Korea has its own version of the ramen called ‘ramyeon’. ‘Ramyeon’ is a popular Korean instant meal and is well-known for its chili pepper goodness. Adding their own style to this traditional noodle dish, Korean ‘ramyeon’ comes in beef, seafood and even kimchi flavor. The quest for this Japanese cultural icon has brought me once [...]
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” — Martin Buber Sorry to say Martin ole boy, I definitely know the destination. What can I expect to see on my journey, you say? Well, that’s another story. In my continuing search for the hidden Ramen treasures of Vancouver, I had a wicked [...]
A gift from the Land of the Sleeping Dragon to the Land of the Rising Sun has now reached the shores of Canada. Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish that originally came from China. The word ‘Ramen’ has several etymologies, one of which states that it may have been the way the Japanese pronounce the [...]
All this heat here in Vancouver’s got me thinking… what about Japan? In 2005, The Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOE) began advocating the Cool Biz campaign as a means to help reduce electric consumption by limiting use of air conditioning. According to the Environment Ministry, central government ministries were to set air conditioner temperatures [...]
Shiru Bay Chopstick Cafe on Hamilton Street recently closed. The word on the street is that Richard Jaffray, owner of the Cactus Club, made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Cactus Club will be expanding their Yaletown location in order to compete with the new mega location of Earls which will sit between Hamilton and [...]
Lumiere, one of the world’s finest restaurants, is slated to close soon and undergo a major transformation. Part of the transformation includes the installation of a DB Bistro Moderne which will open up next door in the space formerly occupied by Feenie’s. In the meantime, under the watchful eye of Chef de Cuisine Dale McKay [...]
This one hits close to home, U of A and Hokkaido University doing a collaborative study… go figure, here’s the repost. From Terrie’s Take #460, HERE. In an interesting experiment, researchers from the University of Alberta and Hokkaido University have found that Canadians and Japanese assess the moods of people they interact with differently. In [...]
From Terrie’s Take #439, HERE. The Professor for Amphibian Biology at Hiroshima University has “invented” a frog whose skin is transparent and thus allows science students to view the internal organs, blood vessels, and eggs without having to dissect the animal. The Prof says he bred the frog to allow biology classes to be more [...]
After about two months of trying, success! We finally have liftoff, Houston, or more importantly, we’ve been able to get a Blackberry (attached to our corporate BES) going in Japan. Background: SSID here in Canada operates numerous communication networks for mobile devices ranging from the ultra-secure Exchange/ActiveSync over the air with SSL and IP tunnelling, [...]
Calpis is a favourite drink that I learned about throughout my travels in Japan. If you’re familiar with South-Asian drinks, you may know of the ‘sweet lassi’ which is comprised of sugar, yogurt, ice cubes and water. Well, Calpis tastes sort of like a sweet lassi, but it’s more of an energy/lifestyle beverage. I saw [...]