Slurpees in Japan

What one? Location: Tokyo, Asakusa, 7/11, right in front of the temple gates.

Kids Are Dumb

I was at a shop in Asakusa last weekend, looking for some ninja stars. While I was there I overheard a conversation in English. A father was asking his son if he wanted a bow. The son replied "I can make one of those in five minutes." I was kind of stunned but the kid looked like he was twelve and most people that age are retarded. The conversation between this dad and son quickly became more outlandish, with the son making wilder claims. After about a minute of this, the dad says, in Japanese "Speak Japanese!". I turned my head and realized that I was dealing with some spoiled hafu (half Japanese, half something else). They didn't switch but I wish they would have. His stupidity wouldn't have been shielded by another language, as I would have followed him, stealthily; like a ninja.

Summer is halfway over

This summer has gone by fast and I've been having too much fun. It's been a relatively mild summer compared with the past two I have experienced. I really wish I could have made it back to the US to visit all my friends but the airfare is ridiculous. I still haven't been back. At least I'm trying to make the best of it. My sister will be here in two days. I'm looking forward to that. I'll try to get back into the swing of things with my blog and videos. I bought a new hard drive, so I have the space! That's all for now! Later!

brandon - part 2 of 2

In part two of the series, we complete the second 'half' of our journey.  To be honest with you, it's not really the second half.  Part one covers the first day and a half while part two covers the next four or five days.  Shooting video gets tiring and eventually, I want to relax and have fun as well.  The last two days Brandon was here have no video footage at all.  I have no video of him where I live.

After that day in Tokyo, we went north and stayed at my place.  The next day we played video games.  The day after, we went back to Tokyo and hung out, all night, until the next day.  There is a lot missing.  

There are also some stories I want to tell about the trip but didn't mention.  At one point, Brandon lost his iPad.  He didn't realize it until about an hour after it was lost.  We had to back track our steps and we found it in the same place it was left.  That story I will save for later.

Generally speaking, this is why many of the travel videos I make are more segment like and less story like.  In order to create a story, your camera always needs to be on.  If you're going to do a segment, you can be more selective.  Anyway, that's all I've got.

Brandon in Shibuya

Spotted.

I wore a white dress shirt today.  I never wear it because it's easy to see through.  As I was walking past some students the sunlight hit me perfectly.  ''ジェリ先生、イレズミ持っていますか?’’  Then the pestering began.  I put my finger over my lips like ''it's a secret''.  The kids laughed and said ''it's cool''.  It still makes me nervous.   This isn't America, where it's not a big deal.

Cooking American Dishes

A few weeks back I was invited to a BBQ at a friends house. Beforehand I felt like I should bring a dish. I ended up settling on an American one. Something I haven't had in a while. Macaroni salad. I found the ingredients at the store, of course at a much more expensive price. I was able to turn out a rad dish of macaroni salad for around ¥500. If I were to make it just for myself, I could live off of it for a few days. Something I am considering.

Then a day or two pasted. A friend gave me a bunch of potatoes. What does this mean? Potato salad. I turned out another killer dish. Between the period of potato salad and macaroni salad, I made another gnarly dish. An American Classic, Macaroni and cheese. That hit the spot. Its been so long since I've had it.

Since arriving in Japan, its difficult to get your hands on any food that is remotely American. The Japanese must not see a point in an oven so many western dishes like casserole, pizza, lasagna, or even cupcakes are hard to come by. If you find a place that sells one. The price is going to be high and the portion size is far too small. Which is upsetting. Since most Western dishes are very generous.

All of this has put me into a mode of various dishes I want to cook. Some hot, some cold. Tex/Mex is always on the list. I'm going to figure out how I will do Taquitos. If I can't purchase tortillas then I will make them myself. Its not hard, just time consuming. A nice bean dip wouldn't be hard, just time consuming. Actually, when I think of it, all of these dishes are time consuming. Back home its easy. The main difference between Japan and America is space and being limited to one burner. I have no counter. NONE! This is why a simple dish like macaroni salad took so long. Having the two burners, one to hard boil the eggs and the other to cook the noodles would be glorious.

I want to make cupcakes but I'm not completely sure on how this will be accomplished. I have a toaster oven so it might be difficult. However, I will give it a try. I'm an American. We planted a flag on the moon, I'm sure I can bake cupcakes in my toaster oven.