Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
New Years time in Japanese culture means a lot of things. 1) if it’s the end of the year, it’s a bon nen kai. It sort of means you get together and forget about the issues from last year. I saw that in some areas of the world, people schedule fist fights to settle scores. People watch. End of fight, it’s a done deal. You shake hands and more on to the new year. 2) if it’s after the new year, it’s a shin nen kai which is a get together to start off the new year hopefully well. So meals keep flowing, even after a week or so. The good thing is, once in a while I get invited to things like this. In this case, it’s for my friend Mitch’s moms birthday. 82! Pictured is perfectly executed tempura above by Eriko M. who made this spread. I’m not sure if Shin nen kai’s actually solve anything, except people getting together to celebrate being together, but birthdays are always cool. Renkon (lotus root). Simple and elegant. Mamma at 82. She still shovels snow in her backyard. 82! The cake was good. You can’t have cake until you eat all the food. I did. No, that’s not brownies and mochi! That’s konnyaku and imo. Look that up. Hijiki and friends. I’d have to say, this photo looks good. It works well with rice. Cucumber rolls. Refreshing. Not pictured are a few other dishes. Sekihan which is rice that’s brown red containing beans and it even had chestnut. Gobo included yuzu koshio (yuzu pepper).
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New Years time in Japanese culture means a lot of things. 1) if it’s the end of the year, it’s a bon nen kai. It sort of means you get together and forget about the issues from last year. I saw that in some areas of the world, people schedule fist fights to settle scores. People watch. End of fight, it’s a done deal. You shake hands and more on to the new year. 2) if it’s after the new year, it’s a shin nen kai which is a get together to start off the new year hopefully well. So meals keep flowing, even after a week or so. The good thing is, once in a while I get invited to things like this. In this case, it’s for my friend Mitch’s moms birthday. 82! Pictured is perfectly executed tempura above by Eriko M. who made this spread. I’m not sure if Shin nen kai’s actually solve anything, except people getting together to celebrate being together, but birthdays are always cool. Renkon (lotus root). Simple and elegant. Mamma at 82. She still shovels snow in her backyard. 82! The cake was good. You can’t have cake until you eat all the food. I did. No, that’s not brownies and mochi! That’s konnyaku and imo. Look that up.
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So here’s a little short documentary, Kim Chan, put together for me about the creation of “The Stage”, the design project that Edward Huang and I put together for the HK/Shenzhen Biennale. If you don’t know what I’m talking about please refer to my previous blogs on www.alivenotdead.com. As you can probably tell I’m pretty proud of this project. It’s interesting to me personally because what was once meant to be my career has now come back to me as a hobby. One of the main reasons why I didn’t want to do architecture as a career was because I had worked in many offices but still could not find the creative freedom and energy that I had in school and I found that quite depressing. I wanted to affect the world with my creative energy, not sit in front of a computer all day drafting up other people’s half-assed designs or dealing with office politics. Luckily the Hong Kong film business found me and I was able to find a whole new environment that allowed me total freedom to be creative. The two fields may seem totally different but they are more alike than you can imagine. They are both arts and art is about the ability to speak to an audience using your own creative skills via a medium. One is through buildings and one is through film. Both require the public and an audience in order to be successful and when people are touched by your work, that sense of satisfaction is beyond words. The Stage: Short Doc from Daniel Wu on Vimeo. If you haven’t been over there yet and you live in Hong Kong, you have until Feb 26th and then it all comes down and will nothing more than an awesome memory in my mind. If not enjoy the video. Thanks again Kim for all your hard work on this video!To learn more about the Biennale click here.
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Ramen. In one moment, anyone would know that this one spot is better than what you can get in America. The noodles are thick for ramen, the soup isn't the typical USA thick and murky Tonkotsu that seems to fool everyone into thinking Tampopo woman made it, and everything in it, was done just right. It's at the spot photographed below in Jyugaoka area of Tokyo. One of many great spots.
I ordered the...
Ramen. In one moment, anyone would know that this one spot is better than what you can get in America. The noodles are thick for ramen, the soup isn’t the typical USA thick and murky Tonkotsu that seems to fool everyone into thinking Tampopo woman made it, and everything in it, was done just right. It’s at the spot photographed below in Jyugaoka area of Tokyo. One of many great spots. I ordered the big one.950 yen. That’s my friend Kohei who ordered a different one that had cabbage in it. This is an interesting place. Indotei. It’s owned by Goodsmile. Like Giant Robot has gr/eats, they have Indotei. Yes, it’s great. Aside from the food being great. Seriously great. They give you individual small bowls to keep the dishes from sharing their juices! Not enough Indian places do this for you, and it’s just one more example of paying attention to detail. That’s Junko hiding in the shadow.Check out that naan. I swear it’s gigantic sized. Maybe the length from my elbow to finger tips. Yes, this was one of the best meals. That’s Yukie Kito, she produces movies. We’re at a spot called Butaya. Basically “pork shop” in Ebisu. Also at dinner was Ms Fujitani and Mr Mikami. Noodles at the end. The meal starts off with vegetables and more, and with the leftover broth you can choose rice or noodles. We opted for noodles.
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