GariGari-kun's Food Flavors (of doom)

GariGari-kun is a brand of popsicles here in Japan. Or ice pop I guess I should say, as Popsicle is a brand name.You can walk into any conbini or super market and purchase yourself one of these for anywhere from 60 yen to 150 yen, depending on where you go. (Conbini products having a higher mark up and all.)

"Gari gari" is Japanese for crunchy. Add the "kun" honorific (reserved for boys), and the ice pop's name is "Crunchy-boy."

Hi there! I'm Crunchy-boy!

Anyhoo, as we all know, the people of Japan love kakigori. (Shaved ice or snow cones for those who don't speak Japanese.) Every summer, restaurants and food stalls at festivals do a roaring syrup covered ice bits trade. The idea behind Garigari-kun was to have a way to eat kakigori in one hand, not in the traditional cup with a straw.

The idea is a harder "ice candy" outside layer keeps the shape and protects the inside, which is the soft kakigori filling. Research on Google suggests that originally this idea, while wonderful in theory, didn't work so well in real life. However, they seemed to have got it right eventually, as Garigari-kun is the number 1 selling ice pop brand in Japan. Their standard flavor is ラムネ (ramune), or soda flavored. They also make many different flavors, as well as limited time seasonal releases, such as watermelon, peach, grape, etc.

But on to the real point of this post, Garigari-kun's "rich" limited flavors.
Somewhere along the line, someone at the company thought, "Hey! Let's make food flavors! Why not?"

Back in 2012, they had a corn soup flavored one. I did not try it, but on all accounts, it seemed to be disgusting. The company, not to be discouraged, especially because so many people bought it on it's weird factor despite the taste, every once in a while come out with a new flavor.

Deciding to be brave, and see what all this was about, I purchased the 2 flavors available to me at the time, "Cream Stew" and "Napolitan Pasta." Not about to do this alone, I recruited my friend Kako, her husband, and her 2 sons to help me.

Yum!

On the left is the Napolitan flavor. It's a tomato flavor ice shell around the soft pasta sauce tasting center. It also has tomato jellies in the center. On the right is the Stew flavor. It's white stew shell around a softer stew flavored center, with real potato chunks in it. Oh yes, potato chunks.

Do we really want to eat these?

First of all, we all agreed they were both disgusting! I think we ended up throwing half of them out because no one wanted to eat them.

I don't like it. Take it back!

That said, let's go over what they actually tasted like, other than nasty.
The stew flavor tasted like salty milk. Kako and her family thought it was better than the neopolitan flavor, (not good mind you, just, not as bad) but I couldn't agree. I ate one bite and thought I was going to be sick. The texture was horrible, though that could because it sat in my freezer for a month or 2 until I got everyone to try them. The potato chunks were cold and mushy and just plain disgusting. The whole thing was a mushy starchy disaster in my mouth.

Don't they seem impressed?

The neopolitan pasta flavor tasted like ketchup. It was frozen watered down ketchup. It was also rather salty, but the tomato jellies weren't bad. Once you got used to the flavor, it was a little easier to eat (for me, not for the rest,) and it had a strangely sweet after taste. I think I managed to eat half of it before I gave it up as a bad job.

In short, it was interesting to eat ONCE. Never again.

Never again!

Driving in Japan, keeping on keeping on

Long, long ago, or you know, 2 years ago, I went through the highly ridiculous and slightly tedious task of receiving a Japanese Driver's License. Through many trials I prevailed, until I could indeed drive legally here in Japan.

However, this very month, a new challenge arose. My license was about to expire.

The shock! The horror! The danger! The giant eyes!

Basically, when you "transfer" your foreign country's driver's license over to a Japanese one, the new Japanese license is good for 2 years, give or take, as it expires 1 month after your birthday. You are allowed to renew your license starting 1 month before your birthday, and ending 1 month after.

My birthday being in September, I have a renewal period of August to October. Now you may be saying, "Hey, that's 2 months. Plenty of time to renew it! No big deal, right?" And perhaps you would be correct, except for the Japanese love of all things in duplicate paper work, everything thing being EXACTLY perfect, and a penchant to make people re-do things over and over and OVER until it is how they want it. Let's also add in strict rules about what times you can actually go to renew, and the probability that you can't actually understand what anyone is saying to you. In my prefecture's case, to renew a license, one needs to go to the driving center during the registration times of 8:30-9:30am, or 1:00-2:00pm, Sunday through Friday.

