Simultaneous Interpreting, Skiing and Yakuza 同時通訳とスキーと褒め殺し

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A couple of weeks ago, I interpreted for the first time in a while. I used to do that every day, but not anymore. One of the directors, who's joined the company just recently, doesn't speak Japanese at all and needed someone translating through a two-hour internal meeting simultaneously, so I interpreted for him using a technique called "whispering," a form of simultaneous interpreting.

Buttocks & Pen? しりペン

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

My chubby hubby doing "butt & pen"

This post isn't about "that" type of story, but about "shiri pen," an exercise to help strengthen your back and core. "Shiri pen" literally means "buttocks and pen," but you can of course call it "butt and pen" or "axx and pen." It's very popular now in Japan because of its effectiveness and name.

How to do "shiri pen":

1. Hold a pen.
2. Place it between your buttocks as shown in the above photo.
3. Hold it for eight seconds.

If you want to know more about this exercise, see this. I'm sure you feel your core muscles working!

I learned about it while watching a morning TV show. It was surrealistic to see five or six women wearing sweatpants standing in line in front of a mirror and waiting for the cue from the trainer, "Place the pen between your buttocks!"

It's so weird and funny, but it works!! I did it and felt my inner core muscles. According to Ms. Kujo, the trainer, it's particularly effective to strengthen external anal sphincter muscles and reduce back pain and/or fat around the waist and hips. If you feel something wrong with you back or want to lose belly fat without going to a gym, just do it!

しりペン、もうご存知ですか。私は先週テレビで見るまで全く知りませんでした。（ご存じない方はこちらをどうぞ。）ネーミングがいい！シンプルです！笑えます！

今は洗面所、キッチンにペンを配置。いつでもどこでも「しりペン」できるようにしています。体幹、感じます！

Japanese Sweet - Senbei with Watermelon or Hello Kitty Picture 大江戸松崎 三味胴の煎餅

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Watermelon

First, I want to apologize for these bad pictures. They don't show how cute they are. When realizing my poor ability to take photos, I had already eaten them up...  I once said to one of my nieces, who likes taking photos, that taking good pictures doesn't require any skills, but a camera. I was wrong.....

Anyway, these are, from the top, senbei with watermelon, morning glories and fireworks pictures sold by Oedo Matsuzaki Shamido.

Senbei (煎餅) are traditional Japanese rice crackers. They come in various shapes, sizes and flavors, usually savory, but sometimes sweet. But unlike such traditional senbei, those in these photos are made of flour, sugar and eggs and therefore sweet, tasting more like biscuits. I don't usually buy sweet senbei or biscuits, but bought them because of these pictures. The senbei bakery's website says that senbei craftsmen draw each of them.

Oedo Matsuzaki Shamido sells senbei with pictures of Hello Kitty, too, so its craftsmen can also draw Hello Kitty!

Morning glories

Fireworks

大江戸松崎 三味胴のお煎餅です。普段は甘いお煎餅なんて買わないんですけど、絵が可愛くて買ってしまいました。ただ、写真が下手で｡｡。私が撮りました（泣）｡｡。

親戚に何人も写真好きがおりまして、「写真なんて誰が撮っても一緒でしょ」みたいなことを思っていたのですが、いざ自分が撮ってびっくり！下手です。はまる人の気持ちが理解できるようになりました｡｡。写真好きの方、ごめんなさい🙇｡｡｡

お煎餅のかわいさをお伝えできるているかに自信はありませんが、昔ながらの優しい味です。キティちゃん煎餅も売ってます。

Japanese Sweet - Goldfish Swimming in Jello 源吉兆庵の「金魚」

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Can you see two goldfishes swimming in a green grape jello? I found them at Minamoto Kitchoan in Ginza Matsuya department store.

At home, I was surprised again to find that these goldfishes are made of yokan, thick agar-made Japanese jellos. Red jellos in a grape jello!

I used to make jellos of both types, one made of agar, i.e., seaweed, and the other gelatin, i.e., a mixture of peptide and protein. I loved and still love both.

Many jellos, agar- or gelatin-made or their mixture, are selling in Japan especially in summer. And they are all not only beautiful, but yummy!

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銀座松屋デパートの源吉兆庵で「金魚」を買いました。あんまりかわいいから見とれてしまって｡｡。家に帰って説明書を読んだら、中の金魚が羊羹でできていると知ってまたびっくり。

子供の頃から寒天とかゼリーとか大好きで、自分でも作っていました。味はマスカット味。冷やして食べたらとってもおいしかったです！

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What We See in Fireworks - A Sensitivity To Ephemera 打上花火派？線香花火派？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Tokyo on July 20, 2019

We were walking home when seeing a firework rising between skyscrapers. I googled it and learned that a fireworks event was being held nearby! The festival using state-of-the-art technologies was the third one in Tokyo and had been held in Singapore in 2018.

I couldn't see any use of such technologies, but enjoyed the sound and color of these beautiful flowers against a pitch-black sky.

They were gorgeous, but ephemeral, making me remember a Japanese term, "物の哀れ (mono no aware)" or "a sensitivity to ephemera." 

