10 Best Things About Japan

As I look back at the year that was 2012, I want to reflect on the best and worst things about Japan, the country I have called home for the past 5 years. Today’s post will be the “10 Best” list while tomorrow’s will be the “10 Worst” list.

Message to all “hardcore” Japan fans out there…take these posts with a grain of salt!

1. Japanese food: It’s great. It’s really delicious!

2. Strong Yen (currency): At least in 2012 it was. That was good for me since I was paid in Yen!

3. Safe place to live: I know that every second joker isn’t carrying a gun!

4. SOOOO many weirdos: There really is a freaky amount of freaky people all over the place in Japanese cities. As a blogger and vlogger, that’s great for me! Free entertainment.

5. Beautiful women everywhere: I may be happily married, but I’m not dead!

6. Those beautiful women are “Pro Short Skirt”: Nuff said…

7. Smart phones still have unlimited data plans: Nuff said…

8. Treated well as a foreigner: As a Canadian living in Japan, I am treated quite well by most (sadly there are foreigners from many other countries who aren’t treated so well).

9. Fantastic history: Japan has a really fascinating history. I mean come on, these guys are the guys who brought us ninjas!!! That’s WAY cool!

10. Raising a family: As a parent in Japan, you have subsidized health care and good financial incentives and support from the government…for now.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my “10 Worst Things About Japan” list!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Meat Pie and Inarizushi 稲荷寿司

I can’t make all of my posts dark and dreary. I also can’t make them all angry because I am basically a very happy guy!

This past Thursday was Saint Patrick’s Day and I, being of Irish-Canadian descent, had to do something about it. With a new baby at home, I wasn’t really up to going out for St. Paddy’s this year, but I made a steak and Guinness pie at home. I did the same last year as well. I suppose it is becoming a tradition in my house. I of course enjoyed wit with several can of Guinness as well!

Take a look at my creation (served with mashed potatoes as well):











All pictures of my Steak and Guinness pie process were taken with the iPhone app, Instagram.


I also uploaded another in a new series of Japanese food videos called Japan Eats. I have long known that my most popular videos on You Tube tend to be food related. I also decided I need to make a lot more of them!

Sushi City

Yesterday's Hanami festivities were rained out. Instead of having the picnic we planned, it ended up being a leisurely stroll with umbrellas. Once we got home we had a lot of wonderful homemade sushi to eat. My wife is a spectacular cook and earlier that morning prepared an amazing feed of "norimaki" or "makizushi" 巻き寿司(sushi roll) and "inarizushi" 稲荷寿司 (stuffed sushi).


Makizushi (巻き寿司, lit. rolled sushi). A cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat, called a makisu (巻き簾). Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, but can occasionally be found wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, cucumber, or parsley. Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order. wikipedia


Inarizushi (稲荷寿司, stuffed sushi). A pouch of fried tofu filled with usually just sushi rice. It is named after the Shinto god Inari, who is believed to have a fondness for fried tofu. The pouch is normally fashioned as deep-fried tofu (油揚げ, abura age).wikipedia



You can see the amazing inarizuzhi and makizushi I was able to wolf down for dinner last night. In the front is a bowl of miso soup.



Another shot of my wife's amazing zushi! By the way, "zushi" is the plural form of "sushi."

Watch out for the Demons!

Today is Setsubun and it's almost over. I spent part of the morning being pelted with soy beans. Oh yeah; did I mention I was dressed as an "Oni", or a Japanese demon. Each class in my school took turns pelting the beans at me in order to "symbolically" drive away the evils of the year and welcome in good things.

One Japanese tradition is to eat soy beans after you've pelted them at the man dressed as the "Oni." You're supposed to eat one for every year you've been alive. I was apprehensive at first, but once I began chomping down on these little brown things, I instantly realized that they taste pretty awesome.

Another tradition for many Japanese people on Setsubun is to eat "Norimaki", which is a sushi roll. When I came home from work, my lovely wife had one for each of us as well as a special miso soup and a large sardine to eat. All traditional food for the day and it was pretty damn delicious!


This was one of my students' lunches today. Her mother had prepared this at home for her. I love the rice, in the image of an "Oni." Very cool dtuff indeed.

By the way, it was amazing how so many students were able to throw beans into the eye holes of my demon mask. Wow, some of them really stung!