Keep seeing a white Chevy Captiva around. It’s a Puerto Rico only model, but is supposedly also available as a fleet vehicle. Because it is nearly identical to the Equinox, it is not sold in markets where the Equnox is heavily promoted. Both are built on the GM Theta platform, but the Captiva uses the short wheelbase pan of the late Saturn Vue, and the Equinox uses the long pan of the Suzuki XL-7.
(0)Archive for the 'Culture' Category
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Back from dealing with buffet sensou with yelling Chinese tourists in Noboribetsu. Figured going to a less-known property would be a safer bet against the throngs of foreign tourists, but apparently where we went was specifically marketing themselves toward the package foreign market. Onsen itself was not bad, though the scenery was lame, and the baths themselves set in the concrete industrial underside of the hotel. Had some good gyutan for lunch in a new place in the basement of JR Sapporo-eki, North of the Mexican restaurant. Dinner was at an unremarkable ramen-ya. Organic, but not all that good. If you like niboshi-based broth, you’ll like it, but if you lean more toward chicken bone or pork bone bases, you’ll find it painfully fishy. I guess I’m not too upset I forgot both my camera and phone in the rush to get dinner. It’s in Maruyama, around the corner from the second location that Bozu was in before he went under. The place screams, “former salaryman with a dream to open a ramen restaurant”. There was a centimeter or two of new snow in town, so that might be enough to get me motivated to catch the bus out to Kokusai tomorrow.
If you need a protective case for carrying around your detachable “junk” (in the case of King Missile), or extra “unit” (in the case of Hide), here’s the solution for your needs!
I didn’t get to drink this last November, so it’s been waiting faithfully in the refrigerator for me until now. This limited seasonal from Sapporo Breweries is distinguished by its use of freshly picked hops (Tsumitate nama hop shiyou) grown in Furano, Hokkaido for a wonderful burst of Pilsen-bitter. The decoction is essentially the same as other Sapporo lager products, so the taste-bud-pleasing maltiness is similar to their other products. The carbonation in the glass after the pour is fleeting with no significant head, but there is still bubbling on the tongue when imbibed. This is a very good production beer. I like it better than the Suntory Malts Premium Pilsener, which is unfortunate, since I’ll never be able to get it again! Launching at the end of April, there is a similar Sapporo Kuro Label The Hokkaido that is using both the Furano hops and Hokkaido-grown barley. That one is both a limited edition and Hokkaido limited sales product. With any luck, I’ll get to try that one too. Here’s hoping! Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Sapporo 2013 Furano Vintage Classic’
Wow. That’s the tenderest whole chicken sandwich I’ve ever had. One of the current seasonal selections at MOS Burger is the Karamiso (spicy miso) Chicken Burger. This one takes a little bit to arrive, since they grill up the chicken when you order the sandwich. Topped with a special sauce made from a blend of three kinds of miso – spicy Korean kochujang, sweet Chinese tianmianjiang, and sweet Kyoto-style miso – blended with aibiki (ground beef and pork), carrot, onion, and other vegetables, the juicy chicken thigh sits atop cabbage in a soft bun. The sweet and spicy sauce and the crisp, sweet cabbage balance the salty savoriness of the marinated, teriyaki-style chicken. Continue reading ‘MOS Karamiso Chicken Burger’
I’m in Sapporo after a painfully long flight and long bus ride. To add Sendai to their list of destinations, Hawaiian puts them in as a stopover on the 441/442 Shin-Chitose flight. That means 12-hours in the packed-out seat of one of their oldest 767’s instead of 9. It’s not unlike a OGG stop on a ITO flight from HNL, but imagine your frustration if every time you had to go to HNL from OGG, you had to go all the way to ITO! I guess they are banking on capturing the Tohoku market with this destination, though maybe only a quarter to third of the nearly full flight got off at Sendai, and maybe 20-30 new passengers got on. A good part of the ramp time was security coming on board and inspecting the plane, and a brief cleaning on the open seats that would be reused: I think the actual flight from Sendai to CTS was 30 to 40-minutes. Considering the past experiences I’ve had on Hawaiian, this aircraft (N588HA) was dirty and run-down. Considering it was cold at the gate, they had all night and morning to clean it properly, so it’s the Hawaii cleaning contractor to blame. Continue reading ‘Shimari-yuki’
Seeing J-girls in sweatpants and UGG boots at sweltering HNL is funny enough, but K-girls in shorts, fur jackets, and fur-trimmed boots is something else!
(0)Just got back from Ward theater where they are screening Studio Ghibli’s Kaze Tachinu, The Wind Rises. I am so happy to report that it was in original language, which you won’t know until a good five minutes into it. I take exception to some of the subtitle translations, but for the most it was good.
This is supposedly Hayao Miyazaki’s swan song, he’s announced he’s retiring after this. There’s even a line of dialogue in the film stating that engineers and artists have 10 good years in them. Everyone says, yeah right, Miyazaki Sensei! But if he does stay true to that, this is a good note to go out on. The story is about the Japanese engineer who created the Zero, so Miyazaki has free reign with the airplanes he obviously loves. And while this is a Japanese story set in Japan, he also gets to put in the European and Italian flavor which he also has an affinity to. Continue reading ‘Kaze tachinu’
So it’s a superstition that your first dream of the New Year is a portent of your year to come. For some reason it’s auspicious if you dream of Mt. Fuji, a hawk, and/or eggplants. So what’s it mean if you dream that there’s an alien invasion and you’re running around trying to get stuff together for evacuation?