We close 2024 and greet 2025 with one of my favorite views - Minato Mirai 21 including the giant Ferris Wheel. I took this photo back in October 2013, when I took a sentimental journey to Yokohama.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year! May your 2025 be prosperous, peaceful and blessed with happiness!
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The title of this post is actually an allusion to the "Ramen Sunday" I usually had over the course of 3 years in Yokohama. Once a month, really good ramen is served at the basement of Yamate Church for people to enjoy after the Sunday morning Mass. Last Sunday, we decided to have dinner out for a change and ended up at Ramen Nagi for our meals.
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| Special ramen for the wife |
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| Butao for me and our daughter |
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| Red king with spice level 8 for a niece |
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| The Red King with Chashu on the side |
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One thing I got from when I lived in Japan that I still do now is maintain a planner. It actually functions both as a planner and a diary for me as I also include notes. We usually got free one year planners at our laboratory care of the various companies sending planners and calendars (those were really nice) to our senseis. The senseis collect the planners and calendars, and send them to the students for us to get one or more that we fancy. And so I have several pocket calendars from Japan as I also continued to receive some after I returned to the Philippines thanks to visiting professors who bring them to the office as omiyage. Later, while I was visiting Tokyo and Yokohama for a project, I found a nice 3-year diary from Nolty at a book shop at the Landmark Tower in Yokohama. I've acquired this planner ever since, purchasing one myself if I am in Japan or asking friends to get one for me. I only get one every three years so I can "plan" on getting the next one. I wondered if the newly opened Kinokuniya at BGC will have this for sale but then one friend already read my mind and got one for me when she was in Tokyo recently.
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| My planner/diary for 2023-2025 |
I got many planners from UP the past so many years but I have not used them. They are still in mint condition and I will feature them in a future post. I also have other planners given to me as gifts that I have not used even as notebooks. Most of them have no year indicated so I can use them for my notes for subjects I teach, for administrative work, and for projects ( I maintain one for each major project I'm involved in and another for smaller projects. ).
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I brought back a few sets of glazed tea cups that I acquired while living in Japan. Among these are two that I most likely bought from one of the weekend bazaars I went to with friends in Tokyo or Yokohama.
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| What's left of the price tag is still on this cup |
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| The cup has some elegant flower design with a glossy finish. |
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| The bottom bears the stamp of the maker. This was probably a Japanese artisan, and they are famous for having many craftsmen make these and similar items. |
I brought back a lot of things that have sentimental value from my time in Japan in the 1990s. I have yet to really account for many of these items aside from those that are conspicuously on display as well as those that I use. For example, I have a sake set at my parents' home in Cainta. I also have a rice bowl set that I left in our ancestral home in Cabatuan, Iloilo. I will try to document them and write about these items here.
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The tallest structure in Japan used to be the Landmark Tower located in the Minato Mirai 21 district in Yokohama. My first time to ride a high speed elevator was on the way to the view deck of the tower. The elevators also used to be the fastest in the world (there was a Guinness Book of World's Records plaque at the elevator lobby). A souvenir that I got from the tower's gift shop is this mug, which I used for my usual hot chocolate or tea at our laboratory at Yokohama Kokudai.
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| The mug bears a drawing of the Landmark Tower and a ship (Yokohama being a major port). |
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| Mug handle |
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| The other parts of the mug have no print |
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| It's not mentioned if this was 'Made in Japan' but the art work is by a Japanese graphics company. |
I brought this mug to our laboratory so I had my own mug for my drinks at the university. So this was in use for almost 3 years. It is currenly on display in my office. It is still in quite pristine condition for a 20+ year old mug that I used almost everyday during my stay in Yokohama.
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My collection includes several mugs I got while I was studying in Japan. This includes a souvenir mug I bought from the university coop shop that I used at home (first at the dormitory and later at a studio 'mansion' unit). It does not look like its been used a lot but I did use it almost every morning for about 3 years (1996-1999).
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| The mug bears the logo of YNU |
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| The handle |
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| No design at the other side of the mug |
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| There is no information where this mug was manufactured but I assume that this was "Made in Japan" as was many of the items at the University Coop was at the time. |
This was one of the mugs that I used while I was in Japan. This was my mug at home for my morning drinks. Nowadays, it sits on display in my office along with some mementos from my time abroad.
