Maru no Uchi Tanita Shokudo – Eating for the Patient

Being in Tokyo for a day this week I used the opportunity to visit the restaurant of the Japanese scale maker Tanita which opened earlier this month. Tanita, the company which introduces itself as the one “who measures health” (「健康をはかる」タニタです）, had already published two cookbooks based on the recipes the company’s cafeteria offers its employees. All of these recipes describe set menus designed to provide around 500 kcal and hardly any salt while it is claimed they are tasty and filling. With these cookbooks Tanita tackled two problems of contemporary Japanese eating habits: Eating too much and too salty. Both books became bestsellers in no time and now it seems like Tanita hits the spot again with its restaurant based on the same principles.

“Maru no uchi Tanita Shokudo” is located between Tokyo station and the imperial palace. Walking to the restaurant you pass expensive brand shops and busy salarymen. This location certainly was chosen on purpose and hints to a Japanese characteristic. Unlike other industrialized countries, in Japan being overweight is not a problem of the poor but the wealthy so it’s no wonder that a restaurant which aims at educating people about food and maintaining a healthy weight is found in Maru no uchi.

When I arrived at the restaurant at 13:30 approximately 30 people were already standing in line waiting to get in. But these weren’t people who just waited to get a place in the restaurant as I thought at first, they were some of the lucky ones who managed to get a ticket in the morning.

Since Tanita Shokudo opened its doors on January 11th, there’s such a rush of people, that a ticket system was introduced to reduce frustration among guests and disturbance to the neighboring restaurants. 400 Tickets are now being distributed every morning from 8:30. You have to choose the time you want to eat while the restaurant is operating between 11 am and 3 pm, but you have to fetch your ticket early because they are given away in no time. It’s also not possible to get more than one ticket per person. Tanita says that information on the ticket system are published on newspapers and the restaurant’s homepage, but there are still many people who come without knowing of the system and have to leave disappointedly. While I was observing the scene, there was also an elderly woman who must have stood in line for over an hour without having a ticket and had to go when she finally was about to enter the restaurant.

For a last chance to enter the restaurant you have to wait at least until 14:30 when all persons with tickets have been served. If you’re lucky, some people cancelled their ticket so that a few more can come in. Around 2 pm the restaurant staff directed those willing to try their luck to wait on the stairs not far away from Tanita Shokudo so that they wouldn’t block the way to other restaurants.

In the meanwhile, guests of the restaurant also have a chance to get a free counselling from a dietician. There were constantly four to five people waiting for their turn to get into the totally transparent consultation room. The waiting guests observed and commented on the procedure inside and since the door wasn’t even closed they must have been able to understand the conversation inside. Privacy Zero.

The counselling starts with measuring weight and other data of the guest by stepping on a large scale. It is connected to a printer so that the data is immediately printed and discussed afterwards. The whole procedure takes around 5 minutes.

At 14:40 ten of the eighteen people waiting on the stairs are allowed to get into the restaurant, the others, including me, have to be patient a little bit longer and still don’t know whether their patience will pay off with a meal in the end. After another ten minutes the last six people are lucky and two have been waiting in vain… Being number 13 I am lucky to get in, but the usual choice between the weekly (900 Yen) and the daily (800 Yen) set menu has been reduced to the weekly only.

This week’s set menu consists of vegetables and fried codfish with a Japanese lemon and pepper sauce. The side dishes are the same as for the daily set menu and today consist of a dish made of carrot and konnyaku garnished with mangetouts, some cucumber and perilla mint salad and a soup containing onions and sprouts. Not to forget the white rice which you can take as much of as you like, but Tanita provides rice bowls with measuring lines that mark 100 and 150 g of rice. To make sure that your set menu doesn’t exceed 500 kcal you should take only 100 g rice. Tea is also offered and you can choose between green tea (sencha) or roasted tea (houjicha), both hot or cold.

