I have to say they did such a great job. It’s even funnier, if you understand Japanese. Too bad, they didn’t put captions. Also, I wanted them to show more real weird things in Japanese office. For example, in summer, people at company office in Japan set the room temperature at exactly 28 celsius degree, which is 82.4 degree in farenhight because the temperature is considered “healthy.” Of course, in Japanese humid and hot weather, 28 degree is simply “warm” rather than comfortable. I think everybody knows it, but nobody complain saying “Shikataganai” meaning “Nothing we can do about it.” So, sometimes in Japan, convenience stores like 7Eleven can be more comfortable environment than company office…
This year’s Top Chef was announced recently. Stephanie Izard, 31 years old, who is from Connecticut and currently resides in Chicago, won the position of new Top Chef after 13 rounds of tough challenges. And overall, I’m satisfied with the show this year. My final three guess was Stephanie, Richard, and Dale. Stephanie has an accurate and sophisticated sense of taste. Richard has a very unique technique using his cooking gadgets, which few good chefs are familiar with. Dale has a strong personality and he is very passionate about foods, and it seemed his Asian fusion foods fit to my taste. It’s too bad that the Chef from a restaurant, Circa was eliminated so early in this show. Circa is a well known restaurant in Marine district in San Francisco. I’ve been there a few times, but their Ahi Tuna Tartare with a crispy chips is my favorite. Also, their Pork Chop is super tender and the best Pork Chop I’ve ever had (although I normally don’t order Pork Chop at restaurants.) Anyways, congratulation to Stephanie!!
Today I watched Ainori (meaning “Love-Ride” in Japanese), a Japanese reality show, which I’ve been obsessed watching for about a year. The show is basically about 3 girls and 4 boys chosen through an audition by TV producers finding their partners while they travel around the world. When an individual person falls in love with a fellow traveling person, he/she confess his/her love to the person, which also means it’s the end of the journey for him/her. The person gets to choose to go back to Japan together as a couple, or to turn down and remain on a trip.
There are two reasons why I keep watching this show. First, it’s entertaining. Participants in the show are around my age with quite strong personality. Some people are very funny. Some are quite inspiring. Some are cute. Some are incredibly weird. And some are just crazy!! Also there are three famous Japanese comedians (Masami Hisamoto, Eiji Wentz, Kosuke Imada) as commentators. They’re all so fun to watch. I get easily attached to those people, and it keeps me coming back next week and watch to see them. Also, I can see the mentality of Japanese people in my age of these days. (I’ve been away from Japan for a while. I should be able to fit in the culture in Japan in case of going back to Japan someday.)
Second, it’s educational. Not only you can see foreign countries’ sceneries, but also you can learn their history, culture, traditions, current holding issues and etc. For example, in Mongol, Cashmere goats, which are known for source of Cashmere materials, are popular livestock because of their value and quality. However, the growing number of Cashmere goats has become a serious problem in Mongol. Because of their huge appetite, Cashmere goats root up and eat grass on the large scale of ground. And also under an inland dry climate, big plants are hard to grow. Therefore, size of the desert in Mongol has been rapidly increasing, which also affect neighborhood countries including Japan as yellow dust by wind. As a conclusion, our luxurious lifestyles are causing serious problems in other countries. I could notice these kinds of issues by watching Ainori, and I get a chance to rethink about my lifestyle.
I think Ainori is a good TV show, and it’s actually popular in China and Taiwan as well. Also there are some non-Japanese viewers who watch Ainori like these people: Giro’s Shack (http://rolandcarlos.net/words/?p=70), Sylvain Bouchard (http://www.sylvainbouchard.com/wpblog/?cat=10). I would recommend Ainori to any people studying Japanese to see how real casual conversations in Japanese are and to be more interested in Japanese culture.
