Green Tea

A 29-year-old French man passed the certification exam of Japanese green tea instructor in 2009 and now he is serving tea for visitors in an underground supermarket in downtown Tokyo. He has a lot of knowledge on how to prepare tea, the variety of them.

He liked Japan since he was a kid and studied Japanese art history in college in France. He came to Japan in 2005 and got fascinated by Japanese green tea. He didn't have any Japanese friend well versed in tea, so he read tea guides, bought a variety of teas and resorted trial and error in learning how to prepare tea.

In the past tea ceremony was common all over Japan but we seldom hold one nowadays. It was always the international students that were interested in tea and wanted to learn about it more, like this French guy. He is more knowledgeable than ordinary Japanese. He wishes that more people appreciate the tea culture in Japan. It goes well with any meal and suit people's palates, he says. It sometimes happen that people from overseas finds something good in Japan and let us know its allure.

As an aside...

You can find a bottle of green tea with sugar in it in Singapore! Many of my Japanese friends and I couldn't finish it because it was too sweet. The taste bud is really different from county to country.

Reference:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/frenchman-promoting-japanese-green-tea

Luxury

I went out to a concert of a famous Japanese singers the other day, walking under a bright sunshine, perspiring a lot with my aunt. There were 50000 people waiting in line to buy some goods, to enter the stadium, and even to go to the washroom. I had to line up to do anything. Watching the very very long line of people waiting that almost goes round the stadium, it hit me that those people are really lucky. They don't have to go to a distant well to get water or share little food they can afford like many people do in some countries.

I must be thankful that my basic need is always fulfilled.

Looking at a lot of food displayed in convenience stores makes me wonder where this food all goes after all. They are never going to sell all. The total amount of food produced in the world is more than enough to feed all the population on the planet, therefore, the problem is the distribution, not the food production itself. When thinking in that way, what are we doing, correcting much more food than we can eat from all over the world and just discarding them? I know it is how the capitalism is but...

Going green

New brides and grooms are turning their nuptials green. The minister of the environment and his wife held an environmentally friendly wedding parties and reception. They sent emails to invite guests instead of sending letters in order to cut use of papers, gave soap made from organic ingredients as a thank you-gift, planted a peach tree on the balcony of their new house. The bride wore a dress made of organic cotton that she can wear after the ceremony. They even donated 60000 yen to offset the carbon dioxide emissions estimated to be produced by their nuptials and honeymoon.

Lately more and more people are getting aware the influences their activities will have on the planet and want to do something to decrease or offset it. It signifies this tendency that the guests of the green weddings understood their intention to save the environment.

It is not only effective to reduce green house gas emissions, but also to save money; if the new couple ask their guests how much food they want to have and adjust the food servings at the party, it is likely to be less expensive. Many wedding parties tend to have too much dishes and too much leftovers so it's good that they are going to waste much less food.

Reference: http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/brides-grooms-turn-weddings-into-green-initiatives

After a year

It's been a year since I visited Seattle. All the memories come to my mind and it's hard not to think of it. I did have a great time there. Time flied sort of...the days were long and busy but they seem to have passed so quickly. I'm not going to waste my time wherever I am.

obon holiday

Newsreporters talk about the traffic jam on highways all day long in this summer holiday season. A lot of people travel about all over Japan so it's quite normal, nothing special to feature on, my uncle, working in SDF, says. Japan is such a peaceful country that traffic jam can even be a head news. Because he has been to many foreign countries where the situation is pretty bad, he knows and thinks more about peace and economical development. We also talked about religion, too. It's always interesting to talk with somebody who has travelled around the world and seen many things.

Sadly we were with him only for a day. He and my uncle left Oita early this morning and are going to work from tomorrow. Next time I will see them is probably the new year's holiday. I'm looking forward to it.

Homebuddy

I'm staying in my apartment whole day today. Just went out for shopping.

The walking distance: 500 m, exposure to sunshine: 5 min.

だって暑いんだもん！！