Isn't food just wonderful.
An update from me who finds happiness in delicious food.
This time I’d like to introduce one of Takasaki’s pride, a long standing ramen shop Touryu [Eastern Dragon] and their Meaty Miso Ramen.
I have been enjoying this Meaty Miso Ramen since I was just a child. I can remember going the extra long route on my way home after school so that I could stop by.
This ramen has a soy sauce base with lots of cabbage and pork stir fried in a spicy chili bean sauce (similar to Sichuan double cooked pork) piled on top.
If you order it with a bowl of rice, my oh my, the rice disappears fast. The spicy miso flavor is perfect for arousing a hefty appetite. In the hot summer, this Meaty Miso Ramen is a local favorite for keeping ones stamina up. Thanks to this ramen I have been able to keep my wonderfully roundish form.
Beware this shop has no parking lot. There is coin parking nearby that is recommended for travelers by car. I think even with the cost of parking this is a ramen well worth it!
From Creampuff-fingers
My family and I went on a Kirin Beer factory tour.
From the start I already had my eyes set on the beer tasting at the end. Listening to the staffs explanations their passion for work started to sink and I found myself listening to more and more.
Prior to the tasting it all had me thinking about how really it’s the staff that power a good company.
After the tasting on our way home my eyes came across this poster on a wall. I found myself thinking, this is a company with a lot of charm...
It made me want to power-up our company image with my coworkers.
This is a picture of me and some coworkers after solving problems on a product.
(And I have many more coworkers not in the picture!)
Have you ever noticed that the words imagine and magician both have ‘magi’ in them? The root of magi means to conjure.
Schrödinger understood long ago that reality could not be measured without first making it reality. In other words that it was not ‘real’ until we confirmed it. With modern science we find more and more proof that our minds are determining our reality.
It sounds silly to some, but it means that your thoughts affect your reality.
For millennia we have questioned meditation, prayer, and positive thinking. Now we are finding that it may not be simple, but it is a fact of physics.
What about you?
Do you worry and fear the bad things that might become? Or are you positive and look forward to exciting new encounters? Modern science is showing us that your thoughts can have a strong influence on what you experience.
Just what are thoughts?
In truth, we do not understand quite a few things about the brain. We do not know where thoughts and consciousness come from. We don’t know where memory is stored or how it can last so long.
I believe that the brain is like a complex radio. It picks up the orders from your consciousness, and sends back information from the many different senses the body possess. If certain parts of your brain get damaged it can become difficult to use your memory or your thoughts, but consciousness remains.
Taking the discussion any further leads into what people call the supernatural, but not so long ago a phone or a photograph, modern medicine, physics, and technology all would have all been called magic or supernatural.
Never doubt your potential.
Never doubt your worth.
From Postman
This year’s bamboo shoots season has ended at our house.
Because our house is out in the country we still have our wind barrier setup as we are constantly supplied the cold winds of Mt. Akagi.
We don’t put any effort into our backyard so it’s quite the free-for-all, yet this year was extra bountiful compared to recent years leading to a variable bamboo shoot festival.
Unfortunately a neighbor in the area who had their bamboo shoots expertly checked were found to have radioactivity. The leftovers of all that my family is unable to eat ourselves we give to the local markets, but the conversation between my parents was whether we might be required to test all produce before allowing it on the market next year or not.
Several years have passed since the radiation disaster at Fukushima yet the impact remains. I once again felt the concern that comes from the dark side of nuclear power.
Well… for me any way it’s never been a concern. I look forward to enjoying next year’s bamboo shoots with my family.
From Naotyn
On March 25th we had a friendly gold competition for the first time in four year. Eleven members from our company, ten from partner companies, and two elders from our company, totaled 23 people that participated.
Because of my set handicap I was considered a possible winner. However, many people with even higher handicaps had improved their swing over the past four years, so I decided to not aim for the top and wait until some of the larger handicaps were used up. In this way I planned for a score which wouldn’t put me in the top three (anyone not in the top three receive a handicap). My imagined score should have been easy to reach for the level I am at.
Competition day. With a heat that felt like mid-summer the weather was perfect for golf. Finishing the first half, everyone checking their scores, one of the possible winners already had a score of 30. Glad I wasn’t aiming for the top I thought, only to find those with big handicaps with not the best scores either. And here I was already beneath my planned score.
Fixing my score during the latter half, in other words destroying myself, I ended the competition with the score I had originally planned on.
As expected thus far.
One of my companions who I had failed to mark however finished with a great score. And the other potential winners... Not as good of scores as expected... Suddenly I had a bad feeling.
The award ceremony.
My bad feeling was spot on as I came out third place. With only one more point I would have been out of the top three.
Next competition my handicap will be lowered; giving me less chance at achieving a solid win.
Things don’t always go as expected.
From 3+
Hot days grow more and more common as the sticky monsoon season gets closer and closer.
Why not prepare for some flower viewing of the Hydrangea that bloom during this wet time.
Hydrangea range in color from red to blue to purple, yet the plant itself only actually ever tries to become one color. When the first blooming of its flowers begin it is not the plant itself that decides what color it becomes but aluminum and other qualities of the minerals it absorbs. It is said in general that when the soil is acidic flower will bloom blue, and when soil is more alkaline flowers will bloom red, but often it is when the flowers absorb aluminum that they become blue, and when they do not absorb aluminum they become red. When soil is acidic it becomes easier for the roots to absorb more aluminum thus the saying [if acidic then blue], and if slightly alkaline it becomes more difficult for the roots to absorb aluminum thus we say [if alkaline then red].
At times, even in the same area or plant different colored flowers can bloom due to changes in the amount of aluminum being sent from the different roots.
Also, Hydrangea contain a poison that stops us from being able to eat them. Where in the plant the poison originates is not yet fully understood but in 2008 there were two cases of food poisoning from groups that tried to eat the flowers so be sure not to try it at home.
From Aqua
After a brief Spring hot summer days over 30C are continuing into the start of summer.
I have horrible hay fever in the Spring, yet the seasons can’t seem to make up their mind so I’ve started riding my motorcycle early.
Here is Japan there are never many motorcycles on the road. In Gunma it seems most people have a car, and even for those with a love of motorcycles it feels like the roads are meant for cars and not bikes.
For my work I find myself visiting Vietnam at times who’s culture when compared to Japan is more along the lines of a motorcycle per person (often Honda Cubs) with roads built for bikes and not cars. Because of this the streets are flooded with bikes during rush hour which if seen for the first time is really quite a spectacle.
Now, what kind of motorcycles do the Vietnamese ride, I’ll bet you’re wondering. That’s right! Japanese motorcycles have a strong foothold in the Vietnamese market and are loved by many.
In 2013 Vietnam reported sales of 3,110,000 motorcycles. Amongst those, 1,970,000 where Honda, and 800,000 were Yamaha, with over 85% of total sales being from Japanese makers. I think the reason many foreign countries and people have for a long time accepted and respected Japanese products is a reflection of the Japanese pride and passion for building things. Or so I imagined looking at my own 50cc motorcycle.
This picture is an old Honda and the form of its rider hard at work in Vietnam. Where and how a motorcycle gets used it up to the rider, and though no comparison can be made to the Cub in the picture, I’d love if people could use the things I help manufacture with such affection.
From Pumping both wheels
2014 posts:
Oct-Dec
