One Month in Tohoku Book Review

A large M7.3 earthquake struck northeastern Japan last Saturday night (February 13th) bringing back memories of the Great Tohoku Earthquake (March 11) almost 10 years ago now. Experts believe that this recent tremor was an aftershock from the massive earthquake that hit the region in 2011.

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (Great Tohoku Earthquake) was one of the biggest earthquakes in history and triggered a deadly tsunami that destroyed much of the Tohoku coastline.

Back in the summer of 2017, I went on a journey to Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, where I visited Onagawa, a sleepy fishing port that suffered extensive damage during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. This was an eye opening experience for me and something that I will never forget.

Long-time Japan resident, Caroline Pover, author of One Month in Tohoku was deeply moved by the disaster and felt compelled to help in whatever way she could. Caroline was in the UK when the disaster struck, but in the weeks soon after March 11, was on the Oshika Peninsula in Mayagi Prefecture, an area that was badly affected by the tsunami. This was close to where I visited in 2017. She has spent the following years going back and forth between Japan and England, where she has been involved in fundraising and managing recovery projects for remote fishing communities on the Oshika Peninsula.

The Book’s Content

One Month in Tohoku is a memoir on life after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Caroline spent time living and working in the small communities of Oshika, where she helped with reconstruction projects, mobilizing support for them from overseas and making a contribution to the locals economic and psychological recovery.

The remote Oshika Peninsula was the first part of Japan to be hit by the tsunami and has been one of the last places to recover. At this time, they have yet to fully recover with reconstruction still ongoing.

This book is her story about this work and the strength and resilience of the survivors to overcome the disaster and to recover and rebuild their lives during this vulnerable time. 

My View

I really admire Caroline for the huge effort that she put in to help these local communities. It is people like Caroline that helped speed up the recovery process and contributed to the rebuilding of places and communities such as Onagawa that I was fortunate to visit in 2017.

Caroline never planned to write a book about Oshika but felt strongly about sharing their story to encourage people to look beyond the images that we see in the media after a disaster occurs. Once these images disappear, people soon forget about the seemingly never-ending process of recovery and rebuilding that the people affected by a disaster have to go through.

This engaging and very personal story touched my heart and greatly reminded me of my own journey to Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture. I would like to encourage everyone to give this heartwarming tale of love, kindness, compassion, and resilience of a very special community of people a read, and like myself, encourage you to visit the area, so that you can experience the beauty of the region and the people for yourself.

About the Writer

The author, Caroline Pover was born in Devon in the UK, grew up in Plymouth, and graduated from Exeter University before moving to Tokyo, Japan in 1996, in search of adventure.

She lived in Japan for almost fifteen years, running a number of businesses, giving speeches, and winning numerous awards for her entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavours before moving back to the UK. This is her fifth book, and first memoir. 

Caroline Pover

One Month in Tohoku is an engaging and very personal story of one woman’s journey and contribution to help rebuild a shattered community.  

One Month in Tohoku is available on Amazon

 

Spring Goodies in Japan for 2021

 

Spring is fast approaching, and I am getting excited about the promise of warmer weather and tasty new treats to try. There are usually a lot of sakura (cherry blossom) inspired goodies to try at this time of the year on the supermarket and convenience store shelves.

A few of my favourites from previous years include Haagen Dazs Sakura Ice Cream, Cherry Blossom Yoghurt and the limited-edition offerings from Starbuck’s Japan.

In 2021, we have a new Sakura Latte to try as well as Lipton Sakura Tea Latte and Kraft Sakura Mochi Dessert Cheese.

Let’s start with the new Sakura Latte from Mt. Rainer, which is on sale for 150 yen (USD$1.43). The Sakura Latte features coffee made from 100% Arabica beans with cherry blossom extract added to the mix for the perfect taste of spring.

Sakura Latte

 

While I am not a huge milk tea drinker, the next offering from Lipton really caught my eye. The Sakura Tea Latte which you can pick up for 128 yen (USD$1.22) is made with 100 percent Kenyan tea with a subtle cherry blossom taste. 

Lipton Sakura Tea Latte

 

Every spring, my go to cherry blossom treat is sakura mochi, which is a Japanese sweet consisting of a pink coloured mochi (rice cake) with a red bean paste center, all wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf. This year we have the Sakura Mochi Dessert Cheese from Kraft to try. Called Mochi Mochi Sakura, it has glutinous powder added to give the cheese a sakura mochi-like texture. The dessert cheese comes in a six-pack and retails for 320 yen (USD$3.05).

Kraft Sakura Mochi Dessert Cheese

 

Which one of these tasty cherry blossom spring treats caught your eye for the upcoming cherry blossom season?

Sapporo Snow Festival 2021

 

The Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido is one of the biggest and best winter events in Japan. Teams from around the world compete to create the most impressive ice and snow sculptures.

