From the Midwest and Around the World

   This post will mainly be for those who have never studied Japanese (language and/or culture). I apologize to those who have. However, the topic of Japanese bathing customs is always interesting when compared to the typical American bathing experience.    In America, most people choose between a shower and bath. A bath generally with a more leisurely connotation, but they both follow a similar pattern. Person gets into their preferred method, wet themselves down, soap up, and then rinse. However, the traditional Japanese bath is a little different.    I recently was able to experience a traditional Japanese bath in Osaka. This particular one was in a business hotel. First off, there was only one bathing room, so there were different times for men and women to bath. Upon entering the bathing area, there is a small changing room with lockers, hair brushes, and hair driers. Once you take off your clothes, you enter the actual bathing room. A line of stools...

   Hey guys! Sorry I have not been as active recently. I usually post on Weekends and these past few weekends have been pretty busy. I am hoping to do a post later today or tomorrow. So please stay tuned for that! I hope you all have a great day!

   Sorry I haven't posted a long post in a while. I've been feeling sort of "off" this week and had to really struggle to ensure that my schooling was going well. However, last Sunday afternoon, a bunch of people from JCMU and I went to a concert a few train stops over (in Azuchi, Japan). Our Resident Assistant is a music major (who is working on his Masters/Doctorate with Indiana University), and he was part of this concert. Overall, it was a really good concert! The first artist group used traditional Japanese instruments and played two folk songs: "Sakura" and "Red Fireflies" (which I recognized from Indianapolis Children's Choir Choral Festival). Then, there was a group of three flutists. After that, there was a pianist. Then, our RA sang along with the pianist. I think the highlight for me was the soloist who sang "You Raise Me Up." However, I felt bad because we (gaijin) were all sitting in the front and I think she got more ner...

   Yesterday (Saturday), I experienced the cleaning and cooking of a whole squid. Remember last week how I made the flat fish? While I had to do some cleaning on that, the guts had all ready been taken out. With the squid, I had to do it myself! For those who are interested in cleaning their own squid, here is a link that describes what I had to do. The only bad thing is that the ink sac had all ready punctured, so I was not able to save that delicacy. Here are some pictures of the squid before I cleaned it: After cleaning it, I marinated it in soy sauce, ginger, and mirin:   Here is the head in the garbage, saying hello:     Finally, I broiled it in the fish broiler and it was finished! I believe that it was perfectly done and in the near future, I will probably make some more because it was fairly cheap (about $2.38 for one nice-sized squid) and it's tasty protein!