Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

Makiko Itoh, I write about Japanese things and food.
The most recent example is Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook.  He seems to have done it to avoid paying taxes, although his spokesperson says not.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/20...

Outraged opinion piece on his move:

http://pandodaily.com/2012/05/12...

But he's certainly not alone - according to Reuters, a 'record number' of Americans renounced their citizenship last year: http://rt.com/usa/news/us-citize...

Here's a list of 6 famous Americans who renounced their citizenship. Most seem to have done so for tax reasons. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs...

One issue is, the U.S. is one of the few countries (and the only OECD country) that taxes overseas income earned by its citizens. And of course that means you have to file tax returns. The IRS is increasingly cracking down on those who don't. http://blogs.wsj.com/hong-kong/2...

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Makiko Itoh, I'm Japanese.
Iit's really not that mysterious or anything. There are no secret handshakes or gestures involved. Just accept it with a respectful attitude, as you would back home. If they are giving you a physical object like a certificate or a statue or something, take it with both hands and bow to the person giving it to you. You may choose to shake their hand too. If you have an audience, bow to them too. And say thank you very much. English is fine (even the most monoglot Japanese person understands 'thank you very much') but if you must, say "doumo arigatou gozaimasu". Oh, and I guess you will want to go to get your award dressed appropriately too.

Note that Japanese people do not expect non-Japanese people to ape their behavior. Doing so excessively will make you look odd, unless you are really immersed in the culture, have been living in Japan for a long time, speak the language fluently, etc. But then you would not need to ask this question. Bottom line is, just act normally and you'll be fine.

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makiwi: @MyOwnInnerChild i believe donuts has become accepted though…rather like 'omelet'

makiwi: i am beginning to suspect the Mayan prophecy may come true.

makiwi: in this video http://t.co/MOnbxCBF the uler shows a 'summer salt' (which isn't even a somersault) & tells a commenter to spellcheck o:

makiwi: awesome^^ RT @shethatisnau I found your Just Bento Cookbook in the English section of the Urayasu-shi Chiba-ken public library by Disney! :)

makiwi: …or even worse, 'summer salt' orz

makiwi: apparently, kids these days think a somersault is spelled 'summersault' -_-

Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
The literal meaning is 'rust from a body'. But it's a proverb, so the actual meaning is 'to suffer/experience something bad, through ones own fault'. E.g.: you fail a test because you didn't study for it.

身から出た錆: 'Mi' is body, and refers to the body of a katana (Japanese sword) rather than a human body. 'Sabi' means rust. If you don't take care of a sword  it rusts, and you suffer the consequences.

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makiwi: someone broke my favorite soy sauce dispenser. There will be blood.

Makiko Itoh, my hometown
Pff. Just poke them awake, shake them (gently if they just seem to be tired and you want to be nice, harder if they're drunk) or move away so they fall over and wake up with a jolt.

(I don't know where this thing about having to be on your tippytoes all the time in Japan comes from. Seriously folks, you can act pretty much the way you do at home in Japan in situations like this.)

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makiwi: i cannot lie. I have yet to regain my unabashed love of food and stop being afraid of it post-radiation therapy. -_-

Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
I haven't read all of his manga, which would be a pretty difficult since he completed more than 700 works.  But probably two works stand out above all others:

Hi No Tori (Phoenix) - an epic work blending sci-fi, fantasy, alternative history, religion, and more.

Black Jack - an episodic medical whodunit of sorts, starring a mysterious renegade doctor/surgeon called Black Jack.

His most famous anime is Tetsuwan Atomu (Atom Boy) but my personal favorite is Umi no Toriton (Triton of the Sea), because Triton was my first crush o.o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7...

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Makiko Itoh, I eat and cook.
In a 1960s British cookbook I have, they're called Curate's Eyes.

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makiwi: 本当のラーメン食べたいよう　;_;

Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
Late March through May. The official season is March 20 - May 31. It seems the best chance to see it is in the month of April. You need to be up early or all night or something since this phenomenon appears just before dawn. There are special boat tours during the peak period (April 5 -  May 6). (Source: the Hotaruika Museum http://www.hotaruikamuseum.com (Japanese))

ETA: The reason why you can see these firefly squid (hotaruika in Japanese) in such numbers in Toyama Bay is because of its unique bowl shape. The squid are in the sea depths (the bottom of the bowl) in large numbers because they are spawning, and they get thrown up to the surface by the tides pushing up against the bottom of the bay. They get agitated on the surface, especially along the bay, and the theory is that they emit a glow for self defense or as a symptom of stress. Also, this period is the end of the lifecycle for the squid, since they die after they finish spawning. I guess it would be an exaggeration to say the glowing squid are in their death throes, but it's fairly close, which adds to their mystery. The offspring go off and return the next year to repeat the cycle.

The glowing firefly squid of Toyama Bay were designated as a special national natural monument (特別天然記念物) in 1952.

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Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
They have a website in English: http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/eng...

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Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
There are many different kinds of both red (which is actually not red, but is a medium to dark brown) and white (which is a light to medium-light brown) miso. Both types of miso are made with soy beans, salt, koji-kin (Aspergillus oryzae http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asp... ) and one or more of the following: rice, wheat or barley. What is important is the ratio of these ingredients, and the aging time.

Red miso has a higher proportion of soybeans and salt than white miso, and is aged longer. It gets darker and more intensely flavored because of that longer aging time (see Maillard reaction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai...). There is a type of red miso made only with soy beans, but it's only made in a limited area. Most red miso still has some starch (rice or other) added to it. The most famous kind of red miso is from Sendai, and it has a 2:1 soy bean to rice ratio.

White miso has a higher proportion of koji-kin and rice or other starch. The starch becomes saccarified during fermentation, which adds sweetness. It has less salt than red miso, since salt can retard the fermentation/saccarification process. White miso is also aged for a shorter time than red miso, so it doesn't darken as much. The sweetest tasting white miso types come from the Kansai  region (Kyoto, Osaka), and has a 1:2 soybean to rice ratio - the opposite from the red Sendai miso. (Another light-colored miso from the region, Saikyo miso, is much sweeter still and  has sugar added to it.

Another difference is that hulled, boiled soy beans are usually used in white miso production, while whole, steamed soy beans are used in red miso production. (By the hull, I mean the thin outer skin of the bean that comes off when you cook them, not the pods) The hull breaks down during the long aging process.

There are some differences in the manufacturing process too. Red miso is mixed up more to introduce air into the mix during the aging process, while white miso is left alone.

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makiwi: Sisko gets a lot more badass after he loses his hair and gains a goatee @siricb @mariannes #DS9

makiwi: my Star Trek series ranking: 1.DS9 2.TNG 3.VOY 4.TOS 5. ENT 6. TAS ^_^