Budget Dining Japan

Traveling around Japan is in no means cheap but if you'd run out of cash or if you are low there are a few options of getting away fairly cheap concerning food. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it though. stinging too much on food since it's one of the main cultural experiences one need to explore while journeying into distant cultures and lands. So I've structured it into three different categories.

Cooking

In most cities that are bigger than a village there are your bigger grocery stores. They are in no means as large as the ones in Europe, North America or even other parts of Asia. However one can find a lots of things cheap and especially at the end of the day where a lot of fresh stuff is made available at a discount. Here one can find cheap sushi and other ready made foods like bentos for a couple of hundred yen. If you happen to have a kitchen made available to you picking up some stuff to cook can be a real money saver. Things that are cheap in japan are. Rice, Eggs, Ready made sauces, soups (like miso soup). Things that are a bit more expensive include meat, vegetables and fish.

Markets

Daily markets, fish markets and the likes is an other alternative getting cheap and nice ingredients. It usually requires a bit more out of the way transportation but the rewards are well worth it. At the fish markets one can get prime grade sashimi ready cut for 500yen which will be more than what you get in a restaurant for maybe 4-8 times the price.

Cheap Ready to Eat Food

In various small convenient stores around the country one can find little bentos, onigiris, premade cup noodles and soups. These will be your main stable if you want to live cheap on the go. bentos can go as low at 200yen and the most expensive ones usually reach 450 or so. Cup noodles can be found for 100yen at a lot of places. the 100yen stores sometimes have these. There are also the lawesons or other convenient store 100yen shops which usually carry this at 100yen prices. Here cakes, donuts and similar things can be bought at a discount as well.

Cheap Restaurants

This is maybe a tad more expensive than the convenient store food. It is much more enjoyable though and for only a moderate increase in cost the dining experience increases a lot. The cheap restaurants include gyudon chains, katsu shops, curry chains and ramen. In these restaurants one can eat from 250yen to around 800 yen. What is served is variations on dons. Something over a bowl of rice. Exempting the ramen places ofc. There are usually a range of sides one can order to the main dish as salads, soups, raw eggs and the like. Plain water is always free so one can save another 50-100yen in comparison to the convenient stores here on that. A lot of the chains are also available outside of japan. Usually they are a bit pricier than in Japan and the quality is usually a lot worse. My favorite dishes at these restaurants include.

• gyudon (beef bowl)
• oyakudon (chicken and egg over rice. in Japanese "mother an child bowl" )
• katsucurry (fried meat and curry over rice)
• ramen (ramen noodles in it's many chapes)

I usually go with a side of miso or similar soups and a nama tamago (raw egg).

Being a foodie total budget dining was is impossible for me in Japan. After all I partly go there for the food. Trying a few of these places will prove quite fun if you give then a shot though. Besides you always need to eat. =D

To Hell and Beyond, Beppu

Beppu. Am ideal Japanese getaway. Beppu holds more natural hot springs than any other place in Japan. A Japanese natural hotspiring is called an onsen. One should be aware of the difference between an artificially heated bath establishment an sento and the onsen. Why? well for the sake of knowing. In most cases one cant feel or tell any difference between these two. To find a bath house look for the ゆ sign outside the door.

Getting into hot water and relaxing is definitively a favorite of mine so off to Beppu we go. The onsens are numerous and the pylons of white steams can be seen all over the mountainside. Despite being a top tourist destination prices in japan are generally not too unfair and Beppu is no exception. One can easily grab a very nice lunch or dinner without spending too much of ones hard earned coins. Getting around the area is fairly easy and buses is the more economical option. The other option is cabing it which is very feasible if you can share it on a few people.
Taking the buss can have it\s disadvantages though. Like when the buss driver ignores you per default as he cannot understand English. English is ofc the only language any foreigner can speak so auto ignore is on. This resulted in me walking my way to the hells.

Video is in Swedish

The hells are the onsen that are not for bathing in.They are purely for looking at and have their own little story. A interesting thing about these places are that they all have their little demons or devils to take care of them. Being Japan and all they are adorable and super cute.