Although the rice bowls have measuring lines, rice can be stuffed pretty much so that it’s difficult to measure the amount just by a line. Therefore, every table is equipped with a small scale so that you can check how much rice you really took. Unfortunately, I noticed the scale too late (it stood in a vertical position on top of the display at my table so I mistook it for a stand-up display), so I couldn’t check my amount of rice…

There’s also a timer at every table to check the time you take for eating. Both the scale and timer aim at educating people to reduce their rice consumption and eat slowly. Eating Shovelling large amounts of rice in a ridiculously short time is an often seen feature of Japanese men and said to be one of the reasons why men become overweight. All the devices used and displayed at Tanita Shokudo can also be purchased there to manage your eating habits at home, too. (One rice bowl for 1600 Yen anyone?)

I’m a quite slow eater anyways so I didn’t have to slow down to take more than 20 minutes as it is advised. Also, the meal is designed to be chewed a lot so it naturally takes some time to eat. The pieces of carrots and kabu, for example, were relatively big and hardly cooked so that they were still hard. I liked that they were not seasoned at all and enjoyed the pure taste of fresh vegetables. But this certainly is a point that won’t fit the taste of the Japanese at first. I often hear comments of Japanese about European food which they think is to bland and cooking for my boyfriend often results in a complaint that I should use more salt while I’m thinking I should be more careful with salt next time… The following video probably describes very well the impression of many Japanese eating at Tanita Shokudo:

What the guy in the video uses most often to describe the taste of the food is “yasashii” which means something like gentle and nice. He states that “it doesn’t contain anything unneeded” and that the miso soup tastes normal but not salty. While I really like Japanese food I find it too salty or sweet at times and therefore was surprised at the plain taste found here at first. The only spice that seems to be used a lot is pepper. It took me 22 minutes and 21 seconds to finish everything and I was pleasantly filled afterwards.

After all, eating at Maru no Uchi Tanita Shokudo is nothing for people on a tight schedule. At least not as long as you have to queue for a ticket in the morning and then queue again to get in at the time you want to eat. I wonder how long this rush on the restaurant will continue and whether the Japanese will get used to this somewhat tasteless taste. Reading the first comments on “Tabelog”, a website for restaurant reviews, most commentators agree on the weak taste and one even describes the meal as an “expensive hospital menu”.

I would be happy to hear your impression of Tanita Shokudo if you find the time and patience to eat there

Oops, it’s been ages…

… since I wrote something on my blog. This is due to the fact that I got very busy from November last year and didn’t do much interesting stuff. On the opposite, I had to cut back on social life a lot because I expectantly had to write a quite long research proposal for the extension of my scholarship within a week. I was glad to write this paper though, because it helped me to sort out my thoughts and bring the work of half a year into an order I could work with in the future.

My supervisor at Osaka was very pleased about the paper and formed a small study group together with other students who research about similar topics. Later I could also use this paper for a speech at university and when I sent it to my doctoral supervisor he was also pleased to see how I’m proceeding with my research.

On the other hand, I had to postpone other things I would have liked to do already and now I’m stuck in preparations for the entrance exam in February. I still have a lot to do for that but only a dozen days left…

So I’m looking forward to getting more active again when the exam is done, but I got a feeling that if I pass, my working style will have to change a lot from April and leave me much more busy than now. でも頑張ります！I’ll keep on fighting!

Sake with Wasabi

At the beginning of September I went to a fancy beef restaurant in Kyoto called Inayoshi. I got gift coupons worth 10.000 Yen from my company for my birthday which were to spend at Inayoshi or for Japanese classes. Of course I opted for a nice evening with my boyfriend at Inayoshi. Usually, I wouldn’t even think of spending 5.000 Yen per person for a course menu but thanks to the coupons I could get the course menu for free and spent only a little for drinks and to sit outside just next to the Kamo river.

