Hiroko's Hitokoto

Wandering around the bright neon of Susukino, Sapporo City, we found the place we've been longing to go to. Dharma is the place for mutton barbecue. The serious barbecue. You wait outside, standing in the cold, anticipating. As soon people leave, you enter the place. U shaped counter inside of the restaurant, really small with about 12 seats under dim light. 5 grandmas working in the middle of the counter, very efficient. There is the helmet-looking pan with sliced onions already on it, waiting right in front of you, heating. The moment you take your seat, grandmas serve you the meat and the sauce. Yes, the meat: mutton and lamb slices. Sear the meat, rare, dip in the sauce, and eat. Jolt. It's so good you never tasted such tasty mutton. No smell of mutton at all. Juiciness of meat blasts in your mouth. You become a machine of cooking and eating. Makes you think as if you could eat the entire sheep. Ask for another plate of meat to the grandmas. Smoke irritates your eyes, but

Off from work, just wondering the crowded street in Omote sando. I feel distance from everything – people, buildings, streets, trees, stores, etc. Just drifting torrent of people, almost being transparent. Maybe because I don’t have business here at this moment, I’m not attached to the city. Looking around myself, I see many young, fashionable or they think they’re so everywhere. I realized I don’t belong here. Have to get out now before vanish into the crowd….

Received a text message on my mobile from my mother. She had emoji (pictogram) at the end of the message. It was a heart. Made me feel I was having a reverse generation gap with her.

Went to Hagi in Yamaguchi Pref. over the weekend. This town is famous for the pottery called Hagi Yaki. Everywhere you go, you see pottery stores. We bought some cups at a small store, Ikkei Gama, while we're walking toward the down town of old Hagi city. While we were chatting woman at the store, we found out her son made those potteries. She told us that she bought a tea set of Hagi Yaki about 10 years ago, but it's now for sale, as she doesn't use nothing but her son's pottery. She was a lovely woman and I saw her enthusiasm for her son's pottery. It was yearning that she works for what she loves. If you'll have chance to visit Hagi, please stop by their store. http://www.ikkeigama.com/

It looks like the long-term trend of train stations and airports recruiting more restaurants and stores to bring in a larger crowd of visitors is starting to pay off. Shinagawa station opened its ecute location this month, Tokyo station's restaurant mall just celebrated its first anniversary, Haneda airport was the site of the latest upmarket Kihachi restaurant, etc. The stores in greatest demand are those offering something unique. For example, some stores are offering specialties at your local station that you used to have to travel far to obtain. Thanks to the media, such information of "what's good" and "what's famous" is being lapped up by willing consumers. The counterpoint to this story is that while it's very convenient to have such a large range of options when when I travel, in being made available everywhere those same brands and products are starting to lose their appeal. Now I'm starting to wish for the old days, when eating cheap

You see many people wearing "White Band" these days. I think it's a good way to PR those younger generation thru fashion and celebrities posing wearing these, to make them aware that there are lots of people who can't even eat for days and die from starvation. One day, I saw an elementary school student, probably at 3rd or 4th grade at a famous private school (I can tell from his uniform and hat which school he goes to), wearing one. That scene somehow made me puzzled. Does he really understand "poverty"? Did his parents give it to him to wear because everyone has it, or because it's the latest cool item he must wear to school to show to his friends? "White Band" are made well to appeal, not just to public, but to well to do, too. But does it really contribute to donation to those starving people? Not in Japan somehow. The system of "White Band" is not structured to collect money for donation to help those people needs real attention.

At what price people will stop driving cars? We discuss this frequently because the price of gas goes up literally every day. It's not hard to imagine that this situation is hurting many businesses. Take taxis for example. New York's Taxi and Limousine Association recently approved the use of hybrid cars for taxis -- something they'd been resisting previously. Cab drivers can now chose from 6 different kinds of vehicles, including the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape. The Association members number 12,760 taxi drivers. The discussion on how to maintain a vehicle-oriented culture without the gasoline costs has been going on for a while. A survey conducted by CAST (Coalition Advocating for Smart Transportation) in the US shows that 7 out of 10 people are in favor of shifting taxis to low exhaust emission systems and fuels, such as the Prius and Honda Civic. I bet the Detroit-based Big 3 will not be happy about this change, as they are likely to lose a bigger share of the marke

Watching TV the other night, it was about an ruins of ancient city along Silk Road currently positions in north Gobi Desert of China. The track driver forwarding cars and farming equipments drives national road made on Silk Road had a charm of Buddha hanging from rearview mirror. It was a gift from his mother, who walked about 3-4 hours to get it at the temple. He said he'd got more business thanks to the charm, and didn't have such volume when he used to hang a picture of Mao Tse-tung, where is taken by the charm. Thought ironic. Everybody wants to have better life for sure.

Received e-mail message from Masa: says she cooked hamburger steak and left us some at our home. First thing I asked her was where she cooked it. She said at her home. I felt a little better that she didn't cook at our place. Got home, found an object in a blue plastic bag in the frig. I saw a brown thing in a ziplock tupper in the bag. The tupperware was irregularly formed as it probably melted a bit by the heat from the hamburger. She must have put it right in the tupperware after scooping from the pan... Found a memo from her on the dining table. Ink from the green pen she used to write was traced on the surface of the table.... Despite its looks, hamburger steak tasted good. Scraping off the ink from the table, I thought the environments, influences, and the other stuff which form a person works in various ways, although the materials are the same. And it's such a mistery that she's my sister, being what she is....

We went to Ginza on Sat, and had fun old style shopping. We went to Matsuya department store, and they had Geta (Japanese Wooden Clog) summer store on the top floor. I've been looking for the one with Tatami covered and we were just looking around. Then, there you go, a veteran senior lady was there in Kimono, came to help us. Renfield was the first victim. Once he started searching for Hanao (sandal thong) to go with the sole, her comments became more and more severe, as she knows what's cool and what's not with Geta style. Everything he picked was rejected. It was so funny and piquant that she's got such a frank disposition. While he was looking on in blank amazement, a brown hanao that she chose was fixed to Geta sole by a couple of senior men, just to fit to his feet. While guys were working, she gave me one which has a little stain on the sole but perfectly fine to wear, for a discount of almost 45%. She said she couldn't sell it because of defective goods,

Despite the snow we had last Friday, spring is approaching for sure, and so is hay fever season. The weather news media are reporting frequently that the amount of cedar pollen expected this year will be 30 times greater than last year. As a result, you will see quite a lot of people wearing masks and glasses when commuting. For those who are suffering or almost suffering from hay fever, here's a tour you might be interested in: "Cedar Pollen Hey Fever Retreat Tour" -- which is a tour that Kamishihoro Town in Hokkaido is planning. You get to stay 4 nights and 5 days, and the tour comes complete with hot spring visit, medical check at hospital, walks in the woods, hot-air balloon ride, etc. They're still organizing guinea pigs to participate as a trial, but have already received a huge number of applications. As one of the Regional Vitalization Manager Businesses set by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, this tour is initiated by Kamishihoro Town for the