The Japanese hi-tech experience

This is a blog about the everyday technology that we experienced in Japan. You may be asking yourselves why I've posted a photo of toilet then. Well, that is because this is a picture of no ordinary toilet but a hi-tech Japanese toilet. Yes, this baby is a called a "Western" toilet in Japan but unlike the ones over here, it comes with many trimmings. These include a pre-warmed seat, a bidet, a dryer and a noise-canceller (this makes noises like birds singing to drown out the noise of your "business"). These toilets are pretty much everywhere - you can see them in bars, restaurants, department stores and also in people's homes. The toilet experience was a firm favourite of Eric's, who could spend hours happily pressing buttons.

Transport in Japan is very hi-tech. The trains like the Shinkansen or "Bullet" trains not only look super-cool but are some of the fastest in the world, going up to speeds of nearly 190 miles per hour. Even the ordinary metro trains in the city are incredibly efficient. They precision park at the platform so that people can queue beforehand in orderly lines (which they do in Japan). They are known for their punctuality. I've heard that if you want to prove you were late for work because of the train, that you have to get a note from the train station saying the train was late, or else your workplace won't believe you. Eric liked how the Tokyo metro had a screen in each carriage that showed you position of the stairs, escalators and exits of the platform of station you are arriving at. I suppose this kind of efficiency is pretty necessary when you are dealing with the massive numbers of people as you are in Japan. Shinjuku station in Tokyo has 3.6 million people going in and out of it every day!!!

We were impressed with the hi-techness (is this a real word?) of everyday people's homes, like in our friends' Hitoshi and Kanako's home in Osaka. As well as the hi-tech toilets, they had a computerised bath which they could set in the kitchen. Basically they pushed a button when they wanted a bath. The bath would then fill itself to whatever temperature you set it to. To give you a bit of time to get ready, the computer would announce in the kitchen "Your bath will be ready in 5 minutes". Then five minutes later - "Your bath is now ready"!!! No toggling with the hot and cold taps. Just one press of a button and hey presto, you have a perfect bath.

Lastly, I was particularly impressed by their kitchen shelves which were designed for a vertically-challenged person like myself. Our friends thought this was pretty funny that we liked their shelves so much, but see for yourselves in above video and watch in awe!

Our week in Kobe: meeting the family

One the main reasons for choosing to go to Japan this year was to see my family. It had been nearly 9 years since I had seen my family in Japan! Also my grannie (Obaachan) is 88 now and the last couple of years has been in a home. She's very healthy mentally but can't walk because of one her legs and has needed extra care. Anyway, myself and Eric talked about it and it just felt like there was no time like the present, especially if Eric wanted to meet my Obaachan.

So on the Saturday we met my Ojichan (my uncle) and my Obachan (my auntie) and my cousin Nobuo in Kobe. They all live in different areas, some in outer Kobe, one near Osaka and Kyoto, but Kobe is a good middle point between everyone. Then we went to visit Obaachan. Boy, was she excited about our visit! She had a photo of myself and Eric by her bed so she knew what Eric looked like already. She was very keen to show him off to the other people in the home. Not only for his dashing good looks, of course, but also they don't get many Western visitors at the home so she felt extra special! Eric ended up wheeling her around for a while in her wheelchair as she non-chalently exclaimed to whoever passed by - 'these are my visitors from Ireland'! She was totally in her element.

It was lovely to see her and to see her in such good form. The woman has got a lot of oomph! Japan has so many elderly people - as a people they really live a long time. My grannie is the youngest in the room she shares. The oldest person is over 100. Obaachan says it makes for very loud and long conversations as most of them are hard of hearing and they are always having to yell at each other across the room.

Later that evening we met up with my other cousin Muneo, his lovely wife Hisako and their kids Yuusuke (4) and Manami (6). As you can see from the pic above they are super cute.

We had a really nice (and big!) Chinese meal with them all. We opted for Chinese as we had Japanese food for every meal for nearly all 21 days. Not that we were complaining. Anyway, the food was delicious and to Eric's delight, plentiful. It was also nice to see the kids and to play with them a little bit.

The next day my cousin Nobuo brought us up into the hills behind Kobe. It's not unusual to see mountains in Japan. In fact quite the opposite as most of the country is mountainous. Kobe city is particularly nice though, because it has the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. We took a cable car which was great fun. I don't know why there aren't more cable cars in the world. It is such a wonderful way to travel! I reckon I will spearhead a movement to bring more cable cars into being. Where there are hills, there should be cable-cars. It gives you great views, it's scary-fun, what more could a body ask for?

