A Tale of Pizza.

Another adventure begins...

Today's tale begins with me mindlessly flipping through the (seemingly) millions of letters, notifications, newspapers, books, and magazines that get circulated through my office each day. There're so many that you can't possibly hope to actually read all of them - so you just skim to see if there's anything relevant to you. Usually I am searching for events/places of interest to use in my newsletter and/or this blog.

It was fairly early in the day, and I'm pretty sure I'd had a decent breakfast that morning, but this magazine certainly captured my attention.

As the cover might hint, at least 10, if not more, pages were dedicated to glorious PIZZA! Or rather, establishments throughout Chiba that specialize in pizza. I think there were around 20 places covered, and I am sorely disappointed to say that I'd only been to one of them so far. I'll need to uh, permanently borrow this magazine from my office so I can remedy this problem...

Still, this reminded me that I had yet to take my dear friend to that one restaurant I'd gone to. We were due for a dinner date that weekend, so now we knew where to go!

Ninja shot of the restaurant entrance.

Yep, you guessed right - the wonderful I Love Pizza. Since I was introduced this place last fall, I've managed to come here 3-4 times. Which is fairly impressive for me since I don't think I'm one to eat out that often. I also never really suffered from the "omg I miss real pizza" syndrome that many others do - I actually really like the thin crust pizza that's more common/popular here in Japan (although I must agree that teriyaki chicken, corn, and mayonnaise are not my favorite choice for pizza toppings).

Salsa Caliente Pizza. Just the right punch of spiciness if you like spicy but not intensely painful spicy.

To be totally honest, as a kid I used to hate pizza crust. It was dry, tough, and bland. Maybe I only had crummy pizza in the US up until now? But I Love Pizza...is totally different. You can see (who I assume is) the owner/chef hand-tossing the pizza in the kitchen after you've placed your order. When it comes out, the pizza crust is fresh, perfectly crispy on the outside and wonderfully fluffy on the inside.

You can order pizzas in small, medium, or large sizes - beware, the larges are actually pretty big, comparable to a pizza you'd get back home. We ordered 2 larges, and while we didn't regret it, it was like fighting a losing battle. The pizza got the better of us, and we had to take the leftovers home.

The Love's Special...aka a Supreme Pizza.

When you're living in Japan (or abroad for that matter), every once in awhile you get struck by the "gaaaaaah I want to eat (insert name of food from back home)" panic attack. If you have an uncontrollable urge to eat good, authentic American pizza, I Love Pizza might just be the cure.

Feeling a little Yamato Nadeshiko.

Just wanna share a couple of "Japanese-y" things I've been up to recently:

Homemade amazake FTW! Nothing hits the spot like this after a brutally cold day out.

A former coworker and dear friend of mine once spoke to me about the wonders of amazake. She makes a point of making and drinking a cup every night, because it offers a number of benefits: for instance, apparently it contains a lot of nutrients (vitamins, protein, etc.), lowers cholesterol,  and is supposed to be really good for your skin?!

I am not sure how correct all of her information was, but if anything my friend (who I believe is in her mid-40s) looks fantastic, healthy - and her complexion is really nice. Plus, amazake really does  warm you up - with the weather as cold as it is, she had me sold.

Later, I happened to run across sakekasu (pictured in the bottom left of the photo above) when I visited a sake brewery awhile back. There are various ways to make your own amazake, but the way my friend does it - and how I do it - is basically to mix the sakekasu with water and sugar in a pot, and voila! All done.

Since I live alone and my sad excuse for a kitchen only has a single electric stove, which takes forever to heat up - and when it does, the settings are only OFF or VERY HIGH (heat), so making amazake on my own took way more effort than it needed to. But! I've discovered a recipe where you make it with the microwave - which might wind up being my new thing. Perhaps this time I'll be able to make amazake into a habit like my friend.

Simple recipe for making amazake:

1) Put sakekasu and ~50cc water (ratio of 1:4) in a microwavable cup, and heat for about 30 seconds.

2) Using a spoon or chopsticks, mix the sakekasu until no lumps remain.

3) Add enough water to fill the cup, as well as sugar to taste. Microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until hot...and you're done!

Onto a completely different topic...

Free tickets to the Kimono Beauty exhibit!

Another recent happening - I was typing furiously at work, focusing on some translation when one of my department's bosses - the Bucho, or Executive Director for Public Relations! came and sat next to me. I rarely see her even though we work on the same floor, perhaps because she's so high on the ladder that she has her own private office.

