Pocky diaries – Part 9

I apologise for the very laggy update of pocky diaries but here is part 9!

Winter is almost passing, but for those elsewhere who has yet to see this edition of pocky, introducing to you Japan’s Winter limited-edition coffee pocky! And for those who haven’t tried yet and wanna get it, better act fast because winter is ending in… 5 days! =o

Cacao powder coated chocolate pocky. My dear friend Jan gave it to me to congratulate me for getting into Peking University (yes I will be going on an exchange AGAIN, this time one year, to Peking University in Beijing from late this year). Thus, price = priceless but for those interested, i would say about the usual 150-200yen (S$2.50 – $3.50) range for seasonal pocky

For in a box, 6 in a pack.

Taste test: nice! The coffee powder coated on the top wasn’t too bitter nor too sweet, and you have your usual chocolate and crunchy pocky biscuit inside. (: I sent it over to my family in Christmas (yes that’s how lazy i was to post) and they loved it! xD

Almost to the end of the series! I wonder what the finale will be hmm…

Little things that connect to history – cellphone straps

I’m backkk!

I’m sure most of us are familiar with the cute little cellphone straps that are attached to many cellphones of the Japanese people, and even us Singaporeans are catching on to the fashion.

You have your regular cellphone strap… (haha yea that’s mine ^__^)

…and the kind of straps that probably weigh even more than the cellphone (picture from here)

And in harajuku and some fashionable parts of Japan, it is not uncommon to see foxtail straps hanging from their shorts (picture from this link). The winter version would probably the girls in the exact same outfit, except now with an extra coat and a thin layer of stockings. I don’t know if they are cold or not, but I get cold just by LOOKING at them >.<

However, not all people are into the craze of attaching cute little thingums onto their stuff: I heard from my American friends that in America, there is no such widespread culture, correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway, I was surprised to learn in my Japanese history class earlier today that there is a historical background to miniature objects attached to stuff. Here are some of the traditional-looking purses from wayyyy back.

(Picture with credits to this link)

(Picture with credits to this link)

The red circled portion are the cute little balls attached to the purses in the old times of Japan. During the Edo period, traditional garments had no pockets, and small little objects called netsuke (often of prized craftsmanship) were attached to the purses which are then fastened onto their clothing.

(Picture with credits to this link)

It’s funny how some things that we have today and how some of our unconscious thinking and behaviour actually traces back to the thinking of our ancestors, and the study of Japanese cultural history (sieving through the Japanese professor’s broken English) has allowed me to notice some relevant trends, I think (but some trends somewhat controversial and unconfirmed so I decided not to post it here we can hang out and talk about it if you want to ). I think I’ve just scrapped the surface of lots more to discover, so things are just getting interesting!

Seafood galore! – Tsukiji fish market

I went with a couple of friends to make the long-awaited visit to check out the acclaimed world’s largest seafood market – Tsukiji fish market! And boy was it crowded! xP

It’s not hard to get to the market; it’s located just right outside of the Tsukiji station of the Tokyo-Metro Hibiyda Line. Go towards the exit pointing to the “Intermediate Wholesalers’ Shops” and then once you exit there’ll be a sign to the fish market. The world famous tuna auction opens at 5am which means that you gotta stay over at some place near tsukiji because the earliest train doesn’t take you there in time. But if you’re not a hard core fish fan, it’s still good to catch the crowd and the buzz in the market at a later time. We were walking around the market about 1030am, and it was still very lively.

Hilarious thing #1: This was the first stall we spotted just outside the station, selling dried fruits. We were pretty excited that it was seafood of some sort but nah, just dried fruits…

…and it turns out to be an unlicensed store, got caught by the police. LOL.

Sooo anyway, here are some photos of the sights and sounds of Tsukiji fish market (spoiler alert!!)

