Japanese Video Games

I've written before about the fun lands that they have here for kids (and adults) and all the various games and such they have in them, but this afternoon I took (aka - was begged into taking) the kids to WagoLand again.  This is one of those places that you pay one fee and the kids get to go crazy on all the stuff - trampolines, ball pits, batting cages, and VIDEO GAMES!  This afternoon's trip mainly focused on the video games which gave me a good chance to really study these things.  Now I am not queen of the video games - I barely played the Atari that my mom and dad bought us some 30 years ago (just to remind me how antiquated that is, Cannon just asked me "What's Atari?").  But I thought the Japanese had some creative, if not different video games to what you might find in an American arcade.

Like the sushi chef video game...

You had to line the giant cleaver up over the line in the digital fish (or octopus!) and then chop it in the right place.  No, I'm serious, this is a legitimate video game.


Or the wok video game...

Again, a legitimate game where you had to flip the wok and try to get a dumpling through a digital hoop in the wok.

Or the taiko drum game where you get to play the drum along to a Japanese tune.  It's sort of a Japanese kid's version of Guitar Hero.  A taiko drum is a traditional drum here in Okinawa.

Note that in Japan you even play video games with your shoes off!

Or the "beatmania" game where you get to mix your own tune using turntables.  I lived the dream of being a club DJ!

Cannon's "thumb's up" rating my performance!

And then there was the driving performance game that I tried.  I loved that you got graded either A, B, C, D or E!  Not F, but E!

This was cute when Lundy was playing the crotch rocket motorcycle game and Emmy was along for the ride.  I am not encouraged that he won this game when he's only 6!

This was Emmy's inovative way of playing the car racing game!  It's the only way she could reach the pedals and steer at the same time!

Day at the Dentist

Remember when you were little and you had a loose tooth and your dad tied a piece of string to it and the doorknob and then slammed the door?  Ta-da!  One tooth.  Well, either our kid's a whimp or times have changed.  Anyways, London will run screaming bloody murder down the hall if Stevie even tries to wiggle a tooth so consequently we had to take him to the dentist today to get two teeth removed.  It was kind of necessary as he had four front teeth - his permanent teeth had come in in front of his baby teeth so consequently he looked like a sand tiger shark with a reserve set.  I just have this feeling that we will be good friends with the orthodontist in years to come!

For all London's fear of Stevie pulling his teeth, I have to say he was very brave at the dentist today - of course it helped that the dentist was his friend's dad and he numbed him up thoroughly before pulling the teeth!

Before...

The waiting is the hardest part...

Tooth fairy's coming tonight!  (That's gauze, not a cigarette!)

Happily ever after...

Friday Night Fun - Japanese Style

A couple of weeks ago I was over at London's teacher's house for a ladies night and she mentioned that one of her favorite things to do on island was karaoke.  What?  This is the land of beautiful beaches and fantastic restaurants and other tropically things to do and she prefers singing to a bar full of drunks?  No, no, she assured me, Japanese karaoke is nothing like American karaoke and I must try it.  Hey, I'm willing to try anything - once - so I organized a neighborhood outing to the closest karaoke place... The Big Echo.

And so I learned last night that the Japanese know how to have fun!  No, seriously, forget all your bad memories about drunkin frat boys trying to sing the Backstreet Boys in front of a bar full of other drunkin frat boys or Uncle Fred at that wedding who hurt your ears with his rendition of You Light Up My Life.  The Japanese have this thing figured out.

First of all, you don't go to a bar and stand up at the front and sing, no, you have your own private (soundproof) room with tables and bench seating.  So we arrived at our reserved time (9:00) and were shown to our room, given a quick charade-demo of how to program the machine and given the catalog (think Sears catalog size) of songs (neatly broken down into Japanese and English songs) and microphones and left to our own devices.  It didn't take long for the one sober part of our party (thanks Krimp!) to figure out how to set up the songs, and it didn't take long for the men-folk to figure out how to order drinks (phone included in the room so you don't have to miss an ounce of fun). 

