Kimono

(PICTURE: How could I come to Japan and not learn the crane move from Karate Kid?)

It was only a matter of time before I got to wear a kimono. Despite common thought, Japanese people rarely wear kimonos. Actually, I should correct that. Japanese men rarely wear kimonos. Kensuke told me that he wears a kimono one time a year. I asked my students how how many times they've worn a kimono and the consensus was that they have only worn one twice in their lives. Once when they turned 7 and once when they turned 20, both important milestones for Japanese.

Masumi loves to wear kimonos and actually takes a "kimono wearing class" every week. Basically she and other women get together and practice putting on their kimonos. From what I've been told women's kimonos are much trickier to put on correctly then men's kimonos. Well, after my cooking class at Kensuke and Masumi's house they asked me if I wanted to try on Kensuke's kimono. How could I say no?

Kensuke came downstairs with a very flat box. Inside was his neatly folded kimono.

(PICTURE: The box the kimono is stored in.)

Kensuke took out the kimono and proceeded to help me put it on. There were a number of steps to wearing a kimono properly and I really couldn't recount them now if I tried. I was very impressed though that Kensuke was able to put his kimono on me since he had never dressed anyone before. Imagine having to tie a Windsor knot on someone for the first time...if a Windsor knot had like 20 additional maneuvers to be worn correctly.

(PICTURE: Kensuke practicing on himself in order to get it right on me.)













After Kensuke started to dress me, Masumi wanted to get in on the fun. She quickly ran upstairs and got dressed in one of her kimonos. I think we can all agree, she looks much better in a kimono than I do:

(PICTURE: Me and Masumi wearing kimonos. To top off the Japanese-ness of the moment, we're standing on a Tatami mat.)

If you're keeping score at home, I can now make sashimi and wear a kimono. All I need to do to become fully Japanese is learn to speak the language and develop some sword skills.

The Teacher Becomes The Student (Part II)

(PICTURE: Me cutting mackerel.)

Everything Masumi cooks is delicious. I've been slowly but surely trying to learn her simpler dishes. One of her simplest dishes -- in theory -- is mackerel sashimi.

I asked Masumi to teach me how to make sashimi and of course she agreed. Masumi bought two mackerels and showed me step by step how to cut it.

Step one: Cut off the head by slicing diagonally down from the fins.
Step two: Slice the fish open down the middle and remove the guts.
Step three: Wash out the insides.
Step four: Slice the fish open from just above the spine.
Step five: Flip the fish and repeat step four.
Step six: Peel the skin off the fish.
Step seven: Slice off the small bones that are still in the fish.
Step eight: Slice the fish into little strips.

As I'm typing this I'm starting to realize there are a lot of steps to making sashimi! At the time it was surprisingly easy to make the dish. The hardest part was being careful not to cut myself with the knife which was extremely sharp.

Let me just recap for everyone: I've been in Japan for two months and a half and I'm now basically a sushi chef.

The Teacher Becomes The Student

I love gyoza. Always have, always will. I recently wrote how I ate at the local gyoza master's restaurant. That same day I went to Masumi's parents house and ate her mom's gyoza which put the master to shame. After devouring a handful of gyoza, I made Masumi promise to teach me how to cook this treat for myself. As the greatest ambassador ever to Japan, Masumi made my dream come true with a Saturday night cooking class.

Masumi and I met at the local supermarket at 5pm to get all the ingredients I would need to make gyoza. After getting the stuff Masumi didn't have in her refrigerator, we headed to Masumi's house. Masumi kept telling me that making gyoza was easy but I would disagree. There is a lot of preperation that goes into making gyoza. First, one has to chop all the ingredients. One of the ingredients was Chinese cabbage which looked oddly like an American football.


(PICTURE: Masumi could be the starting QB for the Cleveland Browns the way she can toss a Chinese cabbage.)

After cutting cabbage, leek, Chinese leek and ginger, I added it to minced pork. I started to smoosh the ingredients together when I noticed that Masumi had a skeptical look on her face. I asked what I was doing wrong and she said I wasn't smooshing hard enough. I put some muscle into my smooshing until the pork and veggies were properly mixed together.
(PICTURE: Me smooshing the pork and veggies.)