There are of course, the usual seafood…

That’s one huuggeee salmon! Initially I thought why is it so cheap that the whole salmon is 1500yen, but turns out that it’s ONE kilogram for 1500yen. xP

Obaasans (old aunties) checkin out the fish

Friendly dude with octopus

These are a type of fish egg! (which we were able to try later)

They take out the eggs and sell it in bundles… I wonder how many fishes-to-be are there inside >.<

Fresh, fresh sashimi enough to make your mouth drooll ‘ (yes the apostrophe is a drool mark )

Yess it was soo very crowded >.<

On the side note, I must say that the market is, compared to the markets in many other countries, very very clean. No fishy smell, no wet floors. Well, that’s Japan for you

Ok back to the content, besides the seafood they have the veggies (to compliment the seafood)

Wasabi! YES wasabi is a vegetable. Not a chilli. Wait. is chilli a vegetable or a fruit? =o

The attack of the giant konbu!! also known as seaweed.

What surprised me is that they also sold meat such as beef and pork. Hmm didn’t see any chicken meat there though…

…And you also have your kitchen essentials

Knives so sharp that you feel your skin being poked just by looking at them

More than S$160 for a knife? This better be good…

New christmas idea: A sponge decorated christmas tree. A housewife’s best friend

We got to sample a buncha seafood too!

Sample #1: Vinegar octopus

Soooooper sour >.< With a tinge of octopus!

Sample #2: Mentaiko. Also known as the roe of pullock. Salty.

Sample #3: This was the eggs of the fish i was talking about earlier. Still cannot remember the name of the fish, BUT it was a totally different texture from the mentaiko. This one’s springy, spongy and fishy.

Okkk now moving on to the “catch of the day”!!

Soo the story goes where 3 hungry university students were searching for a nice sashimi-filled brunch, when we spotted a loong queue of people towards a random alley.

Like the Singaporean mentality: if there is a queue, the food must be good! So since we had the time, we took the chance to get into the queue.

And waited… and waited…

10 mintues later:
We found out that the shop opens at 11am, but the current time was 1045am, but we still waited anyways

30 mins later:
It was past 11am, but why is the shop still not opened?!?!? >.< We heard a buncha obaasans saying how good the sushi is inside the restaurant soo ok, this is going to be worth it, we waited..

45mins later:
Restaurant opens. We were prepared to enter in with the queue, but it stopped shortening after a while. Is the shop really that small??!?
We also found out that:
The shop only opens from 11-3pm daily, and has a 400year history! BINGOOOO xD

Peering into the restaurant, we also realised that the restaurant only sits 10 people. This is going to be one interesting experience…

About 1hour+ later: OUR TURN!

At first we were really scared about how to order because there was no menu to be seen, but it turns out that you CAN’T order! The sushi chef asks for your preference, and then makes sushi by hand in front of you, one by one, and places them on a wooden plate. THEY decide what you eat! =o Even my japanese friend was shocked.

And sooo starts the-best-sushi-we-have-ever eaten journey to heavenly goodness xD At this time I caught a glimpse of what it felt like to strike a lottery xD All of it were really really good, and I will write out one or two which I have remembered…

Hello sushi chef

This is sea urchin sushi, which tasted just like soft squishy pudding

Smoked eel, which literally melts in your mouth. WOAHHHHHH…. T____T

Roasted prawn head, they say that you just eat this like a cracker. Tasted like a cracker to me!

Miso soup with fish…

…with fish so soft and succulent and fresh and everything nice xD

AND got a picture with the awesome chef who made it all possible! Total cost: 2500 yen. My japanese friend says that if you eat this kind of quality in Ginza, it would have costed 10,000yen! OMGGGG xD

So there you have it, my own unique Tsukiji fish market experience! Following the crowd does do you good sometimes huh! (:

Byebye ChanPon Taro :(

Along the way to school from Takadanobaba station, there is a long row of food shops with ramen and noodles as the main food group. I’ve seen more than one ramen shop come and go because there’s just no way to compete in business with the more famous ones here. :/

