Student life in Japan

Japanese Festivals - Setsubun

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:21:00 +0000

Last Friday or February 3rd was 節分の日(setsu-bun no hi) in Japan. A traditional ceremony(not holiday) that happens right before 立春(rish-shyun)=First day of Spring which is February 4th. The kanji's 節分(setsu-bun) literally means "seasonal division", it is derived from "季節(ki-setsu)=Season を(wo) 分ける(wa-keru)=Split" which as a sentence literally means "Split the Season". 季節+分ける＝節分(setsu-bun) see? ^.^

You can technically say that 節分 is the Eve of Spring. A few activities or rituals are performed on this day one of them is 豆撒き(mame-ma-ki)=Bean throwing. It is said that on the day the season changes 邪気(jya-ki)=Evil arises and 鬼(oni)=Demons bring bad luck. But thanks to BEAN...'s yes, BEAN...'s the most powerful tool to exorcise evil spirits people could ward off bad luck and demons by throwing BEAN...'s at the 鬼. Nowadays people would wear 鬼 masks and become the 鬼 and other people would throw BEANS...'s at them. Beans are also thrown around the house if the person feels an evil presence. When throwing the BEAN...'s one would yell 鬼は外！福は内！which means Demons Out! Luck In! 福(fuku)=Luck, Fortune.
Here is a very funny and cute video of Mame maki I found on Youtube. I hope they don't mind me sharing it ^.^;

I did something similar back when I was an exchange student with my host family only there were no demons we only cleansed the house.
Another thing you do on 節分 is scoop beans from a bowl until you scoop the exact number of beans as your age and eat it. Brings good luck. But I think people aged 30+ just pick the beans instead of scooping.

Here is a good video of 節分 I found on Youtube >>portal<<
More about 節分 on wiki >>here<<

A certain someone costume playing as an 鬼. Soon to be bombarded by BEAN...'s

Out With 鬼! and In with Fortune!

A Famous Japanese Drink Ramune

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:49:00 +0000

I was just checking around the local stores nearby and found THIS!

It is called ラムネ(ra-mu-ne) and is famous for it's unique bottle design. First introduced in the 19th century and became a very popular drink nationwide in Japan. Due to its unique alien like bottle design it was particularly popular among young ones. It's popularity has decreased in modern times but it has become an iconic symbol of summer in Japan and is widely consumed during the warm days.
*Required level to drink 5+*

I took this on the iPhone 4S camera with HDR enabled. Turned out quite good If I do say so myself ^.^
You can find Ramune being sold in small local snack stores around Japan. The local store in which I bought mine was run by an old couple, was very friendly and the old man still had the salesman spirit telling me this and that is very tasty and good.

Inspection of the bottle. Not very visible but there is a glass ball inside plugging the bottle. Subdue it, and you may drink it.

The pink thing is the Ramune specialized bottle opener tool. Now all you have to do is give it a good iron palm strike to open it.

Here is How to open Ramune.
Ramune tastes pretty good. Kinda like Mitsuya Cider or you can say it tastes like carbonated lemonade. There seems to be Ramune with different flavors but I haven't seen any yet.

This alien like bottle design is what caught many curious eyes. Invented by Hiram-Codd and dubbed Codd-neck bottle. Wiki link > here <
I like the design too. The glass ball rattling inside and the feeling of wanting to take it out makes it fun in a way.

Those two dents that looks like eyes have a very important role. You need it to stop the glass ball from clogging up the bottle when you drink

Like this. You have to skillfully stop the glass ball on the dent to keep the drink flowing into your mouth. Drinking Ramune for the first time is like a mini puzzle game.

Yes! Thanks to high-tech modern screw cap technology you can take out the glass ball with ease! ^.^ . The first time I saw Ramune and the glass ball I thought of breaking the glass ^.^'' .

And here it is "The Glass Ball"...My precious......

Oh so bright and shiny... This is also taken with HDR enabled. Sun hidden behind glass ball

From the same position as the above picture letting the sun peak out just a little bit and focusing on the light made a big difference to the photo. Experimenting with photography is fun.
*Photography skills increased by 50pts*

Ramune also makes appearances in Anime's.

This is how I knew about Ramune in the first place hahaha.

*Puts glass ball inside mouth and disappears*

Student in Japan Vlog:1 Local street Bridge and a Phone booth

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:29:00 +0000

Alright From Yesterdays yesterdays yesterday I have decided to start video blogging or vlog for short. Don't worry I will not quit this blog.
When I take a video and want to upload it to Youtube I use up a lot of time trying to edit it and garnish it with some kind of background music. Because of this I end up shoving it down in my to-do list which is why I take a long time to update my Youtube channel. But no more!. From yesterdays yesterdays yesterday I will be uploading videos RAW no frying no burning and no garnishes. Of course from time to time I will add edited videos.

And so here is my first Vlog update with bridges, local streets and a phone booth.
Video taken by Iphone 4S=awesome.

Very easy potato salad recipe perfect for students

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

This time I'm going to roughly show you how to make Potato salad great for fellow students. When life gives you a lot of potatoes and carrots you should make this. It's very easy to make and you can make a batch of it and save to eat for later.

Here is what we're going to make. This batch I made lasted 4 days. I ate it daily little by little with lunch and dinner. Although this is a salad it has good amounts of protein thanks to the eggs, ham, and potatoes. It is recommended for people with a hefty appetite and little time.