As someone who teaches English in schools, and therefore is busy every weekday from 8:30-4:00, renewing creates a bit more of a challenge. However, in August, it's still summer vacation (ish... I've already been to one of my schools 3 times, and will go back more later this week.) The perfect time to do the things you don't have time for normally! My last Tuesday of Freedom was quickly approaching, and decided that this was my chance, no having to figure out how to go during a time when I was supposed to be working. Yes, Sundays are a possibility, but from everything I heard, Sundays are also terrifying, because that is when ALL the people who work weekdays go. If you go on a Sunday, be prepared to get there as soon as possible (hopefully, BEFORE 8:30) and line up with everyone else in hopes they'll get to see you.

That being said, the people at the driving center do have this down to a science. I showed up at 8:30, and they were ready to direct me where to go. As I have changed addresses from when I got my license, I first had to go to Window 5 (that's in my center. Your center may be different.) to get a change of address form. Apparently, I was supposed to have already done this at my local police station when I first moved, by taking them my license and 2 pieces of mail (official type stuff like bills or paychecks) and having them change it. I, however, did not do that, due to ignorance or laziness or who knows what. I didn't do it. This did cause a small problem for me in that all drivers receive a postcard in the mail telling them:

A) Your license is about to expire!

B) This is where you go to renew!

C) These are the times you can go to renew!

D) Probably other important information!

E) Don't speak Japanese? Bring this postcard with you, and they'll know exactly why you're there, no broken Japanese explanations necessary.

Instead, I troubled the people at my office to get me all the information I needed, and then my friend Kako to go with me and help translate. I'm such a stinker.

So, anyway, I had to go to window 5, where they took my DL and copied it, and checked my mail I brought that it was indeed a different address. Or something, I have no idea what they were looking for. Then, I got a piece of paper where I had to write my name and my new address. They took that back and took my piece of mail back to check that yes, the address I wrote and the address on my mail were indeed the same. They then proceeded to copy my DL again. They stamped some things, gave me my DL, mail, and 1 of the copies of my DL and the new address written on it, and told us to go start at the beginning.

So, we went back to the entrance, handed the DL and the papers over, they nodded that everything was in order, and sent us to window 1. At window one, they once again copied my DL (so much paper!) and had me pay the 4000yen renewal fee, and gave me some paperwork to fill out. The paperwork was 2 papers, one were I wrote my name, birthday, DL number, and chose a PIN for the IC chip they put in the new DLs. (Not sure what the use of that will be.) The other paper was questions about illnesses and if they hinder your driving. I actually have no idea what they asked because Kako read them and told me I didn't have any of those problems and just to check no for everything. Sign. Date. Done.

We then moved on the the eye check station. I handed over my paperwork and license, and he asked if I could see without my glasses (the answer being very much no.) He then informed me that he couldn't tell if the 6 I wrote on the question form was a 6 or a 4.... Which to me is idiotic. It was today's date. Of course it's a 6. However, he pulled out a new paper and I got to re-write all the answers, the date, and re-sign it, while he voided my other paper and put it to the side. I wrote my 6's very carefully. Then I got to look into a machine and point which way the C was facing, very easy, and he signed off on my nonsense and sent me to the next section, where I got to take my new picture. That was it. All that took maybe 20-25 minutes.

Then came the fun part. As part of renewing your license, you are required to sit through a lecture of road laws and safe driving. Depending on how long you've had your license and how many traffic violations you've had, it can be 30 minutes to 3 hours. For renewing the first time, a wonderful 2 hour lecture was in order. Like the registration times, they have them only 2 times a day, at 9:45 and 2:15 at my center. If you are too late in registering and miss it, they will tell you to come back later or the next day. If too many people register in front of you and fill up the lecture, they will tell you to come back later or another day. You will not get your license until you participate in the lecture.

The lecture's books, about driving safety.

What you get to stare at for the next 2 hours.

