Monday, November 22, 2010

No Smo-r-king!


Hi All,

Another week has flown away. As things have gotten more routine I have less adventures so bare with me.

But! We did go see the life-size Gundam in Shizuoka!!

Pretty neat right? … Yeah sorry, I brought out the geek in me. We rode the train for an hour and paid about $12 to go see it, and all you can do is see it, but it was fantastic! I mean an 18-meter (~60ft) Gundam!

For those of you who don’t know-

Gundam is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or "mecha") called "Mobile Suits", The metaseries started in 1979 as a serial TV show called Mobile Suit Gundam. That first TV series has since spawned a franchise that has come to include works released in numerous media. Gundam is a popular cultural icon of Japan, it is a 50 billion yen business of Bandai Namco (projected 50 billion yen income of the company and reached a highest number of 54.5 billion yen in 2006)




Christmas decorations in Shizuoka.


We went to see Harry Potter –Of course. And it was great! Going to the movies here doesn’t seem too popular. But the theaters are nice and clean! Oh two things I noticed:

1- when you buy your movie ticket you buy a specific seat. It’s like buying a ticket for an actual theater or a play. It’s not like NY where you buy a ticket and you’re running for good seats.

2- The trays are very innovative. Lol You don’t just have the cup holder, it a “cup-plus everything else you buy” holder.


Is it not the coolest thing to see "Harry Potter" written in katakana "ハリーポッター"


Finally we made our own version of ThanksGiving, because we’re American and we can’t skip from Halloween to Christmas. It’s just not right!! Lol

We made it a potluck and man we had food. I mean we had a lot of food!







Highlights

We keep seeing signs of “No Smoking” with the misspelling “No Smo-R-king”. It’s hilarious. I asked my Japanese friends about it and they have never noticed. And they are everywhere!


Damien had a twinkie for the first time. They don’t have them in France so Billy had his family mail him some because after watching the movie Zombieland with us—Well Damien just had to have one of those “…spongy yellow delicious ba$t@rds”




And last but not least, just when you thought you were thousands of Kilometers (~miles) from home, away from most things American and most definitely all things Hispanic much less Dominican. You find the most Dominican thing ever!

I found plantains in Japan (albeit very expensive plantains!). But still!

For those of you who don't know:

"The plantain is a crop in the genus Musa and is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana (which is sometimes called the dessert banana). Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas. Bananas are most often eaten raw, while plantains tend to be cooked or otherwise processed, and are used either when green or unripe (and therefore starchy) or overripe (and therefore sweet). Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavor and texture when steaming, boiling or frying cooks the unripe fruit. The plantain is the main food source of the Dominican Republic, and is used just as much as, if not more than, rice"



Well that is all.

Later.

P.S. You know I like to know you’re reading, so please by all means leave comments!

3 comments:

  1. HAHAH KEILA! I can't believe you found plantains in Japan! how do they taste? that's funny they don't really have bagels but they have plantains lol. It is rare or they are in every store? The gundam looks like a transformer and it is cool. Sounds like you are having a blast and getting used to it more. I am glad, have a happy turkey day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. By the way its Jeanie but it linked me to my club and not my name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In Japan you can also buy plantains online at demiko.com

    ReplyDelete