Wild Plants Tempura at Osugi Park...

Yet another trip organized for foreign students here...
Hah...it's so nice being a foreigner here in Japan.

Anyway, this time, it's a trip to a farm, planting sweet potatoes, then it's a hike up a hill to have sansai (wild plants) tempura for lunch.

The schedule for the day was this:

1. Gather and depart by bus to some place
   
2. Reach a small farm, help turn the soil, fertilize it and plant sweet potato shoots
3. Hike for about 30 minutes up a hill
   
4. Have Tempura for lunch at Osugi Park
   

Okay, seeing this kind of schedule, what would you choose to wear?

Shorts? A jacket that you won't mind soiling? A comfortable pair of sneakers for hiking?

YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!!!


You should wear a beautiful sari, put on make up, wear cute sandals and paint your little toes!!!
Hahahahah....

You can always count on Indian people to dress up like this to no matter where. They love their clothes very very much...such show of patriotism!

Ever seen a woman in sari and cute sandals planting sweet potatoes?
I have!

Hahaha.....

Okay, now on to the main story.

I originally forgotten about this trip...then a girl contacted me the night before, asking me if I could take her place instead as she had some other stuff to do. Just like Jim Carrey in Yes Man, I said "Yes."
I mean, why not? I have eaten sansai tempura only once before and I enjoyed it a lot.

So, gathering was early in the morning. It was then when I got my first haha in the morning. Me and Farhan saw the lady in the sari and we thought that she was there probably just to wave goodbye to her friends.
Then we saw her get on the bus....needless to say, we instantly hahaha-ed at her.

I don't mean to be rude towards Indians here, but damn....a sari to a farm? I can forgive an eyeliner...but a sari? AND one of them was late....haih.

Anyway, reached the farm not long after that and was at once put into labor...









Honestly, I was expecting a good laugh watching Sari pouring stinking fertilizer on the soil. But I was disappointed to find that she's the designated camera person.

Anyway, we did stuff you see in the photos above. We were invited to come back here again to harvest and consume those sweet potatoes we planted. But too bad, by that time, I would be away doing industrial training.

There were about 20 people working on that small piece of land, so work ended as soon as it started.

Next was the 30 minute long walk up the hill to the park for lunch...










The walk was scenic and very refreshing. Seriously, can't remember the last time I took in so much green into my eyes.

Just in case you're wondering, they gave us the option of riding the bus there as we had old folks amongst ourselves. So, folks with white hair, sagging skin, and sari rode the bus there.





Waiting for us on the table was various kinds of wild plants ready to be drowned in flour and oil.

On the way there, I told Farhan's lab mates; Toyoshima, Oshio and Sakurai, that I had eaten these before, and while I remember the taste, I can't remember their names....so we ended up calling them "Randy no.1", "Randy no.2", "Randy no.3", "Randy no.4".
During lunch, they found out that, while Randy had a unique taste, Randy is sometimes hairy and bitter...but they all liked Randy anyway. Haha...

Oh, I have to mention here that the lady(polka dot top) who joined us at the table was one of the organizers. She is very very Japanese ladylike. And by that I mean the way she was seated with her legs neatly folded beneath her, the way she addresses everyone, the way she carefully dips the wild plants into the flour and then the oil, the way she politely asks if there's anything that we like, the way she partly covers her mouth when she talks....like I said, very very Japanese.
She even went as far as frying only the things that she recognizes, like pumpkin, asparagus and bamboo sprout....Japanese is always cautious of things they don't recognize.

Takes a challenger like Randy to deep fry things like Randy no.1, Randy no. 2, ......don't remember doing anything I already know when it was my turn at the fire. Haha...

Anyway, lunch was great. I even manage to get my hands on some sake. Always nice getting to eat these kinds of things once in a while...a rare break from the usual chicken and fish.

The day ended with the organizers waving hands at foreign students.

The Japanese ladylike bowed...



PS: What I meant by Indians was India's Indians....not Malaysian Indians. Forgive me very much but I have heard a lot of funny stories from my brother who is working for MAS. He hates flights to India, but always comes back with the funnies stories ever on their antics.
Oh, I later found out that they weren't from India after all. They are from Bangladesh. I should have studied Geography more seriously in Form 3.

The melted piece of chocolate.

