Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plains

    I can easily say the hardest thing about living abroad is the literal distance between you and your family and friends back in your home country. There are tens of thousands of miles between me and my loved ones. It's hard enough to be apart from them during every day life, but when disaster strikes, the distance can be panicking. 

   Unless you've been under a rock the past 12 hours, most people have heard of the monster tornado that ripped across Oklahoma. Being called the biggest tornado in American history, it was measured an F5 with wind speeds of over 200 mph and 2 miles in diameter. Can you imagine a tornado 2 miles wide? I keep watching videos and I still can't picture it. This tornado ripped through the same town, Moore, that was destroyed back in 1999 by the previous record holding tornado. I can't say that Moore was a special place for me. My Aunt Mary used to live there, but it was mainly a town I passed on my way to Norman. But Moore is still a community, and one that will suffer the loss of those that have died, including those poor children whose elementary schools were destroyed. Seven little kids drowned in a basement. A teacher used her body as a shield for her students. It just gets worse anytime I read the news. 

   

Funny enough, I had no idea what had happened until a Canadian friend of mine texted me. I see tornado stuff on Facebook all the time, so I wasn't too concerned. When she told me what had happened, my first instinct was to text my family, the second was to google the disaster. Thankfully my friends and family were not near the storms and everyone is fine. The rest of the day was spent glued to the computer with tears on my cheeks. Tonight I made a better than average dinner to de-stress, but it felt wrong to be here in relative safety while my fellow Oklahomans lay heartbroken. 

   I know I gripe about OK quite a bit. I'm not always proud of my state, but I am proud to be from Oklahoma if that makes sense. I may get crap about my accent and people may give me shit about being from the South, but I have no real reason to be ashamed. Oklahomans say "hi" to strangers at the store, and raise their hands in greeting as they drive by. They open the doors for people they don't know, and still pull over to help change flat tires. We have rolling plains and fantastic sunsets and in the spring the hills are covered in Indian Paintbrushes. 

     I have been so touched by the outpouring of love from friends of all nationalities. This may have happened in my tiny state of Oklahoma, but it was read by the whole world. Canadians, Japanese, South Africans, and those from other states have all sent their well wishes. Things like this remind you how small the world actually is. 

If you would like to help, click here for the Red Cross. 

Mount Yoshino

   I hope you aren't sick of flower pictures yet because there are a lot more coming. Last April, I went with Josh and a few friends up to Japan's most famous cherry blossom site, Mt. Yoshino, located in Nara prefecture. It's considered one of the three sacred mountains in the Kii mountain range and a World Unesco site. There are a rumored 30,000 trees planted along the mountain with the most famous 4,000 being divided into lower, middle, upper, and inner sections. It's history extends at least back into the 14th century, when the emperor of the time used the mountain as a refuge.

   I had been quite excited about going to the most famous sakura viewing spot in Japan, and it was nice to learn that the mountain's full bloom is usually a few weeks later than the rest of the area. While it did bloom later, the freak storm in the area managed to cut short the blossoms at the height of their beauty. We decided to go anyway, even if it meant going late after our surprise 6 a.m. wake up call, a.k.a, the big earthquake. The view was still worth it. There were still trees in bloom, and the colors of the new leaves were an odd pinky red. It gave the whole mountain an autumn feel which was quite beautiful and surprising to look at. The town of Yoshino itself is darling, filled with antique shops, gift stores, and restaurants. I could have spent many hours perusing those stores, but the boys I was with just started leaving me behind. 

Guardian

Kimpusen-ji the 2nd largest wooden structure in Japan

Tanuki need breaks every now and then.

Sakuramotobo Temple

   We chose to skip the cable car and hike up almost the entire slope. It wasn't a hard walk, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was working muscles that generally get ignored. If girls in platform heels and the elderly with canes can climb it, you can too. I couldn't tell you how long the hike up took because we stopped too often, but it took close to two hours to get back down. 

