...and in other Japanese vending machines...

It seems a little silly to have two posts about the Japanese obsession with vending machines, but to us it truly did seem bizarre and comical. Just a few more observations: First of all, with all the beer vending machines and yes, even whiskey vending machines we saw, we never saw anyway drunk in public and never saw kids crowding around the machines trying to score some booze like you inevitably would in the states.

Second, they had vending machines for other things too. Like real food. Ramen is the equivalent of a quick sandwich in the states. Apparently our semi-fast food is not fast enough for the Japanese, though. They have perfected the ordering and preparation so that a vending machine does half the work. First, outside a restaurant, you pick the type of ramen you would like: soy broth or miso; what toppings you would like: leeks, pork, or egg; and any sides you would like: rice or rice. After you've paid and gotten your ticket from the machine, you wait in line and a waiter takes your ticket and when they are ready to seat you your food is ready, you scarf it down, and then you're out again.

So efficient. Makes you realize just how well the Japanese have adapted to what the west started and just kept on going.

"I'm about a quarter short of a pack of cigarettes"

Cigarette vending machines...great idea.
Beer vending machines...better idea.
Vending machines with bottles of whiskey...best idea ever!!!

Kimchi, Kimchi, it is good for you and me.

Here's a food post. It's kind of strange...We just spent a week in Kyoto, home of wonderfully fresh fish, tasty Unagi, not to sweet sweets, and some of the most interesting flavors in the world. But after about a week both Bethie and I had to admit, we missed Korean food. We've grown quite accustomed to bibimbap and galbitang and manduguk and, of course, kimchi.
My favorite is gimbap. It is like a sushi roll without the fish--carrots, a pickled root vegetable, a piece of crab meat (or sometimes, if you're lucky, Spam), sesame leaves, and sometimes canned tuna, wrapped in seaweed and cut into slices. It's usually eaten as a side dish or an appetizer and only costs $2.00 for an entire roll. I find myself eating gimbap everyday, sometimes twice a day. Yummy yummy goodness.


So this is kimchi. It is basically a vegetable that is semi-fermented with different spices. The most common kimchi is made from cabbage (as is the one on the right), but it is not unusual to see it made out of root veggies (like the one on the left). Some are a little spicy, some are a little sweet, some are fresh, some are not so fresh. It is usually served as a side dish/appetizer, and Koreans eat it with every single meal. As you can tell by the almost empty plates, we have developed quite a liking to it.
About a month ago, probably right around the time the temperature really dropped, Korea made it's Kimchi for the next few months. And I mean all of Korea. Bags and bags and, as you can see, literally truckloads of cabbage were mixed with spices and peppers, and placed in beautiful, ceramic kimchi pots throughout the country. Even my boss, Mr. Park, who swears that he never goes into the kitchen, spent a Sunday putting together kimchi with his family.
Here are some kimchi pots. Just about all Korean households have kimchi pots to let their unique kimchi ferment. You can find the pots in backyards, in pantries, in laundry rooms, on roofs, and just about anywhere else you can store a pot.
This dish is called galbitang. It is slow cooked pork ribs in a peppery soup. It is cooked at your table over a stove, and served communally. It is soooo yummy. We eat it at least once every couple of weeks. In fact, it was the very first Korean meal we ate here. It seemed like a strange breakfast when they brought it out to us after we just smiled and nodded at them, but we love it. You leave fat and happy for about $6 a person, including drinks and rice. Bethie says she's glad she started eating meat again. It would of been a shame to miss out on galbitang.

Some Kyoto Photos

We went on a nice stroll through a neighborhood on the outskirts of the bamboo forest of Arishiyama. Bamboo, oh so nice.

Unagi (eel) Mmm. Barbecued eel is a popular, expensive dish in Kyoto. Bethie and I splurged for lunch one day, and gave it a try. Yummy, yummy. It's a little bit sweet, a little soy salty, a little fishy. Just nice. Mine came with a bowl of eel liver soup which was basically a light broth, a small piece of tofu, and an eel liver, which looked a lot like a human liver, but about the size of a date. The eel liver, in case you were wondering, tasted exactly like you'd think it'd taste. Like the filtration organ of an eel.