Here are the Ingredients:
Potatoes- 5
Carrot- 1 big one
Eggs(boiled)- 4
Round onion- 1
Ham sausage or bologna sausage that you can dice- about half of the one shown above.
Mayonnaise- I have no Idea ~_~. Believe in your inner voice.

Some optional ingredients are canned green peas and pickles. I recommend adding pickles I didn't add this time because I couldn't find them ^.^;
The quantity of the ingredients are up to you depending on how much you want to make. But I think Potatoes-50% Carrots-25% Eggs-10% Ham-10% Onion-5% is best.

Before you start boil the eggs first, boil for about 12 minutes. After boiling them put into cold water and cool them.

First you slice & dice all the vegetables to1x1cm cubes. After that boil all the vegetables for about 30 minutes to cook them, stirring them time to time. You can add a pinch of salt, it gives them more flavor.

After cooling the eggs slice them in to small cubes. First slice the egg in half and then into small cubes. And slice them don't chop them.
Slice the onions and ham into small cubes too (forgot to take pic).

Put all the ingredients into a big bowl. This is where you add all the spice and sauces.

Add the mayonnaise and while your at it you might as well should draw a face ^w^ and take a picture. Note I added more mayonnaise after taking this picture. You can also add sugar to give it a sweet taste. After everything's in the bowl mix mix and mix GENTLY.

After mixing it should look something like this. And your done. This isn't a proper recipe but I hope you understood it all ^-^

This potato salad is very common in Mongolia and is called "Capital salad".

Also a great addition to your bento.

I love this salad! over.

A&W Root Beer

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Interesting find.

Was running around in a big store and found a very interesting and nostalgic drink. A&W Root Beer. A very strange drink that caught my eyes when I was 3 years younger. I always thought it was beer and never bothered with it until one day it somehow landed in my hands and I looked at the back of the can. No alcohol.

It was 130 Yen. And this is Original Made in USA with everything written in English. Caffeine free Low Sodium..etc
Tasted..... peculiarly strange.

The what's in this can contents label translation.

Day in Japan 19: Christmas card making event

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:51:00 +0000

With our teacher me and a few classmates went to a Christmas card making event for foreign students.

This is Parco a chain of department stores that is mostly found near stations all around Japan. There are a wide variety of retailer stores in Parco, mostly clothe retailers. I've never seen a Parco that had Imax before. Somewhere in this building there is an Imax cinema. And somewhere in this building we are going to make Christmas cards.

Immediately we went to the 9/8th floor. We arrived there a bit early so we had some time to peek around.

I was thirsty and asked our teacher if there's a vending machine nearby. He said there is a free all-you-can-drink place right around the corner. With delight I went there and this is what I get. I should have guessed it.

At least the vending machines were right beside the water fountain. I got meself drink #4.

The control panel of these vending machines were different from the normal ones. After inspecting it a bit I found out that it's for making the usage easy for disabled people. For example someone with a wheelchair who wants one of the drinks on top may not be able to reach the buttons, thus it has the buttons 1-10 on a lower level. Coin insertion has been made very easy too. Just drop you coins in the turquoise box. Pull down the yellowish lever and it will dispense your change. And I think if there is change left in the change box that you haven't taken then the green lamp will lit up to notify you.

The covers also open and close automatically.

Santa had sent his paper elf clone to help us. On the right he had written us our schedule for the day.

Our materials. Stickers, colored ropes, tape, colored paper, a white beard, markers, glue, polka-dots scissors...etc. This brings back some memories of my childhood. I loved to make stuff like this.

First time me seeing a blue glue. . . it rhymes!. In the background you are seeing an origami Santa. It was pre-made by one of the students.

Our little secret room on the 9/8th floor somewhere inside Parco. Besides us there were a lot of other foreign students. There were 5 Japanese high school students who were helping out. I forgot to take a photo of the cards we made >.< I was kinda happy with the card I made hehe.

Us all. There were students from Malaysia, Indonesia, Inner Mongolia, New Zealand, China, Iran, Japan, Thailand, and Mongolia. That's 8 countries for you.

After the event we waited for the Japanese students to clean up (we helped). We agreed have dinner together and to just chat. And while waiting I noticed these boards with information and pictures of Russia.

Found a Russian cookbook!. Mmm Кулебяка(kulebyaka) very nostalgic and tasty too. Used to eat Russian food sometimes back in Mongolia. Russian food is pretty common in Mongolia although lately Korean food has become very popular. Which reminds me through all my trips around Japan I haven't seen a single Russian restaurant or cafe here.

When I was small I always wanted to try ringing these bells. And when I spotted this I couldn't resist. I should have made a video....maybe next time. That is not me you are seeing in the bell >.>

And down the elevator we go, off to Saizeriya. They said it's an Italian family restaurant. Will be my first time going there.

Meat sauce Doria my order. Tasty and very hot at first I almost burned my tongue. These "Doria" dishes are very popular here. There are even bento versions of it. Find out more about Doria and it's history of arriving in Japan here

Rice dish with lots of Seafood. For some reason this reminded me of this scene from Mr.Bean. Start video from 1:17.

Black Spaghetti!! It's a Black Spaghetti!!. I asked how it tasted and he said it's very good. I'll have to try it later when I get the chance. Can you imagine what color his tongue turned after eating.

