Recently, I have decided to listen again to one of my all time favorite albums by one of my all time favorite artists, AA= (All Animals Are Equal) aka Takeshi Ueda. His first album under the moniker of AA= is the appropriately tited #1. The name AA= is a direct reference to George Orwell’s Animal Farm and even the mascot for AA= is a pig. The pig motif is present in all of AA=’s artwork and music videos. I ordered #1 when it was initially released in 2009. It is a masterpiece of fast-paced hard electronic rock music.
The tone of the album is pessimistic, but ends with a feeling of hope. The intro track titled “4Legs Good, 2Legs Bad” is pretty down on the human race, outlining the seven deadly sins before going right into the second track named “I hate human.” The third track is the lead single, “Peace!!!” It has a message about taking action if change is going to occur. Each track keeps with the theme of all animals being equal and eventually the human animal is added into the mix. The final track “R.I.P.” is all about saying goodbye to each of the deadly sins after equality has (hopefully) been achieved.
Overall I would give #1 a rating of AA+. The hard and fast electronic sound is not for everyone, but I absolutely love it. Standout tracks include: “Peace!!!,” “Loser,” “Roots,” “All Animals Are Equal,” and “Starry Night.” Give this one a listen.
In our travels throughout Japan, we acquired some Shizuoka Cha Green tea bags. I was not able to sample the flavor until after our return. The color/flavor is light, even after a full 5 minutes of steeping. It is a nice tea to sip in the afternoon when you need a mild boost.
Today we fly to Taiwan. We have spent 33 days in Japan, and there are still lots of things I would love to see and do and eat here someday. Overall, I would strongly encourage people considering a trip to Japan to go for it. It is a fantastic place to be a tourist!
Some quick highlights: delicious food for way less than you’d expect, kind strangers who go out of their way to help if you are lost or struggling with something, beautiful natural scenery, and great transportation.
I’m sorry we haven’t posted as many things as we want to – we have mostly been planning this trip on a night-to-night basis. More updates to come soon!
Inokashira Park Zoo, in the Tokyo area, is a really nice family-friendly zoo with a number of Japanese native species in it. We were especially excited to see tanuki (racoon-dog is the common English translation), the tiny local squirrels we had seen at a distance at the Daibutsu, and beautiful cranes and ducks.
We also learned about the leopard cat, which crossed over the ice to come to one of the islands, and the serow, an ungulate (think antelope) from northern Honshu. Both were super fuzzy and completely new to us!
If you get a chance, this zoo is worth a stop… and foreign passport holders get a discount on admission!
While reading about Kamakura, I learned that one of the favorite omiyage are a particular store’s rice crackers. I was interested, but didn’t believe the hype. (After all, it was a tourism magazine…) We went in and tried the samples – and I had to eat my hat. These were amazing!
I would have loved to buy out the store stock, but settled with three small bags. We chose the matcha, the mixed berry, and the tangerine. The three sweet ones we chose were all constructed in a similar manner, with a peanut in the center surrounded by crunchy airy rice cracker dipped in a flavored (yogurt?) coating and rolled in a powder of the same flavor.
The savory choices we tried at the store were completely different from the sweet options above and from other snacks I have had before (curry flavored toasted broad beans, for one). Overall, the Kamakura Mameya is really worth a stop. You should go with some room so you can try tasters!
Today while visiting the Daibutsu (Giant Buddha) in Kamakura, Japan, we happened upon a shop that served some very interesting (and delicious) soft serve ice cream. One of our new favorite foods is the purple sweet potato and this shop had it as one of their flavors! Purple sweet potato, as an ice cream flavor, is much loved in the Kanagawa area. We knew we had to try it. We got it swirled with matcha green tea. It was a treat for the taste buds. We also tried a blue colored “soda” variety. It was sweet and reminiscient of cream soda. Chandra thought it tasted similar to bubble gum ice cream. I highly recommend any of these flavors if you visit this area of Japan.
The Fugitive Pigeon was sighted today. It was reportedly staking out an Omamori (amulet) shop near the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in Kamakura, Japan. I hurried to the scene and was able to snap a photo of the pigeon. By the time I had alerted the authorities, it had escaped. The local shopkeeper said nothing was stolen, but I advised her to remain vigilant.
Since it’s the New Year holiday here, there are street food vendors en masse near the larger temples. One of the tasty treats we tried was a candy covered grape. One person skewers a large grape, the other dips it into a vat of hot grape candy and sets it on a sheet of wax paper. It solidifies quickly; by the time you hand them your change and grab your grape, it is encased in a hard sugar shell. Japan does a much better job with artificial grape flavor than the US, and this is a treat you shouldn’t miss!
Fun sights from Akihabara: Mandarake (an 8 story collectibles shop), the Gundam cafe, and sculptures located inside Yodobashi-Akiba of Godzilla and the Faaram Armor (from the video game Dark Souls 2).
the mint tea drinkers society 