Missing Japanese people in Algeria

Fourteen Japanese people are still missing at the In Amenas gas field, which was attacked by terrorists a couple of days ago. The natural gas plant is located 1,300 kilometers away from Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It's a tiny, lonely corner of the vast Sahara desert.

When dispatching employees to such a desolate place in an extreme hinterland with political uncertainty, why doesn't the company train them how to use Twitter from their mobile device before dispatching?

It may be that the company doesn't like the idea that their employees freely communicate their observations and ideas to the outside world. Or is it because there's no way to use Twitter in the middle of the Sahara? That's very possible. Hope things will work out fine.

The snapshot is from here.

Tokyo's snowing!

"Oh my god!" my friend exclaims and I look out through a window...

This is the first snow in Tokyo in 2013.

It's only once a year if there's snow in Tokyo. Usually none.

Kadomatsu decoration to welcome New Year

"Kadomatsu" is one of "the" new year decorations placed at the entrance of a house, company building, store etc. Pic below is kadomatsu placed at the entrance of shopping mall right underneath Tokyo Skytree. It's always placed in pairs to frank the entrance.

People put "kadomatsu" to let a New Year god take notice of their house and cajole him in. If he comes in, the family will have a good year. A New year god likes to perch on a tree branch with a bunch of green leaves; hence kadomatsu. I think there are a multiple number of New Year god (if not, how come he can walk in or fly in many houses on the same day?). He's definitely so small and light-weighted as to be able to perch on a tree branch without breaking it.

Basic components of modern kadomatsu are bamboos, pine needle leaves and a rope(s) made from rice straws.

Kadomatsu pair placed at the entrance of a shrine. Notice bamboos have full height and leaves intact, while Skytree's bamboo tops are truncated. The shrine's pair is an old style mostly seen, say, many decades ago.

This pair is a simplified form of the modern kadomatsu at another shrine. Most people put kadomatsu of this style at their houses because it's less costly.

Above is a simplified decoration of another type being suspended from the center of the beam of the entrance.

Tokyo Skytree: Best time to visit in winter

Almost every Tokyoite has been talking about "Skytree" and I've had hard time understanding their enthusiasm. Then a high school senior class reunion was held, including a visit to Skytree. So I rode Tokyo Metro Hanzomonsen and got off, for the first time, at the Oshiage station, which is where you get off when visiting Skytree.

Our reunion group easily entered the building as we had made reservation way ahead and paid 2.500 yen per person. If you purchase a walk-in ticket, you'll pay 2,000 yen (500 yen less) but might need to wait a bit longer to enter. It appeared it's no longer crowded than used to be.

Below is a pic taken from the lower-level observation gallery. Notice there's a grove underneath the tall building. Famous "Senso-ji (temple)" is located immedaitely below the grove as it belongs to the green-roofed temple. Taking a very careful look, you'll see green lines extended from Senso-ji to the left. That's the roofs of also famous "Nakamise (Nakamise shopping promenade)," where you can buy Japanese traditional suvenirs, food and junk. The river is equally famous "Sumida River."

You pay extra 1,000 yen to get to the upper-level observation gallery. If you know you'd be never back to Skytree and weather's good, it's worth going up.

Sunset. A little protruded thingie at the center is Mt. Fuji.

When Tokyo Tower's lighted up in the dusk, it looks as ephemeral and fragile as an ant lion, which somehow hits your soft spot and makes you nostalgic.

Night view is something. The vertical bridge over Sumida River is "White Beard Bridge," according to my old high school classmate.

Best time to visit Skytree in winter is around 4:00 pm. You can observe day, dusk and night views and at about 6:00 pm descend the tower to head for Asakusa for dinner.

New Year dishes welcoming 2013

On the new year day, we have for breakfast "ozoni," which is a soupy dish with rice cakes. Each local area has its own version of ozoni. For instance, Tokyo's ozoni is said to use more soy source than that of Kyoto.

Even Tokyo, there are many variations according to where originally people come from geographically and/or socially etc.

I usually use chicken, hakusai (Chinese cabbage), spinach, carrot and mochi (rice cake) for ozoni. It's accompanied with "osechi" cuisine such as "kamaboko (fish cake)" and "datemaki" on a separate plate (used to be layers of boxes). We usually have ozoni for the first three days of the new year.

This year, I simplified New Year's day breakfast, omitting many "osechi" or New Year dishes. I don't feel like having them except very basic staff.

Let's look at yellow things on a dish on the left. Round yellow things are "datemaki," which is made of eggs and sugars and almost all osechi include it. Its original form looks like "makizushi roll" and you cut it into slices and eat it. Here, I put two slices on the dish. A bit too sweet for me.

"Kazunoko"is next to datemaki. it's herring eggs and considered auspicious because it suggest hundreds of offspring.

Kamaboko is the half-round, red and white piece made of fish paste and solidified on a piece of wood. You slice it when eating it. The combination of red and white colors is considered auspicious and kamaboko with red surface fits to a new year day.

A bunch of cooked small fish below kamaboko is "tazukuri" and is one kind of anchovy. It was mainly used as fertilizer many years ago, although now it became part of human food. Tazukuri symbolizes bountiful harvest.

Black round thing is a lucky black bean. It requires good cooking knowledge to cook such huge beans without breaking its shape while cooking in a huge pot.

My grandmother used to make layers of "osechi" placed in layers of urushi boxes. Nowadays, you can buy grand osechi layers at a department store.