   The train ride there could be a pain depending on where you are coming from and how much you want to spend on the train. Take the Kintetsu Yoshino line from Tennoji and, if you don't take the limited express train that costs an extra 500 yen, plan on traveling for 90 minutes. However, it's definitely worth it to make sure you take a book to read or headphones. 

   I can see myself coming back to Yoshino. It's easily as beautiful as Koyasan, although the atmosphere is quite different. After going to two out of the three most sacred mountains in the area, I'm feeling inspired. There might be a trip to Mount Omine in my near future. 

Thank かみさま for ゴールデンウィーク.

   This new school year my body has refused to get on a schedule. I've actually only had one full work week this month, so this can't be a good sign. Thank goodness for ゴールデンウィーク (Golden Week). Golden Week is a series of random Japanese national holidays that have sort of been clustered together in order to create one of the only times during the year that Japanese people can travel without fear of repercussions from their jobs. This year it's hardly a week, more just a series of long weekends. Last Monday, 諸輪の日, the previous emperor's birthday was celebrated. I spent most of the weekend recovering from staying out till 6 a.m., which was worth it in my opinion. You know the best time to eat ramen? 3 a.m.

Yuzu ramen. I died and went to Ramen Heaven.  And yes Jess, I stole your picture

   Tomorrow is 憲法懸念日, or Constitution Day. It starts off the second long weekend. This year's Constitution Day is especially ironic as the current prime minster wants to rewrite it to include revising the infamous Article 9, which keeps Japan from having a military, and to take away basic rights of free speech because these notions don't fit in with the traditional collectivistic mindset of old Japan. I could go on a rant about Japanese nationalism, but instead I will leave you with the link for the article and you can make your own opinion. Scary isn't it?

   みどりの日, or Greenery Day, is lost this year since it falls on a Saturday. But こどもの日, or Children's Day, on the fifth is rescued by falling on a Sunday which means I get Monday off as well. I love Children's Day because carp streamers are hung all over Japan in hopes that Japanese children, mostly boys, will have success in life. Traditionally this day was only for boys, but since the corresponding Girls' Day (ひなまつり) is not a national holiday, the government changed the name to Children's Day.

   We'll be in the Kanto for this second part of our vacation. I'm excited to see friends, eat great food, and drink great beer. Hopefully this will be the kind of recharge I need to make it through the rest of first semester.

Want to see more Golden Week? Click here.

Hanami 2013

   As I mentioned in the last post, sakura season was, sadly, quite short this year. A direct effect of this was only one hanami party for us this year. That one party was epic with beautiful no jacket weather, grilled food, beer, and happy people. Our friend made amazing burgers, another brought bratwursts, and I made homemade guacamole and lemonade. Josh brought a football and spent the afternoon trying to teach our Japanese friend how to catch. The park we were at this year seemed to be filled with families, so the lack of perverted old men trying to dance with 15 year old girls was nice. Our big hanami party last year ended up with us picking up friends off the ground while they were purring like kittens, so the chilled atmosphere of this year was appreciated.

We picnicked next to a baseball team. 

Nom he put whisky in them

    The picture below is a cute story. A group of older Japanese people were finishing up their picnic next to us and came by to offer their leftover bamboo shoots covered in katsuobushi. They were intially hesitant because they didn't know any of us could speak Japanese, including the Japanese guy with us. Our friend had to actually say "I'm Japanese" to them. It was nice of them to offer us their food, but it's a little funny and sad that it's unbelievable a Japanese person would be hanging out with a group of non Japanese.

Ladies' picture! Don't I have pretty friends?

   Oh, that day was so nice. I can't believe sakura only comes once a year. It's the time of year that makes you wonder why would you ever want to leave Japan.

Want to see more Sakura? Click here for kimono and hanami and here for a list of my favorite Osaka sakura spots.

Sakura 2013

   Sakura season was far too short this year with full bloom around March 29 in my area, and only maybe two weeks to really soak it all in. Josh and I spent most of my spring break before Taiwan enjoying as much of the flowers as possible. On one of our walks, we decided to take the camera out and play around. I'm now going to make you look at the pictures. 

