it’s a oddly beautiful day today. I say that because it’s been raining & sunny back and forth all weekend. This morning it got pretty cold though… around 6-7c (mid-low 40′s).

Fall is moving in fast. Maybe faster then then last year when it was like here then gone.

pic is of [...]]]>

it’s a oddly beautiful day today. I say that because it’s been raining & sunny back and forth all weekend. This morning it got pretty cold though… around 6-7c (mid-low 40′s).

Fall is moving in fast. Maybe faster then then last year when it was like here then gone.

pic is of a boat pulling out for work.

~J

Recently I read an article about making Tanpopo Wine (Dandelion) making (hat tip to [...]]]> The ground around Mutsu has been dormant for months as the winter lingered on, but now Spring seems to have broken through and as a result of the recent good weather– dandelions have literally popped up out of the ground.

Recently I read an article about making Tanpopo Wine (Dandelion) making (hat tip to Lexi) and thought how hard could it be to try? To date I’ve made beer twice, attempted grape juice “poison” (which was horrible), apple cider (which has been sitting for at least 1 or 2 months), and now I wanted to make this. The details to making can be found here:

http://georgiapellegrini.com/2011/05/10/recipes/dandelion-wine/

I more or less followed this using my desecration & experience as a guide.

As to the taste of the wine, only time will tell, but in my experience the brewcrafting of teas & wines are related in someways. I mean if you’re going to make mint wine, then I’d wager that you’d have to you make a mint tea first– then add sugar & some other stuff to a brewing vessel– add your brewer’s yeast– wait a week for it to brew the booze part– then another month or two for conditioning and you would have some sort of alcoholic mint type wine.  Thus, the taste of the tea is likely a good guess to what the wine might taste like. So with the left overs I made a tea, added sugar & cinnamon spice, and had a sip.

The taste of dandelions was apparent, but not intrusive. The sugar & cinnamon complimented it, as well as hid the likely bitter taste of the flowers. My best guess based on the tea is that the wine will be a bit bitter like a bitter beer might be– but it’ll have a great spring smell and taste like dandelions. We’ll see I guess.

So next up on the brewer’s schedule is another beer and maybe another cider (like perhaps a fresh squeezed orange juice cider). The beer will be an ale– it’ll likely be very similar to my last two beers, but probably light in color- but heavy in taste. It’ll be a combination of both my last beers’ recipies which I believe will make the perfect balance between flavor (which my first beer had) and carbonation (which my last beer had).

If anyone has an idea for a unique wine or beer recipe for summer, or autumn, I’d like to know about it.

In the meantime,

Cheers!

~J out.

It’s safe to say that the outlying areas of where the earthquake & tsunami hit are getting back to a regular pace. Most grocery stores have meat, vegetables, Milk, and eggs (though slightly at a higher price), People are regularly attending work again (though some never even stopped), and on the whole everything [...]]]>  

It’s safe to say that the outlying areas of where the earthquake & tsunami hit are getting back to a regular pace. Most grocery stores have meat, vegetables, Milk, and eggs (though slightly at a higher price), People are regularly attending work again (though some never even stopped), and on the whole everything is up to about 85%. That said, it is not 100% and there are some things to watch for as we head into the next weeks and months ahead. The primary area of concern is, “what all was in the affected areas?” The image I have is either small coastal towns or farm land and certainly we all watched the tsunami wipe out both.

What I’m getting at is this. Japan isn’t so large that a majority of essential businesses can be replicated all over (as in redundancy) and thus for the whole of Japan to work every region has to be producing equally. However this recent catastrophic event has turned Japan on it’s head with long term problems that plague the nation all through out the year. Here are just a few examples I can see.

Issue 1: With a death toll of over 10,000 people (estimated), and a even greater amount missing, that’s a potentially sizable  portion of the workforce for Tohoku which may have included doctors, workers, or specialists.  Their loss could be felt in a number of different ways.

Issue 2: The Japan Times reports Tohoku coastal-area job losses are estimated to be over 81,500 in total. This isn’t jobs that need to be filled in Tohoku, but jobs that no longer exist anymore due to there being no businesses, factories, or schools to work at anymore. Those displaced workers who survived will need to find jobs in already densely populated areas like Tokyo, Osaka, etc. causing demand for resources to further rise.

