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!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Take me with you next time!! ;-)

[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!

[ericainohio.livejournal.com]

"reft arremande"

ROFLMAO!!! So here's a question - is square dancing called in English in other countries? I mean, does "box the gnat" translate??

I am so impressed with your description of the subway displays. Ah, what a joy for those of us who are severely directionally-challenged.

Prewarmed moist hand towels? Geez. These folks love what I would consider luxury, don't they?

[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.

[firecat]

I'm reading a book about relocating to Japan (just as a fantasy, I'm not really planning to relocate) and the author, who has lived in both Japan and the US, mentions how she misses the expected phrases such as "Irashaimasseeeeeeeeeee" when she is in the US.

I could get behind the prewarmed moist hand towels.

Mochi-wrapped ice cream is available at many Japanese restaurants and also at Trader Joe's. Num.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

That sounds amazing! How fun!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

me too!

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

I truly envy you. I always wanted to travel to distant shores but, to be honest, no longer believe I'll get to. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time and can share little tidbits like that with those of us here at home.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

sounds like a lovely trip.

I will second the suggestion of Ranch 99.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I have to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading about your travels to Japan. It makes me want to go there.

[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! :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

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

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I wish I could afford to take ME with me next time! (that is, I could never have afforded this trip if the square dance calling weren't going to offset the cost.) Ah well!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That'd be awesome!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is -- square dancing is always called using the same words. The names of the calls are just the names, untranslated. (Sort of like ballet is always in French and aikido is always in Japanese. They'll TEACH you in your native language, but the names for things are the original names.)

O'course, all the little hints and cues that a caller can give, and the jokes, and the introductions, all that is in whatever language you can get away with.

The hand towels do seem like luxury, don't they? As do the heated toilet seats. On the other hand they don't heat their friggin' HOUSES, so they'd think we're the wasteful ones!

[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. :-)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

I wish you could come and call a square dance here :) (heck, i wish they *had* square dancing here!)

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Sounds like great fun stuff from your trip. Cool!

I have a Mitsuwa Marketplace near my place, and I definitely enjoy going there too. Not a huge mochi fan, myself, but they have the best green tea ice cream! And *fresh* ramen!

Did you get to go to any ramen places in Japan? That'd be my dream.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I could get into fantasizing about relocating. There are things about Japan I would hate if I had to live there long, but imagining it from the perspective of a one-time tourist is very fun.

I like that icon!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I had a great time on the trip. *sigh* I want a teleporter.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm getting old enough that a trip like this really feels like "my one and only chance ever". When I was twenty I kept thinking "I could come back". Now I'm thinking I probably won't. (Well, Japan *might* hire us again. But Finland? Ha.) It gives a little edge of desperation to it all -- buy *every* souvenir, dammit, you won't get another chance -- but it also makes me deeply appreciate the fact I at least got to go once.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man, the one thing I tried and couldn't handle was green tea ice cream. I like green tea. I even like the formal tea ceremony tea (though I didn't get to participate in a full ceremony, I did get some of that type of tea). But the ice cream? Yi.

Maybe I tried too strong a flavor. (Haagen-Dazs, I think.) The little soft-serve cones might have been a better first attempt.

I went to a few noodle places, and I guess I got some stuff like ramen. Sometimes I chose the thicker "soba" noodles. This kind of food was not common for me, though, because it's REALLY @#$!ING HARD to get it without seafood.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Glad you've enjoyed it! I had a great time and would love to go again, so I'm sure that feeling is coming through in my writing.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks, yes, it was a wonderful trip. I would love to be able to go back again when I'm NOT sick.

Woohoo, I finally gave up and googled this Ranch 99 thing, and there is one not too far from me!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I wish I could too! Where do you live these days? It is very likely someplace I have never been. :-)

(I'm still a little bummed you didn't wind up at Google, by the way. It would have been cool to be able to see you in person from time to time!)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Bangalore - your job might make it here before you do (:

(And yeah, I'm still a bit bummed about the google thing too)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that first line -- succinct and beautiful! :-)

[firecat]

Thanks! teal7 made it for me. It is supposed to be a depiction of my interests "purple, personality typing"

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It is therefore your "purple personality, typing"? :-)

[firecat]

Clearly!

I like it because I really used to have a manual typewriter like that, which I used constantly.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

If you get one ever can I borrow it for New Orleans?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! It will be able to teleport ITSELF, of course (otherwise it wouldn't be very useful by itself and I'd have to make thousands) so lots of people can use it! Whenever you need it it will be there for you!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

thanks (: needless to say, i'd much rather see you!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Whoohoo! That and the anti-spider gun and we'll be all set!