Japan Costco trip, rice field update, etc..

Kate went to the grocery store last week and found baby octopus on skewers.  These would have been great for the Tako taco (although I must say the first Tako taco turned out pretty good).  There are a number of options for preparing these, but Kate opted to fry them.  We figured anything fried is usually tasty.  In the end no one else would eat them, so I had to eat all of them.  Actually they were pretty good.  It wouldn't be the first item I would pick off of a menu, but not bad...

On Saturday I originally had plans to do another challenging bike ride.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the trip was cancelled.  Kate and I had been wanting to go to Japan Costco for a while so we decided to make the trip on Saturday.  In Japan you can navigate to places by entering the phone number in to the cars navigation system.  We did that and we were given 4 options for the trip.  Option 1 cost around $40 one way, 2 was about $30, 3 and 4 were free.  The cost in time per the navi was about 30-40 minutes for the free routes.  I didn't want to spend that much money to go, so we chose the free option.  I took my bicycle GPS to get the route history.  I think it is interesting, Kate not so much.  Anyway below is the end result.

You can see it took 4 hrs 45 min to go about 82 miles to get there.  That includes one 15 min stop at McDonalds.  It was amazingly painful.  We could have walked the last 5 miles faster.  For the return trip we opted to just pay the money.  104 miles, $40, and only 2 hrs later we were home.

The Costco was set up like the American version.  They also had many of the same products.  We didn't go crazy buying things because we are enjoying the Japanese food, but we did stock up on a number of things we have missed.  The store was 2 stories and unbelievably packed, both with food and people.  The food court at the end was overrun with people.  After making the trek most people opt to grab a bite there before heading home.  I took this picture from the 7th floor of the parking garage.  You can see the traffic backed coming in to the Costco.

While at the store we were also able to apply for a Japanese credit card.  That was the main reason I wanted to go to Costo.  We already have American credit cards and they work fine in Japan.  The real reason I wanted to get a Japanese card is because with a Japanese card we can get an ETC card.  The ETC card works with the Japanese toll road.  Not only can you drive through the toll booths without physically paying, but the real benefit comes on the weekend.  On weekends you can drive most anywhere in Japan with a capped rate of 1000 yen ($10).  This change in the fee is relatively new and is a result of the week economy.  That has also created a run on the machines.  There is more than a 3 month waiting list for them.  Fortunately our van came with the machine (the previous owner had it).  All we need is the card and there is no wait for them.  That means we could have made the Costco run round trip for $10 and it would have been way faster.  We will find out in a few weeks if everything goes through.

A few things of interest on the way:

Hotel Cocoa Milk, we decided they give you Cocoa Crispies for breakfast and that makes the Cocoa Milk.

A trike scooter chained in front of a ramen shop.  First trike scooter I have ever seen.  Maybe this one is for you Justin?

Sunday we went back to "our" rice field for weeding and releasing the ducklings.  The field is looking pretty good.  Already the rice has noticeably grown.  We walked the perimeter and cleared out the weeds.

Here is Kate pulling the weeds.

The family posing with the finished product.

After all the weeding was finished it was time to release the ducklings.  3 weeks ago some of the families took the ducklings home to take care of them.  We were able to avoid that task, but the families that did take them home brought them back to be released.  The farmer keeps the ducks in a small shelter at the edge of the rice field.  The ducks are released into the field to help control the weeds and bugs.  I am not sure if this is common practice or not.  This field is one of the only ones I have seen with the retaining fence around it.  You can see the blue fence in the pictures.  I believe it is to keep the ducks in this field.  Since I don't see it on other fields I am led to believe that it is not typical practice.  Finally I am not sure...

From the rice field we traveled to a strawberry farm.  It was a short distance away by car, but still in Takanezawa.  The strawberries in Japan are very tasty.  I think it is because of the extreme care that is taken to raise them.  They are raised in a greenhouse shelter with special soil and watering systems.  The end product is very good.  We were given  a small amount of cream to dip the strawberries in and then 30 minutes to eat as many as we wanted.  

Some of the strawberries were huge, but I found the small deep red ones were the best.