Anyway, while I was scrambling to collect my thoughts, she asked me if I'd been to the Kimono Beauty exhibit, being held at the Chiba City Museum of Art at that time. I said no - and then she pushed these tickets into my hands, and went on her way before I could even say thanks.

I had actually already been planning to go, but this incident just ensured that I would go - especially since my bucho had gone out of her way to give me these! So I went with some friends - on the very last day of the exhibit...but it was absolutely fantastic. It was even cooler because a lot of the other visitors that day were dressed in kimono, perhaps because they were all taking lessons in how to wear kimono and they came with their class, and/or because people in kimono got discounts on admission. In any case, many of them were just as wonderful to behold, and it took a lot of self-control NOT to ogle them.

Of course, photography wasn't allowed in the museum so I don't have any other photos to share - aside from this one below! These kimono were on display at entrance to the Taisho/Showa era kimono section of the exhibit, along with a sign that basically read "please take photos"...so of course, I had to oblige!

Viva Yamato Nadeshiko!

Earth Tree Cafe.

It's been almost four months since my last post, and I only have six months left here in Chiba - only time will tell where I'll end up next. But before my time's up, I need to make the most of my remaining time here. Or so went a recent conversation with a close friend.

Earthy, natural, and gorgeous.

It took place here, at the magical Earth Tree Cafe.

A couple weeks back, I took a day trip to the lovely Kamogawa, my previous home of 3 years, to join a seminar. Before I went back to home, my friend and I played catch up at this fabulous cafe, which opened up along the road last summer, right between Kamogawa Sea World and Kamogawa Grand Hotel.

With my handsome friend~.

I failed at properly taking photos of the interior, which has a very natural feel to it and was extremely charming. It's hard to tell, but there's a little loft on the second floor - there was a table up there, so I think guests can eat up there too.

Other photos of the cafe can be found here (which I found randomly through Google search):
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/d_toshizou_b/29778419.html

Also, while this might be really awkward to say - their restroom was particularly gorgeous. You can tell a lot of thought was put into the interior detailing. For one, apparently the flooring is made up of beach glass that the owners' daughter collected: http://halekaira.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2012/04/post-ebef.html

They have a stock of books and magazines, as well as... FREE WI-FI! Yes, you read that correctly. It's a freaking miracle, considering that the concept of free wi-fi is practically nonexistent in Japan, even in the middle of Tokyo. To encounter it in the inaka...woah.

If I still lived in Kamogawa, I'd be here everyday, warming up with my iPad and eating delicious foods (apparently that's what my friend does).  Speaking of delicious foods....

Here we go again with my fetish for signs (especially chalkboard ones)

Full of natural, organic goodness!

Most unfortunately, they ran out of the daily special zakkoku (grain) plate meal - or rather, they ran out of rice, which knocked out any items with rice. Sad face.

Nomnoms.

So instead, I opted for the grilled veggie burger, which comes with a side of salad and curry...as well as some kind of tea I can't recall - all super yummy! We also had chai tea, a mutual favorite.


The cafe is open from 11:00-20:00, Wednesday to Sunday. If you're ever in Kamogawa and looking for a nice place to chill - look no further!

Earth tree cafe, I'll be back!

Chasing autumn at Naritasan Park.

Hands down favorite shot of the day.

In my line of work, I've gone through a fair share of tourism information for Narita - particularly Naritasan Park. Oddly enough, I've been to the temple tons of times (like here, here, and here), but never to the park itself. Even though they're right next to each other. But finally, I was able to head over to the park with some good company - right on time for some gorgeous fall scenery.

Perhaps we got through half of park? (Kinda ran out of daylight towards the end of our visit.) There was lots of prettiness to be seen - I took a ton of photos, which I smooshed together in this collage. I'm not good with collages - but I think it gets the point across well enough....I love the fall.

Map of the park.

Okay, so this sign isn't that special but it just caught my eye. Particularly, I just kinda thought the message written on the lefthand side was nice. It says something along the lines of "Peace to those coming in(to the park), and happiness to those leaving." Whee! I certainly felt very happy and relaxed after my visit. Hopefully I can come again in the spring to see the plum blossoms (also something I missed out on last year grr).

She lives!

