Hej from Japan

My Daily Life in Japan I've lived in Denmark and now I live in Osaka. Hej means hi or hello in Danish.

[mi12jp]

Alphabeat

I'm into listening to Alphabeat's music. Alphabeat are a Danish pop band.

I like all of the songs sung in the video, but I like "the Spell" sung in the second the best.

Are they still active? Their latest release seems in 2012.

[mi12jp]

Rugbrød (Danish Rye Bread)

I baked Rugbrød, which is Danish Rye Bread. 

The ingredients typically include cracked rye, various seeds and grains. It is very low in fat, contains no oil or sugar, and is thus a healthy alternative to white bread.

The Danes really love this type of bread. They definitely love it. One of my Danish friends brings rugbrød for his lunch everyday. It might be rice for me. (I love rice! I usually eat rice for my lunch and dinner.) In Denmark, there is no supermarket nor bakery shop that does not offer rugbrød.

I also came to love this type of bread through my life in Denmark, even though I couldn’t like it first. Now I love it, but I can't still eat rugbrød everyday. It's too heavy for me. 

This is a homemade rugbrød mix which I bought when I left Denmark last year. You can make rugbrød with this mix, water and yeast. It's very easy! Actually, this is my first time to bake bread in my life! 

The ingredients are not put in something like a plastic bag. They are put in the box just as they are. It's surprising!

Put the ingredients, water and yeast to make tough.

Baked the bread! 

The smell is nice. It immediately brings me back to Denmark. When I had a bite, I almost shouted "Yes!!! This taste is what I usually ate!!!".

Could you send me ingredients to bake rugbrød? lol If possible, I want leverpostej (liver paste), too....

[mi12jp]

Nijo castle (二条城) - a World Heritage Site

I visited Nijo castle about a week ago.

Nijo castle was built in 17th century by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was the residence of the Tokugawa shogunate in Kyoto. (They used Edo (Tokyo) as the capital city.)

Karamon

Ninomaru palace

Photography is prohibited in Ninomaru palace. The decorations of the sliding doors and walls of each room are magnificent. The most interesting thing for me is Uguisubari (鶯張り), so called Nightingale floor or singing floor. These floors were designed to make a sound when stepped upon as a security.

Ninomaru garden

Honmaru palace

It is the main palace. Here is not regularly open to the public.

Ume (Plum) tree.

The photos are (a bit) dark... :( .

Tsubaki (camellia)

Web site: Nijo castle - Kyoto city

[mi12jp]

Music: Carpark North - Everything Starts Again

These days I was listening to a playlist named "Popular uploads" by MusicDK on Youtube, and I found this song amazing.

Carpark North - Everything Starts Again

The song is magnificent, but its music video makes me really sad. I'm not sure what the story is behind it, though.

[mi12jp]

The seven herb rice porridge

On the morning of January 7th, we eat the seven herb rice porridge or Nanakusa-gayu, 七草粥. “Nana” means “seven” in Japanese.

Seven herbs of spring, “Haru no Nanakusa, are followings:  - water dropwort (seri)  - shepherd's purse (nazuna)  - cud-weed (gogyou)  - chickweed (hakobera)  - henbit (hotokenoza)  - turnip (suzuna)  - daikon radish (suzushiro)

It is believed that you will be able to have a healthy and happy year if you eat these seven fresh herbs of spring.

My grandma makes it every year :)

[mi12jp]

2016 Planner

My new daily planner :) I'm very excited to start using a new one every year!

2016 MARK'S Edit A5 Daily. The design is called “pumpkin”, by Yayoi Kusama. She was born in Japan in 1929, moved to New York in 1958, and returned to Japan in 1973. Dot painting is one of her main ideas and a polka dot is a trademark of her works.

I love her vivid, colorful, and pop arts which make me feel energetic.

Her official website is: http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/

[mi12jp]

Ozouni

Here is another new year’s dish, “zouni”, which is a soup containing rice cakes and vegetables. We eat it only during new year days.

The taste and ingredients vary regionally. I heard of one seasoned with white miso which is from Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, etc) and one seasoned with clear soup which is from Kanto region (Tokyo etc).

I don’t know why, but our family usually have both of them ;)

This is how white miso taste.

This is a clear soup version with chicken.

I love ozouni!

[mi12jp]

My first post!

Hej! Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog! I am Japanese and I live in Osaka. In this blog, I’d like to share photos of my daily life in Japan.  I have lived and worked in Denmark for about 2 years in total. So I might share my photos taken in Denmark as well :)

I'd like to start with photos of traditional Japanese new year's dishes called “Osechi”.

We had Sashimi, fresh raw fish, as well :)

We also had Tecchiri, which is pufferfish sashimi. As you can see, they are cut into translucent slices.

Feel free to ask me a question or make a comment!