It seems to be food week at the Bog. [For those readers who haven’t been with me through the multiple name changes on this site, please note that this journal is no longer called “the Bog.”—Ed> My original plan was to write briefly about one photo. A short note featuring one of Japan’s celebrity chefs. Unfortunately for my wrists, I wrote a lot more than intended.
Category Archives: Photos
Legendary Canadian Monster At Large in Japan
Welcome to the Pit of Ultimate Darkness. What vile beast dwells here? No, I’m not talking about Margaret Atwood. What would she be doing here anyway, what with her recent assimilation by the borg?
Cheap Like Borscht
Borscht. What is it? It’s beet soup. It’s Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and generally eastern European in origin. As far as I know I’m missing most of the required bloodlines so please forgive me if I screw up the rest of the description. I do have most of the aforementioned regions covered through marriage, though.
Why am I going to subject you to a long treatise on the primary sustenance of Slavic peasants? Simple. We had perogies for supper tonight. I’d made—and frozen—them a couple of months ago when I wasn’t spending all my time duct-taped to the computer, composing novellas about single images from my photo library. Yes, I made the dough myself. Yes, I made the filling myself. No, Henny Penny, I did not grind the grain myself nor did anyone help me and yet still I shared the fruits of my labour. No, I have never seen perogies for sale in Japan. Nor dill, but that comes later.
Popeye the Stylist Man
I’ve decided to keep up the photo posts and continue with the retro comics theme I started a couple of days ago. As some of you know, we live in a part of Kitakyushu called Tobata Ward (戸畑区). About a half-hour walk from our apartment is an older market area called Tenjin (天神). From what I can tell, many cities here have a Tenjin area, in the same way that most North American cities have a Main Street. The most famous Tenjin in Kyushu is in Fukuoka City, about an hour away by train. It’s a district of offices, shopping, clubs and other entertainment.
Keep Out the Fashion Police!
At the beginning of March, Carly and Margaret—friends from Toronto—were in town for a short visit. We only had one afternoon together but we had a fabulous time, enjoying okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, a kind of pancake with all sorts of savory stuff mixed into the batter), ginger-ale flavoured Halls cough drops, and the “balmy” 6°C-with-snow-flurries weather. Domo-kun was witness to it all. Unfortunately we weren’t able to find any of the seasonal passionfruit flavoured kit-kat bars. Maybe next time.
We took them to Kokura Castle, which is a replica built from concrete in 1959. The castle is quite picturesque and boasts one of the largest paper-doll dioramas in Japan. The diorama is a model of a Kokura as a traditional Japanese castle town, complete with townsfolk and markets, feudal lords, stray dogs, Christian missionaries, ninjas, and an assortment of other nefarious characters. Kokura being a coastal town, the diorama even has people catching blowfish in the Kanmon Strait.
School Cleaning
I didn’t think I had time to write a long post today, so I was going to just post some photos I took at school during cleaning time. But I got sucked into the writing vortex.
What is cleaning time? At my school it’s the half-hour or so after the last period of the day, when the students “clean” the school. They sweep and mop the floors, take out the garbage, clean the blackboards, sweep up the grounds, and generally tidy up. I say “clean” because it seems like all they do is move the dirt from one corner to another and back again.
Cherry Blossoms and New Students
As I said in another post, April is the beginning of the school year in Japan. Today we had the ceremony for new students. Sort of a reverse graduation ceremony. Only the new first-year students—equivalent to Grade 10 in Canada—and a handful of second- and third-year students who had duties assigned for the ceremony, came to school today.
I took quite a few pictures of the new students, but today I’m just going to show pictures of the sakura (cherry blossoms), which are at their most beautiful today.
Bloodthirsty Little Flower Girl
After I wrote about spring last night, I realized that some current photos were in order. So I snapped a few on my way home from work today. But what does this have to do with girls, flowers and a thirst for blood?
Spring is in the Air
Here’s my addition to the spate of spring weather reports that have been making the email rounds. First, the short version for those of you with no time. It’s spring here, too—later than last year—and very welcome after a surprisingly cold winter.
Vive le Chien Libre!
Last Saturday I went out on foot to explore parts of our neighbourhood which I hadn’t seen before, or had only passed through at night. Usually I bike along major roads at relatively high speeds.
The plum trees have started to bloom in Yomiya Park. There were election trucks patrolling and propagandizing. I was reminded of how much strange stuff there is in this country, and that I don’t have to go very far to find it. If anyone wants, I’d be happy to upload some plum photos. Or the Popeye Beauty Salon. Or a video clip of an election campaign truck with its loudspeakers blasting. I also found hope and peace, for a less than 300 yen each. Just ask.