The snow festival, also known as Yuki Matsuri is one of Japan’s top festivals and is held annually in early February. The event has a humble origin and can trace its history back to 1950, when local high school students built six snow statues in Odori-koen in Sapporo. The JSDF (Japan Self Defense Force) built the first gigantic snow sculptures in 1955, and the event took off from there.

The festival attracts millions of visitors every year from not only Japan but across the world. Many people were looking forward to attending this year’s event but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival has moved online for 2021.

You can now enjoy this amazing event in the comfort of your own home by visiting the Sapporo Snow Festival Official Website.

A new multilingual website for the festival invites people to participate and help create this year’s event. You can watch short videos about the festival’s famous history, contribute your own photos from previous festivals in the Sapporo Snow Photo Festival, and even get tips on how to build the coolest snow and ice creations in the world in online workshops with local craftsmen and women.

Visit the Sapporo Snow Festival Official Website to check it out.

If you are interested in finding out more about Japanese festivals, check out the Matsuri Japanese Festival Search 2021 on Japanoscope. 

Sapporo Snow Festival by SteFou! is licensed with CC BY 2.0.

 

Coronavirus State of Emergency in Japan

Japan entered a second state of emergency due to the coronavirus in January with the Tokyo region declaring a state of emergency to curb a surge in coronaviruses cases. Ten other prefectures soon followed suit with the current state of emergency set to end on February 7^th.

The eleven prefectures are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka.

The restrictions include asking restaurants and bars to close by 8 p.m., requesting that businesses ask their employees to work remotely where possible, and urging people to refrain from nonessential outings at all times, but especially after 8 p.m.

The spread of infections in Japan rapidly increased just after the oshogatsu New Year period. A holiday period where people traditionally return to their hometowns to spend time with their family.

The Japanese government is currently discussing the state of emergency and may extend it for up to another month in Tokyo and other areas that continue to see a high number of infections. The areas which look like extending the state of emergency are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka.  

Okinawa Prefecture may also be added to the list. The remote islands of Okinawa have seen a spread of the virus in recent times.

Daily infections have begun to fall across Japan, but the medical system remains under intense strain.

The Japanese government plans to make a decision about whether to lift the state of emergency next week.

Inbound travel to Japan remains off limits for now. The Japanese government is putting a road plan in place for the return of international tourism to Japan. This could possibly happen in April 2021, with limited small group tours allowed into the country.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are still planned to go ahead, but could be held without spectators. It is difficult to see regular tourism returning to Japan before autumn 2021 at the earliest. 

Image: NHK World

 

No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners! Book Review

I first arrived in Japan in 1998 to start my working career after graduating from university in Australia with a business degree. Japan was a vastly different place then to what it is now, and I was lucky to catch the very tail-end of the golden boom period. I was one of the few foreigners living in my small city in central Japan, and I can tell you that I had a lot of unique and interesting experiences as one of the only westerners in my area, but that is a story for another day.

Joe Palermo the writer of No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners arrived even earlier than I did, but we share many of the same Japan experiences and Japan stories.

The Book’s Content 

No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners is a short, easy to read 87-page book full of interesting Japan experiences from the perspective of a foreigner living in Japan in the 1980s.

Many of the stereotypes of a foreigner in Japan from the 1980s still, unfortunately, remain today, such as “Wow! You can speak Japanese. How are you able to do that? ” and “Your chopstick skills are amazing for a non-Japanese!”

Here is a little from the book and the author.

“A young Japanese woman was running through Tokyo station screaming “Save me! Save me!” There was a Japanese man chasing her and closing in. He grabbed her wrist and caught her about 10 feet in front of me. The woman was still yelling “Save me! Save Me!” but the Japanese people in the crowded station ignored her, not wanting to get involved. This is the beginning of just one of the stories from my experience living in Japan in the 1980’s, where I had moved right after graduating university. It was still rare to see an American who could speak Japanese fluently. This book guides the reader though my many adventures navigating through Japanese culture while living in the outskirts of Tokyo, as well as Tokyo proper.”

My View 

This book is really easy to pick-up and read and is jam-packed with short entertaining stories about Joe’s eight-year journey of living in Japan in the boom of the 1980s. The writing style is easy to digest and I found myself sitting down wanting to read more and more each time I picked it up. The main interest for me was reading about Joe’s adventures in Japan and how he adapted to Japanese culture while living in his small town on the outskirts of Tokyo. I could definitely relate to this experience.

I really enjoyed the book as someone who has lived in Japan for a very long time. I could relate to many of the stories in the book and even went through quite a lot of them myself, so it definitely brought back a lot of memories about my start here in Japan.

