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yukikurosu123 · 1 year
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The Concrete-Encased High School Girl Murder Case (Junko Furuta Case)
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I wanted to share this infamous and horrific case that never left my mind ever since I heard of it. The main reason why is because of how there are so many spread misinformations and misconceptions on this case, but also to add some details about the case who are quite important however were always not mentioned on the internet, particularly on English-speaking websites. The other reason is to spread awareness on violent crimes against women and how much juvenile delinquency is a big problem yet often left not punished. 
Today is the case of Junko Furuta, she was murdered on the 4th of January 1989, after having been kept captive and tortured for 40 days.  
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I’ll try to make this as accurate as possible because as much as popular this case is, most of the informations about the motive of the killers seem to be incorrect, so instead of basing the source of my informations from English-speaking websites, I’ll take it mostly with Japanese websites about the case through accurate translation with DeepL.
Trigger Warning: This case contains explicit description and grotesque mentions of torture, rape, captivity, false imprisonment, immorality, injustice and cold-blooded murder.
Background: 
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Junko Furuta (古田 順子) was born in Misato, in the Prefecture of Saitama on January the 18th of 1971. She had an older brother and a younger brother. As a teenage girl, she was studying in Yashio-Minami High School. (Photo down below)
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She was a bright, loving and popular girl with many friends at school due to her kind personality. A good student with high grades and infrequent absences. She didn’t smoke, drink, nor do drugs unlike many of her peers. Junko also reportedly had dreams of becoming an idol singer.
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She had a boyfriend going by the pseudonym of Kawamura, a 23 year old construction worker who accepted an interview to a magazine about the murder and shared his feelings of helplessness after the case. 
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Here’s something you might find a bit weird, Junko had just turned 17 while he was 23, as I prescribed earlier, an adult, but perhaps it wasn’t seen as socially immoral for a minor in Japan in the 80’s for a minor to date an adult six years older than them. The two met on Christmas 1987 through a mutual friend. They started dating the day before Valentine’s Day in 1988. In Japan, it is a custom for a woman or girl to give chocolate to the man/boy they like (though there is also chocolate given to coworkers called ‘obligation chocolate’), so Junko made Kawamura homemade chocolates (according to some sources, she loved to bake sweets). He gifted her an 18K gold necklace in return. 
In the summer of that exact same year, Junko, Kawamura, and their friends went to the beach (Junko apparently loved going to the beach), where they took a famous photo about her together (link to photo) which I think was later cropped because you can only see her on it.
“A child with big and bright eyes” was Kawamura’s first impression of her according to an article. 
On 23 November, Kawamura’s birthday (but for some reasons was instead misinterpreted as Junko’s birthday on some English-speaking websites), Junko knitted him a black sweater and the two went bowling. They had also plans on going skiing in the winter which devastatingly would never happen due to the unfortunate tragedy which would occur only two days later. When Kawamura found out about the incident in March 1989, he was understandably angry and devastated. 
Link to Japanese article about him
After graduating from the high school four months later in March, she was supposed to start working for an electronics retailer company from April 1989. 
On the 25th of November 1988 at around 8:30PM, she was cycling home after her part-time job at an plastic molding factory, it was Friday, the day people would be paid at work, she was looking forward to watching the last episode of her favourite TV drama, Tonbo which is named Dragonfly in English. 
