Feasts for Eyes and Tummy
Food made, food bought, and a few short trips.
Today’s soundtrack is not thematic, it’s just incredible. A cover of No Diggity by The Main Squeeze. They also have a great Redbone.
The “wow”/”wow wow” at 0:42 are just… chef’s kiss.
Life Status
Life is about as normal as one could expect. I work from home (almost) every day. But in Tokyo. I cook sometimes and I eat out sometimes. No big changes so far, but I have eaten some tasty things and seen some cool sights, and that’s what I’m going to post today! Oh I guess I turned 29. That’s it though.
Food, a collection
Here are a few things that I’ve gotten when eating out. If you’re worried at the Google maps ratings, something I’ve learned is that Japanese people are REALLY stingy with the 5-star rating. A 3.5 is considered a good rating on Tabelog, which is basically Japanese food Yelp.
While this burger is pitifully thin by America’s perhaps unreasonable standards, it was quite good. And this restaurant is notable to me because it sells canned Coke, which is the second best kind behind glass bottles. For the most part, soda is sold in plastic bottles which is absolutely bottom tier, and as a result my life has been sorely lacking in quality cola.
This curry restaurant is in Shibuya near the office, and I met one of my coworkers after work so I wouldn’t be alone on my birthday. Soup curry is a great concept -- what if I want ALL THIS FLAVOR, but just in reduced intensity so I can eat it in large volumes? Perfect.
These dishes are from a humble neighborhood restaurant nearby that sells classic Japanese dishes: soba, udon, rice bowls, etc. The waitstaff are all kind old ladies. Very relaxing. The katsu curry has an extra flavor in the sauce that I can’t identify that sets it apart from curry that I made myself (from roux cubes) and from chain curry. Maybe they make it from scratch? I’m not sure, but it keeps me coming back. The katsudon isn’t breaking any ground, but it’s still delicious and by ordering it here it means I don’t have to make a mess deep frying in my own kitchen. Worth it.
万豚記 代々木店 - - Chao! Chao! Bamboo
These two dishes are from different restaurants, but they’re both versions of tantan-men, which I love. The darker one is loaded with black sesame, and thankfully the shop offers a bib when you eat there. Lord knows that red sauce is going everywhere. This shop is also known for selling truly gigantic gyoza which I have ordered but don’t have a photo of. You can check them out on Google though. The other bowl is from a little shop in Harajuku around the corner from where I got my hair cut -- my hairdresser actually recommended it. It was one of only shops I’ve ever been to in Tokyo where you order at a counter and they bring you the food.
This just isn’t as good as poke in California or Hawaii. Not for lack of trying though, it was still good. But I’ve eaten my weight in poke prior to coming to Japan and my standards are very high. The fish was excellent, obviously. But Japan has poor access to fresh avocados. I’ve already been here twice though; it still hits the spot.
This is actually my free lunch from work. Since we aren’t quite the size of FB, there aren’t a plethora of cafes to choose from. But the food was really good AND moderately healthy (that is miso pork belly, no one is perfect).
I have had sushi many times already, but it doesn’t always look as pretty as this. It was also quite good and I will definitely return. This shop also has a specialty of 16 tiny squares of various itty-bitty sushi pieces that looked good, but I was a hungry lad so I got the big pieces. You can check it out online though.
These shots are from two different restaurants but I’m grouping them because they’re similar. The first one is a shop in TBD that allegedly started a trend (that I am unaware of, but maybe other Japanese people are?) of having tempura with champagne. Which I did. Pictured you can see eggplant, mushroom, shrimp, avocado, and mentaiko (spicy cod roe, under the avocado). This place was GREAT, like a symphony of flavor. I will be returning.
The second is from a shop in Shinjuku which was playing exclusive late 90s up to mid-2000s alt rock. Behind the bowl of udon is a tempura soft-boiled egg, and to the left are shrimp, shishito, eggplant, and pumpkin. The ginger-ale is a domestic product and was very gingery. Quite refreshing.
This tray is from a soba specialty shop. For the uninitiated, soba is a type of noodle that uses buckwheat flour in addition to more standard flours. From left to right are descending ratios of buckwheat:normal flour, with the one on the far right being the tamest in terms of flavor. All were good.
This is from my local shop that IES alum will recognize. On the right is kimchi okonomiyaki and the left is pork yakisoba. If you’ve never had it, okonomiyaki is like a savory pancake that’s good for getting rid of leftovers. The base consists of a batter and chopped cabbage -- then you’re free to add whatever veggies and meats you want to flavor it. At the end, it is topped with a sweet and tangy sauce (unsurprisingly named okonomi sauce), mayo, seaweed powder, and bonito flakes (the same thing you see on takoyaki). The yakisoba was good and classic, but didn’t break any new ground. Despite having “soba” in the name, it actually uses only normal wheat flour in the noodles, don’t fall for the classic blunder.
To finish off this section, look at this beautiful cut of meat. It was just as delicious as it looks. Yakiniku and Korean BBQ have a lot of overlap, where the chief difference I think is that KBBQ places automatically give you banchan, but you have to order them at Japanese ones. Yakiniku places from my experience tend to have more focus on beef, whereas KBBQ places feature chicken, pork, and seafood too. I don’t really care about the differences though, any time I go to either I have a great time.
Takao
My first expedition outside of Tokyo proper was to Mt. Takao, or Takao-san as it comes up in lots of articles when I googled it. When I first came to Japan in 2014, I had the totally reasonable assumption that the -san suffix attached to mountains (see also Fuji-san, Koya-san, etc) was the result of applying a certain level of respect to the mountain the same way you would a person (e.g. Nakamura-san). Turns out this is totally incorrect; -san is just one of the ways to read the character 山, which means mountain. In my headcanon though, people are still referring to these mountains with reverence.
Learning kanji is hard and the whole “this can be read multiple ways” thing is simultaneously very interesting historically and wildly frustrating today.
My trip started with a trip to the conbini to get hiking snacks (why hike if you can’t snack?). I got jerky and nuts, which I didn’t photograph because they were boring. What I didn’t buy but DID photograph is this wonderfully named product:
The American corn lobby needs to up its game.
The ride and subsequent walk to the base of the trails was through a very cute town with older architecture.
I actually didn’t know which way the mountain was after getting off the train. But everyone (most people*) travel to this station to go to the mountain, so following the crowd is usually a safe bet at attractions. After a few minutes I arrived at this cute entrance that was already featuring some blossoms:
Takao-san has both a cable car (alpine, not San Franciscan) and a chairlift. However, they both stop service at 4:00. Because I’m myself, I didn’t wake up early enough to walk up and take the lift down (which is actually preferable compared to the other way around because my right knee is… troublesome going down hill). So I took the chairlift up!
Cable cars have real walls and seats, who doesn’t want the thrill of hanging above the ground with only the looming threat of Darwinism keeping you in your seat?
At various points around the path were statues, markers, small shrines, and more. Most things didn’t have English translations of the plaques, so you can just look and enjoy the aesthetics:
One of the notable attractions on Takao-san is a monkey park. I didn’t go because I was hoping to get back down the mountain before a restaurant in town closed (spoilers: I did not make it), but I did take a photo of the adorable identifying photos as well as the family tree (heh).
The hike up itself is extremely gentle, with difficulty only being supplied by how fast you want to go. On the way I passed people carrying babies, toddlers, and a few people who could have been three times my age. The day was cloudy so I was a bit worried about the view from the summit, but clouds added to the view in a spectacular way.
I loitered at the top for an appropriate amount of time considering my investment to arrive, but I didn’t want to stay too long (again, restaurant closing soon). There are actually 6 paths up and down the mountain that meet and cross at different points, so being the adventurous lad that I am, I chose a different route down. Unlike the route up, this one was not paved and was largely empty of other people.
While the trail was lacking in people, it did have some very conscientious shine guardians.
WEAR. YOUR. MASKS.
