Look alike ( ひげ さん )

Spotted this guy in town who bears a close physical resemblance to one of our friends.
Guess who I am thinking of?

TWIN TOILETS IN CHINA

A friend told me of his experience in using toilets without partition in China. He was reading his newspaper while squatting on a toilet. A stranger came to squat next to him. The stranger stuck his head to his side to read the newspaper he was holding.

Japan Travelogue - Hanryu, Michi no Eki, Shishamon etc.,

HanryuKorean dramas not only catch China and South East Asian viewers by storm. They are popular in Japan too. This is a shelf displaying Japanese magazines on Korean drama in a bookshop in a small town in Japan.

Responsible farmersThe rest stations for motorists along the highway are now called ‘Michi no Eki’ (literally means ‘station of the road’). Travelers by car can take a rest, have some drinks and snacks and shop for local produce in such station. Some even have bathing facilities. The agricultural produce are supplied by local small time farmers. I notice many vegetable items and rice are displayed with the name, address and photos of the farmers or of the farmers with the family members. These farmers take pride of and responsibility for their produce.

Potato ManHokkaido is famous for delicious potato. 5-kg packs of Hokkaido potato are hot items at the souvenir shops at the airport. A human-like potato was displayed at the cashier counter of an eatery in a road station.

Squid catching boatsClick on the above photo for high-res imageNote the number of sodium lamps on the boats which are used to attract squids.

ShishamonClick on the above photo for high-res imageThe small fish with plenty of roes. Commonly called ‘pregnant fish’ here. The ’original’ or best ones are caught in the Pacific coast of Hokkaido. I heard those sold in South East Asia are ‘look alike’, not the real stuff. Keep this photo of the ‘real ones’ if you do not want to compromise for look-alike when you purchase the fish. In the supermarket in Japan, the prices of ‘good quality’ shishamon and the cheaper version differ by several times.

The Asian Koel came a calling.

On Sunday after noon (18 April), while working on the computer at home, the black male Koel and brown spotty female Koel appeared on the palm tree outside my window. They sang loudly and left before I could get my camera ready. About an hour later, the female bird returned. I managed to snap quite a lot of shots with digital zoom. It was around 6 pm and the flash came on automatically. The photos taken with flash were dark and grainy. The camera speed was 1/125 secs. When disabled the flash, the camera speed was 1/15 second or 1/8 second. I had to rest my hands on the window grills to stabilize my hands.
Based on past experience, the Koel would come and stay longer after 6 pm.

Female Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)
The female Koel makes a shrill kik-kik-kik... call.

The female Asian Koel is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, that parasites the nest of crows and in a way help keep the crow population down

The Asian Koel that wakes us up every morning.
Like many cuckoos, it lays its eggs in other birds' nests.

My Okra plant (Lady's Fingers) bears fruits

About two months ago I featured the Red Burgundy Okra which I found growing wild in Japan. That was in October last year and the plant was as tall as my height. The fruit was about 8 inches long.
On my return to Singapore, I took back a dried fruit with seeds inside. I sowed more than 20 seeds, a few at a time in November/December last year. Each time when the seedlings grew to about 5-6 inches tall, the seedlings would wither away. I have successfully grown two plants to about 2 feet high (in pots). One bears a small fruit, about 4 inches long and shedded most of its leaves.

This is a healthy plant which has not fruited yet.
It has two young buds.
This plant has fruited but with only two leaves.
The two surviving plants.

Okra plant

I came across this Red Burgundy Okra whilst I was in Japan during October 2009. Visited most of the wet markets in Singapore but have not seen one like this. Have you ?

Red Burgundy Okra
Okra is often known as lady's fingers outside of the United States. In Japan it is known as Okura (オクラ).

It's scientific name is "Abelmoschus esculentus" and also "Hibiscus esculentus". Other interesting okra varieties (cultivars) include the following:

• Star of David – This variety grows pods that have a very unique shape and strong flavor from okra plants reaching up to seven feet.
• Alabama Red - Also known as the dwarf variety, produces unusual fat red pods.
• Cow Horn – This giant okra variety can grow up to eight feet tall with slender pods reaching ten inches in length without becoming woody.
• Louisiana Short – A prolific producer of tasty and extremely plump six-inch pods.
• Burmese Okra – An early yielder of green pods.
• Jade – High yields of early maturing dark green okra pods on four foot tall plants.
• Emerald – Unique smooth-round pods.

