2015-03-21: Blending In. I Don't

Pretty.

I went off grabbing power adapters and such. I worked out how to use the subway all by myself and bought a travel pass. I knew there were rules when using the trains but I couldn't remember them all so I stood off to the side watching people for a bit.

There is the "Ladies Only" carriage, that is marked clearly in English so I won't make that mistake again.

I do hope Yaku means "hacking gross cough"

While watching the goings on a Lady stood behind me. It was a bit uncomfortable and weird. Then she made an exasperated noise and walked off. Turns out I had forgotten they have little lines on the ground for where to queue for the doors of the train. And the train is always right in place, unlike Australia where there is only a rough guess where the door will be. She had seen me standing there and assumed I was on a line.
She'll never trust another foreigner again.

I love these juxtapositions

I think I alienated all the white guys I encountered as well. Almost all of the whites guy that wandered past nodded to me. Afterwards I realised that there aren't so many of us here and that is probably what it was all about. Now I feel as bad as when I kept forgetting to shake hands with everyone in Poland.

My favourite manhole cover so far. Quite common. I call it Sonic Death Monkey. He always makes me happy.

Tourist Checklist: Nagoya Food.

According to http://nagoya-info.com/nagoya-famous-food/ we have to eat these things

1. Miso Katsu (Fried Pork with a local sweet miso based sauce)
2. Tebasaki (Chicken Wings)
3. Ebi Fri / (Deep fried Shrimp)
4. Uirou (Japanese Sweet)
5. Hitsumabushi (BBQ Eel)
6. Miso Nikomi (Boiled miso broth with udon)
7. Oyakodon (Chicken and Egg rice-bowl)
8. Tenmusu (Tempura Shrimp riceball) 

According to http://www.asiarooms.com/en/community/blog/four-nagoya-eateries-youd-crazy-miss/ we have to go to these places:

1. CoCo Ichibanya (Japanese Curry House)
2. Misokatsu Yabaton’s Yaba-cho Honten (Miso Katsu, 1 above)
3. Banzai Wakamizuten (Izakaya, pub with good food)
4. Nagoya Ramen Nagoya (Noodle Soup)

Chicken Wings From A Chicken Man hybrid

Tonight is Tebasaki Night. The Yamachan chain is considered one of the best (Although Conrad claims it is not, so we have to try his favourite too - I love getting opinions!).

Wings, should have got more. Don't know why I ordered anything except wings.

I pretty much screwed up the ordering because my adrenalin was a bit high. So I think we did Miso Katsu as well. I also forgot to take a photo of the menu so I know what I ordered. The dark wings are soft and sticky, they're okay, say a 6. The lighter ones are crispy and very peppery, I like, Ewa like, we give them an 8. The deep fried pork was nice, juicy, crunchy and the sauce isn't as aggressively sweet as I was expecting, 8 as well. The beef and fish things were okay but beside the point.

Salads? I think so. Probably delicate and subtle.

I get the feeling the typical Japanese palate might be more sensitive than mine, I like big flavours. Now when they say "this is very strong" I will filter that through my "yeah but I am an uncultured clod" filter. Except for fish, they like dried fish here and that is way beyond my skills currently.

Rating: 1/ 12 (Just for bonus difficulty points, I am not counting anything from the list not from a place specialising in it)

Cultural Observations: Disasters

The reason for my adrenaline overdose was that as I was wandering up to get the chicken a fire engine came screaming along.
Then another and another. They all pulled up next to the apartment block.
By the time they had all arrived there were 3 blocks of them parked with guys running everywhere. Way too many of them.

These guys had to run the last two blocks. I guess getting there first is a priority for the firefighters to minimise running

Ewa on crutches would be a nightmare to get out and I don't have the language skills to ask someone for help. So I called her to get dressed and headed back to carry her down the stairs like a manly fellow.

I neglected to appreciate the shiny beauty at the time

By the time I got back to the apartment the firemen were packing up though so that was good.
Conrad says that it's not an over reaction because the gas lines are readily ignited and so they apply excessive manpower to the hint of a fire.

Rating: 9/10 (I heartily approve of this)

Not enough salt though

Ewa has a new favourite food I think. Edamame. Boiled immature soybeans in the pod. Most places that sell beer sell (or give away) these. I grabbed some from the 7-11 and even they were acceptable. Which is good as they are probably going to represent a significant percentage of our fruit and veg intake.

Translation Humour: Adult Lotion

At the chemist I saw this brand of lubricant. There are loads of odd choices for brand names which seem to be just random words thrown together but Soft Demands should be a 50 shades of Grey Tie-in.

Rating 6/10 (Probably won't do many of these here as they are just too damn common)