Like many people, I really love ramen. I have visited lots of restaurants from Kyushu to Hokkaido and tried many kinds of soup. I even have an application on my phone that shows me where all the best shops are. Therefore, when were told by the government to avoid crowded places because of the pandemic, I started to panic. I began to wonder if I could make delicious ramen at home.

I like cooking. It’s a fun hobby, a great stress relief, and I usually cook for my family when I can. However, I believed making a proper tonkotsu soup at home was the only possible in restaurants, in steaming kitchens where busy chefs understood the magic of the bubbling broth. However, after doing a little research, I found there are lots of people who love ramen and many of them live in countries where it isn’t easy to buy it in restaurants. There are plenty of recipes available in different languages, some by Japanese people and some by international ramen lovers. I also found videos showing the technique of making the broth, the tare, the noodles, and the toppings. It took time, but I learned a lot. Once I felt confident, I combined some recipes and began shopping.

What kind of ramen would you try to make first? I like several styles, but there was no question for me. I wanted a thick, tonkotsu broth with the background flavor of seafood – a kotteri gyokai tonkotsu, if you want to be precise. Finding the ingredients was not difficult. There are many places that sell pork bones online, but I could find a butcher in a local shop with everything I needed. My family was surprised to see me come home with five kilograms of pork bones and feet, but I was quite excited. I made chashu that evening, a rolled-up pork belly cooked very slowly in soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, and a little sugar. I put my soft boiled eggs in some of the extra sauce to give them flavour. I cleared up and put everything in the fridge. The next morning, I began the main task! Making a simple tonkotsu soup is not so difficult, but it takes a very long time and your whole neighbourhood will smell like a ramen shop. After preparing the bones, my soup boiled for about 11 hours in a large pot, although I was free for most of that time. For the first few hours, I regularly added water. Later, I let it reduce to concentrate the flavor. From five kg of bones and ten litres of water, I ended up with three litres of very thick white soup. To serve it, I started with a gyokai tare of dashi, sardines, soy, mirin and bonito flakes. Then I added the soup, hot noodles and finally my toppings of chashu, egg, bamboo shoots, nori, and green onion. It was a long job, but it tasted like a real ramen from a popular shop. My family and I were delighted.

Making proper ramen at home is fun for those who like to cook, but it takes some time and effort. If you want to try, I would recommend you first read some online information boards and watch videos about the technique. Personally, I think making effort makes the achievement more enjoyable, so it is something I would definitely recommend. As for me, my wife recently bought me a book of ramen recipes as a present. My life as an amateur ramen cook may be just beginning.

Blog Quiz

1. Why did the author decide to cook ramen at home?

2. Why was the author's family surprised?

3. What does the author believe about making effort?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. Because the government recommended people avoid crowded places

A2. Because he came home with a lot of pork bones and feet.

A3. It makes the achievement more enjoyable

It is dead, but it is alive. It has no mind, but it is coming for you. There are thousands, but they move together. One bite and you become one of them. Zombies are one of the scariest monsters our pop culture has created. But why? And why are they becoming more popular recently?

The answer is in the real world and digital world that we live in. Zombies have been around for a long time. In books, movies, comics, games, or television, we cannot escape this popular monster. George Romero’s movie, Night of the Living Dead, made the genre famous in 1968, and it is more popular now than ever. Many people are familiar with TV and video game series like The Walking Dead and Resident Evil (Biohazard, in Japan). But get ready—the zombies are coming, and they are going to be more popular than ever.

Movies, television, music, video games: pop culture and media are always connected to the time and events when they were created. The current events, news, and feelings of people always flavor and affect the art and media we create. Famous events and happenings have an influence as well. Godzilla rose from post-war Japan, just like the popularity of superhero movies grew from a post-9/11 United States. Public health issues have always had a strong connection to the horror genre. A growing concern over the spread of HIV/AIDS fueled a boom in vampire movies that lasted over a decade. Outbreaks of Ebola, SARS, and other diseases pushed World War Z, Resident Evil (Biohazard), and The Walking Dead to the front of popular culture. When pandemics and diseases lead the news, the result is often horror movies, television, and games that focus on infection (by blood: vampires, by virus: zombies, etc). With the spread of COVID-19, it is likely that zombies are on the rise again.

