2⽉ - Two Months

Well, another month has passed. That's two down, four to go. Looking back, the second month was a bit easier than the first. Perhaps this is because everything is now familiar, perhaps it's because of the babies on 5E. Although, having said that, I seem to have developed new fear during my second month in Japan: stairs. Japanese stairs are really steep and tall (you saw the ones at Suwa-jinja!) and are made of brick, and I'm afraid that if I fall down them I will break my neck and that will be the end of me. I'm even having dreams on this theme. I look forward to nice English, carpeted staircases.

On a much brighter note, yesterday I got to handle my first human organs! Woo. Sure, they were from a recent autopsy rather than a live patient, but that actually took the pressure off a little and made me less worried about dropping them on my shoes. My friend in the test dept. just kept on handing me body bits, which I prodded for a while until he handed me the next one. I could tell what some of the organs were but some were completely indistinguishable (they had already been 'autopsied' – cut up). I was playing around with one particular piece of dead person and couldn't figure out what it was, so I asked: the patient's rectum-

8-I

-Right. Okay, I'm just gonna put that one down now. Next? I was quite proud of myself for putting my hands in a jar filled with formaldehyde and all the internal organs of a now ex-patient. I hesitated at first, but then thought, 'hey, when is the next time I'm gonna get the chance to do this?' I answered my own question with, 'probably next year when you start medical school' and decided it was too long to wait. “Hand me the gloves,” I said. The organs were actually less scary once I had touched them. After feeling them they just became rubbery bits of meat rather than parts of a human being, and that was easier for my brain to handle.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I have passed my two month marker. Next target: Three Months, aka Half Way.

おみやげ - Omiyage

There is a tradition in Japan that if you go away on a trip somewhere, you are expected to bring back gifts for all of your family, friends and co-workers. This had led to the development of many regional omiyage (souvenirs) which usually come in the form of food. I think this is because food items can be bought cheaply and in bulk. I saw, for instance, many of the Japanese passengers on the flight from Heathrow to Tokyo carrying boxes and boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, presumably for this purpose.

In some of the departments that May and I work in during the course of a week we are given a tea break, and along with ocha we are also offered various omiyage that people have brought back from their domestic travels. We've tried omiyage from Nagoya, Tokyo and a bunch of other places that I now forget. Nagasaki's omiyage is the castella cake, which was originally brought over by the Dutch. It is basically a plain sponge cake, something not all that impressive to a European but to a Japanese person it is quite unusual. When I went to Glover Garden a few weeks ago and they had scores of castella shops lining the sloped streets. Fortunately for May and me, they had plenty of samples on offer of all the different flavours, including chocolate, banana, green tea and cheese. Yum.

Here's the cake that May and I bought from the Fukusaya Castella shop, which is famous in Japan for having the best castella's money can buy. It has been going for nearly 400 years, so I guess they have had plenty of practice. It just happens to be in Hamanomachi, the main shopping district here in Nagasaki. We couldn't resist trying one.

This is a fairly common type of omiyage, a manju. They are cakey on the outside and have a chestnut or sweet soy bean paste or something similar inside. Nagoya is meant to have the best manju, but this I bought from the hospital shop for ¥55.

Happy Halloween

May and I had been seeing posters all over Nagasaki for the past 6 weeks advertising a two-day 'Halloween Carnival' at the Seiyokan, to be held on October 27th and 28th. Naturally, we wanted to see how the Japanese celebrate Halloween so we went to check it out on Saturday. And this was it:

The “carnival” comprised two witches, a candy-floss machine and three games, one of which was a mini golf course with one hole. Hmm.

グラバー - Glover Garden

A few weeks ago May and I ventured down to the southern end of Nagasaki to visit the Glover Garden, named after Thomas Glover (1838-1911), who is famed for building the first train line in Japan and establishing the first modern shipyard. The former homes of some of the other pioneering European residents of Nagasaki have also been reassembled in this hillside garden. Well, that's enough of re-wording my travel guide. It was essentially a pretty garden, interspersed with a collection of European-style houses – not very interesting to a European – some ponds filled with carp, and a great view of the harbour. It was nice and all – pleasant, perhaps is a better word – but not all that interesting to me from a historical perspective, which I think was it's aim.