Despite my complete lack of knowledge of the Japanese language, I was still required to sit though it. From what I could understand, they basically talked about the number of accidents in the area, things to watch out for when driving, laws that may have recently changed, no drinking and driving, etc. The instructor used power point on the TV. When there were pictures, I could figure out what he was talking about, even though I couldn't really understand him. The slides with just text and numbers were beyond me. There were also many slides that were copies of a poster or pamphlet, squished to fit on the slide. The media arts major inside of me was in severe pain. There was also a 45 minute movie about hitting pedestrians and cyclists with your car and how to be careful. It included 6 examples, in which at least 4 the pedestrian or cyclist was definitely at fault as they sped through stop signs, didn't look for oncoming traffic at all, wore dark clothing as they jaywalked at night, hung out in drivers' blind spots, and basically disregarded all traffic laws. This is actually pretty accurate of the pedestrians you typically find in Japan.

When the lovely lecture I didn't understand was over, we were escorted back to window 5 or 6, where they took our old license, punched a hole in it, and gave us our new ones. And that was it, mission accomplished.

All in all, much easier than getting the license was, but I'm happy I won't have to do it again for at least 3 years. I've also heard you can go to the central police station instead of the driving center to do this, but you have to bring a photo for the license with you (please make sure it's the right size and layout) and it can take up to 2 months to receive your new license in the mail. It's better to go to a driving center if possible.

The Oldest Lighthouse in Sanin

Happy New Year!  明けましておめでとうございます！(Happy New Year in Japanese, of course)

I traveled roughly 15,000 km to the United States to see my family and friends for Christmas. It was a lovely time, but now I'm back in Japan, and ready to be a better, or at least more reliable, blogger. Call it a new year's resolution. We'll see how that goes...

Right now, my friend Yao is visiting me all the way from Shanghai, China. He works for a Japanese company and had training in Tokyo at the beginning of this week, and decided to swing out to the inaka part of the country to see what he could see. The answer being an excessive amount of rice fields.

For today's adventure, I drove him out to Mihonoseki to see the Mihonoseki Light House. Mihonoseki is a tiny historic fishing town known for Miho Shrine and for having the oldest lighthouse in the Sanin area, which is comprised of Shimane, Tottori, and northern Yamaguchi prefectures.

Yao showing us the beautiful Mihonoseki Lighthouse.

Apparently, this lighthouse is considered one of the top 100 lighthouses in the world. I had no idea there was such a list, what a lighthouse must do to get on said list, or who decides such things, or why. Just know that this one is top 100 baby.  You can walk around the lighthouse and see some nice scenic views of the Sea of Japan, then drive back down the hill and go to Miho shrine. I think doing both those things took about an hour, maybe a little more, which is not much in comparison to the 45 minutes it takes to drive there, then the 45 minute drive back to Matsue. But, it was nice, something to do. Plus, if you like fresh seafood, you can get it in Mihonoseki for cheap.

Mihonoseki Lighthouse, and attached cafe and souviner shop.

The Sea of Japan. South Korea is far far far in the distance.

The view from behind the lighthouse. The Oki Islands are about 3 km away and can be seen on clear sunny days using high powered binoculars according to the sign, but we only saw water.

A little shrine hidden behind the lighthouse.

It's a lighthouse! Of French design, so I've read.

Where the lighthouse is, on the tip of the peninsula out into Miho Bay. The 2 blobs floating above are the Oki Islands.

There was a sundial! It's 2:00pm.

A little tiny trail that goes around the side of the lighthouse back the parking lot. You can look out over the Sea of Japan or Miho bay when there's breaks in the trees.

This sign explains how the trail maintains it's マジクイマジ (magic image) with plants that have big thick leaves that stay green even though the cold sea breezes come through.

I must say, it was very green, especially for January.

The sign in Mihonoseki for the shrine and the lighthouse. Check out that fishing boat!

A bamboo, paper, and dead fish pole. There were a couple of these here and there. They're to bring the good fortune of good weather, plenty of fish, and safe boating to the fishermen.

Nearby where I parked, there was this cute orange bridge.

It goes to a tiny man made island with a little shrine on it.

The big entrance torii of Miho shrine. The road on each side up to the torii (gate) is lined with stores selling fresh seafood.

Stop and wash your hands before entering.

