Posts from — May 2003

I’ve never seen a smoke alarm for sale in any of the home centers I’ve been to, so I finally “got around to it” and imported a box of six of these Kidde combination smoke/fire alarms. Mine are already in place, and I’m going install 3 of them at my mother-in-law’s house. I figured I was going to get a customs hassle of some kind, but no. They have some cheaper ones at The Flying Pig, which I suppose means they have them at Costco for you Tokyoites. I recently heard that Costco opened a branch in Amagasaki (between Osaka and Kobe).

A couple weeks ago we bought a DeLonghi ice cream maker to go with our Delonghi espresso machine, bought last autumn. (I’d owned a steam espresso machine for 10 years without knowing that a real pump espresso unit will deliver coffee as good as the best coffee house can make it.) Anyway, this week the espresso maker started pumping out this electrical smoke. Did you ever see the wiring in a FIAT? If you buy something Italian, you know this day is coming. Who knows how much longer it will last? DeLonghi is an entry-level machine, though. Anyone know where I can get a Rancilio Silvia or Saeco Classico at a decent price in Japan?

Third generation of yamori (gecko) family confirmed on our kitchen window. Unfortunately, Carla seems to have moved on and bequeathed our window to her descendants. What a Mom.

In the past two weeks all the Surutto Kansai prepaid train passes I’ve bought have Kyoto themes, so I scanned them for you. The orange glow of paper lanterns through the koshimado (slatted windows) in machiya in Gion is really lovely. Kyoto vegetables like kamonasu are really important in Kyoto cooking like kaiseki-ryori or shojin-ryori. Kyoto was considered far from the sea in centuries past, so meals usually did not feature fresh fish from the sea, but rather dried ones carried over the mountains from the Maizuru coast in the north and river fish. Thus, sushi is not really Kyoto cuisine, but people do go out for sushi when they come to Kyoto, I suppose because it feels traditional and it has that “special occasion” feel.

I have a question for anyone in Japan who gets BBC on SkyPerfect satellite TV. Does everything on BBC have a slightly greenish tint to it? it does on mine, only on BBC. Relplies appreciated.

ZOOOooom! Japanese only, from the ubergeeks at Digital Hollywood (computer school). The intro and most of the site is Flash. If you don’t have Cult3D it is still enjoyable and informative.

Yoshiko’s dog Leigh is getting on in years (15), but she just can’t miss the festival that passes by their house every year. Mama carried her out front to watch the action, and she had a good time.

Nothing beats the heat like Ramune when you’ve been hauling that mikoshi up and down the block for an hour or so.

Oh, yeah, For all you do, this Ramune’s for you.

Who knew? Not me.
www.nils.jp

Japan’s first urban railway was in Kyoto, starting in 1895, and one of the cars (not one of the 1895 ones, but a later version) is preserved in a corner of the garden at Heian Shrine which, truth be told, is barely older than the streetcar. The train was powered by the first hydroelectric plant in Japan (you can visit it across the street from the International Community Center). Japan’s first elementary school, first movie showing (on a Lumiere projector) and first symphony orchestra were all in Kyoto. It’s not all tea and incense.