On the brighter side of things there are plenty of onsens one can take a bath in. In fact most ryoukan or places to stay are likely to have their very own hot spring installation here. It does puzzle me though. When this abundant source of heat and energy is readily available why not harness is for geopower? Specially now with the upheaval at nuclear power in Japan. Well I do guess that could just do something about the terrible insulation most houses have first. That would certainly help to keep the heat in at least. Anyway make sure you Enjoy one of these onsens if you ever go to Beppu.

A few things to do in Osaka

There are so many fun things to do in Japan and Osaka that it's realy hard to choose a few to do. None the less I've decided to write down a few of the things I really like about the place (almost inexchangele with a few things I like to eat here).

• Getting a cheap bento or onigiri in the morning.

Even such a simple thing like this quite interesting. Coming from a culture where we don't really have premade lunch boxes this style it's a bit exotic and quite well tasting too. The Onigiri is a riceball or rice pack in any small shape really. Having the strong desire to individually wrap everything and eating fresh food, the onigiri wrapping is quite ingenious

• Getting a Japanese Ice Cream

There are many to chose from and maybe one o the most delicious are the mochi ice creams. But don't miss out on the rest of the selection available at all kinds of places like mini marts. A classic for me has always been the "Jumbo"

• Engaging in a cool Kaiten Sushi (conveyor belt sushi)

These places are all over Japan and come in all kinds of sizes and price ranges. Well they tend to be on the cheaper end of the scale. I've visited quite a few places during my time in Osaka. The chepest place serving for about 100yen or maybe even 80yen per plate. Remember that one plate holds two pieces of sushi unless it's a special one of some kind. Specials can reach up to almost 1000 yen for a place depending on what you choose. For me kaiten holds more than just the food. It's packed wioth great memories of great times and meeting cool people.

In fact last time I popped in to a place in the middle of Namba I sat next to this old couple. It's the obachans and ojiichans that have the time to engage in conversations with random strangers more often than not and they are always suprised (happily so) when encountering someone knowing more than a few words of Japanese. In fact my meal ended with me being treated to my entiere meal and forced to try some of the more rare and expensive fish since I just had to try em out. One of the fun this that makes this place in the middle of Namba special is the Jan Ken Poi (rock paper scissors) played against one of the bar staff. You play 3 times and if you win all 3 you're rewarded with a good treat of sushi for free. It's also free to play so when they encourage you to stand up and play. Do it!

• Go splurge in a Hyaku Yen (100 yen) store

These store can be encountered all over japan and sell the strangest things. Sometimes one can find real finds here. More than not it's filled with Chinese made Japanese copies of things but sometimes there's some really interesting stuff.

That's it for now. There are so much more to do in Osaka but then again. I have to have something to show you in my next Osaka post.

French Pop Art

Having moved on from a universal idiom of danger the skull and bone emblem have become quite trendy. Decorating many a person widely unaffiliated with piracy, at least piracy in it's older non digital form it's now very popular part of art in the pop and underground cultures. Here in Paris where this culture is on the rise one can see many creations like this in small art exhibits all around town.

Often these exhibits are free and and held at bars and they display mostly from small scale artist with barley a website to sell from (http://xxxprod.com/). Despite this cost are relatively low which may be something that prevents it from being a real source of income for these struggling artits. After all it's not real art if it's not expensive like one successful artist told me ;)

Either way it's still way more in my liking than heap of diffuse classical style oil painting adoring many well off homes and such. After all video game art and pop art does have another appeal to the kinds having grown up with Famicons, Amigas and what not's as their biggest sources of art and inspiration.

Something that is quite nice it that they are mostly free. So why not enjoy a day in Paris checking out the free art scene. There is plenty of street art to find around town and combined with these small scale pp culture exhibits a day or two could easily be spent taking in the flora of alternative coolness.
And don't miss the game art post it war as can be seen on many windows around Paris.

Uberkampf and Montparnasse are usually good streets to find this type of art.

One of my favorites which I would get if I could. You can find it here.

The French Food Cou(r)ture

Some of the delicious macarons. From the left on the back row: Mr.Rasberry, Mrs pistagio, Mrs.pralie and Mr,Choco orange. I just could't hold of biting into this chocolate orange one  so  you'll have to be content with this jaws survivor of a macaroon.