Okay, probably totally unnecessary, but it's good to have photos of people (with people in them??) just to spice things up a bit, right? Or perhaps I just wanted to stick in this photo somewhere because my hair looks like it's a crazy color (I think it might've been on the setting specifically for fall leaves.

Anyway, the way the weather is going, the foliage in Narita will probably only last until around the end of the week...if you get the chance though, go go go! For me, I think next up is Lake Kameyama in Kimitsu and the winter illumination in German Village at the beginning of next month.

2012 CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors in Makuhari.

Modern Makuhari peeks out from behind the views of Mihama-en (美浜園) park.

Let's take a time trip back to September. The blue and green tones make it look nice and cool, but it was actually still incredibly hot on this day. Still, that didn't stop me and the CHI-BA+KUN Ambassadors from enjoying the lovely Mihama-en (美浜園), a Japanese garden tucked away in the heart of Makuhari.

The park is around a 15 minute walk from JR Kaihin-Makuhari Station on the Keiyo Line. I go to Makuhari all the time and I had no idea this park even existed prior to this trip...in a good way! Now that I know it's here, it'll be a nice break away from big city hustle next time I go to Makuhari for shopping at the nearby outlets or to see a show at Makuhari Messe.

Makuhari's APA Hotel & Resort standing tall in the distance! And duckies.

So quaint but so gorgeous! I really do love how vivid the green tones turned out in the photos (but that's how brilliant the colors really were).

I wonder what the park looks like during other times of the year - might be a good time to visit the park again now, in the fall...hmm...

Empty exhibition hall.

After the park, we also got an insider tour of Makuhari Messe! Unfortunately none of my photos here turned out so this is all I've got...But anyway, the hall might seem tiny enough here, but if you've ever been to the Messe during an event, you'll realize just how gigantic the place is! Check out the Makuhari Messe website for upcoming events information: http://www.m-messe.co.jp/en/index.html.

Nomnomnom.

I won't delve too much into lunch...but it was at a favorite haunt of mine, Nanoha! It's an all you can eat place that specializes in mostly Japanese/organic/natural foods. (I've got other pictures from this place from when I took my parents here last year when they visited.)

Orientation about MIS.

Next stop: Makuhari International School! It's a sparkly new-ish (opened in April 2009) international school located in...well none other than Makuhari. Apparently it's the first international school in Japan to be accredited by the government, so one of the big "sales point" of this place is that students should have a much easier time transitioning into the Japanese education system. The school teaches grades P-6.

We had to be careful not to take any photos of the children (although we ran into the preschoolers during their recess and they were ADORABLE), but here's a random photo tour of inside the school!

One of the 6th grade classrooms (I think).

Roald Dahl corner in the library! Jealousness.

I happened to chance upon this and I thought it was super cute.

This reminded me of elementary school!

The kindergarten area! I think?

Anyway, it was really lovely touring MIS. Random thought - I feel like the interior is something that IKEA would come up with if they ever got to build/design their own school.

And it felt really weird/interesting - it was like being back in the US or some other English-speaking world - I guess that is obvious since it's an international school. Just seeing the children, some Japanese, and many from other ethnic backgrounds, interact with each other normally is not something you really get to see in Japan everyday. So this served as a nice trip to a separate little world!

Hop on the new Urban Flyer! Loving the spaceship feel and sleek colors.

Finally, it was time to head back to the Chiba Station area via the Chiba Urban Monorail, when we were pleasantly surprised to meet the new Urban Flyer model of the monorail, which they just started operating in July! It's waaaay more modern than the "standard" monorail cars (more spacious and classy interior, has a digital display showing the next station, and makes all sorts of exciting "woosh" sounds when it takes off).

Everyone was excited to ride the new monorail car :D

I commute on the monorail everyday, so I've found that I get to ride on the Urban Flyer at least 1-2 times a week. But since it's still fairly new, it's entertaining to watch other people on the platform and see how excited they get when this new car pulls in. I suppose I still react like that too.

My favorite part of the new monorail...!

Best thing about the new monorail car is that the conductor/operator's area has glass panels on the floor...so if you get to ride the Urban Flyer during the daytime, try to grab a spot right by the conductor's area! Also unlike the standard monorail cars, the Urban Flyer has a full glass door separating the conductor and passengers' areas, instead of just a tiny window - so you can observe how the monorail is operated while "walking on air." :D

Anyway, the next CHI-BA+KUN Ambassador next outing is coming up at the beginning of next month! Hopefully I will be a bit more punctual about updating from here on out!!