(Ms.) Tomo Kimura’s Translation/Tokyo Notes

Christmas Cakes

My neighborhood convenience store gave me a catalog of Christmas cakes, so I figured I’d scan a page out of it.

The page has the strawberry cakes, the chocolate cakes, and a framboise cheese cake as well.

The final volume is out.

I attended a funeral this summer, so I’ll write a little about it. After the body was cremated, the staff gave us attendants these huge pairs of chopsticks. When the remains came out, the staff first picked out the “nodobotoke” (literally, “throat buddha”, called so because it looks like a person sitting; in English it’s the Adam’s apple) and put it aside. We were then told to pick bones from each part of the body, and place them in the urn. I think it was when the urn was almost full that the nodobotoke was put in. We then all grabbed the top part of the skull together, and put it in the urn, like a lid over the other bones. This urn then gets placed in the family grave.

Hokkaido Stew

Lots of dairy products are produced in Hokkaido. There is a cream stew mix called “Hokkaido Stew”. There’s a “Hokkaido chowder” mix available too.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

During the winter season, trucks go around neighborhoods, or stop near train stations roasting and selling them.

Should be out.

A glossary for this volume too.

Christmas as a Couples Event

Christmas eve has become a couples event night here, with couples exchanging gifts and having dinner together. At the height of the “bubble economy” the cool thing to do was to reserve an expensive hotel room, have a French dinner at a posh place, and give jewelry to your girlfriend (Tiffany’s open heart pendant was immensely popular then). Even now, a lot of hotels have special “Christmas dinner/stay plans” for couples who want to celebrate Christmas in style.

Love Hotels

These are hotels that couples go to have sex. You can “rest” for a couple of hours. Or if you check in late enough, you can “stay” the night. The rooms and bathrooms are very well equipped. Some rooms even come with your own swimming pool and sauna!

Usually love hotels are built in a cluster, within walking distance of major stations like Shibuya and Shinjuku. The exterior is often gaudy. Some of the stranger buildings I’ve seen looked like western castles, or had what looked like an Eiffel tower or a Greek-looking statue on top.

Also called “boutique hotels”, “fashion hotels”, “couples hotels”, among other names.

Okonomiyaki

I’m not sure when mayonnaise started being served with okonomiyaki. If you go eat at an okonomiyaki shop now, your okonomiyaki comes with mayonnaise. If you buy okonomiyaki at your local convenience store, it comes with a pouch of mayonnaise.

Growing up in Kansai, a lot of our weekend lunches was okonomiyaki (and yakisoba too). When I visit my parents, my mom usually makes okonomiyaki, but no mayonnaise in the Kimura residence (^^) Just lots of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and aonori (powdered green seaweed) on top of the sauce.

Got my copy Monday.

There’s a glossary for this volume too. It seems like most of the notes I’ve written in my scripts for this series are food-related.

All 5 volumes have been translated/adapted.

At first I found the quirky humor difficult to get down right, but as I got used to the characters’ weirdness, it got easier. And doing a comedy definitely helped me prepare me for the black humor of Skip Beat.

The final volume will coming out…I guess in November?

Medakako-chan Coupons

A stationery store I shop at has similar coupons. I get a 10-yen coupon for each 200 yen in purchase. I don’t have to collect them in booklets though, I can just use them like cash on my next purchase.