Many species have survived by being successful in a specific niche. This can be translated to many things, businesses and all kinds or random things. In japan there is a saying that a restaurant can't possibly be the best in all types of cuisine and so they only offer a special type, well plus some extras. In Sweden it's not really the case. Sure we have a couple of places that do that in a way but they are few and more often than not focus geographically rather than culinary technical. For example a Swedish "Cafe" would most certainly serve a variety of small food none being really good. If you're lucky they have a few nice items on the menu but most of it usually quite crappy. As a cafe for small food AND coffee it the same back in Sweden. I've never been to one that has exquisite samles of both.

la patisserie prefere de Stephanie in Versailles, Darras. Where we did our cake hunting.

 Here in Versailles and France they do it a bit different. It's almost like an American or Asian style food court. Albeit they would never admit to it being like that comparing themselves to such low standards... What you do it visit your favorite patisserie (pastry shop), or boulangerie (bakery) to get your favorite coffee companions and then head to your Cafe of choice to enjoy all of your earthly indulgences at once. It's almost like Benders realization of human pleasures in Futurama.

This is something very frowned upon back home in Stockholm. If I did that I'd expect to be reprimanded harshly or maybe even threatened to be thrown out. At the very least angry looks would be in order. Here the philosophy is that as they don't provide it you are welcome to bring it.

More examples of sugary overload. So good and so bad at the same time.

It resembles the South African wine culture of it being very common to bring your own wine instead of the restaurants. I have to say that I'd really like to have more of this back in Stockholm and Asia too.

On the topic of brothers in arms with coffee I figured while here I'd do as the Romans and in this case dine with the macarons. After all how more of a french desert can one be?

Finally hitting up the Cafe after loading up on sweets and a salt little quiche.

Down and Dirty

Over the last few years I've hear more and more about things like organically farmed, locally produced, farmers markets and such. So I figured I'd go check it out. Well at least a version of it. Here in France there are farmes letting you pick your own stuff and buy it by weight. It's a interesting take on it.

From a business perspective it does kind of customer source some of the picking work. After all letting the customers do some of the work has proved very successful for companies like Ikea. But relabeling it and selling the experience I have to say is quite brilliant. I don't think a lot of people want to muck around around in the dirt all day, every day. Every once in a while though, it's nice to get down and dirty, to feel good about yourself.  But what I'm thinking is if the concept is exportable and expandable. Will this work in a not so strong economy and wound it work in other places?

Either way I'd love to have a farm or a "ferme" like this back home. I think my home town of Täby, Sweden would be a perfect place to have it. After all we have some pasture, fields for horses and definitively enough farmland. 15 minutes away from Stockholm city center and being a habituational center of many a academic family it could prove to be very successful. I know that I for one would gladly pay a bit less than in the supermarkets and do the work of picking my own veggies. After all if you only spend a few minutes doing it every week it's way more of an added bonus and an indulgence in the slow, quaint pace of life.

Although our visit was quite short, this time I got to eat a bunch of delicious apples off the trees and came home with glorious spoils of conquest worth much more than the 9€ something I paid of my little playtime in the dirt. In fact it reminded me of this 4H camp I went to as a kid. Also of my own garden back home growing up.

Either way, if you have the opportunity try it out. Yeah the 4H camp too, oh and also my dads little back yard veggie and herb garden. Let me know if you're planning to visit first though ;)

Sunday, Luxemburg Gardens

Sunday is a lazy mans days and it's no different in Paris. Like If you're like me and feel there are just to many lazy days in the world and can't wait to get back into gear and stress about.. Hay! that's not me but if it's you, this post might not be for you.

A favorite Sunday pastime of the Parisians is to just relax in the part. Enjoy a pick nick or some ice cream among the trees and the birds. One prime destination for just this is Jardins du Luxembourg (or Luxemburg Gardens). It's still quite busy as Autumn knocks on the door and in the air there is a sense of squeezing out the last bit's of summer before another season takes it's place. After all the trees have already begun to change color all though be it, sporadically.