However, there is another theory about the popularity of zombies. Some people believe that zombie entertainment becomes popular when people are afraid of losing their individuality or personal views. During election years, when there are large social movements, when there is social pressure to be the same, when there is a push to join a group: these are times when the zombie genre rises up. Recently, many people point to social media (SNS) as something that is pushing people to become part of trends, groups, and to copy other people. So maybe 2021 is the Year of the Zombie? Social media is more powerful than ever, elections and social movements across the world have split people into groups, and COVID-19 has deeply changed our world. The situation is perfect for the zombie to rise, spread, and become king again.

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Blog Quiz

Q1. What was the first famous zombie movie?

Q2. According to the author, what are two reasons that cause zombies to become popular in pop culture?

Q3. What is the Western name for the Biohazard franchise?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. Night of the Living Dead

Q2. Current events (e.g., war and public health crises). Times when people feel like they might be losing their individuality (e.g., elections and social media)

Q3. Resident Evil

When I tell people that I came from California, various famous locations frequently come to their minds. Of course, you’ve probably heard of Silicon Valley being the innovation heartland of the world and about the beaches around Los Angeles where surfers gather. Maybe you’ve also gotten the chance to visit Yosemite National park and appreciate its beauty. But I can guarantee that you’ve never heard of my small hometown of Auburn, located 20 minutes east by car from the state capital Sacramento.

Truthfully, Auburn is not a town that I recommend going to, and yet it has provided me with the inspiration to be curious about the international world. For Americans who never want to experience culture shock in their lives, Auburn is the perfect little town for them. Its population is just over 14,000 residents, which is shockingly small compared to cities like San Francisco. Its diversity is also minimal with similar like-minded Americans who have almost no contact with the international community. Every time you go to the grocery store, you are guaranteed to run into at least one person you know. Growing up in this environment makes one believe that the world is small.

Fortunately, I received my first cross-cultural experience upon graduating from high school and entering university. My college’s student demographic was significantly diverse, and it felt like I was thrown into a whole new world. It was almost like experiencing culture shock within my own country. Additionally, my professors taught me that the world is quite vast, with many perspectives and interesting people and places. I quickly understood that I wanted to pursue international knowledge as my life passion. Eventually, this led me down the road to studying Japanese and finally moving to Japan six years ago.

Looking back at my experiences, I can honestly say that Auburn helped me understand my path and what I wanted out of life. But instead of providing me with the foundation for cross-cultural knowledge, it deprived me of what I truly wanted. And once that barrier was lifted, there was no chance of me ever going back. Therefore, without this background, I would not have been motivated to seek the unforgettable experiences that have come from me pursuing an international career.

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Blog Quiz

Question 1: What is the author’s hometown? 

Question 2: Why did the author move to Japan? 

Question 3: How did the author’s hometown create the opportunity for a global life? 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Answer 1: The author’s hometown is Auburn, California. 

Answer 2: The author experienced diversity in university and learned that there are many perspectives and people to meet in the world. 

Answer 3: Growing up in Auburn deprived the author of cross-cultural knowledge and experiences. The author discovered this after entering university. 

I have been reading a lot recently, now that I have more time stuck at home… I have been wanting to be a better person and make good use of the time I have now. I am sure my old self would have been stuck in front of the TV watching Netflix or locked on the computer screen, stuck on the latest YouTube videos. A book that is changing my life is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I recommend you pick it up, it is an easy read, but it can change your life.  Here are a few of the many good ideas in the first chapter, but that is just the beginning… 

Everyone has habits, and did you know that the habits that you have now, whether they are getting up early, or turning off the lights when you leave a room came to you without effort? Of course, your bad habits, like procrastinating or eating an unhealthy meal come very easy too, but did you know that those little decisions make up who we are? These little decisions, good or bad add up. These “1% decisions” are not noticeable but are very meaningful. As you repeat and do small things, day by day, those habits will have an impact on the way your life will be heading. If you stay up late and finish up work you were putting off, sure you can survive on three or four hours of sleep that next day, but one day in the future, you will wake up late and miss something important or make a mistake because you were sleepy. The author says, “Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-life-time transformations.” 