The night was warm and the full moon shining so it was a very good choice to sit outside. I enjoyed it very much. The service was excellent as it usually is in Japan and we were mostly served by a waitress who was at least in her 60s, maybe 70s. She didn’t have the manners you’d expect from such a restaurant. In fact she would be more fitting into an izakaya, but I appreciated her casual and open-hearted manner.

Every course was explained to us as well as how to eat it. The main dish steak for example, came together with onion sauce, a very mild and delicious salt and fresh wasabi so you can enjoy different tastes or combine them. When we ordered some sake the waitress also told us that she likes to drink it with salt or wasabi so we should try these rather unusual ways of drinking sake. Although she had already taken the salt and wasabi she went to get it again for this reason. And it was really not bad!

Fresh wasabi is a delight in itself and combined with the clear taste of sake you can enjoy the wasabi almost purely.

Sake with salt also wasn’t bad at all but I wouldn’t advise you to try it with normal kitchen salt. If you got some nice tasting salt you should give it a try though

Kannon-sama, Katana and Sake – A Trip to the Countryside of Nara

Wow, it’s already October and I still have so much to write about what happened in September! Remember I made a trip to Uji at the end of August? It was a trip organised by a tourist agency to promote Japanese tourism. At the beginning of September I participated in another trip. This time we went to the countryside of Nara.

Our small group met at Kintetsu Nara station early in the morning and hat a short meeting at a hotel near-by. The sky was clear and it was going to be a bloody hot day, but we didn’t know how exhausting this day was going to be at that time… After our meeting we turned back to the station because we weren’t visiting Nara city but going far into the countryside of the prefecture.

Our first stop was Hasedera. This temple is dedicated to Kannon-sama, the goddess of mercy.It is surrounded by green mountains and designed to please Kannon-sama. Different kinds of flowers are planted all over the temple for this reason. Exept for September some kind of flowers are in bloom throughout the year, so unfortunately we happened to see the temple during the least fortunate time. But still it is a truly beautiful and impressive temple complex. The path to the main hall which contains a huge statue of Kannon-sama is completely roofed. Round lamps hang in line above the steps that seem to continue endlessly. Half the way up we made a stop at a small temple building where we wrote a prayer to Kannon-sama – with brush and ink of course. Being the only Western foreigner of the group it took me the most time to finish, but it didn’t turn out too bad. Then we continued to climb the steps to the main hall.

If you reach the main hall and go to the veranda in front of it you can view over the temple buildings that hide among the trees, just like Kannon-sama who faces in the same direction. Usually, you can only see her face this way but we were allowed to enter the main hall to pray just in front of her. We also got a five-coloured wrist band which symbolizes our new bond with Kannon-sama and where blessed with water from the vase she holds. Both the five colours of the wrist band as well as the blessing mean to give us wisdom. What more could students wish for?

When we descended we had lunch before returning to the station. As it was really hot there was barely something better than cold noodles (hiyashi somen) and that’s what we had. They came together with lots of other delights of Japanese cuisine. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to relax because we had to catch the next train which leaves only once an hour. Walking really fast uphill we made it just a minute before the train arrived.

We didn’t drive far so again there was no time to relax and the next stop was even going to be more exhausting. This time we had to find our way uphill through a tiny village and rice paddies. Our goal was the house of a sword smith who showed us some of his katana and explained the different sizes and how to look at them. If you stretch out your arm you can look at the whole katana. Then you should move it slightly to see the pattern of it’s blade. The sword smith could tell during which period a katana was made by this method. Then we were allowed to hold the swords by ourselves. They weren’t as heavy as I expected.

Then the sword smith also showed us his factory. The long hammer you see on the picture had to be handled by three men before a machine took their part. It takes about eight days to create the blade of the katana. It’s handle and other parts are the work of other craftsmen. Today katana are only used for decoration. Engraved with sutras they serve as a good-luck charm for the house.

