Japan it UP!

Hiking in Fukuoka Japan

Steve — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:13:23 +0000

I went hiking with a friend of mine recently. We rode our bikes about an hour to the east side of Fukuoka and hiked to the top of a mountain. I took just a few pictures, but recorded a lot more (which I don’t have online). It’s called Tachibanaiyama or Touchybunny or something, I don’t remember, but the top has an amazing view of city of Fukuoka Japan.

The Map of the Mountain

The Trail

Looking Up

A View of Fukuoka City

It is a friend…

Steve — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:08:59 +0000

Took a picture of this bag at a department store.

An animal and relations will become good.
Animals are alive with nature.
It is a friend wholly.

Add a “Booyah!” and you’ve got an awesome bag!

Some Good Lunch

Steve — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:06:54 +0000

Fish, chicken, eggs, salad, rice, miso soup, delicious, healthy, variety, bright, perfect.

Tony Tanaka

Steve — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:03:42 +0000

Sounds like a name from the Sopranos! I don’t know who Tony Tanaka is, but he looks serious and I’m assuming his beauty school kicks major ass. It has to, he’s right there in your face saying he’s Tony Tanaka and this is his school! I pass by this sign every day so it deserves props.

Cold Noodles

Steve — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:01:12 +0000

Cold noodles are awesome. You take them out of the cold water, dip it in the sauce, and enjoy. Add perfectly boiled egg, fruit, and vegetables, and you’ve got an energizing meal! I’d say cold noodles are in the top 10 of my favorite Japanese foods.

Foot Park

Steve — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:59:27 +0000

I thought this was funny name for a convenience store. It makes me picture a really large area with green grass instead of this really tiny shop.

Fish at the Grocery Store

Steve — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:55:20 +0000

It feels like half the grocery store is dedicated to fish. And the price is always right in Japan!

Fresh sliced fish perfect for grilling

Egg stuffed fish... I stay away from this. I don't like the exploding eggs when you chew it.

Tiny fish, great for a yakitori style dinner. Slap it on a stick, grill it, eat it just like that.

Now let’s work on getting some Chicago style pizza cookin’ in the bakery Mr. Grocery Store! If they had a suggestion box I’d be dropping notes every day. Non-seafood-non-mayo pizza, big steak, some Diet Dr. Pepper please and thank you.

A Nice Surprise

Steve — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:51:24 +0000

After a late night of working, just a few hours of a sleep, waking up to a clean desk with cute love notes is great. Walking into the kitchen with a few things of iced coffee ready to go and more notes is even better! I love waking up to things like this.

What is considered?

Steve — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:48:37 +0000

What is considered? I want to understand you. Please be together all the time. I want to know what you consider.

This bag can be yours for only 600 yen! Get it now at your local Daily Yamazaki!

Sushi Lunch For 1000 Yen

Steve — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:41:29 +0000

We found a sushi restaurant that serves fresh fish daily. Dinner costs a person no less than 3000 Yen and can easily run 5000. But lunch is a steal! For 1000 Yen you get this tray of fresh sushi, soup, green tea, and a fruit desert that feels like you’re eating clouds of happiness. This is one of the many reasons I really like Japan.

Besides the last picture, the quality isn’t bad for a 2 megapixel camera phone.

Shopping for some fruit

Steve — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:37:21 +0000

I went undercover at the local grocery store (as that really tall white guy) and snapped these pictures with my phone (with a really loud CLICK CLICK!). Sometimes the price of fruit can get crazy. Famous this, famous that, from a famous place, etc etc. I’ve eaten some of these grapes and they are THE BEST grapes ever to exist! You’re probably laughing, or going “what-ev” but I’m for real. Are they worth $18? Well… only if I get or give it as a gift, or a once a year purchase. I never knew that grapes could taste this good.

I haven’t eaten any melons yet, but I think I’d save myself $20, I mean 2000 Yen, and take the melon on the left!

Camping out at Best Denki

Steve — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:24:55 +0000

Camping in Japan starts on the streets! Best Denki had deals all summer long. Really extreme deals. For example a PC that’s usually $1000 runs $300 for the first 5 people that buy it. My wife and her friend went camping around 8pm one night in June to get a good deal, and they were at 10th place in line! Insane. I showed up to supply them with camping equipment and bodygaurd protection! In the beginning they were just getting a laptop, but we ended up buying an air conditioner (+heater) when the store opened. It ended up being $400 with free installation. It was originally $600 with an installation fee that ran $100-150 I think. Yeah… I’m in Japan and I should be talking Yen but it’s easier to talk dollars. Here are some pics from my camera phone.

Bento Lunch

Steve — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:13:28 +0000

Here’s a picture of a bento box lunch my wife made. Japanese bento is way better than the mystery brown paper bag special I grew up with!

Yoshinoya in 30 seconds!

Steve — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:13:26 +0000

Yoshinoya is the bomb! The food is decent, and it’s really fast. We timed their service and all the people in the restaurant got their order within 25-45 seconds of ordering. The staff was loud, yelling things in Japanese, and preparing food swift like ninjas, it was incredible! Their most popular dish is Gyudon (beef on rice) but I went for the pork on rice dish. This + some green tea comes to less than $4.

Disturbing Shrimp

Steve — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:13:23 +0000

I’ve never cooked full shrimp before and these suckers were HUGE! They were the size of brats, and it was pretty nasty cutting their heads off with a crunchy snap. They tasted good though.

