Ramen Nana-San

Hello everyone!

I wanted to tell you about a delicious ramen that I tried that is completely vegetarian (actually vegan)! I recently enjoyed Kagetsu Ramen's Ramen Nana-San which contains neither fish nor meat. This is extremely rare for ramen in Japan. The flavour was bold and delicious due to the pieces of roasted garlic and the myriad vegetables. Ramen Nana-San included daikon, potato, carrot, baby corn, spinach, and grape tomato.

Ramen Nana-San was developed in conjunction with the Tokyo Vegetarian Association.

Unfortunately this ramen was only available for a limited time. Please look for it next spring if you're interested! In the meantime you can click on the following link for more information:

http://info.kagetsu.co.jp/newitem/080305nana3.html

The Cats of Mirikitani

I recently had the opportunity to go see a movie that starred a homeless Japanese-American senior citizen. "The Cats of Mirikitani" is a powerful documentary about the journey of an artist from his birthplace of Sacramento, California to his roots in Hiroshima and then finally to the streets of New York City.

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani survived the horrors of WWII internment camps, Hiroshima, and homelessness by seeking refuge in his art. After the shock of 9/11 a local filmmaker brings Jimmy to her home to escape from the toxins outside. They work together to retrace Jimmy's past and rebuild his life. This is an incredible movie about the healing powers of art and friendship.

"The Cats of Mirikitani" is a movie not to be missed!

Hono Ozumo Tournament

On Friday April 4th I had the pleasure of attending the“Hono Ozumo”event at Yasukuni Shrine. Hono Ozumo is an annual ceremonial sumo tournament. Since I'm a big sumo fan I've wanted to go to a sumo tournament for a long time. But I guess I never really got around to going down to the sumo stadium in Ryogoku to buy tickets. So I was thrilled when I read about Hono Ozumo in the newspaper. It happened to fall on a free day for me and the admission was free of charge! It was a beautiful clear spring day and the gentle breezes scattered cherry blossoms about.

Blue plastic sheets were laid out around the ring for the fans. Arriving early I was able to secure a position approximately four rows from the front. I was surprised to see other patrons securing large chunks of prime real estate with their own plastic sheets. It seemed like almost everyone had come prepared with food and drinks. For those without their own supplies there was plenty of sake, beer, and chanko nabe available from the vendors. I was surprised to see large groups of foreigners at the tournament including a few ladies who were scolded by an attendant for sleeping on the plastic sheets!

The event started with a very formal opening ceremony. What appeared to be sumo referees (gyoji) purified the ring (dohyo) using several sacred items including branches, sake and salt. This 30 minute ceremony was observed by officials from the Japan Sumo organization and Yasukuni Shrine.

Next up was a lively practice session by the lower ranked wrestlers. They crowded in the ring and sparred for over an hour. Then the tournament began! What seemed like dozens and dozens of matches were contested until we reached the spectacular final battle of the two Yokozunas, Asashoryu and Hakuho. Despite my hearty cheers my hero Asashoryu fell to his nemesis. Let’s hope that he can avenge his defeat in the upcoming May Grand Sumo Tournament!

NHL Hockey Playoffs

Are there any hockey fans out there?

While Major League Baseball (MLB) and NBA basketball are quite popular in Japan, NHL hockey has not caught on here. It's too bad because hockey is a fast an exciting game that is well suited to television.

The first round of the NHL playoffs is completed and the matchups have been set for the conference semifinals. In the east the number one seeded Montreal Canadiens will battle the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins will go against the New York Rangers. In the west the number one seeded Detroit Red Wings will try to beat the Colorado Avalanche while the San Jose Sharks will matchup against the Dallas Stars.

The Detroit Red Wings lead the league with 115 points in the regular season and won the President’s Cup. The Montreal Canadiens finished in first place in the east with 104 points.

The league scoring leader for the 2007-2008 year was Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals with 112 points. Ovechkin also led the league with 65 goals. The goalie Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings posted the lowest goals against average with a mark of 2.09. Last year's MVP and leading scorer Sidney Crosby missed 29 games due to injury but still finished with 72 points.

I think the Penguins will take the cup. Please post your prediction for Stanley Cup champion!

"Rokkasho"

Recently,I was very shocked to watch the documentary movie "Rokkashomura Rapsody."There is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho village in Aomori prefecture.It is currently in a testing stage before begining full-scale operation.In a nuclear fuel plant,plutonium is removed from spent nuclear fuel.I heard that a year's worth of radiation is released into the environment in a day!The radiation accumulates in the vegetables,animals and sea food.Then it enters our bodies..How awful!
On the other hand,the plant provides jobs in this community where there is little other work.
But environmental problems like these affect everyone not only those living in the local area.
Information from both the supporters and opponents of this plant can be obtained on the internet.Personally,I prefer safer forms of energy.
I want a lot more people to know about this problem as it hasn't been reported very much by the mass media.

最近、わたしは”六ケ所村ラプソディー”というドキュメンタリー映画を観て、とてもショックを受けた。
青森県の六ケ所村というところに、核燃料再処理工場があり、現在本格始動に向けて試運転している。再処理工場では、使用済の核燃料（原発から出たゴミ）からプルトニウムを取り出しているそうだ。そしてその際、一日で原発の1年分の放射能が空や海に放出されるというのだ。
放射能は野菜や海産物や動物の体内に取りこまれ、私たちの体に入ってくる。恐ろしいことである。
一方で、工場ができたことで、あまり他に仕事のないこの地域に仕事をもたらすことになっているようだ。しかしこれはこの地域だけでなく、すべての人に影響する問題だ。
もしあなたがもっと知りたいと思えば、再処理工場の推進派、反対派両方の情報をインターネットから得ることができるだろう。個人的には、安心できるエネルギーを選びたい。まずは、マスコミにあまり取り上げられないこの問題をなるべくたくさんの人たちに知ってほしい。