I arrived at the entrance literally 2 minutes before the soba restaurant closed, and I didn’t want to be that guy, so I got the other tasty thing on this mountain.
The three dango brothers, part 2
Hon hon hon, I’m a chef
Here is a limited collection of things that I’ve cooked that are actually worth sharing. I have made many more things, but not everything is exciting.
This is braised pork belly. Normally it takes many many hours to make, but with the magic of a pressure cooker it only took me two. Although visually similar to thit kho (especially with the inclusion of the eggs), the absence of fish sauce gives this dish a very different flavor profile.
Although bland in color, this was very good and easy to cook. I love eggplant, pork, AND miso so I had to try it.
There are a few variations on the Japanese omelet, but all of them involve mixing the egg with other ingredients before cooking. Once mixed, you oil the pan and pour a little egg in. Once the bottom is cooked but while the top is still wet, you roll/fold it into one side of the pan. Then grease the pan again and add more egg, repeating the process and creating a soft, fluffy, layered egg. It’s a common bento ingredient and you can also see it on sushi. This rice bowl I’ve assembled is real bachelor food -- the spicy chicken was purchased from the supermarket with 20% off because I bought it near closing time.
This screenshot with Francis apron, photo of Francis in the back, and stuffed dogs where Francis used to sit is honestly tearjerking.
One of my favorite Japanese content creators was Cooking with Dog, a YouTube cooking channel that is “hosted” by a Poodle named Francis whose voiceover is done by a person with a Japanese accent trying to speak English with a French accent. It’s incredible. You can watch the omelet being made here, or just read the recipe here. Unfortunately, Francis passed away a few years ago, but the channel continues on with his spirit.
This salmon dish is a mainstay of mine, due to its simplicity and the relatively low number of dishes that get dirty. The rice is special too; it’s flavored with ginger, tofu skin, and soy sauce as well. This was the first thing I made in my oven and it worked out great, even though I usually use the broiler to cook this.
I made this on a whim when I walked by the beef section in my market and saw that this cut was only $8. In the bowl is rice, the steak, steak-don sauce (purchased), two types of pickles, and a healthy pile of green onion (it was about to go bad). Oh and wasabi on the edge of the bowl. 10/10 if I do say so myself.
Sukiyaki is a kind of hotpot consisting of meat, veggies, and other accoutrements simmered in a strong broth. In addition to the plainly visible items, this sukiyaki has tofu, daikon/carrot shavings, and shirataki, which is konjac in noodle form. The bowl that looks like raw egg is a bowl of raw egg -- some people choose to dip the hot soup items in the egg for extra flavor. I did it too; it was great. After growing up on a steady diet of cookie dough, I salmonella holds no fear in my heart.
Sukiyaki (like other hotpots) is sufficiently large that you need family/friends to fully enjoy it, and I was lucky to be invited to this sukiyaki “party” by a friend-of-a-friend after they got the meat through “furusato nozei”, an interesting tax artifact where you can send a portion of your taxes to lower-population areas (instead of your local municipality) and receive gifts in return -- often local specialties. I’m not sure filing taxes can get more rewarding than this.
Literally “hand roll” as you’ve probably seen on a menu, this is a fun social way to make and eat sushi. The pictures kind of speak for themselves, so I’ll just identify the fish: tuna, amberjack (kanpachi ), sea bream (tai), and more (but different) tuna. The bowl in the middle is salmon roe (ikura). The yellow item on the plate is an omelet, but seen from above.
Hanami
Spring is here! Starting in February, the first signs of the approaching warmth are the pink blossoms of the plum tree. TOO BAD I DIDN’T FIND ANY. These are some early-blooming sakura - they beat the white ones by several weeks. I was told that these were plum by a non-expert, and after doing some extra research online it turns out these are just a different cherry blossom.
You can tell they’re cherry because they have a split in the tip of the leaf
I first saw a smattering of these when the weather was still cold. In late March and early April is when the main course appears (this year was the earliest sakura bloom in 1200 years by the way -- global warming is real).
the classic
The tops of trees are filled with pink/white blossoms and give streets and parks around the country the illusion of being topped with fanciful clouds. People in the US get excited about the blossoms too, but in Japan the flower-viewing season (hanami) is nuts. Pink packaging and marketing is everywhere, and you can buy sakura themed/scented/flavored products of all kinds. Desserts. Perfume. Alcohol. Makeup. Shoes. If it can be reasonably colored pink and sold, it is.
Blessed FamilyMart
On the weekends, the streets are absolutely packed, and people compete for the best spots to park their picnic blankets. The train stations at popular viewing spots have police trying to control the immense flow of foot traffic in and out. I have actually already experienced hanami a bit myself (in 2018 and 2019), but I felt like I should at least brave the crowds a little bit so I can tell myself I did it in my first year actually living here. I went to Ueno Park, which is situated just north of central Tokyo and is notable for its large park and zoo, and Nakameguro which is famous during sakura time for its canal which is lined with the trees. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
City
This section is honestly just a picture dump of some photos that I’ve taken while walking around town that have no theme, other than I was intrigued, amused, or excited in the moment.
These photos were taken in a Taito Tower arcade in Shinjuku. The first one is a frickin’ train simulator. I did not try it because it looks like there might be a lot of reading involved. Or maybe a little reading. I would prefer zero reading. The second photo is of my favorite arcade game, Groove Coaster. The two control… things are essentially giant analog sticks with buttons that you can beat the devil out of. Your in-game avatar rides along a little line while music plays, and dots appear on the line telling you how to interact with the sticks. It’s really fun.
This photo was taken from the top of a hill at Todoroki Ravine (there is a ravine, I promise. It’s quite pretty too, I just didn’t take any pictures because I forget sometimes). Mt. Fuji is technically in viewing distance, except there are trees in the way. The second photo (taken nearby) is not pretty but I thought everyone would enjoy the American caricature being used to sell tires.
Dessert@Home
I went through considerable effort to decide on and place an oven in my kitchen, and goshdarnit I gotta use it. What better thing to bake than cookies?
Based on the fact that I had to source an oven myself, it will not come as a surprise that baking is not nearly as popular in Japan as it is in the US. Some ingredients were available in the extremely sparse baking section of my local supermarket, but for the rest I sourced from Amazon. I did hit a couple snags in this process though:
too wet, still delicious to eat raw
Flour in Japan is different. They have bread flour, noodle flour, pancake flour, tempura flour, all kinds of flour. But I just want all purpose flour. How do you search for that which is unremarkable? I ended up buying a package that looked quite all-purpose -- it had illustrations of cake, tempura, noodles, and okonomiyaki. This is as all purpose as it gets, I guess.
I didn’t see baking soda the first time I went to my store, so I searched for it on Amazon. However, there are only two options that I could find for baking soda:
Baking soda advertised for cleaning, which I did not want to risk buying in case it had other cleaning additives
Food grade baking soda, but whose smallest packages were a kilogram. I’m not sure I’ve used an entire kilo of baking soda in my whole life.
I eventually went back to the store and found a very small package of it -- probably 10% the size of the classic Arm & Hammer package. But it was reasonable.
I could not find vanilla extract. At all. I thought I did and ordered it on Amazon. It was vanilla oil (which is allegedly still edible and I ended up using). But still, the correct ingredient is preferred.
Butter is not sold in the usual ¼ sticks.
Fun fact, Google does not highlight “sumbitch” as a misspelled word.
Once I had gathered all my ingredients, I did perhaps the most important step for my sanity: I let the butter soften. I don’t actually own a hand mixer any more, so I had to stir this sumbitch* by hand (after-action report: I will buy a mixer). After following the recipe as I have done a hundred times (you KNOW I got it memorized), the dough was unfortunately not the correct consistency. It was too wet. I added perhaps another 1/3 cup flour to make the consistency a little more acceptable, but I was afraid of adding too much so I didn’t keep going. After all, you can’t take it out once it’s in. And baking is a science. I should have trusted my decades of chocolate chip cookie experience, because I was right. It was too wet, and the cookies were extremely flat. But they still primarily consisted of butter, sugar, and chocolate so you know they were still delicious. They were just a little less convenient than normal cookies, because they would gently fold/break in your hands due to how soft they were, and you could feel the butter on your fingers after eating one.