It’s like a cycle… When the store just opens, there is massive discount on the food prices (we’re talking about 300yen per bowl instead of the usual 600-800yen), then there is a lot of people. Business is good when there is a discount, and you could always see people queueing up to have a hearty bowl of cheap ramen for their meal. But when the discount period ends and the prices are up, there is a drastic drop in the number of people in the shop; you see the usual (sorry for stereotyping but I really do see them) old uncle having his bowl of ramen, taking pauses and staring at the posters in the wall, or the menu on the wall. And you have the salary man, dressed almost certainly in a suit, eating his ramen and checking his cellphone at the same time. Then the ramen shop owner, in desperate attempt to attract customers, slash the prices of the ramen to the price between the massively discounted one when it first opened and the originally thought-of pricing. Then the customers increased a littllleee bit in frequency, but not enough to keep business going sometimes. Then when the store owner has had enough, he’s gone, and soon enough another eatery takes over. Repeat cycle.

And oh, I’m not saying this happens to EVERY single food store along the walkway. Just few enough for me to notice the trend.

But this noodle shop is an exception. I mean, the business was going really well: my friends recommend it when I first came (but I didn’t really go and try heh xP), there seemed to be a regular influx of customers (but not long enough to form a loong queue),  the food’s good, the ambience’s great. But, from tomorrow, 1st Dec, there will be no more ChanPon Taro along the way to takadanobaba anymore… And here’s a mini “tribute” to one of the oishii and prominent eateries in Takadanobaba.

The shop’s name is ChanPon Taro, and my Japanese friend says that it’s noodles are the specialty of Nagasaki prefecture (I checked in wikipedia and it’s correct ), and wikipedia also says that the noodles resemble much of the chinese ones so it’s a fusion of Japanese-Chinese I guess.

Store says for the last 3 days of opening, all customers are entitled to a service (it’s actually free topping but they call it saa-bi-su, or service, in Japanese) of fried chicken or more vegetables

Menu. For those who like looking at menus Like me.

…And here is my ChanPon! xD And my free fried chicken!

 As you can see, the noodles are not the normal ramen noodles, but rather egg noodles and it’s over soft yummy vegetables and some pork all covered in a warm starchy sauce. Reminds me of the Ee mian I had back in Singapore, fused with the hor fun sauce adding the vegetables. Just heavenly on a cold autumn day (:

We were given this voucher thingy before we left the store. They’re opening a new outlet somewhere, and you get a 100yen off if you go there. Alternatively, if you go to ippudo in the area (which is just opposite the ex-ChanPon Taro), you get a free 80yen topping. ChanPon Taro is an extended variety from the Ippudo chain, which kinda explains it’s guaranteed deliciousness and popularity.

All well, byebye ChanPon Taro! You will be missed! I wonder what stall will be opened next…

Pocky diaries- part 8

Argh why am i sooo lazy to blog nowadays… xP

Anyway all we’ve been hearing is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate… Time to introduce some strawberry-flavoured pocky for a change!!

Oh wait, it’s strawberry-flavoured chocolate… LOL.

Presenting to you midi strawberry-flavoured pocky! (It also comes with the chocolate one but I wanted to buy a strawberry-flavoured one for a change) Price: 168yen (approx S$2.80)

The pocky’s about half it’s original size, it says that this midi pocky has three layers: with an eggy pocky coated with whipped strawberry-flavoured chocolate, and topped with a denser texture of strawberry-flavoured chocolate. Sounds good already!

Check out the funky packaging!

4 pockies in a packet!

It’s a fat chubby chicken-drumstick-looking pocky!
Taste test: This may be the best (exotic flavoured) pocky i’ve ever eaten. xD I’m not a big fan of strawberry flavoured pocky because they tend to taste too sweet or taste like they’re artificially flavoured, but in this pocky, the strawberry-chocolate goes very well with the eggy biscuit, and you can taste equal amounts of the strawberry-chocolate and the biscuit, so I really liked the balance of smooth chocolate and the crunchy biscuit (:

 Yep as you can see from here, the strawberry chocolate coating is very thick.

