To start the product reviews off, I decided to go with Pocari Sweat. There's a good reason for this which I will go on to explain later.
First though, the product;
Pocari Sweat (ポカリスエット Pokari Suetto) is a Japanese Sports Drink that actually has no sweat in it at all. (I know, terrible marketing). The purpose behind the name "Sweat" is to show what the product intends to supply - all of the electrolytes and nutrients lost when we sweat. It comes in 500ml and 1.5l bottles, Cans and has a powder to be mixed with water.
It is becoming ever easier to obtain pocari sweat in the UK. A few years ago it was an almost impossible task (for me anyway) but now the majority of Asian Supermarkets I have visited stock this beauty. Off the top of my head, if you live in london, Japan Centre on Shaftsbury Ave and Arigato on Brewer St are the best places to go. If you're in Edinburgh, Mathews on Inglis Green Road and Pat Chungs on Leith Walk.
The only way I can describe the taste is a very faint citrus, almost grapefruit like flavoured water. It is not carbonated (Non-fizzy for those that like it simple) and on average in the UK costs around £1 per bottle. Which is around the same as a Lucozade. Pocari sweat has been a life saver for me on many occasions, usually I try to stay away from energy/sports drink but this one is different.
I seem to suffer with a strange light headed-ness when walking around shops. It's a weird, probably lack of energy based issue. It seems that extended hours shopping and walking around shopping centres leaves my head feeling distant, however a bottle of Pocari sweat usually helps dramatically. Hence my reason for posting this as this first review
It is not by any means a miracle drink, but in my personal opinion it does exactly what it says it does.
It tastes nicer and does a better job than it's UK counterparts and doesn't usually cost much more.
So if you haven't tried it yet, get yourself down to a local Asian supermarket and pick yourself a bottle.
Let me just be clear, this is so easy but it
genuinely works. You can not do anything you could do with an Xbox
gold account, you can not buy anything, but you can watch video's and
download any free demo's.
Some of them can be changed to English, but the
majority are Japanese. (I mean how many demo's can you change from
English to Japanese? let's be fair)
Sign up for a free hotmail/live/outlook account
(whatever it is called now)
When you start signing up fill out all the forms
as if you lived in Japan. A lit of Japanese zip codes can be found
here:
http://yubin.senmon.net/en/01/01607/#T
So sign up with a Japanese address, it shouldn't
be hard, find an Area, a street etc, as long as the post code is
fine, you should be good.
Okay done that?
Boot up the xbox. Here's a picture of an xbox,
just for fun.
Once it's up and running, create a new
profile using the details you just created and Voilà! you can access
Japanese Xbox live. As I said you have no privileges at all, but it
is fun and exciting so just play about and enjoy it.
Just make sure you create a new profile so you can
switch between your original xbox stuff and the Japanese one.
Baring in mind I done this 2 years ago, so if this
method doesn't work then please let me know asap and I'll try and
find a new way.
But really it is that easy - Enjoy finding your
way around Japanese Demo's :D
Thanks for reading, I hope this helped a few
people
We're planning on taking Twitter by storm with this. Have you spotted or do you own a Funny/Strange/WTF or just plain awesome picture from something in Japan/Japanese? Tweet us @TurnChapanese
Include the Hashtag: MeanwhileInJapan, We'd love to see them.
We'll start you off with a couple we found online:
<<<< GENIUS!!!
The reason the rest of the world is Obese and the Japanese appear healthy.
Diet Water.
REMEMBER INCLUDE THE HASHTAG: MeanwhileInJapan
TWEET US @TurnChapanese
All the recipe's I write up are tried and tested - they are not my recipes but I have used them and I'm attempting to make them as quick and easy as possible. If I can cook it up, you can probably create an art from it.
