1st world problems

I would say that customer service in Japan is pretty good except when it comes to banking or in this case credit cards

The other day Satoshi updated his bank passbook (yup japan still has these) and noticed a charge from a credit card that he doesn’t use

He wanted to call them to ask about the charge but their hours were only until 17:00 on weekdays! 

and they aren’t open on weekends 

of course there was a holiday the other day too

so Wednesday Satoshi came home early so he could call this company

well if you wanted to actually speak to someone the wait was over 30 minutes on hold!

you could request for them to call you back but it wouldn’t be on the same day!

Since satoshi doesn’t have much patience these days, Kat sat near the phone for 38 minutes and waited for someone to answer 

it turned out that the charge was his annual fee for the credit card 

it was discounted because he now uses online statements

whew it wasn’t a fraud charge 

but! less than a minute after hanging up with this company they sent him an online survey for feedback on their service!

I told him he should tell them that their operating hours and wait times are too inconvenient

1st world problems…

atsugari vs samugari

Some people here when the calendar changes to September, they automatically start wearing long sleeves and shoes…

me, I’m still in slippers and using my secret weapon

In Japanese they call people “atsugari” those that cannot tolerate heat…the opposite is “samugari” which is cannot tolerate cold

me I'm atsugari while Satoshi is samugari...

We're supposed to have krazy rains again today...hopefully there won't be any damage

are you atsugari or samugari?!

aloe

Yesterday was excited to notice a nub coming out at the bottom of aloe

and one from the center

will need to remember to bring aloe indoors this winter...
 

kaki

Even if the weather is saying it is still Summer, the foods that we now see in the markets are saying it is Autumn.

I had bought these kaki (persimmon) that were grown in Nara about a week ago.

Since we received grapes from my host mom we ate those first, and we finally got to eat these kaki over the weekend

They were on the smaller size but perfectly ripe and juicy.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to getting more Autumn fruits in the coming days.

kanno seimenjo

I talked about Kanno Seimenjo before here.

We tried the gyoza recently...20 pieces for 650 yen (tax included)

They come frozen, my peeve is the l-o-n-g plastic container they are in

I cut the tray and plastic package in half then put it into a ziploc so that I could freeze the other 10 pieces

These do not come with instructions on how to fry them up so I adlibbed

I defrosted them in the refrig before cooking, but would leave them frozen until cooking so that it doesn't stick to the plastic tray

I heated some oil in a pan then put down my gyoza and then added some water for it to steam at the end...cooking it for a total of 7 minutes

The gyoza snob approved these...I think it was because the wrappers are on the thin side (most gyoza here in Kanto have thicker wrappers)

The filling has the right amount of garlic in them.

I ate mine with black vinegar and pepper.

I did see a "stamina" version in their freezer, which usually means they have more garlic in them, these looked a little larger, we will try these another time.

We also tried the nikuman...260 yen (tax included)

These are HUGE!

barely fit in my pot with my steamer basket

these are well seasoned and the ratio of bread to filling is just right

The package had instructions on how to heat these up

BUT, I didn't know if their instructions were for the frozen version or thawed out version

I had thawed out our nikuman in the refrigerator the night before

So instead of their 15-20 minutes in the steamer instructions, I just did 15 minutes since it takes the water about 5 minutes to come to a boil on my stove, I let it steam with the boiling water for about 5 minutes, then I turned off the heat and let it sit in the steam for another 5

They also had instructions if you wanted to zap them but most times these types of foods get really hard after zapping so I went the steaming route...

Satoshi had his with karashi mustard

We will get these again.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to trying their noodles (ramen & pasta) this winter...

this and that

the temps have kinda dropped but the humidity hasn't 

found this furry one trying to keep cool...
 

have you ever seen deer pooping? when we were in Nara, it was my first time seeing this...balls of poop just coming out of its butt like water...

seeing this bread kinda reminded me of this...sorry if you were eating...ha!

toyota sport 800

morris minor

blood moon eclipse

beautiful sunrises...

we are all getting tired of this heat...

Yesterday, got my jasmine lemon tea fix from Tokyo Doujiang

And fan tuan fix

and peanut bun fix...their prices have gone up and they are more popular than ever, but they are under staffed so be prepared to wait

At about 15:00-ish we had a "guerilla" storm...was rainy with thunder and lightning for an hour non-stop

Since we live between Kawasaki (Kanagawa) and Ikegami (Tokyo) we get both alerts...so loud! scared me twice!

Luckily Satoshi was able to get home without having to wait for the trains, many had stopped service due to flooding!

It's the start of a 3-day weekend, have a safe one!

ootoya

I really like the black vinegar sauce that is on the fried fish and fried chicken at Ootoya

It's been awhile since we've eaten there and so the other day we went for lunch and they had a pork and tsukune combination with the black vinegar sauce.

I've never "counted" how many pieces of "meat" were in my serving until this visit...

There were only 2 pieces of pork and 2 pieces of tsukune (oh and if you are interested, there are also 2 of each veggie)

I was disappointed because one piece of pork was really teeny and the other piece was really fatty and hard.as.rock.

Will go back to ordering the fried fish version...hopefully I'll receive 4 normal sized pieces...