….And that’s NOT all for today! On the shelves of the school’s convenience store (for those who know it’s the building 11 family mart), interesting pocky packaging has been spotted!

One Piece pocky!

They have the giant version too!
I didn’t buy these pocky though, because I am just a poor student with a fixed allowance and because these are just normal chocolate pocky so I already know how they taste like… Hmm wait a minute but it’ll be interesting to see how the texture of the giant pocky is like wouldn’t it…

2 more pocky posts and i’m still on the look-out!!

Waseda-sai 2011: backstage

Ahhh it’s that time of the year: Waseda festival! While last year is about the experience from a visitor’s perspective (see here), now that I know my way better around here, instead of just going to see my friend’s performances, I performed in one myself!

It’s the 10th Waseda-sai, or Waseda School Festival, and this huggeee school event spans 4 days: Thursday and Friday are off-days for us to prepare the festival, and the festival is held over the weekend. I’m only going for the event today, as I am only scheduled to perform today and my throat is dying for some rest >.< Maybe I’ll catch the ending concert of Waseda-sai in my fourth year

The day before the performance, I had my usual a cappella practice and before heading home, I caught a glimpse of the outdoor preparations for the school festival.

Setting up of food stalls, students literally hammering pieces of wood together to finally form a stand. It’s amazing how Japanese have a sense of pride in making things from scratch on their own… I’ve seen carpentry stuff being done in the student centre for the past few days and i bet it’s for the stalls over here! We have our own speakers, mics and even lighting in our a cappella circle, everything bought from the circle fund, which is quite a large amount so as to be able those expensive heavy duty equipment.

Now for my performance by my circle!

I was surprised because unlike last year, where the a cappella groups were split into different venues and being able to perform all over the school campuses, this time the circle has booked a room exclusively to themselves, and throughout the whole entire day the 100 odd bands from my circle would perform on that very stage. one, whole, day. O___O We had to come at 9 to make preparations, and then stay till about 5 till everyone’s finished, and we had a debrief, then called it a day. Nothing too complicated or very special, but it did feel kinda good to be part of a group contributing to the event’s liveliness.

An example of the performance… That’s my band! The room was in the basement of a building and totally out from the main campus where the noisy crowds were, soo people who came are those who know that we were performing. (which there were very few people at first)

And this was one of our performances As the day goes on, more and more people entered into our cozy concert venue; maybe because they were tried of the crowd or simply tired from walking.

Of course, I did not get stuck in that basement for the whole day. I went out for quite a bit after my band’s performances to catch my friend’s performance!

yosakoi!

hip hop street dance

And, i’m still soooo amazed at how merticulous Japanese can be of clearing the trash for that day. They split it into more than 5 different types of trash: pet bottles, pet bottle caps, incombustible trash, combustible trash, wooden chopsticks, metal cans…

After all the performances were done in my circle, we were in charge of the rubbish near our area, so we looked through every single trash bag to see if all the trash were placed in the right bag. If they were to find a mistake, they would take it out with their bare hands in a-matter-of-fact way, and threw it to the right bag. I was just… in awe when I saw them did this (of course I help out LAHH). Such cooperation with the trash collectors. woww.

Yepp soo that’s about 3/4 the picture of what you’ll do/experience in the Waseda School festival. To round it off in 3 things, it would be: Watch performances, watch weird people, and spend money on (most of the time) yummy self-made food by enthusiastic students.

Pocky diaries- Part 7

It’s definitely not winter yet….

But for pocky, it sure is! The winter version of pocky is out!

Winter pocky: 218 yen (S3.50)

Taste test: It’s a thick pocky biscuit covered with rich chocolate and powdered with coco powder, what can go wrong? delish! Get yours now because they only sell for a limited time… (i’ve checked it today and many stores have taken it down…)

Japanese sure do love their chocolate!