Overall I liked Saizeriya It's quite cheap and tastes pretty good. I'll have to make a post on it soon.

Japanese words of the day:

クリスマス(kurisumasu)=Christmas

自動販売機(ji-dou-han-bai-ki)=Vending machine

のり(nori)=Glue

青い(ao-i)=Blue

材料(zai-ryou)=Material

料理(ryou-ri)=Food

料理本(ryou-ri-hon)=Recipe book

ドリア(doria)=Doria

～階(~kai)= ~Floor. Ex:9/8th Floor

Piroshkii!!!

Mcdonalds Chicken Tatsuta Burger

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:31:00 +0000

On this times Mcdonalds new limited time burgers we have the Chicken Tatsuta Burger.

The box is very similar to the Big Mac box. The Chicken Tatsuta burger is apparently a returning favorite burger. So it's technically not new, but It was my first time eating it.

Check out the CM

And here it is the Chicken Tatsuta burger. Soy sauce and ginger coated chicken deepfried with thinly sliced cabbage and creamy tasty mayonnaise(i like). Plus the new 和風おろし(wa-fuu-oroshi) sauce. I don't know exactly how to translate it but I can explain it somehow.
和風 means Japanese-Style. So if I say "和風Toilet" it will mean "Japanese-Style Toilet". 和風+"any word"=Japanese-Style "any word". I hope you get it ^^ (I'm not sure if you can use it with any word though especially toilet.But if it's a noun then I think tis ok)
There is an explanation to the kanjis to but I'll explain it later when I get another chance.

The Oroshi(not orochi) sauce is a kind of paste sauce, made by grating radish.

Take a few bites and Enjoy. It tasted quite good. The chicken was delicious and the creamy mayonnaise sauce made it more tasty. The Wa-fuu-oroshi sauce like it's name really gave it a Japanese taste.
I wasn't really sure to put this. If you don't want to see bitten burger photos then tell me in the comments or if you want to see photos like this then tell me.

Daily Japanese words:
ハンバーガー(hanbaagaa)=Hamburger
和風(wa-fuu)=Japanese-Style
おろし(oroshi)=Grated radish sauce (not really sure about this one people. there are more meanings I think)
卸(oroshi)=Wholesale
マヨネーズ(mayoneezu)= Mayonnaise
チキン(chikin)=Chicken (katakana version)
鶏(niwatori)=Chicken (japanese version)

There's a new burger coming to near Mcdonalds very soon. So stay tuned folks especially burger fans.

Day in Japan 18: Koppe(roll) bread and lighting

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:32:00 +0000

This rounds post is technically not "a day", it's more like "days" ^.^' . Haven't been taking photos a lot lately Hmm I think I should change the series title.

Today's morning パン(pan) with peanut butter cream. . . I think ~_~ . It tasted like peanut butter.

The local street I pass by everyday this time from the other side. Straight up ahead is the station. A very sunny Sunday it may look warm but it's actually very chilly. The local shops are always closed on Sundays.

At the same position as the above photo. Leveling up my photography skills. Learned something interesting, focusing on darker areas makes the area with plenty of light too bright to see anything. Like in this photo, you can't see the clouds in the sky because of the bright light. But you can see well the store on the left part

Focusing on bright areas with plenty of light coming on the other hand makes all the other surrounding dark. Now you can see the clouds well, but you can't see the stores on the left. I'm guessing this has to do with Aperture. I need to study more ^.^"

My bento. Left over from the day before. I know, not visually appealing, but it tastes good so XP. Need to level up my bento making skills more.

This is the コッペパン(koppe-pan)=roll bread. It may look like a plain loaf of bread but you don't know whats inside. There's a whole series of these breads with different flavors.

This is the blueberry jam and margarine flavored version. As you can see it has plenty of blueberry jam and margarine which is what makes these so awesome!. And the fact that these cost only 98Yen doubles the awesomeness. There are 4 more other flavors as far as I know. I'll be sure to share them with you.

Restores 1856 Ep. Special effects: makes you want to eat one more.

Our local Department store is having a samX tneserP elaS. Tis the season to be jolly.

Dinner is Gyuudon with spring onion topping. I will make a "rough" recipe post for this soon. So stay (looney) tuned

Japanese words of the day(s):

ピーナッツバター(pi-nattsubata-)=Peanut butter

光(hikari)=Light

闇(yami)=Darkness

弁当(bentoo)=Japanese lunch

コッペ(koppe)=A roll (I think this word is mostly used with "pan" as a set.)

ブルーベリー(buru-beri-)=Blueberry

マーガリン(ma-garin)=Margarine

牛丼(gyuudon)=Gyuudon

"Runs to store for more koppe pan"

Day in Japan 17: Christmas nearing

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:26:00 +0000

It's already December!! Christmas is just down the street and 2012 is only a few blocks away. Oh boy, one of the downsides of living alone in a foreign country is that you can't really celebrate the holidays to the fullest. But of course if you have friends then it's a different story. It's very important to make friends!!

It's that season again where Christmas trees pop out everywhere. Last year there were Huge trees popping up in Mongolia see here

Christmas decorations at the station I pass by all the time. Lumine by the way is a very big department store here. And I've always spotted one near big busy stations.

キミのクリスマスはどんな?(kimi-no-kurisumasu-wa-donna?)=How is your Christmas?
My Christmas is. . . going to be pretty average. I think I'll buy me self a slice of cake ^_^

I think Santa picked the wrong time to visit. Everyone is wide awake.