Issue 3: If theoretically a demand in resources rise there would have to be an equal supply to meet demand. If the demand is electricity use for say air conditioners & fans to combat Tokyo’s notoriously hot & humid summers, but electricity is in short supply then another issue will be how people will cope and how that will affect the social & economic welfare of the country then.

Issue 4 & others: How people will cope with potential permanent shortages or long term shortages, what industries contributed what to manufacturing that no longer are operational, with plants closed will other companies pick up the slack effectively (i.e. Beer producing plants in Fukushima down- will other plants double production to fill the gap? what additional resources will that take?), The clean up of the affected region, Property rights (Who owns/can buy a property-lot full of debris if the owners are missing or dead?), etc.

There has been a huge out pouring of generosity from the world to Japan and Japan is very thankful for it. What remains yet to be seen is what long term problems will there be (either by the bureaucracy, supply problems, etc.) and how this nation will cope through each one.

However it goes, I remain hopeful for the future of this country

~J

My journeys on the train eventually landed me in the great city of Hiroshima. There I was to meet my lady at the station and what a truly wonderful greeting I got too. In the shining city lights of Hiroshima at the turn styles outside Hiroshima Station was her waiting for a big [...]]]>  

My journeys on the train eventually landed me in the great city of Hiroshima. There I was to meet my lady at the station and what a truly wonderful greeting I got too. In the shining city lights of Hiroshima at the turn styles outside Hiroshima Station was her waiting for a big hug that I promised her upon my arrival.

From there we ate a hardy plate of Hiroshima’s fabulous Okonomiyaki then walked along until we found a Tully’s coffee shop. From there we went to her home in the prefecture over– Shimane. There I spent about 5 days relaxing and enjoying some wonderful company & food.

In that time we also wandered about the prefecture. Shimane is a beautiful prefecture with lush green forests filled with evergreens and bamboo alike. It’s situated on the coast as well with Route 9 that connects most of the major cities along a gorgeous coastal road overlooking the Japan sea. On one of our excursions we went as far as Matsue where we took a ride on a boat around Matsue Castle’s Moat. Ending at a shop that had a micro brewery featuring Pale Ales and Pilsner beers.

It was real good to spend sometime with Lexi especially after all that’s happened up north. After about 5 or so days, however I left to go more further south to Hakata/Fukuoka where I met up with Alex on our loop to the ‘steemy’ Onsen town of Beppu.

More to come…

J out

-Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

My apologies for the long post, but this is an attempt to [...]]]>

“The greatest prayer is patience”

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

-Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

My apologies for the long post, but this is an attempt to set the straight story for all of you who are confused by the mixed messages by the media, by me, or by the Japanese or American governments.

I want to first apologize deeply for not communicating to everyone everything that’s been happening here in Mutsu. My inbox has been on fire with concerned emails from everyone, for which I am eternally grateful for, and the most I’ve been able to send you individually is a message that, “I’m ok.”

The truth is that me and most people here are truly fine. Everyone is being asked to conserve electricity now– all to avoid rolling brown outs and it’s working! We haven’t had a scheduled blackout at all this week. Additionally, supplies of food & fuel from Hokkaido have been arriving here in Mutsu. Some store shelves do continue to be bare, but supplies like milk, meat, & eggs have been in stock lately. For fuel, yesterday a gas station near one of my schools had gas & kerosene and I was able to fill up my car and get 18L of kerosene for my stove.

So as of right now I’m doing good. Food-wise: Last night I ate big bowl of rice & beef stew and this morning I made Irish hash browns with onions & green peppers with toast. I tell you this because the “news” would have you believe otherwise.

Areas like Shimokita are safe and habitable. We’re being asked to save what we can, recycle what we can recycle, donate money if we can donate and to try to stay out of the tsunami evacuated areas. There is a current situation with how Japanese & American military are dealing with the disaster but it is no more then a bit of Japanese culture shock– something everyone experiences here. There is a need for you to show confidence to the Japanese government as they deal with this crisis.

The major problems isn’t supplies or radiation, but the recent foreign sensational media that is complicating all rescue efforts. The foreign population in Japan, like me, are getting mixed messages from the US & other media telling us that it’s not safe and that we need to evacuate –when organizations like the World Health Organization report otherwise:

Quote:

The World Health Organization has said radiation levels outside the evacuation zone in Japan are not harmful for human health. WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl made the remarks at a regular news conference in Geneva on Friday.