Zushi (not sushi)
Lower left
Through the glories of the internet, I do actually have a couple friends. And through one of these friends I was invited to a picnic to enjoy the newly-arrived warm weather in a coastal town called Zushi, which is on the southern side of the greater Tokyo metro area. It took a little over an hour to get there, but there was only train transfer and it was early on, so it wasn’t so bad. The hard part was actually getting up on time (8:30, much earlier than when I get up for work…).
The beach was quite nice, although we didn’t expect the sun to be quite so harsh. Even with sunscreen, I ended up with a very mild burn and an accompanying Fitbit tan line. Like every beach town, this one also had opportunistic birds circling to try and pilfer our picnic. Behold, our tempting spread:
Vaguely back to front, left to right: Jagabee crisps, smoked gouda crackers, onigiri, katsu sandwiches, smaller deli sandwich bites, more chips, French fries and sausages, futomaki, saucy friend chicken, un-sauced chicken, mochi, sushi.
Tyler, what do you mean this isn’t eye-catching enough? idk man
For dessert, I supplied the aforementioned cookies, but we also got what is apparently a Japanese childhood classic, the Gari-Gari-kun ice cream bar. I’d seen them in stores before but never actually tried one (I wasn’t aware of the nostalgic significance and the packaging wasn’t eye-catching enough to convince me on its own).
The bar itself is actually more of an “ice pop” than “ice cream” but it’s still refreshing on a hot day. It has the flavor of a mild soda (Ramune-esque) and is easy to eat, even on a full stomach. The company behind Gari-Gari-kun received some minor fame on the internet in the past due to a 60-second advertisement regarding a nine-cent increase in price. Also, the light-blue-rectangle aesthetic will also be recognizable to players of the Kingdom Hearts games. It was a fine conclusion to the picnic. On the way out though, we stopped for some coffee to combat the post-meal sleepies. This coffee shop was kind of cute.
The Final Course
To finish off this meal of a blog post, I will be presenting a collection of desserts that I have encountered. First is the humble conbini lineup, plus Pringles because I honestly couldn’t find a better place in this post to put them:
Up next, a couple items from a specialty shop in my neighborhood -- a French bakery.
Most of the things they sell are beautiful. This shop is also important because they sell real bread. Bread isn’t as big a part of food culture here as it is in the west, so finding a place where I can get good stuff is wonderful. The first item is exactly what it looks like -- some kind of marmalade in puff pastry. The second is something that I hadn’t heard of and had to google, a pithivier. Except instead of being filled with apple, mine was filled with marzipan. And the last is just a chocolate danish.
Up next are a few seasonal items from a very dangerous shop, Mister Donut:
In addition to the solid lineup of normal donuts all the time, Mister Donut heavily advertises their seasonal offerings to get people in the door. And they are quite good. However, when purchasing the kinako/matcha donut, Never Gonna Give You Up came on over the store radio. I couldn’t believe it.
Lastly, a couple more bites from specialty shops
The cheesecake is Bailey’s Irish Cream-cheese cake, and it was amazing. My macaron is on the right, and it was salted caramel pretzel. It was also quite good. Finally, the cream-filled dessert I’m eating on the street is from Harajuku ZakuZaku, which sells different varieties of what I would describe as a stuffed Japanese churro. These are a wonderful combination of sweet/creamy and crunchy (hence the onomatopoeia name, “zaku zaku”).
After dinner mint
I just have to share this white-hot meme:
That’s it! Until next time.
I am alive and I am not homeless.
I have been busy, but I have a home. With stuff. It was quite a process.
The soundtrack to today’s post is Porter Robinson’s Look at the Sky. A demo of this song was first revealed on YouTube nine months ago, which was my only source of listening until it was released as a single on Spotify a month ago.
Making this move has not been easily logistically, mentally, and emotionally, even after all of the main “hard” parts were done. Look at the Sky is an optimistic reminder of what the future can hold.
For those of you who have not heard me talk about Porter, the first time I heard his debut album Worlds was a powerful emotional experience for me, and no drugs were involved. Former colleagues from Facebook will recognize the face at the 0:40 mark (of the Worlds link, not the one below) from my laptop, so I’ve still been carrying those feelings for a while. This is not your daddy’s electronic music.
Going forward there will be more artist and genre variety, I promise. I just listened to this a lot.
It has been almost two months since my last post, sorry. This is also the second time I’m writing portions of this post, because I accidentally lost a draft due to the touchpad on my laptop freaking out. Here’s a summary of what happened:
I searched for apartments
I looked at some
I chose one
I “moved” (brought my two suitcases, ha)
I went on a $pending bonanza
In the interest of actually getting a post out, this one will only contain stuff the housing adventure. Pictures of food and city to come soon!
Getting an Apartment
Much like the housing quest in the Bay Area, if you filter units by “allows pets”, the volume shrinks dramatically. Like 80% or more. Unlike my searches in SF, I now have to worry about whether or not the landlord/management company allows foreigners (a real, actual concern). Furthermore, even for the units that do allow pets, many do not allow for pets over 10kg. Kuma is 18kg, which is far, far above the average size of a dog in Tokyo. Most people have extremely small dogs (chihuahuas, papillons, shibas, those little curly-haired white dogs that Asian people love, etc). I have seen exactly one German Shepherd here, and four golden retrievers. Everything else has been small dogs.
To help me navigate the search, the relocation company set me up with a real estate agency. Although pricy, this was definitely the best route because 1) I don’t have time to do this labor 2) I am illiterate 3) there are aspects of the Japanese rental market that are different from the American one, and it would be a shame to learn these things by surprise at an awkward time.
Digging up images of the various floor plans I saw seems like kind of a low payoff:labor ratio (not nearly as interesting as the Dominos crust options, honestly), so what I will say is that most apartments are extremely small (probably a surprise to no one) at around 25m². Curiously, the floor plans don’t include dimension measurements because… reasons? They do tell you how large a given room is in “tatami mats” though (1 mat ≈ 1.5m²). Seems significantly less useful than you know, how long the walls are. Whatever. Anyway, trying to find an apartment with my previous filters that also has the tiniest amount of accessible greenspace is nearly impossible. There were two. I at least wanted a ground floor unit because if Kuma has to go the the bathroom early or late, I don’t want to change out of my pajamas, take the elevator, and walk 1000ft to the nearest patch of green. Thankfully, I found a unit that has perhaps 1.5m² of private outdoor area. It’s not grass, but Kuma can potty on it. Praise be.
As for the rental market differences, the big bad one is something called “key money”. It is literally a gift to the property owner to “thank” them for letting you rent from them. Seriously (I can hear one of my college friends yelling “EAT THE RICH” in the distance as I type this). The fee can be anything from ¥0 to a full month of rent — it is not a deposit and you don’t get it back. Lucky for me, the unit I chose had been vacant for a little while and they were willing to waive the key money to get someone in the unit. Many places in Tokyo also require a guarantor company and do not allow a private party guarantor. Naturally, this costs another fee. There are also other smaller, less frustrating fees/costs like the usual security deposit, pet deposit, rental insurance, lock changing, and property management fees. If you use an agent like I did, then you’ll also pay their fee which is 1 month of rent. All in all, you can expect to pay costs equal to 4-6 months of rent. If you choose a place with a higher monthly cost, this can explode your up-front costs quite a bit. Because of my timing, on top of the fees I paid a prorated amount for January and all of February when I moved in, totaling around ONE MILLION YEN.