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This mug has a story behind it. I acquired the mug as a prize after filling up a stamp card for Mrs. Elizabeth Muffins. You had to purchase muffins or cookies like how you buy coffee and other beverages at Starbucks or CBTL. There are milestones like a free muffin after 8 or 10 stamps and then this mug when you fill out the entire card.
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| The mug is bigger than most of my mugs. My favorite beverage then and now is hot chocolate and I used to buy Morinaga or Meiji powdered chocolate for my morning drink. During the day, I would just get a can of hot choco or tea from the university vending machines. These also kept the hands warm during the cold months in Japan. |
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| The mug is basically plain except for the brand in the previous photo. |
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We 'quietly' celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary early this week. As we were suddenly busy with work and errands, and we were still hesitant about going out for lunch or dinner, we decided to try ordering Persian food from Behrouz, which is a well-established and popular Persian cuisine restaurant. They had just opened a branch along Sumulong Highway, which we imagine had a nice overlooking view of Metro Manila. It is located along a stretch where there are a bunch of restaurants including the landmark Padi's Point. We learned that they had some nice meal set packages that can be delivered to your home and decided to try it out.
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| Naan, basmati rice and a dip made out of finely ground chickpeas and olive oil |
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| Beef and chicken kebab off the skewers - the tomatoes and onions are also there |
A couple of weeks ago, we finally got to lunch out after our condo turnover. We decided to eat at an Indian cuisine restaurant at Uptown Bonifacio. I still have to write about that but will be drafting and posting that article soon. There are some similarities between Indian and Persian food but the kebabs (usually associated with Turkish food) had a distinct taste, which I thought was Persian rather than Indian. I had enjoyed Persian food while I was studying in Japan as a close friend always brought some for sharing during our lunches at the university. Thankfully, his wife was good at cooking and they shared with us their curries, kebabs and even sweets made out of pistachio and peanuts.
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I realized that I have not written about another sport that I enjoy watching and had an opportunity to play (very little) when I was studying in Japan. Aside from basketball, football, tennis and badminton, I also enjoy watching baseball. While I played basketball, football and volleyball in Physical Education classes during grade school and high school, I never got to play baseball until my time in Japan. I enjoyed baseball as a fan. And I learned about the rules from my father. Tatay played some baseball and softball when he was in high school in the province at a time the sports were still popular in the country. Fortunately, there was some Major League Baseball games that I got to watch on TV in the late 1980s. So I was able to watch the LA Dodgers win in 1988, when that city's team also won the NBA Championship.
There was an 8-university tournament among the transportation engineering and planning laboratories in the Kanto area. What was an annual tournament was held at the Tokyo Science University or Science University of Tokyo (Rikadai) spacious campus grounds in Noda, Chiba. Among the universities participating were the University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology (where I was Visiting Scientist in 1996), Saitama University (where I was visiting Scientist there in 2001 and 2008), and my school, Yokohama National University. I don't recall us winning many games but it was all for fellowship among the students, research associates, and some of the faculty (mostly the young ones) who chose to participate.
This was held in the summers and I recall labmates practicing at the field near our building as well as during our summer seminar. I could catch the ball but I couldn't throw it like my Japanese friends. They played baseball when they were young and a couple played the equivalent of varsity when they were in high school. We had a really good pitcher and a few good hitters during my second year in Japan. I think that team was good enough to win the tournament but another lab had a better game. I sat out that one, content to watch the game with the other foreign students who also attended for the fellowship (read: after tournament party) part.
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| I have a few baseball caps in my cap collection. These I purchased myself and were not pasalubong. |
More on baseball in future posts!
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With the Tokyo Olympics recently concluded and me supposed to be in Hiroshima now and participating in an international conference, I am somewhat nostalgic about Japan. Having lived there for a few years while studying, and then staying again for a few months twice later (2001 and 2008) as a visiting researcher, I miss many of my haunts.
Another discovery one time I was searching for an item in my office drawers is a stash of cards from the various times I was staying in Japan. You can purchase these at the station, convenience stores or from the bus driver.
