2010...been there, done that!

2010 is about to come to an end and the Year of the Rabbit is about to begin.

The year was a wonderful ride of ups and downs for me. Luckily, it was about 95% ups. This is my third year living in Japan and was also the year my wife and I had our first child.

Here are a few signs that the year is changing in Japan:

Ebisu Beer, one of Japan's premium brewers has come up with limited time packaging to bring in 2011.


Traditionally, many Japanese people eat soba (buckwheat noodles) そば or 蕎麦 on New Years Eve. This was dinner at my house this evening. My wife prepared a soba soup with tempura shrimp. As you can imagine by the picture, it was delicious.



Nihonshu 日本酒 or sake is a very popular drink on New Years Eve and New Years day. this is the biggest holiday of the year in japan and people enjoy having their liquid happiness to celebrate the holiday! i tok this at my local supermarket this afternoon here in Kobe.


During the New Year, Japanese people tend to eat a lot of mochi 餅. Mochi is essentially a doughy rice cake. it is baked, eaten as is or used in soup on new years day morning.


This is a common gift set given during the new Year. Japanese people are very big on giving gifts. this particular beer/juice set was given t my family by a good friend of mine. He isn't Japanese, but has been in Japan for some time and honours traditions.


This beautiful flower arrangement was given to my family by my sister-in-law. She is a florist in Osaka and made this new Years style arrangement herself. it is an awesome gift to bring in the New Year here in Japan.

I wish everyone out the a very Happy New Year!

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi's Naked Romp

This is big news in Japan. No...it's not big news....it's the biggest news. One of Japan's biggest celebrities got loaded drunk, took his clothes off and danced around naked in a park. Honestly, what's the big deal? He was just wasted....doesn't everyone at some point get naked in a public park and bark at the moon?


Naked romp shames SMAP boy band star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and puts media in spin
Times Online

The Japanese media world has been plunged into chaos by the humiliating arrest of Tsuyoshi Kusanagi — a member of SMAP, the biggest, best-loved and most successful boy band in Japanese pop history.

Famed for his boyish good looks, and a repeated winner of the “Mr Jeans Japan” accolade, Kusanagi was bundled into a police car after a night of naked, sake-fuelled mayhem in a central Tokyo park.

“What’s wrong with being naked?” the music and television superstar is said to have screamed as the arresting officers dodged his flailing fists and attempted to wrap him in a plastic tarpaulin. read more...


Japan pop star freed after arrest over indecency
AP

A Japanese pop star was released Friday after being detained overnight for allegedly being naked and drunk in a Tokyo park, police said.

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a member of hugely popular group SMAP, was arrested Thursday after neighbors complained to police that a drunk man was making a fuss in the park in a posh Tokyo neighborhood.

Dozens of reporters and photographers waited outside the Harajuku police station where Kusanagi was held. A silver van carrying him drove quickly away, its curtains tightly closed. Read More...

Obama, Inaugurations and Sake

It's another week and it's a great day/evening. Barack Obama will be inaugurated in about 2 hours and will become the new President of the United States. I realize this has nothing to do with Kevin and life in Japan, but who cares, it's the most important news period. It begins at 12:30am Japan Standard Time. I just hope I'll still be awake when it begins. Man oh man, I'm a happy camper. I'm so happy to see him come into office.

I did go on that sake brewery tour I talked about. Here's a video I made of the occasion.

Sake Time


In this video, myself, my wife Mai and Patrick (aka, KansaiPJ) had an awsome time. See the original here.

Happy Sake Weekend

It's been a little while since I've written something. It was my first full wek back at work since my nasty stomach virus. I'm finally feeling better and ready for the weekend.

This is a weekend dedicated to all things sake! Mai and I are going to visit the Nada Sake Brewery district of Kobe. Kobe has a long history of producing some of the best sake (Nihonshu 日本酒)in Japan. In the Nada area of Kobe (also the area where I take my Japanese class), there are several functional sake breweries that offer free tours and samples. I realize that most will be in Japanese only and I'll probably understand little, but the free sake samples at the end of each tour will make everything better. The Hakutsuru Sake Brewery is supposed to have most of it's information in English so I'll be looking forward to that one maybe more than others. We'll also be meeting our good friend and my fellow You Tube vlogger KansaiPJ. I'm sure we'll generate a lot of great footage from this little adventure!

So, long story short; going to drink some sake tomorrow and will make several vlogs about it. Be sure to check things out here. I'll definitely post them right here.