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Train heading for the Osaka Airport (KIX or Kansai Kuko or 関西国際空港) and then on to Wakayama (和歌山)
The scene on the day I left Japan for Korea last summer as I stood on the platform in the Tennoji Station in Osaka…
It doesn’t look like I will be going to Asia this year, but I will likely be spending a couple weeks in Mexico in August, my first return to Mexico in about eight years.
Metal Rock Bar in Nagoya, Japan (Scum)
Since the first time I heard Outrage in 1989 I always wanted to visit Nagoya. Despite living in Japan for three years, the opportunity never presented itself (despite having passed Nagoya on the train several times) until 2013. I asked Shinya Tange, Outrage’s drummer, if there were any metal bars or clubs he could recommend. He recommended Scum. The place was much nicer than the name suggests. The owner is super nice and can speak English having lived in California for a while. We spoke in Japanese though. He hands you his iPad and let’s you pick the music. The cover of the album of the currently playing song is projected on the wall. As you can see, I must have picked something off of Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye.”
The other customers were wonderful too. I chatted with a young local who had never even heard of Outrage. I found it rather ironic that I, a foreigner, was able to introduce a native from Nagoya to Outrage.
No Swimming sign in UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea (재한유엔기념공원)
There were two things that I packed for Korea that I never used. One was a long-sleeved shirt. I’m not sure if I ever encountered temperatures in the 70s during my two-month, summer stay in Korea, let alone the 60s (even after midnight). The other was a swimming suit. I never saw a swimming pool. I did see a couple of beaches, but several people told me that Koreans can’t swim, at all. In fact, while I was there a group of Korean kids died after their boat capsized just off the coast of the Boryeong Mud Festival (보령머드축제). Sad, but with no swimming pools it isn’t too surprising that the chance to swim or that the swimming skills of the natives are slim to none.
I found this sign to be a bit humorous. Is it really necessary to have a sign saying “no swimming” in a dry ditch that is less than one foot in depth? Maybe it is not always dry, but still…
BTW, this was in the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. I will have more pictures and stories from there later. It was an emotional experience for me despite the weirdness of this sign.
assortment of schneeballes from Schneeballen found in the basement of a Korean department store (Lotte I think)
Beginning today, and for the foreseeable future, Tuesday’s blog entry will be Korea related.
Today’s pic is of some schneeballes from Schneeballen; these delicious-looking treats can be found all over Korea now. I saw these several times before actually buying one. I imagined something between a pastry and a donut. Instead, these “cookies” from Germany are closer to something between a fortune cookie and a stale collection of balled-up tortilla chips. Needless to say, I didn’t go back for more. They weren’t very sweet, and I felt like I was going to lose a tooth trying to eat one.
Sajik Baseball Stadium – Busan, South Korea
One of the problems with watching live baseball in Korea is the amount of netting they put up around the field. One time at a game, when I was sitting next to a Korean who could speak English, I asked him why all the netting and whistles with every foul ball. He told me that a video of a fan getting hit in the eye with a foul ball (and subsequently losing eyesight in that eye) in the USA made the rounds in Korea and it freaked people out. At the KIA Tigers games I purchase seats a little above the netting so that the net doesn’t obstruct my view. That wasn’t possible at Sajik Baseball Stadium as nearly every seat has a net-obstructed view. I couldn’t take it anymore after a few innings so I headed down to one of the first few rows far down the foul line which were the only seats without a net in front of them. There was an usher checking tickets to get into this section, but I just walked past him. He figured it was easier to let me go then try to have a conversation with me in English.
Red chilis at the Jagalchi Fish Market (자갈치시장) in Busan
My biggest problem with Korean food has to do with these guys. Don’t get me wrong; I like spicy food. However, many dishes in Korea have an inordinate amount of red chili peppers, red pepper flakes, chili pepper paste, or some sort of hot pepper sauce. Rather than enhance the flavor of something and give it a kick, I find the amounts used to overwhelm everything else. Frequently it comes out as hot as it went in if you know what I mean. I can’t taste the meat, the veggies, or anything but the hot pepper flavor. Even the instant ramen here in Korea is impossible to find in any flavor other than hot red pepper.