(about $10k USD)
Because this isn’t a trivial amount of money, if you too are planning on moving to Japan, be sure to initiate your money transfers to your Japanese bank early so you don’t end up homeless while you wait for the slow gears of financial institutions.
Unsurprisingly, people do not like to move often. Also, the standard rental contract is 2 years long. So yeah, I plan on persevering for a bit.
The Apartment Itself
There has been a dearth of pictures so far, so here’s a quick peek of my apartment prior to move in:
The first day was very hectic. I showed up at 9am to meet my agent, who helped me do the walkthrough and initial paperwork. He also talked to the various people from utility companies who came to turn on my services. While we’re doing this, my movers with my American stuff came and brought all the possessions that I deemed sufficiently expensive/sentimental to pack. Then suddenly everyone was gone and I was left with a scene like this:
That’s the chair that was cheaper to ship across the Pacific than buy again.
I must say, the movers worked fast. They cut open and emptied all my boxes and took them away in like, 10 minutes? I almost turned down their help, but then I realized that if I didn’t ask them to take away the boxes I would be voluntarily subjecting myself to mess. I claim partial credit for their speed, because my packing involved lots of boxes or bags within larger boxes, so they didn’t have to worry about taking stuff out of a box and it just melting into a pile.
My dad is the reason I have so many shoes. This collection is after I sent several pairs back to him.
Overall, I am very happy with the layout and contents of the apartment. The one thing that it conspicuously lacks is a closet near the door or place for coats. There is a closet upstairs attached to the bedroom, but entranceway where guests take off their shoes (genkan is the specific term for this part of the home) just has a ludicrously spacious section for storing shoes. Of which I have many.
Close-right is my new futon set.
Due to some logistics unpleasantness, I didn’t buy furniture until after I moved in. So for my first few nights, I slept in ye olde Japanese fashion, aka on the floor. I bought a futon (a Japanese one, not what Americans generally imagine when they encounter the word) and some linens to cover them. This was my first time ever putting a duvet cover on, and it was… something. I was eventually successful, but I really want to know: why isn’t the zipper the full width of the cover? This would have made it exponentially easier. The limited width makes it unnecessarily difficult — I was constantly afraid I was going to tear the fabric or break the zipper.
I had spent hours deliberating on Amazon, trying to choose the best futon and linens. However, during that whole process the word “pillow” did not cross my mind. The first night, I slept on a laundry net full of socks that I covered in a t-shirt to make the surface softer.
I do not recommend this sleeping arrangement.
The second night, I tried a rolled up bath towel. Also completely miserable — the towel just compresses and then is hard as a rock. Buy pillows early. My head hurts just remembering this.
On Bathrooms
If you were trying to visualize the layout of my apartment while looking at the gallery, you may have noticed something. The bathroom (the room where you wash yourself, connected to where you brush your teeth) is a completely separate entity from the room where the (robot) toilet is.
Yeah, that’s a special “ladies” button in red.
That’s right, my toothbrush is completely safe from poo particles. The Japanese may seem to be lagging in many ways (the continued usage of fax machines, requiring personal stamps on documents, insistence on physical paperwork), but in regards to bathrooms, it is the US that is streets behind. Not only is the toilet separate from everything else, it also has 3 levels of flush, a heated seat, and an electronically controlled bidet that hits you with heated water. Naturally, you can control the pressure and angle of the bidet stream. It even flushes for you if you forget. Seriously. I assume in the coming years, the toilets here will analyze your waste and tell you how to change your diet.
The Japanese bathing/shower room is a little different from American setups as well. It’s a sealed room with a drain inside and outside the tub. Japanese bath culture involves being clean before you enter the tub, so you clean yourself on the shower side and then soak in the tub to relax. If you are in a multi-person household, this water is actually shared with everyone. So you should be clean clean before entering. I’m not sure the exact origin of this shared-bathwater thing, but I assume it has something to do with heating large amounts of water being energy-intensive.
One more side feature that my apartment has it can automatically fill the tub. There’s a button in the kitchen on the hot water controller that will just start dumping water into the tub until it’s full. So if I’m working hard in the kitchen like the accomplished chef that I am, I can prep the tub for a nice soak while I clean up.
Shower fan controller
The shower room also functions as a place to dry clothes. Dedicated dryers are not common, and washer/dryer combos are significantly more expensive than just washers. There is a bar suspended above the tub, and a vent in the ceiling. Outside the shower is a controller for the vent, where you can ask it to blow warm/cold air, dehumidify, or just ventilate the room.
The Neighborhood
When I was 12 years old, my parents took us on a vacation to San Francisco. While we were there, I said I wanted to move there when I grew up (I’m 99% certain this conversation happened after visiting the Golden Gate Bakery with an egg tart in my hand/stomach). Then in 2015 I moved there. In my last summer before graduation, I spent a summer in Tokyo and stayed at the former site of the 1964 Olympic athletes’ village. The nearest train station was in a cute neighborhood across the street, and I frequently thought to myself when going to the train “this is a nice place to live”. So here I am.
My neighborhood is easily walkable, with two convenience stores, a supermarket, a post office, and various restaurants and cafes less than 5 minutes away on foot. Almost all of the buildings nearby are (relatively) short, and vehicular traffic is light enough that people generally just walk on the street. It’s also walking distance to Yoyogi Park, one of the largest parks in Tokyo that also features an off-leash dog area.
IES Tokyo alumni will recognize the classic Himalaya Curry
The neighborhood seems roughly the same since I walked through it almost daily. Some of the restaurants are different though, and they remodeled the train station.
Sangubashi Station in the summer of 2014
Sangubashi Station like 7 hours ago as of publication
I assume the remodel was in preparation for the Olympics, but at least I get to enjoy it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Furnishing
Over the next month-and-change after moving, I slowly furnished my apartment with various living accoutrements. The most surprising things I needed to buy, as a renter, were:
My fridge, oven/microwave, counter, kettle, and musical rice cooker. The rice cooker is sitting on a drawer that slides out, so the steam can easily escape. Said rice cooker also plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when you start it.
Refrigerator
Washing machine
A fucking countertop
That’s right, the kitchen has one built-in counter with very little available space (visible in the gallery above), but the other side of the kitchen has nothing. Just electrical outlets. Big Furniture™ clearly has a stranglehold on the residential architecture industry. The refrigerator was kind of a challenge to choose — the number of left-hinge units is vastly outnumbered by the right-hinge group. Also, Japanese refrigerators are much more conservative in terms of space, and I wasn’t really sure how big I should go. I ended up going to one of the local big-box electronics retailers (Bic Camera) to see them in person and get a good feel. Two very kind clerks (separately) asked me if I needed any help with the appliances, and I desperately did. But “domestic appliance vocabulary” had not yet occurred in my personal Japanese lesson plan, so I confidently (screaming inside) told them I was fine and then shortly left, realizing that I was useless. Back to Amazon.
I was slightly disappointed that this unit has an electric/induction stove instead of a gas one. It’s less predictable to cook with, the electric side stays hot for a long time, and woks are essentially impossible to use. However, it does have the upside of being super, ridiculously easy to clean. No more covering the space under the burner grates with foil or shameful/moderately disgusting degreasing every few months. The other downside of an electric stovetop is that it doesn’t come with a fish grill under the counter. Honestly this is a bigger disappointment than not having gas on top — this seems super useful and interesting to work with. Maybe my next place in a few years…
Rice supplied by me
Another fun feature of the kitchen is the floor storage. It’s not refrigerated; it’s just a cool, dark, humidity-stable place to store things. One of my friends said she makes umeshu in hers, which sounds like the ideal use case to me. I suppose if I wanted to make my own pickles or kimchi, this could be a place to do that too.
I ended up buying the refrigerator, washing machine, and “home” oven/microwave all from Amazon. For large units like the refrigerator and washing machine, installation is actually built into the price. And if the item doesn’t fit (doorway, stairs, etc), they’ll return it for free. Which is great, because the installers for my first washing machine did not think it would fit, even though I bought a tape measure specifically to verify this.