Taco night!

Steve — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:13:25 +0000

These tacos were inspired by the blog, All Things Japan. She made a post earlier this year about a Taco Bell care package her friend sent her. I was like “Whaaaaaaat!? No way!” So I had some friends send us some Taco Bell seasonings and supplies too! Sure you can get some Ortega seasoning here for about $4-5 (lame) and it’s no Taco Bell. I forgot to take a picture of what our friends sent us, but here’s the final result. This made me realize how much I miss Americanized Mexican food.

Mmmm Sea Snails

Steve — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:13:29 +0000

Yeah, more like “Mmmm… naaaaaasty…” These sea snails were big, had a fishy taste, and a strange texture. They were cooked and came to the table warm. This was my first time eating them, so I thought “what the hell” and I ate them all. You have to dig them out of the shell with a toothpick or small fork and they the end result looks a little disturbing. I’ve never eaten an eyeball, but I’d imagine it would have a similar texture.

Here are a few sea snail videos from Youtube, bleh.

I’m bored, do you have questions?

Steve — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:58:27 +0000

If you have any questions I’d love to try to tackle them. Maybe they’re about Japan, maybe about living in some other country other than your own. Whatever’s on your mind, feel free to send them my way through my contact form.

Some questions people have asked include… how did I learn Hiragana? How do you make friends, find a job, contact friends and family, get around without knowing Japanese, buy clothes that fit, money, food, health, taxes, bugs, boredom, and so on. By the way I will write up something about Hiragana soon.

Graffiti in Japan

Steve — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:13:22 +0000

It’s strange to see so much graffiti everywhere. It doesn’t matter what kind of neighborhood I’m in, there’s graffiti somewhere. Who does this? Why? And when? Seeing it everywhere gets old.

Maybe this picture I took will explain some things…

Beware of the Yukata Yanki!

(She's actually holding a water bottle... shhh our secret)

What’s for Lunch

Steve — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:13:27 +0000

Here’s a picture of some bento my wife made for me. I love the variety of food and the presentation! I feel bad because her food is delicious, and that causes me to eat every meal pretty quickly instead of taking my time to enjoy every bite.

Aeon Mall

Steve — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:20:04 +0000

I took this picture with my phone. The mall is pretty big! This is where I found the awkward egg rolls.

Really long egg rolls

Steve — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:13:20 +0000

We were doing some traveling so I we hit up a mall for some shopping and some food. That’s when I ran across this beast! For ¥390 I could have eaten two feet of egg rolls! These are the most awkward egg rolls I’ve ever seen, somebody could use them as weapons.

Final Bargain!

Steve — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:13:21 +0000

I thought this sign was funny. Because

It was in front of a chain restaurant entrance trying to get me to enter
It sounds like I was bartering with them for a while
5% is a discount, not a bargain, and no where close to a final bargain

Now here’s what a Final Bargain should look like, up to 70% off, hellz yeah!

2008 Olympics - Team Japan

Steve — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:02:06 +0000

I haven’t been able to find the official site for the Japan Olympics team, but here’s what I have found which is packed full of info.

Japan Today has an Olympics section in English. Reporting news daily on what’s going on. It helps keep me updated on what’s going on.

Wikipedia has an updated page about Japan at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

If you read Japanese, then maybe Sports Navi is the place to be. It has TV schedules, news, medal counts, etc.

The news at yahoo.com isn’t very Japan related, but the Japan medal count has pictures, if you click on a persons name.

This year I think Volleyball is one of my favorite sports. I saw part of Japan vs China game the other day and the spikes were intense, people were falling backwards after a hit, people were diving all over the place, it’s an amazing sport.

photo credit: xiaming

How much money do Olympic athletes make?

Steve — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:09:41 +0000

I’ve been watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics here in Japan. It’s interesting because I’m hooked on sports I didn’t watch in the past like ping pong, badminton, and judo along with my regular favorites. Of course everything is from the view of the Japanese team which is a lot of fun since I haven’t watched the Olympics in another country before.

I’ve always wondered how much Olympic athletes get paid, so I did some searching. The financial support varies from country to country, so I’ll be focusing on Team USA since that’s the team I’m most familiar with.

I read the PDF file from TeamUSA that has a lot of details about reimbursement and income. Here are the main money makers.

Gold Medal: $25,000
Silver Medal: $15,000
Bronze Medal: $10,000

Here’s a basic breakdown of what each US Olympic Athlete gets for the 2008 Beijing Olympics :

Competition & Camp Expenses (airline – United VIK, room/board &
accreditation fees)
Monthly Stipends
Performance Incentives
OTC Resident Program
Elite Athlete Health Insurance (EAHI)
NIKE Apparel

This is only what the country is giving athletes. Monthly stipends range from $250-2000 per month, so I’m sure a lot of athletes have jobs while they’re training. And there’s a lot more money to be made with endorsement deals and bonuses too. Speedo is awarding a $1 million bonus to Michael Phelps if he ties Mark Spitz’s 1972 gold medal record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics (from CNBC), and 21 year old Usain Bolt from Jamaica received a $1.8 million bonus from his sponsor Digicel for breaking the 100 meter race world record back in May (link to picture).

I know not everybody is getting rich, but just like any other sport, it’s interesting to see who is.

You can read more about the Olympics Team USA at TeamUSA.org. You can also see the current Beijing overall medal count here and here’s the count sorted by Gold medals. co(Image above is courtesy of M@rcopako)