The last stop of our tour was a sake brewery. Again we went a few stations by train and also by bus. At the bus station I saw a sign saying they were taking measures against terrorism and I wondered what terrorist would attack the deep countryside of Japan? People are really hysterical about terrorism these days…

Anyways, we arrived at the brewery and were fetched by its owner. He was very friendly and offered us different kinds of sake including some rare varieties. There was for example a five years old sake which turned into a yellowish colour and tasted amost like wine. It’s amazing how the crystal clear sake made of rice can change that much over time. We also tried a sweet sake that tasted similar to umeshu which is made of plums. Unfortunately, there was no sake in process at that time and although the owner showed us his factory we couldn’t see much more than empty buckets and containers. On the other hand his 300 year old house was amazingly beautiful and well worth to see.

Nara is full of houses like this wich are usually well preserved. It’s like you’re doing a time travel and should not be missing on your places to visit if you come to Kansai.

Come to Japan! There’s No Reason Why You Should Not!

I’m proud that A Modern Girl invited me to contribute something to this month’s Blog Matsuri which she’s hosting on the topic “Reasons to Visit Japan” I just peeped at the contributions she already received and have to say there’s already a great collection of reasons to visit Japan ranging from delicious food and interesting places to mountains and sports. You could add hundreds more reasons to visit Japan as there really is something for everyone. Needless to say that Japan is the counrty for all you anime and manga lovers or those interested in Japanese traditions, but even if you’re not into these things, Japan offers whatever you want – be it modern architecture, shopping paradises, beaches, art exhibitions… You name it.

But despite all these reasons to visit Japan is struggeling with a lack of tourists and there are several arguments which hinder tourists from coming. But I want to show you that there’s NO reason why you shouldn’t visit Japan.

Argument No 1: Japan is too far away.

Yes, unless you’re from Asia Japan is very far away, so most tourists have to travel around the globe to come here. But this can also be an argument for a visit to Japan. Since it is far away from your country you can be sure to experience a different culture. While being a developed, post-modern country many things developed differently in Japan than what you may be used to and Japan managed to preserve much of its traditions which can be seen for example in the vast amount of festivals all around the year as well as in everyday life. So why don’t you pluck up your courage and try a big jump overseas? (No, fear of flying is not an accepted argument either. Grab some Valium or alcohol or whatever makes you relax. Just don’t take too much )

Argument No 2: I don’t speak Japanese.

Wherever you go speaking some words in the language of your host country opens many doors. The same holds true for Japan and here even more so. Foreigners who have been to Japan agree that as soon as you open your mouth to utter a word in Japanese the prompt reaction will be Jouzu!!!!! (上手!!!!) or something similar meaning you’re Japanese is good. Also speaking fluent Japanese without saying a word is very easy as the following video demonstrates:

Argument No 3: Now! Seriously, how am I supposed to get along without any Japanese?

Don’t worry! Most place names are written in English, too, and virtually all touristic spots provide descriptions in English. Though it is often not clear from the beginning, many places also offer audio guides in different languages, so it’s worth to ask for those. Also when you eat out it is easy to order by pointing to pictures in the menu or the real looking meals made of wax. By the way, many Japanese do understand English or other languages but they are often too shy to speak as they are afraid of making mistakes. But if you’re in need you can be assured that the Japanese will try their best to lend you a helping hand.

Argument No 4: Japan is too expensive.

Well, yes, it is expensive but there are still ways to travel Japan on a budget. The internet is full of tips how to save money in Japan. If you’re not too picky you can find cheap but good food anywhere as well as hostels. Couchsurfing is pretty popular in Japan as well and offers not only an opportunity to sleep but also to meet interesting people. (I know a guy who met his girlfriend through couchsurfing in Japan ) Concerning travelling, I saw a hitchhiker going to Hiroshima just around the corner the other day so this is a doable way of getting around. You can find information on hitchhiking in Japan here.

Argument No 5: Okay, but what’s with radiation?

