Are you as smart as some Japanese 4 year olds? I've known for a while that Japanese kids have to take an entrance exam to get into high school... but what I didn't know is that some "yochiens" (that is, preschools/kindergartens) require an entrance exam as well. That's right. Four and five year olds have to take a test to get into some of these elite yochiens. Here's a sample question from the yochien entrance exam. Can you figure it out? Can you get into an elite Japanese yochien? I couldn't. Post your answers and why in the comment box, and in April I'll post the answer.

Today marks the end of the Valentine's Day cycle here in Japan. That's right, cycle. Valentine's Day in Japan is celebrated quite differently from America. I think I've posted about this phenomenon last year, but I'll post it again. So, here it goes.
February 14th is of course Valentine's Day. That's the same. But that's pretty much where the similarities stop. Unlike the American version where Valentine's Day is mostly a day for couples, the Japanese version uses Valentine's Day as a sort of "Sadie Hawkins" day... that is, the girls pass out chocolates to the guys they like. The guys basically just sit back and see if they get any chocolates that year. However, there's a corollary. A girl might give a chocolate to a guy she doesn't really like. These are called "giri choco" or obligatory chocolates. That is, a Japanese girl may use this occasion to thank a male boss or friend. This of course lends itself to mass confusion. Is this a "giri choco" or the real thing?
This brings me to the whole cycle thing. If a guy receives chocolate on Valentine's Day and they're interested in that girl, they're expected to give chocolate back in return within a month. How does this work with the whole "giri choco" thing thrown in the mix? Well, somehow, assuming they've received chocolate on Valentine's Day, the guys are supposed to be able to know which are "giri" and which are showing interest. And from there, the guys are not only expected to give back to those he has an interest in, but also, to each of the "giri" givers. Oh, so confusing! Today's March 14th (aka White Day), the end of that month time period, thus, ending the cycle.

To whoever "random thoughts" is... wow, $2.53 a gallon for premium huh? That's mighty expensive. So what's the comparison to Japan? Right now, the yen to dollar exchange rate is about 120 yen to the dollar. So that would mean $2.53 a gallon would equate to about 300 yen. Now, if you drive down a road in Hokkaido, and you see a gas station, you'll see the that "hai-oku," or high octane premium gas is marked as costing about 120 yen (basically a dollar) on the price sign. Before you all start thinking about moving to Hokkaido... (or the "land of the never ending winter" as I like to call it), you have to remember that Japan like practically the rest of the world, runs on the metric system. Yes, the cursed metric system not only messes with the 1/4 pounder with cheese (which is called the "double burger" at the McDonalds' in Japan), but it also messes with things of volume.
When the gas price sign says "120" for hai-oku, it means 120 yen a liter. And a liter is pretty much the same as a quart. (And there are 4 quarts to a gallon, hence the name "quart").
So, the grand total comes to about $4 a gallon for premium here in Hokkaido. How people with SUVs here in Hokkaido (and there are a bunch) survive is beyond me.

Thought this was a very good article from Newsweek online. Puts words to my thoughts on this road to an imminent war with Iraq.

Today as I was walking down the 20 degree streets with a 1 liter bottle of Coke in my hand, I remembered how I loved the Vanilla Coke when I went back home 6 months ago. Ben Tao actually introduced me to it when I visited him in Virginia. He was all like, "Oh, oh, you don't know about this stuff do you? You gotta try it!" And that was the beginning. For the remaining 2 weeks, every chance I had, I'd drink Vanilla Coke... or Root Beer (root beer's hard to find in Japan because most Japanese people think it tastes like medicine, so it doesn't sell).
I was so hooked, that when I came back to Japan, I tried making my own Vanilla Coke... ghettofied. Before Vanilla Coke officially came out in a can, you coulda gotten the stuff if you went to a 50s diner with a soda fountain. I'm assuming that all they really did was get regular Coke... and add some of that vanilla Italian Soda syrup, and mix it... stirred not shaken (cuz if you shake Coke, well, I'm sure you can figure it out). Yeah, well, that Italian Soda syrup stuff is hard to come by around these parts (although I just found a place where I can get some!) so I just added vanilla extract to a cup of Coke. Supa ghettofied. Wasn't the same. It was kinda nasty actually... so you kiddies out there reading this... don't try it at home.

