It was Darren’s first visit to Japan, and it had started off so well that he was practically delirious. The meeting with his client, contrary to his expectations, had been no more than a mere formality. In less than one hour the client had agreed to sign a contract giving Darren’s company the right to [...]
Archive for March, 2007
There’s a Mouse in my Curry
Posted in Flash News, Japan, food and drink, tagged curried soba, curried udon, curry, mouse, noodles on March 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
A small restaurant in the station complex at Shinkoiwa in north-east Tokyo has stopped serving a unique delicacy—noodles and rice dishes based on mouse curry. The tachigui restaurant (literally means “standing eating,” and is a small restaurant with a counter at which you stand and eat) served thirteen meals featuring this original dish before it [...]
Master of the Yatai
Posted in Characters, Japan, food and drink, tagged food and drink, interesting character, Japan, Japanese cuisine, yatai on March 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Some years ago, there was a yatai (food stall) behind Yotsuya station. It was run by a real eccentric character who ruled his mise (translated as ‘shop’) with an iron fist.
The yatai seated about twenty people, ten around the stall with the others sitting on two benches either side of a table, which consisted of [...]
Poison in the curry, the chocolate and the cure
Posted in Crime, Japan, tagged Crime, curry, cyanide, Ezaki, Glico, Hayashi, Hirasawa, murder, poison, potassium cyanide, Wakayama on March 8, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Until about ten years ago the Japanese police had a fairly solid record of crime detection. Then things started to go wrong; and for some reason police failures and bungling seemed to coincide with collapse of the Japanese economy.
A good example of the police incompetence is the Wakayama curry-poisoning incident of 25 July 1998. [...]
The First Englishman in Japan
Posted in Japan, history, tagged Englishman in Japan, Gillingham, Japan, Miura Anji, Shogun, Will Adams on March 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Will Adams, who was born in Gillingham, Kent, on 24 September, 1564, was the first Englishman known to have set foot in Japan.
When he was 12 years old, Adams was apprenticed to a shipyard owner at Limehouse in London, where he studied shipbuilding, astronomy and navigation. After his apprenticeship, he joined the Royal Navy, [...]
The Last Journey of Jesus Christ
Posted in Japan, Legends and Myths, tagged Aomori Prefecture, Japan, Jesus Christ, last journey of Christ, legend, O-Ishigami Pyramid on March 3, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Every country has its legends and myths, and Japan is no exception. Most Japanese legends or myths originate from the two great religions that have coexisted in the country from more than 1500 years—Shintoism and Buddhism.
Shintoism, the indigenous religion, can be traced back to about 500 BC. In Shinto, a host of natural objects, [...]
Kusaya—The Taste is in the Smell
Posted in Japan, food and drink, tagged fish, Japan, Japanese cuisine, kusaya, stinking fish, unusual food on March 1, 2007 | 4 Comments »
Visitors to Japan have an enormous variety of foods to choose from. Sushi, sukiyaki and tempura are familiar Japanese dishes to anyone with even a modicum of gastronomical inquisitiveness. But those who come to Japan can sometimes experience a few culinary surprises.
Imagine sitting down to a meal and suddenly thinking that you [...]