Once again let's talk about how cute he is. 

   So we will take a brief detour to talk about cats because, what else is new? This is Buta-kun, or Buta-san, depending on how formal you're feeling. He is always in this park and I keep expecting to stumble into the Cat Kingdom anytime he shows up. That day he followed us around and clearly expected attention. I'm not sure where he lives, but he's defintely well fed.

Cooking Japanese Food

   I'll go on and be honest. Before I moved to Japan I only knew a handful of Japanese foods, like Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, Sushi, Shabu Shabu, and Miso soup. I'm sure there were a few others, but I was still relatively clueless. The only Japanese dish I ever made at home was yakisoba and while it was good, it's nothing like coming hot off the grill at a Japanese festival. Moving here, I've tried to really throw myself into becoming a proficient Japanese cook. There is an entire element of home cooking that is missed in America that is absolutely delicious like Nikujaga, Shogayaki, omurice, and curry rice. A teacher invited us to her house once to serve us an everyday Japanese family meal and it was hamburg steak and nikujaga. Hardly miso soup and sushi.

   For the most part, I find Japanese food easy to make. There is more of a focus on the simplicity and flavor of the ingredients and the presentation than there is in packing it full of contrasting flavors. That's not to say Japanese food isn't delicious or full of flavor, it's just not going to be an overwhelming complexity of tastes like Vietnamese or Korean food. Unless we're talking about ramen... ramen deserves it's own post.
 
    In my effort to expand my cooking knowledge, I've turned to a few sources. The internet obviously, coworkers, the Cooking with Dog youtube channel, and a new cookbook. A few months ago I purchased Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu in hopes that I would finally find a go-to resource for recipes using Japanese ingredients. Ms. Hachisu is an American who moved over here more than twenty years ago and married into a Japanese organic farming family. She and her husband have dedicated themselves to slow food where they grow and kill what they eat. I really enjoy flipping through the stories in the book about her outlook on food and living in a farm house in Japan. It's a beautifully photographed book, and I can't help but envy her traditional style home with that gorgeous modern kitchen.  Her recipes are not overly complicated and are well explained. She does use a few ingredients that I don't know how to find here, like pecans or flowering mustard, but overall she does stick to using Japan ingredients that are common, or easy to find. There is also a great index of tools, techniques, and Japanese ingredients that is very helpful.  My biggest complaint is the lack of Japanese. It would have been helpful if she had included the Japanese names and kanji of the ingredients and the tools she uses. One of my biggest problems cooking here is trying to find the kanji for a new dish.

 
 I haven't cooked as much from this book as I would have liked. I like trying new things too much. I can tell you that I made the best curry rice in Japan from this book, and the teriyaki hamburgers are fantastic. Tonight I tried making the book's version of 肉じゃが for the second time. The first time was a disaster because I halved the recipe, but forgot to halve the soy sauce.Tonight I did everything right and it was really good. The recipe calls for dried red peppers and no mirin or sugar, which is different from the normal mirin and sugar version I've made before. I'm not sure if this is just a variation I've not seen yet, or something that is exclusive to the Hachisu family.

Nikujaga and trying out the 12 year yamazaki whisky.

   Overall, I think this was a good buy. I'm still going to be looking for a book that is more Japanese with English translations, but if you want an authentic Japanese cookbook with a focus on organic food, this book is for you. I kind of keep hoping I can accidently get lost in Saitama prefecture and wind up on her farm. I'd love to drool over that kitchen.