The entire family enjoyed eating the strawberries.

Finally I figured I should report on the Rhinoceros beetles.  We got them a little over 3 weeks ago and they are still going strong.  Liam has been doing a good job taking care of them.  This picture is of the male beetle.

Colleen is also taking very good care of her Gold fish.

That is all for this post, have a good week.

Nikko Spring Festival, Jessica visit, Nato, and FUGU...

Kate started out the week by going to Nikko with Dinorah for the Nikko spring festival on Monday.  I was working so was not able to attend.  The festival has a number of events, but Kate mainly attended the historical procession.  Around 1200 volunteers dressed up for the parade and walked down the streets of Nikko.

First picture is one of the bridges at Nikko.

The rest of the pictures are from the procession.  I am not sure what each costume represents.  Looks like it was a cool event.

One of the portable shrines being carried through the streets.

Kate with some of the warriors

Slowly the children are becoming more Japanese.  Their language is getting better all the time.  Last week Kate found out that there is a Tofu truck (like the Yaki iimo truck)  he drives around selling Tofu.  Apparently the truck also sells Nato.  Nato is fermented soybeans.  The smell is very strong and it is slimy.  Not even all Japanese like it.  Everyone tells me that it is good for you, but I am only at a point that I can tolerate eating it.  Liam is still at the point were he won't touch it, but Colleen loves it.  She eats it at the school lunch and Kate bought some from the truck.  She gobbled it right up as well.  Here is the proof.

Close up of the Nato.  The picture can't show smell or texture.  They are what make it difficult to eat, the taste itself is not that bad.

To finish out the week we took the train down to Tokyo to meet Jessica.  She is Kate's cousin's daughter.  She has been visiting China and stopped in Japan during her trip.  We met her at Shinjuku station.  We hit up the Krispy Kreme shop before meeting her, man the fresh glazed doughnuts there taste good. 

Here is Jessica.

From Shinjuku we headed to Asakasa to see the temples.  Last time we were there was New Years Eve.  This time we saw the temples in the light, but it was pouring rain.

The children tried the water cleansing for the first time at the temple.

While walking around we found salt chocolate.  Kate wanted to give it a try.

It was pretty good, like a chocolate covered pretzel without the pretzel..

Finally we headed back to Shinjuku.  Close to the station we found this giant panda.  It was disturbing to see such a huge animal contained in a small glass cage.  He is smiling so I guess he is OK with it.

Finally before heading home I had one last item on the agenda.  Prior to coming to Japan I made a list of some of the things I wanted to do before our stay was finished.  On that list was eat Fugu.  Fugu is blowfish and is lethally poisonous if not prepared correctly.  There is not a known antidote for blowfish poison.  Only licensed chefs are allowed to prepare Fugu.  I was able to find a place that serves it but had not been able to go.  Just so happens that it was near Shinjuku station.   I attached a map of the place.

The restaurant is called Torafugu Tei.  I used my new bicycle GPS to help us find it.

In the front window they have a tank with a number of the blowfish on display.

I ordered two small plates of the Fugu sashimi.  It came with a small bowl of Fugu skin and seaweed.  This picture shows the size of one of the plates of sashimi.

Everyone at least tried the Fugu, even Liam gave it a go (one piece was enough for him).  The flavor was pretty straight forward.  Fairly mild.  I did feel a very slight tingle in my mouth after eating it.  Could have been in my head, but I am pretty sure it was there.

The two plates of sashimi cost around $50.  You could never get full on it at that price, but I felt it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Also it was on my list so I had no choice.  My basic feeling is you don't want to eat Fugu at Yamaguchi's discount Fugu shop so I was able to justify it this one time.  The restaurant was very friendly and the service was fast.  We were in a bit of a hurry to drop Jessica off at the station and catch our train back home and they helped me to get on our way quickly.  We made the train with 4 minutes to spare.

Thats all for this week.  I was able to get it all in before the poison affected my typpppppppppppppppp

Bottled water in a can, Nikko bicycle ride.

