Time for another post
Indeed, and long overdue it is.First of all a few random additions. On your right, in the fun and games bit there’s a new link called Earthquakes in Japan
Second, there’s a few new pictures in the Random folder
The first is a tracking system for earthquakes in Japan going back a week. If you’re reading this ontime you can see both 4+ earthquakes of the last week in My and The Fair Maiden’s area. Just press the previous button a couple of times. And then some more, there really are a LOT of earthquakes here. The second . . . is pictures. They include a picture taken in a Hippy bar somewhere in a basement in Osaka. Surprising enough when the manager found out I was Dutch he didn’t ask if I had weed. But offered me some from his private stash.
| Drug offenses (10,766) |
1–2 years at hard labor 1–2 years in prison 2–3 years in prison Other sentences |
3,894 (36%) 3,490 (32%) 1,791 (17%) 1591 (15%) |
Drug law in Japan =>
On with the story though. Last weekend myself and the fair maiden made it back to Fuji-san. 3rd time is the charm and all that.
So we went to a different area each time and we can do this because:
Mountains are big
Big mountains are bigger
And the biggest mountain in a county is usually . . . .VERY BIG
Big enough to warret spending 3 weekends in it’s presence without seeing anything twice.
Please excuse this little explanation but I know a vast majority of my readers are Dutch and the biggest mountain in Holland takes approximately 25 minutes to walk around.
On crutches.
Spending 3 weekends on one may be an alien concept to them.
The first weekend, way back in September 2007 we climbed it.
Then in December we visited Hakone, Mt. Fuji viewing prime
And this weekend we spent around the Fuji Five Lakes area.
Now, this meant hours of walking and nice pictures.
Or, in case one forgets his camera, just hours of walking. I suggest going here for some proper pictures but I’ve uploaded some of my own aswell.
Now, as one can read in the wikipedia link earlier on this area has a rather sinister history. And this was well visable as we walked through suicide forest. Trees strangeling trees and snakes crawling over footpaths. Together with the gloomy weather and trees that have not regained their foliage it was a marvelous atmosphere. In the forest were caves. Deep caves, LOW caves, VERY LOW caves. Actually things got lower than that, but due to needing hands to walk on we couldn’t take any pictures of that. There were bat caves.
I have to admit though, no bats in the batcave, no suicides in the suicide forest, it was all rather a dissapointment. I had Raph along though so that made it all better. Between the forest and civilization we had some of this. And other than that the weekend was spent in not-mentionables. It was a nice together weekend.
Well, there was one thing. The Japanese Bass Fishing Championship. Out of sheer awesome I forgot to take pictures of that, shucks.
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Then there was wednesday. I finally managed to get 5 of my colleages to come and tag along to “Oude Kaas“. I reported earlier that they seemed to have closed 3 days before I arrived in Osaka, this was not true: They were remoddeling. CHEER.
How did I managed to get people to come where I had failed twice before . . . . I got my boss to order someone else to organise it. Simple.
Anyway, Oude Kaas is the only restaurant outside of Holland to hold a certificate by the Vereniging van Erkende Pannekoekenrestaurants. But next to that they serve a wide range of different Dutch dishes like Loempias, kroepoek and Nasi Goring. All very Dutch. Ok, check out the ☆メニュー button for the menu. After that it’s all in Japanese or Dutch so I reckon *most* of my readers can make due. They had bitterballen *GLEE*.
Oh there was so much good food, I made an exception of my vegetarianism for 1 bitterball. And then I had to eat 2 mussels to show these people who consider themselves fish-eaters-prime just how you handle one of those (pfffff, Amateurs). Other than that I had the best Friet-speciaal I have ever had. Garlic toast, a real pancake, stamppot, good beer . . . .Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Yummie. Just Yummie. I would offer you pictures but 2 things prevent me
1. It’s food most of you can have every day or has no emotional value, pictures would be meaningless
2. By the time I remembered the camera most pictures came out like this
Oops.
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Quote of the day:
It’s an exception
- 15 different日本語teachers regarding some aspect of the Japanese Language
- Wally regarding the bitterbal
Scince the menu is in Dutch as well as in Japanese, I wonder if you could actually try ordering in Dutch there… (I am guessing that the japanese characters in brackets behind the dutch name is the approximate pronunciation in Japanaese… It would be fun to know kow accurate that is)
And Kudo’s to that restaurant for importing the “real” syrup…
Edited to include the VEP link and to include the low ceiling pictures. There was another picture of Raphs feet visable under the very Very VERY low ceiling, but it was so far beyond blurry I deleted it.
Last bit remaining is for the Ryokan neko to upload the photos of us.
If possible I hope there is time to eat in Oude kaas once. Only two weeks and we fly off to Tokyo, Yeah. Being a concerned mum, here a mum question or I will be considered a bad one: do you get all your vitamins being a vegetarian? Aelle looks healthy enough, so I presume vegetarism is o.k?
Is it afe to eat just anything from a menu if you can’t read what it says and there is nobody to translate into a language we understand?
And…will I look good as a Geisha or should I leave that to the youth? Your european colleges looked pretty in kimono.
