Não feito no Japão
Era uma vez (no final dos anos oitenta), depois de estudar Zoologia com especialização em língua japonesa, eu (um sansei canadense) decidi ir ao Japão para estudar biologia marinha, praticar japonês e talvez me encontrar, seja lá o que isso significasse. Aqui estão algumas cenas daquela época.
Stories from this series
Breaking Fast
15 de Janeiro de 2014 • Raymond Nakamura
BreakfastsWere processed, Warm and white. Soup, often corn, Always a powder, Poured into a plastic bowlThat looked lacquered. Added water, Boiled in an aluminum kettle On the rusting gas table. In the shiny red toaster oven, Toasted a single piece of white bread, Soft and square and thick,With tiny holes Like styrofoam, Something to do with Japanese flour. On top Sat a single piece of white processed cheese Plasticized At its melting point. In rural Japan, Real cheese Was not …
Feeling Warm at Christmas
25 de Dezembro de 2013 • Raymond Nakamura
One Christmas... My Mom sent me a turkey one Christmas. It was a frozen, smoked turkey. I invited a bunch of people to my place to eat it. I took out the middle sliding doors of my rooms, so I had a fair amount of space. The tricky thing was that the turkey was too big to fit in my microwave oven. Since it was smoked, I just had to figure out how to defrost it. I ended up using …
The New Digs
20 de Novembro de 2013 • Raymond Nakamura
Before me, a foreign couple with a young son lived in the house. Evidently, they let the boy trash the place. The marine station replaced the straw mat flooring and the sliding doors, but left the holes in the plaster walls for me to fix. I tried a wire mesh and smooth plaster combination, but as the plaster hardened, the wire popped out. I tried another kind of plaster with fibres in it that worked well. I covered the flesh-toned …
Not Made in Japan
21 de Agosto de 2013 • Raymond Nakamura
Traveling experiences in Japan from a Canadian Nikkei...