Local governments used to organize fireworks festivals in summer across Japan and the residents could enjoy them near the venue for free. But recently, municipalities have announced one after another to give up holding such events because of financial difficulties. This high-tech event replaced one such event and ticket prices have soared to as much as JPY120,000 (USD1,200)!!! 

I enjoyed these fireworks, but also like more fragile senko hanabi or incense sparklers. Which do you like better?

夕方、散歩していて驚きました。花火が｡｡。何発も｡｡。あわてて写真撮りました。

調べたら、未来型花火エンターテインメント「STAR ISLAND(スターアイランド) 2019」でした。今年が3回目の、ハイテク技術を駆使した花火大会で、2018年にはシンガポールでも開催されたとのこと。全然知りませんでした。花火もグローバル化なんですね。

「物の哀れ」を感じる機会がますます減る今日この頃。今度、線香花火をやろうと思いました（笑）。

Japanese Sweet for July - Hassaku Orange Japanese Jello 桃林堂の「きすげ羹」

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Kisuge kan made by Torindo

I was just amazed at this transparent cuboid yokan jello with beautiful hassaku orange peels floating in it. I found this at Torindo in the Ginza Matsuya department store. Yokan (羊羹) is a thick, jellied Japanese dessert made of red bean paste, agar and sugar.

Its name is Kisuge kan, meaning hemerocallidoideae yokan jello, but hemerocallidoideae has nothing to do with this hassaku orange yokan jello, but the color.

Torindo is based in Osaka prefecture, selling other types of yokan jellos containing different fruits, such as figs and grapes.

あまりにきれいで買ってしまいました。桃林堂のきすげ羹。中に浮かんでいるのは八朔ピールです。冷やしておいしくいただきました。

桃林堂は大阪八尾市発祥のお店。イチジク羹やブドウ羹も売っています。

A Man Who Loves "THREE" 「3」を愛する男

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

One day, my father asked me how it was going. He was asking about the three men I was dating, referred to by three matchmakers at around the same time. (See "My Exes" for details.) Three months had passed since I had started dating these three men.

Japanese Sweet for July - Jewel on Land 源吉兆庵の「陸乃宝珠」

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

陸之宝珠 Riku no Hoju (jewel on the land) made by Minamoto Kitchoan

I bought this yellow-green Japanese dessert at Minamoto Kitchoan in the Ginza Matsuya department store. Its name is Riku no Hoju (jewel on the land), a fresh Muscat of Alexandria grape wrapped with gyuhi (i.e., soft and thin mochi).

Minamoto Kitchoan, based in Okayama prefecture, was founded in 1947, meaning that it's relatively new compared with more than 100 or even 300 year-old sweets manufacturers in Kyoto. The sense of time of Kyoto people is unique. The most recent war for them is not WW2, but the "Onin no Ran (Onin War from 1467 to 1477)."

Looking at its plastic sample showing the cross-section, I had presumed that all of it, i.e., the skin, flesh and seeds, was made from bean paste or mochi. So, when finding at home that it was a real grape except for the skin made of gyuhi, I felt a bit disappointed, which of course is nobody's fault, but mine...

It had been a long time since I had eaten a Muscat of Alexandria grape. I enjoyed the color, taste and freshness of this jewel!

銀座松屋の源吉兆庵で陸之宝珠を買いました。店頭サンプルの断面図の種がとても精巧で、一体どうやってあんこで作っているか見たかったんです。なので、家で切ってちょっとがっかり。あんこで作った種ではなく、中身は本物のマスカットでした（早とちり｡｡）。でもおいしかったです。

源吉兆庵は1947年創業なので、京都の和菓子店に比べるとまだまだ新参者、という感じでしょうか。先の戦争を「応仁の乱」という方々に、時間の感覚で勝てる人はいないでしょうね（笑）｡

People Never Change..... 人って変わらないのね｡｡｡

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

When I was a kid, I had a bad habit of avoiding going to the bathroom until the last minute. I don’t know why.

One day, on my way home from the kindergarten, I suddenly felt that I'd got to pee and couldn't hold it until I got home. It was the countryside of Japan. I looked for, and found, a bush.

Japanese Sweet for June - Tsuruya Yoshinobu 6月の和菓子 - 鶴屋吉信

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Shooting Star and Peony

The left one is Nagare Boshi (shooting start) and the right one Mizu Botan (peony). I bought them at Tsuruya Yoshinobu in the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store.

Since its establishment in 1803 in Kyoto, Tsuruya Yoshinobu has been offering a variety of wagashi sweets. Shooting Star is smooth red bean paste (koshian) wrapped with green/purple-colored white bean paste with a star on it. Peony is a dumpling of pink-colored smooth white bean paste wrapped with kudzu jelly. Kudzu is Japanese arrowroot often used to make jiggly kuzdu sweets, which I love!

Some say that we should have matcha green tea or green tea when eating wagashi sweets. Wrong! Wagashi goes very well with coffee.

This is the last post about wagashi sweets for June 2019. I can't believe that a half of the year has already gone by!!

Smooth red bean paste & pink-colored smooth red bean paste

今年最後の6月の和菓子を鶴屋𠮷信で買いました。左が「流れ星」、右が「水ぼたん」です。癒されますね。次からは7月の和菓子。もう一年の半分が終わってしまったなんて驚きです！