Here's something about me; I LOVE chocolate.

One of my favorites is Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate with Fruits and Nuts. Took a piece from a pack today, tore open the small packaging...and instead of finding a block of brown goodness welcoming me, I saw gooey, soft brown mud waiting for me instead.

Damn...Summer heat killed my chocolate.

Yeah...Spring time is over, and Summer's coming. Sigh...the heat, no wait...the heat is inevitable. It's nature, god's idea of making us sweat.

It's the humidity that I should be bitching about!

Great....now I gotta bring out my trusty old fan and clean it before putting it to labor.

I've started sleeping with windows wide open and without blanket....afraid that soon I'll have to sleep naked. Damn....the heat....

I know...being a Malaysian, I'm supposed to have gotten used to heat. But after being introduced to the alternative(autumn, winter and spring), I find that the heat IS something worth wasting your time complaining about.

Not only the heat, the damn cicadas will soon start making noises, trying to "get it on" with its mates.

I wonder if there's anything about summer that is worth looking forward to?

Beaches maybe? Hmm......

Bra for men?? Wtf??

Many prophecies have predicted that some kind of plague will mark the end of days...yeah, I know, Swine flu is out and about now. But I'm not ready to acknowledge Armageddon just yet...until I saw this.


Umm...what is that dude doing, holding his chest with a sad face like that.
And what's wrong with the mannequins? Did they run out of plasters to make boobs?
And why are those bras on display so small...wait...are they...no...no....NO WAY!!!
Those are men bras!!




Shit, the end of the world is truly coming....Yes, now they have bra for men and it's available in Japan.

I have no idea why they made bra available for men, but this is damn ridiculous.

I've seen guys sitting in front of the mirror setting their hair and trimming their eyebrows.
I've seen guys putting on foundation on their faces as they are "afraid of the sun" or "wants fair skin".
I've even seen guys going on strict diet just so that they can fit into tight pants.

But this....what the hell? Men's bra? Now the Japs have gone too far!!!


Aw shit, this have got to be the most disgusting piece of picture I've ever posted on my blog.

OKAY...let's be fair to those guys who "needs" them. These guys aren't exactly transvestite, nor are they some perverted cross dresser. They are normal, everyday office men. Report says that Japanese men have "requested" for them...asking why can't guys wear bra too. It supposedly have positive psychological effect...boosting self confidence and relieving stress. They are so popular that these men bra sold out on the first day of sales!! And I kid you not when I say, there are request for men bra in the US as well.

This thing isn't exactly new in Japan. The trend where men have become less "manly" started long ago. Many of the guys here are less aggressive, forgoing the masculine look and opting for a softer touch; such as trimming eyebrows, putting on make up, refusing to go out if they're hair/clothes aren't well done....some even refuses sexual relationship with women, preferring "self help" toys instead. In Japan, they are labeled as "herbivors"....as in harmless as a cow kind of herbivors.

See how scary Japanese lifestyle can get? You may have heard about the many suicide cases in Japan, but now you know to what extend the pressure and mental stress people face here. And to think that I MAY WORK HERE someday, this isn't encouraging at all...

Can you imagine...me putting on a bra before going to work? My thick, hairy arms reaching out to the back, trying to hook it in place?

Looking into the mirror, then smiling stupidly to myself....full of confidence with a red bra on my chest....

Can you imagine the sheer horror of that??

Someone please kill me the day anyone sees reddish strap beneath my white shirt....

Golden week that was...part 2 : Ramen Museum

As all of you may know, Japan is famous for its ramen. As all of you may not know, ramen originated from China....there was a period after the samurai era where people in Japan just got sick of eating sushi.

"What? Raw fish? AGAIN??!! "
"Can't you at least fry 'em? Boil....or steam maybe?"
"Don't go ongiving me that crap such as 'it's healthy' or 'cooking it will spoil the taste'...you lazy bum!!"
"Now, let's go eat out...hey, that shop is selling something yellow..."
"Slurrrp...Mmm...this is GOOD! What's this called?"
"Ramen? Cool...."

And so, ramen became very popular all across Japan. And while the Chinese are contented with only one flavour, Japanese got bored quickly and created new flavours of their own ; shoyu(soy sauce), miso(fermented soy beans), tonkotsu(pork bones), shio(salt)...and they took over the world. Even the Chinese started to like the thing that the Japanese shamelessly copied from them...

