Osaka, Japan

On the 24th of Dec, I came back to Japan. The two weeks that I can spend with my family is the best treat for me after working the full year. This is when I realize that it was worth working very hard, especially, to see my 6-year-old niece and 3-year-old nephew. I could say that because of them, I come home to Japan.

I was feeling a bit guilty not being able to spend enough time to pick their gifts carefully in Holland. Every year, I bring a suit case with full of gifts for them, but this year, I couldn’t because of my traveling schedule. Also, regarding buying gifts in Holland, because everything is in Dutch, I cannot pick up any books. I used to bring back English books, but I think the probability of the kids learning Dutch is very low. Also, the baggage weight limit is much stricter from Europe than from the states, so not many toys can be brought back. Anyhow, kids are honest. Kids looked a bit disappointed. But their aunt is back! They are already happy kids because of that, especially my niece.

Before my jetlag was completely gone, the New Year came. In Japan, kids receive some gift money from their relatives. It is called Otoshidama. Money is in those little paper envelop called “Pochi bukuro.” After the three days of New Year (the first three days are the major New Year’s holiday in Japan and these are when kids receive otoshidama.), these are the amount of pochi bukuro my niece and nephew collected! The amount varies, but the average for 6 years old was about 2,000yen ($17$).

When I was a kid, my grandma gave me coins (change) for Otoshidama. She used to say, “It’s Othoshi-DAMA”. (“Dama” means coins!) Back then, the largest coin was 100 yen ($0.85), and a couple of them were in the envelop. What a difference!

Kids usually receive Otoshidama until they graduate from school. That means kids receive until they graduate from college! That’s serious money engagement for all the relatives because as the kids grow, the amount goes up, especially when they change schools like an elementary school to a junior high school. Not everyone gave to me, but when I was in college, some gave me 20,000yen (170$)! Pretty good, huh?

	At my sister’s place, we made “takoyaki” for dinner. Takoyaki is a bunch of balls made out of flour and there is a piece of octopus in them. It is typical Osaka food. We usually have them for snack, but often we have them for dinner as well.
	It is supposed to be difficult to make takoyaki for whom didn’t grow up with them. The flipping takoyaki to make them perfectly rounded balls is the hard part. I am one of the Osaka professionals. It’s been a long long time since I made them last, but my skills weren’t gone. It’s right there in my hand. My 6-year-old niece said, “Let me do it all by myself!” and I go, “No No!” and I was fighting with her over flipping takoyaki. Shame on me.
	The final result, completed version of Takoyaki. This is the “normal” version. We also made soy sauce version which is an old style. To make soy sauce ones, we add a few drops in each ball before we flip them. Wanna taste some? Come but bring a Takoyaki-ki (Takoyaki grill)!

This is called Okonomiyaki. I would say this is also Osaka food. Osaka is famous for good food. People like to eat and care about food very much. I am one of them; just incase you haven’t realized that what I talk about on this website is mainly food.

This Okonomiyaki is from my “the” place. I’d been wanting to go for a few years but never had a chance. But this time, I finally made it! Usually, we sit at the teppan table; pan is built into the table. Then ingredients for Okonomiyaki is brought to the table, and you make your own. Okonomiyaki is similar to Takoyaki ingredients but with thicker dough with minced cabbages, and you make your choice of other ingredients like pork, squid, oysters etc. When one side is cooked, then you flip to the other side just like pancakes. In the end, just like Takoyaki, you do your toppings on top. It was REALLY good.

My family and I happened to go to a zoo in Kobe. I wasn’t really positive about the idea, but my niece and nephew insisted it.

	It turned out that this zoo had pandas! And they were so cute! I was all the way in the front line among other kids watching pandas!
	This year, winter in Japan is warmer than usual. I am not sure if this is the reason but this polar bear didn’t look so energetic. It was a moment to see the effect of global warming.

I was really into watching sea lions swimming in a pool. There was this aquarium-like-thing we can see what’s going on below the water surface from a big glass window, and the sea lions were swimming and passing right by the glass windows. It was really fantastic to see them that close!
And my sister goes, “it seems YOU are the one enjoying this zoo visit the most.” Oops!

O my birthday, a beautiful flower bouquet was delivered from a friend of mine. This day, I “crossed” the big age. Last year, I “became” the big number, but this year, I “crossed” it. Crossing the big number is sadder. Actually, last year, I was glad to step up to the big number. I felt like I became a real adult.

Those ten years since I was twenty years old, a lot of things had happened to me. And I felt satisfied from those ten years, so I was happy to become thirty. I wonder how the next ten years is going to be like. I hope I will also feel satisfied when I step up to the next big number nine years from now.

On the 9th of January, I left Japan for a trip to China, but I will go back to Japan again for two days before taking off to Amsterdam. And because of those two days in Japan, I can concentrate on my work. I’m very looking forward to going back to my family again.