Carb party

Capricciosa is a chain of Italian restaurants.
Three of us went and got a three-person set that has way more carbs than anyone who is not running a marathon the next day should eat. Unfortunately, only one of us is. (Fortunately, it isn't me.)

I like iClooly

I found this iClooly iPhone case on the bottom rack of the iPhone accessories at Bic Camera. I've never seen anyone with one, so maybe it came out a while ago and was a dismal flop. Or, maybe it is ultra cutting edge and you saw it here first, whoo hoo!  Either way.

The ring on the back twists out to prop the phone up vertically or horizontally. That is handier than I thought it would be.

The reason I got it, though, is that you can slip a finger through while you're using the phone, completely removing the feeling that it's going to leap out of your hands and shatter.

Does everyone have this fear? I think I got it from watching a friend's phone hit the floor of an open elevator and then bounce, bounce, bounce and slip right down the shaft. Compounded by seeing another friend's phone disappear between a Yamanote train car and the platform. Or maybe that feeling that I might drop my phone came from me dropping my phone.

What about the name? It must come from the twisty ring. A Japanese word for something turning around is "kururi." Replace the r's with l's and squint a little, and it makes sense. Right?

The flush button looks like an RSS feed symbol

Every time i see it, I think "Subscribe? No thanks."
That's all I have to say about this.
Except, yes, there is a button to flush the toilet and yes, it is on the wall.

----
And yes, this makes me worry about power outages.

An alert reader pointed out that it looks like the engadget logo. So it does!

Talking dog toilet paper holder

Remember the talking dog slippers that Softbank was giving away with new cell phone contracts?

Did you wonder where Softbank would go next, where they could go next?

Well, if you guessed "talking toilet paper holder," give yourself a pat on the back.

And maybe think about spending some time away from Japan.

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Marathon costumes

 

Ever wonder where that wacky guy who runs the marathon dressed as, say, an eggplant gets his costume in the middle of winter? Safe bet he got it at Tokyu Hands. They always have an extensive costume selection (sleazy and non), but, with the Tokyo Marathon just days away, they're displaying costumes specifically for wearing to run the race.

Next to the scene above, they put up this little "cos-play runner's guide." (That, and the following, are loosely translated.)

• Everyone knows it's not easy to run in a costume, so don't sweat it.
• You're not in it for the time, you're in it for the fans.
• Get friendly with other costumed runners.
• It's gonna be hot, but the costume stays on.
• You stand out. Try not to look like you're suffering.
• The costume is your friend. When the race is over, thank it.

Jim has been training for the marathon for a few months. (Japandra, friends, does not run.)
I'm thinking he'd be a lot easier to spot in the crowd with a foam lobster on his head.

There will be "Marathon Festivals" with taiko, dancing, and food stalls at Hibiya Park and the Ariake Promenade.

No lashes, no life

Remember how I said the ladies love their lashes? Some are finding glued-on salon extensions to be too much of a good thing. The morning shows reported 50 cases of eye damage caused by the fluttery faux last year.
Then, they went to Shibuya for extreme close-ups of ladies wearing a few pounds of mascara. This pic was probably the most conservative interview. The women stood by their right to lash out.
One quoted a mascara ad with a conviction that suggested it was her personal motto: "Eyelashes are life."

Steam train

The commute was a little humid.
And crowded. I got out to let people off and couldn't get back on. Just as well - the next train had some breathing room.

Hey, Kate!

I like this. Kate is a cheap makeup line from Kanebo that went just as surreal with its ads as any expensive brand.  The tagline (and url) is No More Rules. Why not go to the Kate website and click the TV-CF button to see a strange 15-second "commercial film?"
The featured eyeshadow is "gradical steps," one of those ingenius made-in-Japan words that isn't technically English, but, once you know what it means, you'd be hard pressed to find a real English equivalent that works as well. Watch the "makeup steps" video and tell me if you can come up with a better word.

Paper spring

It may have been snow drizzling all weekend, but it has been spring for weeks at bookstore and stationer Maruzen. It will be a few more weeks before cherry blossom season starts, though plum trees are already blooming.