Now this is a serious problem not only to the people living in the affected areas in Tohoku but to all people living in Japan as long as we can’t be sure how much contaminated food reaches the supermarkets throughout the country… But beside food you don’t need to worry about radiation unless you really go close to certain areas near the Fukushima plant. If you want to make sure radiation levels you can find a map here and many cities publish current radiation levels on their websites. I notices this when I went to Karuizawa a few weeks ago. Located in Nagano Karuizawa is much nearer to Fukushima than Osaka where I use to live, but still radiation levels are not the least elevated.

Nevertheless the fear that radioactivity is lingering everywhere prevents many tourists from coming to Japan and is causing hard times for tourism. In fact, they are so hard that a travel agency in Kansai organised several day trips all over Kansai with foreign students to support tourism in the area. My recent trip to Uji in Kyoto was one of these and I took part in a trip to Nara – which I still have to post about – as well. So if you’re still concerned about radiation why don’t you visit Kansai, Shikoku or Kyushu -  or even Okinawa? There’s really no reason why you shouldn’t

PS: Read the other entries for the September Japan Blog Matsuri and find more reasons to go to Japan!

Beer, Beer, Beer!

It’s the 150th anniversary of the German-Japanese friendship and what would be better to celebrate this with the most famous German beer festival: Oktoberfest!

While the Oktoberfest in Osaka naturally was much much smaller than the original the beer was just as good and a Japanese band playing and singing German songs created a little bit of Munich in the heart of Osaka. When I went there with some friends on a Monday many Japanese were already drinking and enjoying the party although typhoon No. 12 still brought some stronger wind from time to time. But this couldn’t hinder us from celebrating

Although the prices were trice as expensive as they are in Munich I drank three glasses of my favorite beer. A little white sausage was served with it for free and we shared some other German food we bought. Compared to the beer food prices were almost alright, but the food wasn’t very good. They tried to serve some Curry Sausage but with normal ketchup instead of the spicy curry variant and the sausages weren’t really grilled…

But still the atmosphere was great. The band played some songs you would typically hear in a beer tent and also some more traditional folk music. The female lead singer was a bit too perfect and often sang the songs like an opera what I found quite funny. Anyways, they succeeded to create a good atmosphere and animated the visitors to dance.

By the way, some of you might wonder why the Oktoberfest is celebrated in September instead of October. This is due to the weather in Germany. While the Oktoberfest originally took place in October its start became earlier as it became more popular to enjoy the warm late summer.

Bottoms and Mouths – Japanese Place Names

Remember I wanted to write a post about the interesting chat we had with the owner of the tiny restaurant in Karuizawa? Well, here it is

When we went to Karuizawa by train I noticed some places contained the kanji for bottom which is shiri (尻) in Japanese. For example Shiojiri (塩尻). While I wondered if this was supposed to mean that we’re now at the arse end of Japan, my boyfriend took the chance to ask the restaurant owner about the real meaning.

He happened to be quite interested in this kind of question and happened to have read a book on Japanese place names so he could tell us a lot about it. In the case of shiri the name indicates an end. For example the end of a river which is its source. Of course you would say a river begins at its source but speaking of the place where the river flows into the sea as the river mouth calling the other end the bottom makes sense. There’s a place called Umijiri (海尻) which would be just this: The bottom of the sea – umi no shiri.

Shiri could also hint to the end of a road as it is the case in Shiojiri. Since Shiojiri is located in the mountains of Nagano there is no sea from which to gain salt, so salt had to be brought from the Pacific Ocean or the Sea of Japan. Shiojiri marks the point where the salt routes from both seas meet and come to an end. Thus it’s the end of salt – shio no shiri or Shiojiri.

The restaurant owner also told us about other place names like for example Managashi (馬流). People used to cross the river at this place with their horses but apparently many horses were flushed away by the current so the place got its name: Horse flush.

