Himono (Japanese stockfish)

Many Japanese love fishes very much. We have many way for cooking fishes.
Himono is one of a popular fish dish in Japan. Himono means "Stockfish" .

This photo is one of my cooking menu. The dish on the top left called "Aji no Himono", means "Stockfish of Jack mackerel(Horsmakrel)".
May be some Japanese shops or some Japanese restaurants in abroad provide "Aji no Himono", but will be expensive if we get Aji no Himono in there.
But if we made by ourselves, only costs 30 cents to 50 cents. Therefore I make "Aji no Himono" by myself.
It's easy to make. Just get fresh Jack mackerel in the fish market.
remove the insides from a fish, and wash by water gently.
Marinade this in light saltwater for 2 to 4 hours, hang it and dry in half to 1 day (depends seasons).
Grill the fish both sides well, and eat with soy　souce and daikon-oroshi(grated Japanese radish).

Lekker! Yam Yam!

Pokemon Kyaraben (character bento)

This photo is my Pikachu Kyaraben that I made by myself in the Netherlands.

Ingredients:

-Pikachu.
Carrot
Egg
Rice
Nori (seaweed)
Surimi

-Monster ball
Mozzarella
Petit tomato.
Nori (seaweed)

-Others
Broccoli.

What is Kyaraben?
You can see following explanation in wikipedia.

Kyaraben or charaben (キャラ弁), a shortened form of character bento (キャラクター弁当, kyarakutā bentō?), is a style of elaborately arranged bento which features food decorated to look like people, characters from popular media, animals, and plants.Japanese homemakers often spend time devising their families meals including their boxed lunches.
Originally, a decorated bento was intended to interest children in their food and to encourage a wider range of eating habits. It has now evolved to the point where national contests are held.
(From wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyaraben)

Actually Kyaraben was created for Japanese picky kids in the beginning,
but this phenomenon has spread to also adults.
They also enjoy Kyaraben to cook/eat, bring to the office or school today in Japan.

Kyaraben of charaben (キャラ弁), is een verkorte vorm van karakter bentō (キャラクター弁当, kyarakutā bentō). Het is een stijl die veel voor kinderen wordt gebruikt. Het eten lijkt op mensen, populaire tv-karakters (Pokémon bijvoorbeeld), dieren en planten. Deze stijl werd vroeger gebruikt om kinderen beter te laten eten, maar tegenwoordig zijn er grote wedstrijden in.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent%C5%8D

Sanma Teishoku(Japanese lunch set with Pacific saury）

Sanma, is one of a popular seasonal food in autumn in Japan.
Common style is grilled whole, served with daikon oroshi (grated daikon)and soy sauce.
This photo is my Sanma Teishoku in my place.
Teishoku means combination set menu or À la carte in Japanese.

The birth place of Japanese Anime

This is the station of my home town in Tokyo prefecture.
This statue in the station hall is the conductor of Anime "Galaxy Express 999".

My hometown is called "the birth place of Japanese anime" because Toei Animation is locating here.

The first Japanese anime "Hakuja-den(Legend of the White Snake)" was created by Toei Animation on 1958.
Many famous anime artists including Hayao Miyazaki were started from this Toei Animation.

Toei Animation has a museum that called "Toei Animation gallery".
We can study in here about the history of Japanese anime since 1950th.

They are continuing to create many famous anime
(i.e., Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, One piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, etc...)

One of a current Toei works, "Fresh Pretty Cure!".
Huge amount of Japanese little girls are crazy about this anime now in Japan.

This Toei Animation gallery is near my neighbourhood.
Actually my hometown is the hometown of Japanese anime, haha.

We can also watch special tools used for the process of a traditional anime in here.

special camera used for shooting animation frames.

Of course this is traditional process, and now a days most anime are digitalized.
But most graphical frames are drawn by human hands as same as traditional animation.
Actually to paint colors are done by digital today.
But of course basic and important parts, or most part of inbetween animation are done by human hand.
For more details of anime making procedure, refer this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_animation#Digital_ink_and_paint

Average 3000 to 6000 frames are needed to create 30 minutes Japanese anime.
This means almost over 3000 graphics are drawn by human hands even though today.
Moreover all were painted by human hands before digitalized!
(We called this each human hand painted anime frames "Seru-Ga (Cel)"

I wish you to recognize that making anime is very hard work.
Unfortunately many people says "we can watch anime by free on internet".
But all anime are created by a lot of anime industry workers with their efforts.

Anime is a great art creation, and to create Manga is also very hard work.
I feel unhappy when some people think about anime or manga as like a temporary trend consumables.
I wish if you could appreciate for efforts of anime creators when you watch anime.

I am in Japan now!

My photo of Oirase Keiryu, Aomori Japan

I was born and brought up in Tokyo, Japan.
I moved to the Netherlands on 2002.
Now I and my husband are visiting Japan, and have been staying my mother's place in Tokyo.
My last visit to Japan was 4 years ago.
Japanese trends were changed a lot.
Everybody from younger to older are checking Keitai(mobile phone)in the train.
Too many great electronic products and shops on everywhere in city areas.

Of course, foods are very very tasty in Japan.
I enjoy to go for eating or eating my mother's meals on every day.

We traveled Tohoku (north Japan area) on last week.
It's very beautiful season to watch KouYou(red colored leaves)
This is beautifully interesting a natural　phenomenon in Japan that some leaves are getting red in autumn season.

We hiked Oirase-Keiryu(Oirase stream), Aomori, Japan on 26th Oct.
Enjoy some photos from our travel!



Yeah, dinner in Ryokan(Japanese hotel) where we stayed was also nice!