I forgot to show this picture to you guys. It's a picture of something I found right outside of the DMV in Hokkaido. Took it right after I got my license. Yes, I took my driving test while it was snowing. And yes, it's now March, and snow and ice still sits on the sidewalks. But besides that, I thought it was incredible that they would even have such a thing right outside of the DMV. I guess it's to scare future drivers into being more careful on the roads. I don't remember seeing anything like that in front of the El Cerrito DMV. The closest thing I can think of is watching a Red Asphalt marathon in drivers' ed.
Oh and Bob, the scallops were real good. Today, I finished em up, using them for Pad Thai. Scallops Pad Thai is pretty good... but the presentation isn't all that great cuz the scallops just stick out like they don't belong there. I mean there's the thin noodles... the thin bean sprouts, the little bits of tofu, and a few other things... and then, BAM there's a few scallop medallions that look crazy huge compared to its surroundings just sittin there.

Here's something I found in the supermarket here. No joke. This shampoo definitely blows herbal essences outta the water.

Today is a bit of a smorgasborg of topics.
I watched the movie The Majestic starring Jim Carrey on DVD. Ok ok ok... so for those of you back home who are like, "The what? Oh that movie from way back when..." you gotta understand that Lord of the Ring 2 just came out a couple of weeks ago in the theaters here in Japan. And by the way, no... I haven't seen the Two Towers yet, so get all your giggles out now.
Thought the movie was good. Had the whole emotional rollercoaster effect... the ups, the downs, and everything in between. Even had the exclamation point of a monologue toward the end... I mean every good movie has to have the dramatic monologue that rights every wrong! A real go-getter, all-American kind of movie.
Along with The Majestic, I rented Run Lola Run. (Guys... guys... I just watched twoooo movies.) After hearing from so many people back home about how Run Lola Run is a good movie... I decided to try it out. For those of you who are familiar with the movie, you all know that it's a German movie. Well, let's just say that that was an unexpected surprise when I popped it in. No biggie right? I mean, I rented it on DVD... I should be able to get the English dub over or the English subtitles right? Well... NO! This is Japan. In Japan, people speak Japanese. Some people try to speak English. And some are pretty good at it. Most people however, well, they try. And so, on the Japanese DVD of Run Lola Run there is no English dub over or subtitles. Just the option for Japanese dub overs and subtitles.
So what does an American (who doesn't quite look like a foreigner in Japan) do with a German movie with Japanese language options? Can't just give up... I mean, I spent money on em. Think of all the starving kids in Africa... actually, I dunno what the connection is between giving up and starving kids in Africa. Somehow, being wasteful always brings up images of starving kids in Africa.
Anyway, I decided to get the Japanese language dub over because I'm Japanese illiterate and can't read the subtitles fast enough. Actually, I should say that I can't read the subtitles without bringing out my electronic dictionary 90% of the time (stupid Chinese characters). But if it's between listening to Japanese and German... I'll take Japanese any day. And I'm happy to say that the rental wasn't a waste of money at all. I understood! I may be an ignorant illiterate foo but at least I understand what people are saying!
On a completely different subject, I just finished the book If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat by John Ortberg. Yes, that is indeed a very long title for a book. As the title suggests, the basis of the book mainly comes from a passage from the Bible, in Matthew 14 where the disciples see Jesus walking on water, Peter (one of the disciples) decides he wants to be where Jesus is on the water, and Peter too walks on water. A great book basically about real faith, what it is, and what it can do. The book itself isn't terribly long (just over 200 pages), it's a pretty quick read because of John Ortberg's great writing style and humor, and has some great lessons to learn from. I'd heartily recommend this book to just about anyone.
And as for the scallops... today, I decided to try em out. I've since learned that scallops as most of us know em... you know the fat, circular things, are really only 1/2 of a scallop. After you peel the shells away (which was an adventure in itself) you'll find that you don't see the medallions just sittin there. There's a whole bunch of other stuff. Other stuff that ain't too appealing to the tastebuds or the eyes for that matter.
And yeah, you can't just peel the shells away (or maybe it's just me). Apparently, the scallops don't like that to much so they kinda resist. After a few minutes of trying to pry em open with my hands I remembered how the local sushi chefs prepared their scallops... by removing the scallop from the shell using a butter knife. Those sushi chefs are smart men.