We stayed busy this week and weekend, but actually I don't have a lot of content.  Not so many pictures to share.  Kate had an activity with the UCIA (Utsunomiya Center International Association), and I was invited to ride my bicycle from Utsunomiya to the lake at Nikko.  The ride was just a method of transportation to get to a campground that others from work would stay at.  About 30 people went to the camp ground, but only 4 went by bicycle (Maeshima san, Ito san, Kanegae san, and me.) I didn't want to stay away from the family for the night so I decided to go and ride back the same day.  Riding back made the round trip total about 90 miles with a lot of climbing.  

     A number of weeks ago I went on a bike ride around Takanezawa and got lost.  Eventually I found a familiar road and made it home but after that ride, I started looking at GPS units for bicycles.  I was informed by Maeshima san that parts could be ordered from England cheaply due to the exchange rate and shipping was free.  Before the ride we both ended up getting a Garmin for bicycles.  There are many cool features contained in it, one of which is route planning.  The picture below is the planned route for the ride.

You can see on the map we had 5,407 ft of climbing to get to the camp.  On the way to Nikko we had to ride up Irohazaka.  That portion was the most challenging.  Some parts of Irohazaka are at 10 percent slope.  The average is 5 percent on the climb.

This is an image of Irohazaka from a previous trip.

The Garmin tracks a number of things that can be analyzed later.  Below is some of the information from the actual ride overlaid with the map.

Here is an image of the Garmin unit.

This Garmin is compact.  The internal battery lasts around 15 hrs so it is great for riding.  Since I knew we were going to do a lot of climbing I wanted to keep weight down.  As a result I did not take my camera, hence the lack of pictures.  I was able to snap a few from my cell phone (I considered it an emergency device so I took it along).  The first one shows the size of the GPS.

Here is Maeshima leading the pack.

Ito san and Kanegae san.

Some of the other campers took pictures as they passed in their cars, so I am hoping next week I can post a few of them.  The ride home took a little less than 3 hrs.  I used quite a bit of my brake pads going down Irohazaka.  During the decent a bus was going down the road and had about 30 cars were backed up behind it.  I was able to work my way around all the cars and finally the bus after about 4 corners.  From there until the bottom I saw no other cars.  I topped out at just under 40 mph.  To many sharp corners to go flat out, and there was a light rain so the roads were a little slippery.  Below is more data from the Garmin.  You can see the time it took to get to the base of the climb verses the main climb itself.  Overlaid is heart rate so it is easy to see when the effort picks up.  I made it home considerably quicker than going and the heart rate is high the entire trip home.

This week while at the grocery store we found cans of bottled water?  I had to buy at least one.  The canned bottled water tasted like bottled bottled water.  It did feel a little strange to drink the water out of a can, otherwise just like bottled water.

Another funny thing I saw a while back was a toilet (not urinal type).  Why was it funny, well there was no door on it, and the person that calculated the size for the blinder did the math wrong.  If you decided to use it, anyone walking buy could watch you.  I suppose in an emergency it would be better than squatting in the middle of the street?

Finally for this week.  Ever wonder what a tea farm looks like?  Below is a picture of one.  Yokoyama san pointed this one out on our way to the fish market months ago.  I never would have know it was a farm if he would not have pointed it out to me. 

Thats all for this post, have a good week.

Rhinoceros Beetles and Rice Planting in Takanezawa

This week we got the disposable underwater camera pictures developed from when we were in the Philippines.  None of them really came out great and they completely do not do the experience justice but anyway  to start this post off I will attach a few of the better ones.

Last week we went to the grocery store and noticed that they had started putting out supplies for the Rhinoceros beetles.  We figured it was only a matter of time before the beetles themselves showed up.  That prediction turned out to be true, later in the week they showed up in the stores.  Of course Liam was adamant that he needed some.  We complied and picked up a pair at the Takanezawa Kanseki.  The first picture is Liam holding the smaller female beetle.

This is the larger male beetle.

Here is a close up of the female for comparison sake.