At the center of it all is the nice fountain and pool of water which is one of the sunnier places to lounge around. The mini pond is often filled with radio controlled sailboats and kinds of all ages resting on it sides. My suggestion is that you come a bit earlier to grab one of the many chair or stools inhabiting the park for a more adaptable and enjoyable setup. Preferably with you feet resting on something =)

Paris is always a main destination for tourist and you will with out a doubt spot your fair share of the horde here. The majority of visitors are still french and it's considered a very french thing to do to. So to Enjoy this favorite and FREE pastime of the french, head to the 6e arrondissement (6th district). It's hard to miss with it's 224.500 m2. It's history stretches back to 1611 but I'll just say that's it's a nice palace, gardens and fountain to have as your pick nicks backdrop.

The God, the Man and Chinatown

Finding out that a bladder thumps an alarm clock when you need to get up on a Sunday morning is truly no that interesting but hay it works. Either way things are slow on Saturday mornings in Paris. In fact I think things are slow almost everywhere on Saturday mornings. Since I misses the word stay in bed day by a week I figured it was time to get up and breakfasty. Well right after I discover the man the myth the legend wallpaper of our friends computer.

After finding only one rather expensive boulangerie we decided to only get a "tie me over snack" or a croissant (made of yeast dough layered with butter and shaped into it's crescent shape) and a pain au raisin (a variety of the coissant or the pain au chocolate with raisins instead) to last until our pick nick lunch.

Having a few hours to spend we figured it was time to get out of France, it was time to get Chineesified. After all it's definitively a place where there is less relaxing on Sundays. So off we went to Asia, where the bustling is on and the clutter and grit is king. Well actually we just went to the "13e arrondissement" or slight south of place d'Italy. We traveled far and wide and arrived at Tangs original supermarket. It was actually my intention to hit up the shoot off since it's closer but hay a nice stroll through china town ain't a bad thing. After all it might be the most Asian you get to experience in Europe anyway. Although it's quite Chinese and Vietnamese influenced. Partly because of the french Indochina history. In fact so much so that one of the workers had never even heard of Japanese curry...

Either way the 13th is filled with cool and gritty small shops and places which gives a good comparison to other china towns around the world. Maybe china tows are becoming what some people consider hard rock cafe's. A place to visit anywhere you go.

Stockholm Nights

After a short visit back home I'm now back to writing and traveling. Sort of. I realized that although Stockholm feels very much like my home town I'm  not really in touch with what others have seen and done in Stockholm. Sure the girls are nice and the city beautiful. There are so many other sides to my Stockholm though. Skipping the first fever ridden day of my home coming I'll share my second fever ridden night instead. Mind you that I'm not talking about some phenomenon like Stockholm feaver but an actual getting sick fever.
After being gone for a while the first thing that popes into ones mind is meeting up with friends and doing something really quaint. So we decided to do something we all had grown up with. Yup that's right a Gibb, a Haxx or a LAN gaming night as it is also called. This is when you chill out together and play computer games. A tradition starting early for me growing up in the suburbs of Stockholm. Growing up we used to haul our old stationary gaming machines of differing caliber over to each others houses or some communal building we had access too. A couple of times I think we even got some locale sponsored by our municipality.
Growing older and as laptops got more powerful an office or a lecture hall where the new spots of gaming and fiddling around with computers. Now although we could most likely scramble a few gaming machines we go old school and visited a gaming cafe to do our gaming. Being a bit older it's nice not to have to deal with the hassle of distributing all the games and such and making sure every machine works and all.

Although the more typical clientele of an internet cafe like inferno online are considerably younger than us we figured we'd have a great time anyway. Besides we'd probably kick ass with these kids anyway. Yup that's right we probably would. We're not your ordinary bunch of old school gamers. Having an previously no1 ladder ranked FFA WC3 player, a old national team captain in dota, ladder ranked no1 in 2v2 at SC2, previous QA lead at DICE, game designers and game development entrepreneurs and with more random remarks within the gaming world our bunch of peeps still managed to keep it civilized and all just for fun. I do guess we are getting older though since people started to drop off around 2am instead of the 8am customary retreat time.  Despite this and a few technical issues we still managed to play a list or recommended games.

• WC3 TFT dota
• Q2
• L4D2
• CS 1.6
• SC1

I guess reading this list does reflect on the fact that we are a bit old school. Still we had a good time and I recommend you to have a go at it while in Stockholm Sweden. After all we do host the largest LAN parties in the world and have a very very strong gaming culture.