A sequel to my dearly departed 8-year-old blog, Ä Canuck in Emperor Akihito's Court"(http://haruhiko.blogspot.com). Back home in Canada but still have those ties to Japan after 17 years' residency there.
Still no snow out there and we're approaching the midway point of December. Would like at least a White Christmas or failing that a White Doomsday on the 22nd. The snowsweepers were probably having orgasms last Sunday when they got onto the roads to get rid of some sleet...that's how desperate it is.
Went out to the local walk-in clinic to get that free flu shot with Mom. Not a problem....just fill out a form (since it was our first time there), show the OHIP card and get the needle. We did our due diligence and waited 15 minutes just to make sure that neither of us were going to start convulsing; I felt a bit warm but nowhere near what the average mug of beer does to me. The Star was free today as well; nothing wrong with that....considering that I never got that with the far thinner "The Japan Times" back in Ichikawa.
I'll be out all day tomorrow....rather nice since I now have my work and personal life under the same roof. I'm going down to The Distillery district near Parliament and Front Sts to take a gander at this Christmas Market that's been there for the past few weeks. The event will be closing up shop on Sunday. I'd been hoping that there would be snow by now, but since that won't happen anytime in the next few days, I'm gonna head on down and take some pics. Maybe pick up a fruitcake or if I'm very lucky, a Baum Kuchen. Baum Kuchen is basically a giant iced roll cake that is far more well-known in Japan than in Canada...used to buy the convenience store version a fair bit on the way home from work.
There is a bakery right on the Ginza that I used to see during my strolls on the main street on a Sunday when it was closed off to vehicular traffic that made Baum Kuchen in the display window. Someone had the foresight and the equipment to film it above.
In any case....trailers. I'm off to see "The Hobbit" tomorrow with The Anime Court. But I've already seen a couple of trailers that will be preceding the main feature via the Net. Both movies I will be anticipating with some enthusiasm.
Of course, being a semi-retired Trekkie (i.e. I actually did get a life of sorts), I was keen on seeing what this "Star Trek: Into Darkness" was all about. The 2009 feature was a big success to the movie-viewing public at large, and more polarizing amongst the Trekkies....so I guess J.J. Abrams' take was the anti-"Star Trek V"...but I enjoyed it as being a far happier lark than the funereal final flight of "The Next Generation" crew a decade ago, even though the story of Jim Kirk's fasttrack promotion was hilarious at best. However, the trailer for the next entry with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto looks like it's veering truly into "Dark Knight" darkness. Not sure if Benedict Cumberbatch (any distant relation to Englebert Humperdink?) is playing a souped-up Khan Noonien Singh or Gary Mitchell with a Patrick Stewart fetish, but it appears Abrams will be doing some more sacred cow slaughtering. Considering that this cast is the first "Star Trek" crew that has never come up from television and that most likely they probably won't wanna do 6 films, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the beloved characters get phasered out (et tu, Pavel Andreivich?). There are swan-diving starships but didn't see any space scenes in this trailer. Maybe they've still yet to be fashioned out in post or Abrams is holding his cards close to his chest. Apparently, tomorrow before "The Hobbit", there will be a 9-minute prelude concerning this movie. Just hope that it's not like the thing that came out for "Tron: Legacy" a couple of years ago.
Then, there is "Man of Steel" under Chris Nolan's aegis. Several years back, I'd seen "Superman Returns" with Brandon Routh, and felt underwhelmed although a bit of that nervous rationalization crept in just like when it had when I finished seeing "The Phantom Menace" (that was....kinda good, wasn't it? Well....wasn't it?). It looks like Nolan and Zack Snyder may be taking a few pages out of "The Dark Knight" playbook here as well. Certainly, having Kevin Costner's Jonathan Kent answer of "Maybe" to young Clark's"Should I have let them die?" has got me intrigued. And then there is the poster of Superman being led away in handcuffs with a military squad surrounding him. The marketing folks are working this, people. I also read that the John Williams' theme will not be back, but then again, I think the producers are going for a completely clean break from their predecessors.
Not a huge Tolkien fan, although I did see all of the original trilogy for "Lord of the Rings". Case in point, the only thing that got my blood even remotely racing was reading that Sylvester McCoy (the 7th Doctor Who) was in "The Hobbit".
Yesterday morning, I had my very first ultrasound examination at a nearby clinic on the suggestion of my doctor. Apparently, my urine sample had contained about a few platelets of blood....nothing really to cry about but hey, why take the chance? So, I followed the directions on the green sheet and had nothing for 12 hours before the exam, and then just 45 minutes before it, I drank down 500 ml of water. Mom was warning me that I'd be going through bladder-imposed hell in the minutes before exam time. I was dumbfounded....my bladder was going to cry "Uncle!"just because of half a litre of water? Hardly. I drink 500 ml cans of soda pop....or at least I used to.
The technician kept asking me whether I needed to go pee during the exam but I just kept saying no. The exam itself wasn't bad although it went on for about 30 minutes. As she used my lower regions as her professional Etch-A-Sketch with that scanner, I half-expected the lass to exclaim, "It's a boy!" The whole experience felt like I was being rolfed in slo-mo. In any case, it'll be a week before I find out the results.
