Ridiculous celebrity cameos in Japanese ads

From Cracked.com, which is a pretty raucous website: "The 5 Most Ridiculous Celebrity Cameos in Japanese Ads."

Featured celebrities include Nicolas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Michael J. Fox. (They did these commercials either before the Internet existed, or when it existed but few people yet realized that the technology would, for instance, make it impossible for American celebrities to make silly TV commercials in Japan without the American public ever seeing them.)


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea at Disney World

Disney World's Epcot Center now has a "Joy of Tea" kiosk. It's located in front of the China Pavillion.



The kiosk menu. The "green tea plum wine slush" sounds good! But what's this? Bottled green tea? Oh well. At least it's unsweetened.


—Mellow Monk

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Matsuzaka's gyroball debunked

Sports Illustrated's Tom "Mythbuster" Verducci says that the so-called "gyroball" allegedly thrown by Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is not a new pitch but just a wicked changeup.



"I had y'all fooled though, didn't I."


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may keep HIV at bay

Scientists at England's University of Sheffield have made a fairly stunning announcement about green tea and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS:

"Our research shows that drinking green tea could reduce the risk of becoming infected by HIV, and could also slow down the spread of HIV...."

In a word: Wow.

The way green tea blocks HIV, they say, has to do with the green tea catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant that is found only in green tea. Molecules of EGCG bind to the same site on immune system cells through which HIV usually enters the cells, thus effectively shutting out the virus.

However, the scientists add an important caveat:

"[Green tea] is not a cure, and nor is it a safe way to avoid infection, however, we suggest that it should be used in combination with conventional medicines to improve quality of life for those infected...."

Still, it's amazing how many benefits of green tea have been discovered in the relatively short time that modern science has been investigating this wonderful beverage.

And to think, all those years I was drinking green tea simply because I liked it!



The good news about green tea just keeps rolling in.


—Mellow Monk

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Recipe: pan-seared salmon with green tea rice

Here is a yummy-sounding recipe for pan-seared salmon with green tea rice.

Of course, you can also make green tea rice by itself, which boiled down to its essence (pun intended) involves simply adding loose-leaf green tea to rice before steaming.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, lung cancer, and green tea extracts

Researchers at UCLA have found that green tea may fight lung cancer.

What they found is that lung cancer cells left in a test tube containing green tea became "stickier" and therefore less like to metastasize. (Its proclivity to metastasize—or to spread throughout the body from the original cluster of cells—is what makes lung cancer so deadly.)

The mechanism by which green tea makes the cancer cells stick together most likely has to do with proteins: Some compound—or combination of compounds—in the green tea changed a critical protein on the cancer cells' surface, making them stick together.

Although this study does not prove that green tea prevents lung cancer, it does indicate that further research is warranted.

This report also brings up an important point about green tea extracts. Extracts are usually made to isolate specific compounds, such as the well-known antioxidant EGCG. However, the extract-making process may leave out compounds that are unknown today but which may someday be shown to have amazing health benefits.

The moral of this story, grasshopper, is Never second-guess Mother Nature.

Besides, by drinking brewed green tea, you're also hydrating your body. And brewed green tea tastes better than any pill!

So drink freshly brewed green tea—because you never know what you might be missing.


—Mellow Monk

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A Kyoto travelogue

This Kyoto travelogue describes a sightseeing-filled itinerary and also has a slide show and links to additional information about visited sights.



Kyoto's Kiyomizu Shrine.


—Mellow Monk

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Quake hits Japan

A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on Sunday morning (Japan time).



Some of the damage caused in Wajima, Japan.


—Mellow Monk

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More customer feedback: Shiraore Green Tea

Part of an email I received recently:

[T]he Shiraore is tasting great, I'm consciously/unconsciously brewing it right. I always wanted one of those small infrared thermometers for cooking and brewing tea.

Eduardo

And here's my reply:

Dear Eduardo,

I'm glad you like the Shiraore. It's very different from ordinary green teas. For instance, today I accidentally let a batch of Shiraore brew too long -- perhaps 15 or 20 minutes. However, where other green teas might taste very bitter or otherwise unpleasant, the Shiraore tasted great -- not too bitter, thick and rich, but not overly grassy. It's an amazing tea.

