Things I miss from Hawaii

Boy, do I miss crack seed (li hing mui) They have some sorts of lihing mui over here, but it's not the same. They don't have a lot of variety, too. I miss going into a crack seed store like Camellia seeds in Kaahumanu (my source of sour lemon during junior high), or The crack seed store in Ala Moana (my source of green sauce when working at hanapaa). You walk in and look at all the different kinds of seed in those huge glass jars. Grab a half pound of this, and a half pound of that. I always liked the coconut balls--the red ones, and the lemon peel. Those were my favorites. The one lihing mui that looked like horse doo doo was pretty good, too. I've been to the china town here, and I didn't see any type of crack seed store there. I was looking, too. Miss the stuff.

Also, you know that tomoame candy? The one with the paper that you can eat? They don't sell that in Japan either. I always thought it was a japanese candy. Guess not.

junk mail

Let's see what's in the mailbox today. Ooohhh pizza. Yum.



I like pizza. Let's see what kinda pizza they got here.


Dang! Kalbi pizza, that sounds promising. Onions, Green peppers, Pork, mushrooms Mmmm, garlic, mayonnaise, black pepper, Mixed cheeee. . . wait, mayo? Yup, japanese consider mayo a most important ingrediment on their pizza. Let's see how much this bad boy costs. Oh dang! 34bucks for a large. No pizza for me.

Let's check out the top five/six ordered pizzas. Kalbi was #1
#2 is mochimentaiko

mentaiko is sacks of fish eggs. link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentaiko
no thanks on that pizza

#3 is margerita, which has nothing to do with salt rimmed glasses and lime, but more to do with tomato/basil leaves/cheese

#4 is teriyaki chicken. Yessss, I love me some teri chicken pizza. wait. . .Mayonnaise has invaded again, and he brought is friend cabbage. Cabbage on a pizza? come on.

#5 is seafood. Okay, I had seafood pizza in Thailand, and never ate it again. Not to my liking. Japan likes it, though.

#6 is cheese and nama ham. Nama means raw or in person or draught or . . . yeah. So they are saying raw ham and cheese, but after they cook the pizza, would it still be called raw ham? I dunno.


Looking for a job? You're in luck. Join this happy guy for 9~11 bucks an hour delivery. No tips. Japan doesn't tip, which I like. Service is still stellar here. It's crazy how good service is. One of my friends delivers pizza here, and he said he sometimes gets money, but more than that he gets tipped in paper holders, or cups, or some other odd stuff.


Wonder what tomorrow's junk mail will bring.

Brad Pitt x Musashimaru

Brad Pitt regularly endorses a cellphone company in Japan,

softbank,
(softbank is the chosen provider to carry the iphone in Japan)

and his commercials are always really good. His newest commercial has him paired up with Hawaii's very own Musashimaru. Check it



Cellphones are pretty nuts in Japan. The nuts thing is that they haven't changed for the past three years haha. No advancement in design. You can either choose between a flip, or a slider. That's pretty much it. What does change is the amount of things the phones can do. Most phones nowadays have 5mp or higher cameras, tvs, gps, internet, dual numbers, a smartchip that can turn your phone into a credit card, and talking/mailing ability. The phone I have is pretty old. Need to get a new one to keep hip, but a new phone costs at least 500 bucks. dangit.

SMAP meets Michael Jackson

It's pretty crazy that MJ passed away. I have three Thriller LPs. Three. I only have two turntables, what am I going to do with three records? I dunno, but when I see that album in the used record bins, I feel like I have to rescue it. I also have the BAD LP, and the smooth criminal 12inch. This is a clip of when MJ came to Japan and surprised the boy band SMAP. SMAP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMAP is probably the most famous boy band in Japan. They do a bunch of different shows as well as acting in tv shows and movies. SMAP always has celebrities come on their different shows as guests, and they were talking about who they would like to see as their dream guest, and they said MJ. The producers and stuff worked it out that MJ comes in for a surprise visit while they were rehearsing. Pretty crazy.







king of pop

shiso pepsi

This years crazy pepsi flavor is Shiso. Shiso is the green mint leaf looking thing that you eat with sashimi.

Maikos

I was walking around the streets of Gion (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3902.html) aimlessly, when all of a sudden everyone is busting out their cameras, and making a crowd in the middle of the road. Cars can't pass, taxis are honking, and out pops this white lady. Not a haole, but a maiko. Like a Geisha, but. . . different. I guess a geisha in training. She's hustling down the street as fast as her old school platforms will allow, everyone's yelling "kawaiiiiiiii!!!" (cute), she turns the corner and is gone.



The taxi drivers tells some junior high school kids (tons of jhs kids in kyoto cause that's where they all go for their school trip when they are 9th graders. I mean alllllll of everyone in Japan goes to kyoto in JHS) that he is there to pick up a Maiko at 6:00. A crowd gathers, and gets bigger and bigger. People are wondering what is going on as the cruise past admiring the old wooden buildings. Japanese people are wondering if some famous person is eating at a restaurant, foreign people are wondering if everyone is looking at them. Six comes and two maikos come out, have a little chat with their senpai, jump in the cab, and head off to work. Everyone is yelling "kawaiiiiiiiii!!!!" again. I get a couple pics then head in to a restaurant for some tempura.





I wonder if geishas are like hostesses? Like Hostesses are today's modern geishas. Granted geishas have mad skills at dance, instruments, and what not, but they are paid to entertain, and mostly guys, I assume, are doing the paying.

a haole speaking like a bobora learning pidgin. . .

I don't even know. So funny, though. haha.