The Japanese government issued an advisory on Tuesday to evacuate from a 20-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It also told people living within a 30-kilometer radius to stay indoors.

He said the amount of radiation being reported outside of the evacuation zone continued to be below the levels considered a public health risk.

He said the WHO finds no public health reason to avoid travel to Japan, except to the affected areas, or to recommend that foreign nationals leave the country.

Some countries are encouraging their citizens to leave Japan or are moving their embassies from Tokyo to Osaka.

Referring to an examination of Japanese food imports by some countries, he said he cannot imagine that any food from the quake-damaged areas was able to have been delivered. He said he concludes there is no risk that exported Japanese foods are contaminated with radiation.

Saturday, March 19, 2011 08:04 +0900 (JST)

(Emphasis added was mine)

I ask that you read & listen to reports by credible organizations themselves, like this, rather then watch or listen to the bombardment of misinformation & conspiracy theory coming from news organizations like NBC, CBS, FOX and others. This sensational news is not good journalism-  More then that it is distracting and starting to get the foreign population living here in Japan agitated over having to correct everyone at home from the abundant misinformation.

Turn OFF the T.V. and Trust the Facts for a moment!

Here’s an excellent spread sheet (click on the link) from Aomori’s JET Prefectural Advisor showing the levels of radiation in Aomori. All normal– all within good levels.

As far as Americans evacuating Japan– there is no official evacuation order from the US State Department. This is their official message as of yesterday March 18, 2011. If you read it they say that all evacuation is voluntary (read: by one’s own expense)

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S citizens of the deteriorating situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.  The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recommends that U.S. citizens who live within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant evacuate the area or take shelter indoors if safe evacuation is not practical.  The State Department strongly urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Japan at this time and those in Japan should consider departing…

Note that Mutsu City, where I live, is 308 miles (495km) from Fukushima Prefecture. The Department of State does authorize a voluntary evacuation of government employees

Quote: the State Department has authorized the voluntary departure from Japan of eligible family members of U.S. government personnel

But there’s no recommendation that US Citizens need to leave Japan. Rather the Department of State recommends we focus our attention on warnings by the Japanese government with concern of future aftershocks & tsunamis should they occur. They say,

Due to the continuing possibility of strong aftershocks, Japan remains at risk for further tsunamis.  Japanese authorities have issued a warning for people to stay away from low-lying coastal areas.  If a tsunami alert is issued by Japanese authorities, evacuate immediately to higher ground.  Further information about what you can do if a tsunami occurs can be found at the National Weather Service’s TsunamiReady website, and the International Tsunami Information Center’s website.  Current tsunami alerts can be found at the Japan Meteorological Agency website, and the website of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The U.S. Embassy continues to deploy consular assistance teams where needed; these teams are actively working with our taskforce and local authorities to locate U.S. citizens, visit shelters and assistance centers, and help U.S. citizens identify public and commercial transportation options away from affected areas  U.S. citizens requiring emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of State via e-mail or through the emergency contact numbers below.  U.S. citizens in Japan should contact family and friends in the United States to confirm their well-being at the earliest opportunity.  Where internet and telephone services are not available, it may be possible to contact people using SMS (Cell text message) or other forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

The Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (which I’m a participant of) has this to say from their website:

If you are in the affected areas, take precautionary measures by avoiding low-lying areas and shorelines of rivers and coastal regions for the next 24-48 hours, or more if instructed by local authorities. Follow any safety instructions issued by the local municipalities. If you have not already, try to contact friends and family, supervisor and contracting organisation to let them know whether you are safe or not. Telephone service is affected in many areas, so please keep trying if you cannot get through, use email, texting, Facebook, etc.

So I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope the information is useful when you’re thinking about me or others here in Japan. We all need to Be Prepared! and follow the Scout Oath and Law

• Trustworthy,
• Loyal,
• Helpful,
• Friendly,
• Courteous,
• Kind,
• Obedient,
• Cheerful,
• Thrifty,
• Brave,
• Clean,
• and Reverent.

Again thank you for your concerns and for reading this.

If everyone does the right thing and trusts that it will all be OK– then it will be.

~J out