So here goes, the first recipe - Chilled Soba Noodles with Tsuyu dipping sauce (perfect for a hot day)
The Ingredients; Soba Noodles Nori Seaweed (Optional) Tsuyu sauce (See down below for more details on this) Wasabi Spring Onions And that's it :)
As far as Equipment, you will need; A saucepan A colander A bowl
and a Small bowl for dipping sauce (I used a Chinese tea cup, but you can use anything that works)
IF YOU HAVE PRE-MADE TSUYU SAUCE - SKIP THIS PART [Tsuyu Sauce - If you have time/patience/money then you can buy Tsuyu sauce online at Japan Centre or If you live near Greenwich, London then you can find it at a local Asian Wholesalers called Duc Tien, it's slightly cheaper there than online. Ask me if you need any more details. If that's all too much for you, then you can always make your own Tsuyu sauce from readily available ingredients. Here's how: 2 Tablespoons Sugar 2 Tablespoons Mirin 150ml soy Sauce 250ml Dashi Stock - Dashi stock can be bought or made by boiling Bonito Flakes in water.
Heat Mirin in a saucepan until it bubbles. Once bubbling, add sugar and stir until the sugar disolves. Add soy sauce and keep stiring until just before boiling point then turn off the heat. Here you can wait a few days for the flavours to infuse or just add dashi stock straight away. Your choice (I recommend buying pre-made if possible)]
Got all that? Good
Let's get cooking
1) Boil some water in a saucepan, once the water is rapidly boiling pop in the Soba noodles. If you arn't sure of the amount of water needed then just make sure there is enough to cover the noodles at all times. Depending on the type of Soda Noodles you have, they should be ready within 4-5 minutes (it will tell you on the packet for more direct instructions)
Stir the noodles a couple of times while cooking.
2) While the noodles are boiling and all you have to do is stir them, we can get started on making the Tsuyu dipping sauce. If you have a pre-made one then make it according to the bottle (often it's 2-4parts water for each part Tsuyu sauce) Essetially you'll need about 2 Tablespoons Tsuyu sauce and 6 tablespoons water (hot or cold. If you have made the one I mentioned above, then this part is done for you :)
3) Once the noodles are ready, drain them in the colander (keep the drained water in a jug/cup or another pot if you want - we can use it later - if not throw it). Make sure to wash your noodles thoroughly as they will contain quite a bit of starch. Rinse them in cold water until the water turns clear when draining. Should only take a few minutes.
4) Chuck the noodles on a plate (Buy a Zaru Bamboo dish if you want to be authentic, sprinkle some Nori seaweed over the noodles and mix a little Wasabi and spring onions into your dipping sauce.
5) Enjoy your meal
That water we saved from earlier can be added to the left over dipping sauce, making a nice little drink to finish off the meal.
Okay guys, I went away for way too long, and now
my obsession with Japan and all things Japanese has hit back, and
this time it's hit hard.
When I first started this blog I had a crazy
obsession, I loved everything Japanese and considered moving there.
Then over time I had other things to think about, I still loved
everything I knew about Japan, but I didn't have the time to think
too much into it. However, it seems now I have been having withdrawal
symptoms and my Asian love affair (My girlfriend won't like me saying
that, so sorry <3) has returned with a vengeance. Now I don't only
want to move there, live there, speak their language and eat their
food, I don't feel like I'm at home anywhere else. Which is
unbearable considering I've never even been. Crazy right?
So here I am again at the blog, trying to channel
my passionate fondling through the medium of words.
Japan fans - Welcome back let's get this show on
the road.
I thought I'd start back with the thing I
loved writing about the most, a segment called "Is This News?"
For those who do not remember, or have never read
any other posts of mine, this segment consists of the craziest things
I've found in the news, or things I can't believe even happened to
begin with, let alone made it outside of Japan;
The first post I found amazed me, as much as I
struggled to call it "talent" (as it's unlawful) it is
absolutely incredible, and I will be brave enough to call it; A
talent.
As you can see, this guy is chasing after a woman
on a bike, with a pair of chopsticks in his hands. Seems legit. Also
seems like something relatively normal.