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| From top left (clockwise): Kyoto city single day bus pass, Tokyo single day bus pass, Kanto region (Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama, etc.) bus cards (1,100, 3,360 and 5,850 yen denominations), JR Suica card, and Yokohama Triennial Bus Card. |
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I was searching for something among the various items in my office desk drawers when I came upon my stash of old point cards I had accumulated during my student days in Japan. So I took a photo of them in collage style.
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| Clockwise from upper left: Yodobashi Camera, HMV Music Store, Tower Records, RECO fan, and Yamagiwa |
Among the five point cards, only Yodobashi Camera is an electronics and appliance chain. The others are all music stores. I patiently scanned the RECO fan store near Yokohama Station for second hand CDs (I accumulated a lot of these that still survive and I listen to from time to time). I also did so for Yamagiwa's Kannai and Akihabara stores. Though there's a Tower Records store near the JR Kannai Station, my favorite was their big store in Shibuya where at its peak each floor was a music category. I get lost in the Jazz, Classical and Pop/Rock floors. But perhaps my most memorable buys at Tower Records were Far Side greeting cards that I sent to my future wife.
I also should have the point cards of other shops like Bic Camera, Sakuraya, Tokyu Hands and Laox as well as some hobby shops in Akihabara, Shinjuku and Shibuya that I frequented even just for window shopping. Many of these stores and branches are no longer there; victims of the changing times (e.g., Who buys old CDs now?). I would love to go back on another sentimental journey to Japan if only to go around and see what stores are still there in my former haunts.
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When I was living in Japan in the late 1990s and again in the early 2000s, I recall walking a lot every day. I felt healthy then not just because I thought I ate well but I had a lot of exercise, too. I consciously walked and jogged in the mornings and/or afternoons depending on the weather. And my commute included walks between my train station and the university. The following article seems to support what should be a healthy lifestyle without gym time.
Okumura, K. (November 6, 2020) “How Japanese People Stay Fit for Life, Without Ever Visiting a Gym,”Medium.com, https://kokumura.medium.com/how-the-japanese-exercise-to-stay-youthful-be2d6105e6e6.
I tried to estimate the number of steps I took on average each day. It seems I could easily make more than 10,000 steps everyday as I usually walk more than 6,000 steps for my commute and the typical walks in and around campus (including lunch time strolls with friends). My morning and afternoon walks can match these 6,000 steps. These can even be more during weekends when I’m out in the city or in Tokyo to be with friends. These steps seem nothing then and I loved to walk around partly to keep my sanity while studying there.
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| My usual walk between the university and the Kami-Hoshikawa Station of Sotetsu Line |
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| My usual walk between JR Ishikawa-cho Station and Sacred Heart Cathedral (Yamate Catholic Church). I would usually be walking around the Motomachi district on Sundays after church. |
When I was visiting researcher later at another university, my step count was about the same if not higher. The only difference perhaps between Yokohama and Saitama was that I had a bicycle when I was in Saitama. The bicycle increased my range and I took the bicycle lent to me by friends to dome groceries or explore the nearby wards. Those were the days, I guess, that I wished I still have now in terms of more active transportation.
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This Christmas is quite different from Christmases past. For one, there is a guarded feeling about it and around us as we found ourselves reeling from COVID-19. Large gatherings, the ones we usually have during Christmas, are discouraged if not prohibited. We are asked to exercise self restraint and caution vs. gatherings that may spark infections at this time of year. Yet, we find ways to make up for these restrictions. "Tuloy ang Pasko!" as we say. It is a defiance to the gloom brought about by the pandemic, and reflects our hope of the latter ending soon.