The paper in the foreground is part of a seasonal stationery series by Midori that I can't resist. I've bought more of their beautiful, inexpensive paper than I will ever be able to use - gingko, dogwood, and a few variations on sakura. I've seen quite a few of the flowered patterns in square, oblong and coaster sizes with matching envelopes. Different shops tend to carry different patterns from the same line.

Hm, I'm also realizing looking through their English product catalog (a PDF - I know!) that lots of the notebooks, cute post-it notes and animal-shaped paper clips I've sent home were also made by them.

Happy, ordinary Japanniversary

This weekend marks the end of our second year in Tokyo.

Yesterday, I took the train to a rock climbing gym just outside the city. On the way, I snaked through a crowded convenience store in Shinjuku Station and grabbed a gold Royal Jelly Weider energy gel pack. Since there were more than two people in line, the uniformed clerks hustled to open one more cash register, and then another. I was second in line when a woman walked straight up to the newly opened counter. The clerk apologized but asked her to wait, saying he'd start with the next customer in line, as he waved me over.

I hustled down to the tracks, where I settled onto the velvety, heated bench seat on the train. The conductor announced, as we departed three minutes behind schedule, that someone had pushed the SOS button inside the train and they had had to do a check before we could leave - sincere apologies for the delay. I glared at the pinstripe shoulder of the young man who'd sat down almost on top of me and pointedly extricated my arm from behind his. He didn't react.

I saw Betty in line on the platform a few stations later, as planned, and waved. The train was so crowded by then that we just met up when we got off. I tapped my purse against the turnstile and headed out of the station past a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, a tonkatsu place, and a family restaurant with wax food at the front door. We passed only three people in the corridor: a woman in a white fur cape with her hair in high pigtails with black lace ribbons, a guy with feathered orangey hair and one fierce three-inch silver earring, and then a woman with rainbow leggings, a denim microskirt, and electric blue eyeshadow up to her painted-on brows.

At the rock gym, I put my shoes on a shelf at the front door and walked in my socks to the reception desk. I put my 2100 yen and orange laminated member's card in the tray next to the cash register for the woman in the paper mask. I chose from an array of sports drinks in the vending machine. Betty and I sat on the floor next to one of the open-flame kerosene heaters to stretch and held our shoes up to its grill sides.  Between climbs, we thawed out our hands over it. We were careful not to knock into it while belaying.

Afterwards, heading back to the train station in drizzly snow, we thought some ramen would be nice. We were sure we could find some near the station, and, after passing a McDonald's, a Mister Donuts, a curry shop, and a florist, there it was, with a man in the front window drawing sheets of noodle dough through a press.  We paid at the machine inside the front door, choosing by the photos on the lit panels. At the counter seats, there were 5-step instructions for how to enjoy the noodles, which were tsukemen - the cooked noodles are served in a separate bowl from the soup and dipped into it.

I met Jim a few stations away. He had just finished a 10-mile run along a paved riverside path. I walked a few blocks through a covered pedestrian arcade and found him buying skewers of chicken from a cart on a street corner, two for 120 yen. He went for the chunks of thigh meat, avoiding the rows of chicken hearts browning over the coals.

We walked to a local public bath, down a road only wide enough for one car to pass at a time with concrete garden walls lining both sides. At the sento, less than five dollars gets a mini shampoo and rented bath towel (bright yellow, with Terme, the name of the place, scrawled big in black magic marker) as well as entrance to the half dozen baths, including one infused with Chinese herbs and an outdoor bath lined with smooth river rocks. I folded my face towel and put it on top of my head and sank down into the foamy jacuzzi, nodding at the old women who stared. I felt the aches and chills from climbing dissolve.

On the way back to the train, Jim and I ducked into a conveyor belt sushi place and had a few plates.

A wholly Japanese - and completely ordinary -  Saturday.

Snow faces

  

This was in a snowbank along the canal in Otaru. 

Can you tell who it is?

 

Now?

Unfortunately, the snow festival in Otaru is best viewed at night - the port village lined the canal and a disused railroad track with snow candles and snow lanterns. Unfortunate only for us, because we had to be on a train by 5 pm to get to the airport.  We caught a little bit of the glow as we hurried back to the station just as the sun was setting. 

More snowy pictures from Otaru.

