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Post by Lotus Eater on May 8, 2006 16:43:34 GMT 7
Japan is a different world. I am not certain what I expected, but not the modern, angular, legoland housing and the 'Dutch Pennsylvania' farm buildings. I certainly didn't expect the toilets - public toilets with doors and toilet paper - wow! But not only this - they were for the most part with warmed seats, bidet functions and in some of them - noise makers so no-one can actually hear what you are doing. The toilets were definitely the biggest culture shock of the whole journey!! I am still recovering. Potato wedges flambe As soon as I arrived the family took me to a sake factory followed by a tasting of various sakes. After they asked me several times which ones I enjoyed most, they then bought me bottles of them, plus the traditional wooden cup to drink from - moral: don't tell anybody you like anything! Sake factory buildings with old tanks for sake. I did mention the toilets?? This is where to press when you want the noise to gently convince anyone else that nothing is happening. Below is the flush system. Sorry about quality - I was too busy laughing to focus properly! The next day I was taken to a beer factory (do these people know me too well?) - plaques of the different names the beer has been called from this factory. Afterwards of course there was beer tasting ....... Hokkaido museum tower through winter dessicated bushland. Looks a little like the buildings in Laputa from Studio Ghibli. Not yet spring. Prayers and hopes at a Shinto shrine - called "ema" Lanterns in the forest at the Shrine Fukinoto - the first sign spring is coming - and the stem is edible - a bit like a softer celery. grows wild all over the fields. Waterfall in Odori park - the park used to be the foreign housing area in early Sapporo history - houses now razed and park built instead. Great slippery slide in Odori Park Can I have a turn too? Garden at one of the early buildings in Sapporo Modern sculpture made from recycled bricks at the ceramic museum Lantern in the tea ceremony school/tea house. Only a few of the 300 I took.
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on May 8, 2006 16:52:26 GMT 7
Brilliant, as usual. I love the slide. Functional yet aesthetic.
Looks like I'd need a lesson before going to the restroom. Very hi-tech.
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Post by George61 on May 8, 2006 16:59:18 GMT 7
I wonder when China will look like that! Very great, Lotus. You do get around!!
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Post by acjade on May 8, 2006 17:36:29 GMT 7
A strangely exotic flower the Fukinoto... is it some sort of Goya?
Funny you should post these today. I watched Memoirs of a Geisha this afternoon. I think I'll have to watch it again. I really missed some of the finer points of the story.
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Post by George61 on May 8, 2006 17:43:42 GMT 7
Ahem!! ACJ, do you mean Hoya? Mr. Goya was a Spaniard artist.
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Post by acjade on May 8, 2006 18:05:25 GMT 7
Ahem!! ACJ, do you mean Hoya? Mr. Goya was a Spaniard artist. Hoya is what I meant. I could say it was a slip of the finger but in actual fact it was a gutteral sound short of the correct noun. Thanks George. So is it a member of the Hoya family? Also those rusty old sake tubs look like the submarines they dredged up from the bottom of Sydney Harbour. The brick sculpture is pretty much what is happening up in the village as I type.
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Post by George61 on May 8, 2006 20:39:18 GMT 7
Dunno.
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 8, 2006 23:28:56 GMT 7
Fukinoto are more like a soft succulent - nothing like a hoya. They can be sauteed, boiled, eaten in tempura etc. The stem is very similar to celery in shape, taste, colour and size, but slightly softer when cooked.
I have the DVD following Memoirs of a Geisha - the World of the Geisha - but haven't yet watched it. And now having been to Japan, I need to re-watch all of my Japanese movies to gain a greater understanding of what I saw in both the movie and the country.
Life is one long learning curve!!
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Post by acjade on May 9, 2006 6:17:28 GMT 7
Fukinoto are more like a soft succulent - nothing like a hoya. They can be sauteed, boiled, eaten in tempura etc. The stem is very similar to celery in shape, taste, colour and size, but slightly softer when cooked. Celery softens to nothing when cooked. Google informed me that Fukinoto is a butterbur plant related to the chrysanthanum species. It's very bitter and used in miso and tempura. The buds, not the leaves.
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Post by TeePee on May 9, 2006 7:48:45 GMT 7
Hey Lotus, Thanks for the views of my second home. I lived in Japan for 10 years and miss it a lot, especially my daughter Leesa. "Take me home, West Japan. Where the beer and the sake flow."
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Post by cheekygal on May 9, 2006 10:33:11 GMT 7
Lotty, you seem to travel soooo much! Good on you! Thank you again for interesting pictures
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Post by uberzilla on May 9, 2006 10:35:06 GMT 7
Forgive this first part I am coming from a philos-forum. I will preface this comment by saying that I am not into tribal mentality. I can however appreciate good things where ever the may be. There are a lot of good things around the world to see. Oriental cultures, at the superficial level are probably as different as any cultures can be. So my point...I jealous ;D More pics Man there is a lot to see on the other side of the globe P.S. Don't they have bikini contests over there? ... ok err sorry bout that.
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 9, 2006 23:01:15 GMT 7
I ate fukinoto while I was there - we breakfasted on the stem - sauteed on top of doufu. It wasn't super soft - but tender - as I said, like lightly sauteed celery. Also had it in miso, again for breakfast. It wasn't bitter at all. Maybe it is when raw?? The Studio Ghibli amimation of 'My friend Totaro" had fukinoto leaves as umbrellas for Totaro. I love Studio Ghibli work - best animations I have seen. Hokkaido is probably a bit cold for bikini contests.
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 9, 2006 23:23:41 GMT 7
The windswept fields also entranced me. My parents owned farms all around Qld so I really like being in the country. This area of Japan is farming territory and I felt at home with the space around me.
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on May 10, 2006 11:10:33 GMT 7
Is that a big piece of modern farm equipment on the left of the picture? How would you compare the farming methods you observed in Japan to those used in China?
On my recent train excursion across the farmlands of Liaoning I observed a few tractors, but mostly plows pulled by donkeys, oxen, horses and once even a person!
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 10, 2006 11:18:20 GMT 7
The farming equipment is way more modern than China. Tractors, rice planters, harvesters etc etc etc. All there. The farms are bigger than those in China. I watched rice being planted, the machine did most of the work, and a couple of women wearing hats that were reminiscent of Amish caps, walked behind straightening the rice seedlings that had planted crookedly.
The only horse drawn vehicle I saw was in Sapporo city pulling a highly decorated covered wagon for tourists. The cattle are Holsteins - it was mostly diary country.
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Post by ilunga on May 11, 2006 4:26:58 GMT 7
I really want to go to Japan. The country really fascinates me and I'm not really sure why.
How expensive is it? I know Tokyo is like London, or worse. How about other places?
I have a rough future plan to go there and study the language. If I ever get the hang of pu tong hua that is.
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