As you might know, I have decided to stay in Japan for another year. Busy as my life is, I love it here, I love my Hiroshima city flat and my Miyajima holy island job, and I love love love Japanese food, especially when combined between my two bases.
On Tuesday I was going to Miyajima Yochien (nursery school) to chat about the next lesson. While there, the groundskeeper came with a huge bucket (I am talking 10 liters) full of brown seaweed. Well, this is Japan, and seaweed is totally edible and delicious (I am sure it is delicious elsewhere too, but you know, the power of the other, the social self, personal identity, yada yada). This particular seaweed named wakame is particularly popular and ubiquitous in Japanese cuisine.
It is usually bought dry, and I had never seen it in its straight-from-sea state. I was also a little apprehensive about the quality of the stuff, as it came from the ferry port in Miyajima, not necessarily the cleanest place under the sea... Nonetheless, I took my huge 1 L share home, kept about one "leaf" for myself and gave the rest to my landlady.
My landlords are a lovely couple in their late 60s who live in the same building as me. Their oldest son, his wife and their two primary school age children live with them, and this being Japan, the son and his wife, who are both teachers, only get home from work pretty late. I mean, I have a 2 and a half hour commute a day and I get home way earlier!
Anyways, I go upstairs and start cooking my own little bit of wakame. First you cut up the huge "leaf" (think curly lettuce times three) and wash it well:
Then you boil it. For energy saving reasons I put the wakame in the cold water, but apparently if you add it to boiling water it turns bright green immediately. It still happened pretty quickly:

Another rinse (still pretty paranoid about oily dirty ferry debris) and lo! Green nutritious prettiness!

Add to delicious udon noodles. The end.

Or so I thought, but just as I was about to tuck into my dinner the doorbell rang, and lo twice! In a matter of less than an hour, my landlady had cooked up a feast and came up offering me a share of the deliciousness!!!

And I apologise the multiple exclamation marks but if you can't use it for free, unexpected, homecooked food, when can you? (And I know the answer to that is never, but bear with me.) Pickled root veggies, raw fish and wakame:
The obligatory white rice, symbol of JAPAN (and wonderful with pickles and miso):

And here is the miso, one of my favourite foods full stop. This one with onion, carrot, fried tofu, and wakame. But of course I had already cooked my dinner. How was I going to handle this challenge?

Not a problem. At all. The end.
Or it would have been, but I returned the washed bowls with a few Danish handmade hard candies, and I got ANOTHER homemade treat in return, including a pretty calligraphied note explaining that sakuramochi (cherry blossom rice cake, a staple of spring) is eaten with the cherry leaf. As if I needed explaining! I love these things! I eat them at unseasonal times, all year round. But I've never had them homemade before. And man they were delicious. The end.

And as if I needed more reasons to remind me of the awesomeness of Japan, here is what I found in the supermarket for 298 yen. The awesomest, cutest plastic bottle keeper.

And yes, the cute panda in the background is of course from 100 yen heaven Daiso, and of course serves a purpose. This one cleans my laptop. The end.
Or it would be, but lo, oh lo thrice, four and five times, for this is the most wonderful wonder of it all:
I know I have been rubbish with the SMAP for a long time,
but no more. For this miracle will grace my computerscreen this Monday eve, and how can I NOT write and screencap this to death?
Food, cute and cheap things, crazy Scientology man and SMAP. Like, all favourite obsessions in less than a week. Throw in beer and some ikemen and I might have a heart attack. Best birthday present ever!