   Japanese Farm Food Nikujaga

• 4-5 small onions, peeled ( I only used one medium size onion)

• 6 cups water

• One 5-by-3-inch piece dried konbu

• One 2-inch square piece ginger, peeled and sliced crosswise into paper-thin pieces

• 10-12 medium-sized, creamy-style potatoes, peeled and cut into 2- to 3-inch chunks ( I don't think I even used close to this amount of potatoes, about 4 medium sized potatoes went in mine)

• 3 dried red peppers

• Two 9-ounce packages ito konnyaku or shirataki noodles, drained

• 1/2 pound thinly sliced pork belly, cut crosswise into 3-inch pieces

• 3/4 cup sake

• 2/3 cup soy sauce

• Cooked rice, for serving

• Cut the ends off the onions, then again in half vertically. Set the onions, cut side down, on the chopping board, and slice crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick rounds. Pour the water into a medium-sized heavy pot or casserole and slip in the onions, konbu, ginger, and potatoes. Break the dried red peppers in half and drop in the pot with the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a rolling simmer, and cook until the potatoes are almost done.
  In the meantime, snip the rubber band off the ito konnyaku and cut the ball of noodles in half. Drop in a small pot of boiling water and parboil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander before sliding the noodles in with the simmering potatoes.
  Stir the meat into the pot when the potatoes are starting to soften but the centers still have resistance when poked with a thin bamboo skewer. Cook until the meat has almost lost its pink before swirling in the sake and soy sauce. Continue simmering until the potato centers are soft.
  Serve in small individual bowls with a bowl of rice on the side.
  
  
  I'm always looking for new recipes to try so if you have please share! 

Earthquake

   Two Saturdays ago, we had the most unpleasant 5:30 am wake up call here in the Kansai region. I didn't think there could be a worse alarm clock than that old one of Josh's that he loved because of the digital red numbers. Turns out that smoke alarm looking thing is an earthquake alarm and it is much worse than any alarm clock. Along with our phones, it started going off as our apartment shook and swayed and we fought off sleepiness and the wine from the night before. So many thoughts were racing through my mind. Is this the Nankai earthquake? Is North Korea bombing us? Is there a tsunami warning? What am I supposed to be doing?

   The earthquake lasted much longer than any other I've felt before, but I couldn't tell you how long. Maybe a minute? The only other ones I'd ever felt were a quick rough jolt and then it was done, so this was terrifying. I remember telling Josh "this should be over by now". As soon as it was done, sirens started going off and we checked the alerts on the phone which were all in Japanese. Josh brought me the computer, we found out that a 6.3 had hit Awaji Island in Osaka bay and thankfully there was no tsunami warning which was my first concern. 

   There are parts of Japan where the foreigners reading this would scoff at this story and tell me about their weekly earthquake drama and mine was nothing to be afraid of. It is true that parts of Japan are getting earthquakes quiet frequently and that on any day you will see at least one somewhere. Here were the things that made it so scary. 

-In the almost two years I've lived here, I have only felt 3 earthquakes including this one. Two of those were in Tokyo. There has not been a single earthquake in my area in all that time. 

-Awaji island is close. It's visible from my apartment on a clear day. A 6.3 is not a small earthquake and  it being close was a bit of a wake up call. 

- 6.3 is the biggest earthquake the western part of Japan has felt since the 1995 Hanshin earthquake that destroyed Kobe. I believe this was on the same fault line.

- The announcements afterwards and the iPhone warning were in Japanese. I could not understand the announcements and the iPhone warning was too difficult for me to read. What if there was something extremely important that I couldn't understand? What would we do? 

-The western part of Japan is expecting a huge earthquake on the Nankai fault line at any moment. After the 東北 earthquake in 2011, Japan has realized it's not safe from massive tsunamis, including this bay I live in. That makes any large earthquake terrifying to me. 

   Going through an earthquake like this made me realize that I do know in theory what to do in an earthquake, but I actually don't know how to go about it. I've read books and had people tell me instructions, but when one was  happening I stayed glued to my bed. I also have realized that we don't have a plan. What will we do if one strikes while we're at work? How will I get in touch with Josh? What about the cats? We also should have an emergency kit because honestly, is it really bad to be over prepared for something like this? Best scenario is I will never eat those cans of tuna or use that flashlight.

　Despite the rough morning, we didn't let it stop our plans and it turned out to be a beautiful day hiking a up a mountain to view the last cherry blossoms of the season. Everything else about that day was fantastic and a reminder that while there are tectonic plates that enjoy causing misery and grief, there are still the sakura to remind us of how beautiful life is.