DearScotty

You may remember last summer’s soda sensation Pepsi Ice Cucumber, well, this year Japan has moved away from the chilled pickles and have brought us Blue Hawaii.

Blue Hawaii would seem like an awesome fruity drink, but sadly, it leaves a lot to be desired.  But, it smells great!   As you twist the lid off, the fizz turns into the sound of your local ice cream trunk coming around the corner.  You sense that this will taste similar to a snow cone.  How wrong your senses are.  It tastes a bit like a balloon with a little kick of fruity wax.  All you end up having is a blue tongue.
Bummer.

PS
I just got to watch an English teacher attempting to record a listening quiz by speaking directly into the stereo speaker.

I’m no longer wearing sweaters or jackets but the downside to that is having to iron clothes. I used to be able to hide my wrinkled clothing under a nice sweater or jacket but not any longer. It’s just the price one has to pay for nice weather. A couple weeks back Theresa and I took a little trip to a really nice town with a famous reclining buddha. It really was a gorgeous area and it happened to only be a 5 minute train ride from my house.

After we enjoyed the sites of this spiritual village we went into the city for the annual Dontaku Festival. The parade basically consisted of old ladies in traditional wear dancing in the street along to blaring music vibrating out of tin can like speakers. For one of the biggest events in Fukuoka it was quite dull as evidenced by this father/son bonding.

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March 31, 2008 marks a special date in Fukuoka history. I was going to post our Okinawa trip report but that’ll have to wait as there are more important things to share. Today, Fukuoka welcomed a new American food chain to their downtown. Prior to this date, the only foreign fast food options around town were McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and KFC. But things are a changing! Now we have a Subway! Theresa and I decided to partake in the grand opening and made our way to the city this evening for some fresh yummy sandwiches. The only other times we’ve had Subway in Japan were when we visited Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. Now, Fukuoka is almost like a real city!

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It’s been a while since I’ve complained about the school lunch. I’m sure part of it is because I’ve gotten used to most of it but, more importantly, I believe they’ve just stopped making really bad food all together. Well, today they broke their streak of providing decent meals for lunch. Today’s main dish was bird’s nest. I approached my plate with caution as I tried to discern what brown jumbled mess lay before me. I sat down and studied the gunk piling high. It looked like twigs, pine, laundry dryer lint, and other odd things you’d find in a bird’s nest, yet it was darker as if the nest was soaked in black ink. Truly baffled, I asked the secretary next to me what this dish was. She said it was black sea grass and tarp with processed fish. I responded with, “It’s not very pretty is it?” She gave her usual response when asked about odd food dishes and said, “No, it’s not pretty, but it’s healthy.” As she was finishing up her sentence the vice principal entered and dumped his bird nest into the trash. I asked him whether or not he liked the dish. He said, “Diet, I’m on a diet” then proceeded to slap his belly. Immediately I told the secretary, “Guess he doesn’t know it’s healthy.”

I went out for sushi last week and decided to be biter and toss my camera onto the sushi belt express. Prepare for utter sushi awesomeness:

The little girl ratted me out to the chef. Ruined the whole thing. I’ll try again because I really wanted to catch a glimpse of the back kitchen area. The trouble is I don’t really like sushi, so it’ll be awhile until I get another stab at it.

KitKat has unleashed three new flavors in roughly a month! Not only do we have melon, peach, and cherry KitKats, but now there’s kiwi, pinneapple and orange! Also, in the fun size, they’ve released banana to the existing blueberry and lemon funsize lines. If you’re having a fruit overload, don’t worry. Just take a break with a green tea or white chocolate KitKat. Kid’s stuff you say? Then have a glamorous brandy and orange kitkat or a strawberry and nuts. KitKats are serious business in Japan considering the pinneapples were nearly a buck fifty.

I will be bringing an assortment of KitKats home for souvenirs. Odds are they’ll be gooey and stuck to the wrappers from overheating in the luggage. But, I’m sure they’ll taste the same!

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I can’t wait for Taco Bell Taquitos! I just saw a commercial for heaven wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla and now I’m a starvin’ Marvin. The only reason for coming back home in August is for the Crunch Wrap Supreme and Chicken Taquitos!!! (No offence to my loved ones) [Ok. That is all folks]

It’s summer time! How do you cool down to beat the heat? Does a large class of refreshing Ice-T, or maybe a nice juicy red watermelon hit the spot? Well, if you’re like the Japanese and love to cool down with a long thick cucumber then Pepsi has the summer drink sensation for you! What better way to “chill out” then with an Ice Cucumber beverage!

Sadly, if you were hoping a fresh bucket of cucumber juice were to splash on your face as you gulped down your first chug of Ice Cucumber, then you’d be heartbroken. Pepsi’s Ice Cucumber is more like Crystal Pepsi with green food coloring. Although, I was able to detect something minty. The mint was probably intended to cool you down. So far, the best Pepsi I’ve had in Japan was Pepsi Gold. It came out around Christmas time and had a bit of a ginger bread flavor, kind of cinnamon like.

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I helped teach four classes in a row and hadn’t eaten anything all day. I was starving. You could imagine the joy I felt when it appeared we were having fried shrimp for lunch. They can’t mess that up? Could they? Not exactly, no. On closer inspection we were having battered fish. Well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. I do like fish sticks back home. I took a bite and waited to taste something weird, but that didn’t quite happen. I assumed from the first bite it was safe to eat. As I brought the fish in for another bite I dropped the fishy on the plate. I was eating pregnant fish. I’ve heard about this before but never tried it. It was loaded with tiny white eggs. I manned up and finished the first one. It didn’t taste so bad, it was more of the idea that made it difficult to eat. I was about to try the second one when I noticed it’s eyeball. Apparently, the batter doesn’t stick well to the eye sockets. That was it; I couldn’t eat the rest of my meal. I normally eat the cigarette ash noodle things (cognac) but couldn’t stomach it today. Kyuushoku defeated me today. You bastards don’t know how lucky you are to have Taco Bell’s Crunch Wrap Supreme and Carl’s Jr’s Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

Having used up the last of the Kleenex, I made a special trip to the grocery store for some good old TP. I guess this is my chance to tell you about Super Daiei! It must be one of the worst grocery stores in Japan. It’s a florescent oasis of bad deals and limited selection. While listening to a radio blast this week’s specials, you can buy a few chopped up pineapple hunks for three bucks, or a package of wilted strawberries for ten. If you’re also in the summer fruit mood you can buy cantaloupes for twenty dollars (have been around 40 dollars at other stores). We also have apples for nearly 2 bucks a pop and that, well, completes the fruit section at my store. Anyways, I needed toilet paper but the only option is a 24 pack tower of toilet paper. It’s very huge and isn’t something you want to be seen holding while trying to keep your balance on your bicycle. Also just purchasing it without other items makes you feel a bit strange and I didn’t want to have to pretend to anyone that I was merely purchasing this mass of tp so I could use the brown tubes for a science project.

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