The wishes of Zoe and Leo. And How is your Christmas? by the way

This is my usual morning breakfast. Miso soup, Natto with rice, and hand-made bread from my local bread shop. the brown Inarizushi is leftover from yesterdays dinner ^.^

Strawberry jam in the middle and custard in the inside. Love these. I always look forward to getting up in the morning because of these ^.^

In the morning, on my way to school. This is the station were I change trains to school. I forgot my umbrella this day.

The sun is M.I.A. Notice the black dots closer look on the next picture

That black thing that looks like a fly on the window is, I think someone skygliding as it was descending gradually.

My bento lunch. Dumplings and rice. You might think this is a sad and average bento, but you don't know what's under the rice. (Hmm I need to buy a new bento box).

From my window. Small but beautiful sunset. Now in Japan the sun is setting at around 5'o'clock it becomes completely dark at 6'o'clock.

Japanese words of the day:
クリスマス(kurisumasu)=Christmas
デコレーション(decore-shyon)=Decoration (katakana version)
飾り(kazari)=Decoration
パン(pan)=bread or pastry
行方不明(yuku-e-fu-mei)=Missing, M.I.A
餃子(gyou-za)=Dumplings
いなりずし(inarizushi)=Inari-sushi
苺(ichigo)=Strawberry Mmmm

Ba HumBug!! No no I'm Just kidding hehe
Scroooge!

Cheap, Healthy and Easy to make dish Mabo Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:01:00 +0000

I'm going to show you a cheap, delicious, and very easy to make dish. Perfect for students in Japan who have a big appetite. And of course if you can find the ingredients it's perfect for students anywhere in the world ^.^

Here is the freshly cooked dish. It's called マーボ豆腐(ma-bo-tou-fu) the Japanese version of Mapo doufu. The best thing about マーボ豆腐 is it uses a minimum amount of meat which is expensive in Japan (especially when comparing to Mongolia). And since it uses tofu it has good amounts of protein, perfect for growing students who live alone.

Ingredients :
50grams of minced beef or pork meat. I think chicken breast will also do nicely.
200grams of tofu
1/4 of an onion
1 garlic clove. *Optional
Oil
And the most important ingredient. . . Chemical X (see below)

The マーボ豆腐 sauce. It's a sauce in a box. This can be easily found in grocery stores in Japan. Notice the 2's in the bottom right corner. ２人前(futari-mae)=for 2 personsｘ２袋入り(ni-fukuro-iri)=2 bags inserted. meaning it has two pieces of for 2 person sauces. Price:186 Yen
Before you start cooking remember to set up your rice cooker

Ok, first let's neatly slice the tofu .

Slice the tofu into 1.5cm cubicles. You don't have to be precise so just dice them(unless your trying to impress someone).

Prepare! the onion. Cut them into small pieces like in the picture . (again i have no idea why this got in portrait)

Add oil by preference and heat on medium. Usually adding enough to cover the surface of the frying pan is good.

After heating it up add the minced meat. And fry them on medium heat until they're cooked, NOT burnt.
The white things you see in this picture is garlic and some onions that got mixed. Be careful frying garlic as they get burnt really fast.

This is the sauce inside the box. For 2 persons

After the meat is cooked stop the heat for a bit to add the tofu sauce. Also add around 30ml of water. I added more water to make the sauce more, careful though if you add too much water it'll lessen the taste of the sauce. Yeah, it doesn't look good in this state.

Cook on medium high until it starts to boil up, add tofu cubicles and fry on medium heat until the sauce gets a bit thicker. Stir gently while frying you don't want the tofu to turn in to a pulp.

And Finished. Now all you have to do is put it on top of your rice or where ever you want.
Before eating don't forget to say
いただきます(itadakimasu)=I'm going to eat (not sure exactly how to translate this)

and after eating ごちそうさまでした(gochisousamadeshita)=Thanks for the food (i think)

Japanese words of the day:
マーボ豆腐(ma-bo-tou-fu)=Mapo tofu
玉ねぎ(tama-negi)=Onion (the round ones)
油(abura)=Oil
ひき肉(hiki-niku)=Minced meat
にんにく(ninniku)=Garlic
フライパン(furaipan)=Fry pan

Kanade!!

Day in Japan 16: Soyjoy ?

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:46:00 +0000

This is the street that I walk by everyday to get to the station and back home (note:right now I'm facing away from the station). There are a lot of local stores around here like the bread shop, flower shop, karaoke barber, weapon shop etc. Local shops really give away a different feeling or atmosphere from big-shot-company-chain-shops(can't find a word for it). I don't really know what the time on the road means, but guessing from 7:30-8:30 going this direction is prohibited.

Been meaning to try this out ever since I saw it, very tempting. SoyJoy the healthy little soy snack bar with real fruit for the dieting sister or girl you know very well. There were a lot of different fruit flavors to choose from like plume, banana and strawberry. But I remembered my aunt saying that blueberry has lot's of healthy factors.

It had a fair amount of blueberries in it which I didn't expect ^.^ . Tasted very good, like a little dried blueberry pie. When your teeth randomly hits the blueberries it gives you a little joyful feeling(soyJoy?).
Restores 571 Ep(energy points), Additional effects: makes you feel full for about 1 and half hours.
Note: effects may vary

The station platform which I wait for my train home. I love the train tracks here that go all the way to out of sight. Can you see it?. 3 minutes after this photo and it became full of people.