And boy did we have fun!  In Japanese karaoke everyone sings along to the tune so no embarrasing out of tune moments.  We sang everything from Taylor Swift to Johhny Cash to the B-52s.  Of course it helped that we "pre-partied" at our house first (another tip from London's teacher) and the pitchers of beer were flowing freely.  In fact we were having so much fun that we extended our time so three hours later we stumbled back to the Blue Beater (our van) and headed home.  We'll definitely be going back soon - in fact Stevie has already said that he wants his birthday party there.  All are invited!

Summer School

The boys were enrolled in a summer program through their school this week, not remedial reading or math like in the US schools, but Japanese cultural crafts.  What a great experience!  They actually do have Japanese culture and language classes during the regular school year, but this was a nice bonus during the summer where they got to make shi-sa dog puppets, exploding snake toys, origami, washi (like homemade paper) and other things.  The culmination was today when they had a cooking class - sushi!!!

The big kids prepared the cooked ingredients (Spam, sausage and rolled cooked egg - I admit, not very Japanese sounding, but bonafide ingredients in Japanese cooking)

while the little kids got to prepare the veggies (cucumber, lettuce, advocado and daikon sprouts) as well as a tuna/mayo spread and a salmon/mayo spread. 

They put all the ingredients on a big platter and then got to assemble their own sushi. 

Graduation ceremony!

Inspired by the origami they made in class, they decided they wanted to get some books out of the library to do more critters.  Alligators!  Frogs!  Scorpions!  That sounded great, until Cannon attempted to make a scorpion while I was putting the little ones down for a nap.  When I caught up with him, he was reading a book.  What happened to the origami?  He got to step 2 and then couldn't figure out what to do!  So I got sucked in.  Correction, he got to step two of the base fold (which numbered 16 steps), then there were 34 steps to the actual scorpion building!!!  I made it through the base fold and then step 13 of the scorpion before claiming that HE was the one with the 140 IQ so I was quite certain he could figure out the rest of the steps.  (In other words, my patience ran out!)  Sure enough, 20 minutes later he presented me with a scorpion!

Lost in Translation

Cannon was reminding me yesterday that I haven't posted anything all week on my blog (he's my biggest fan!)  But this week has been a settled-into-summer kind of week consisting of swimming, swimming, swimming (I'm reminded of Dory in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"), a little time at the library (great summer reading program here) and other laid back summer fun (oh, and a little more swimming!  As Stevie says, what else can you do when it's so hot?)  Last night I got to make two back to back trips to the airport - our neighbors flew back from Tokyo at 6:45 and then the family we're sponsoring flew in at 10:30.

So given you're now up to date on our mundane week, here's a little treat.  Some more "lost in translation" packaging from a 100 Yen Store product.  This one is has got to win all awards for "worst translation"!  Thanks to my neighbor, Kelly, for finding this one!

These are envelopes for your family budget (that would be the premeditatedly spending of money!)

What can I say, these speak for themselves!  Someone needs to go back to English class!

Chula-U

Did you know that there is a long tradition in Japan regarding communal bath houses?  For many centuries men and women would take daily baths in the theaputic waters of spring-fed bath houses while sharing community news or gossip.  If you don't believe me, think back to that scene in Memoirs of a Geisha.  They went to bathe in a communal hot spring bath.  It's really not so much a bath as a soak in a hot tub after you bathe the dirt and grime off you bod (those Japanese are clean folks!).  I suppose it's very tranquil and relaxing if you're 1.) comfortable walking around naked, 2.) don't mind sharing a bath (while naked) with strangers and 3.) don't have kids along clinging to you and asking inappropriate questions about strangers' strange things.

With all that, what am I leading up to???  Well I've heard a lot about a place called Chula-U since we moved here.  It's a spa/bath house that's located right on the ocean less than a mile from our place.  I beleived it to be, from the write-ups, a hybrid bath house with pools and saunas as well as therapeutic water and, ahem...communal bath.  So before your mind starts wondering too far, no, I did not go for the Full Monty (and neither did Steve or the kids).  Instead we enjoyed the other attractions like a variety of pools, jacuzzi, sauna (heated to 160 degrees!) and Doctor Fish.  The kids had a ball while Stevie and I tried to relax.  I have to say the setting was really pretty, set right on the ocean.  And the warm therapeutic water pool was wonderful to sink your body in (if only those kids weren't pulling on me the whole time!) 