Next came the hardest part: folding the gyoza. Masumi showed me how to properly fold and made it look so easy. I then tried my first one and the gyoza ended up looking like a pierogi, far from being gyoza shaped. Kensuke, my second teacher, pointed out what I was doing wrong. I wasn't folding the outside of the gyoza back with each pinch. After a little adjustment, my gyoza quickly started to look professional.

(PICTURE: Kensuke giving me some folding tips.)

(PICTURE: My plate of gyoza.)

After shaping all the gyoza it was time to fry them. Masumi showed me how to carefully lay them in a pot with oil and then added water. She placed the top on the frying pan and a couple of minutes later we had 32 delicious gyoza (even the one that looked like a perogi was tasty).

(PICTURE: Gyoza frying time.)

If the gyoza weren't delicious enough, we placed them on top of amazing rice. When I first moved to Asia I couldn't really tell good rice from bad rice. I've now got a great sense of quality rice and the rice we at that night was phenomenal. Masumi told me after I finished my first plate that the rice was grown by her uncle.


(PICTURE: Teach a man to fish/make gyoza and he/you can eat for a lifetime.)

When I had originally told Masumi that we were gonna eat 30 gyoza I think she thought I was crazy. Well, we made 32 and ate all of them. I'm really proud of myself for this newfound skill. All of my family and friends should send Masumi and Kensuke a thank you as I'm sure everyone will one day get to taste my delicious gyoza! Thanks, Masumi and Kensuke!


(PICTURE: 32 gyoza were on this plate at one point.)

Snowman

Here's a funny conversation I had with Masumi and Kensuke.

Kensuke: In the middle of December there is a snow festival in Sapporo.
Ben: What do you do at the festival?
Kensuke: You build big people out of snow.
Ben: Snowmen.
Kensuke: Yes.
Ben: Do you use carrots for the nose?
Masumi: No because Japanese people don't have big noses.

I know my nose is big but is it really as big as a carrot! I went to the Sapporo snow festival website and indeed the snowmen have small noses!

The 6 O'clock Song

Every night when I ride my bike home, a song start to play at 6PM. Katie told me that each small city has its own 6 o'clock song that plays every night.

This is such a little thing but I really like it. I think towns everywhere in the world should have a song that plays at a designated time. It's a nice little reminder that work is over and people should enjoy their families and free time.

Gyoza and Takoyaki

You could probably live in Japan for three years and not try all the different types of food. I've only got three months so I'm trying to cram as much into my stomach as possible. Here's two more types of food that are really common in Japan:
(PICTURE: Gyoza at the "Gyoza Master" restaurant.)

Us Americans (and probably the rest of the world) are familiar with gyoza from Chinese restaurants because well, gyoza is Chinese food. However, gyoza are everywhere in Japan. In fact, I've seen them way more here than I ever did when I visited China. I've always been a gyoza fan and used to boil frozen ones all the time in my apartment in LA. I eat gyoza quite often here and recently went to a "Gyoza Master" -- a cook who specializes in making Gyoza. The gyoza were obviously delicious BUT not as good as the ones Masumi's mother made for me. Masumi has promised to teach me how to make gyoza so perhaps some day a few of you ahoy hanoi fans can email Masumi after trying my gyoza back in the states.


(PICTURE: Takoyaki chefs at a festival.)

The other food to mention now is takoyaki. Takoyaki are frend octopus balls. Yeah, I was as shocked as you are that Octopi have balls.

My Japanese Name

(PICTURE: My Japanese name.)

While I was taking the calligraphy class I had an epiphany, "I should ask the teacher to write my Japanese name." You know, you always hear stories about people getting tattoos that they think mean one thing but really mean something totally different. i.e. A girl gets a "peace" character on her arm which really means "bimbo."

I figured I was in pretty safe hands getting my Japanese name from the 85-year-old school teacher. I told Masumi that I wanted to get the characters for my name and she quickly huddled with all of the volunteers. After a few minutes of everyone figuring out the Konji for Ben-Ja-Min, the teacher started to write my name on a piece of paper. He ended up giving me the paper which is now my coolest souvenir from Japan. So here is what my name translates to in Konji:

First character (the one on top) : Studies
Second character (middle one) : Green Tea
Third character (up, on bottom): Light

I am officially "Studies Green Tea Light." I'm told this is a very good name.