Flour Power

Yesterday Sara and I made our own soybean flour. We were on an outing to the Open Air Museum of Old Japanese Farmhouses (quite a name I know). The museum was in the huge Ryokuchi Park, which seemed about three times as big as Liberty Park in Salt Lake. The Open Air Museum was pretty large itself and had a collection of relocated farmhouses from the Edo period (1600s - late 1800s) from all over Japan. Lots of thatched roofs, earthen floors, bamboo groves, and screaming crows.

Well along the path between the rice storehouse and the massive thatched farmhouse/silkworm nursery we noticed a little lean-to displaying old stone contraptions. The sixtysomething Japanese man greeted us and we decided to check the place out. Sara and the guy had the usual "Where are you from, how do you like Japan?" introductory chat. The guy then explained in half Japanese half English that the old stone contraptions were Edo era soybean mills for making soybean flour. He grabbed a few dried soybeans and demonstrated how the thing worked and said that for 100 yen we could grind a bag of soybean flour for ourselves. Sara goes nuts for this sort of thing so we jumped to it.

The top wheel had to be cranked slowly clockwise in order for the beans to grind properly and the man told us to only grind about 10 beans at a time. Sara and I each had our turns and ground all of the beans. Soybean Man helped us lift off the top wheel and sweep all of the flour into a bag. "Mix soy bean flour with... sugar... (demonstrating) put on gohan. Very good, sweet." Gohan means rice. Sounds yummy! Both parties bowed and thanked each other several times with multiple "Arigato goZAIMAS!"s and we countinued our old time Japanese farm exploring.

A Day in the Life

Ok, I'm finally writing again. It is a lazy Sunday and Sara is making pizza so I have to do SOMETHING. Hey, why not write, right? For the last couple weeks I have just been living a life of leisure. Not a whole lot of adventuring, but just living a normal day and doing regular every-day things are so foreign that it seems like an adventure without even trying. Most of my days are spent how i would spend them back home, i just don't have a job to go to. I'll relate a typical "day in the life" of Cody.

It is pretty much like being retired but instead of receiving Social Security checks, I periodically withdraw my life savings from the bank. And the name of that bank? 7-bank, aka the ATM in the 7-11 down the street from my apartment. I can withdraw money from my US bank account and the machine automatically converts dollars to yen. Much easier than having to deal with a bank teller or foreign money exchanger. But of course I don't head to the bank first thing in the morning. I automatically wake up around 6 or 7 am, not by alarm but because my brain is programmed to open a coffee shop around that time even though it is actually 15 hours ahead of the time that coffee shop in Salt Lake City would be opening. I wake up that earlt no matter how late I was up the night before. Then I usually go back to sleep, 30 minutes at a time, until around 11. I will immediately rummage for breakfast which typically consists of Rice Crispy or Chex cereal with very beany tasting soymilk, orange juice, and maybe a banana. Then I'll get online, see if anybody else in America is online and maybe chat a bit. Around then I'll crave sweets so I will run downstairs to find a pastry in one of the bakeries on my street.

Once on the main market-lined streets i have to dodge crazy businessmen and and old ladies on bikes, sqeeze past hunched-over old men who love to stop abruptly in front of people, avoid stepping on children who are frozen gawking at me, all the while politely half bowing, half nodding to the 100 cheerful old shopkeepers that smile and stare as i pass by. I get to the familiar the bakery and hope to find something filled with chocolate and not minced meat. I remeber where places, like the bakery, are by where they are and how far instead of the name of the shop or what it looks like. I can't read most of the signs and there are just SO MANY little shops on my neighborhood, I can't distinguish one storefront from another. If you have ever walked through a Chinatown you know how it feels to walk through my street. The street, paved with brick-like tiles, is about as wide as 2 neighborhood sidewalks. There is a cover, 2 or 3 stories up, above the street and only pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed. There are cars on some of the cross streets but they have to squeeze through the mob of afternoon shoppers and commuters. Imagine your outdoor strip mall with 3 times as many shops and 4 times as many people. Add the smell of fish and pee and fried food. Subtract your ability to read ANYTHING and understand what anyone is saying, including store clerks. That equals my daily trip to buy a pastry.

Depending on the temperature outside i'll either get a can of cold black coffee from any number of vending machines or make hot coffee at home. I don't have a coffee maker at my apartment so I have to brew it a cup at a time. I heat up some water on my gas stove, which resembles my butane camp stove back home. The single serving coffee packs are like a tea bag with carboard flap hooks on each side. You rip off the top of the filter bag, put the hooks over the sides of the mug, and pour hot water into the suspended mini coffee filter and let it drip through. Very innovative! Mike should use these, he always brews half a pot of coffee and only drinks a cup or two.