Do you know other stories behind Japanese place names? I’d love to hear them

The Long Journey to Karuizawa

Last week I went to Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture. I went there together with some friends using the so-called seishun-18-kippu (青春１８切符). It’s a ticket which is very cheap and can be bought until the age of 25. You can travel with this ticket on JR-trains all over Japan, but you’re not allowed to take express trains such as the shinkansen which charge extra. Also in many regions trains may leave only once an hour or even less, so a journey by seishun-18-kippu can take a looong time… That’s what we experienced, too.

Our Journey was planned to take around 10 hours from Osaka, but it was a tight schedule and the time to change trains was barely enough to get to the next train. As soon as someone had to go to the toilet or wanted to buy some food, the schedule wasn’t practicable anymore. Of course someone had to go to the toilet and while we thought to catch up with him later at first, it turned out that we had to wait somewhere to meet him. There was only a choice left whether to wait 40 minutes in Nagano or up to two and a half hours later. We opted for waiting in Nagano, but this meant that we had to wait at other stations, too, which stretched our journey to 13 hours in the end.

At least we could use the breaks and have lunch or buy food (and booze ) for later. This was a good decision because shops close very early in Karuizawa and we wouldn’t have been able to buy anything when we finally arrived at our blockhouse at around 9 pm.

Because it is quite cool and not humid Karuizawa is a famous vacation spot in summer and many wealthy Japanese, especially from Tokyo, have a cottage here. It is said to be crowded throughout August, but when we arrived there at the very end of August the season seemed already over. Only in the shopping street, the Karuizawa Ginza, it was still lively.

We had great weather on our first day at Karuizawa and walked to Karuizawa station to catch a bus for the Shiraito waterfalls (白糸の滝). If you have a Japanese driving license and travel with a group, the cheapest and most convenient way to get around in Karuizawa is to rent a car. Although there are a few bus lines they depart only once an hour and if you miss one you can only walk or take a taxi. Their service also stops quite early, often around 6 pm. If you don’t intend to go further into the mountains renting a bicycle is also an option. Tandems can also be seen frequently in Karuizawa.

The Shiraito waterfalls are very low but wide so they look like a broad curtain. If you go there by bus you just have to walk a few steps to reach the waterfalls from where the bus stops. There are also souvenir and snack stands and if you like fish you shouldn’t miss the freshly grilled Iwana (いわな).

We then headed back to Karuizawa but left the bus some stops before the station to go to the shopping street. Just like the famous street in Tokyo it is called Ginza and I also noted some other place names that find their aequivalents in Tokyo. There are various shops and restaurants and you’ll have many opportunities to taste the delicious jams, honeys and sauces that also make good souvenirs. I sent sets of different jams to my boyfriend’s family and also brought one glass of carrot jam home for me

After eating soba noodles we went back to our blockhouse to relax for the rest of the day.

On the next day it looked like rain and was foggy. I would have liked to see the Onioshidashi (鬼押出し), a site consisting of rocks which formed after the outbreak of a nearby volcano. But due to the heavy fog I cancelled this plan. Instead we went to the south of Nakakaruizawa where there is a small lake. It looked very promising but when we reached the entrance of the park surrounding the lake we saw that you have to pay an entrance fee to enter! It was quite expensive, too, so we went to Karuizawa once more.

This time we decided to have a look at the other side of the station. There’s a huge shopping park with lots of outlet stores. If you’re into shopping you shouldn’t miss it. I also made a few great bargains After that, we split up into different groups to satisfy everyone’s interests. One group just wanted to relax at the blockhouse, another wanted to see a church and me and my boyfriend opted for a onsen.

On the way back we had dinner at a tiny restaurant which had only two tables. The owner was very nice and it was interesting to chat with him. He told us many things about the region about which I will write another post soon I had soba again, this time with tempura and it was really delicious. There are many fancy restaurants in Karuizawa and most serve Italian or other Western food, but if you want to try the food of the region go for soba.

The fourth day was already our last and we went back 10 hours by several trains just like we had planned to come. This time everything went smooth and without delays. It was an exhausting trip but a lot of fun and I would like to go there again to see the Onioshidashi.