Miho Shrine is dedicated to two deities and so it has two different styles of architecture. That's pretty rare. It's also the head shrine of all shrines built for the Ebisu deity. So, it's a boss shrine.

The gate into the main courtyard.

Giant straw rope over the gate.

A miko (shrine maiden) carrying a tray of something or other. A family with an older boy and a priest followed her into the main building. I'm guessing they're getting the boy blessed so he'll pass his university entrance exams. It's that time of year, and he looked to be the right age.

Fresh caught squid, hung out to dry and to catch the eye.

So creepy. I think Yao wanted to buy some, but I said "No way that's going in my car!"

It was a good little excursion. Now Yao is taking a nap on my floor, and my legs are toasty warm under my kotatsu as I write this. However, my bum is definitely going numb. Curse you low Japanese tables!

KitKat Review: バニラアイス味

I found this package of 4 mini kitkat bars in the conbini one morning last month and got rather excited. A new summer flavor! Yay! They're バニラアイス味 or vanilla ice cream flavor, perfect for the hot humid Japan summer, despite the fact that they're actually chocolate, not ice cream, right? Inside the plastic package are 4 individually wrapped mini bars, keeping the Japanese penchant for over packaging alive.

I'm a cute mini bar! Don't the ice cube visuals cool you down and make you think ice cream?

In the heat, we melt just like ice cream!

As you can see from the photo above, despite the fact that you think this is a good summer snack, it's not. Japanese summers are ridiculously hot unless you're in Hokkaido (and maybe it's ridiculously hot even there, I don't know, never been there) and chocolate melts. Sorry to Kirsten who requested pictures of the cross section of kitkat's from now on. I tried to take one, but it didn't look like anything. It's a light tan wafer with white chocolate frosting. Very white, with little definition.

As for taste, I find these pretty disgusting actually. I'm sad, because I had high hopes as I love ice cream and kitkats. Maybe someone who actually likes white chocolate would like them more. They're super soft, though that may be the summer heat, and kind of taste like vanilla ice cream that has been left in a bowl and melted hours ago, that you dipped a thin wafer cookie into. It's not a strong vanilla flavor at all, and for some reason it makes me think of cream cheese. I don't like cream cheese, so I don't really eat it, so I'm not sure how close the tastes are, but that's what comes to mind when I eat vanilla ice kitkats. I will definitely not be eating these again. I need to find someone to take the 2 in the package I didn't eat for this review.

Driving in Japan, pt 3

When we last left off on my driving adventure, I had just failed my first driving test attempt by driving in the wrong lane. Luckily for me, there is no other traffic on a closed driver's course. Although, if there was, I probably wouldn't have made that mistake, so maybe it's unlucky? Well, whatever. I failed. sad face. The driving center set Ryan and me up with appointments the following Tuesday to try again.

So the next week, I once again left my high school early and arrived at the driving center a little before 1 p.m. and met Ryan and Inoue-san. Ryan and I payed our 2200 yen for the same forms as last time and filled them out. Then we went upstairs to the window that opens exactly at 1pm and checked in. The test was at 2:00 pm (however, you need to be there at 1:00... silly Japan) so we had an hour to sit and wait and look through the big windows at the course and try to memorize it. Our course for the day was course B.

Our beautiful course, a little different than last time.

Are we ready? I don't know.

Having an entire hour devoted to staring at the course layout and having done it once before seemed to help. I felt pretty confident I had it memorized. Ryan and I were concerned about a sign after signpost 3 in the A block. This sign in fact:

For those who don't know, this sign means honk your horn. It's for when you're going around blind turns where oncoming traffic can hit you if they don't know you're there. You beep your horn so they hear that someone is coming.

I've never run into this sign, except for on the test. Ryan and I didn't know where in correlation to the sign we were supposed to honk, for how long, how many times, etc. We looked online and in a driving book, but all it said was honk your horn. Unhelpful! When the driver instructor came up to tell us the driving order and explain the course, he asked if we had any questions. So we asked about that, and his answer was "Well, that's why it's a test. Do what you think is right, and if it is, you might pass." Great. Thanks.

He then explained the driving order. There were supposed to be 4 drivers, but one girl didn't pass the written exam, so it was just 3 of us, Ryan first, me second, and a Japanese girl third. Since we would all fit in the car, we all got in at the same time, the 2 testees not driving at the time sitting in back.

