Fun bits

[cjsmith]

It's weird when I go on a fairly brief trip and after I get home I start *missing* stuff.

I want to wander into someplace and hear someone who is paying just about zero attention to me or to anyone else call out nasally, "Irashaimasseeeeeeeeeee."

I want to watch five passengers AND all their luggage for three days fit jovially into a cab and zoom off.

I want mochi. At least that's what my coworker tells me they are called. The bean paste things.

I want to square dance to someone who says "reft arremande".

I want to get kissed on the head by a dragon.

I want to ride a subway with two full-color flat-screen displays over each door, one running ads and one spelling out the station name three different ways and diagramming how many minutes to the following stations and showing a picture of exactly which cars, in this next station, will pull up next to stairways.

I want prewarmed moist hand towels presented to me before each meal.

I want to watch a couple of friends greet each other, having a brief but animated conversation while bobbing up and down between about thirty and forty-five degrees off the vertical -- never once standing all the way up -- looking happy as clams.

I want to coax a semi-wild cat into letting me scritch him.

Ah, travel. Sometimes I recognize just a few more of the good bits after I've returned home.

Comments

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

You can get mochi here. They sell it at the Japanese market at the corner of Grant Rd. and El Camino Real... Ninjiya market or something like that. Ranch99 might have them too.

Just sayin'. I'm addicted to them. they're gluten free!

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

I like buying mochi-encased ice cream at 99 Ranch! Black sesame is my favorite...

These are very cool memories, CJ - thanks for sharing them!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy the taste of sesame. Just about anything sesame-flavored gets my vote. :-) And thank you!

[karenbynight.livejournal.com]

Indeed. The bay area is a lovely place for a nipponophile; in addition to Japantown in SF, there's Nijiya Market (http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&tuid=16194458&ck=2835884887&tab=B2C&ycat=7766835&city=Sunnyvale&state=CA&zip=94089-1206&uzip=94089&country=us&msa=7400&cs=9&ed=ndOMEa160Sxd4evjq7EhWPQPMJS0K3.tBTvekOltUgQ8E6pyzPZFeUt_uQrwWqtKPdKKnEd3ZOcb.EMx&stat=:pos:7:regular:regT:20:fbT:0) in Sunnyvale and Mitsuwa Marketplace (http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&tuid=17222153&ck=1343914864&tab=B2C&ycat=7766835&city=Sunnyvale&state=CA&zip=94089-1206&uzip=94089&country=us&msa=7400&cs=9&ed=ndOMEa160Sxd4evjq7EhWPQPMJS0K3.tBTvekOltUgQ8E6pyzPZFeUt_uQrwWqtKPdKKnEd3ZOcb.EMx&stat=:pos:7:regular:regT:20:fbT:0) in San Jose. The latter is particularly delightful; it has its own japanese pickle department and a Kinounaya book & stationary store and a japanese computer store in the same lot.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oooo, both of those are easily reachable from where I live/work! Thank you! I have yet to figure out what time zone "Ranch 99" is in (my exaggeration meaning I am *not* going to drive far for it, not even for mochi) so these are useful references. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured they wouldn't be enormously hard to find here. A friend has even told me that if I want to make my own, "Ranch99" sells the supplies. (Whatever and whereever that is.) O'course, in Japan they're on practically every street corner, so that much will remain a memory unless I go back! :-)