Donuts for Dinner :D

After a looong evening of circle meeting, my friends and I were dragging ourselves to the station, feeling soo hungry at 9:30pm when we chanced upon this sign:

MISTER DONUT IS SELLING DONUTS AT HALF PRICE!!
Which also means: It’s gonna be donuts for dinner!

And they really mean half price too!

63 yen = about S$1. Awesomeness.

even the packaging is soo cute It’s their snoopy promotion now!

Chocolate, chocolate, and angel cream donut

I’m a chocolate lover so chocolate is definitely a must-buy for me. My friend recommended me the angel-cream donut, and it certainly did feel like heaven… ahh that fluffy mildly-sweet cream filling in the soft donut with gentle sprinkles of icing to coat the masterpiece… ^___^

Sales are on till tomorrow (Sunday), so donut fans hurry up and grab your donut now!!

Pocky diaries- part 6

Presenting to you a special edition… *drum roll* … China-edition pocky!

I got to try this after my friend from the a cappella circle got this as a souvenir from China for all of us to taste.

Oolong Cha (oolong tea) pocky
Price- unknown, but probably cheap because it’s from China hahaha (well cheaper than the Japanese version)

The back: hmm why is it written in Japanese? =o

Taste test: Umm, well the pocky definitely doesn’t taste like the normal chocolate or strawberry flavours, neither does it have the tinge of bitterness from the oolong cha the tea is known for. The pocky is just a… kind of mild sweet tea taste. It’s probably just some sugar coating with most of the taste coming from the pocky biscuit xP As you can tell i’m not a really big fan of this flavour, just really confused about how to describe the taste.

But, an interesting flavour nonetheless!

The sights and sounds of DISNEYLAND (:

I love disneyland (: And THIS is gonna be a long long post i predict…

So it started off when we saw that disney land is offering it’s occasional discounts to the place once more… (Posters will be put up around Tokyo and maybe other places when the place decides to offer a discount) So till 30November we adults get a discount of 1000yen to have the ticket priced at 5200yen! (:

…And i remember my friend (who looks very young) who says that she just pretended to be a blur high school foreigner who cannot speak japanese, and got the tickets for high school students priced at 4600yen even though she’s in university… Haha. The perks of being a blur foreigner

BUT!! The discount is only available on weekdays, excluding public holidays… (Argh of course, what did you expect?) So, we picked a nice fine friday and went to disneyland on a schoolday! xD

It’s friday, friday!!! We so excited! (reminds you of a song?)

…And we’re here! (: My first trip to disneyland! Well, and most of the stuff below will be pictures of the place I went, but I will try to give you guys a my own perspective of the pictures that has been put up! Sorry dudes, there’s gonna be a lot of spoilers but if you don’t mind them read on!

Ticket + guidemap for the day!

The first ride we went to was the pirates’ ship. I hate scary horror stuff but I got to say that whatever things that come with a boat ride allows you to feast your eyes to amazing moving sculptures and statues throughout the ride. It wasn’t scary at all! Just cute! (: AND, the exhibiting statues in the rides change with the festivals and seasons too, so there’s always something new!

Next stop: Jungle cruise

There’s a guide on the boat guiding us through the (fake) adventure of Jungle land. And this particular guide is, as my friend puts it, one of the most respectable people working in Disney land because he always has to talk in an excited i’m-going-for-an-adventure voice, and has to act surprised and just thinking that these people have to do that for hundreds of times a day is WOW. respect, dude, respect!  m(_ _)m

Disneyland food is really expensive, as expected! And if you’re hungry and you are not vegetarian or a health-freak, you should totally get the terriyaki chicken leg for 420yen and it’s HUGE and FILLING which means a meatful of HAPPINESS!! Well for the health-conscious there’s the smoked turkey leg option which I got at 500yen. And turkey legs are known to be really lean and tough, but boyy that turkey leg was GOOOOD. It was a little dry but that hit the spot (:

Curry popcorn, anyone? Smells like curry! Don’t know how it tastes like though… Somebody try and let me know!