I got almost everything from Nitori, Amazon, or IKEA. Nitori is a local competitor to IKEA for the “affordable furniture” market, but they deliver most things to you already built, so there are upsides depending on what you buy. However, ALL of Nitori’s desks are too small for my preferences. I I used the same desk from 2011 to 2020 (IKEA Malm), so I was excited to get something new. After much deliberation from many stores, I settled on the IKEA Bekant, so I ordered it online.
They still serve the meatballs
Or at least I tried. Many, many times. Either the online store was out of stock or their delivery service was swamped — the website wouldn’t give me a clear answer. It turns out, though, that the online fulfillment system is completely separate from the store based one. So I made the 90-minute (each way) trip to the IKEA in Yokohama and ordered it in person to be delivered to my door. I am honestly astounded that this was necessary for me to get my desk, but we live in unprecedented times.
Behold, the fruits of my labor:
I very briefly considered trying to photoshop this image itself onto the monitor where I’m authoring the blog post, but I am not sufficiently skilled. Would have been great though. Song playing: sad girls club but u gotta be cute by twst.
Anyway, here’s what the living space looks like with all the stuff that I’ve bought (plus a dresser thanks to Brittney and Jacob!):
That’s all for now! This post doesn’t have everything that I’ve encountered in the past couple months or even all the highlights. New post next week with walking-around-town highlights and food.
Dango Unchained
I’m free! But all I’m going to do is walk and eat. Really, that’s this entire post.
Quarantine is over! The chains have been broken. and I am once again free to roam the Earth like a bipedal carbohydrate-seeking automaton. Of major note is the passing of Christmas and and the New Year, which I experienced by myself. So please enjoy one of my favorite depressing lonely winter songs, Neck Deep’s December.
That’s right, featuring the second saddest boi of all time (Ben Gibbard #1) Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. There’s also a much pop-punkier version with Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus that’s quite good.
Where to begin? It’s been a little bit since the last post. I guess we can start with food because that’s what everyone tells me they like hearing about. Firstly, I contacted Uber and got myself unbanned. Mazel tov.
Dominos
One of the later meals I had while in quarantine was a Dominos pizza. Am I lame? Perhaps. But Dominos here is changing the game, and I’m gonna tell you why. This pizza may not look impressive at first glance, but please read onward.
Here are the four flavors as described by the website are (translated by Deepl). I’m honestly not sure which is allegedly turkey, because one of these definitely looks like mega fatty bacon to me.
Roast chicken and Hokkaido Camembert
Plump shrimp and fluffy lobster sauce
Smoked turkey and five kinds of mellow cheese sauce
Open-fire grilled steak with garlic
Let’s start off with the most obvious. You can order a pizza in quadrants. Perfect for picky groups or just indecisive pigs like me. Honestly, should be a global phenomenon. Now if you think this pizza doesn’t look good, I can respect that. But it tasted delicious. It didn’t have the that nice “almost-burnt, slightly chewy cheese” that can be really good, but the cheese was instead amazingly creamy. Is that a common part of the Japanese dairy palate? I have no idea. But the crust was also good, even without the garlic seasoning that US Dominos puts on. Further, there’s more than meets the eye to this pizza. You’ve heard of stuffed crust. So have the Japanese. And true to form, if you are good at something, there is an Asian out there who will take it to the next level.
“Ultra Chris Peak Last” is a humorous failure of machine translation. The original text consists entirely of English loanwords and says “Ultra Crispy Crust”. Phonetically written, it is “URUTORA KURISUPII KURASUTO”. However, Japanese just doesn’t use spaces between words, so machines (and humans) have to guess where words start and end. Also, naturally L<->R.
That’s right, there are eight different crust options. But what are these crust options like, you might ask? Well when you choose a crust, the website shows you a cross section. It only shows you one at a time, so I have painstakingly taken seven screenshots and stitched them together for your viewing pleasure since I love you so much (there are only seven because “Cheese Burst” and “Cheddar Cheese Burst” have the same picture). If you look at the bottom two, you’ll notice that you can turn your entire pizza into a quesadilla form factor. Twice. The Japanese truly entered 2021 long before the West did. I’m not done writing about Dominos though. Behold:
I hope the caption is as funny in Japanese as it is in English.
That’s right, for the cool cool price of approximately 45 American dollars you can order the ULTRA CHEESE™ pizza with one entire kilogram of cheese. Don’t let your dreams be dreams. I was under the impression that many Japanese people are lactose intolerant, but either that’s less common than I thought, or they just don’t care. My non-ultra pizza was actually a similar price, but I found out after the fact from a friend that 1) coupons are easy to come by if you are literate (I am not) and 2) pizzas are half price if you get takeout instead of get delivery. Considering that there is no “extra” delivery fee or driver tipping, it makes sense. Lesson learned for the future.
The last week or so (since my release) has been kind of a blur of walk-eat-walk-eat so there’s not going to be a solid chronology here. Just enjoy the photos and anecdotes, and know that I must have surprised the hell out of my FitBit after being inactive for so long and then smashing out steps like mad. Here is another food item from classic curry chain CoCo Ichibanya. I ordered their Level 5 spice (since the Uber Eats app had it tagged as “recommended”). I personally recommend a number lower than that.
The compartment in the top center contains seasoned/pickled daikon, I think.
I ordered the katsu curry and added karaage to the order because it was cheap and it turned it into two meals instead of one. #efficiency. It probably would have been better fresh from the kitchen so the fried items stayed crispier, but it’s still better than conbini food.
Here’s another quick-food classic, as seen on my previous blog:
Ichiran isn’t the most amazing ramen, but it is 1) fast 2) consistent and 3) antisocial. Here’s how it works:
There is a ticket vending machine outside the restaurant, where you place your order. Human interface not required. In addition to ordering soup I ordered nori on the side.
Take your vended tickets and walk inside. The restaurant is essentially two long “bars” with the kitchen access in the middle between them.
Sit on a stool, with little cubicle walls on either side (anti-social feature #2)
Fill out your soup preferences on a little sheet. You have options regarding things like the richness of the broth, the texture of the noodles, the spice level, and the garlic level.
Press the red button saying you’re ready and put your ticket/preferences next to it
Someone slightly raises a wooden barrier between you and the kitchen area and takes your ticket. You only see hands (anti-social feature #3).
The magic hands return with soup!
Each little cubicle comes stocked with cups and individual water taps, so you can top yourself off as you need. If you want to order more noodles, you can just press the button again and fill out a noodle refill sheet. This requires planning your broth consumption ahead, because they only bring noodles. Ichiran also exists in NYC, so next time you’re there you can give it a try!
Immature content break!
Just look at these.
I think we can safely assume that this is just a language gap issue. Perhaps it was “The Grands” then they wanted to spice it up with a Z? Looks like they could use a tip from a business consultant on naming things.
Work starts at noon. Nice.
Although most business close their doors for the New Year, there are always people ready to fulfill the needs of the people. “Needs” means stomachs. I was lucky enough that the New Year’s food stalls were open for several days, so I actually made a few passes over the holiday. Here are my finds:
I originally posted the dango photo with the hashtag “dango sankyoudai”, you can enjoy the origin of that here. it's a dango tango
Unfortunately, New Years Eve/Day in Japan is largely a family affair compared to the US where everyone gets l i t and parties. On NYE, a there is a special kind of soba that is often eaten. Then, there are some special foods for the first days of the year as well (called osechi). I had neither of these. But a few days after the year broke I did partake in one tradition, hatsumōde at Meiji-Jingu Shrine, right around the corner from the street food. When visiting the shrine, people buy good luck amulets for the year (after returning the one from the year before), get fortunes, and make a wish at the shrine. I made a wish, we'll see how it goes!
I’m going to finish off with just a nice assortment of photos I’ve taken. All of these are #nofilter, the sky just looks that good.
