Dusting the shrine

This week, volunteers showed up at Aso Shrine (only a two-minute drive from where the Nagatas' tea farm is located) for the traditional end-of-the-year cleaning.

In this photo, they're using strands of wild bamboo to do the cleaning.

—Mellow Monk

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Grab that lucky bag!

A New Year's tradition at Japanese department stores is the fukubukuro, literally "lucky bag." Throngs of shoppers scramble madly for these bags, sold to commemorate the first day of business of the new year. The reason for the excitement is that although the bag's contents are not marked, fukubukuro are priced at a deep discount compared to what the items inside would normally sell for.

In other words, you may not need a purple cashmere scarf, but if find one in your lucky bag, you can rest assured that you got it at an incredible bargain.

In the photo below, an employee of Tsuruya Department Store in Kumamoto City is showing some of the 29,000 fukubukuro--that's right, 29,000 of 'em--being readied for the New Year's Day sale. The dog photos indicate that the store will also be selling live puppies by raffle. Holders of the winning tickets get to buy the normally expensive breeds at a special low price.

—Mellow Monk

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See how your gov stacks up

SurveyUSA.com has a listing of the nation's governors ranked by net approval rating in their respective states.

—Mellow Monk

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Green tea stats from the Japanese gov't

According to a Dec. 19 press release from the Statistics Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications:

Per-capita green tea purchases in Japan from January through October of this year totaled 927 grams (equivalent to a little over nine packets of Mellow Monk green tea). This was the second-highest figure in the past 5 years.

However, the total price of that tea was ¥4,551, the second-lowest figure in the past 5 years, suggesting a downward trend in prices.

As to the reason for this trend, the Bureau quoted a tea wholesaler who said people are buying more hojicha (roasted green tea) and—shudder!—bagged tea, which are less expensive than other types of tea.

Strangely, these Bureau statistics do not include genmaicha (green tea with roasted brown rice), probably because, for bureaucratic (no pun intended) reasons, it's not considered "pure" tea (i.e., it also has rice in it).

—Mellow Monk

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New Year's food-buying intensifies

In this photo, dated Dec. 29, shoppers throng the Ameyoko shopping arcade in Tokyo.



The lead-up to New Year's eve is a major shopping time in Japan, when folks buy up a lot of food in preparation for what is one of the two biggest holidays in Japan (the other being summer's Obon festival).

—Mellow Monk

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Yo, sushi!

Yo! Sushi is a British chain of sushi restaurants with its sights set on expanding into the U.S..

There's one in New York City, but I'm not sure where else within our shores.

Yo! Sushi's main gimmick is a long, winding mechanical conveyor that carries the pre-prepared sushi along a winding counter, where seated customers grab what they like as it passes by.

Yo! Sushi is simply a British take on Japan's kaitenzushi (literally "revolving sushi"), which have exploded in popularity in the past 10 years as a much-cheaper alternative to traditional sushiya (sushi restaurants).

(Consequently, the sushiya are hurting big time. Many times, a sushi chef put out of business by the kaitenzushi ends up working at one. After all, the typical professional sushi chef inherited his restaurant from his father, and, having trained since early boyhood in nothing but making and serving sushi, usually has few other marketable skills.)

The kaitenzushi, by the way, are a modern twist on the traditional "sushi boat" restaurants, where diners snag sushi from tiny wooden boats that circle the sushi bar in a water-filled carousel.



In Japan, such restaurants are essentially a thing of the past, and even when they existed were probably the exclusive territory of the very well heeled, but in the U.S. they survive in touristy places like San Francisco's Japan Town (that's J-Town's Isobune Sushi shown above).

—Mellow Monk

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Japan's capsule hotels

At some point, any blog having to do with Japan is required to mention that country's capsule hotels. I have now fulfilled that requirement.

Yet despite being the butt of many jokes and the subject of much derision, capsules, by all accounts, are a convenient and inexpensive alternative to much pricier (and still by no means cavernous) hotels. A capsule can be the perfect thing when, say, you've missed the last train home after an evening of after-work revelry—which seems to be a common scenario among guests at capsule hotels.

Japan also has incredibly strict drunk-driving laws, so capsules are also convenient for drivers who've exceeded their limit.