At the more darker part of the station. Check out the filtered version here it looks better. It says 立入禁止(tachi-iri-kin-shi)=do not enter in the middle. Would you dare to enter and walk the path to darkness?

Dinner is Tonkatsu(pork cutlet) bento that has potato salad, weenier,noodles, and rice with dried plume and pink ginger topping. Bought from a supermarket, you can find lots of similar bentos in conbini too.

I love Japanese breads or pastry. Breads like this you can easily buy at conbini's or supermarkets.
This one's りんご(ringo)デ二ッシュ(denishyu) 110yen.

It actually has a decent amount of apples in it!. It's awesome. Great for filling that whee bit of space after a meal. Restores 1617 Ep

At night walking to the combini to buy some life support goods. This is my local street I have to give a tour someday.

Japanese words of the day:
地元(ji-moto)=Local
ダイエット(daietto)=Diet
エネルギーポイント(enerugii-pointo)=Energy point
立入禁止(tachi-iri-kin-shi)=Do not enter, Entry prohibited
駅(eki)=Train station
豚カツ(ton-katsu)=Pork cutlet
梅干(ume-boshi)=Pickled plume (tastes very sour)
紅しょうが(beni-shyouga)=Pickled ginger (pink for some reason)
りんごデニッシュ(ringo-denissyu)=Apple denish (I have no idea what denish means, maybe Danish?)
闇(yami)=Darkness

Drive.

Day in Japan 15: Pink Pepsi

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Here's something you don't see everyday

As you may know Japan has a lot of strange and weird products like this Pink Pepsi here. After hearing that it was strawberry and milk flavored I had to try it out.

If i'm not mistaken this is the exact pink of pink panther.

When your buying a drink that says it has fruit in it search for these kanji 果汁(ka-jyuu)=fruitjuice. It's the concentration of fruit in it. On this occasion it is 無果汁(mu-ka-jyuu)=no fruitjuice meaning it's 0%. Hmm I guess strawberry flavor doesn't mean they'll actually put in real strawberries -_-

Notice the small dots in the middle. It's meant for easy peeling of the plastic label. Most bottled drinks have them although I did see some without them

After drinking your supposed to peel of the label and throw it away as plastic garbage. And then recycle the bottle.

Ok, As for the taste of Pink Pepsi, it had a slight strawberry lolipop-ish taste. I had no idea where the milk taste was. And it was highly carbonated. Not very good, would drink it once in a while though.

Japanese words or the day:
ペプシ(pepushi)=Pepsi
ピンク(pinku)=Pink
ミルク(miruku)=Milk (katakana version)
牛乳(gyuu-nyuu)=Milk
イチゴ(ichigo)=Strawberry
果汁(ka-jyuu)=Fruit juice level
ペットボトル(pettobotoru)=Plastic bottle (I don't know why the call it pet bottles)
再利用(sai-ri-you)=Recycle or reuse
リサイクル(risaikuru)=Recycle (katakana version)

Fizzy!

Day in Japan 14: Mcdonalds KBQ burger

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:50:00 +0000

Being a hamburger fan I had to check out the new KBQ burger at McDonalds. McDonalds in Japan sometimes comes up with these interesting burgers for a limited time. I always try them out, although I think I missed a few. Does Mcdonalds do this in your area too?

Let's have a look at the CM(commercial)

(gives you temporary taekwondo skills)

The actual burger. KBQ stands for Korean Barbie Q, but I guess everyone already knows that. They had two versions of the burger single patty and double patty. Double patty versions are always better!(especially in Japan!). It tasted pretty good with a Korean-ish sweet chili flavor, and a slight tangy garlic taste. The brown sauce on the top is the main one which gave the Korean taste. On the site it says it's "Bulgogi sauce" McD jp site.

Restores small amount of energy.

Japanese words of the Day:
マクドナルド(makudonarudo)=Mcdonalds
ケービキューバーガー(keebikyuu-baagaa)=KBQ burger
ソース(soosu)=Sauce
ダブル(daburu)=Double
おいしい(oishii)=Tasty, good taste.
コマーシャル(komaashyaru)= Commercial

EnD

Day in Japan 13: 2nd start

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:11:00 +0000

Going to continue my day in japan posts.

So first let's start with Lunch shall we. There's Chicken croquette, cabbage salad with mayonnaise, clam soup(i think) and rice. Oomori(大盛り) rice to be exact. This costed 350Yen, it's supposed to be 410Yen because of the Oomori rice but I had a coupon -60 yen.

Standing on the station platform waiting for my train. Was a nice warm day I was going out'n'about in my t-shirt. Walking around in t-shirts is unthinkable back in Mongolia.

Ok I have no Idea why this is coming up in portrait I changed it to landscape before uploading it. Anyway stopped by the store to buy dinner. This frozen pizza was on sale 250Yen so thought I try it out.

Basically it's just a round flat bread with cheese strips on top and pepper. No resemblance to a pizza

After heating up. Still no resemblance to a pizza. Note when heating: don't heat in a microwave the crusts turn to stone form. Well it said on the back to heat in an oven but... I got lazy ^^;. The taste was not bad kinda tasted like one of them naan breads with cheese.

And an uninvited guest appears. We, after saying "eeew" "aaah" "woof" gave him the boot, with a broom.