After my sugar and caffeine fix, I might walk through through my neighborhood to the nearby park to sit on a bench and write while little Japanese kids run around screaming in their school uniforms and the little yellow hats that always fall off when they start running. Or i'll walk the opposite direction to the library I found (using Google Maps; I never would have found it on my own) and sit on the floor at one of the low tables to study my Japanese, after taking my shoes off of course. After a while i'll go home and maybe go out on the town with Sara to find some dinner. We usually will ride our bikes for 20 minutes or take the 10 minute subway ride to Namba, one of the main downtown areas of Osaka, which is full of restaurants, shops, neon, giant video screens, and Pachinko parlors. Pachinko parlors are just big slot machine casinos where the slot machines are disguised as exciting anime video games. The signs outside always have annoying flashing lights and cartoon characters which have nothing to do with the actual games. So silly. Sara and I wil usually wander aimlessly, people watch (always an amusing passtime in Namba) or stop in to a noodle shop. Ramen, udon, and soba are usually feally cheap and vegetarian so I eat that a lot when we go out. We will say the mandatory "Itadakimas!" before eating, with out hands clapped in front of us. Everyone does this before eating and it is an abligatory Japanese custom. If I need to go to the restroom, chances are that the toilet will be plugged into a wall outlet. Most public toilets have VERY heated seats and and armrest with a control pad for the temperature of the seat, the temperature and strenght of the bidet and the size of flush needed. When we leave the restaurant, the whole staff will yell "Arigato goZAIMAAAAAAAAS!" On the speedy and skillful downhill foottraffic-weaving bikeride back to my apartment, Sara and I might stop at Tsutaya (the video store by our house) where almost all of the movie titles are in Japanese so the cover picture is important. We'll make some hot green tea and watch a movie, Japanese subtitles built in.

That is just a typical day for me. Back home it would be unremarkable and here it seems normal. But when I think about how everything I do in a day, however mundane, is so different from how I am really used to doing things, I think "Whoa! This is crazy!" Then i'll get up the next day and do it all over again.

It's all chicken-scratches

Osaka is one of the cleanest cities i have ever seen. And I'm sure the rest of the country is the same. But there are still folks who keep it interesting and not-so-sanitary. For those of you who are down with crime, here is a peek of japanese graffiti i have seen so far. There is tons more but i see it from trains. I'll try to get more photos soon!

The part I didn't tell my mother

Before i continue the saga, i need to clarify two things. First, i forget to capitalize many words, including "i." it bothers me when other people forget but i type quickly without thinking so i don't do it. However, for the sake of looking good, I will try. See? I did it.

Sencondly, there is a reason I woke up covered in drool on my trans-Pacific flight. Before my flight i realized that due to my short attention span and spastic brain, i would go even more crazy if I was conscious during the entire 12 hour flight. I brought reading and writing material and my iPod but sitting in one spot for a whole day would kill me. So I did what any logical 23-year-old would do: I got drunk. After my last American meal for 3 months (sushi for gawdsakes!!) i hit the Seattle airport bar. I started with a glass of merlot. It was pretty good but oh so strong. Like cough syrup strong. But i was on a mission: operation sleepy time-travel. So i wrote a bit and had another glass and wrote some more. By this time i was feeling pretty tipsy. And what does any self-respecting 23-year-old do in this situation? He has another glass. I was so full and i drank the last glass so fast, i thought i would barf. Yikes! and then i had to get on an airplane! But as my close friends know, i'm a champion so i kept it on the DL. I carefully walked, or rather GLIDED to my gate. I walked up to the counter to show my boarding pass and the Korean girl said, as if she had been panicking, "Are you Cody Kirkland?? We have been looking for you!! You must Check in as soon as you arrive at the terminal!" Oh shit, i almost missed my flight. Thanks Mr. Merlot. So i glided (i definitely didn't stagger) through the weird plane-tube thing and found my seat. There was an Asian kid about my age in the window seat on my row and when i sat down i began a very enthusiastic conversation with him. "Hey what's up?? What's yer name?? Where ya from??" He said his name was some Chinese name and he was from Bejiing. I'm sure i mad an ass of myself but i don't remember any more conversation. For some reason about a half hour after takeoff we were served a meal. I was still stuffed but of course i can't refuse my Vegetarian Meal. I ate what i could and accepted the offer of wine with my meal. Ha! Then i started listening to music and woke up in a drool bath. Just another chapter in the Tales of Kid Drunkadelic...

There is much more to tell on this subject but i'll wait 'til another time. Seacrest Out!