This is a pic of Eric with my cousin, who was an excellent tour guide for the day. Later that evening we met up with his wife Mariko, who had just come back from a business trip to Sweden, and my Ojichan and Obachan for a proper Kobe beef dinner. We have no photos of this for some bizarre reason, probably because we were too hungry and forgot. So was it as good as everyone says it is? Did it live up to the beef hype? Well, Eric reckons it was the best beef he has ever eaten (and this is a guy who has eaten a lot of beef). It was so tender he could cut it with a chopstick. Now that's tender! Anyway, it was a lovely meal. Not only was it great for me to see my family again but it was really wonderful for my family and Eric to finally meet. I think after that Kobe beef dinner it won't be the last they see of him either.

Arriving in Japan: the first few days

So Japan at last. After months of planning, weeks of excitement and a 10 and a half hour flight, we were finally in Japan. We were spending the first two days of our trip in Osaka, where my mother's family are originally from. It's in the Kansai area of Japan, known for it's cheery people and it's good food. It even has it's own dialect called Kansai-ben. As is in many countries, there is a great rivalry between this area (Southern Honshu) and the Kanto region of Japan, where Tokyo is (Northern Honshu). You will often hear people from Kansai comment on how things are better in Kansai. In fact I remember my Mum teaching me the phrase "Kansai is best" (to be accompanied with vigorous fist-waving)!

Our first few days were a bit of blur, mainly because we were crazily jet-lagged which is why we didn't take many pics then. Luckily our Japanese friend Kanako, who lives in Osaka, met up with us on our first day and gave us the run down of the city. We didn't manage to do too much with her as we were like the walking dead but she did get to show us a typical Japanese department store, or 'depato' as they call it. Mainly because of Eric's love of free food. Usually the basement of every Japanese department store is devoted to food. This is where they show off the best produce from around, everything from hot food like tempura (below) to all types of Japanese food to cakes and pastries. And there are a lot of free samples too. Let's just say our Eric was in his element.

The next day we just walked around taking everything in. Osaka is one of the biggest cities in Japan and coming from quiet Berlin, it was noisy, bustling and busy. Above is a photo of Eric on Dotonbori, one of the main streets in city centre Osaka. This is a crazy busy street, full of neon and loud music and hawkers yelling and people, people, people.


We didn't do any shopping, though there was amazing shopping to be done if you were into it. This is a photo of me in front of an Okamura furniture store. No relation I'm afraid, though Eric thought I might get a free chair if I showed my passport. Which I didn't, though the chairs did look very nice.

This is Eric in a guitar shop that had beautiful guitars, just the kind that Eric likes.

This is a photo of me in a noodle restaurant beside our hotel, one of the first of many fine noodle restaurants we went to. This was a typical Japanese restaurant where we sat on the floor on tatami mats. After the meal we just walked around and took in the area. Kanako explained that our hotel was in the traditional entertainment area of Osaka. Basically it was full of hostess bars where businessmen pay to be entertained by women. Apparently, it is strictly drink and conversation (no hanky panky), with the girls pouring you a drink and laughing at your jokes. Kanako explained that it is popular among older business men like her dad who goes quite often. We saw groups of business people, interestingly both men and women, leaving the bars as the hostesses, the older women in kimonos and the younger women in more "sexy" western clothes bowing and waving them off. It was a really interesting look at this side of Japanese nightlife. In my jetlagged state it was also quite surreal! After that we headed to bed as we were heading off to Kobe to see my family the next morning . We spent our last few days in Japan in Osaka as well, so more on it later.

Back from Japan

So we are back from our three-week trip to Japan and just to let you know we had a great time. We have a ton of photos (close to 800!) which we are going to sift through over the next week or two. I'll definitely be posting a number of blogs when we get the photos sorted. In fact, I think that myself and Eric will probably do a few each.

We visited so many interesting places, ate many a delicious meal and did so many cool things that it's hard to know where to start. But if I had to narrow it down, I'd say top of my favourite list would be spending time with my family, staying at the temple at Koya-san, sight-seeing in Kyoto and Tokyo and our time with our friends Kanako and Hitoshi.

It's funny we did so much while we were there but in the end we both agreed we could have stayed even longer. It felt like after three weeks we just got into the swing of our wonderful Japanese adventure. Anyway looking forward to sharing it with you all on the blog. Keep an eye out for posts on Japan, and more!

