Matsuri in Matsudai (10′15″ 9.4 MB MP3)
Every year on August 26th, the village of Matsudai in Niigata prefecture holds its summer festival. This year I was was in town to see some of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial and I stayed over to enjoy the festival. I recorded some of the singing and dancing fun to share with you.
Credits
Singing by the townspeople of Matsudai; background music from the Kinseees! performance soundtrack.
Japanese Kitchen (12.1 MB MP3)
In this program, you’ll learn about miso soup, including how to make dashi, the simple sea stock that is the base of miso soup, and all the two classes of ingredients you should include in your soup.
RECIPES
Dashi (sea stock) Broth
(1 serving)
150 ml water
1″ dried kombu
small handful katsuobushi (bonito) flakes
Put the kombu in the cold water and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle katsuobushi over the water. When the flakes sink, strain the material from the broth. Done!
Miso Soup
(1 serving)
150 ml dashi
splash of sake
1 Tblsp miso
80-100 grams of umami and scent ingredients (at least one of each – see lists below)
If you choose onion or leek for your soup, sautee briefly then splash in some sake. Pour in the dashi and bring to a simmer. Add any ingedients that need to be cooked (carrot, diakon, etc) and simmer for about 10 minutes. If you are using tofu, add it to warm. Turn off the heat and stir in the miso. Lay any leafy scent ingredients in the bottom of your bowl and pour the soup over.
Scent ingredients – choose one or more
mitsuba, crysanthemum leaves, celery leaves, leek, scallion, fresh ginger, celery, onion, mushrooms
Umami ingredients – choose one or more
carrot, daikon, tofu, abura-age, cabbage, chinese cabbage, gobo (burdock root), wakame, celery, onion, mushrooms
Credits
Conveyor Belt Sushi theme music by Haco.
Moss and ivy covered tomb at Zoshigaya cemetery, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Graveside Chats: Kate Wildman Nakai on Zoshigaya Cemetery (13.4 MB MP3)
Kate Wildman Nakai tells Jonathan Wilder about some of the graves in Zoshigaya cemetery. They make brief stops at the graves of the famous, like Lafcadio Hearn and Tojo, and the not so famous graves that are under threat of removal.
Links
Tomb of William Wright
Example of an “eviction” notice put up in 2003 (taken down in 2004.)
Tomb of Alexander Hare, professor of English for forty years.
Production – Many thanks to Kristen McQuillin for the loan of her recording equipment and MJ Daniels-Sueyasu for putting all the bits together.
Podcast produced by MJD-S.
Japanese Kitchen (12.1 MB MP3)
In this program, you’ll learn about tsukemono, Japanese pickles, and pickling techniques from food culture expert, Elizabeth Andoh. Kristen McQuillin invites you to her kitchen to try a simple pickle recipe. And we hear a little bit about Washoku theory and Elizabeth Andoh’s forthcoming book.
Recipe
Impatient Pickles
1 Japanese or English cucumber
1 carrot
1/6 wedge green cabbage
1/2 tsp salt
2 1×3 cm strips kombu (dried)
Slice the vegetables thinly–the thickness of a 1 yen coin (American dime) or thinner. Mix with the salt and allow to sit until the vegetables begin to wilt and weep. Press them gently between your hands, taking care not to bruise them. Increase the pressure until liquid drips from them. Discard the liquid.
On a plate, lay a strip of kombu. Spread the vegetables in an even layer over the plate. Top with another strip of kombu and the second plate. Weigh the plate down with a can of tomatoes or soup. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
Rinse the brine from the pickles in cool water and gently squeeze dry. Serve with rice and miso soup for a simple Japanese meal, or use them in a Western-style salad.
Links & Resources
Taste of Culture, a Japanese cooking school in Tokyo
Washoku, Recipes from the Japanese Kitchen by Elizabeth Andoh
The Well-Flavoured Vegetable by Eri Yamaguchi
Credits
Conveyor Belt Sushi theme music by Haco.
Tracey Northcott shares her insider knowledge on the mobile phone packet scene in Japan.
Golden Girl (10.8 MB MP3)
Links
NTT DoCoMo http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english
Vodafone http://www.vodafone.jp/english
EZWeb http://www.au.kddi.com/english
Kansai Time Out http://kto.co.jp/
Keitai Novels
Shinchosha Co’s Shincho Keitai Bunko (“Shincho Mobile-Phone Collection”)
http://www.shinchosha.co.jp/keitaibunko
Kadokawa Shoten Bunko Yomihodai (“All you can read collection”)
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/sp/200308-06
Sharp Corp’s Space Town Books
http://www.spacetown.ne.jp/dynamic/app/F101/book
Mobile Counselling
Soutusen Netto (“Net for Quitting Smoking”)
http://www.soutsuen.net
TangoTown
http://tangotown.jp
Podcast produced by MJD-S.
(Upload a little late = MJ’s bad – gomene!)
Hanashi Station Podcast for August 11th, 2005 (15.2 MB MP3)
The show was delayed a bit, due to a misplaced USB cable, but now it’s here, it’s up and, well, I hope you like it…
It doesn’t have the excellent production values that you may be used to, because Kristen is off on vacation, but it doesn’t sound *too* bad, I think, but of course, like most people, listening to a recording of my own voice is very strange.
There’s some music in it, from ibiblio, all released under a Creative Commons license.
The first piece is Sonatine for Oboe and Piano by Thomas Walmisley, from a 1991 performance by Alex Klein, oboe and Lisa Bergman, piano.
Later on, you’ll hear Bach-Busoni Chorale : Nun freut euch lieben Christen, performed by Debbie Hu.
I also snarfed Kristen’s matsuri recording, to use as background for one part.
Brain Dump focuses on the indie Japanese Music scene, covering a range of genres.
Brain Dump (13.9 MB MP3)
Program Overview: The first program is an overview of the indie music scene in Japan, featuring songs from N.S.D. and marshmallow spike.
Band links:
N.S.D. – http://fhp.jp/nsd/
marshmallow spike – http://www.marshmallowspike.net
Links to Japanese music sites:
With 9 – http://www.with9.com
J-POPS – http://www.j-pops.com
Band-Age – http://www.band-age.com
Edoardo Chiossone’s tomb in Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo
Hello, thanks for stopping by. The first podcast in the Graveside Chats series was recorded in late May 2005 in Aoyama Cemetery’s foreign section where some of the famous and many of the not so famous graves are under threat of removal by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In an interview with Donatella Failla, Director of Museo d’Arte Orientale E. Chiossone, we learn a bit about the man and his tomb.
Graveside Chats: Edoardo Chissonne (11.5 MB MP3)
Donatella Failla, Director of Museo d’Arte Orientale E. Chiossone
Music–Aki no Koto no Ha – by Nishiyama Tokumoto, late 19th century Meiji era, as transcribed by Bonnie Wade in her Tegotomono (Greenwood Press, 1976). For two kotos and shakuhachi on the vocal part. (1996)http://members.accessbee.com/jkwasnik/midi/akino.html
Production– Many thanks to Kristen McQuillin and MJ Daniels-Sueyasu for their assistance with recording and post production.
Youkoso Hanashi Station (14 MB MP3)
Hanashi Station’s premiere highlights segments of future shows.