Tonight, a church member came to my apartment. That in itself isn't groundbreaking news. Calm down now. So, Mrs. Kazumata (the church member) rings the doorbell, I open the door to see what's up.

Mrs. Kazumata: Hi, would you like some scallops?
Hideyo: Huh?!
Mrs. Kazumata: Would you like some scallops? I have some and thought that you might like some.
Hideyo: Yeah sure!
Mrs. Kazumata: Do you have something to put them in?

At this point, I'm thinking... "Ok, it's not everyday you get someone asking if you want scallops... but scallops are pretty good. I guess a tupperware thing should do to hold some scallops." So I grab a tupperware bin thinking that I'm gonna get... well, you know scallops, like the ones you find in seafood platters in Chinese restaurants.

Mrs. Kazumata: That's way too small.
Hideyo: What the?! Too small? Ok.

So I grab a plastic bowl from under my stove. I go down to her car to help out with the scallop transfer. Remember, she shared her scallops with me, so, the portion I got was really something like 1/5 of the total she had. I didn't get to take a picture of her bucket of scallops... but here's what I got.
Yeah, I don't think I've seen any Chinese seafood dishes having something that looked like that. I am definitely in Hokkaido... land of fresh seafood. On a related subject, I went to the supermarket today, and I walked past the fish section... the humongous fish section, and a bunch of the fish were all flapping around on the ice. They were still alive! This was like sashimi to the extreme. Sorry, I didn't get any video footage of the things.
Anyway, so now, I gotta figure out how to make my bowl o' scallops look like the stuff in the Chinese seafood restaurants... and then figure out what to do with em. What an adventure this'll be!

Aww yeeah! Today, I went back to the far distant land of Teine where the DMV is... see my February 17th entry. So, I finally went in to take the actual driving test... and I passed! Can you believe it?! I passed! I PASSED! To fully understand the weight of these words you have to understand how I went into the test today. This test is notorious among foreigners in Japan. I heard all these stories about how lotsa people fail the first time. So, basically, I went into the test today thinking, "Ehh, I'll probably fail so might as well treat this time around as a practice run for the second time." My test proctor speaking "Disgruntled Old Japanese Man-ese" throughout the entire test pretty much enforced what I had heard.
Unlike the driving test in California, there's a special course used for testing behind the DMV. The thing is that the foreigners take a different test from Japanese driving candidates. I have no idea what the Japanese people do on the testing course but the foreigners get to go through a maze of narrow, 90 degree turn roads, S-curves, and a bunch of roadblocks. I was waiting for a John Woo-esque slo-mo car jump.
It felt like one of those driving tests in Gran Turismo (a driving game for the Playstation). Except, if you fail you can't just push the START button and try again. In my case, I'd have to pay another $70 in public transportation costs just to get to the DMV a few days later. Yeah, video games are definitely better than reality in some ways (like the 900+ HP Skyline in Gran Turismo... that thing beats out anything on straight-aways).
So here's my real lineup of driving licenses. The California... the International Driving Permit... and the storied Japanese license. Aww yeah... now it's time to learn how to drift on hard turns... turn, e-brake, down shift... or right on the direction-pad, square and L2... depending on what side of reality you're on.