My family

              My family is a big family. I have a father, a mother and a grandmother and also have three siblings; the oldest brother, an older sister and a young brother. Including a lovely our cat, we are eight of us. All of us live in Japan, and except me and my sister, my family lives in my hometown. Two of us are living in Tokyo.

My sister has lived in there for almost 7 years since she attended a college. She has obtained her job in downtown of Tokyo later. I also started living there almost 3 years ago, which was a same reason as my sister. We are really close sisters and sometimes hang out together. I have been her work place one time. She has been working at a clothing store in a moll as a sub manager. I just wanted to surprise her.

Also my brother will move to Tokyo soon, hopefully this spring. He wants to attend a college like us. Actually he has just finished exams for all colleges he applied for last week. I really hope he will pass them. I also look forward to going out with my brother and sister in Tokyo together.

A rest of my family lives in my home town, northwest of Japan, called Niigata. It takes 5 hours to get my city from Tokyo by using trains. My father runs a small business there, a textile business for gardening. He usually gets exhausted from the work, but I respect my father and like him. 

I like Gyoza!

              Gyoza is a one of kinds of dumpling that originally came from China. It is usually made of flour pastry filled with grinded pork and chopped vegetables. In Japan, Gyoza is really familiar as a family’s dish.

              There are many kinds of Gyoza stemmed from its way to cook. Generally, people cook Gyoza on a pan with strong heat. But we sometimes steam or boil them to get different taste. My favorite is actually boiled Gyoza with spicy soup. My mother used to cook it before I moved to Tokyo to attend my university. I really love Gyoza, and you will love it after you know that Gyoza is not only tasty also gives you a fun when you cook it.

              First step to make Gyoza starts at making wrappers that will cover ingredients. Prepare the bleached flour and warm water. Mix both them well with a hint of salt, after knead them until it becomes soft as earlobes place it in the fridge with a wrap for a half to an hour. Put it out the fridge onto a wood table veiled with flour, roll out into thin pieces. Cut with a cup placing upside down and repeat this until make 20 to 30 wrappers.

              Next step is making a staff inside Gyoza. Prepare ingredients; vegetables and grinded pork, seasonings. Chop the chives and cabbage, grate ginger and garlic. Combine the pork and them with salt and pepper and the oils into a large bowl. Ix everything together with your hands, making sure the mixture is not lumpy. Place the bowl into the fridge for 10 minutes.

              Then it is a fun time. Third step is making pre-Gyoza. Take a wrapper and place a small spoonful of the mixture in the middle. Dab a little water on the half of the wrapper’s edge and fold in two to make a semi-circle. While folding, pinch the two sides together and create waves while pinching. Repeat this step for all the wrappers.

              Finally, oil and heat a skillet on the stove. Put it medium heat and drop 8 to 10 pre-Gyoza making a circle. Fry them for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat. Add half a cup of water and cover it with a pan lid. Steam them until water evaporates. Add quarter a cup of flour water and wait until it gets a little burned. This step is called “Hane” meaning making wings. Then, place them on a plate, and we are ready to eat. This is the normal fried Gyoza.

There are many ways to enjoy Gyoza by changing ingredients like pork to shrimps, using different source, making original form of your Gyoza. That is why I love this food. We can enjoy using our ideas while cooking and eating. Gyoza is a really fun food.

What I miss about Japan

Since I came to US I have realized that there were a lot of Japanese foods I could eat here. For example, what I was surprised first was Sushi. Also I was amazed when I found a Japanese noodle and appetizers. But what I missed nowadays is Japanese local food that are basically hard to find here. Especially, I miss my favorite food in Kansai region "Okonomiyaki" and "Takoyaki".

Kansai food is one of Japanese cuisines people basically recognize it comes from Osaka. It is well known for its unique cooking style and seasoning. They basically use 'Teppan', flat-wide iron table that can be as warm as a pan. It is famous for served during Japanese traditional festivals such as a big fireworks show and a Japanese parade called Gion. These big events are held outside on main avenues or huge outside venues. We usually see a lot of vender stalls selling Kansai snacks for visitors. I have always loved eating them during those festivals.

"Okonomiyaki" is a Japanese pancake made of flour and eggs and many other ingredients. It is simple to cook it. First, we make a basic batter with flour, eggs and water. Then put some minced cabbages, ginger pickles and sliced meat. We sometimes put some sea food instead and add cheese or pieces of rice cake. Then spread it round on a warmed' Teppan'. After flip over it, we put source and mayo and other seasonings.

"Takoyaki" is a ball-shaped Japanese snack served as well as "Okonomiyaki” by stalls. It needs a different kind of “Teppan” which is special for making it and has many holes to make ball shape. Ingredients are almost same as “Okonomiyaki”. One thing different is that we put chopped octopus in center of a ball.

Both are popular food in traditional events. We can buy them at a pretty cheap price and could eat outside enjoying festivals. Also they smell really fragrant and are appetizing us. “Teppan” is usually warmed up high temperature so that their surface feel crunch and inside are very soft. When you eat “Takoyaki” you need to be careful because its inside is really hot even though surface is not so.

              I really wish there was a place or festival where we could eat them. Actually if I have a “Teppan” I can make them myself. But it is also a fun to watch how they are cooked and wait it chatting with friends. I miss my favorite foods “Okonomiyaki” and ”Takoyaki”. I hope that a Kansai food restaurant will open in Chicago one day.

