Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 4 (Tug of War 那覇大綱挽)

7th October 2012

This is the collection of photos about 'Naha Tug of War 2012'. So interesting!

First part is the parade before tug of war.

Mayor of Naha City making an appearance before the parade

Fuel mileage with the Idle Stop Function

Idle Stop	Odometer Start(km)	Odometer End(km)	Fuel(ℓ)	Fuel Mileage(km/ℓ)
off	4466	4839	15.27	24.43
on	4839	5194	14.75	24.07

After an accident that left my rental Daihatsu Move dented, the rental car company replaced it with a Suzuki Alto. That was the first time I saw a car with idle stop function. However, in my thought, it is not so suitable for brief stop. It is only a 15 minutes ride to my work place, and there are lots of traffic lights, the stop usually won't last more than one minute. On off engine will use more fuel in a short span of stopping time. To test it out, I decided to count the fuel mileage.

I filled my gas tank full after I jot down the reading on the odometer. Did it twice, once with 'idle stop function' off and another on. However, I was surprised that it doesn't change much. Maybe the sample size was too small. Anyway, that's it. This experiment ends now. To get an accurate result, I refrained myself to switch on the heater, it is damn cold now. (I started this during September, the weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold, so I didn't switch on air conditioner!)

Top: Suzuki Alto dash board on the top (the engine signal is cold)
Below: the Idle Stop Function Switch

Persimmon tree

Persimmon was considered an expensive fruit in Malaysia. So, my mother would only buy it during Chinese New Year and it was an item on the prayer list for the prayer on the Chinese New Year eve. Since I did not get much chances to eat this fruit, I will buy whenever I saw this in Japan. In Japan, I have seen 3 types of persimmon. One is the normal orange hard type, one is in green colour (the texture almost same with the orange type, but taste different) and one in reddish orange (very soft in texture, found in Kawaguchiko). I am ok with the hard type only, the soft type is kinda "soft"! Have to eat with a spoon!

Although I like persimmon for a long time, I did not know how it looks like. A house near my apartment has a tree, when it started to bear fruits, I thought it was mikan (蜜柑, a kind of citrus fruit, orange in colour too). So, I was surprised that it turned out to be persimmon! It looked so inviting and I were very very tempted to pluck it. However, finally I bought some from supermarket to satisfy my craving. Hahahah!

A persimmon tree near my apartment

a green skin persimmon and the persimmon cut into pieces (bought from a stall in Takachiho)

Squid Ink Spaghetti

Went to Aeon to shop for winter clothes with a friend. Then, had lunch there. Initially, we planned to eat sushi, however we came across a cafe that sells squid ink spaghetti (イカ墨スパゲッティ). Before this, my colleague told me that it is a very delicious dish when we saw it on a TV program during lunch time. So, we changed our mind and decided to eat this 'squid ink spaghetti' instead.

squid ink spaghetti

Since there were two of us, we ordered one 'squid ink spaghetti' and one 'fish and clam tomato sauce spaghetti'. Compared to the normal tomato sauce based spaghetti, the squid ink type was more flavourful and delicious. Both of us like it very much! However, this is not the kind of food to take if one is going on a first date, it will blacken the teeth and lips!

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Northern Lights

10th November 2012

Ok, I have to admit that I bought this book mainly because it was adapted into a movie starring Nicole Kidman. It is not difficult to read, however, I took 4 years to finish it. First, I brought along this book to hair salon when I was having my hair cut. So, I would read a few pages every time and the progress was slow!! Then, when I came to Japan, I brought it over. However, with all the books I have, it was pretty much left untouched.

Then, on my trip to Kobe last year, I finally read a large portion of it. When I stayed in a hostel in Kobe, a backpacker from UK saw this book and he started to talk to me about the author's religious view. Well, I told him that I won't be discussing about religions and politics. It was too sensitive. I almost had a fight with my good friend over some religious matters a few years back.

Packing of the Fragile Glass Bottle

I bought two bottles of spice paste from a spice shop. Since that were glass bottles, the shop assistant wrapped it up with brown paper. It is called good customer service! When it is rainy day, some shops will wrap up the paper bag too. One of my friends said that, the customer service in Japan is, "贴到心里面去了!" which means the customer service is so good that it touch the heart. I really shared her sentiment. 

packing with brown paper

extra service with packing

A Funny Guide to Get a Date by Rocketnews24

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/08/22/a-japanese-womans-guide-for-getting-a-date-the-omurice-trick-works-every-time/

I read this first on Japantoday, I found it to be funny, but the comments from the visitors were more hilarious. There were 4 tips, 

1. Play tech dumb
2. Bubble over enthusiasm
3. Bump up the cute level
4. The Omurice Trick

Well, tips number one to number 3 are still acceptable. The number four is totally unacceptable for me. Getting emotional and hysterical over an egg meal? Feeling sad for the little chickens that have not been born? That girl might as well become a vegetarian. I wondered where the author found the tips. I don't know about males, but as a female, I will not like that kind of girls. One comment from a reader in Japantoday was, "I will run a mile if I meet a girl like that!". 

As for play tech-dumb, in my opinion, most of my female colleagues in Japan are more advanced than male colleagues, they are the first to embrace the smartphones, join Facebook, use and buy apps, update the software, teaching the male colleagues how to use the smartphones, etc. 

While for the "bump up the cute level", from my non-Japanese male friends opinion, some are too theatrical and with too high pitched voice. Once, I heard a man (non-Japanese) told his friend that, "everything is Kawai sou! Kawai Sou!" Hahahah! However, I had no courage to ask my Japanese male colleagues about this though! On the other hand, I think that most probably Japanese males like cute girls and cute girls have market in the dating department. So, girls act cute for the men only!

(kawaii sou 可愛そう = very cute!)