Mickey ice-cream!

Ok soo here’s the tip. For some rides, you can obtain a fast pass, and there is a fixed timing where this particular fast pass can work. You can only have ONE fast pass at any time, so you got to strategize which ride you want to ride the most and GO FOR IT! We were going for a ride called “Thunder Mountain”, which i heard is one of the most popular roller coaster rides With the fast pass we got through that LOOOOONNNG line of people and got to the ride in less than 10 minutes. Sweet, sweet victory.

Ticketing machine for the fast pass. Just insert your own Disneyland ticket, press the button and the fast pass will come out! Together with your Disneyland ticket of course, don’t worry

Saw the parade! It’s the halloween version, and really really cute! My camera couldn’t take good pictures, so I don’t wanna put them up here. You should see it for yourself to absorb the atmosphere. Many parents with their kids lay their picnic mats like 30-40 minutes before the parades start to get a good view of the parade. And LOADSSS of people were armed with heavy-duty looking cameras! (i wan’t oneeee >.<)

Lunchtime! My friend got the CUTEST salad! xD (refers to the mickey mouse cheese and mickey mouse egg) xD I wonder how they did the egg yolk that way…

and I got the chestnut icecream (about 680yen) because I had the turkey leg just now.

Pizza Place. We just LOVE how every single detail is taken care of in Disneyland. It seems every place has it’s own signature style!

Check out the rows of prams near a kids’ show! Disneyland rents prams for the kids at a price of 500yen i think. (:

One-of-a-kind vending machine

Halloween-themed snacks!

We got pumpkin-flavoured churos…

…of course, mickey-shaped! <3

Now for a cute ride into the building of “it’s a small world”. They keep play the song “it’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after alllll” that you can’t help but sing it when you come out of the ride… “it’s a small worlddddddd…” ok I shall stop now.

entering into kiddie land!
They showcased kids in costumes from all over the world but I didn’t see Singapore >.<

Round and round the teacuppp

Still happy!

Cinderella and the Prince! Showing kindness and compassion to the disabled, why of course. (and refuses to take a picture with us, not that we are holding a grudge)

The Japanese REALLY make the effort to dress up when going to Disneyland. It’s a pity I haven’t got a lot of pictures to show you guys but I will work on those next time!! The little girls in Disney princess costumes and stuff like that, I’ve GOT to show it to you! xD

Schoolgirls just off from school… and all wearing Disney headbands!

Experienced the 4D magic at PhilarMagic (: It was such an awesome show! I don’t want to spoil it for you and those who wanna hear it I’ll tell you personally then

B)

Dinner time! A “feast” at Alice in the wonderland’s banquet

Unbirthday cake, anyone? (:

i love the kitchen! I don’t mind being a chef here all day it’s like a dream…

…And finally, night dawns in disneyland. Wait, why does the magical cinderella castle look like a haunted one? :/ brrr…

I want a mickey lunch box!!! That’d be sooo cool… if I were in elementary school. haha.

Phew, what a long day! Time to head back to the dorm!

Two main things reserved for the next trip: taking photos with mascots, and watching the end show of fireworks (We didn’t do that because there was school the next day and we didn’t want to squeeze with sooo many people in the train after they all head home when the firework parade ends)

Overall, all I can say is… WOW. Theme parks are sooo much fun! xD I was really tired for the whole week due to my a cappella circle (we were in the midst of preparing for a concert  so I had practice almost everyday) and I was really tired till I got to Disneyland, and literally all my troubles and tiredness went away! xD Ohh how I wish Disneyland’s nearby; that way whenever I feel sleepy I can just get on one of the roller coasters and be fully awake again

See, I told you it’s a REALLLYYY long post! For those who made it till the end, kudos to you and hope you had a blast reading it! xD