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| After all those months of restrictions, we decided to put up our parol (Christmas lantern) in October, even before Halloween. To be honest, we had never removed our lantern for a couple of years but then had to make some house repairs after quarantine was eased. We removed the lantern from our balcony and tested it to see if the lights were all functioning. They weren't and we had our parol repaired before re-installing it way before Christmas. Anyhow, we like to joke about the Christmas season in the Philippines beginning when the first month ending in 'ber' arrives. I got this parol around in 2016 in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga. It replaced an older one that was damaged and which hung from our old home. |
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| It felt great to hear Christmas Eve Mass from the Sacred Heart Cathedral (Yamate Catholic Church). It brought back a lot of fond memories. I served in both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses there in the 1990s. I did one reading for Christmas Eve Mass and two during the Christmas Day Masses, when most people were at work and few if anyone volunteered to serve (December 25 is not a holiday in Japan). I usually took the day off from my laboratory. I have a fond memory of one time I came to school after church. My sensei reminded me that it was Christmas and told me to go home or be with my friends. He laughed as we shared some wine that evening before we called it a day. |
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| We have two belens at our home. This one that we got at the Padre Pio shrine near Eastwood is set-up at our living room and is a permanent fixture there. |
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| This second belen we acquired last year (2019) and we intend to set-up during Christmas in order to preserve it. We have another, older belen, which was a gift from our Ninang Mila when I was still single and residing in Yokohama. It is made of crystal so we chose not to bring it out while our daughter is still quite clumsy. She turns 7 in January though and perhaps next year, I will bring out this belen. |
From our family to yours - A Blessed Christmas! May we all find peace, love and hope in this celebration of life!
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I purposely used quotation marks for 'revisiting' in the title of this post as this was a virtual visit to Yamate Church (Sacred Heart Cathedral). By chance, I read in the church's weekly newsletter that there was an online Mass. And so I decided to attend this instead. The 8:30 AM (PST : 9:30 AM JST) was about the same time the English Mass was celebrated there when I was residing in Yokohama. Here are some screenshots of the altar before and during the Mass.
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| The altar is how it was the last time I was in Sacred Heart in 2013. I was not able to go there in 2014, the last time I was in Japan but I assumed little has changed in the interiors of the church. |
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| The priest is from the Philippines and his homilies are well worded and articulated for an international congregation. I recall that during my 3 years + in Yokohama, a Filipino priest celebrated Mass at Yamate only once a month and on a Sunday afternoon for the Philippine Mass (in Filipino or Tagalog). I must confess I did not attend those Masses as I usually served in the morning 10-11AM Mass. Sunday afternoons were usually spent in Tokyo with friends who are mostly based there or, if I felt like it, on my own personal adventures. |
I will try to write about my memories and experiences at Yamate. I still am saddened when I think about all the photos from the 1990s and early 2000s with friends and our activities there. I am just glad I can keep in touch with some of them after we have all left Yokohama for our respective countries.
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| Fr. Burke had that winning smile and calmness that made you feel comfortable whenever you're with him. |
Whenever we are at the office, we just ordered our lunch instead of us going out. Though we miss going out for lunch, we are aware of the risks and think we are actually also more productive if we stayed at the office. So right before lunch time, we usually ask one another (whoever's there at the office) what we'd like to eat for lunch. We had not eaten at the Gyoza and Ramen House in UP Village since February of this year so we decided to order our lunch meals via Grab Food.
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| Gyoza and chahan (Chinese style fried rice) |
The I got my usual order of gyoza (steamed and then sear fried pork dumplings) and chahan (Chinese style fried rice). The set is comfort food for me. It brings out memories of my living in Japan. I always ordered this set whenever we (friends and I) went out to eat at the Chinatown in Yokohama. My Ninang (godmother) also like eating at the Chinese restaurants when we met up and we enjoyed the gyoza set whether its lunch or dinner.
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| Typical 5-pack Yakult you can buy at the supermarket. There's also the blue Yakult Light, the less sugar version, but I haven't seen those in the supermarket lately. |
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| I used to purchase 2 packs of 4 of these. Yakult 400 had almost double the amount of regular Yakult and you could only buy these from Yakult distributors (remember the Yakult Lady?) in Japan. |
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| At the height of the lockdowns, some people hoarded Yakult, not for themselves or their families but to sell. Reports of this practice prompted supermarkets to place limits on the Yakult you can buy. The company also issued the above statement concerning this including an item on the prices of Yakult. |
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| Spanish style sardines from Zamboanga City |
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| Milk chocolate containing 30% cacao and salted caramel |
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| Details on the chocolate at the back of the package |
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| It is good to know that Leonidas is part of a group that advocates for sustainable cocoa |
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| Nutrition information |
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| The chocolate is wrapped in foil |