You see, most of my peers left early after last night. So, I ended up being the eldest one there. And my schedule for that day left me free to do anything...so, I decided to grab myself a few juniors and headed to Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama. Those juniors unfortunate enough to be stuck with me was Jet, Ong, Carine, Wei Ling, Beh(Bear? or something like that), Sin Ying, Dong Shen, Jun Hao...8 innocent young blood waiting to be corrupted by me! Hahaha...



Ramen Museum...this place isn't just place where they display boring ramen made out of wax. This "museum" is a place where they offer you famous ramen from various region in Japan.


This place was so famous that we had to line up for about 30~40 minutes just to get in.

The museum is consist of two levels. The top level where they display information on ramen; what types are there, history, etc...mostly boring stuff encased in glass.

The second level however, ho ho....let's time travel.






As you can see, this set is placed back in ancient Japan, time when samurai only existed in movies and robots have drills on its nose. It's as if I've time traveled...just like The Terminator who went back in time, except that I'm not naked and not as muscular like Arnold.

There were about 10 shops there from regions such as Sapporo, Kumamoto, Hakata, etc etc...The crowd that day was especially big, so big that there were more human than noodles and pork. I went with a group of 8 juniors and....with a crowd like this, its hard to stay together and very very difficult for the shops to seat everyone in. So, we split up to smaller groups and agreed to meet up later.

I paired up with Jet, a junior from Suzuka, Mie Prefecture. A very very cool girl...who else would have a name like Jet? No wait, there's that guy who can do Kung Fu....I mean, which girl would have a name like Jet? Couldn't help but introduced myself as "Hi, my name's Rocket, nice to meet you." Hahaha...

Anyway, it was me and Jet, the rest...I don't know much about the rest. Didn't see any of them at all. After lining up for almost an hour to get into the museum, now, we have to line up even longer to get to into the ramen shops!! But Jet was good company and I didn't mind lining up at all...


This is a mini bowl of Kumamoto Ramen for 500 yen...

Always practicing in "Ladies First", I let her choose which shop she wants to go to....Please don't ask me to describe the taste. All I know is that it's a super-licious tonkotsu ramen from Kumamoto, Kyushu. Good ramen with good company...what else can a guy ask for, eh? Lol...





After finishing, we had about 1 hour plus left before joining up with the rest of the gang. So, we decided to try ramen from Sapporo, Hokkaido this time. The line was a whole lot longer than expected and we lined up for....I don't know how long but we were late by 30 minutes when meeting up with others.
Anyway, she ordered Old-style Ramen, which was some kind of shio ramen...taste quite good. Though the taste wasn't as strong as Kumamoto's, it's something that you won't get tired with even after eating a hundred bowls.
I ordered miso ramen instead. If you'd look closely at the picture, you can see that there's a cruel layer of oil floating above my ramen. Enough oil to lubricate an engine for a month. Taste was ok, but the oil...ugh, just horrible.

We had to gobble it up fast as we were already late. The only good thing about my ramen was that it help me eat faster as I can slurp that slippery thing up my mouth easily....ugh, horrible.

All in all, this is one of THE place to visit in Japan. No need to travel hundreds of kilometers to eat famous ramens from various regions...just head in here. Yeah, you have to line up a lot...but it's definitely worth your time.



PS to Juniors: Eh, sorry la guys. Made you wait for half an hour. Worse, that I keep telling everyone to be punctual and I ended up being the unpunctual one. Very very sorry...

Golden Week that was...part 1

Last week was probably THE most important week for any Japanese in Japan. It's so important that they decided to name it "Golden" week. Actually, Golden Week don't even last a week....it's just 4 days of holiday. And the ones who named it "Golden" are probably businessmen as Japanese are compelled to spend money during this time of the year.

And this holiday is for everyone!! The 4 days includes a Saturday, Sunday, Greenery Day and Children's day....Nothing escapes the holiday spree, not even the trees.

Anyway, Golden Week is used by us Malaysian Chinese to hold a gathering every year. Some sort of get to know your juniors kind of thing. But in reality, it's just another excuse for us to get together and reminisce about the old days and catch up on gossips about other people's love life while keeping their own a secret....just like what all old people do.

