Rocking in Hakata

Ah, peanut butter. That amazing American condiment / food. One of few peanut related things not invented by George Washington Carver, it has given delectable sustenance to countless people. According to some fans, it’s even a staple in 75% of American homes. And it does indeed exist in Japan – it just might not look the same. Or spread the same. Or taste the same. Or even be called by the same name. But it’s here. And I’ll introduce you to its more common varieties.

I went to my local grocery store and picked up the common Japanese peanut butter-ish products. You can see them in the photo above. Clockwise around the plate from bottom left: ピーナッツホイップ (Peanuts Whip), ピーナッツソフト (Peanuts Soft), Skippy (American-style Peanut Butter*), ピーナッツクリーム (Peanuts Cream), and ピーナッツランチパック (Peanuts Lunch Pack). I’ve done a video review of these products available both on this page and on YouTube. (First video! Go me!) * – American-style IS available in Japanese brands, too! Have no fear!

You can see a closeup of the 4 spreads below. The color differences are interesting, and they actually do reflect the depth of taste in each product, in my opinion. If you’ve ever tried these peanutty wonders, feel free to comment below. Do you agree with my review? Vehemently disagree? Let me know!

Needless to say, the American-style Skippy is my favorite. (But don’t think I’m just a shill for Skippy. I’d take JIF, Peter Pan, or generic American-style PB. Just not Reese’s – the stuff is meant to be in candy, not sandwiches.) Yum! In a pinch, I’d go with the Peanut Soft. This might be because my first experience with Japanese peanut spreads was with Peanut Soft. My poor host mom watched me as I tried to gleefully consume a peanut butter sandwich after discovering that the peanut butter…wasn’t. Ha ha. Once I got used to it I just kept on going with it. It’s not that bad, really.

If you’re one of those folks who really likes to get into the spirit of foods you love, you might enjoy making your own peanut butter. And to that end, I’ve embedded another video here. That’s right, it’s a peanut butter bonus round!

The clip above is from Season 11, Episode 9 of Good Eats, titled “Peanut Gallery.” It features host Alton Brown, one of my TV heroes, making his super-simple recipe for homemade peanut butter.

This post is my entry for the February 2009 Japan Blog Matsuri. The theme is Foreign Food. Thanks for reading! Subscribe to my RSS feed if you liked it, and consider hitting one of the social buttons, too!

Deas Culinary, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, Media, Photos, RIH Entries, Unsolicited Commentary, Video

***

Ok, folks. So now I’m an Open Water Diver with a mere 9 dives under my belt. These pictures were taken with crappy disposable underwater cameras, so forgive the lousy quality – I’ve cleaned them up as best as I could. Anyway, I’m looking for my next dive, hopefully in Japan. My question to you is, do you have a suggestion for where should I go next? I hit the Dive Japan website for some starter clues. But I thought I’d throw out this question for my readers too – especially for any fellow divers. Word of mouth always trumps websites in my opinion.

The principal at my base school told me that his friends who were fond of diving really enjoyed their time at Kochi Prefecture’s Paradi dive center. Kochi and Ehime share a border, so I’m really darn close. That makes it an attractive option. The website also makes it seem like an ideal spot for a quick long weekend type trip – maybe 2 or 3 days for about 6 dives.

Should I finally go all the way out to the Ogasawara Islands? (I once mentioned these islands ages ago in passing as a potential whale watching destination.) They’re extremely isolated – and yet they’re technically part of Tokyo. The idea of a place you can only get to via a 30 hour long ferry ride is appealing in and of itself for some reason…

Okinawa is probably the most obvious option – it features the mysterious underwater Yonaguni Monument or Yonaguni Ruins, which were originally brought to my attention with a great video that Ryan aka “freedomwv” submitted to JapanSoc. I don’t really think it’s Lemuria or anything, but hey – how cool would it be to see those big geometric shapes underwater? Or, elsewhere in Okinawa, if I didn’t wimp out, I hear I can see loads of hammerheads…

So, what do you think? Do you know of any other dive spots I should consider? I’ve heard people say that the Izu Peninsula has some neat spots. Anyway, I’ve got some time to look into it. It’s still too cold to dive in anything but a drysuit. I’ll wait for 5mm weather.

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Trips

This post is basically a guide, aiming to help you decipher your school’s whiteboard(s). At all of my high schools, there is a whiteboard (ok – at one it is a blackboard, cause they kick it old school) with just about every piece of information you could possibly want to know written on it. It pays to learn how to read this magnificent map of minutia, because sometimes people forget to give you a personal heads-up about what is going on. This is especially true if you speak Japanese and it’s known around the teacher’s room.

The first step in decoding this thing is to cut it into bite-size pieces. I’ve segmented the whiteboard of my base school as an example. It splits roughly into about 9 sections. We’ll tackle each section individually. Continue reading for a whiteboard Rosetta Stone guide. Obviously, you’ll likely encounter a totally different layout in your situation, but it helps to deconstruct one with help before trying it on your own. Read more…

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語

Awww…it’s Batman and the Joker from The Dark Knight, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and V from V for Vendetta as BE@RBRICKs. What’s a bearbrick? It’s kind of like what you could expect if you did a genetic Punnet square using a Lego man and a teddy bear. Oh, and then you attach a cell phone strap to the head, so you can use it as a charm. Cute? Hmmm…

Apparently you can collect bearbricks from 12 different franchises. There are 2 collectible bearbrick characters for both The Dark Knight and Superman Returns. Then there are single bearbricks available for The Matrix, V for Vendetta, The O.C., 300, Enter the Dragon, A.I., Happy Feet, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I only got my hands on these 4 from buying lunches with a soft drink at the supermarket over the last few weeks. They’re attached to Pepsi products, it seems. I must admit to being a bit curious about how similar the Willy Wonka character might be to the Joker…ha ha ha…come on, admit it – there are a few similarities; panache, purple and green clothing, pale face, a creepy grin…

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos

This is part 2 of 2. The following pictures continue my two week long adventures scuba diving in the Philippines. Look for a video post next week at some point, along with a recap post, and possibly a diving related post. But for now, let’s get to the pictures!

Side notes: yes we went to the Bohol Bee Farm twice (got rained out on the tour the first time), the ketchup is made of bananas and is sickly sweet, those are blacktip reef sharks in the ponds at the Maribago Bluewater Resort, and I only took the last 3 pictures to tell the time by timestamp since I didn’t have a watch. Yay! Also, as long as the 2 picture posts are on the same page, you should theoretically be able to see all 103 pictures in the same set – just click on the thumbnails and go to town.

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Trips

You’ve seen the pictures from the Matsuyama Chuo HS Summer Camp, but now you can see the sights and hear the sounds from the 2008 Nametoko One World English Camp and the Junior High / Senior High School Camps. This year was another success. If everything works out, I’ll be at the upcoming 2009 Nametoko English Camps, too. If you’re interested in volunteering for it, you should contact me, and I’ll pass the word along to the appropriate folks. It’s a crazy 9 day long adventure. Now – on to the pictures!

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Video