An infrared thermometer sounds interesting, but my personal philosophy is that brewing tea is an art, not a science. My overarching rule is Keep It Simple. In other words, we should train ourselves not to rely on thermometers or timers and instead cultivate the ability to intuitively know, for instance, how long to let boiled water stand before pouring into your mug or teapot, and how long to let the tea brew.

For instance, my goof-up in letting the Shiraore overbrew today is all part of my training not to forget a cup of brewing tea!

Thanks again for your feedback, and please don't hesitate to drop me a line again if you have any other comments or suggestions.

Sincerely,

Mellow Monk

As for that brain training, although I eschew watches and timers as a way to remember my brewing tea, I have learned one trick to reduce my chances of forgetting: placing the brewing tea within my field of vision, as opposed to behind me, as I did today.

Live and learn!

—Mellow Monk

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Praise from a very knowledgeable customer

I am not one to toot my own horn. Instead, I prefer it when others do it for me. Here is a recent letter from a customer who does just that:

Hello Mellow Monk,

Its been awhile since I last placed and order with your company, and I must admit that's because I've been shopping around. You see, I am not a rich man. I, like many, have limited resources, and unfortunately this sad reality applies my tea budget as well. Consequently, I have been sampling a variety of less expensive green teas from 100s of other, less reputable sources only to ultimately find disappointment and low quality from these unnamed tea producers. I have yet to find a tea that can, in my opinion, equal the exquisite color, flavor, or aroma of your superlative green tea, and I have determined life is too short to continue looking. Sufficed to say, I'm back and I will never stray again. You have found a follower in me Mellow Monk, and after sampling the competition I will gladly pay the higher price to enjoy your most excellent product.

Sincerely,
Ryan

Thank you so much, Ryan. If there's one thing I have absolute confidence in, it's in the quality of our green tea. This tea is the real deal—authentic Japanese green tea grown by traditional methods on honest-to-goodness family-owned and -operated tea farms in the mountains of Aso, Japan. Of course, all the credit goes to our growers, but I do feel honored to be able to offer this tea outside of Japan for the first time ever. This is a great time for green-tea aficionados like you, Ryan, and I'm excited to be a part of the changes going on—because these changes are enabling aficionados like you to find green tea like ours.

—Mellow Monk

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Nissan pushes the envelope on car cuteness

Nissan took Suzuki's supersmall Alto and tricked it out into the supercute Pino.

Neither the Pino nor the Suzuki Alto are available in the U.S.—which is probably a good thing, because the behemoths on the road here could run over one of those things and not even notice the bump.



If you thought the new Volkswagen Beetle was cute...


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea gyoza (potstickers)

A professor at Japan's Hamamatsu University has developed a way to make gyoza (potstickers) fortified with green tea catechins.

These green-tea potstickers aren't on grocers' shelves yet, but the professor plans to commercialize the technique.

(The original Japanese article is available here, or you can peruse Google's translation. )



Maybe these green-tea potstickers will be ready in time for St. Patty's Day next year.


—Mellow Monk

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Relax at your desk

The BBC's "Health" site has a relaxation page that includes a "desktop relaxation routine"—a six-minute audio file in which a deep-voiced narrator talks you through a meditation-like routine.

And of course, the calming effect of this routine can be enhanced with a nice, hot cup of aromatic green tea.



Just because you can't get away from your desk doesn't mean you can't relax there.


—Mellow Monk

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Japan's "naked man" festival

Sorry, ladies. They're only naked from the waist up.

The photo below is from the Hadaka Matsuri (literally "Naked Festival") in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture. The guys are all jostling to touch a holy man said to bestow good luck and drive away evil spirits.



The "Naked Festival" in full sway in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea beats goji berries

Goji berries are expensive little berries from the Himalayas whose proponents claim can treat a wide range of ailments.

But the linked-to article above quotes an authority on alternative cancer therapy as stating that while possibly effective, goji berries just aren't worth the cost: "Something as simple as green tea looks to have an equal or even better effect at about one-hundredth of the cost," he says. [emphasis added]

You see, grasshopper, the best medicine is not always what is most expensive.



Dried goji berries.