Japanese words of the day:
大盛(oo-mori)=Meaning large, but only used for foods as in small, medium and large. {One of my favorite words}
ご飯(go-han)=Cooked rice also means food.
米(kome)=Uncooked rice
晩ご飯(ban-go-han)=Evening food or dinner
ピザ(piza)=Pizza
ゴキブリ(gokiburi)=Cockroach XP

Ooverr

Alien Registration Certificate in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:52:00 +0000

When you enter Japan at the immigration they should give you this note. Don't throw it away(yet) keep it with you. On the backside everything is written in Japanese.

If your staying in Japan for more than 90 days whether your a tourist or a student like me then you have to go and register yourself for something called, be ready this one's a twister
外国人登録証明書(gai-koku-jin-tou-roku-shyou-mei-shyo)=Alien Registration Certificate within 90 days of arriving in Japan.

Basically it's a card verifying that you're a legitimate Alien and that you've registered your existence=sonzai(存在) in Japan. It is very important that you register and get this card. As you need this card for many things Ex: getting a cellphone, opening a bank account, getting a part-time job...etc most actions that need self identification.

To register you need to go to the 市役所(shi-yaku-shyo)=City hall of where your living of staying. In my case(a student) my school took me to the office and did all the talking, I only filled out the registration form(be sure to know the address of where your living). I think every school will take you to register. If they don't then don't worry it's fairly simple. And the people there are kind and will do whatever they can to make it easy for you. You just have to make the first move and ask "I want to register for Gaikokujin touroku shyoumeishyo"~ "外国人登録したいです"(gai-koku-jin-tou-roku-shitai-desu) And they should understand and take you from there.
If they don't then show them the note you got at the immigration check in(above picture) they'll have to understand this way.

Requirements are: Two 3x4 pictures, your passport, if your a student your school card(card verifying you are a student of "oo" school) your school should provide this.

After registration they should give you a paper like this showing when to pick up your card. It takes about two weeks or so. And be sure to go and get it on time or else you may have to do it all over again I think.
Also to note until you get your registration card take your passport with you when your strolling out'n'about.

And this is what it should look like. Be careful not to lose it and take it with you at all times. Cops may ask you to show it at any moment and if your caught without one then it's one night in "the room" for you(at least that's what I heard). Of course if you have your passport then all's well.

Found Wiki page for it -_-" well for more detailed info and other info jump here Wiki

Over

First weeks passed (TV food)

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:43:00 +0000

It's been more than a week since I arrived in Japan and all the paperwork stuff has mostly ended. By the end of next week I'll be settled in nice and snug. Will be sharing all things happening.

Until then how about we talk about some food, frozen food to be exact ^_^. Frozen food's an excellent fast source of energy for students like me. I find them relatively cheap, easy to make, tastes good and has portion.

Japanese frozen food's have a lot of variety there were tons in the store I forgot to take pictures(wonder if it's allowed). But don't worry I'll be eating lot's of frozen stuff from here on so I'll be sure to post them. Tonight on the menu is Ebi-Pirafu=Shrimp ... . I don't know what Pirafu means but this is basically fried rice.
Price: 263Yen (50% sale price) so original price is 526Yen

The backside has all the information you need to cook it. The instructions are pretty easy to understand even if your kanji knowledge is small like mine, but being young and starving helps a lot ~_~. Can you figure out how to cook this? I'll write the instructions on a later food post. ^_^

In to the bowl~y. Can you see the ancient frozen fossil's of aliens?

After close scientific tests and analyzing, it's thawing point is 500 watts
Taste: Very good.
Recharges you by 30%. If I ate the whole 500g bag then it would likely recharge 65%. The above pic is only 250g.

ITADAKIMA~~SU

My adventures in Japan 2nd start

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:31:00 +0000

My untold tale continues in Japan. And this time as a college student. Well I haven't quite entered a college yet, but I will. I'm currently honing my Japanese skills in a Japanese language school and after I finish my course I will enter a college OR a university we'll see. Almost finished settling in here. Will be posting more information later so stay tuned.
Of course I will be continuing my blog from here on. But I need to update some things ^_^.

Note: This is only supposed to be a funny parody video none of the lines should be taken seriously. There were no real intentions.

How I learned Japanese Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 05:49:00 +0000

How to learn Japanese. er. . I mean, How I learned Japanese Part 2
Part 1 is here. The videos are here

METHOD #3

IS! . . . Playing video games!. Playing video games helped me learn Japanese a lot!. Especially in reading, vocabulary, listening and KANJI. One day I went to the local video game store and bought a Japanese copy of Persona 4. Note:I played and finished Persona 3 in English before so I was familiar with the game.I really liked it and it was very interesting. I kept on playing it even though I couldn't read well. The Minna no Nihongo Kanji booklet and a Japanese-English dictionary were my best friends I was constantly using them.
I bought the game just before school started(before I took Japanese classes). So at the time I had near zero Japanese knowledge, I couldn't even read the hiragana and katakana letters. Also I didn't have the 2 books mentioned above, I only had a small book called "Simple conversation in Japanese" from JICA. The book had hiragana and katakana letters. When I started the game I could only read the hiragana and katakana letters by looking at the small book. And I just skipped the kanji's. It took me about 1 hour and 30 or so minutes to get to the first save point which should take around 15 minutes MAX for someone that can read Japanese. And I didn't understand anything, BUT I did memorize most of the hiragana and katakana letters ^.^ . I realized that I was no match for Japanese at the time and can't continue like this. So I temporarily quit playing Persona 4 and went on to school for training.