—Mellow Monk

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Figure skater Fumie Suguri

Speaking of Japanese figure skaters, here's a recent Washington Post article on Fumie Suguri and her win at the Japan Figure Skating Championships.

—Mellow Monk

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No such thing as a hangover cure

As New Year's eve approaches, remember: Those so-called hangover cures don't work.

—Mellow Monk

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Snails disappearing from rice paddies

Snails that used to be common in Japan's rice fields are becoming more and more scarce because of agrichemical use.

—Mellow Monk

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The world of saké

Speaking of Japanese saké, John Gauntner, who has written much about Japanese saké over the years, makes his writings available on his website, appropriately named SakeWorld.com.

—Mellow Monk

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Train derailment

Four people died in a train derailment in Yamagata, Japan, on Monday, Dec. 26.



The next day, the president of JR West announced his resignation, ostensibly to take responsibility for another derailment that occurred in April in Hygo Prefecture, which was Japan's worst train accident in 40 years.

—Mellow Monk

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Snowflake picture

A snowflake picture from the book The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty

—Mellow Monk

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Pictures of the year

Reuters posts its Pictures of the Year 2005.

—Mellow Monk

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Japan's robots

This article gives interesting insights into why Japan is devoting so much effort on developing better and better robots.

—Mellow Monk

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Koi website

USA Koi.com is an online koi (Japanese karp) dealership. I've never ordered from them, but I like the look of their site.

I've never kept koi myself, but until a few years ago, my in-laws had some in a pond in front of their house. Then one day, an uncle caught a fish in a nearby river and decided to put it in my in-laws' pond. It must have had some sort of disease, because within a week all the carp--some of which had lived in the pond for years-- were dead.

—Mellow Monk

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Broccoli and cancer

Here's an article on broccoli's role in preventing cancer.

—Mellow Monk

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Christmas tea field

Here's an image of a Korean tea field done up for the holidays. Click on the image to read the associated article.

—Mellow Monk

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Christmas in Japan

Merry Christmas from everyone at Mellow Monk! And Happy Chanukah, too! (Which starts tonight this year.)

Christmas is celebrated in Japan, but obviously a little differently than in the U.S. First of all, Christmas day isn't a national holiday, so everyone does their celebrating on Christmas eve. In fact, most Japanese believe that Christmas eve is Christmas: on the 25th, people talk about Christmas as if it's already over.

Another big difference is that Christmas is less of a family holiday and more of an event for friends and young couples. Offices have office parties, and young couples go out for a night on the town.

For the typical Japanese family, a Christmas eve without a Christmas cake would be like an American Christmas without a Christmas tree. Kids in Japan usually don't get presents for Christmas, but they do expect mom or dad to bring home a cake.

Perhaps the strangest (to me) aspect of Christmas in Japan is the popularity of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yes, you read that correctly. That was not a typo. Kentucky Fried Chicken is so popular on Christmas eve in Japan that most of the KFC's shut down the eat-in area of restaurant and sell take-out orders only. Some KFC's do so much business on Christmas eve that they only sell phoned-in orders. Nine times out of ten, a surprised look is what I see on the face of a Japanese whom I tell that KFC is not standard fare on the typical American Christmas menu.

Whoever it was at KFC that pulled that one off was a marketing genius. I'd love to know the details. Another famous example of a foreign corporation artificially "creating" a custom in Japan is the De Beers diamond company and the "sweet 10 diamond ring." But that, as they say, is another story.

—Mellow Monk

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Figure skater Mao Asada

Last Saturday, Japanse figure skater Mao Asada outskated two-time world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia to clinch the women's title in the Grand Prix Final, but the 15-year-old is too young—by only 87 days—to compete in the Winter Olympics.

—Mellow Monk

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Japan's merging municipalities

The Japanese government is seeking to save money by encouraging small municipalies to merge.

For instance, Mellow Monk tea comes from Aso City, itself the product of a merger last year between two neighboring towns and a village.

Also last year, voters in Yotsukaido—sister city of Livermore, California (home of Mellow Monk)—rejected a proposed merger with much larger Chiba City.

—Mellow Monk

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Stress-busting tips for the holidays

This article offers more than a few quick and easy tips for reducing stress at home and at the office.

