Fermented beans and pickled cabbage

A visitor to my blog asked me to do a post about what I eat for dinner since my wife is Japanese and I’ve been living in Japan for most of my life now.

So, I’m writing this post about a unique and healthy dish that I had for dinner yesterday. Rather than explain the side-dishes that I had, as well…I’m just going to focus on the one dish.

This particular Japanese dish is extremely unpopular with most foreigners in Japan.
It’s called 「納豆」 (nattou) and is fermented soybeans.
Nattou is very sticky and stringy and has a very unpleasant odor…but it’s healthy and it actually tastes good.

I’ll admit that the first time that I tried natto I was repulsed by it’s appearance and smell…and I didn’t like it’s taste either. But I gave it a second chance because I noticed that my kids liked it even when they were young—“if kids can eat it, then so can I”, I thought.
So…even if you’ve tried natto before and didn’t like it—give it another shot. Especially the way I had it yesterday.

Japanese natto and Korean kimuchi over rice…better than it looks!

My favorite way to eat 納豆 (natto) is over rice with キムチ (Korean kimuchi) on top.
Kimuchi is a staple of the Korean diet…spicy pickled cabbage. And it goes great with natto and rice!

It’s a delicious and healthy dish!

Give it a try!

父の日

今日は父の日 (Today is Father’s Day).

Just as they did on 母の日 (Mother’s Day), my kids told my wife and I we should go out on a “date” and they’d cook dinner today. (Click here to read my post for last Mother’s Day).

So my wife and I went to 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo).

We walked around for a bit and stopped at a coffee shop for a coffee and talked for a while.
Then we stopped at a store and bought some things our daughters needed for school.

When our daughters called and told that dinner would be ready soon, we headed home.

Dinner was wonderful! As it’s 父の日 (Father’s Day), my kids made one of my favorites: 「豚キムチ」 (Pork and Kimuchi on rice) and a fruit salad for dessert!
美味しかった！ (It was delicious!)

After dinner, they gave me Father’s Day presents! One daughter gave me a ケータイ・ストラップ (cell-phone strap) that she made by hand! It’s very nice! And it’s black—my kids know my taste!
The other two gave me a notebook / pen set for my 日本語 (Japanese language) studies! Great!

It was an excellent day!

(When my wife and I went to 上野 (Ueno) today, we passed by 下谷神社 (Shitaya Shrine). Here are a few pictures I took of the 「鳥居」 (Torii Gate) in front of the shrine):

ニュース

Today and tomorrow we are taking my oldest daughter to look at a few high schools to help us decide which one she should go to next Spring (she’ll start 高校一年 (10th grade (first year of high school in Japan)) in April).

In December, she’ll begin taking high school entrance exams! (Next year, my 2nd daughter will do the same…then the youngest after that!)
They grow up too fast!

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Yesterday we went to 銀座 (Ginza) and 上野 (Ueno).
Near 銀座 (Ginza), I saw this 新幹線 (Bullet train) pass by (it was going past a train station, so it wasn’t moving so fast at the time):

And at 上野 (Ueno), we went to a junk-food store that sold ラムネ (Ramune), which is a popular (especially in the summer) carbonated drink in Japan.
It has a distinctive bottle with a marble in the neck.
It usually has a lemon flavor…but this store had many odd flavors and there was a sign that said 「まずいラムネランキング」 (“Top Ten Worst Ramune Flavors”)!

Some of the まずいラムネ (Worst Ramune Flavors) included
“Wasabi Ramune“, “Curry Ramune“, and “Takoyaki Ramune“…but the “#1 Worst Flavor” was 「キムチ・ラムネ」 (“Kimchee Ramune”)!

So I had to buy it!

I’ve haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it is.
(Actually, I really like 「キムチ」 (Kimchee)…(spicy, Korean cabbage). So I’m wondering how this drink tastes.)

From there, we went to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke Box”), which is a private room for singing Karaoke (you can also order food and drinks from a menu and they’re brought up to the room you’re in).

I’m a terrible singer…but my kids enjoy it.

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In the news,

• A wild monkey got into busy 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo. Over thirty police officers attempted to capture it, but the monkey managed to flee the train station.There are wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkeys) in the countryside but in the city they’re usually only seen in the zoos.
• The American Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier, U.S.S George Washington, will be stationed in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture) soon. There are a number of Japanese people who are against the ship coming here, mainly because it’ll be the first nuclear-powered ship to be stationed in Japan.The fact that there was a fire onboard the carrier last Spring compounded their worries.
  (You can read my earlier post about the USS George Washington coming to Japan).

  And now, it’s been reported, two sailors from the ship have been arrested last weekend in California, USA for murder!