See you soon
You’re a vegetarian Wally !? Gee, no one ever tells me anything. :p
Ina, I’m actually a vegan, and yes I make sure I get all my nutrients (I know my own mum is too shy or not worried enough to ask, so she’ll read this and be reassured anyway). People who eat plant-based diets, if they have the slightest bit of common sense, eat more fruits and vegetables than the general population and have less to worry about their vitamins (most of them anyway). It’s other stuff we have to be careful about. But being a guy, Wally has little to worry about his iron intake ; and considering his love for peanut butter, soy milk and falafels he should also be safe on the protein side.
(And here are a few examples of what we eat out)
Well, Oude Kaas is in Osaka, and our trip together will be from Nara to Koya san, which takes us past . . . .Osaka. They have lunch opening hours aswell.
I got approached by the . . . . person who opens the door for me. I’m sure that’s not his real job but that’s all I ever see him do. And apparently it is now OK for you to see the inside of the dorm. This has been discussed at great length since the refusal 3 month ago I think. Women = NO!. Mothers = OK.
I am getting all my nutrients I think . . . Sure signs are pale poop
and lack of energy. Though I have that last one a bit I think it is due to the job. I am far more 元気 outside the office:P
The nearest Falafel store is in Kyoto . . .:(
When you ask “Will I look as good as a Geisha” you are really asking. “Will I look good in Japanese traditional Clothing”. There are maybe some 500 Geishas left in japan but people who wear Kimonos are still slightly less common than mud. Your first sighting of a person in dress like that will NOT be a Geisha.
On the ordering food thing: Well, you’ll just have to find out won’t you. Judge the portions by the price/picture and hope for the best. Pretty much everything it eatable by dutch standards. They don’t cook dogs here or anything. Though the Dutch government would shudder seeing uncooked eggs in dishes. THINK OF THE SALMONELLA. For me, it’s OK. I know the kanji for fish and meat. I know how to specifically ask if there’s any in it (and I usually do, unless my girlfriend tells me there’s usually only shrimp in Tempura. 1 tempura udon with deepfried-whitefish. Made especially for me. Thanks for the advice honey). Though due to conflicting kanji I have probably passed the garlic dish several times. Garlic is called garlic meat in Kansai(not the rest of japan though). Food is good here. At least . . .most of it is. I hope I can be there the first time you order seacucumber eggs-sushi. Muhahahahaha
Aelle: No using passive-agressive behaviour toward your mother on my blog please
(It was a joke, I know)
Hi Aelle,
Nice to meat you, well at least on paper. Nice to see you are about my size, wich I like having lived between the giants in our household. I hope top meet in real when you visit Wally in Delft.
Modern mothers let their children live their lives, knowing they are adults, but sometimes it is nice to pretent I am oldfashioned and Wally stays my “little” boy.Makes me feel like an adult.
The food lookes good. I think I will like what I will eat in Japan.
Wally be nice to little girls. I don’t know if it will help if I ask because every time I try to protect myself against men, they start to laugh, even now I have been downsized. Maybe I can learn in Japan to look fragile and a bit weak.
B.t.w. the only vitamine I worry about is B12, but Wally you aren’t trying to be a vegetarian long enough.
Thanks for taking care of my abdominal muscles. Laughing is very good for them.
Kiss and hug for the both of you
B12 deficiency is something aelle needs to look out for.
I still eat eggs and dairy products. Though I use soy milk in my cereal and don’t drink cow-milk anymore (because I just go through so much of it) I still get enough dairy to ward this off even had I been off the meat for a while.
Seriously, vegan? Don’t you know they are the Hezbollah-like splinter factionof Vegetarians? No way.
“No using passive-agressive behaviour toward your mother on my blog please”…thank you Wally!!!
i see there is people talking on my back in this place…tssss…
My dear daughter, I know how stubborn you can be about food…and you’re quite thankless just thinking I could be “not worried enough”…(you see I read it)
when I see your smile on Wally’s pictures, I know you’re OK and I don’t think you have any deficiencies…Thanks to Wally again
To Wally: I was told you had some problems with your too high skull… hope you’ re getting better soon.
OK, either both of you are kidding, or I don’t get it.
I could babelfish it into french to see if iyou two are joking, but my french is not developed enough for that.
In any case, it is now 7 O’clock in the morning and I am not getting ready for work. I have proudly reached Concussion #10. \(^o^)/
you got it…
We are joking.
Happy to know you are feeling better.
Well, I just took my Harrap’s and a book called “english grammar in use ” from cambridge university press to write this reply.
So, please, dont babelfish me, its quite ungracious…
And I am happy to know you went through concussoin #10 without too much aftereffects.
Hehe, the literal meaning of what you wrote was indeed what you intended (or so I think)
You just happened to chance upon something that can be read in so many different ways depending on the tone that is used. As a good example for that is the story Raph’s friend in Tokyo . . . gwen’s ex, I’m sure he has a name, told us.
When exiting a store in Japan they were told in a very enthusiastic and suggestive way: “bonne nuit” which sounded a lot like the store clerk implying that they were to embark upon an evening of dubious virtues.
While in fact it was of course just someone with the barest grasp of french wishing them a good night.
His name is Emmanuel, sometimes Manu.