From Genji to Green Tea – A daytrip to Uji

I took a day off this week and went to Uji (宇治) in Kyoto together with a group of foreign students and three Japanese tourist guides. I had to get up at 6 to arrive at the meeting point at Kyoto station by 8:30 and was really tired, but when I got there and met the other participants of the group my tiredness just flew away.

Before going to Uji, our first stop was the photo salon “Yumeyakata” where we got dressed in yukata, the light summer version of a kimono. We could leave our clothes and shoes there and even got bags fitting to the Japanese attire so that nothing would interfere with our new looks. The staff was very friendly and professional. Even a tall and chubby girl like me was wrapped in yukata without any problems and each of us got a different form of ribbon displaying the art of Japanese dressing. I can only do the most simple kind of ribbon myself so this was the first highlight of the tour for me.

It takes around 17 minutes by JR from Kyoto station to get to Uji, but you could get there by Keihan as well. For an overview of access to Uji click here. Go to one of the tourist informations to get an illustrated map (available in English, Korean and Chinese) which gives an overview of the tourists spots and will guide you. You’ll also find maps and guideposts along the way and most include English so that it is easy to discover Uji on foot.

We went to visit the The Tale of Genji Museum first. The “Tale of Genji” (Genji-monogatari 源氏物語) was written by Murasaki Shikibu over 1000 years ago and tells the story of the life of prince Genji. It is said to be the world’s first ever written novel. The third part tells the story of Hikaru Genji’s son Kaoru and the last ten chapters of the tale are set in Uji. The museum focuses on these ten Uji chapters (Uji-jujo 宇治十帖). You can watch a short film called “The Princess at the Bridge” (Hashi-hime 橋姫) named after the first of the ten Uji chapters. The bridge over Uji river is still existent today and contains a deep meaning as the museum’s website suggests:

This ‘hashi’ (bridge) literarily refers to a bridge connecting Heian Kyo and Uji, but is also considered to imply a link between ‘higan and shigan’ (the other world and this world) as well as between a man and a woman.

The film partly shows computer generated scenes to lead you into the world of ancient Japan. In combination with the exhibition you’ll get a glimpse on court life as it is told in the “Tale of Genji”. All this is located in a modern building surrounded by a tranquil garden. You can enjoy the scenery in the museum’s cafe or move on to see more of the beautiful Uji area.

A must-see of Uji is the Byodoin (平等院). This temple was built in 1053 and its Phoenix hall is supposed to be modeled after the palace in the Land of Happiness as the Pure Land Buddhism imagines it. It is also depicted on the Japanese 10 Yen coin, while one of the Phoenixes on the roof adorns the back of the 10.000 Yen note.Included in the entrance fee is access to the museum which exhibits treasures from Byodoin such as bodhisattvas and a temple-bell. This bell is covered with carvings depicting phoenixes and bodhisattvas and lots of dots on the upper part of the bell. According to the bell’s description:

These dots are referred to as chi in Japanese, or nipples.

Nipples? Seriously?? I won’t show you a picture of the bell here. You have to find out how the bell’s nipples look by yourself

Then it was time for lunch. We enjoyed green tea soba-noodles and fried vegetables, including green tea leaves, and shrimp served with green tea from Uji of course. The restaurant was called “Uji-gawa” (宇治川) and is to be found on the way to Byodoin. You’ll find lots of cafes and restaurants there, all of serving specialities of Kyoto and most containing green tea in some kind of way. There’s hardly any food or sweets that don’t contain green tea or maccha (抹茶), powered green tea.

Consequently, our next station was a green tea factory where we could try to make maccha. Only maccha is drunk as powder and said to be healthier than the other kinds of tea, because the whole green tea leaves are used and only dried but not fermented. The dried leaves are ground slowly to powder which is then pressed through a sieve. The resulting maccha is mixed with hot water and whisked quickly with a tool called chasen (茶筅). The more froth the more delicious It looks way easier than it is and when I tried to whisk it myself I couldn’t reach the same fine taste as the professional… The maccha was served with a sweet called yokan (羊羹) which was made of sweet bean paste and tea jelly.