This morning, I had my first physical in several years. Yup, I'm probably hearing a lot of "tsk, tsk"right now, but hey, I'm not a huge fan of those. So sue me. But my parents' doctor was pretty cool about it....did all the standard parts of the examination, including the one with the rubber glove (it and I are having cocktails on Friday). Not surprisingly, the doc just told me that I need to lose about 15 kg. Yup, I have gained quite a bit since I got back from Japan...most likely due to the two Ribfests and the biweekly anime-and-foodie outings with The Anime King. Then, Dad and I drove a bit West where a neighbourhood medical centre took care of the X-ray that I'd requested for my left shoulder. Yup, it still aches. I'm hoping that it isn't more serious than tendonitis when the doc finds out in a few days. Still have to give my blood and urine samples tomorrow, so no brekkie for me.
Speaking of The Anime King, I had my all-day with him yesterday. Went over to this place out in the North called Myeongdong, in the same strip mall where that branch of Wild Wings was where we downed a bucket of chicken wings a few weeks earlier.
Apparently, even the Koreans from back home rave about this place, so that was a fine incentive for us to try it out. And this time, it wasn't just The King and I. Another old friend of ours from way back, The Anime Knight, joined us. It's nice to have one more added into the conversational mix.
The menu is actually limited to just a handful of items. Myeongdong specializes in shabu shabu, and two-thirds of the menu was devoted to that. However, we did go for one of the few other a la carte items which were these huge dumplings. I mean, if they were frozen, they would be weapons. Luckily, piping hot, they were simply delicious instead. All that was needed was just a pinch of complementary kimchi and soy sauce, and they were good to go. We also had bowls of noodle soup which were spicy but the dumplings were the winners here.
Afterwards, the three of us went to one of our regular post-meal haunts, the Second Cup on Steeles. I treated for the drinks there. And it was another hour or hour and a half of reminiscing and computer talk.
The Anime Knight went back home afterwards, but The King and I went down into the basement as usual to view the various offerings. We continued with the rebooted "Yamato"saga. I have to say that although the story is along the same lines as the original 1974 presentation, the graphics are entertaining enough to keep me watching. We ran through the 4 episodes that came with his latest shipment, before we viewed the one-hour documentary on the onstage show with cast and crew when the episodes were actually shown at an Osaka movie theatre earlier in the year. Just saw that long line snake down the staircase. Heck, even Isao Sasaki, the singer of the iconic theme song, made a surprise appearance and performance. Probably not a dry eye in the place.
Then, it was an hour of appreciative listening to soundtrack stuff before heading out to a neighbourhood Thai joint for dinner before coming back to watch "Joshiraku"and the latest episode of "Smile Precure". "Joshiraku"is just one seemingly stream-of-consciousness Japanese screwball comedy anime spearheaded by five female rakugo performers that spares no sacred cows in Japan or beyond.
Looks like my plans for the next number of days are taking rapid shape. The big boss at the school has scheduled me for classes on Friday and Monday. August is coming up so there's a possibility that I might get a week's worth of classes since it's vacation time.
My brother's family will be coming by on Saturday night for dinner. Then on Sunday, The Wild Guy's family and I will be heading for Mississauga to meet that old mutual friend of ours for a barbeque in his neck of the woods. I'll have to think about getting some munchies on Saturday.
Tomorrow, I have my first visit to a doctor in several years. I've had a sore shoulder and arm for the past couple of weeks, and of course being anything but an optimist, my mind has already jumped to bone cancer. I'm already starting to think about life without a left arm.
Looks like we're all suffering from a Spring of Our Discontent right now. Toronto is undergoing labour disruption from multiple angles. A wildcat strike by baggage handlers and ground crew at Pearson is making things miserable for passengers, the city's librarians have been locked out for almost a week, inside workers may be going on strike tonight. Plus, City Hall is locked into this transit debate and the NDP Leadership Convention is taking place here for the next couple of days. And by the way, the TTC will be shutting down a major part of the subway this weekend for repairs. A great time to be a journalist in this city....for other people, not so much.
Ahhhh....yes, just 2 hours before I head on out to meet Laura and the family for dinner at Shinobu up on Yonge. my stomach starts to do backflips and I accede to its plaintive wails with at least one trip to the washroom so far. Not sure what the problem is...I think I've been eating plenty of fruits and veg recently. This brings me to the first half of this post's title (yes, it isn't actually the Japanese equivalent of "Rizzoli & Isles".).
Seirogan is the tougher, more pungent Japanese cousin to Eno and Tums. It is an antidiarrheal (oops, guess cat's out of the bag, huh?) kampoyaku (herbal medicine) whose smell has the blast radius of a low-level nuclear dirty bomb. With its most famous ingredient being creosote, Seirogan has the malodorous mix of the worst medicine and fried bacon. But generations have relied on it to resolve any gastrointestinal issues, especially during year-end party season in Japan. Judging by some of the street monjayaki I often saw on the subway platforms, I realized that even Seirogan has limits. Still, my mother was able to bring back a box of the stuff (one of the most recognizable items in the country with its orange box and trumpet logo)...heavily wrapped, of course, so that I could take three of the little black balls. If ever you suffer from the J-version of Montezuma's Revenge while in Tokyo, you can try some of this bottled chemo.
Now, as for Shinobu, I heard from The Wild Guy that this restaurant is one of the better Japanese establishments in Toronto, and it's not too, too far away from home....up on Yonge north of Lawrence. The Toronto Star's Amy Pataki gave a good review on it, so I'm looking forward to the experience since she hints that there is actually some more authentic izakaya fare there. It also serves natto, apparently, but I'm still looking forward to it.