Meeting folks from around the world--one of the gems of traveling. This was our little family for one night at a Japanese Ryoken, which is something like a home-style inn. Manami, our Japanese host, cooked a veggie and noodle soup on a grill right in the center of the table. We were joined by Dee and April, a mother and daughter from Northern Australia. April was about 16 years old, and was practicing Japanese, which she is taking in school. The other couple is Francois and Alexandra, a French couple who worked in Spain as teachers, and were enjoying a 2 week holiday in Kyoto. Alexandra is worried about the state of the world, but is hopeful that Mr. Obama will make a difference. Francois loves old American blues and has recently started creating his own classical pieces on the guitar. What a fun night. We spent hours exchanging stories about our own neck of the world.
Have you ever seen references to older actors that do advertising in Japan to make a little extra money? You know, like the film Lost in Translation? Poor Tommy Lee Jones knows what I'm talking about. We saw him on just about every street corner, representing Boss canned coffee. Keep up the good work Mr. Jones.

Monkey tricks...

One of the most fun attractions in Kyoto--the Iwatayama Monkey Park. Dozens of Japanese monkeys roam the hills of Iwatayama, a small mountain in the Arishiyama area. For a small fee, anyone can roam the grounds with the funny little critters.


So, the reason we look like this monkey is doing something hilarious is because after the man who worked at the park tried unsuccessfully to bribe several monkeys to stay perched on this log so we could get a get photo op, he finally got this one stay and it promptly started to pee off the back side of the stump, which is probably the only reason it stayed put, and also the reason that we started cracking up. You may also notice the guy in the upper left corner of this shot who was practically toppling over laughing as we watched the monkey's little show for us.

Behind us you can see the city of Kyoto, which sits nestled between three mountain ranges that surround it on three sides.


You can see the monkeys, including a baby, scavenging for the grain and sweet potato they are fed three times a day in this clearing, which keeps them coming back for more.


Fraternizing with the locals.


The monkeys can also be fed from inside the "rest room" (no, it's not a big bathroom, just an awkward translation). You can see some monkeys clinging to the cage, begging for the peanuts (literally) that visitors hand-feed them. A bit pathetic.


Don't worry, I'm not illegally feeding it, just saying hello.

Adventures in Kyoto

So we're back from our big Japanese adventure. We spent the past week weaving through the ins and outs of Kyoto, one of the most beautiful cities we've ever seen. There were wonderfully crafted temples, houses, meals, everything really. Because Kyoto, unlike the rest of Japan, was not destroyed in the war and the city was a political capital for much of Japan's history, there are too many temples and gardens to conquer them all. Most of our time was spent walking, and then walking, and then walking some more through the neighborhoods that we particularly liked.
I would say, overall, the one thing that we learned from Kyoto was that everything, from the way a Bento boxed lunch is intricately packed, to the way a vegetable is sliced and intentionally placed for a meal, can be beautiful. Everything was so nice, so purposeful and pleasing to look at. There were craftsmen (and women) all over the city, putting much time, care, and skill into their woodwork and candies and papers and pottery and every other thing in Kyoto. I've always put more emphasis on utility and value, but both Bethie and I agree that beauty can really make a difference in the feel of something. Kyoto is so beautiful.
Most of the buildings here are so picturesque. This is just outside the main temple at Kiyomiu-dera, which was built in the 8th century. The wood building on the left was being restored while we were there. There were a bunch of old and young carpenters working hard. They appeared to do a lot of the work by hand. The "construction site" didn't look anything like those back home. Oh yes, and the wood. They use wood for everything--inside and out. It makes even the most lavish buildings subtle and welcoming.
An aqueduct, built in the 15th century, on the grounds of the Ginkaku-Ji temple. On either side are lovely gardens.
Bethie in Arashiyama, a really nice (and kind of touristy) area in Western Kyoto. It's full of rich people's houses, bamboo forests, and monkeys. We bought a couple of yummy, veggie filled steam buns, and wandered along the Hozu-gawa river.
Nishiki Market--wonderful (and some not so wonderful) smells. This is their main food market for cooked and prepared foods. So many interesting things--cooked eels, dried fish, tons and tons of different pickled veggies, and sweets--yummy, yummy sweets.
Us in front of the Ginkaku-Ji temple. When we wanted to take this photo, we didn't see anybody who we thought could speak English around us. So I asked this Asian fellow, a young man around our age that we heard speaking Japanese. I showed him the camera and gestured to take a picture of Bethie and I. His response: "Of course, where do you wanna take it?" Turns out, he's Japanese American, raised in the US but visiting family. I think we've been in Korea too long, where the population is so homogeneous that you can tell who speaks English and who speaks Korean by just looking at them. Nothing like home.