Who are you??

    Have you ever met a stranger on a street? There are many places where we meet new people in our life that could be a school, an office, or might be a volunteer. Some people might have found friends through SNS communities. So probably finding friends on a street also can be　a sort of good chance. But you have to be careful if you really meet a stranger outside.
    It was last fall. My friend Risa got off the train and was heading for her home. It was early evening, and she was alone. When she went out the station a guy suddenly talked to her. Actually they had been on a same car of the train. He was talking friendly and looked normal, so she basically did not get scared.
    Actually she had been used to meeting a stranger since she had come to US. She already had some good friends through same kind of experiences. She had not usually felt scary, rather liked having conversation with them. So at that time, she was not so surprised at him.
    She found he was a friendly guy liking jokes and looked having interests into her, but was not so pushy. She was enjoying the conversation with him. After waking for a while together, he asked her number, and she gave it him. He called her several times because he wanted to see her again. But they never saw. She had been pretty busy. One day, when sarfing internet she suddenly felt like googling him. She thought it would be fun.
    But it pretty shocked her. One page showed up with a list of the result of searching was a wanted list. It seemed police posted it on, and the face with his name was exactly same as the guy’s one. He was not as a serious suspect as others, but it kind of terrified her.
    She had quit contacting him later realizing how dangerous it could be even if they look nice. I also learned it is not right to judge people by their appearance and behavior at first time. We do not know what they are thinking actually. Especially, foreigners need to be more careful when encountering a stranger.

A savant musician from brain injury

There are a number of moments when people find their special talents. It appears suddenly and is different among people. The story tells about a guy who became an amazing pianist after he got a brain injury.

The accident happened when he visited his mother to celebrate her birthday. He jumped into a pool and struck his head strongly. Someone called an ambulance, and he was sent to the hospital. He already had been unconscious and almost dying when he was sent to an emergency room. Fortunately, he has got recovered from the injury. After he came back his house, he went his best friend’s house. Suddenly, one strong desire came up his mind and he started playing a piano though he had never even touched them. They both were so surprised, and that shocked his mother too when he was playing it at a music store. His performance was like he had been playing it for a long time.

This story told us that we never know which prospective talents we might have and when it actually shows up to us. It might be hard to believe this miracle story that happened to this guy. But once you listen to his piano you will get impressed how well he plays.

Difference between Japan and US

There are millions of differrence between Japan and America. I found them after I started living in Chicago. They are so interesting. There are some personality differences. Japanese people are usually calm and polite to people, especially for the first meeting. It is because most of parents keep saying to children to be polite in front of people until they grow up adults. On the other hand, Americans are usually more open and have confidence to people. We do not feel they are impolite because they are also so friendly. Also we might have different value for using money. Japanese like to save money and bring much money in a wallet. My sister who lives in Tokyo usually carries about $100 – 200. I know she is not so rich now. It is because people think it is safe to bring money anywhere and it is common using currents to check out. But in the US, it is kind of dangerous to bring so much money so people usually use credit cards or debit cards. So they might be surprised when looking at Japanese having many bills in a wallet and might think Japanese are so rich.

     “Diet changes” is a common popular phrase among developed countries. Many people already know that as globalization spread into those countries many people changed their life styles and their diet. People could access more new information and became educated about global warming and health problems. But there is a different movement occurring in Japan. People might think that All Japanese food is healthy and elderly people in japan have the longest life expectancy. But it might change in the future. After I learned about current diet problems in Japan I changed my prospect about my home country.
      The current problem of Japanese diet is that people are changing their dine style in a bad way. Especially it is happening in cities. In cities in Japan, many people have business or go to colleges to study. They are usually busy due to over work or part time jobs. Then they do not have so much time to prepare for meals themselves. Many of them are living in apartment alone, and especially many young people are not so rich. Therefore those people look for fast cheap foods and go to convenience stores to get one. It is easiest way because in most of the case those stores are located near where they live in. Besides, they can just buy them and eat at home relaxing.
      We understand that those people having a busy life usually get home with tired and might be sick of thinking to start cooking meals only for themselves. They rather prefer to spend rest of time on relaxing on a couch. But the point is while those foods help us save time they could not provide us enough nutrition. Those people are apt to have dinner at late night, and some young people skip a meal to save money. This life style changes might help lifestyle diseases like diabetes. Although the awareness of healthy diet is increasing, it is not clear if people actually care about their bodies.
      Convenience stores also notice demands and are increasing items fascinating them. They also care about people who are interested in healthy diet. So they put some healthier menus in line. It is a good movement because busy people could have more access to well-balanced menus so that they could improves their diet. 
     It could affect economics too. Many companies know that people’s lifestyle have changed and they have to create new products to survive among competitive food industry. But first they need to distinguish real demands of people. It might be hard because even though people have knowledge of healthy diet they do not always buy those products. Also well-balanced menus could be cost. But people search for more convenient meals which are fast to cook, not so expensive. Many companies need to find other competitive advantages to against a convenience store.
      In conclusion, since there are many effects occurred after Japanese lifestyle have changed, and we need to reconsider those people who tend to have poor menus for dinner. We should understand that they might be having a stressful life so that they could not care about their body. It might be hard to change their lifestyle. But if they could have more choices of healthy foods, they could spend healthier life. And we need to keep encouraging them improve their life style too.