Castle lovers

Very interesting that more and more people, not only old people but young women, are visiting castles these days. A new trend now in Japan is Sengoku Busho which means gennerals of Sengoku period. Sengoku period is the warring state period in 16th century in Japan. Dramas and games about this period and generals have been popular regardless of age or sex.

One of reasons is Taiga Drama made by NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, Japanese Broadcasting coporation). This is long-term historical fiction drama and has long history since 1963.
Actually, it has a lot of impact on Japanese.

Castles are beautiful as artistic buildings and guardens along with are also the highlight. Many people have Hanami party at castle gardends.

Evrey time I go back to my hometown, I visit the nearest castle where I frequently visited during my school days.

Somehow, this place heals me...

then I realize I am very Japanese...

Iron Will

Last Friday, my husband borrowed a movie "Iron Will".

This story is based on a dog-sled race in 1914 of true story.
It describes a parents-son relationship, human and animal relationship and media and society along with the race.
I felt Will (a main character)'s strong determination to win the race for his father who died in a mushing accident. He and his father are very close, and his father wished his son to study at a university. However, his family did not have enough money to study at college, then he decides to run the dog-sled race which his father wished to attend. Will's pure and upright attitude really inspires heart of event sponsors and people of America who read articles written by a newspaper reporter.

See Wikipedia, Iron Will, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Will (optional description here) (as of Apr. 20, 2009, 05:16 GMT).

I really recommend to watch this movie when you loose your goal and heart to move on.

My husband watched already three times; he first watched this 8years ago and 5years ago and this time. I guess these times are when he got lost and tried to move one step forward.

Turtleneck Sweaters

Spring is just around the corner, but in Morioka, it is still chilly. It was snowing yesterday...oh God. It is situated in latitude 40 degree north like New York, Paris and Rome. The lowest temperature is around -10, and the highest reach only 0 in the middle of winter.


In this season, for a person who has poor circulation like me, a turtle neck sweater is the savior.
I wear it from late September to April everyday.
I have white, red, black, brown, blue, pink and gray. Some colors I have more than one.
I like wool washable sweaters which are relatively thin. So I can put cardigan on when it is still cold.

What is your favorite winter outfit?
I wonder how long I got to wear sweaters this winter...

Cherry trees are blooming at southern part of Japan...

Favorite Baseball Comic

Ever since I was a junior high school student, I have liked "Touch".

This is very famous baseball comic in Japan and popular in all ages.　This has comedy, romance and sports spirit.

Main characters are twin brothers and one girl, who are living next to each other since they are babies.

Touch (manga), http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Touch_(manga)&oldid=277845734 (last visited Mar. 18, 2009).

I am reading it now, I do not know how many times I have read it.

I realize that my perspective toward this story change. When I read it in junior high, I just read as a love story and that's it. I liked the drawing. When I read it in 20's, I was reading it as I recalled my memory in the past and considered it only as a fiction that was nothing to do with my life.

Then now, I can see a lot more than I did in the past; feeling of each character and sensitive relationship among characters. Brotherhood, friendship, love, dream...etc...

As my husband has a younger brother whose personality is very different from his, I see some common point in the character of twin brothers. I am trying to catch and understand how the elder figure is like.

I could see the heart of brothers and the girl. They like and treasure each other. Their caring hearts are beautiful. Basically, it is comedy, so not always love and romance. It has seriousness sometimes like a spice.

If you have time, give it a try.

Soup curry

I was not a curry eater. I mean, I did not choose to eat curry. I just did not.
Most Japanese like curry, and rare to find who hate curry.

Ever since I became a pregnant, I have started to eat curry regularly.
I was able to eat curry even in morning sickness period. I could not eat most of food, but curry. This is interesting.

The other day, my friend told me that she was engaged. So I took her out for lunch to celebrate.

When we went out was Saturday lunch time, many restaurants were full.

Then we found soup curry restaurant which has seats. This is a kind of famous one, I think.

This is "Chicken and vegetable curry with Nan".

It was very nice and delicious. The Nan was good. This is not Japanese traditional home dish, but soup curry. The name of this restaurant is Buzz curry and cafe.

I liked this kind.

I realized that me not was curry eater, paid for curry.

Amazing!

Morioka Cold Noodle

Do you eat cold noodle in winter?

Yes, I do!

Last Saturday, my husband took me to a Restaurant whose Cold Noodle is very famous.

This Cold Noodle is called "Reimen" （冷麺）in Japanese.
We sometimes go and eat at this restaurant and also enjoy grilled slices of meat.

Last week, the restaurant held "Noodle Festival". It is not an event outside, but they serve noodles and grilled meat dishes cheaper.

This cold noodle which is put in the soup is very “elastic”. This really makes people addicted. Some people are hesitated to eat for the first time, but once they slurp up one line of the noodle they can never forget its elasticity. Then they somehow come to eat Rei-men from time to time.

The soup is so delicious! It is little sweet and you can put KIMCHI to make it spicy. This matches this noodle amazingly.

It has boiled eggs and pear on top. They serve water melon instead of pear in summer.

Fruit in noodle!?

Yeah, believe me, this is exquisite!

I want to share this...

Which browser do you usually use?

I use this browser and RSS reader at my company.

http://shareon.jp/

This is a good stuff and recommend you to try.

This browser has RSS and COMBOO as plug-ins.

This Comboo is a original and interesting part of this browser.

With this software, you can make your original desktop screen.

You can cut a part of web page and put on your screen like widget. It has detail explanation on its homepage.

I actually cut a calender from Yahoo homepage and put on my screen.

You might find some points that need improvement though.

It is still worth trying:)

Mt. Iwate

Morioka- the place I live.

This city is located in northern part of Japan mainland. Morioka is situated in latitude 40 degree north like New York, Paris and Rome.

What I and my husband really like about this city is Mt. Iwate.

This is a picture of the mountain.

Morioka-city is a ordinal country side, from my point of view, but its nature is good.

You can see ditail of Morioka and Iwate prefecture from this following site. http://www.iwatetabi.jp/en/index.php

Though our daughter is too young to climb this high mountain, we want to try someday.

Favorite beverage

What do you drink to make yourself relax? Herb tea? Coffee? Juice?

I drink cocoa to refresh and take a rest.

I sometimes feel exhausted and dizzy due to my work and parenting two-year daughter.

At those time, I take time to have a cup of cocoa.

One day I read a blog introducing how to make cafe mocha at home.

It is very easy and reasonable! Mix instant coffee and cocoa powder and pour hot water. The ratio and amount is at your will.

I like 1:2 and put some milk or cream to make it milder.

Give it a try.