Yule Eat Your Heart Out
In which I eat like a bachelor college student who’s never picked up a kitchen knife in his life.
This is just gonna be a bit on my quarantine munchies. No big news because I have no big activities. Today’s track is Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fallout Boy. Holiday song, breakup song, and pop-punk? Perfect. edit: in hindsight the Venn diagram between "breakup song" and "pop-punk song" is almost a circle so this isn't actually an accomplishment
This bottle of tea tells you how long to microwave it if you want it hot!
The quarantine requirements in Japan aren’t as strict as I’ve heard about in other countries (for example, in Taiwan you can’t actually leave your quarantine place or you’ll face a huge fine). I am allowed to leave my tiny home for essentials and I can’t meet my food delivery people. I’m not allowed to take public transit (including taxis), I’m supposed to take my temperature and email it in every day, I have a bluetooth-based contact tracing app installed, and I’m supposed to have Google Maps location history on. I was kind of hoping it would be like South Korea where they give you a box of essentials so you don’t have to leave at all but alas Japan is not quite at that level.
At first I was surviving off of Uber Eats and the Family Mart (a convenience store) across the street. If you aren’t familiar with Japanese convenience stores in general, the main thing to take away is that their food, although kind of basic, is generally replenished a few times a day. So if you were imagining getting a hot dog from a gas station, it’s at least three levels above that. The variety is decent, so far I’ve had:
Spicy tofu - possibly the palest imitation of mapo tofu I’ve ever experienced in my life. But I like spicy and tofu, 5/10
Spicy tofu ramen - literally the same tofu, but with broth and noodles. Better in this form, actually 6.5/10
Spicy chicken - This was a rectangle of breaded and fried chicken thigh that was highly reminiscent of a hot chicken sandwich from Wendy’s. Acceptable. Would have been better if I had gotten it fresh for stronger crispiness. 6/10
Basically a “Thai” chicken salad in a wrap. Peanut dressing was good. 7/10
Bento with bonito/nori rice, mentaiko (spicy cod roe), a small piece of fried fish, a fish cake, a small piece of fried chicken thigh, a little bit of omelette, and half a croquette. Some picked daikon and gobo (burdock root) on the side. Good flavor variety, high value. 7/10
Mentaiko spaghetti - exactly what it says on the tin. Probably my weakest meal so far. I’ve had good versions of this so it’s not like I dislike the concept, just this execution. 3/10
Red bean and mochi dango in whipped cream - surprisingly delicious, but maybe I was starved from sugar for not really getting anything sweet for a while. 8/10
Most food is stored cold but they’ll heat it up for you if you want. Sometimes I’ll buy more than one meal at a time so I don’t have to shamefully show my face in the store more than once a day. Because the employees just kind of toss it in the microwave, I figured that I would be safe doing the same at home with the extra meals that I purchased. Seems low risk, right? It is not. I have some kind of microwave/toaster oven hybrid whose buttons I cannot read, and for one of my meals I inadvertently activated the toast part, and started to melt the packaging. I realized it before the food leaked out though, so crisis averted. I will be much more cautious in the future. Oh also, there is apparently demand for vacuum-sealed corn on the cob?
Individually packaged, of course — this is Japan. “One corn, please.”
Before we go to Uber Eats, just look at this SoftBank ad. It’s got so much going on, including what appears to be one second of Bruce Willis?
From Uber Eats, I’ve had
Sushi - just look how pretty it is. 8/10
The “beady” one in the middle is seaweed covered with… something. I’m at a point where I usually trust Japanese food and will just eat it.
Raw salmon bowl - salmon, salmon roe (ikura), rice. Fish was good, rice was disappointingly not as much. But the fish/ikura combo carried the flavor. 7.5/10
Katsudon - fried pork cutlet, egg, sauce. SImple, good, 8/10
Katsu curry - The curry was in a separate container for pouring over the rice/cutlet. Look at this neat box that keeps the cutlet breading from getting soggy. On par with the other katsu because I ordered them from the same place at the same time. 8/10
“Katsu” is not a fancy word, it from “katsuretsu”, which is just “cutlet”, lol.
As of this writing, I’m surviving off of only Famima. In 2013, I got banned from Uber for spoofing phone numbers for referral credit (don’t judge me, Uber is expensive when you don’t have a full-time job), and the ban has caught up to me again in the world of Uber Eats. I will have to figure out another way to get tasty food. Today I made my first expedition slightly further down the block to the drugstore for some soap/detergent, but also snacks and tea. It’s just not economical to buy cold individual bottles; I’ve got to be a responsible adult.
But this bottle is definitely worth it.
End of an Era
Experiences and stresses arriving with arrival. Also Star Wars.
This photo is actually from my 2018 trip but I didn’t have a window seat this time so this is what you get.
I meant to write a pre-departure post, but life has been a hot mess so I’ve only started writing this on the plane. It’ll probably get finished as I wait for my arrival COVID test at the airport or once I get to my temporary apartment in Shinjuku. The soundtrack for this post is Summer Wars’ End of an Era.
This band is named after an anime film (I asked them on Twitter to be sure). I highly recommend it, it’s pretty cute and it even has a giant global social network as a plot point!
This day/week/month/year truly does mark the end of many eras – some long, some short. Some of these transitions are exciting but none are without at least a tinge of bittersweetness. The eras of San Francisco (and this my American life), Facebook, Odie, a relationship, and Christmas at home are all over, at least for now. But the sad parts of life make the happy parts that much sweeter, and I will keep my eyes on the horizon for the good things to come.
As I’m sure you can imagine (or perhaps, have experienced yourself), the entire process of immigrating to another country has a lot of hoops to jump through. Unsurprisingly, COVID has made it much harder. The past weeks have seen me ruthlessly Marie-Kondo-ing my possessions, and I probably should have been even harsher than I was.
If you want to be a snob when people talk about Marie Kondo, remind them that “Marie” has three syllables.
I sent a total of six (6!) full trash bags to GoodWill (and their schedule was so messed up that my first dropoff didn’t occur until my fourth attempt, ugh), four grocery-sized bags to Best Buy (electronics/cable recycling) and five bags to landfill (sorry Earth, I recycled/donated/sold as much as I could). This is all after an extensive Facebook Marketplace campaign (at least 30 listings) in which I aggressively priced everything from half of market price to free. In addition to all this sorting and selling (and dealing with flaky people on the internet), I had to coordinate:
Two sets of movers
How to get Kuma home (REMARKABLY HARD, I went through four different plans over time)
When to fly (dependent on the relocation company and available COVID testing)
When to get COVID tested (dependent on what flights were good/available)
The circle of international COVID air travel
The most stressful part was definitely waiting for the COVID results (not because I thought I would test positive, I just needed a negative result in-hand to fly). I took three tests 72-48 hours before departure (of the final leg of the flight, which is kind of inconvenient but I get why), and I got two of them two hours before my first flight (at 6:03 and 6:04, seriously). Worse, I didn’t even know that I got one of the results because it went to spam. I don’t know if I should blame the clinic or Gmail but it’s all bad. In hindsight I should have tried to search same-day or next-day private clinics, but the one I went to was the one linked by the Consulate General of Japan and I figured they knew what was up.
“They did not.”
I barely got any sleep last night, and every time I woke up (many times) I would refresh my email looking for results. I did come up with a basic contingency plan for canceling and rescheduling, but it didn’t make me feel much better. When 6am rolled around this morning, I still didn’t have results but one lab did show my sample as “Testing” for 5 hours (the other labs have provided no intermediary updates), so on a prayer I started loading the car anyway. And by George I got my results by the skin of my teeth. Holy shit. I had read from others’ experiences online that showing a digital copy on a phone was sufficient, so I screenshotted the page and was on my way. At check-in, the Air Canada rep looked at my digital results and let me through with no issue (can you tell there will be an issue soon?). On my flight to YVR I caught up on the last two episodes of good old Mando so let’s have an intermission here. Skip to the next subheader if you just want to read about me and/or Japan.
