More Halloween Fun

Eating Hakone

Hello monkeys! In case you need reminding (which you probably do), this past Friday was my birthday. Akemi and I took a trip with her parents to Hakone. Hakone is a quaint resort area up in the mountains close to a huge lake (Ashinoko) near Mt. Fuji. There's not so many active things to do there, other than hiking, but there are plenty of museums and great places to eat. Akemi's parents have a time-share apartment there, which has a great onsen (natural hot spring bath). On Saturday, we visited a botanical garden, then had lunch at a great restaurant called "Souan", which apparently is very hard to get reservations at. Akemi's mom booked the place about a month ago! They feature French-style multi-course meals, but of course with a Japanese twist. My lunch consisted of a mushroom chawanmushi (Japanese egg-custard soup), then sanma (a type of pike fish) embedded in a satoimo paste (mountain potato) patty encrusted with pickled eggplant, followed by the main entree of a salmon medallion in a white wine sauce accompanied by baked satoimo, a mashed potato croquette, and shirako (fish testicles!!). It also came with miso soup, a chestnut/yamaimo onigiri (rice ball), pumpkin soup, and dessert (I had the sweet potato creme brulee). (Sounds like I'm making all this crap up, doesn't it?) It was all delicious, and I washed it down with Yebisu beer. It's not often that I eat at that kind of frou-frou, fancy-pants restaurant, but it was a special occasion and it was damn good! The building's interior was decorated in a simple Japanese-traditional style, complete with tatami floors. The staff were extremely friendly (and they weren't vampires!! -- lucky for you Tony!). In fact, our waiter gave us a ride to the bus stop in his own car because he forgot to call us a taxi!! Here are some photos:


Akemi & Mom in front of Souan


Geeks R Us






Akemi & Dad

On Sunday, after a bath and a quick breakfast, we took a cable car down to the Fujiya Hotel. The hotel is a Japanese historical landmark. Built in 1891 (I think; though it had later additions), it's still open for business. I guess it's famous not only for it's unique mix of Japanese and Western architecture, which became vogue with the ushering in of the Meiji Restoration, but also for it's famous guest list, which has included Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Generals Eisenhower and Macarthur. We spent about an hour perusing about the old lobby and the vast garden. It was really cool to see this site which has withstood many an era, but I can't imagine that the rooms are very comfortable. And I bet it's haunted.








On our way home, we stopped at a Hakone beer garden, where you can try Hakone's own home brew. After all, what would an outing be without beer? Along with the beer, you can try a Hakone specialty, kama boko, or ground-fish paste cakes. Sounds crazy, but it's the bomb. They mix in different ingredients, like cheese, corn, or edamame, then deep fry it. Oishi!




Later fruitcakes!

In Loving Memory

My beloved father, Herb Hofmann, would have celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday, 17 October. If heaven exists, he's there, and he's not taking any shit off no one!

Here's to you Dad. We love and miss you so very much!

Road Rage Japan!

I'm going to take a minute to rant about the things I hate about Japan the most: crowds, traffic, and parking. Now, don't get me wrong; I love Japan and all it has to offer, but these are the three things that really grate my nerves. Here's a prime example from earlier today - I planned to go surfing with friends at Shichirigahama, a surf spot only about 4 or 5 miles from here. I was on the road by 0830. It took me about 45 minutes just to get out there, through horrendous stop-and-go traffic. Then, once I got to the public parking lot, not only was half of it occupied by a flea market, but there was a line of at least 20 cars waiting, at a standstill along the side of the main road (Route 134), to get into the remainder of the parking lot. A car could enter only when another car was leaving. I waited ~30 minutes in that line, then gave up this futile effort. To my dismay, there were thousands of people (no joke, no exaggeration) out in the water surfing. So, I continued on westward to Kugenama, another popular break with a public parking lot, another 20 minute venture through snail-like traffic. When I finally reached here, I entered the lot, parked my car (yes, amazingly there were actual available spaces), and went to check out the conditions. It seemed at this spot that every person in Japan, and his/her grandma, was out there surfing. And to boot, the conditions were much worse - the sets were shitty little closeout waves, meaning that as soon as they form, they break all at once. So with each wave, about 50 longboarders would take off simultaneously, then all wipe out almost instantaneously. A very pitiful sight! The weather was chilly, the conditions sucked, and you couldn't swing a limp tuna without hitting another Kelly Slater-wannabe, but I guess these people must have traveled much further than me (perhaps Tokyo), and weren't leaving without getting wet. Nonetheless, I paid my ¥400 for parking for a fruitless effort and motored on out of there, aborting the mission (at least I got to use the public restroom for that fee!) It took me another hour to return home, making my entire ass-burning journey over two and a half hours. In that amount of time, I could drive from my parents house in Jacksonville all the way to Disney World in Orlando. What the hell is going on here?!? I was so pissed off and frustrated I could have just puked! I have never witnessed people waiting for 30+ minutes in line to get into a parking lot - a parking lot for God's sake!! That's like if you went to the mall in the states, and waited an hour just to pull into the parking lot. Would you still want to go shopping? -- hell no!! In such a technologically advanced country, you would think they would have worked this out a little better. I know space is a rare commodity here, but it makes driving anywhere virtually impossible. Anyway, I had to get that rant out of my system! Thanks for humoring me...

Surfs up, parking-lot hodads!