You might be thinking that you need to change every little thing in your life… no… start with one thing that will make your actions successful. Just like when you chop a tree down, you pick up your axe, and start swinging, you cannot cut down a tree with one blow, it takes many strikes at the tree to bring it down. Just like starting a new habit, it takes many times of doing something to start a new habit, or stop a bad one. At first, it is exciting to start something new and you can see wood chips flying, but after a while you get tired and you hit and hit but you do not see change. When you finally fell that tree, the whole world will look at you and say how great your achievement was, but you know it was the work that you did when you did not see any results was the work that made things possible. Fighting on through hard times will make future success. “All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision.” 

It is a new year now and people talk about “New Year’s Resolutions” (新年の抱負) . More than making a goal this year, plan on making a “system” that will make your goals, reality. Just like every Olympic athlete has the goal to win the gold medal, if you improve the way you train and make the environment easy for you to get better, improve your training system… you will have a better outcome. Also, achieving that goal will be good but the result of meeting that goal is nothing if your life is not changed. If you diet and lose those kilograms you wanted to lose but go back to eating as you did before the diet, you will just rebound back. You need to change your eating and exercise system so you will have those great results (lost weight and fitting into those jeans) for the rest of your life. These are just some of the great ideas waiting for you in the book. Please read it and come to the BBP and let’s talk about it. Everything counts. 

Reference: Clear, J. (2018) Atomic Habits. Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Go to jamesclear.com

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Blog Quiz

1. What did the author do this past year?

a- watch a lot of TV and YouTube videos

b-sleep a lot

c- read books

2. What is the book "Atomic Habits" about?

a-making good habits

b-studying atoms

c-a boy named "Tom"

3. The book's author said, "All big things come from ___________"

a-big things

b-small beginnings

c-once in a lifetime events

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. c

Q2. a

Q3. b

Would you like to be able to write faster and more freely in a language you are learning and perhaps in your native language too? Students have often told me that they find writing to be a slow and tedious process, mainly because they worry so much about spelling and grammar rather than just getting their message across on paper. Today, therefore, I would like to introduce the concept of freewriting, an easy writing activity that can be done at home and can make writing practice fun.

So … what exactly is freewriting? Basically, it involves grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, setting a time limit, choosing a topic of interest to you, and then writing as quickly as possible without stopping and without worrying about spelling or grammar. Let’s go through the steps one by one.

First, after securing some paper and a writing tool, you will need to set a time limit. Most people I know who practice freewriting set a limit of 10 minutes, although some people write for 15 or 20 minutes. Next, you will need to choose a topic. Many people just choose to write about whatever is in their head at that moment: recent experiences in their lives or specific interests such as sports, books, movies, or music. However, my favorite way to practice freewriting is to link it with video material. This means watching an enjoyable YouTube, movie, or TV program and then writing about it. Whatever topic you choose, freewriting is a good way to get facts, memories, and personal feelings down on paper. Last, take a minute of silence to think about what points you would like to write about and then start the timer and write, write, write very fast, without stopping. Just enjoy the process of getting words down on paper rather than on style or grammar. If you always write in the same notebook, it will act as a kind of a personal journal, and you will be able to see your progress.

Freewriting on a regular basis can help to promote writing speed, fluency, creativity, organizational skills, confidence, and overall enjoyment of writing. Although freewriters are not meant to worry about grammar, most of my students find that it naturally improves after several weeks. You can hasten this improvement by, for example, consciously practicing verb tense by writing about a past event one day and a future event another day. You can also focus on new vocabulary by making a short list of perhaps five words that you would like to use that day while writing.    

If you can spare 10 or 15 minutes each day, I highly recommend picking up a pen and trying some freewriting fun!

