That's Right

Puffer Snacks

Trying foods that we have never eaten before has been one of the fun perks of living in Japan. We recently enjoyed an amazing meal in which we added two new foods to our growing list of novel protein sources. We started off the meal with beautifully prepared fugu sashimi. Now, this is not a snack for the faint of heart, fugu is the Japanese name for puffer fish. The organs (especially the liver) and skin of the cute little fish in highly toxic, like you die for sure if you eat it toxic. In Japan, where this dangerous treat is popular, only specially trained and certified chefs are authorized to prepare it and the waste parts (the poisonous bits) are legally required to be stored in specific lockable bins then burned, not tossed with the rest of the trash.

Plate of puffer fish ready for the soup pot.


We didn't just eat fugu sashimi, but also tried it as a grilled appetizer, pickled, in nabe (soup) and they even served us a hot cup of sake with a pectoral fin floating in it (didn't dig on that dish so much). As an added bonus, the restraunt we dined at also served turtle. We didn't let the cute live turtle hanging out by the bathroom stop our quest for new flavours and we dove into a dish of battered and fried turtle. I can't tell you what part of the turtle we ate exactly, but it had bones in it. Both fugu and turtle were quite tasty and it was fun to try them - although I don't like to think too much about the turtle, for some reason I don't feel as comfortable about eating turtle as I do fish.

The turtle greeter.

So how does one follow up such an exciting and novel meal? With a trip to the batting cage bar of course. We walked to Susukino (the party neighbourhood in Sapporo), ordered a round of beers and stepped up to the plate. It was a fun way to follow up our dinner, and if you look closely at the photo, yes, it was kitty-chan herself pitching to us! I hit her with a line drive.



And as you do in Japan, we closed out the night with a stop at one of the biggest kareoke boxes in Susukino. Another fun night of adventure in Sapporo!

Bashyo Tickets

When I first arrived here, I wasn't sure what to think of sumo. On the surface (and there is a lot of surface...), the sport doesn't appear as fast-paced and action packed as, for argument sake, our good ol' Canadian rock 'em sock 'em hockey. The thought of watching two nearly naked, super-sized men bump bellies wasn't exactly something I would tune into pay per view to see.

After a couple stints in the field watching sumo on tv and hurling rapid-fire questions at one of the students who enjoys the sport, I got to know it a bit better. Like any sport, knowing more about the rules, skill and strategy involved helps viewer enjoyment. I can now say that, kit aside, I am a fan of the sport and enjoy watching it.

The way the sport works, is 2 week long tournaments are held every two months. During a tournament, there are matches all day, every day and all wrestlers fight a different opponent every day. Sponsors put up cash as a prize that goes to the winner of some matches (they actually get handed a fat stack of bills right there at the end of the match!). The money tends to build as the tournament progresses and the record of the wrestlers develops. Here is a link to the Japan sumo association site if you want to read more.

So basically the "good" matches to watch are always the final weekend of the tournament. The crowd is more into it, there is more money at stake and titles are on the line. So, we did our homework, found out where the next tournament will be (next is Osaka, but most are held in Tokyo) and how to get tickets. Turns out that the only way to get tickets is to be here in Japan (there is NO way to buy tickets directly if you are not within Japan). To get the "good" tickets (the final weekend) you have to phone during the pre-sale day and reserve tickets. They of course don't take credit cards so you simply give them your mailing info and they send the tickets to your house by courier, then you pay cash on delivery (this is why you need to be in Japan to pull this all off).

On the pre-sale day a few weeks ago, I sat down with my cell phone and started dialing. As you can imagine, I only got busy signals for 20 solid minutes of redial. And yes, this is the same country where they are developing robot technologies that are intended to take over nursing home care, but you can't buy your sumo tickets online or with a credit card..... The dichotomoy is amazing! When I finally got through, they had no English speaking operators so I bumbled through the reservation with my pathetic Japanese (good thing I know how to say my address and days of the week - too bad that is about all I can manage).

In the end I was sucessful and the tickets were deliverd safely. So.... we will be attending the upcoming sumo bashyo (tournament) in Osaka! And we are excited about it! Stay tuned for an upcoming post with the details of what it is like to hear those bellies slapping live! Now to figure out how to get someone to tivo Japanese tv so we can see ourselves in the crowd.....