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Week Eleven : On The Road Again

A few years back, I was looking for a duffel bag that was just large enough for trips over Japan's many long weekends. My sister responded by giving me this gorgeous brown leather one as a Christmas present.

Since then, it has accompanied me on not only short trips within Japan, but also on longer adventures to places like Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam as well as a couple of trips back home. Right now it's loaded up for a five day journey to Beijing, which I head out for tomorrow evening.

The bag has taken it's share of beatings over the years (airport luggage handlers aren't always kind), but that just gives it more character. It's a tough little S.O.B. and I look forward to haven't it around for years to come

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 5.0 | ISO 1250 | 1/13 s

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Week Ten : Once Upon A Time, Today

I spent this past weekend in the Kansai area, a day each in Osaka and Kyoto. It surprised me how much I enjoyed being in Kyoto and I found myself thinking how it would have been a great place to spend a year studying abroad.

A group of girls sitting by the river and laughing loudly reminded of my own brief study abroad in Japan, where we occasionally had parties on a river bank not unlike this one. It made me smile and I wanted to take some kind of picture of the scene.

This shot isn't even really what I had in mind at the time, but I quite like it. Something about it feels like it could just as well have been taken 20 or 30 years ago, rather than this afternoon. It's not very similar to my normal style and I thought about adjusting it in Lightroom, but I think it really is best just the way it is.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 8.0 | ISO 200 | 1/320 s

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Week Nine : Test Your Might

I found a great yakitori place tucked away in an alley off a side street by the tracks just beyond Yurakucho Station. Great atmosphere, great food, and cheap. It doesn't get much better than grilled meat on a stick and a cold beer.

The house special is tsukune, or meatballs. There's the regular version and the geki-kara (super spicy) version and, like all yakitori, you get your choice of salt or sauce on top. It was freakin cold outside, so I thought I'd take on the geki-kara version to warm myself back up. In Japan, "spicy" food tends to be pretty mild, so I wasn't overly concerned. I usually prefer salt for my yakitori, but asked the waitress for her recommendation. She said salt just made it spicier. Feeling up for a challenge, I went ahead and ordered it with salt. The wicked grin that lit up her face should have been sufficient warning.

The tsukune come three to a skewer and don't look all that dangerous on first glance. You are being deceived: these are nothing short of little fireballs. Bite into one and, in the half second before your mouth bursts into a mini inferno, you'll see that the meat is a bold red color on the inside. They taste delicious and are super juicy, but your mouth will feel like a war zone. I fought my way through the first two and decided to take a picture to commemorate the battle before waging war on the last one.

After that, the cold outside didn't feel so bad at all.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 2.5 | ISO 1600 | 1/30 s

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Week Eight : Uma Uma Yay

This week came with some great news for my future, but also means that my Great Japan Adventure will only last for a few more months. I really want to make the most of that time and squeeze in some really great experiences while I can.


In that spirit, I found myself on a lunch date at Nakae. Located just north-east of Ueno in the Minowa neighborhood since 1905, the building has been declared a cultural treasure by the city of Tokyo. It's incredibly rare to find original wooden buildings that survived the many fires that have ravished Tokyo over the years, much less the fire bombings in World War II, so it really is something special.

Nakae specializes in a dish called Sakura-Nabe that you won't find too often, even here in Japan. "Sakura" is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms and "Nabe" is Japanese-style hotpot, but if you come expecting cutesy flower garnished dishes you're in for a surprise. You see, sakura-niku ("niku" means meat) is another name for horse meat.

Nakae's specialty is, therefore, horse meat and it is some seriously good stuff. Throw away your prejudices and try it - you won't regret it.



The lunch course kicks off with small side dishes of horse sashimi and horse tartar. Half of you are probably squirming in your seats as you read this thinking "Is he really going to eat that?!" and I can assure you I most certainly did. The horse sashimi, served with thin-sliced onions and ginger soy sauce is as delicate as any fish and yet incredibly satisfying. The tartar, mixed with a quail egg and a little soy sauce and sesame oil, is silky smooth.




But the real star of the show is the sakura-nabe, which is actually more like sukiyaki than nabe. The broth starts off a slightly disturbing dark shade of red a little reminiscent of blood, but quickly takes on a much more pleasing color once heat is applied and a little bit of red miso gets mixed in. You let this boil away happily until everything has just cooked through and then dip the contents into a raw scrambled egg to eat. This is the kind of hearty warm food that I love during Japanese winters. Warms your soul a bit really.



Once you've eaten most of the contents, the dish is "closed" with the left over raw egg. We added an extra egg, which had a gorgeous orange yolk. That egg gets cook just enough to firm up a bit, during which it sucks up all that delicious broth, and is eaten over rice.

Horse meat is by no means a typical food here in Japan, but I've gotta say I wouldn't mind eating more of it. Apparently horse actually has less calories and fat than beef but more protein, so it's not a bad choice from a health perspective either. Finding a butcher that carries it might prove something of a challenge though...

**"Uma" is the Japanese word for "Horse", hence the title of this post**

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 3.2 | ISO 1600 | 1/20 s

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Week Seven : I [HEART] Chocolate

I've been doing a bit of baking recently and have been using Meiji chocolate (the Japanese equivalent of Hershey's) as it's the cheapest and most readily available option. Eating these delicious cherry-flavored chocolates served as a stark reminder of just how shitty the stuff sold in supermarkets is. It's easy to forget how amazing good food can be when you start getting used to the lowest-common-denominator junk that is so prevalent.

Next time you get the chance, buy a smaller amount, but splurge a bit on the good stuff. I'd bet you won't regret it.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 100mm | f/ 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 1/15 s

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Week Six : A.P.C.

A.P.C. is the brand of jeans I've been wearing for the past few years. Tucked away just off the main strip in Daikanyama, I've always thought the store's design is super cool. The tree-lined entrance way is a particular favorite of mine.

I was there this weekend to pick up my older pair of jeans, which I'd sent in to get a hole fixed up, and thought it would be a nice change from the pictures of things that I've posted for the project thus far. One of these days I'm going to have a go at shooting people...

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 18mm | f/ 4.5 | ISO 800 | 1/5 s

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Week Five : Tied Up

Getting ready for a couple of MBA interviews coming up this week kept me distracted from taking my weekly picture until the last minute. Fortunately, a macro lens is very handy for making things more interesting.

The middle tie is just a plain old tie I bought before moving to Japan. I like simple ties. They make me feel sharp.

The tie on the right was a gift from my grandma. Unless you look at it from really close, you can't tell that it's covered with pelicans. Something about that always makes me smile. Like it's my own little not-so-secret secret.

The tie on the left belonged to my grandpa. It's a little bit short and a bit rough around the edges, so I don't wear it all that often. I have a few ties from my grandpa and I always feel a bit more powerful whenever I have one on. Maybe I'll wear one for the interviews. I could certainly use a little help.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 100mm | f/ 6.3 | ISO 1250 | 1/6 s