Stir-fried meat & basil

Fantastic Lunch today at my favorite Thai restaurant D-jai.

ひき肉のバジル炒めかけご飯＋目玉焼き (stir-fried meat and basil with rice and sunny-side-up)



Its savory smell is very appetizing!!

Mickey Check

The Walt Disney Corporation announced on Tuesday that all products advertised on its child-focused television channels, radio stations and Web sites must comply with a strict new set of nutrition standards.

Besides the new advertising standards, Disney said it would roll out a "Mickey Check" check-mark icon this year to identify nutritious food and menu items at its retail shops and theme parks.


Nearly one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, and a 2006 Institute of Medicine report said junk-food marketing contributed to childhood obesity.


The media and entertainment conglomerate introduced voluntary guidelines in 2006 that prohibited licensing of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for foods that do not meet minimum nutritional requirements.


The move follows the announcement last week of a plan by New York City to ban the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks amid increasing concern about childhood obesity in America.




Mickey's magic will become true when the rate of obesity gets decreased.


True dream lies in healthy bodies.


And it may be a little harder for McDonald's to attract children than ever before.

Extinct Lonesome George

Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last remaining of its subspecies, died on Sunday of unknown causes, the Galapagos National Park said.


With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature on Earth.


He was estimated to be about 100 years old, which made him a young adult as the subspecies can live up to an age of 200.

Lonesome George was first seen in 1972 by a Hungarian scientist on the Pinta island, one of the smallest islands in the Galapagos.


Environmentalists had believed that his subspecies had become extinct.


Scientists had been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two female tortoises of a different subspecies into his pen.


They laid eggs twice, but they were infertile.


With his death, the Pinta giant tortoises are expected to be extinct.






The Galapagos' giant tortoise population was declimated after the arrival of humans.


Tortoises were hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction.


Their habitat has been eaten away by goats introduced from the mainland.




We never forget; the speed of tortoises' walk can be much faster than that of their extinction.

Sushi Tsukato

I've told that the best sushi restaurant around Urawa is Takara-zushi located by Gyokuzo-in.


But the one I went last night was also fantastic.

This is Sushi Tsukato, which located near Riki.


Not to mention the wonderful taste of Uni (Sea urchin), I fell in love with its Engawa (= Fluke fin).


If you're interested in this sushi restaurant, go to http://locoplace.jp/t000031493/.




Anyway I also like the design of Unomi (= tea cup), a small child attaches like this.

Mickey Mouse ties

A variety of Disney clothings have been sold at Itoyokado to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth.


And I bought these two unique ties.

Each of them costs me only ￥2,000.


Itoyokado sometimes provide good ones so cheaply. (^o^)

Miami Heat crowned NBA champions

LeBron James has won his first NBA championship and his first NBA Finals MVP, after leading the Miami Heat in a 121-106 rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night to win the championship in five games.

 

James had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, a triple-double in his final masterful playoff appearance.


Bast player in the team. Best team in the league.



Don't miss the super plays!!

Cool Biz

Eigonoie own polo shirts arrived yesterday.


We'd been talking about making our original shirts to contribue to the Cool Biz campaign, and one of the staffs Rikiya organized Eigonoie polo shirts at last!!

Not giving a bad image to Eigonoie, the design and colors are simple.


There are embroideries on the chest and the back top, saying teacher's and school names.

It's perfect to wear it in this summery weather today after Typhoon has passed!! ＼(^o^)／

Go Quack

With a "quack-quack" here and a "quack-quack" there

Here a "quack", there a "quack"

Everywhere a "quack-quack"

Drivers in China were faced with this massive brown army of ducks marching along a busy road.


Huge tailbacks formed when a local farmer, Mr. Hong, decided to herd 5,000 birds for 1km from his farm to a food pond.




Old MacDonald is here in China!!

Honcho Soda

Its impactive name and package led me to buy the Korean-born product "Honcho Soda."

Honcho is a Korean word meaning ' red (pomegrante) vinegar', which is quite popular in Korea for daily health.


As you can see the bottom of the package, the popularity of red vinegar has been brought in japan by way of Korean idol group KARA appearing on its CM.




Well, the acid taste refreshed me up!!


좋아좋아 (Choa Choa)!! (*^-^*)

Kobaton Cafe

I tried World Pizzeria Kobaton Cafe for lunch today.