Emmy and Stevie in the jacuzzi

Great view of the ocean from the pool!

Probably the best part was the Doctor Fish, which we've tried before and about which I've previously written.  Basically it's a large tank of a special type of miniature carp that you submerge your feet into.  Immediately the fish go to town eating all the dead skin off your feet.  Feels like Pop Rocks on your feet!  Of course, I go out to try the fish first and sit down with 3 Japanese ladies and 3 Japanese men.  The fish, apparently, have a taste for American skin and swarmed my legs and feet leaving the others with a few measly fish clinging to their big toes.  No, seriously, I must have had 200 fish on me while one of the Japanese men had 5 (I counted them) on him.  They were amazed, I was embarrased and the fish - I guess - were stuffed to the gills (no pun intended!)  If only I had known that I was going to be a one-woman freak show, I would have at least shaved my legs and touched up my Emmy-given pedicure!

Tempura Dinner

I've tried making several Japanese dishes since we've lived here, in fact at one point I set a goal to cook "Japanese" at least once a week.  That goal was quickly dashed by my loving husband who confessed, after living here a year, that he really doesn't like Japanese food, except for the occasional sushi dinner and tempura.  I think the tastes are just too bland for the champion spice lover.

Fortunately, I have become a mini-master of tempura and last night I whipped up another culinary delight for the fam'.  Tempura is actually quite easy, although time consuming while waiting for the batches of morsels to cook.  I guess if I had a bigger pot I could cook more things at a time, but my little tempura pan purchased at Jusco is designed for Japanese appetites, not American ones!

So if you're interested in how to bring a little bit of the Orient into your home for dinner, here's the recipe...

For the dipping sauce:
1 2/3 cup second dashi stock (or fish boullion will work)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (this is a type of cooking sake, I guess similar to our cooking wine?)

To make the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients in a pan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside.

For the tempura:
 
A selection of various veggies, sliced or cut into fairly thin sections (sliced sweet potatoes, eggplant, green pepper, squash, green beans, shiitake mushrooms, okra, onion, etc.)
 
 

Shrimp, if you like them

For the batter:
-Scant cup of ice-cold water
-1 egg, beaten
-3/4 cup sifted, plain flour
-2-3 ice cubes

The key, I think, with the batter, is to keep it really cold!  To make the batter, pour the ice-cold water into a mixing bowl, add the beaten egg and mix well.  Add the flour and very roughly fold in with a fork.  The batter will be quite lumpy.  Add the ice cubes.

In a wok or deep fryer, heat enough oil to fill half the pan to about 350 degrees.  Lightly dust the veggies with a little flour, dunk into the batter mix, then shake off the excess.  Deep-fry a few pieces at a time until lightly brown. 

Drain on paper towel (you go through a lot of paper towel!!!)

(This is shiso leaf, a Japanese herb in the mint family with a slight basil flavor.  It's super yummy when done in tempura!)

The results... one chowing down family!

I usually make miso soup to go with this dinner which I'll post another time.

The Good, The Bad, and The Funny

The Good

All three of the kids started swim lessons on Tuesday of this week.  After only four days, London can do backstroke and Emmy can swim by herself!  I guess those lessons were worth the money!

 

The Bad

There are many advantages to being in the military - getting to live in Japan, for instance - but there are some hard parts too and one of them is that people move around - a lot!  This time of year is what is affectionate known as "PCS season" (permanent change of station, ie. move) and unfortunately many of the nice folks we've spent the last year getting to know are moving on.  One of these people, even more unfortunately, was Cannon's best friend, Isaac.  He moved this week to Texas which is a very long way to go for a sleepover.  It stinks to watch your child's heart break...

The Funny

London can be quite the comic, often times unintentionally.  One such time was this past Sunday at church.  He spied the communion plates at the altar and leaned over to me half way through the service and wispered, "When they serve the drinks, can I have an apple juice?"

Fourth of July

Red, white and blue pancakes...

Heat, humidity and swimming...

(that blurring is the humidity on the camera lens!)

Neighborhood cook-out...

Kids in patriotic clothes...

Flag cakes...

Japanese sparklers...

...must be Fourth of July in Japan!  Have a great one everyone!