Tracy Chapman

I'm listening to Mutya Buena covering Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." Great song. The cover is lovely, but I guess I've heard Chapman sing it too often; I crave her deeper voice on it.

How timely! Her new album comes out in mid November, and she's going on tour! Sadly not coming to Japan yet though. Poo. You can listen to her new single "Sing for You," available for download via mp3 at Amazon. I'm listening to it at the moment; it's lovely.

Beijing

Still here. Just really busy. The weather has cooled down nicely in Tokyo, although it has been rather rainy lately. I've noticed a sweet, nostalgic smell in the air the past few days. It reminds me of Taiwan for some reason. I wonder if it's a local plant.

Anyway, a picture from August: the parking lot of a shopping area/condo complex in a suburb of Beijing.

If you're visiting Kappabashi

Kappabashi is an area near Ueno that sells all manner of kitchen/restaurant related goods. A friend of mine found a charming noren (kind of a split curtain often hung up at restaurant entrances when they're open) there that I intend to track down someday.

This site lets you search for shops that sell specific items of interest (Japanese only):
http://www.kappabashi.or.jp/index.html

However, no tofu molds came up. Who knew it was so hard to find a mold for making tofu! (A request from a friend). I've only been able to find wooden ones, nothing like this one here. Tokyu Hands no longer carries the stainless steel model pictured in the post

tech: Java annotations

A link: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/javaOO/annotations.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX

tech: an OOP primer

As the wikipedia article is less than ideal, I was happy to come across this well-written article on Object-Oriented Programming. It's good to review the basics.

Sweet and Bitter Matcha, and a surprise from Zurich!

Good stuff. 抹茶スイーツティ (matcha sweet tea) actually lives up to its English labeling. It's both sweet and bitter, reminiscent of matcha ice cream, but not as creamy, heh.

I may be addicted.

I will post later about my surprise from Zurich! And papier d'armenie, which I found in a local organic food store! Of all the random places. The store also carries Primavera products, but sadly nothing in the way of facial products.

pics: Overdrive cafe, Bloodstone

From Overdrive Cafe in Shimokitazawa,
Japanese-style tarako (small fish eggs) pasta, to which I am addicted







Their excellent lasagna








From a traditional little izakaya hidden in Ginza,
Fried sea-eel dinner set








An innocuous-looking pub called
Blood Stone