Ryan went first and seemed to do well, except he went really slow. The instructor actually told him he could speed up a little. I went second and was really nervous. I kept concentrating on which side of the road to turn onto. When I came to the scary honk your horn sign, I waited until the nose of the car was even with it, then wailed on the horn for a few seconds. I slowed down at the turn, carefully crept forward and looked both ways, then turned. After I drove, the Japanese girl took her turn. The first thing she did was tell the instructor she was cold, despite the 80 degree weather and the long sleeves she was wearing, and he turned the air conditioning off. It was so hard to sit in the back of that car, stifling in the heat next to Ryan and not be able to talk about our tests and how we think they went. The girl made really abrupt jarring stops as well. Not a cozy ride. Eventually, we made it to the end of the test and we all went back inside to sit on the benches by the driving test window and wait to hear how we did.

Ryan was called first, and he passed! Yay! A lot was said in Japanese and then he came back to sit next to me. Then, I was called. I also passed! HOORAY!!! The instructor actually said my driving was "上手です" or proficient, skilled, good. That is high praise coming from the Japanese driving center. He then told me I needed to look around more and turn tighter and of course stay further left, but whatever, I passed! I got to return to sit and wait. The other girl in our driving group was called up but unfortunately she failed. It was her second attempt. Good luck chica!!!

After sitting and waiting, Ryan and I got to fill out more paperwork, then go get our driver's license pictures taken. I was unprepared for a photo as we had to give them photos when we began, and I looked like a hot mess. A scary looking driver's license picture, what else is new. >.<

We took the pictures and gave them the completed forms, and minutes later were handed our shiny new Japanese driver's licenses. Sweet sweet success!

Suika Smash!

Summer in Japan is hot and humid, but full of fun things like vacation, festivals, and trips to the beach. Of course, going to the beach may involve over priced watermelon, which means　スイカ割り, or watermelon splitting. Cut a watermelon into pieces and eat it? That's lame! It's so much better to blindfold someone and let them smash it with a stick!

Suikawari (suika = watermelon, wari = splitting) is a traditional Japanese game played at picnics, festivals, and the beach during the summer. It's like a pinata, but a watermelon. After the watermelon is smashed into pieces, everyone grabs a chunk and chows down.

Today I went to the beach with Keiko-san and her 3 rambunctious children to swim and smash a watermelon. Hooray!

Reiji, Miki, and Hanae. In the car on the way to the beach.

Hanae loves taking pictures. She took a few with her mum's phone.

We have arrived at the beach!

Hanae found some shells.

I accidentally took this putting my phone away. It's so nice out, but so hot!

Reiji also found a shell

Keiko-san and Miki. That's Miki's version of a peace sign.

Reiji's war wounds. There were クラゲ about! (jellyfish)

I'm super pale and under dressed! Poor Reiji got stung all over his chest and arm.

And his side. That's gonna hurt.

Miki is ready to get the suikawari underway.

How to smash watermelon, Japanese style:

First, put your watermelon on a clean tarp. You will basically be eating off whatever you smash the watermelon on. Directly on the sand is not a good idea, unless you like eating sand with your watermelon.

Next, tie a blindfold over the first person's eyes. Reiji was first up. Then spin them around 3 times.

Direct them forward, left, right, etc. You can be nice or mean with these directions.

Take a swing at the watermelon and hope it smashes!

Once it's smashed, everyone can grab a piece.

Eat up! This cute little watermelon probably cost about 1300 yen, or about $15 (give or take.) Melon is crazy expensive in Japan.

Reiji eats the fruits of his labor. See what I did there?

Miki didn't take a turn with the stick, which after seeing her in action enough, was rather wise on her mother's part. She did eat watermelon though.

I completely missed the watermelon on my turn. Oops! I still got to eat some though! Also, check out that awesome hat I'm rocking! I felt like a cowgirl.

I taught the kids to spit watermelon seeds and we had a seed spitting contest. Keiko-san was definitely winning until she taught me her trick, and then I took the lead, with Reiji in second. It's wonderful how she lets me teach her children bad habits.

What a successful summer day!