Heart-shaped box (of pizza)

Who needs chocolate - or a fancy dinner out - when Domino's will deliver a heart-shaped pizza right to your door? I'm sure the heart pizza ad will be gone soon, but here's Domino's home page.

Domino's is a bit cheaper than Pizza La, especially if you order online, but doesn't go as all-out with the toppings. They do  e-mail you a link to a jazzy, personalized "real-time" Pizza Tracking Show about what happens at Domino's when your order comes in. The entire gorgeous staff jumps to attention and puts all hands on deck to get your pizza perfectly done and out the door.  It is complete with a fussy fashion queen who frets over the appearance of the toppings. The movie even seamlessly integrates your own name and specific order, and it zeros in on a map of your actual address, which is disconcerting.

Pepperoni and internet stalking - happy Valentine's Day!

Disclaimer: I imagine the box is probably a regular square.

Bonus: More Japandra Valentine's Day treats.

Got yer snow right here.

Forty-minute delay (and counting) on the tarmac to clear snow off the runway and wings. They brought around a platter of hard candies. They are entertaining us with NHK highlights of the day's Diet session and elevator music.

The old ladies next to me are worried about the people still at the snow festival. "Poor things! The people will be the snowmen!"

I'd like to put the toddlers wailing and kicking behind me on ice, but that's a different story.

Snow Michael

Snow gorilla

Sapporo sweet corn emergency

We are waiting for our spicy miso ramen in a shop in Sapporo's Ramen Alley. Two other people at the log counter ordered noodles with butter and corn. No corn, the ramen lady apologized. A moment later, a bag of groceries was handed in through the open window. Corn! The cook said.
Ramen crisis averted.

Espressotea

From now on, when you think espresso, think tea. 

If I caught the gist of the explanation, Kirin's new Espressotea is tea made the way espresso is made.

Who is more appalled - the tea or espresso purists? And will Italy ever let Giroramo back into the country?

I have to admit, I want to try this. (Sorry, Nona.) Check out Kirin's Espressotea TV commercial.

Kirin's Vinegar Milk.

Happy Setsubun!

Oni-wa soto, fuku-wa uchi! (Devil out, luck in!)

All the convenience stores are selling fat sushi rolls, roll-cakes, and roasted soy beans for setsubun. Some even have people hawking them out front, reminding people that today is the big day.

Last night, the yakitori place we always go after rock climbing was giving away these bags of the beans to pelt away bad luck at home.

I explained setsubun last year.  You know. Sort of.

I feel less bad about feeling like I don't entirely get it after talking to a few Japanese friends tonight - they all seemed to know different bits and pieces about what it was all about.

One thought it was yesterday.

One said that the person who plays the role of the oni should be a toshi-otoko - a man born in the same year as the current Chinese zodiac sign, currently the dragon in Japan. No one else recalled having heard this before.

Another guy said he ate the lucky sushi roll at his desk. He knew the whole drill, so he used the compass on his iPhone to make sure he was facing the right direction. But was he careful to make sure nobody was watching, two others wanted to know. What? Make sure nobody was watching? He didn't know about that one.

Finally, a woman said she sits the whole thing out because she heard that the holiday was invented by the nori seaweed manufacturers. She was fuzzy on the details, but said that the annual fresh nori crop is ready in March or April, so Osaka nori makers invented the "custom" of eating giant rolls of the stuff at the beginning of spring just to get rid of their old stock.

Take that, Hallmark.

Bonus: Last year's bizarre  Setsubun news break.

If-you-know-what-we-mean

Please do it at home.

Is it me, or is the line blurring between the real Tokyo Metro Manner posters and the parodies and remixes?

People clock

We watched a photographer and his assistants corral passers-by into being shot for a people clock in Daikanyama.
It wasn't strictly a bijin tokei, or "beautiful lady" clock, but it was the same idea. There were couples, people with babies, and groups of three each taking a turn holding a pink erasable board with a different time on it.
We were sitting on the terrace at a cafe called Sign. They packed up and left before we were done, and I didn't get to ask what they were shooting for. The most obvious assumption would be that it's for an iPhone app. Whatever it is, I heard the photographer tell one of the sign-holders that it would "start on April first."