Photo Credit: Lisa Fotios @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. According to the article, which of the following should students do when they practice freewriting?

a.    Stop writing and check how to spell a word

b.    Write quickly about a topic

c.    Spend at least one hour per day writing

Q2. What are the author’s preferred topics for freewriting?

a.    Television programs and films

b.    Books and comics

c.    News articles and podcasts

Q3. According to the article, what is one benefit of freewriting?

a.    Planning future tasks

b.    Improving test scores

c.    Gaining confidence

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. B

Q2. A

Q3. C

Where are you from? For me, where I was born is very much a part of who I am. Some people view their hometown as just the place they grew up. I think it is more than that. It is the place that helped make you the person you are today. I was born and raised in the New Orleans area of Louisiana in the United States. It is a city with a rich history, beautiful architecture, and some of the best and most unique food in the world.

Food is one of the most important parts of the New Orleans culture. The food often takes hours to cook. Influenced by French and African cuisine, the food is a mix of local ingredients and traditional cooking methods. New Orleans is often called “the melting pot” of the U.S. This means that cultures and people all come together here to create something different and new. This is the same for the food. It is a place where rice and bread are equals. A place where people love meat as much as seafood. In New Orleans, you learn the history of food, not just how to cook. Every time you cook, you can remember the stories and background of the food you are cooking.

New Orleans is a musical city. You can hear music everywhere you go. The history of jazz began in New Orleans. It has evolved over the years in New Orleans, and it is where some of the best musicians perform. Jazz holds an important position in the culture of New Orleans. Slow smooth jazz to upbeat fun jazz, jazz music shows off the charm of the city. A place to relax, but also a place you can have fun, dance, and party.

However, it is not the perfect place, but the people have learned to adapt and adopt its flaws. Some of its history’s worst parts are remembered and used to make it and even better place. The people are some of the kindest and most patient you will meet. Being from such a place, adopting the bad and creating good, is one reason some people might label me as an optimistic person. I like to see the good in things.

Your hometown follows you everywhere. It is important to learn as much as you can about where you are from and carry respect and love for your hometown, even if you think it is not the most exciting place. Maybe you will be surprised by how much more interesting it is than you think. Take a look at the people and history one more time. You never know what beautiful stories you will find.

Photo Credit: Oliver_Weidmann@Pixabay

nicolebauer3004@Pixabay

Blog Quiz

Q1. What city is the blog about?

Q2. What places influence New Orleans’s food?

Q3. New Orleans is the hometown of what kind of music?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. It is about New Orleans.

Q2. It is influenced by Africa and France.

Q3. It is the hometown of jazz music.

You may have discovered that reading about one topic will get you interested in others. Recently I read the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins (1975). The style is what some call ‘historical fiction’ meaning places, people and events used in the book may have really existed, but the drama is a fictional story.

This particular story relates an account of a secret plan of Nazi Germany to send soldiers to England in order to kidnap the Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill.

While reading, I first became curious of the location of some scenes in the book. This led me to research more about Norfolk and Norwich, England by looking at maps and pictures. I also wanted to see pictures of war time Berlin and England.

I became interested in the historical characters including Adolf Hitler, Churchill, and Benito Mussolini, the former Prime Minister of Italy. These are names I grew up hearing, but I never learned the details about what kind of people they were, or what they did during the time of World War II. I also become interested in the political problems between Ireland and Britain which have a long history and are one component of the story’s background.

The internet is a great resource for following up on topics. We can see pictures, videos and find other materials related to what we are reading. 

After finishing the book, I learned about a movie that was made based on the novel. I read about the actors featured in the movie and how it was reviewed by movie critics. From now, I would like to read more ‘historical fiction’ novels to see how the authors combine real and imaginary events or people. In fact, there have been many historical dramas produced for TV in Japan. They are often based on historical characters and events, but they can show us a human side to the events we read about in history textbooks. I recommend reading some historical novels and checking out some historical dramas as well. It is an interesting way to encounter people and events from the past. Maybe you will also be inspired to expand your interests and views about various related topics.

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Blog Quiz

Q1. Which book did the author read?

Q2. Who were two famous people in the novel?

Q3. Why does the author recommend reading historical fiction?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. The Eagle Has Landed

Q2. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill

Q3. It can give you a new perspective on history.

