Winter

Winter ... I catch viruses very quickly. Today, doctors prescribe antibiotics in all cases. 

It's very frustrating. They don't want to take responsibility. 

On the one hand I understand them, but on the other hand, I think that they should revive poisoning with antibiotics and chemicals.

 Our organism needs six months to rebuild its intestinal flora. Meanwhile, sometimes rest and proper diet is enough and everything returns to normal.

 Our body has an amazing self-healing power. We have to appreciate that...

 Instead of catching the disease we should prevent it. 

 I like tea with lots of fresh ginger. Sandwiches with garlic also tend to be helpful. And of course remember the vitamin c in spinach, peppers or kiwi. There is a lot! 

Homemade ways to fight with virus are effective.  Maybe your grandmother sent you some reliable tricks? :) 

Teeth

 Making Japan more exotic that it is, is so visible in pop culture. Hollywood blockbusters such as Memoirs of a Geisha are far from what geishas were really. Practically, nobody knows that geishas blackened their teeth... Anyway, teeth topic in Japan is quite interesting issue. A long time ago in Japan, crooked teeth were highly desirable. In addition - they blacked them. Americans arrived and this habit gone into oblivion. However, in the '90, crooked teeth began again appreciated. Women emancipated. They came back to old traditions. In Japan, we called crooked teeth = yaeba. It was especially canine that were overlaped with dye. To this day clinics offer treatments like buckling teeth.  I don't think it's something very different than practices in Europe. European women have also their own manias, injecting exorbitant amounts of acids in your cheeks, lips or breasts ... Are we so different?

Jiro

Jiro dreams about sushi is my one of mustsees. It's a documentary about Mr. Jiro Ono,85-year-old sushi master. He has got a restaurant in Tokyo's subway which won 3 Michelin stars. This is the highest award in the world of gastronomy. You wait for a table one month minimum and you will pay upward of 300 euro. However, this doesn't deter anyone. Reservation must be planned much earlier. Jiro’s sushi restaurant has only 10 seats.

It's a beautiful movie about the pursuit of perfection, discipline and harmony. If samurai survive, Jiro Ono is one of them. Sushi is his life. He perfects all the time. He personifies all the old Japanese values already fading.

But attention, don’t watch this on an empty stomach. :)

...

If Japan interest you, or you are just curious, I recommend you to start with a collection of essays Rekin z parku Yoyogi by great Polish writer Joanna Bator. She writes about Japan, mainly about people, subcultures and customs. More interesting are her stories, because Bator deal with culture  from the scientific anthropological point of view, which can be felt quite quickly reading a book. Moreover, Rekin... isn't the first Bator text about Japan, this author wrote Japoński wachlarz  undertooking also the subject of Japan. Bator lived many years in Japan and worked at Tokyo University. However, currently she lives in Warsaw.

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

Japanese Otaku

Last posts were about Korea, so it's time to breathe...

 My dream is travel to Japan. This country fascinate and attracte me longtime. For now I recognize Japan only literary, but perhaps I'll visit  someday this island. Japan is today a melting pot of subcultures. One of them is otaku and their headquarters is the Akihabara district. Otaku is a person who fanatically passionate about Japanese popular culture like anime, manga, video games or movies. Otaku idols are not real people, but the products of artificial reality, literature, computer or comic. These are lil, warriors, monsters, French maids... All of this can be seen in Akihabara, where people parade through the streets dressed in these characters.

 Otaku photograph them, eat in restaurants where characters from the anime give him a meal, buy additional figurines of favorite characters. 

About 10 years ago, the district began to attract tourists. However, otaku don't like mainstream. Therefore there is a high possibility that their center will be moved to another, more secluded where nosy Europeans will not reach. 

I don't think I'll see Akihabara in forme that we see it now ... :)

cheese and strawberries ice cream...

Coming back to Korean cuisine, it's, Asian cuisine, but a completely different than e.g. Japanese cuisine. Of course there are some dishes that resemble to a certain extent Asian delights whether it is Japanese or Thai, but generally Koreans have their own highly developed culinary culture. In the most of the traditional restaurant you have to enter barefoot. Flip-flops or slip shoes are very practical. :) In the Korean menu rice and meat in any form - reign. They eat them raw, fried, stewed and boiled. Amateur of soups will be in heaven because all the bars have their rich offer. Of course, ordering the main course, we are sure that we will be treated by side dishes which I've described recently. Instead of sandwiches Koreans eat snack similar in appearance to the Japanese maki sushi, but instead of raw fish in the middle, you'll find fried minced meat or chicken...

In short, cabbage, rice and meat construct the base of this kitchen.

I loved this quite rustic food, although I suffered from a lack of fruits. They are outrageously expensive. For one apple or one banana I had to paid about 10 zl...

BUT … find such masterpieces as ice cream flavored cheese isn't difficult in Korea.. :) As for the title of the post