Just like last year, the gathering was held in a forest of somekind somewhere near Tokyo(about 40 minutes or so from city center)



Where last year was a hike up the mountain and camwhoring while making hell of noises, this year we had games where we made even more noise. We Malaysians are always champions when it comes to making noise in public places, but luckily no one took off their clothes while doing that!! haha...

Btw, the game we played was where each person was given a card with a number on it. We then had to form groups corresponding to a number decided by the referees. I sort of cheated and held two cards(given by Koek Seng Chye, second eldest among us. What a way to teach a junior about life..lol). Still, I got kicked out early in the game....

The second game was drinking coke out of a tin cup using a skinny ass straw to suck at. Damn, straw was skinnier than Cristian Bale in The Machinist. In this game, my team won the competition. How? Well, thanks to my genius and teamwork by Jeremy Cheong...haha.

"When pouring coke into the tin cup, some of it are bound to spill right?"
*Jeremy spills some coke*

"When moving, unsteady hands will cause it to spill right?"
*Jeremy spills some more coke*

Oh, and not forgetting the awesome power of sucking by Ben Foo. Teamwork was what made us win. Teamwork guys...teamwork.

The next game played was carry a ping pong ball on a spoon. Classic.

Oh, one person worth mentioning was Lee Boon Hon. You seem he came a bit late, about halfway through the first game. Boon walked towards us and suddenly flings his bag high up in the air, which landed at nearby benches, and lifts both his hands up, just like a politician greeting his supporters. Haha...what a way to make an entrance. Needless to say, most of us are shocked to see such antics...but damn, what a memorable wtf moment. Guess what.....he forgets his bag later that night!! LOL!!!





We later had barbecue for dinner. The usual sausages, chicken wings and sweet potato placed above roaring fires. Clement and Jeremy happened to be in the same group as me....the few other English-ed guys at the site. SO....seizing this opportunity, I unleashed my cheeky jokes on "sausages" and "chics"....haha. Those with mind as dirty as a charcoal will know what I mean, so no need to elaborate here I guess.



So, we've had our fill, eating to our heart's content. What to do after sitting in front of a fire smelling burnt chicken wings? Go sit in front of a bigger fire!!



Then comes the part everybody's waiting for....Juniors introducing themselves. Well, not that we can remember all their names anyway...no one can. But what we do every year is tease couples of their batch. Nothing excites us Malaysians more than childishly teasing people in love, is there?

Most of the seniors left after the bonfire....but I stayed. Thought that they would like to ask about life in Japan, so thought that I'd play the "senior" role and offer "advice" on living in Japan. Haha...sounds so mature and caring when my real intentions were to...ehem, lets not tarnish my image here.

Anyway, it turns out that I didn't have to speak much after all. This guy Yow Keong, did all the talking. This earned me comments such as "Randy, you look serious". Ho ho...just wait till I start telling unending lame jokes.

We kept talking all through the night....and kept talking until they locked the doors to the main building(I stayed in the cabin) and a few juniors couldn't go back to their own rooms and had to crash in with me instead.

It was very nice getting to meet them juniors...although they made me feel sad by reminding me that I'm "old". To me, they seem somewhat quiet and well mannered, and knew how to carry themselves around elders. Don't get me wrong though, I not like a typical Japanese where they stress a lot on junior-senior relationship.

Anyway, welcome to Japan fellas!! Now suffer the culture differences!!!....haha..

The road not taken...

My lecturer bestowed some very good words of wisdom this morning...

"When a difficult and particularly tough road lies before you, it's probably the right one. Take it! Taking the easier road only means that you are making up another lame excuse to your life."

The professor actually meant attitude towards work....not anything else fancy and far away.

I have a bad habit of believing any scientific paper I read, you see. So, I don't check out the validity of theories and ideas stated in it as I assume that when people write those paper, they do it based on a solid theory.

But apparently, research means much more than that. He said to me, "Paper is not god". Wanted me to take the difficult road of checking out every damn thing written in that paper.

And so, I did what he said, gave a presentation to a representative of a company, and got great response. Said that I made a very good effort in my presentation and understood very well the things I've presented...

The difficult road IS the right one to take after all....

So, yeah.....I cannot but agree with this. Frankly speaking, I can't even think of any better wisdom on living your life.