makiwi: Ketchup is highly nutrious and full of umami. ♪ (nooo) orz
makiwi: ah yeah, I forgot the Healthy Food Of The Moment in Japan is Tomato. Ketchup = tomato- lycopene! Ofcos. -_-
makiwi: @lirien just about yeah!
makiwi: I’m translating a Japanese recipe that says “Ketchup is very nutritious”…and I’m thinking WHAT?
makiwi: i wonder if I should just combine my @makiwi and @justbento accounts…
makiwi: (i hope I put up enough fish guts warnings this time.)
Should the Japanese constitution be revised?
I guess you are asking specifically about removing the parts of the consitutution that do not allow the Japanese government to have a full fledged military, which was imposed upon them by the Occupying Forces after WWII.
In principle, I think that a nation should have the right to maintain a full military force if the people want it. The provisions in the constitution were, to put it simply, forced upon a defeated nation by the winners.
However, if it's just changed as a knee-jerk reaction to the current goings on regarding tiny-speck island disputes, then it's rather questionable.
Disclaimer: I don't have much faith at all in Japanese central government politicians. I also think the importance of island disputes are way exaggerated for political purposes, probably more so in China or South Korea than in Japan (where most people basically don't care much) but on both sides regardless. I do hope that political sabre-rattling doesn't over-escalate, but we are talking about politics and crap. So there you are.
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Japanese Cooking 101, Lesson 5 extra: Iwashi no Tsumire-jiru (イワシのつみれ汁) - Sardine balls in clear soup
Now that you know how to gut, bone and clean sardines, one of the nicest ways to eat the sardines is to turn them into little fish balls which can be floated in a hot pot, pan-fried, and so on - or most classically, served in a clear soup. The ginger and onion takes away any kind of 'fishy' taste. You can even serve this in cold soup for a refreshing change. (Warning: Not many fish guts below but there is a lot of raw fish!)
Japanese Cooking 101, Lesson 5 - Fish, Part 3: How to break down small fish
We are entering the home stretch here for both Lesson 5, Fish and the whole Japanese Cooking 101 course. In this lesson we are going to get very intimate with fish.
Warning to the squeamish: If you find up-close photos of raw fish the way nature made them, with guts and stuff, please do not click through.
I’ve put everything ‘below the fold’ here, so if you want to read the rest please click through to the full article on the site.
Bento box spotlight: A real Pokeball bento box
There are plenty of Pokémon oriented bento things out there. Get da ze!
Bento box spotlight: A real Pokeball bento box
Several people noted how the red, black and white color combination bento from monbento shown in the in-depth review looks like a Pokeball. I just wanted to let Pokémon fans out there know that there’s a “real” Pokeball bento box out there.
It is kind of small, at just 170ml capacity. (For the metrically challenged that’s a bit less than 3/4 U.S. cups - so it’s just about big enough for a yogurt or something, not a full adult size lunch!) And it’s rather expensive too. But if you are a die-hard Pokemon fan…or as a gift for the Pokemon fanatic in you life, well, why not? It comes in its own drawstring bag and matching bento band, and is available from J-List/JBox and Amazon.com.
There’s also a Pikachu shaped bento box. It too is rather small, at 270ml capacity. In Japan it’s clearly cost as a novelty bento box for kids. Here it is in a Pokemon bento-stuff display at a Tokyu Hands store in Japan.
I actually used this bento once, at my book signing/talk back in January 2011 at Kinokuniya bookstore in New York. The bento box was provided by the store, and I filled it with a bento and we gave it away. This is the bottom tier - there’s also a second tier. As you can see, it is rather small. But it may work for little kids or someone with a tiny appetite, or as a snack bento box. In any case it’s sure to cause a bit of a sensation!
The Pikachu bento box is available on Amazon.com.
Finally, if you want to enjoy the world of Pokémon inside your bento box instead, there’s a book dedicated to that - in Japanese only, but with plenty of photos. It even comes with a bento box (a plain one, not one of the fancy shaped ones…but hey, plain is practical!) so you can get started right away. it’s called 食育レシピでつくる! ポケモンお弁当BOOK - Make it with healthy recipes! Pokemon Obento Book and is available from Amazon Japan. (Note, Amazon Japan will send books-with-free-gifts overseas.)
So, there’s plenty out there for the Pokémon and bento fans. ゲットだぜ - Gotta catch ‘em all! (maybe ^_^)
What is the best way to start a new life in Japan?
It is not easy at all to get a job in Japan, especially if you don't speak (and write) Japanese fluently. Also, if you have not done so already, I highly recommend going to Japan for real to see if it really meets your expectations before making any plans. To be blunt (and this is coming from a Japanese person) it's not for everyone. Don't be one of those expats who go there thinking it'll be great and end up bitterly hating the place.
That being said, most people who don't speak Japanese initially get to Japan by one of the these methods:
- Go to Japan as a student. Research which universities take overseas students in your area of study without having to know Japanese, and get permission to work part time to support yourself while you study. See e.g. Finding Part-time Work.
- Wait until you graduate and apply to the JET program, provided your country is participating. This means becoming an English teacher. (Basically the one job you can get relatively easily in Japan without knowing Japanese is teaching English on some level.)See: The JET Programme--Official Homepage of The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme A lot of people who decide to stay long term in Japan seem to be former JETs.
- Go on a working holiday visa, if you're in a country that qualifies. See: The Working Holiday Programmes in Japan This guy writes about how he got to Japan that way: How to make it to Japan
Also, look through the job listings at Gaijinpot: Work in Japan! ‹ GaijinPot Jobs .The kicker is that most of the jobs in Japan require you to already be in Japan (which is why a lot of people first get to Japan via one of the above methods). I've also heard that the Gaijinpot forums are a good place to get information and advice.
Other methods...
- Get hired by a Japanese company in your country, and (maybe eventually) get transferred to Japan. Your chances are better if you're in the IT field and are (or become) fluent in Japanese.
- Get recruited by a Japanese company to work in Japan - difficult unless you are fluent in Japanese
- Go as temporary labor in a factory etc. - but you need to be a resident of a country where Japanese companies recruit such labor, e.g. China.
- If you are in a profession where there is a desperate labor shortage, e.g. nursing, you may have a chance at getting hired in Japan even with limited Japanese knowledge.
- This doesn't apply to you as a student probably, but plenty of people go to Japan while working as an executive for some company.
- Get married to a Japanese person, go there on a spouse visa and eventually get a work visa.
In all scenarios, if you're really serious about wanting to go to Japan, you'll want to study Japanese. This can increase your chances of staying there once you get there.
Not recommended:
- Go there on a tourist visa and stay there beyond the period allowed (including going on a Visa Waiver program). Some people try to do the short-stay hop to Seoul or something to extend their stay, but border officials are catching on to this.
- Get a job in a dubious industry like...being a bar hostess. Probably not at all safe.
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