Anyway watch what happens next:
Yup. That's him pickpocketing a woman using his trusted chopsticks. And some of you guys thought eating with chopsticks was hard.
So I was reading this story on www.weirdasiannews.com and I was thinking 'this is really cool, but what does he plan on stealing with a pair of chopsticks'
Turns out - A phone. And here he is using the phone just minutes after taking it out of the pocket of a woman riding a bike with a pair of chopsticks.
All sounds easy enough, right?
All pictures were taken from weirdasiannews - check them out
As I said, a crime but at the same time a stroke of genius. Talking of intelligent crimes;
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the world of a man named Shota Ishibashi.
Mr Ishibashi is a 25 Year Old, Unemployed, apparently pretty clever family man.
Here's the story - As someone who was unemployed, money must have been pretty tight for Shota Ishibashi, regardless of the money issues he may have been facing he desperately wanted to go and visit his grandmother ( a good 260 miles away from where Shota was). Now before I go on, I want you to think about this for a second, as the person you are now;
You are unemployed, money is a little tight but you want to visit your grandmother 260 miles away, what's the first thing you think to do? Find a way of making some money for a train ticket, maybe sell some possessions if you're that desperate? that's what I would do anyway. Maybe that's because I'm not as clever as young Shota.
Mr Ishibashi walked into a Toyota dealership lied through his teeth and gained the trust of all staff there. Somehow he managed to convince them to allow him to take a $77,000 Lexus for a test drive with no-one in the passenger seat. All Ishibashi was told was "Make sure it's back within 30 minutes"
Anyway 2 hours later the delearship realised something was wrong and called the police. The police used the GPS tracker in the car to locate it, along with Mr Ishibashi about 130 miles away in a supermarket parking lot. Ishibashi was later arrested for theft (which is a shame, up until then it was fantastic)
I do wonder what he would of said to them when he returned from visiting his grandmother?
Still, next time you are a bit low on cash and need to visit someone, pop down to Ford and see what they're offering.
Source: - Itai News
Okay guys, don't lose focus now, this is important part.
We're back, and it feels great to be writing and sharing my love of all things Chapanese (Chinese/Japanese)
Albeit a bit bias towards Japan.
Thanks for your patience and continued support.
You can catch us on twitter - @TurnChapanese or facebook www.facebook.com/turningchapanese
It'd be great to hear from some readers and chat some Japan.
Thanks once again, I'm humbled you chose to read our blog.
See you guys next week with a new blog post (please please please share this one)
The Yamanote line is one of Japan's busiest railway lines. Consisting of 29 stations circling Tokyo, it is used to connect most commuters to both Major and Urban areas of the City.
I have to admit I am personally a fan of Rail lines/Trains etc, especially those Japanese ones.
Although, it's not that I am really a fan, I just love the look of the Japanese trains, and if they had a Japanese train line on any simulator I would play it..
Here's your average train running on the Yamanote Line:
There's something very stylish about these trains, well I think so anyway. I will probably do a post about Japanese Trains at one point, just because their system is amazing.
However this post is slightly less upbeat unfortunatly.
A couple of days ago the words "Jinshin Jiko" echoed around all stations on the Yamanote Line.
Jinshin Jiko literally means "Human Body Accident".
Of course accidents happen all the time, but unfortunately as this is Japan (and the suicide rate is relatively high there) I would assume this is more of a suicide than an accident.
The area of glass that is smashed seems to be just the right height of that of someone who would have jumped a bit.
All thoughts will undoubtedly go out to the mans family (if he had family) but more so I think to the driver. Who came to work the same as he did everyday, but went home to a life that will never be the same again. It's a horrible thing from all angles.
Eye witnesses of the event, took to twitter to post some pictures from the station:
The train lines were up and running again pretty fast as Authorities rushed to remove any evidence of the "Accident" and return the trains to normal service. However after doing a bit of reading online apparently one twitter user stated that "as much as all the evidence is removed, the rush of air pulling into the station brings with it a scent of blood".