Japan Travelogue - Fashion trends in Japan

I took some candid shots of the young ladies at airports and railway stations. The trend seemed to be short skirt or short pants with long boots, black tights, etc.
These pictures were taken in mid October. Black tights seem to be catching up in Singapore 2 months later.

Japan Travelogue - Seafood

I have been sharing my tales on my trip to Hokkaido. This time it is on seafood. Hokkaido is famous for hairy crab (kegani) and taraba crab. Hairy crab is native Japanese crab while taraba crab looks like Alaskan king crab, but I am not sure whether they are the same type of crabs. Taraba crabs are brought in by Russian fishing vessels. Taraba crabs are sold live ie swimming in a tank, raw chilled (half of the legs) or boiled and frozen. Just take a look at the prices of taraba crabs and hairy crabs shown in the images. I ate taraba crab at a buffet dinner and ordered a hairy crab at another ala carte dinner. A 400-gramme crab cost 6000 yen and I had to wait for more than 30 minutes for the crab to be boiled’.

Taraba legs
Hairy crabs
First time I saw ‘aburi sushi’ on the menu while I took sushi on the first day on my arrival in Fukuoka in Oct 09. ‘Aburi’ means burnt or treatment by fire in Japanese. The fish meat on an aburi sushi after fire treatment is still raw, except with the burnt smell.

Aburi sushi After making the sushi, the chef would burn the sushi with a can-gas torch. The thin edges of the small fish were burnt or charred a bit.
At a sushi shop in Sapporo 10 days later, I got the opportunity to see the process of making aburi sushi at the sushi counter.

Shishamon sushiI ordered shishamon sushi which I heard was only available in Hokkaido. Shishamon is a small fish of about 10 cm long with plenty of roe which is usually eaten grilled.

Ika chirimen - (literally means ‘squid noodles’).The chef took less than 2 minutes to dissect a live squid fished out from the tank and sliced the meat into thin strips which look like noodles. When the head with the legs of the squid is detached from the body, the legs could support the head and stand up on the chopping board. See image below.

Japan Travelogue - Nachi Falls, Kumano, Wakayama

Recently, I visited Kumano which is in Wakayama Prefecture.

There are 33 shrines and temples along the pilgrimage circuit in Kumano, Wakayama Prefecture of Japan, which was designated as a World's Heritage'. Many of the shrines are linked with stoned paved paths built over the centuries. The path is lined with cedar trees of of several hundred years old. It took me more than 30 minutes to tread the gradual uphill path to reach the first shrine -Nachi Daisha. The path may look monotonous in picture, but the feel of actually being in it, treading along the path among the old and huge trees, the scent and 'sound' of natural forest, the change of the sun's shade at every turn, the quiteness, tranquility, the feel was very therapeutic and soothing. I stopped every now than then to take in the views and photographing.
The path I took was not packed with visitors. I got to enjoy the undisturbed tranquility at the abode of the divine (霊場 in Japanese).

Below are are some the photos I took along the path.

Mioto trees (Husband and wife trees).
The tree on the right with a hole must be the 'wife tree'.
Stone paved path lined with cedar trees.
Flower among the rocks.While walking up the stoned paved pilgrimage path in Kumano (熊野古道), I was delighted to see a bloom among the pile of rocks. This was a refreshing sight of perseverance and strength, a life that popped out from the seemingly lifeless and barren pile of rocks.

Steps leading to Kumano-Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine.
A rock monument indicating that Nachi Daisha (Nachi Shrine)
is a World's Heritage site.
Kumano-Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine torii.
Seiganto-ji and Nachi-no Otaki One of the most famous waterfalls in Japan, with a height of 133m, 13m of width, and 10m of depth of fall basin. Nachi-no Otaki is actually a set of three waterfalls and here you can see the main falls.
The red vermilion three-storied pagoda is a part of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.

Close-up view of Nachi-no Otaki It has been said that one of the Japanese emperors visited this fall more than a 100 times.

Japan Travelogue - Nachi Zan, World Heritage Site

The Nachi Zan temple was built in 1590 and is the oldest among those designated as World Heritage in Kumano area. You can see the weathered timber structure which tells the age.