After 6 months of training I restarted Persona 4. Surprised I was. I could easily read the hiragana, katakana letters and some of the kanji. Best of all I could make out meaningful sentences. But. . . it still wasn't enough, there were an abundance of words and kanji that I didn't know. Luckily I got the 2 books mentioned above in bold.

Every unknown kanji I encounter I would manually search it in my booklet by it's shape!. This consumed time and took a lot of patience. And my booklet only had 400 kanjis so sometimes the kanji being searched would not be there -_-*, at these moments I'd make a deep breath and have a cup of tea.
One feature of Persona really saved me. The characters in Persona will sometimes speak out loud!.

The text appears normally like other rpg's. But the characters will say their lines out loud. This greatly helped me. How?, by carefully listening to them speaking I could catch how the kanji's are read. And if I knew how they're read I could easily look them up on my Japanese-English dictionary. Saves time, understands better, more fun when they talk.
Also In Persona you the player can sometimes choose the reply's or what to say to the characters. Depending on your answers different things will happen. At some important parts it can even alter the game ending. This gives you a big pressure to understand what the characters are saying and to choose the best answer. Because it is important I tried to translate more and understand what they were saying.
(watch the video to exactly get what I mean.Vid:Part 2)
By playing Persona 4 I learned a lot of new words, even phrases and 200+ kanji's!. Which is pretty good for playing a game right. . . right?. Oh I also learned a lot of Mythological deity's ^_^

METHOD #4

Is reading Japanese books. This really helps in learning kanji's. I didn't have any manga's I only had one Japanese book which I don't remember -.-" . Honestly speaking I didn't use this method a lot.

Reading books is really good for kanji training. Just trying to read helps a lot.

METHOD #5

Method #5 is more like a requirement than a method. And it's the most important thing in learning Japanese.

It IS... Feeling. . . I think this is the right word to use(couldn't think of any cool words). Yes! Feeling. All of my methods especially # 2 and 3 are dependent on the Feelings Like and Want without these they'd be meaningless.

I actually transferred to a new school that teaches Japanese because I really wanted to go to Japan. And to do that I needed to learn Japanese. Which wasn't that hard because I really liked Japanese and wanted to go to Japan.

I liked the language and really wanted to learn it, because of this I studied hard and always payed attention to Japanese class.

I could learn Japanese by playing a video game. Because, I liked playing video games and I liked Japanese I was interested. I could also patiently look up all the kanji's from my book by shape.

I learned Japanese by watching anime's. And I could do that because, I liked watching anime's, I liked Japanese and I really wanted to learn Japanese. I think that my subconscious mind was happily storing away all the words and information from the anime. Later on when I used Japanese to talk to someone somehow these words, phrases just pop inside my head and I knew what to say. It just came out. I think this has to with the subconscious mind and just naturally memorizing.

So in the end learning Japanese really isn't that hard! IF you really really want to learn it and like it.

This is pretty obvious right? I mean why would anyone want to learn something they don't want to or have little interest in. That's kinda stupid...right?...right?. And trust me it is a waste of time. In my old school they used to teach Russian and after 2 years of class I learned only a few sentences and words.(me speak wee bit Russian hereVid:Part 2)

Lastly a few words.

If you can't find a place that teaches Japanese and if your school doesn't teach it then you'll have to teach yourself. You can use my methods, improvise on them. If you really like the language and if you really really want to learn it then the determination will come and you can learn it by yourself.

There are plenty of ways. Like, buy a book from Amazon.

Ask Google teacher. Go to your local library. Ask a friend. Look up those really big and thick phonebooks that . . ., you might just find a number.

And finally just GO FOR IT.

How I learned Japanese Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 05:48:00 +0000

How to learn Japanese. This is the written version of my video "How I learned Japanese". Thought some people may understand better by reading . Content might slightly differ from the video but mostly the same. This is going to be looong. Divide this into 2 posts.
You should watch the videos too here

-Start-

I thought of all the Methods that I used to learn Japanese before going to Japan. And I had 5 Methods in total.

Method #1

Is just plain normal studying. I went to a good school that taught Japanese well. I had 4 hours of Japanese class a week. And learned all the basics here. The Hiragana and Katakana letters, basic kanji's, basic greetings, conversations, words, numbers all the beginner stuff. But most importantly I learned the grammar, adjectives and the structure of Japanese sentences how they work and how they combine. The structure of Japanese sentences was luckily the same as Mongolian so there were no problems. Unfortunately for English speakers the structure of the sentences are reverse which will make things a little confusing. Our school had 2 Japanese teachers who half of the time taught us. They spoke little Mongolian so it was all Japanese talking, this helped our speaking and listening.

I'm not the academic study study study type. But I payed good attention to Japanese class and studied hard. Yes I studied at home too. I also started to go to extra lessons besides from school. Like cram schools. There are plenty of places and institutions that teach foreign languages here in Mongolia. So finding one was no problem for me. I went to extra lessons 3 times a week each 2 hours long for 2 months. In total I had 10 hours of Japanese class a week for 2 months. After the extra lessons it returned to the normal 4 hours a week. Note: This is in the school year before going to Japan.

