Takoyaki at Yoshimoto
Posted by harvey in Culture, Food, Osaka on 30. Sep, 2006 | No Comments
I went to check out the famous Yoshimoto Grand Kagetsu (Namba Grand Kagetsu) few months ago to check out the famous Japanese comedy shows.
A lot of the comedy shows on TV in Japan are filmed here. It’s the most famous comedy venue in the country.
Below is a shot from one of the opening acts. Photography [...]
Tsutenkaku in Osaka
Posted by harvey in Food, Osaka on 28. Sep, 2006 | 7 Comments
There is an area in Osaka called Shinsekai (新世界), which literally means “new world” in English. This area is famous for being dirty and a little dangerous at night, as well for having lots of an incredibly unhealthy yet delicious food called Kushikatsu (串カツ). Because of Shinsekai’s old town feel, many Japanese compare it to [...]
Outdoor Washing
Posted by harvey in Humor, Society on 26. Sep, 2006 | 8 Comments
Some apartments in Japan are so small, that the washing machine is placed outside of the home.
Also, most Japanese homes do not have clothes dryers inside, so clothes must be hung out to dry.
Could you imagine having to step outside of your home in the winter to get your wet laundry out of the machine? [...]
Becoming Buddha
Posted by harvey in Language on 24. Sep, 2006 | 2 Comments
Here’s an interesting Japanese phrase I recently learned.
「おしゃかになった。」 Osyaka ni natta.
The meaning of this phrase, is the same as 「だめになった」 Dame ni natta. Which means, “it was broken”, or “it became useless”.
The root of this phrase is very interesting. The kanji for Osyaka, is 「お釈迦」which means Buddha. If you literally translate Osyaka ni natta, it [...]
When Mormons Attack
Posted by harvey in Society on 22. Sep, 2006 | 5 Comments
I would say that 85% of the time in Japan, and sorry to pull race into this, but if a well dressed white person randomly starts a conversation with you while you are alone on the street somewhere, chances are they’re Mormon missionaries.
If they happen to be wearing a name tag, you can increase that [...]
Visited Countries Update
Posted by harvey in About, Travel on 20. Sep, 2006 | 6 Comments
I got to keep on movin’ ♪
You can create your own map here!
After my trip to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand I’m at 22 countries now, or 9% of the countries in the world.
Visiting countries is cool, but really, most of these places are just on a “I’ve been there” level. As a tourist mostly. I [...]
Sharks and Takoyaki, or not
Posted by harvey in Humor on 18. Sep, 2006 | No Comments
This is a good one.
This is a Chinese snack. A friend brought it back from mainland China as an Omiyage.
Inside the package, is dried squid.
Outside of the package, is a picture of a shark, and text which says “TAKOYAKI”. Which, as we all know, are fried breaded octopus balls. (Or is it?)
What’s going on here? [...]
Vocab: Fifty-Fifty
Posted by harvey in Language on 16. Sep, 2006 | 1 Comment
Random vocab I came across recently.
五分五分 – ごぶごぶ – gobugobu – fifty-fifty
I had no idea you could say “gobu gobu” to mean 50/50.
It surprised me because the kanji are so easy, and it sounds like something I should have run across before…
Learn something new everyday!
For example, the title of this newspaper article I found by [...]