I can personally vouch for the golf-balls-under-the-feet tip:

Playing footsie under your desk can feel fabulous. Just slip off your shoes and roll your bare or stocking feet over a couple of golf balls. By applying pressure to various reflex points along the sole and sides of the feet, you can relax your entire body.

—Mellow Monk

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Japan's shrinking population

Some folks are worried about Earth's ever-growing population, but Japan's population is actually starting to shrink.

—Mellow Monk

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Monk's Choice is in stock again!

I previously announced that Monk's Choice was sold out, but a new shipment just came in today.

—Mellow Monk

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Hagoita: decorative paddles for New Year's

Hagoita are decorative paddles, descended from working models used to knock a shuttlecock back and forth but today used as a decoration around the New Year's holiday.

A recent trend in hagoita are ones bearing the image of celebrities and other notable people. In the picture below, a company is unveiling two of its "celebrity" hagoita for this New Year's: Prime Minister Koizumi (left) and Bobby Valentine (right), the former L.A. Dodger who is now coach of Japan's Lotte Marines.



In 2003, the same company (Kyugetsu) released an Arnold Schwarzenegger hagoita, as you can see in this photo.



You can read the related article here.

—Mellow Monk

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Naomi Watts' stint in Japan

Naomi Watts, star of director Peter Jackson's King Kong, once worked in Japan briefly as a model. (This particular article focuses on what a rough childhood she had.)

Ms Watts was also in the American remake of the Japanese film The Ring.

—Mellow Monk

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Avoiding holiday stress, part 2

Here's more practical advice for avoiding holiday stress.

—Mellow Monk

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A volcano in the courtroom

In Japan's comedy community is a very minor comedian whose stage name is Asosan Daifunka, which literally means "eruption of Mt. Aso". It was this name that first brought him to my attention—the real Mt. Aso is the active volcano in whose shadow sits our grower's tea farm, in Aso City, Japan.

Anyhow, this article [in English] discusses Mr. Daifunka's recent "career" as a courtroom observer, sitting in on obscure trials in the hope of getting "truth is stranger than fiction"-type nuggets from the proceedings. (Such as a man who stole a car and was caught attempting to drive it to a city hundreds of miles away. To sell it? No. When the judge asked him why, he said he badly wanted to visit a memorial [Japanese only] erected to his favorite singer, the late, great Yujiro Ishihara.)

In other words, he uses the Japanese justice systems as a source of comedic material. He's even written a book [in Japanese] about some of the real-life wackiness he's observed in the courtroom.

Mr. Daifunka got his start as a courtroom observer when his boss at the talent agency where he works sent him to observe the trial of Shoko Asahara, head of the cult that launched the sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway back in 1995.

Here's his page [in Japanese] at the website of the talent agency that employs him.

—Mellow Monk

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Humor: Lazy Sunday

I haven't watched "Saturday Night Live" in years, but I came across this recent segment, called "Lazy Sunday," and it's hilarious: two wannabe tough guys (Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg) rap about something very un-tough: a Sunday afternoon odyssey to pick up some snack foods and see The Chronicles of Narnia at the theater.

Listen for the line "It's all about the Hamiltons."

—Mellow Monk

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Shirt-folding trick from Japan

Here's a video showing a nifty trick for quickly and perfectly folding a shirt.

—Mellow Monk

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"Trojan cells" treat brain diseases from the inside

Scientists have engineered cells that, after being injected into the bloodstream, are able to sneak through the blood-brain barrier and into the brain, where they then produce drugs that can "protect and regenerate the part of the brain that is damaged in Parkinson’s disease."

—Mellow Monk

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Green tea Q&A

Diet guru Charles Stuart Platkin answers some basic questions about green tea and health.

—Mellow Monk

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Arthritis cure in 10 years?

The article's lead-in:

Scientists are predicting a “cure” for arthritis within the next decade after they successfully grew human cartilage from a patient’s own stem cells for the first time.

—Mellow Monk

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Einstein in Japan

A museum in Tokyo today opened an exhibit on Albert Einstein's 1922 trip to Japan.

This year is also the World Year of Physics, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Einstein's publication of three of his most groundbreaking papers.

—Mellow Monk

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