It's a real shame, not only that this incident occurred but the sheer number of times it occurs in Japan. It seems that people have become numb to the words Jinshin Jiko. Although the sight of the accident will most likely remain horrific, the words seem to no longer have effect on people.
The reactions started out as tweets expressing the fact that there will be delays on the JR (Japan Railway) line, although once the news about what happened spread the tweets soon change to that of Horror. It just shows that the words alone were not enough.
It's a terrible accident and hopefully theres not too many blog posts like this.
However it's in the news and it deserves to be shared.
Today I thought I'd write a little post about Sumo Wrestling.
Before writing this post I knew absolutely nothing about Sumo, however I have done some researching and as per usual I will write my understanding and you will (hopefully) enjoy it and share it on (hint hint; share it on..)
Before we start an interesting fact, Wrestler in Japanese is "Rikishi"
That might cause a light bulb to go off with a few folk.
The interesting looking guy above is your stereotypical Sumo Wrestler. Sumo wrestlers (would you believe) live a very regimented life, they require a very strict diet and even worse living conditions.
I say living conditions loosely, what I mean by that is how they are expected to live, not necessarily the conditions in which they live.. (It's all a bit confusing right now, but bare with me - I'll explain)
Your typical Sumo would start training at 5am every morning and train for around 2/3 hours. Training would consist of many different exercises and spars (I assume - but I have no plans on becoming a sumo wrestler so I didn't really research how they train)
By the time 8am rolls around (rolls, ha, no pun intended)..
Anyway, by the time 8am rolls around the sumo wrestlers are ready to prepare what is known as Chanko. Chanko is the name given to the foods eaten by Sumo Wrestlers.
Here is an example of Chanko;
Looks pretty appetizing right?
Consider this, Chanko is usually made up of;
Chicken, fish, Beef, Noodles, Rice, Vegetables and a soup broth.
Still not too bad, I agree, however that one bowl you see up there is actually enough to feed two people (roughly, it's a pretty big bowl)
A sumo wrestler would never have just one bowl of that, they would be eating in stupidly large quantities and any left over (which I doubt happens much) will be used as a broth to make more the next day.
So, you think it sounds nice, Imagine eating 3/4 bowls of that for breakfast..
After that I'm guessing the sumo doesn't really do that much, who would?
So the next part of Sumo Wrestling -
To our right we can see what is called a "Dohyo"
You should be able to pronounce that if you
read the last post "Hirigana Lesson" ;)
So the dohyo is... a ring.
A ring made from rice straw bales.. I just get the feeling that there is a little too much rice in japan..
But hey, they work with it, and my god it works well. (That'll be talked about more when I discuss food at a later date)
Anyway I've gone off track the dohyo ring is made from rice straw bales and is roughly 5m in diameter. Usually mounted on a base platform of clay, then covered in sand.
Inside the ring are two white lines, these are called Shikiri-Sen. I believe they are just used to determine the wrestlers starting positions.
Around the outside of the ring is very very fine sand refered to as Snakes eye (ja-no-me). As the sand is so fine it allows the referee to determine whether a wrestler has placed any part of his body outside the ring.
Which leads me on to how it is played.. (is played the right word to use? who knows..)
The idea of Sumo is very simple (as with every sport there are 100's of different rules that I suppose you pick up the more you watch/partake)
You start in your starting positions, which you know are behind the Shikiri-Sen.
The aim is to do one of two things;
Either force your opponent to touch the ground with any part of their body other than the souls of their feet
Or to force your opponent to step out of the ring.
That's it, that's how you partake in sumo.
Of course there is so much more to it, but as far as actually playing a match (again that doesn't sound right, can you play a match of sumo?) It's very simple.
Matches often last only a few seconds, but are then followed by Ritual Ceremonies and the likes.
I have included a video below of some Sumo Wrestling highlights I found on YouTube.
Enjoy it, and I hope you feel you have learned something today. I certainly have.
As always you can follow us on twitter @TurnChapanese