—Mellow Monk

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The fall and rise of the world's most famous sushi chef

Although one of the world's most famous sushi chefs today, back in 1987 Nobu Matsuhisa was deep in debt after his first restaurant burned down the weekened it opened in Anchorage, Alaska.

That was his low point. It was all "uphill" from there. This goes to show, grasshopper, that it is the uphill climb that leads to the top of the mountain.



"Sushi, anyone?"


—Mellow Monk

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The gilded cage rattles Japan's royals

Life as part of Japan's royal family is supposedly a stressful, suffocating gilded cage. I'll tell you what: I'll try it out for a couple of years so I can give a firsthand account.



"Think this is easy? Well then you try smiling and being pleasant all day."


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea even fights wrinkles

Dr. Miriam Cummings, a dermatologist practicing in Scottsdale, Arizona, says that green tea "is a wonderful thing for the skin."

Adds the good doctor: "[Green tea] stops DNA from being damaged. It stops the sun from burning the skin; so in a perfect world it's the perfect thing to use on your skin."


—Mellow Monk

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Japan's women are living even longer

For the 21st year in a row, Japan's women have registered the world's longest life spans. Not only that, but their average life expectancy has increased almost a full year since 2000. The Japanese also lead the world in per-capita consumption of green tea. Hmmm...



105 years old and still going strong.


—Mellow Monk

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Mom was right: Eat (and drink) your greens

Erica Wald, a registered dietician at the University of Michigan Health System, says, "Green foods across the board are healthy in terms of their vitamin, mineral, water and antioxidant content, and St Patrick's Day is the perfect time to think about how you can incorporate more of them into your diet."

One of her "seven tips for eating green for your health" includes this one:

» Drink tea -- green tea. If you like to drink tea, consider choosing green tea instead of black, oolong or other darker teas. Green tea - next to white tea - packs the biggest punch when it comes to antioxidants. It also contains flavonoids, a class of naturally occurring plant compounds that function as antioxidants that are good for the heart, Wald says.

—Mellow Monk

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Five myths about sleep

This week being National Sleep Awareness Week, it's perfect timing to read up on the five myths about sleep.

Incidentally, if you like to relax with green tea in the evening but are worried about cafeeine keeping you awake at night, you easily decaffeinate the tea yourself. Simply pour hot water over your tea as you normally would, wait between 30 and 60 seconds, then throw out the infusion and brew the tea again.

When tea is brewed, the caffeine leaches out more quickly than other compounds, so the second infusion will still give you the flavor, aroma, and health benefits that you want from green tea.


—Mellow Monk

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A small Japanese town opens its doors to strangers

The town of Gokase in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, has an interesting "town revitalization" program in which applicants from not-so-nearby Fukuoka Prefecture spend a few nights in the homes of residents.

Why Fukuoka? Probably because it's the most industrialized, urbanized prefecture on the island and is therefore presumed to have a lot of monied young people eager to escape the big city for a little peace and quiet in the countryside. I say "probably" because I learned about the program from an acquaintance who participated. She went to Gokase with a girlfriend and described it as the best time she's had in a long time.

Participants in the program—which is completely free—spend the daylight hours shopping, strolling, or taking in the town's hot springs. At night, they return to their host family for dinner and perhaps even a trip to a karaoke bar if they're lucky (or unlucky, depending on your opinion of karaoke).

The program is open to any resident of Fukuoka, provided he or she is under 30 years of age. That's because the goal is to attract young people in the hope that they'll not only spend their money liberally (as young folks are known to do) and maybe even decide to live there—like most small rural towns in Japan, Gokase's population is gradually declining, as locals strike out to seek their fortune in the big city.

Another reason the town's population is shrinking is that wives are hard to come by for eldest sons who take over the family farm or shop (and responsibility for caring for aging Mom and Dad). This may explain why Gokase officials place special emphasis on advertising their stay-for-free program to young women. My acquaintance said that one night at her host family's home, a neighbor stopped by to introduce his eligible-bachelor son. Unfortunately for him, no nuptials ensued.

By the way, my acquaintance is 32 years old, but as far as the people of Gokase know, she's 28.

—Mellow Monk

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Tokyo commuters to get high-tech smart cards

Passengers on Tokyo's rail and bus systems will soon get a new universal smart card embedded with a computer chip. Call Pasmo, the card has only to be waved over a card reader when passing through a fare gate or boarding a bus:

Pasmo card holders can top up their balance at ticket vending machines or, more conveniently, use an automatic recharging service, which adds 3,000 yen from a designated credit account to the card when the balance drops below 2,000 yen.