GENERAL STAR WARS DISCUSSION, IMMATURE LANGUAGE, EXCESSIVE USE OF PARENTHETICALS (99% PARENTHETICALS) AND SPOILERS FOR THE MANDALORIAN AHEAD
Holy shit this show is popping off so hard it is unbelievable. First the Night Owls (with Bo looking like her animated self since the character was actually modeled after the actress) and Ahsoka, then actually getting Temuera Morrison (and his sensual voice, “just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe”) back as an incredible badass? Seeing Boba and the Slave I in high def is definitely a treat, and but the fact that he was actually kicking ass (instead of having his jetpack slapped and getting sent into the sarlacc) was incredible. I am shook.
c o n t i n u i t yThen the DARK TROOPERS? And the DARK SABER (yes I know revealed in S1 but we still see it again)! AND THE DEPTH CHARGE OUT THE BACK OF SLAVE I WITH A SOUND EFFECT DESIGNED BY GOD HIMSELF UGHHHH. Also, Space Bill Burr™ is good fun too.
“Space Boston is real and it is terrifying.”
Let’s talk about the REST of Star Wars that just got announced by god what a time. If you’ve talked about the sequel trilogy with me you know I think it’s basically a huge missed opportunity and an extreme example of what a lack of planning can do, HOWEVER. We are now getting an Ahsoka live action (technically a spin-off of The Clone Wars), a show about the Bad Batch (a squad of malformed clones with a Suicide Squad vibe, also a TCW spin-off), a Sith-focused show (The Acolyte), a couple other things, but and then a ROGUE SQUADRON FILM?! Give me fucking Top Gun in space please. Tom Cruise can have a cameo, I don’t care. The space combat scenes from the more recent films look absolutely stunning (especially you, Rogue One). I absolutely cannot wait for an entire film of this. gib plz ༼ つ ◕_◕༽つ
If you couldn’t tell from the general excitement around Ahsoka and other things related to The Clone Wars, it is good. If you haven’t watched it, then watch it. It was done by Dave Filoni, who is responsible for another widely-beloved show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. You may have heard of it. So go, watch. The last two episodes are some of the best television I’ve ever seen. The first season takes a bit to get to get going, but if you ever thought to yourself, “Man, why’d they skip all the cool war shit between Episodes II and III?”, then this is where it’s at. Also, if you watched Solo and wondered “why the fuck is Darth Maul alive?”, then this show will also scratch your itch.
END STAR WARS DISCUSSION
So I landed at Vancouver with a couple hours to burn. While on the first flight, I decided that if the cost were not outlandish, I would treat myself to business class. You only live once, right? (Also this trip is one way and I’m not gonna travel any time soon, so why not). So I go to the gate counter and ask to upgrade. They ask for my documents, including my negative COVID test, which I present on my phone. After some double checking and teeth sucking, I am informed that it must be on paper. u r got 2 b kiddin me. There’s no service desk in the terminal. BUT. There is a lounge for fancy people. Bless the man working that counter — even though the “business” area of the lounge was closed, he printed my docs on his printer. Crisis averted, sleeper seat acquired.
I’m not going to say too much about this fancy seat besides the fact that it was completely new to me, so I spent the first 15 minutes fiddling with everything so I could understand the features I had paid for. Discreetly of course, I wouldn’t want to look like new money, [scoff]. Oh and I took this ridiculous photo:
Sorry it’s blurry, low light conditions.
So, I did eventually land and my infinite comfort came to an end. Immediately after disembarkation, everyone has to take another COVID test. This one was thankfully a saliva-based test, so I successfully avoided having my brain tickled throughout this whole process. They give you a plastic vial and shuffle you into a tiny standing-room-only cubicle so you can spit in peace. The cubicle has photos of lemons and umeboshi (sour pickled plums) captioned with simple “Imagine…” to make it easier to generate saliva. I wanted to take a photo so bad but it was explicitly not permitted to take pictures in the area :(. We were directed to a waiting area for our results to come back, where I just kind of durdled on my phone. I have never written out the word "durdling" in my life.
The rest of the process was unremarkable and about what you would expect with traveling to a foreign country. The one thing that surprised me was how much I struggled communicating with immigration and customs. Not that I expected it to be easy at all, but I’ve done it before with worse Japanese skills than I have now and it didn’t seem that hard back then. No worries, I have a lot of time to practice now…
Finally, it was time to leave the airport. Due to quarantine measures (even after a series of negative tests…), new arrivals are not allowed to take public transit, including taxis. The relocation group arranged for a private car which was nice instead of lugging my things onto a train then trying to make a variety of connections while exhausted out of my mind.
I’m finishing this blog post from my newly acquired temporary apartment in Shinjuku which is smaller than my living room in San Bruno by a significant margin. Seriously it’s like 300ft2. I can’t even open both my suitcases at the same time. But the toilet has a heated seat and a bidet, so you win some and lose some. This post is already long enough, so more details on this tiny box home in future updates. It’s not like I have a lot of other things to do for the next two weeks of quarantine anyway…
Old Man Barks From Clouds
A tribute to a dog. (An Ode to an Odie)
These are thoughts and memories that I have dreaded sharing in this fashion, only because of why I am prompted to do so. Up until now, these things were easy to remember because Odie was a fixture in our lives, even if only annually for me after leaving Auburn. He would come up in conversation because he was there, and these memories were refreshed. I’m writing them here because they should not be forgotten.
Here is my depressing accompanying track, Big Red Machine by Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner.
We adopted Odie a long time ago. Honestly I’m not even sure when specifically, but no later than 2007 because Sammy was still around. And by “we” and “adopted” I mean Dad went to PetSmart to get cat food, came back, said “It’s adopt-a-dog day there, they have all the shelter dogs there. Come look, Tyler”. “Don’t come back with a dog.” — Mom (spoilers: she comes to love this dog).
His name was Moose, and there was a couple standing around also contemplating taking him home. We heard them discuss if he would do well in their apartment. We now know that that answer would definitively have been “no”, so it’s good that it was us. We took him, and he tried to stand up in the back the whole time and kept falling over. But he was with us.
For context on the title, due to Odie’s blindness and his tired-old-dog style of barking in recent years, Lisa and I had a joke about him, “Old Man Hoofs at Cloud”.
Mom was not pleased with the presence of a second dog at the time. “We already have a dog.” “Whose dog is that? That’s not my dog.” Samantha, bless her heart, was gentle and patient even though Odie was a clumsy growing boy whose feet were too big for his body and had no traction whatsoever on the wood floor. He had young pup energy and a little bit of anxiety on top. At the very start, we weren’t sure how to contain him so that he wouldn’t bump Sammy too much. We tried the hallway bathroom with a baby gate (for those unfamiliar with the layout of the house, this is a pretty trafficked location, so he was getting company constantly). But if we placed the gate at floor level, he would simply hop it. If we raise it such that he couldn’t hop it, he just wiggled underneath. For the first many days, if he wasn’t directly supervised, Odie (then known as Other Dog, perhaps the most psychologically demeaning name possible if he could have understood it) was leashed to the railing at the bottom of stairs, the most central spot in the entire house. From that time on, there were chew marks left on the wood of the stairs and the beginnings of deeper marks on all of us.
For Christmas one year, we got Odie a doggy DNA test so we could all know what we’d gotten ourselves into. He was mostly Kuvasz, with a bit of some kind of petite Basset hound and a bunch of mutt in him. This was… honestly not too enlightening us immediately, being unfamiliar with the Kuvasz breed and history.
Someone’s gotta be in charge…
A tl;dr from Wikipedia: Kuvasz have been in Hungary for thousands of years as livestock guardians. They enjoyed popularity in the 15th century royal court and puppies were given to visiting dignitaries as gifts. During WWII, the breed was actively hunted by German and Soviet soldiers due to their protectiveness of their homes, and that their numbers could have been as low as twelve within Hungary.