Thus Far: A Rough Cut

the airline actually had pretty good vegetarian meals. i had 3 total. on the 12 hour flight i don't know how long i slept but i just woke up with drool on my shirt and i had no idea what was going on haha. then i tried to read and listen to music but my attention span was short. i discovered that the tv console in the back of the seat had a pull out controller with video games so i played virtual golf. i started gettting good and found a miniature golf game too. i got sick of playing so i watched "the curious case of benjamin button." pertty good film by the way. the korean stewardesses kept bringing around glasses of juice and i probably drank a gallon total. i managed to keep myself entertained and the flight didn't seem too long. when i got to the seol, korea airport is when the crazy started. i was among a handful of white/european people among thousands of koreans. i wandered around in the airport and listened to people speaking korean and japanese.

the last flight was over in a jiffy and i decended on urban japan as all the lights were shining. i was so excited and nervous i was almost shaking (i also had a cup of in-flight coffee ha!). oh i forgot to say: when getting off the plane in korea and japan, there was a quarantine area because we were all coming from the united states and asia didn't want to spread piggy flu. i had to fill oout a questionaire and get my temperature taken and i tried desperately not to cough. i had modereate allergies so i was all coughy and sniffly but i controlled myself. after being checked for diseases i filled out a paper for customs and waited in line forever. when i got to the front, the guy looked at my forms and pointed out that i didn't have an address for where i was staying in japan. i told him i didn't know it yet and he said to write a phone number and name instead. "oh and it must be filled out in pen, not pencil." ah! so i had to leave the line and re-do my form in pen. i just got in front of a bunch of people in line and finally made it through. i found my bag after running around for 10 minutes and left to find sara. i found her and then we hurried to catch the train home.

the next day we rode a train to kyoto and went to a big shrine and temple near the mountains. it was a bunch of buildings spread throughout the hills in a forest. i took lots of pictures and walked for hours. we wandered around in a huge graveyard. the next day we rode the train to kyoto again and met up with 2 of sara's friends and rode a train to nara to watch a baseball game. it was interesting to see japan's different customs when it comes to things like sports but baseball is boring to watch so i kept trying to nap on the bench.

the NEXT day we went to kyoto again to go to a really big famous shrine. i think this shrine had the most torii gates out of any in japan. torii gates are the big orange arch type things that usually mark the entrance to a shrine but there were thousands of them all above the paths trhoughout the mountains. some parts were even like a tunnel of bright orange gates with black japanese writing all over on side. culturally and spiritually, it was a world apart from anything i have ever experienced. i was just in awe the whole time.

after the temple, we walked through the city and visited little shops and i drank cold black coffee from vending machines which really are EVERYWHERE. even by the temples. one of the big brands is BOSS and they have a black coffee drink called BLACK BOSS. i kept saying BLACK BOSS!! every time i would see it. hilarious. we took the train to the town where sara's dorms are and ate at a ramen shop. i had the one vegetarian thing there, ramen (requested withough the meat on top). the noodles are similar to instant ramen noodles but the broth is awesome and there are veggies and otther stuff in the soup.

yesterday sara and i were worn out from all the traveling so we just lounged around the apartment and finally got out of the place to explore our hometown, osaka. we walked to namba, the main downtown area of osaka. it took 45 minutes to walk there because we underesimated the distance but when we got there it was almost overwhelming! it was how i imagine times square to be: giant video ads on all the buildings, hundreds of shops, and thousands and thousands of people. you have to walk on the left side of the sidewalks or you'll get trampled. everyone was dressed fancy. the teenagers and people our age and even middle aged people all looked like they were straight out of a teen fashion magazine. and the people who wren't dressed like that were in expensive business suits. i felt out of place dressed on all black with my ratty hat. my only color was a bright red bandana on my neck and i imagine everyone loved it haha. sara and i found a subway sandwich shop and stopped there for lunch. the menu was basically the same as the US but the sauces were different. i got a weird tomato saice that was like salsa. and they had coffee drinks including soy lattes! weird. so i got a soy latte which was delicious. who woulda thunk. after lunch we went to a gigantic mall to look for comfy shoes. my chuck taylor all stars, although very fashionable in japan, were not good for walking. i didn't find any shoes i liked in the mall but we found some awesome shops where i found a new wallet. in japan you change is usually in coins and the equivalent of a $1 and $5 bill is in coin form. i needed a wallet that wound hold coins so my pocket wouldn't rip from all the change. i bought a bright purple wallet with a chain, an lifesize ear-shaped key chain called an EAR-RING, and a yellow lego-block key cover. this combination, while functional, would help me fit in to the color-crazed local population.
we left the mall to wander the namba area and i found my shoes: bright yellow reebok classics. yes, cody bought yellow shoes. who woulda thunk. adrian was right: i'm turning japanese. when in rome...

after shopping was over we stopped in to a little noodle shop. to order, you put your money into a vending machine and select your meal with a button and it prints out a ticket. then you sit at the u-shaped counter and had the cook your ticket who cooks of dishes out your order right in the middle of the counter. while i was eating i realized how crazy my life was at the moment. there i was, a young american mormon boy from little salt lake city, utah, eating udon in a steamy noodle shop surrounded by millions of japanese in the middle of the second busiest city in japan. japan! it was crazy to think that to all of the people around me, this is just another day. they grew up with that same situation as part of their culture. and i was right in the middle of it. mind-blowing, really.

well it is 11 am on wednesday as i type this and i need some orange juice, or orenji jusu as they call it here. today is another lazy day. slightly rainy. i have 2 goals: try out my new yellow shoes and find a bicycle. hasta luego!