Then we had some time to walk around Uji freely. We visited Uji- and Ujikami-shrine which belongs to the world heritage. If we had more time I would have liked to see Mimurodo-temple (三室戸寺) or Manpuku-temple (萬福寺), but we decided to get some green tea sweets before returning to the station. While maccha ice cream was very popular, I tried maccha pudding topped with mochi and sweet bean paste. It was yummie♥ There are many other forms of sweets you can try at Uji and I can only recommend warmly to stop by if you are in the Kansai area.

In Search of Clues

My first semester as a research student is over since I had my last lesson on Wednesday. I couldn’t make any big jumps so far but I got a feeling that I just got into the starting position for my research.

While I thought to concentrate on finding out what exactly “Clinical Philosophy” is at first, I soon found out that this isn’t an easy question to answer. Everybody involved in this subject seems to avoid giving an answer and the most frequent phrase I heard when asking about Clinical philosophy was “I think it’s better not to define it”. The only thing mentioned frequently to describe it was “communication”. So if I should describe Clinical Philosophy I would probably say the most important thing to this subject is communication. Maybe the notion that you can’t explain reality by sitting all by yourself in your room thinking of the world is what distinguishes Clinical Philosophy from other philosophic disciplines. Explanations are to be found in communication with others.

Think for example of Medical Ethics. Although there are other approaches, medical ethics tends to be discussed by only a few doctors, ethicists and religious authorities, but the people who are (more or less) affected by the ethical questions discussed are seldom involved. You could say it’s a top-down approach while Clinical Philosophy uses a bottom-up approach and starts the discussion from the people and not from decision-makers.

It is to note though, that “clinical” doesn’t necessarily refer to the medical clinic originally meaning “bedside”. Since I came into touch with Clinical Philosophy through Medical Ethics, I thought like this at first, but during this semester I learned that “clinical” rather means something like “practical” which refers to communication. Clinical Philosophy does discuss medico-ethical problems, but it is also concerned with other aspects of human interaction in everyday life.

So when I figured that “talking” is most important to Clinical Philosophy, I decided that I have to enter the field as soon as possible. As described earlier on this blog, it wasn’t easy to find a way into my research field due to a lack of connections, but finally I could fix a date for a first visit at a health care center. This visit will only be the very first step to field work, but it is a step forward

Still, there was the problem of how to connect my research with philosophy…

I was literally looking for the needle in a haystack, but it seems that I got a first clue about where to look for it.  My prof introduced a book written by Kaibara Ekiken in the Edo-period (1603-1868) to me. It is called “Youjoukun” (養生訓) and describes rules for a long and healthy life. While this book would already be interesting for me because of this, what makes it even more interesting is what Ekiken says about who the body belongs to. You would think that your body belongs to you, wouldn’t you? But according to Ekiken (a Neo-Confucianist) it belongs to your parents who gave it to you as well as to the earth and the sky and this is why you’re responsible for keeping your body healthy and living a long life. If you don’t take care of your body you show disrespect for your parents and nature.

Now, this is very similar to what the Japanese government says in relation to the law against overweight: Your body doesn’t belong to you only. You’re responsible to stay healthy so that you’re able to fulfill your role in society as bread-winner or caretaker of the family. So with the discovery of Ekiken I found a trace to the history of Japanese thinking which seems like a good link to philosophy. Further, there are voices that criticize precisely the idea that the body doesn’t belong to oneself. So it will be interesting to compare the arguments of each side

Well, besides these first clues I’m still trying to build up a broad background knowledge both in Japanology and in Philosophy, so there’s a lot to read during the holidays. But I’m highly motivated after my recent findings