Happy Birthday Eric

So my first blog from our new apartment. Actually it's my first blog in a long while. I'm afraid our energy in the last month got transferred to all things apartment related. Between the moving out of our old apartment and moving into our new apartment we have been pretty busy. It never ceases to amaze me how much STUFF one accumulates just from living. We definitely have twice as much things than a year ago - including, no surprise, a rake of kitchen equipment (juicer, food processor, the Backmeister). Luckily we had the help of our friends Sylvia and Michael on moving day so it turned out to be relatively pain free.

Anyways, we are now more or less settled in. We still have a few bits and pieces to sort out but it already feels like home. So much so that we decided to have a get together for Eric's 41st birthday. In true Berlin style we had a Sunday brunch. For the uninitiated that means getting together late Sunday morning with a mountain of food and beverages to graze on, as one chats and eats throughout the afternoon. See above pic of the spread we put on. Doesn't Eric look so pleased!

This is a pic of our new sitting room. It's lovely and bright, with two comfy couches. The bedroom is just off this. We chilled out here for the afternoon, with people coming and going, eating and drinking, speaking English and German too!

We also had an official blowing out of the candles, though there were only 5 (4 +1) on the cake this year. I decided to brave making the cake, which I'm glad to say turned out great. After much research and humming and hawing, I decided to go for a Delia Smith recipe, her Ultimate Carrot Cake. And what a cake! It was a big hit, which I was relieved about because I was worried it would be a flop after I forgot to add the baking powder! ( This is true!) Somehow though it turned out wonderful, dark, moist and fruity, and tasted fantastic. It was so good in fact I am pasting the recipe below.

So that was how we celebrated Eric entering his 41st year on this planet, in our new apartment with brunch, cake and friends. I feel so grateful that we have such a nice place to live for the next year and am already looking forward to another year in Berlin. It has been so good to us so far.

Eric's Ultimate 41st Birthday Cake - Guten Appetit!

7 oz (200 g) wholemeal self-raising flour (there is no self-raising flour in Germany but I forgot to add baking powder and it still rose fine - go figure!)
3 level teaspoons mixed spice
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
6 oz (175 g) dark brown soft sugar, sifted
2 large eggs
5 fl oz (150 ml) sunflower oil
grated zest 1 orange
7 oz (200 g) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
4 oz (110 g) sultanas
2 oz (50 g) desiccated coconut
2 oz (50 g) pecan nuts

For the syrup glaze:

juice 1 small orange
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 oz (75 g) dark brown soft sugar

For the topping:

1 x 250 g tub mascarpone
1 x 200g tub fromage frais, 8% fat
1 rounded tablespoon golden caster sugar
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

To serve:

2 oz (50 g) pecan nuts

You will also need 2 x 8 in (20 cm) sandwich tins, 11⁄2 in ( 4 cm) deep, bases lined with baking parchment. I used just one 10 inch cake tin so the cake had no layers and it turned out fine.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C), then turn it down to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) when you have toasted the pecan nuts.

First, place all the pecan nuts on a baking sheet and, using a timer, toast them in the oven for 8 minutes. Now chop one half roughly for the cake and the other more finely, for the topping later. Then don’t forget to turn the oven down to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) for the cake.

To make the cake, whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl with an electric hand whisk for 2-3 minutes, then check that there is no sugar left undissolved. Now sift the flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl, tipping in the bits of bran left in the sieve. Then stir all this in gently, followed by the remaining cake ingredients. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins and bake the cakes on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes. They should be nicely risen, feel firm and springy to the touch when lightly pressed in the centre, and show signs of shrinking away from the sides of the tin. If not, give them another 2-3 minutes and test again.

Meanwhile, make the topping by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Then cover with clingfilm and chill for 1-2 hours, until you are ready to ice the cakes. To make the syrup glaze, whisk together the fruit juices and sugar in another bowl and then, when the cakes come out of the oven, stab them all over with a skewer and quickly spoon the syrup evenly over the hot cakes.

Now leave them to one side to cool in their tins, during which time the syrup will be absorbed. Then, when the cakes are completely cold, remove them from the tins. Spread one-third of the filling over one of the cakes, place the other on top, then cover the top and sides with the remaining icing. Scatter the remaining toasted pecan nuts over the top.

Venice Part II

Eric here. I wanted to post some additional photos from our trip to Venice. I think it is one of the must-see cities due to its abundance of opulent renaissance (and older) art and architecture crammed onto to small islands that are slowly sinking into the Adriatic Sea.