The beetles eat jelly.  Not regular jelly but beetle jelly.  It comes in small containers and you peel the top off and place them in the cage to feed them.  Late one night we found out that the beetles have wings.  Liam took the top off and the female tried to fly out.  Fortunately her wings were too big for the cage and they hit the sides.  That prevented her from flying out.  The female beetle also pees a stream of urine when she is disturbed.  It sounds like when you wash the car on the jet stream setting of the garden hose.  I am not sure how long they live, but so far we have made it one week.

When I was in the family mart I found an Oreo green tea candy bar.  I had to give it a try.  Not sure how to describe the flavor.  I liked it, but both children said it tasted strange.

Finally on Sunday we signed up for rice planting with the Takanezawa community center.  The weather was very nice, almost 80.  We met at the community center and then drove to a field.  One of the local farmers allowed us to use a small field for the activity.  This year I missed a lot of prep work on the fields.  I will have to get pictures next year.  Anyway, after the prep work the fields are flooded with water.  That is were we started.

Next we  were shown how they do things today.  Years ago the rice was planted completely by hand.  Especially after doing it in person I can say this would be long and hard work.  Now days they have a rice planter.

In general it is a pretty small tractor.  Especially when compared to the American tractors.  All of the components were designed to just be enough, some of them were almost toylike.  I think maybe it is to keep the weight down to prevent it from sinking into the mud.  The rice plant seedlings are planted in trays.  The position and density looks very well controlled.  I did not get to see that step so I am not sure how it is done.  

The seedlings are scooped out of the growing trays with a plastic sheet and then loaded into the tractor.  About 12 trays of the rice plants fit in the planter at a time and 6 more are held up front in reserve.

When the tractor is loaded it is driven into the rice field.  A marker for the next row is dropped (it is the little orange wheel) and the machine starts down the field.  The tray on the back of the tractor cycles back and forth as the planter grabs the rice seedlings and sticks them into the mud.  The farmer was able to plant the majority of the field in a very short time.  He allowed the children to drive the tractor, if it weren't for that I think he would have had the majority done in probably 20-30 minutes.  All this explanation is best summed up by just watching the video below.

Liam concentrating while driving the tractor.

Colleen was on the young side so she just took a ride..

After the mechanical demonstration a farmer showed us how to plant manual style.  The manual method is still required to clean up the areas the tractor can't reach.  First you take part of the tray of rice starts.  Then you grab 2-3 seedlings and finally push them into the mud with your index, middle, and thumb.  Planting one is pretty easy.  The real difficulty is not stepping where you are planting and making straight lines.  If you happen to step where you are planting the mud pushes away and there is nothing to push the plant into.  Then you have to push the mud around with your hands in order to plant.

The children jumped in and got muddy.

The soil is very rich.  Liam even made a mud ball out of it.  Thankfully it did not make it into the car.  Not sure were it ended up.

This picture just proves I did get in and get muddy.  Kate also helped, but she took most of the pictures so as a result she is not in many.  Once you get in and get dirty you can't touch the camera again until you clean up.

Another thing I have been surprised by is the shear number of frogs around the rice fields.  The children spent a good part of the day catching frogs.  I don't know the final tally but they caught tons.  Recently I have been riding a longer route to and from work.  The route I am taking goes through some of the rice fields.  At night the sound of the frogs can be deafening.  I will try to get some video of it, maybe next week.  As we were planting the tadpoles were swimming all around in the water.  I am thinking that the frogs help control the mosquito population a little.

The picture below is the finished product.  These rows were planted by the tractor.  They are pretty straight and consistent.

This row was done by hand.  You can see the huge difference in both straightness and consistency.  Of course with practice everyone would improve.

On the farm they also had baby ducklings on hand to entertain the children.  At the end it was offered up for us to take some home to take care of for 20 days.  Thankfully we dodged a bullet on that and were able to reject them.  Maybe next year after we have been here longer and we are more comfortable.

Colleen double fisting ducklings.

After the planting was finished and everyone cleaned up we were served onigiri.  The onigiri was made from the same type of rice that was grown in the same field by volunteers last year.  There were 4 different flavor options.  All were very good.  I think I ate 5 of them.  In the end there were leftovers and they were wrapped up and given to everyone to take home.

Here is Kate with Nadine and Amy enjoying mothers day out in nature.