Cinema Fantastisch

Hi kids! I recently subscribed to Netflix (after cancelling our shitty cable tv service) and have had the opportunity to see a couple really great movies: 'V For Vendetta' and 'Thank You For Smoking'. Both are great social commentary on the current state of social and politcal affairs in the Western world. Here's a brief run-down of each:

V For Vendetta - Set in Britain ~20-30 years from now, where the country is under control of a totalitarian government which uses religion, patriotism, and media propaganda to sway the masses (sound familiar?). V is a product of institutionalization, forced into a research center which tested drugs on so-called 'social deviants' (mentally/physically challenged, artists, homosexuals, etc.). So bitter against the system, he wages an underground, one-man war against regime officials. Towards the end of the movie he enlists Evey (Natalie Portman) to help him achieve his final goal of blowing up Parliament. Based on a graphic novel, the movie feels very dark and foreboding. V's hidden lair is reminiscent of the Batcave, as are his fighting tactics and gadgetry. The Wachowski brothers (of The Matrix fame) direct this thriller, which is really more a scathing political metaphor than it is an action movie. In fact, there are only a few fight sequences. I really enjoyed this movie because the parallels to the current focus of governments in the U.S. and Britain are too uncanny to be coincidental. I'm sure this flick is not on the current administrations list of favorites. One other great point is that V (so masterfully acted by Hugo Weaving from The Matrix and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) never removes his mask so that you can view his disfigured face - very unconventional for most masked hero movies. The only peak of exposed skin we get is his severely burned hands in one scene where he is cooking breakfast (!). One caveat - watch this movie with the subtitles on. The monologues and dialogue are hard to follow because they are quickly spoken in British accents, and recorded low compared with other ambient sounds and music.









Thank You For Smoking - My personal favorite between the two movies. I loved this movie and plan to purchase the DVD at some point!! Definitely a keeper. This movie is about Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a Washington lobbyist for the Institute of Tobacco Studies, a fictional company which works for a conglomerate of big tobacco companies. Contrary to what you would expect, Nick is absolutely the hero of this movie, while the social institutions out to destroy him (e.g. a Vermon senator with an agenda - played by the fantastic William H. Macy) are the villians. Nick's arguments are so sharp-witted and biting and make him an extremely charismatic character. The story shows a development of the relationship between Nick and his son (and to an extent, his ex-wife) which really ties everything together as Nick rises to the pinnacle of his career, then is nearly destroyed by a meddling reporter (Katie Holmes) as well as a credit-stealing boss. The point of this movie is not tobacco or smoking at all, but about satire in pointing out the ridiculousness of "political correctness". In fact, no one is actually ever shown smoking at all -- which is pretty much an 'in your face' to those critics who may label this movie pro-tobacco. If you consider this movie 'pro-tobacco', you're completely missing the point!! It's beautifully written and acted; a great comic satire. Watch this movie now!

Hot Diggity Doitsu-Fest!

Prost!! Last night Akemi and I went down to the recently opened Red Brick Warehouse restaurant/bar complex at MM21, Sakuragicho for Yokohama's own take on Octoberfest. Let me tell you, the Japanese are kings at mimicry, and they know how to do up a German Octoberfest almost as well as the Germans! On hand was a multitude of imported German draft biers, including lagers, pilsners, and dark beers. We enjoyed a fantastic weissbier and a dark beer, which was more like a bock than a stout. By the way, I have no clue what the hell I'm talking about -- I just really like beer. The prices were a little steep at about ¥700-¥1,000 a glass. Plus, you had to add in an additional ¥1,000 deposit for the glass. When you return the glass, you get your deposit back. The glasses were nice, but not worth ¥1,000. Of course, there was great food for sale; we had a plate of shnitzel with sauerkraut. I spotted some izikaya foods for sale as well, including edamame and gyoza! Entertaining the partiers inside the main tent was an authentic oompah-pah band from Deutschland, which kept the crowd manic with multiple "ein, swei, trei, zoofahs". At one point there was a conga line going around the entire perimeter, turning the place into a veritable moshpit. We spent the majority of the time out on the patio enjoying the cool, breezy October evening. Tonight is the last night of the festivities, which is too bad! I would have enjoyed to go back around my birthday!

So, here's to the Japanese doin' it Deutsche-style! Ein prosit!!

The Genius

Hi folks! Just here to tell you about Beck's new album - The Information. Beck is brilliant, and this album is one of the most bizarre collections of music I have ever heard...but it works. Now, I'm not going to give you a track-by-track break down of the CD. If you want that, go to amazon.com. Anyway, I'm still listening to it. I just bought it tonight, so I haven't even had a chance to design my album cover (yes... the CD comes with decals so that you can do-it-yourself; and yes, the artwork is mighty-freaky). My best way to describe this album is this: if there were a race of extraterrestials living on Neptune, and they were making a movie about Earth, this album would be the soundtrack. How's that?

Interesting note: Beck is credited with the following instruments on the album - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, melodica, piano, organ, keyboards, programming, effects, scratching, sitar, bass, harmonica, kalimba, percussion, drums, drum effects, glockenspiel, and gameboy (!). What more could you ask for?

So... don't just sit there mooching off of my reviews ... go check it out for yourself!!

Peace out, you silly rabbits.

Pimp Daddy

Check out some pics of me and all my special ladies!

Izikaya Hofmann

Irashaimase! Welcome to Izikaya Hofmann! Check out our fine selection of food and drinks!









By the way, if you couldn't already tell, these items are not real. They're actually made by a toy company in Japan called "Re-Ment" that makes tiny, exquisitely detailed models of every aspect of Japanese life that you can imagine. The various series are only released for a certain period of time. There is a specific number of sets in each series. Each set typically costs between ¥200 and ¥400. And not unlike baseball cards, each set is unlabeled so you don't know which one in the series you are buying, and each set comes with a nasty tasting piece of chewing gum. We've been trying to get all 15 in the "izikaya" series just because I love Japanese food, and we spend a fair amount of time in izikayas. Here's a typical example of one in Nagasaki.





















Kanpai!