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March 14 (2)
Nov. 24th, 2013 02:44 pmTako-yaki!  |
March 14 (1)
Nov. 24th, 2013 09:00 amEven after all those months I still think I had the best date ever to that Tempozan Ferris Wheel ride!  The view, though, wasn't anything too spectacular.   |
March 15 (2)
Nov. 23rd, 2013 02:44 pm| We all know that the "Chinese food" outside of China is not Chinese (and, really, there is no such thing unified Chinese food even in China), the sushi we get are not actual Japanese sushi, etc. It never really hits me as much as when I see products inspired by France in other countries. Like take this wonderful thing that has "France" written on it and that I think is about as French as, well, a hot dog bun with bacon and mayo can be - that is to say, not French at all. I mean, look at it! I had to get it! It's a freaken hot dog bun with bacon and mayo on it (and that is mayo, not butter as I first thought). Bacon isn't a thing in France! At least not what is considered bacon in the US, and was present on this thing. I know, I know, it's probably just the name of the brand but I had to have an excuse to get it.  But let me walk you through the whole experience. No clear pictogram directions but I figured that it would be best heated a bit.  ( +5 - in and out of the oven ) |
March 15 (1)
Nov. 23rd, 2013 09:00 am| On the 15th of March I decided to head over to the Ceramics Museum of Osaka and I discovered that a well put-together exhibit on the history of ceramics in Asia can actually be quite fascinating even for someone who doesn't know much about ceramics nor has ever shown any interest in that kind of stuff. Close to the museum there is the Nakanoshima Park that had either been recently created or totally remodelled when I was there. There were whole portions that were just dry earth so it didn't actually look like a park, just an empty space that has potential and is not covered in buildings.   ( +2 - red buildings and other fun stuff ) |
March 17 & 18
Nov. 21st, 2013 02:44 pmIt wouldn't be a trip to Japan without a random shot of Aiba appearing on television. In Tokyo I got a shot of him appearing on the morning news talking about that drama of his where he was a detective and there was a cat, it had just come out and it was all over the place (the drama itself was actually pretty boring and I gave up on it after two episodes, sorry Aiba). Here he is in that awesome show where he gets to play with all kinds of animals and Becky is often one of the co-hosts. … and more food testing! Did this taste like sangria? Nope. It tasted like sugar and possibly ramune, as is claimed towards the top of the can.  ( +3 - food, including ramen featuring B2ST (what are they up to these days?) ) |
March 17 (2)
Nov. 21st, 2013 09:00 amAll the letters and postcards I sent from Osaka were written in either of these two locations.   |
Hello, once again, from the past! It's November 2nd and I finally got to the folder that's right after the folder with all the photos from Osaka! Here are some shrimp I had on the plane and a shot of me waiting for my backpack to arrive. The task will not be easy, but I'll get there… only about eight months of photos from early 2013 and late 2012 to go through.   |
| I know you're all jelly of the souvenirs I bring back. Oh wow. I just typed "jelly" in that sense. I am ashamed of myself right now. But I'm leaving it up there. Gotta try and look cool from time to time. Actually do people still say stuff like "jelly" or is that way too 2011?  |
[Osaka2013] Waterfront observations.
Mar. 18th, 2013 06:13 pmWhat really got me about the river is that it's that there are almost no shops that open on waterfront. There is a street parallel to the water that's crowded like heck, there are tons of perpendicular streets that have more shops on them than you can count… and then there is the river and almost no shops there. I've noticed that on multiple other occasions - the river is not considered as an asset. I mean, to me, having a river going through a popular shopping area is pretty darn awesome! There are so many opportunities for waterfront dining, green areas, etc. and yet those things are not there in Osaka. Close to the ceramics museum there was one area that was clearly being developed but the grass definitely was not green but rather an ugly shade of grey/brown. The area around Japan Mint was also with some green bits but it reminded me a bit of the park in Shinjuku - beautiful area but clearly it's borderline a "bad" part of town.  ( +2 - ... ) |
[Osaka2013] Running and running.