Due to the stay-at-home period, I experienced a radical change in my lifestyle. I worked at home, ate at home, engaged in some physical exercise at home, and only ventured out to buy some essential things at the nearest supermarket. It was stressful, but it did encourage me to think about my lifestyle, particularly my diet. Thankfully, the supermarkets and grocery stores did not close, and supplied food as usual. Although some items were out of stock, they were not crucial for survival.

I gained weight because I stopped walking to the university. I did not change the portion sizes of my meals, so weight gain was a reasonable consequence. I did do a little exercise, but the amount was obviously insufficient to allow me to consume extra calories! I sought ways to make my lifestyle healthier, and dieting was an appropriate choice at the time.

I learned to eat ‘brown foods.’ In Japan, brown foods refer to fried or baked foods, which are not usually considered to be healthy. However, the brown foods I am referring to are foods that are brown in colour, such as nuts and whole-wheat bread, and those containing fibre and minerals. 

First, I tried to eat okara, which is a by-product of tofu production. It is cheap, and does not affect the flavour of foods; I put raw okara into soups and cooked it with rice. The texture of the dish was a little gluey, but it is easy to add okara when cooking at home. You can add it to the meat used to make hamburgers, curries or white stew. 

Although brown rice is chewy and does not taste as good as white rice, it does contain a lot of fibre and vitamins. White rice is produced by removing the outer husk of brown rice; white rice is tasty and has a pleasant texture, but it is less nutritious than brown rice. I had trials and errors when attempting to cook brown rice and found that the best way to cook it was with some white rice. Now I am a fan of brown rice. You should soak the brown rice at least 6 hours before you cook it with an auto-rice cooker. 

I cannot neglect to mention a particularly nutritious Japanese food, which is natto. As is well known, natto is dark brown in colour and has a strong, fermented flavour, which sometimes causes people to avoid it. It was not previously popular in the Kansai region but, as people have come to understand its nutritional value, can now be purchased at local supermarkets and convenience stores. It contains fibre and vitamins and a significant amount of protein. 

There are other types of healthy diets across the world, including the renowned Mediterranean diet, which is eaten in countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and Chinese medical cooking. Eating is an enjoyable experience that is linked directly to health. Thus, I hope you will consider eating a healthy diet!

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Blog Quiz

Q1. What is a problem of the author during the stay-at-home period?

Q2. What are brown foods introduced in the article?

Q3. What is a common ingredient of okara and natto?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. Gaining weight

Q2. Okara, brown rice and natto

Q3. Soy beans

As we all know, moving our lives online can be burdensome on our mental and physical health. Many of us have gained weight or heard our friends complain about gaining weight. With the ease of food at home and the lack of gyms to attend, our bodies are taking the full force of this new lifestyle.

While there are different ways to keep the weight off, most share two common themes, move! Whether you move your body through exercise or move your body in the kitchen, two key ways to succeed in living a healthy physical life at home are through movement.

Try to exercise! Exercising at home can be seen as troublesome. There is not a lot of space and no equipment. There are plenty of workout videos online that can help you exercise at home using different types of exercises. Many of these videos do not require any equipment, and they make you feel like you worked hard at the end. Taking advantage of the weather with a long walk or a good distance bicycle ride is also a good option. Furthermore, stand up from your computer and do some stretching. This will help loosen up your body and get your blood flowing.

Have you ever heard the saying “Abs are made in the kitchen”? To get a healthy body, the foods you eat are essential. Eating a balanced diet is vital to keeping the weight off. Get into the kitchen in the morning, get a light breakfast, plan for lunch, and eat a hearty dinner. 

At the beginning of all of this, I was worried about food and my health. However, through online classes, keeping a healthy schedule, eating well, and exercising, I have been able to get into the best shape I have been in a long time by working on these two areas of my physical lifestyle. You will not only look better, but you will also feel better too! These effects may even carry over into your academic life. 

Have the energy to get through the day at your computer in a healthy way!

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Blog Quiz

Q1. What are some problems with exercising at home?

Q2. When the weather is nice, what are two types of exercise mentioned?

Q3. What kind of diet should you eat?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. There is not a lot of space and no equipment.

Q2. Walking and riding a bicycle are mentioned.

Q3. You should eat a balanced diet.