I have 3 good books to recommend. They're called "Minna no Nihongo 1, 2 and the Minna no Nihongo kanji booklet " It translates in to "Japanese for Everyone".

You can easily find these books on Amazon.com just search "Minna no Nihongo" and a bunch of editions will come up.

Minna no Nihongo has a good structure easy to understand. On the beginning of every lesson or grammar they're going to teach, they have a small conversation between 2 people using the grammar. So you will get an Idea of how to use it in real life. It explains how to use the grammar in example sentences so it's easy to understand. And of course there are exercises. They also had these stickfigure guys portraying the sentences in some exercises(I really liked them haha).

Method #2

Is Anime~tion. Yes! watching Japanese anime's helped me learn Japanese greatly. Especially in speaking, pronunciation, listening, vocabulary, and Japanese phrases. I think most people who watches anime will agree with me (say yes).

By watching anime I've learned a lot of new words and Japanese phrases that I can use in real life. For example: 燃えてきた(moete kita)=I'm fired up!, あそびたい(asobitai)= want to play, わし(washi)=mostly used by old people meaning I or Me. いただきます(itadakimasu)=let's eat, ごちそうさまでした(gochisou sama deshita)=thank you for the meal. 闇に落ちる(yami ni ochiru)=I'll fall into darkness ^^;.

When watching anime it's hard to concentrate on hearing the dialogues,Japanese voices and sounds while reading the subtitles(at least for me it was). So here is a little trick that I use. Just when the subtitle appears pause the video, they usually appear before the characters start talking. Read the subtitles first and playback the video. This way you know what the characters are going to say, so you can just ignore the subtitles and concentrate on the sound or voices. I caught more Japanese words and phrases this way. The only downside is that with all the pausing it kinda gets annoying and sometimes I'd watch the episodes again.Which was no problem for me and actually helped me more.

Also It's best to watch anime's with lot's of dialogues and less action. Slice of life genre anime's like Lucky star, K-on, Bakemonogatari, Clannad. If you watch too much Shounen type anime's you'll learn all the manly. . .tough-guy words unless you're a boy then it's okay.

The more Japanese sounds you hear the more your ears get accustomed to it. In a sense by watching anime your ears are picking up experience and leveling up!. Everything you hear is being stored away in your subconscious mind. The second time you hear those same sounds(words) you won't get surprised because you have experience hearing them. From this experience you will soon be able to roughly make out and understand what the other person is saying or anything you are listening.

Yup. like this Japanese anime IS in it's own way teaching you Japanese.(maybe you didn't notice)

Please continue to Part 2 here

How I learned Japanese (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:12:00 +0000

In the past few weeks I've been making a video about how I learned Japanese. It's finally finished.

Enjoy and please read the description of the video. Also give me feedback.

Part 1

Part 2

Me actually speaking Japanese

I plan on making a written version of the video very soon.

Status report

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:16:00 +0000

For the past few weeks haven't been able to post a single thing >.< because of making a video. And I hope this video will make it all worthwhile. It should be finished and posted by the end of this week.

The video is taking longer than expected due to unexpected software problems

Test your might

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Was in an arcade somewhere and found this test your might game, just had to try it out!!. I remember always watching cartoons like Popeye and sometimes these pop up. And they'd always hit it so hard that it always shoots up breaking the bell and limits. Always wanted to try them.

Here We Go!!

俺はこの程度かよ.....-_-"　絶望した～～

Time lapse through Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:48:00 +0000

I found another interesting video showing Japan in stylish Time lapse.

Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.

I always like these Time lapse videos. I wonder how many hours this will become without lapsing time.
Just sharing, credit to Brad Kremer

Day in Japan 12: Illuminations

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:22:00 +0000

Tis the season to be jolly and watch illuminations or christmas lights. Here everyone calls them Illuminations Has a nice ring to it, better than christmas lights I think.

Love the blue lights. And Shin-chyans all lit up too. I wish there were real trees that illuminate like this. Like one of them fish from the abyss.

The buildings are also decorated. This illumination was moving like a .gif picture. Winter no flowers...

Boom full bloom Spring. I took a video of this but just can't seem to locate it. 残念(zannen)=too bad.

You wonder how they made this.I wonder how much everyone gets paid for overtime AND making a snowman. Then again they could just leave the lights on ^_^''

You can catch me eating dinner@sukiya.mn. This is one set, rice, gyuudon bowl, miso soup.

gyuudon- is rice bowl topped with deliciously fried meat'n'eggs(has plenty of variety's). But in this case the rice is separate.

牛丼(gyuudon)

ご飯(gohan)=rice also food

みそ汁(miso-shiru)=miso soup(shiru)

卵(tamago)=egg

f(x)=空手-チョップx if 空手=karate, チョップ=chop and はし=8 then we can:

f(x)=karate-chop(x) if we take x=sticks then we get:

f(sticks)=karate-chopsticks Reveal the underlined factor by an integer.

have fun

アウト

Over!.Start!

noreply@blogger.com (Munkhjapan) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:38:00 +0000

Finally everything is over now. And summer break officially starts, time to just hit the floor.

But this summer can't just stay lying around, going to do some major leveling up, as it is the start of an important stage in my life. Have to prepare

spiritually,

Also means I have to study more which is not so bad because recently I've started to like studying.

But importantly I'm waking up my blogs and will update as much as I can. Plus thinking of getting active on youtube.

updated