It was established last April in a part of Saitama Prefectural Office building.

This restaurant seems to be run by Red Japan, which has been a world champions of pizza acrobatics.



I ordered "Pasta Crema Salmone" and "Pizza Margherita."

Well, there's no doubt that the pizza crust was pretty good, but the pasta was not so much.


And any lunch sets don't include drinks despite its name Cafe.




Finally they give me a point card.

Reduction rate to the customers may be below the consumption tax.


How stingy!!






I prefer Something for pizza lunch, anyway.

Souvenirs from Thailand

My boss Mr. Ogura  went to Thailand last week, and bought some souvenirs for us!!

Chicken Curry, Tom Yum Goong, and two packets of instant Red Curry.

I've been recently hooked on ethnic cuisine, so I'm happy to get such souvenirs!! ＼(^o^)／

Anyway, I wonder why the packages of Red Curry are different in spite of the same product...

And there is no expiry date on each product...

The sooner, the better.

Drink with Frogs

I drank with two of my friends at Shinjuku tonight.


All we enjoyed the time as if we'd gone back to the university days.


Thank you guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing you again. (^o^)





Anyway, I tried this for the first time.

I devoured Stir-fried bullfrogs!!



Am I wild??


The taste is just like whitefish.


If you want to try them, go to 川香苑 (Senkou-en) at Shinjuku.

Japan 6-0 Jordan

This is "Saiko ni Chodoii Honda"!!

Keisuke Honda scored a hat trick as Japan trounced 10-man Jordan 6-0 in the second match of World Cup qualifier last night.


The following video shows you more goals of not only Honda but also Ryoichi Maeda, Shinji Kagawa, and Yuzo Kurihara.

All we know Japan is much stronger than ever before, but don't be satisfied with the present situation.


Be hungry!!

AKB election 2012

Yuko Oshima (center), 23, made an emotional comeback in this year's AKB general election held on June 6th in Tokyo.


She gathered 108,837 votes followed by the second placed Mayu Watanabe (right) with 72,574 votes and the third placed Yuki Kashiwagi (left) with 71, 076 votes.


Without last year's winner Atsuko Maeda, Oshima was expected to win a landslide victory in the election, and it is indeed.





I'm not so interested in AKB itself, but I'm interested in the social effects of the election.


The total ballot was...to my surprise, 1,384,122!!


Such number drives today's recession away!!


Japan's government should learn how to attract people from that election.





And I really want to know why not only fans but also media get so enthusiastic.

Blue Cheese Burger

FRESHNESS BURGER has introduced an amazing combinaion between Classic Burger and blue cheese.

The distinctive smell is not so strong.


The blue cheese melts like a cream cheese, and its salty taste goes well with the juicy hamburger steak.




Don't miss it if you're a cheese-lover!! (^^)

Japan 3-0 Oman

Nobody can stop the Samurai Blue's motor Keisuke Honda!!

As you know, we Japan made a comfortable start to the final round of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup with a 3-0 win over Oman last night at Saitama Satadium.


CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda settled Japan's nerves in front of 63,551 supporters with an exquisite left-footed volley from Inter Milan defender Yuto Nagatomo's super cross in the 12th minute, before goals from Ryoichi Maeda and Shinji Okazaki early in the second half made the game safe for the reigning Asian champions.


Japan dominated throughout the 90 minutes, with Oman limited to a single shot on target through midfielder Fawzi Doorbeen at the end of the first half, and never able to create another clear scoring chance.



So fntastic, wasn't it!!??



Don't miss the highlights!!

Go, Japan, Go!! ＼(^o^)／

Grade Skipping for High School Students

The education ministry is planning to allow high school students to graduate and enter university after completing only their first two years.


The envisioned system aims to enable top high school students to go to university earlier so that they can focus on specialized fields and play a key role as professionals in the international community.


However, that system is expected to be criticized as overly elitist and could potentially result in some parents putting excessive pressure on their children to excel at school.




Under the system, I think, it must be too hard for teachers to deal with a possible widening gap between top and bottom students...

-8.50

I bought contact lenses yesterday, but the power of them ups again to -8.50 in the right eye and -7.50 in the left.

That means my eyesight has been failing.


I'm climbing up the ladder to visual handicapped...