Just pass it over, then pass on through.


—Mellow Monk

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When brewing green tea in a mug, should you use a lid?

A customer asks:

Should I put a lid on top of the mug when brewing green tea? I do it for other herbal teas to capture organic compounds with a boiling point lower than water, and to stop heat loss, but with green tea I don’t boil the water.

I also use a strainer, which is great for multiple infusions.

Regards,

Margarita

Here is my response:

Dear Margarita,

A lid would help keep the tea warm while it brews and, after you've removed the strainer, while you are drinking it. But it depends on personal preference: I use a mug and strainer, too, but I don't use a lid because I don't mind tea that's a little on the cool side. I especially like the last half of a mug of tea to be cool enough to gulp down. (And a big, cool mug of green tea gulped down is incredibly thirst-quenching, especially after exercising or on a hot summer's day.)

If you consider the traditional way of brewing—a large teapot and small tea cups—what that setup does is keep the tea warm in the pot while it's brewing or just sitting. The closed teapot also keeps all the flavorful, aromatic, and healthy compounds inside. Drinking the tea by the small cupful ensures that every sip is nice and hot. And if you're drinking quality, authentic green tea like ours (excuse my modesty), its flavor and aroma are best enjoyed at higher temperatures.

Incidentally, at tea-judging competitions in Japan, judges brew the tea with a very low (for tea) water temperature—only 70 degrees Celcius (158 degrees Fahrenheit). They say that avoids "cooking" the tea so that they can tell its true taste and aroma. (Most tea-drinkers in Japan, however, use hotter water and would probably even be surprised to learn what low water temperatures are used by tea judges, so it's by no means common.)

I hope this helps. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions, or if you have any comments or suggestions.

Sincerely,
Mellow Monk

By the way, if you want to try using a lid, you don't have to buy one of those teacups that comes with its own lid (although some of them are very cool looking). Instead, you can use an ordinary saucer. Remember one of Mellow Monk's Teachings: "Focus on the tea, not the accoutrements."

Should you put a lid on it? On the tea, that is.


—Mellow Monk

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Photos of Kyoto's geisha quarters

An index of photos from Katei Gahou magazine's feature on Kyoto's Hanamachi, or geisha quarters. ("Hanamachi" literally means "flower town.") The photographs are beautiful but unfortunately have no captions.



A pair of foreign guests enjoy a geisha performance in Kyoto's hanamachi, or geisha quarters.


—Mellow Monk

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In rural Japan, shrinking populations and shrinking budgets

Like a lot of small towns across Japan, Hokkaido's Yubari is trying its best to deal with a shrinking population.

Yubari, which had 120,000 people in the 1960s, is now forecast to have only 7,000 in 16 years.

But at least a lot of small towns don't have the massive debut Yubari has, which the town incurred in an ultimately failed attempt to draw tourists and rivitalize the local economy.



An abandoned amusement park in Yubari, Hokkaido.


—Mellow Monk

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In Japan, an aquatic gym to ease Fido's aching joints

An aquatic dog gym opens in Japan. (Click the link to see a movie in the Windows Media or RealPlayer format.)



Now aquasize is going to the dogs.


—Mellow Monk

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Flying wasabi on the International Space Station

Before traveling to the International Space Station, astronauts are trained how to respond to a wide range of scenarios. But here's one that probably wasn't in the NASA training manual: what to do in the event of a zero-G wasabi spill.


—Mellow Monk

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Sudoku morphs into a new game: Nurikabe

This is for all the Sudoku fans out there:

DailySudoku.com (my favorite sudoku site) has released a new twist on sudoku called Nurikabe.

Nurikabe (the name means "drawing wall") is like a cross between Sudoku and Minesweeper, in that numbers in squares indicate the number of squares around it that should be filled in. Detailed instructions are available here.


—Mellow Monk

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Kimono-clad ladies instruct high-schoolers in Japan's tea ceremony

Decked out in classy kimonos, four Japanese exchange students showed high-school kids in Salem, Washington, how to conduct a traditional tea ceremony.