Oh yeah, Madame Butterfly was there too, see:

There was also a room dedicated to her in one of the houses, which had on display her kimono, elaborate hair pieces, fan and bamboo umbrella. Very pretty. I thought it was a nice touch that they had a recording of Madame Butterfly playing in the background.

Check out these guys:

Now what I want to know is did the sculptor see the turtles sitting like this before he made his turtle statue, or did the turtles see the statue in their pond and say to each other, “hey, you know what would be funny...”

You exit the garden via a museum displaying floats from the Kunchi Matsuri, which are even more magnificent close up. After that you have to go down a little sloped street lined with omiyage (souvenir) shops to get to the main road again. Among the castella's (I'll talk more about those later) and your average Japanese souvenirs (fans, chopsticks, pottery) there was also... Scottish shortbread. And to think, I was going to bring that from England as a gift for my Japanese friends here.

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May spotted some kind of fair from the viewing platform at the top of the garden and it still being early in the day, we decided to go down and take a look after we had finished with Glover. (We were hoping there might be some interesting food opportunities). You'll never guess what it turned out to be... a motorbike rally.

There's a lesson to be learned here: You never know what you might stumble upon while you are out and about in Japan.

Engrish

Here are a few photos of some Engrish I have come across so far in Japan.

This was taking at my local video rental store, You-ing.

"Our fantasy and amusement park, that gives a wonderful smile anda deep impression to you, who have been crazy for cinema, music and good culture"... Hmm. You can see what they're trying to say.

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This I took while I was on the tram (the tram system in Nagasaki being easier/quicker/cheaper than the buses, and therefore all I use to get around).

A man was carrying this bag. You can't see but it has a picture of a puppy on the side of it, which, admittedly, results in it making a little more sense.

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I took this while I was at the Kunchi Matsuri a few weeks ago.

You heard the child, rock and move on!

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This I think is actually pretty clever. Champon is a regional dish here in Nagasaki, consisting of noodles in a rich broth, with seafood, meat and vegetables on top.

Queen would be proud of the Japanese right now.

Suwajinja

I have been unbelievably busy this past week or so. I'm just about getting enough rest, but I have had practically no time to write anything substantial for this blog - sorry. Hopefully, this quick post will keep you all occupied until I find some time to write a real post.

May and I went to Suwajinja Shinto shrine on Saturday. Much to our dismay however, we had to climb the Tallest Set of Stairs in the World (see above) to get to it. This photo wasn't even taken from the bottom, but part way up.

The great ascent was worth it though; The view was amazing.

The shrine itself wasn't half bad either.

And we found an old-fashioned well to play with while we were there. Yay.

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After the shrine we headed to the Fukusaya Castellla Shop, which has been making and selling castella cakes since 1624. We split the cost of the smallest one they did and had it for dessert after our first attempt at home-made okonomiyaki, which I have to say was a remarkable success.

イングランドの デザード – English Desserts

Whenever people here have asked me what English food is like, I have often been stumped for examples. What actually is English food? I try and think about the sort of stuff we eat on a daily basis in England, and most of it isn't English - pasta, curry, pizza etc. I end up naming various desserts, starting with scones because the Japanese seem to like those. And dairy, lots of dairy. Aside from that, I can only think of hot pots and casseroles and things like that, which are all really difficult to explain in Japanese.

Anyway, this has led me to want to a) learn more about true English cuisine, and b) learn how to cook. If for no other reason, I want to return the hospitality I have received here by sharing some of the cuisine from my own country with a few of the people I have met. May and I are therefore arranging for Marikosan (and possibly Namisan) to go over to May's apartment one evening and she will cook a traditional Korean main course for the four of us, while I will make an English dessert. I have decided on Apple Crumble, since that is the easiest thing for me to make with the facilities I have in my room. Plus, it only requires four ingredients, so it will be quite cheap to make even for four people. (I was especially pleased with the 1kg bag of flour I got for ¥105 / £0.45).

Yesterday evening I did a test-run and it went very well considering I don't have a sieve, a set of scales or an oven. I aired the flour as best I could with a fork, measured the ingredients by eye/ using a cup, and cooked it in the microwave/oven thing that I do have in my possession. (I'm not actually entirely sure what it is... it heats things up and turns things brown on top, but It is definitely not a microwave or an oven as I know them). I think I am going to serve the crumble with ice-cream; obtaining custard in Nagasaki would be nothing short of a miracle.