About the Writer 

The author, Joe Palermo grew up in Addison, Illinois in the United States. Upon graduation from the University of Illinois in Chicago, he moved to Japan to accept a position with the Japanese government as a Mombusho English Fellow (MEF). He spent 3 years working for Shimaden, a Japanese manufacturer of industrial temperature controllers, and then joined the Nielsen company (formerly A.C. Nielsen) locally in Japan. He is now semi-retired and lives with his Japanese wife in the suburbs of Chicago.  

No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners! is an enjoyable read, outlining what it was like to live in Japan in the 1980s with many of the experiences still ringing true today.

No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners! is available on Amazon

Kyoto Shinjo Castle

A great discovery was made this week in Kyoto with archeologists uncovering the remains of Kyoto Shinjo Castle (new Kyoto Castle) for the first time.

Kyoto Shinjo Castle was constructed in 1597 by samurai warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), one of the three great unifiers of Japan. It was the last castle he built before his death in 1598.

Researchers conducting excavation work unearthed stones walls and a moat belonging to the castle on the grounds of the Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace on May 12.

The castle was known to have existed due to it being mentioned in written documents, but no physical trace of it had been found until now. The techniques used to construct the castle wall will provide some good insight into the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600) of Japanese castles. 

Excavated stones walls from Kyoto Shinjo | Image: The Mainichi

Kyoto Shinjo Castle was destroyed in 1600 just before the greatest samurai battle in history at Sekigahara, which decided that fate of Japan for the next 260 years. Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace was constructed over its remains in 1627 as the retirement home for Emperor Go Mizuno after his abdication.

Stone wall at Kyoto Shinjo Castle | Image: The Asahi Shimbun

The castle was built close to the Imperial Palace to cement the Toyotomi court rank of Chancellor of the Realm and Imperial Regent “kanpaku” (chief advisor to the emperor). Hideyoshi ruled Japan in all but name and most likely built the castle, so that his infant son, Hideyori (1593-1615) could succeed his titles upon his death.

Hideyoshi was worried about other daimyo (feudal lords), especially Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) gaining control of the country after his death.

It will be interesting to see what they decide to do with this amazing new discovery.

Screen Painting of Kyoto Shinjo Castle | Image: The Asahi Shimbun

Samurai Mac Burgers at McDonald’s Japan

Growing up in Melbourne as a small boy, I knew Japan for two things. One was ninja, the secret assassins and spies of feudal Japan who were skilled in the use of swords, shuriken and scaling hooks. The other was samurai, the elegant and noble protectors of Japan. Back in April, when McDonald’s Japan announced they were going to introduce two new samurai burgers, you can bet I was excited.

McDonald’s Japan have been teasing our taste buds for many years now with interesting limited-edition and seasonal burgers such as the Tsukimi Burger in fall and the Gratin Croquette Burger in winter.

The new Samurai Mac Burgers were created to capture the spirit of the samurai warrior with their Japanese flavours. They come in two different varieties which are designed to represent different samurai factions.

The “Wild Faction” is represented by the Roasted Soy Sauce Style Double Thick Beef Burger, while the “Self-Indulgent Faction” is represented by the Roasted Soy Sauce Style Bacon Tomato Thick Beef Burger.

The Roasted Soy Sauce Style Double Thick Beef Burger 

This is a mouthful to say and it is certainly a mouthful for the actual mouth with two thick and juicy 100-percent beef patties, two slices of rich cheddar cheese, and a crisp sliced onion with a savoury roasted soy sauce style sauce all sandwiched in a poppy seed bun.

The Roasted Soy Sauce Style Bacon Tomato Thick Beef Burger 

This mouthful also contains a thick 100-percent beef patty with smoked bacon, fresh tomatoes, crunchy lettuce, sliced onions, and white cheddar cheese with a savoury roasted soy sauce style sauce all sandwiched in a poppy seed bun.

The Taste Test 

Unfortunately, due to the State of Emergency in Japan because of the coronavirus, we could only get the take-away version of the “Self-Indulgent Faction”. The star of the show is definitely the savoury roasted soy sauce style sauce on the burger, which really brings out the Japanese flavours. The thick juicy beef patty is enhanced by a hint of garlic which adds a nice tone and doesn’t overpower the rest of the flavours. Overall, I really enjoyed it and would not hesitate to have it again.

The Campaign Ambassador 

The campaign ambassador of the new burgers is actor, Masato Sakai, who has played several samurai characters in the past on TV shows. He is most famous for playing samurai warrior Sanada Yukimura in the NHK Taiga Drama, Sanada Maru in 2016.

Available for a Limited Time Only 

The new Samurai Mac Burgers will be on the McDonald’s Japan menu for a limited time only from 8 April until mid-May. You can pick one up for 490 yen (USD$4.50) but hurry as time is running out.

Source: McDonald's Japan