雪の宿, "yuki no yado" Snow House Senbei

雪の宿, "yuki no yado" is probably my favorite Japanese rice cracker. Yuki means snow and yado means cottage or house. The image is a snow covered house. It's a salty "salada" senbei cracker covered with a thin, hard, white frosting on one side. It's salty and delicious with a hint of sweetness. A perfect balance. There is also a brown sugar version that is great.

There is an infinite variety of senbei or rice crackers. This is one of the best and most popular. Watch out for more senbei on this blog.

動物ヨーチ Doubutsu Yo-chi (Animal Crackers)

Doubutsu Yo-chi are one of my favorite Japanese cookies, known by the British expression "biscuits" in Japan. Doubutsu means animal. Think of them as really thick animal crackers with a hard pastel frosting on one side.They're really sweet and the taste reminds me of cookies I've had in the States, like the kind Cookie Monster used to always eat. They come in many shapes, not only animals and the frosting is pink, yellow, white, or green. However, I always have trouble telling what kind of animal they are. It's not always clear by looking at the frosting side. The cookie side sometimes gives you a clue. I've seen shells, cats, bears, elephants, a hippo I think, and a chestnut. This ambiguity is actually part of the charm and you can interpret them differently like watching clouds.

Japanese Facial Expressions: Pucker Up

As I mentioned in the previous post, Japanese men do not puff out their cheeks to show anger as women do, but all Japanese will pucker their lips to show frustration or when contemplating over news just received, especially if it's something they didn't want to hear. They've hit a wall, and this face means their thinking about how to respond or what to do next. "what's plan B?"  It's very common, and I find myself using this gesture unconsciously.

It may also come with a very audible sound of sucking in air through the teeth. This also shows contemplating what's next or if their uncomfortable in a conversation.

Japanese Facial Expressions:The Pouty Face

When I first came to Japan over a decade ago(oh, my god!), one of the first things that confused me and I thought was  funny was seeing adult Japanese women making this silly pouty face. I couldn't understand it. They'd scowl and puff out their little cheeks like chipmunks. Where they joking? In the west, only little kids act like that. Well, now I know better. It may look childish to us, but watch out guys. If your Japanese girlfriend shows you this face, it means she is genuinely angry with you and should be taken seriously. The Japanese are not usually overly emotional in public and this face is a socially acceptable way for women to show their anger without looking too angry. And anyway, it is kind of cute.

I can't take credit for these photos. I found them online because I couldn't get anyone to model for me. By the way, you never see Japanese men puff out their cheeks like this, at least not if their straight.

Junko's Present

As you may or may not know, my wife Junko is also an English teacher. Actually, she is an assistant teacher at Hana's eelementary school. She recently completed a correspondence course especially for teaching English to eelementary students. Teaching English in elementary school is new to Japan and started nation wide this year. As regular eelementary school teachers have limited experience with English, there is a great demand not only for native ALTs, but also for Japanese assistant teachers to act as a go-between and help develop lesson plans. And now, with this certificate, my wife may be in greater demand.

To celebrate, she wanted to get an eelectronic dictionary. She describes herself as an analog person and is the only teacher she knows who doesn't have one. We bought it today at Yamada Denki electronics store. It's pretty snazzy. It not only has dictionaries of numerous languages, but also programs on English grammar, tests, and also lots of cultural information in English, so I can use it, too. Han was keen to try the English test questions. The screen is in color and has sound. So, starts a new phase of the Winter's working life.

Japanese Gestures: "Money"



In Japan

 In America, to gesture "money", we rub the fingers together as if rubbing money bills together. In Japan, they make a circle with the thumb and index finger that looks like a coin.


In America



Mystery Pigeon house

There is a house nearby that I can see from my balcony which perplexes me. Every day, I see a whole flock of pigeons resting on top, particularly in the morning and around 3 o 4 o,clock p.m. The whole flock will fly around in circles near my apartment, but always centered on that house, where they periodically land. Even more perplexing, is that in the smaller building next to the house, I can see pigeons inside the screen of the window. Every time I see it, it makes me think of the people on rooftops in New York who raise and train flocks of pigeons. I actually walked around to the front of the house when the pigeons where there, but I didn't see anyone outside or on the balcony directing them. I'm of half a mind to just march up to the front door and ask the owner about it. I'll let you know if I learn anything further. Life in Japan is always interesting.