Mar. 18th, 2013 04:03 pm| … and soon it will be time to leave! I was going to spend a few hours going through photos since I am going to have quite a bit of free time at the airport as my plane leaves really late but then I started reading a really interesting thing on the train to the airport and now I want to finish it. Life is hard. Still, here is the Glico man aka probably the most famous landmark in the area.  ( +3 - on the other side ) |
Yesterday I had a hot date for my ferris wheel ride. Bones were also involved in the first part of my day. Oh, and I scored some really funky stationary… because I always tell myself that I will write people letters. But there were sets with evil Hello Kitty and Nightmare Before Christmas and messed up French phrases, of course I had to get them! |
Another little comparison of the fisheye Holga lens + 20mm pancake vs. just the pancake lens. Both photos were taken from the same spot.   Sometimes funky stuff can come from a 130 degree angle and 35g of pure plastic! |
[Osaka2013] This is tiring business!
Mar. 13th, 2013 08:35 pm| The whole "I'll totally edit the day's photos every night and post about stuff" failed on day 3, as you can see. BUT BUT BUT I've been all touristy and everything. I got the "Osaka Unlimited" pass and with it you get unlimited transportation on the city's subway lines (but not the private ones, the whole transportation system here is so weird) and also entree fees waived for around 20 locations. And that's how I have ended up going to these totally random places I would never have gone otherwise. When I come back in the late afternoon or early evening I just want to do something totally unrelated to touristy stuff and so that's why the posts aren't coming. Let's see… just a tiny selection of places I've been...  Osaka Castle and its museum and the terrace to see Osaka on the 8th floor. ( +5 - I'd say this covers 10% ) |
[Osaka2013] Always experiment
Mar. 12th, 2013 06:08 am| In the land of very accidental discoveries, last night I figured out that the fisheye lens I have for the Holga M4/3 adapter kind of works with the 20mm pancake lens! Obviously it doesn't sit tightly, or even screw on, like on the adapter, but it definitely gives pretty darn good results… considering that it's meant for a toy camera. With just the Holga adapter the fisheye results are mainly crap because you can't really focus... I mean, it's like the good old Holga, you have to tinker around and it's made out of plastic and getting any kind of focus is hard. Here the focus works like with just the pancake lens, it's a bit more difficult because I actually have to hold the fisheye lens glued to the pancake lens but the camera and the lenses are light and so far everything has worked out pretty well and the HQs are actually pretty lovely.  Here is what the shot looks like without the fisheye:  All of the photos from today are basically in fisheye. Oops. |
[Osaka2013] Omelette du fromage.
Mar. 12th, 2013 05:52 amI have no idea what they meant by "fromage" but there was nothing resembling cheese in the taste of these things. Maybe they meant like yogurt or something. I mean, the macadamia are clearly in something and then they sit on top of white chocolate… but what is that something?  |
[Osaka2013] The secret lives of desserts.
Mar. 12th, 2013 01:41 am| Guess what? The local 24/7 shop carries a food that proudly carries a huge French flag and a huge "FRANCE" on it and is basically a piece of bread with a piece of bacon on it and a line of mayo on top. I haven't been able to talk myself into buying it and taking a proper photo to show the WTF factor of it all… but one day! Till then, there is this dessert I saw at the shop and everyone was getting one so I thought I'd give it a try too. I mean, a piece of sponge cake with whipped cream. If that doesn't scream dessert, I have no idea what does.  Do not worry though, it wasn't just sponge cake and whipped cream, there was also a banana inside. First I thought, "who came up with this," but then I realised that it's not all that different from crêpes with whipped cream or with nutella… or just plain old sugar. But still, my first reaction was definitely a good old WTF. ( +3 - the inside and the packaging ) (still, there is a huge number of products that have random flags on them and are in no way linked to the culinary tradition of that country.) |
Now we also the answer as to what almost-bottom-shelf-but-not-quite white wine tastes like! It had a cheerful thumbs on it and it cost about half of what random wine from Chile cost and it wasn't in a tetra pack. Being the huge drinker I am, I figured this was as good as any wine out there. So for roughly 400 yen, one gets a bottle that tastes… bland, not too sugary, not defined back taste whatsoever. I'm a bit more fond a dryer white wines, to be honest.  Oh, and the cashier put a little paper protective thing and I thought that was super cute. ( +2 - it was supposed to go with cheese or something ) Now, we'll have to move on to specialty liqueurs or something. Beer is too boring. Unless they have local Osaka beer. I'll have to look into that. |