The audacity to build these amazing buildings on what was only a muddy lagoon is impressive to say the least.

You have to remember that Venice has no cars or bicycles, no roads or proper streets. It is all narrow stone pedestrian lanes or water canals. So, you either walk or take the water taxis or water buses or if you have loads of money, a gondola.

Kusi and I really enjoyed a classical music performance we went to in what was an old church. The group consisted of 4 violins, viola, cello, bass and harpsichord. They played mostly the works of native son Antonio Vivaldi including his famous 'Four Seasons'. The group had a flamboyant celloist that made the show. Here is a link to their website where you can have a listen to them - Interpreti Veneziani.

One of the main highlights of Venice is San Marco Piazza. Kusi described the church and piazza in her Blog but it is so impressive, I wanted to show you two more views. One of me standing outside.

And the next one taken from above the piazza in the Bell Tower where I was freezing my butt off.

I have included a photo of one of my favourite pastimes - eating Italian Ice Cream also known as Gelato. Doesn't get much better than this. That's Pistachio in case you are wondering.

We visited a small collection of machines that Leonardo Da Vinci designed. The exhibt wasn't that good as it was billed as "interactive" but wasn't in the least bit. But, they did have some fascinating things including his obsession with trying to figure out how to make man fly.

On our snowy Sunday we took a tour of the famed La Fenice Opera House. Transalated as "The Phoenix", this gorgeous and appropriately named opera house has burnt down and been rebuilt a number of time. We were only allowed to take pictures in the foyer.

It was lovely weekend, a wonderful experience and great to be back in Italy. Next up, Japan!

Anniversary in Venice

This February myself and Eric had our third wedding anniversary and to celebrate we decided to avail of Easyjet's super-cheap flights and go to Venice. Neither myself or Eric had been there before and were very excited. We arrived on a Friday and the weather was fantastic - vivid blue skies and balmy sea air.

We took the vaporetto (water-taxi) to get to our hotel. I must say that it was great to be near the sea again. We were spoiled when we lived in Monkstown and I really miss it in Berlin.

Anyway, back to Venice. What a beautiful and, as one friend called it, 'improbable' city! It is basically a mass of winding narrow alleyways and criss-crossing canals. And the water is really a deep sea-green.

Some of the alleyways are very narrow indeed. It is so easy to get lost in Venice, but then again so easy to get back on track again. We really loved how easy the city was to walk around. However, the bridges are deceptively easy-going. Our second day there my hips and Eric's left calf (!?) felt like we had done a couple of hours on a stair climber. Hardgoing, unless you are Ceci of course! Well actually it just meant that we had to schedule more cappucino stops the rest of our time there. Not so hardgoing I suppose!

On the Saturday we took in all the major sights including the impressive early morning fish market where all the mamas and papas buy their fresh fish. Myself and Eric 'ooohed' and 'aaaahed' our way through the market.

Then it was straight to the Basilica di San Marco. Unfortunately they didn't allow any photos to be taken, though many of the tourists just completely ignored the many signs. I didn't take any as it felt it would be disrespectful to do so (I'm a believer that no means no). Anyway, I don't think the photos would have, or could have done the place justice. The entire ceiling inside was one huge gold mosaic, depicting many scenes from the bible. It was what I imagine the great pyramids to be like, or one of the seven wonders of the world.

This is a picture of the roof of the basilica taken from the top of the nearby belltower. The weather really turned on the Saturday. It as absolutely freezing in the belltower.

Little did we know that this drop in temperature meant snow! Yes, it snowed while we were there (see our pic for proof). Apparently they hardly ever get snow in Venice. The other strange thing was that it was also snowing in Berlin, Dublin and Huntington, all at the same time!

No the snow didn't drive us to McDonalds. We just thought the entrance looked so dinky. I think this photo is hilarious. Don't ask me why I'm making such a weird face here or why the girl behind me inside the place looks so shocked. It's like we are watching Eric do something really strange and disturbing! Don't our faces say "what is that man doing???" That aside, we did actually have some very nice meals in Venice, including the best pizza either us had ever eaten. Anyone who know us knows this is high praise - I mean, we have eaten a lot of pizza in our time! Inspired by a travel dvd of chef Anthony Bourdain that Ben sent us, Eric also tried the Venetian specialty of calves liver and onions, which was surprisingly tasty.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a lovely way to celebrate our three years being married. We would highly recommend it - both visiting Venice and getting married if you were thinking of it.