The history part is very interesting (and depressing), but what really got us was the "Temperament” section which has since been removed from Wikipedia for lack of citations. I will not claim this info as accurate for all Kuvasz dogs, but this description was remarkably accurate for ours.
The Kuvasz is an intelligent dog and is often described as having a clownish sense of humor which can last throughout their adolescence and into adulthood. They are intensely loyal and patient pets who appreciate attention but may also be somewhat aloof or independent, as well as thoroughly cunning, particularly with strangers. […]
They are strictly working dogs, bred for centuries to think independently and act without instruction, scanning and evaluating the environment and taking protective or deterrent action as needed. […] Kuvasz quickly understand what is being asked of them, but they have to respect a person as a trusted leader before they'll obey commands. […] An adolescent Kuvasz should be able to learn basic obedience commands and consistently respond to them; however the instinctive need to investigate strangers and protect its owner may cause the Kuvasz to act independently when off leash and ignore the calls of a handler. […]
A potential owner should refrain from purchasing a Kuvasz if barking will be a problem at the home. While not every Kuvasz is prone to barking, many of them fulfill their guardian role by vocally warning off potential threats, both real and imagined. […]
The Kuvasz has a very special, close connection to his owner or family, as well as anyone in their circle, human or animal, that the dog considers part of the flock. He will protect all of them. He may also police interactions among them, such as discouraging rough play by herding rowdy individuals away from the group.
If you are reading this and did not have the massive pleasure of meeting (and getting initially barked at by) Odie, this is a pretty accurate scratch at the surface. The biggest kicker for me when I first read it was “threats, both real and imagined”. Odie was constantly watching for trouble and he was sure to let everyone know, even the person he was trying to ward off weighed only as much as he did. His vigilance knew no bounds, and he could often be found sitting or standing at the front door, peering through the window that was barely accessible at his eye level. An imprint of his nose on the glass was an almost permanent fixture before he lost his sight — he would replace it soon after it was wiped away. He would spend hours just laying on the front porch looking into the neighborhood, and two of his most common sleeping spots were directly inside entrances to the house. He felt it was his duty to keep us safe and he did not slack.
Despite his intimidating bark and size, Odie was extremely gentle and loved children. He enjoyed going by the playground near our home in Johnson City and watching over the kids, like they were his little sheep. Even after losing his sight, Mom told me he liked to sit near the green space where children would play and just listen.
Three shepherds, perhaps not alike in dignity…
Odie had no sheep, so he would go as far as to herd our cars as we parked to fulfill his instincts.
Odie’s shepherd behaviors were not limited to kids and family. Although he barked at individual “intruders”, if a large number of people came for a party his switch flipped from “guard dog” to “patrol (for snacks)”. He could be seen making his rounds through the house, gently herding guests into groups by bumping them and sampling hors d'oeuvres from people thankful for his visit. This did not always work out for guests though — one incident involving a spiral staircase, a collection hung purses, and an overfed Odie led to a more strict diet during parties.
“The best dog they ever met.”
Once you got into Odie’s circle of trust, he loved you and he made you love him too. He was very affectionate, and would follow you around the house to be with you (Mom can attest that he was at her feet all the time). He loved to be close, and if you were standing around he would walk right up to you and just lean in (I mean really lean) so you could feel the love. Lesser humans would be knocked over by such force — but when Odie loved you, you were not a lesser human.
Odie becoming an Upholstery Dog, which took him years to accomplish.
Before becoming an Upholstery Dog™, Odie was quite the rascal in regards to carpets and rugs. He was smart and he knew the rules, but whether or not he followed them was highly dependent on if you were around to watch him break them.
One particular rug had a mysterious tendency to get hair on it and kept sliding around on the floor, despite being in a low traffic area. Every time someone got home, you would open the door and hear the hurried scuffling of an Odie-Bodie quickly getting up to greet you, always coming from the direction of the room with the rug. One time Mom snuck around the front of the house instead of coming through the garage and caught him through the window snoozing his day away on the rug. Never seen him stand up faster, I am told.
Eventually they just got him a big blanket and let him sleep wherever he wanted.
Perhaps my favorite story: at the time, my parents’ bedroom was a carpeted room with a fireplace and accompany non-carpeted area in front of it (hearth?). Mom comes home one day and goes into the bedroom to find Odie just sitting innocently in front of the fireplace. Like a good boy, he is not on the carpet. However, the fireplace is an island of tile in an ocean of carpet in this room. There is no way Odie could have gotten there without breaking the rules. Odie knew he wasn’t supposed to be on the carpet. He also knew that we knew that he knew he wasn’t supposed to be on the carpet. So when my mom tried to get him to cross the carpet to go back to the rest of the house, he refused.
“You’ll not trick me, witch!” — Odie, probably
He feigned innocence. He’s not a rulebreaker, and wouldn’t even break the rules if asked. Mom ended up gently shoving him out the side door of their bedroom and getting him back inside from the back deck.
Odie came into our lives by chance, and I feel like one of the luckiest people alive to have had him as my dog. When I had to describe him to people who had never met him, I liked to say “he is the dog that all dogs should strive to be”. He was smart, silly, loving, and so much more. There were times that I wished that I had been able to take him with my to Auburn or SF, but his home was Tennessee and he was one of my favorite parts of visiting, every time. I wouldn’t have been able to give him the level of care that he needed in his later years, and I am thankful to my parents for going to such great lengths in both time and expense to keep him as comfortable and healthy as possible for such a long time. Every moment with loved ones is a gift, and I am happy that I was given so many with Odie.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
I love you and I’ll miss you, buddy.
Preamble
Tyler, didn’t you already have a blog? And almost never update it?
The Path
Daniel (my first FB Jefe) had the fantastic idea of including music for each post. Maybe it’s topical, something I just discovered, or just something I’m in the mood for. This one, Be More Kind, is a little bit of #1 and #3. Enjoy.
Tyler, didn’t you already have a blog? And almost never update it?
shh bby is ok. That was for traveling, which is a generally short-duration endeavor. It was good to let people follow along for those expeditions, but it's under the WordPress domain and kind of ugly (partially my fault). I figured I would splurge on a custom domain for this one because
- This one has a much longer intended lifespan (I am moving across an ocean and don't intend to deal with that hassle twice in a short period).
- This one might actually have more than my parents read it.
- I got paid in Zuccbuccz™ for two and a half years, I can afford Squarespace Tyler aren't you supposed to be a programmer?
What you can expect
If you've read my previous blog (I just went back and laughed at my own jokes -- they're still good), it's probably going to be like that. Medium-form raconteur practice and some photos laced with pop culture references. Maybe it'll be a little lighter on the photos since I'm not a tourist this time around. I actually intend to put something up at least once a week after I move, so if I don't you can bug me (Mom).
What's going on now?
Immigration - Japan started processing incoming long-term visa holders at the start of October. The first step for me is getting the Certificate Of Eligibility, which involves me giving the government a bunch of documents and waiting for a document (the CoE) to be mailed to me, which I can then take to the consulate in SF. My CoE application just went out on Tuesday (October 26), and I was told I can expect it at the end of November.
Moving Logistics - I am trying to evacuate as many nonessential possessions as I can. I have already sold both motorcycles. The big challenge is trying to get rid of my furniture, but not too early. I don't want to be sleeping on the floor quite yet. Kuma has already started his 180-day waiting period as a part of the ludicrously long pet import process into Japan. Because I am moving before him, he will be living with family back on the other side.
Work - I am in my second week at SmartNews and it is just the whole firehose experience again, but with less documentation and all virtual. Exciting, yes. A challenge, also yes. I am optimistic about applying learnings from my experience at Facebook to a rapidly-growing company, I just need time to get my shoes on first.