enthusiasts in timed contests. Last night, they had another rubik's cube enthusiast on the show. Apparently there are two main methods for solving a rubik's cube. The guest actually worked out one of the methods on his own, through observation and experimentation. He'd track the movement of all the pieces, noting them down on paper, until he'd worked out the entire process. So the comedian was very impressed, because he just looked up the methods online and memorized them in order to solve the cube. The guest also talked about types of rubik's cubes that he'd like to see. I believe he said he'd like to see a rubik's cube where a solved side would show up as a wooden panel? And the comedien said that would be very elegant. And they started descending into their own little rubik's cube world. Meanwhile, Yaguchi who has minimal interest in rubik's cube, was practically dying at the whole fanatical conversation. Eh, you probably have to watch the show yourself (with english subtitles) in order to get the full effect.
So there's this show featuring a former member of Morning Musume. Morning Musume is a long-lived group attesting to the power of fanboys in Japan. And the consumer strength of young girls. Because I think they must be the reason that this revolving door group of fluctuating numbers of girls has survived so long. Also, their manager is a very good writer of catchy pop songs.
Anyway, there's Yaguchi the singer, and this comedian guy, who host this late night low budget variety show. Yaguchi is surprisingly funny and charming. I like her a lot, even though her music isn't so good. The comedian guy is pretty funny too. He's actually a big rubik's cube maniac, and holds some certificate that you can get attesting to your rubik's cube prowess. So, lately, he's been matching up against other enthusiasts in timed contests. Last night, they had another rubik's cube enthusiast on the show. Apparently there are two main methods for solving a rubik's cube. The guest actually worked out one of the methods on his own, through observation and experimentation. He'd track the movement of all the pieces, noting them down on paper, until he'd worked out the entire process. So the comedian was very impressed, because he just looked up the methods online and memorized them in order to solve the cube. The guest also talked about types of rubik's cubes that he'd like to see. I believe he said he'd like to see a rubik's cube where a solved side would show up as a wooden panel? And the comedien said that would be very elegant. And they started descending into their own little rubik's cube world. Meanwhile, Yaguchi who has minimal interest in rubik's cube, was practically dying at the whole fanatical conversation. Eh, you probably have to watch the show yourself (with english subtitles) in order to get the full effect.
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