Now, about the perpetrators background: 
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Offender ‘A’ (Hiroshi Miyano), the leader of the four, was born in April 1970 as the first son of his parents. With both parents working and gaining income, the family was going well financially but dysfunctional due to conflict between the parents. Miyano started showing his aggressive nature since his primary school years by stealing, bullying and vandalism. He would often break into schools, beat teachers, vandalize properties, even one time broke one of his parents ribs for buying him the wrong food. As he became violent within the family, his father even went as far as to go to his school for advice. In his middle school years he passed the three years without causing much trouble; he became good at jūdō, devoted himself to it and left good records. He moved on to a high school which was famous for being good at jūdō. The practice was hard and he was bullied by his seniors. As a result, half a year later he left the jūdō club and another half a year later dropped out of school. He started to work to become a tiler, but around that time joined a motorcycle gang. Having committed several criminal offense such as causing bodily injury, unauthorized entry to buildings and theft, he was placed under probation. Having left the motorcycle gang, for a year or so he appeared settled. He worked hard as a tiler, pleasing his boss. He started living with his girlfriend who was according to some sources offender D (Yasushi Watanabe)‘s elder sister. Wanting to marry her, he started to save money. In May 1988 he obtained a driving license and was presented by his father with a brand new car in July. Since around August, however, he became dissatisfied of his low wages and stopped turning up for work. Getting to know a yakuza member through his former classmate, he started selling fake brand goods, working as a Tekiya, looking after a yakuza office etc. He also started inhaling paint thinner. His girlfriend however soon broke up with him because of his delinquent behaviour.
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Offender B (Jō Ogura to later Jō Kamisaku) was born in May 1971. His parents were separated and divorced when he was a kid. He lived with his mother and sister the majority of time, spending only two months with his father when he was ten. Good at sports, he did not show any sign of being a troublemaker, until he suffered a complex fracture in his right foot while skiing in January 1986. Unable to carry on with sports, he became lazy with studies and was expelled from his high school in November 1987. Working as an apprentice of an electrician, he enrolled at night school, but soon lost interest and was absent from the classes. From about May 1988 he idled the time away. In July 1988 he drove a motorcycle without a license and was placed on probation.
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Offender C (Shinji Minato) was born in December 1972. Both his parents worked at the same surgery; his father as a pharmacist and his mother as a nurse. He had an elder brother who was born in January 1972. While at the primary school, he started causing trouble with threatening behaviour and shoplifting. Moving on to the middle high school, his verbal and physical violence intensified. He also rebelled against his father. After graduating from the middle high school in March 1988 and starting his high school years in April, his behaviour worsened. He would not attend school, would not come home at night, mixed with bad company, was violent at home, and left his school in September. Since summer that year, Minato and his elder brother’s rooms became a hangout for a gang of hoodlums as his busy parents were often not at home. Faced with their own son’s violence, Minato‘s parents were ‘helpless’, described by reports. Minato was also placed under probation after driving a motorcycle without a license.
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Offender D (Yasushi Watanabe) was born in December 1971. His parents separated when he was four, and divorced two years later. His father was killed in a traffic accident soon after. Watanabe was raised by his mother and elder sister. Although he had enrolled at a night school in April 1986, he stopped attending classes only a week later, and left school in September. In October 1986 he was placed under probation for domestic violence. In June 1987 and in March 1988, he was on file for minor criminal offences. He tried a few jobs but did not last long with any of them probably due to his incompetence and violent demeanour. 
All four of them used to go to the same middle high school with A as the oldest, followed by Ogura and Watanabe in the grade below, and Minato another grade down. Minato‘s house had two rooms upstairs which were occupied by Minato and his elder brother. With both parents working and therefore often not at home, those two rooms became the hangout for a gang of youths since summer 1988, about which Minato‘s parents were at the end of their tether. Ogura was in the same grade as Minato’s brother, and started to hang out at Minato‘s that summer. In October 1988, Minato‘s older brother’s motorcycle was stolen and Miyano started to come to Minato‘s while helping his older brother search for his motorcycle. From then on, a small gang of teenage delinquents formed. Miyano was feared by the others, and under his leadership the gang behaved like yakuza. Ogura was second in command, and dominated the others in Miyano‘s absence. By the way, they often used the name yakuza as leverage to get away with violent crimes, but were not actually yakuza’s (although they had acquaintances who were low-ranking yakuza’s) and had no power, no name, no authority in the underground world. They were called yankees (juvenile delinquents), commonly found in Japan. 
Kidnapping and Abduction: 
In the evening of the 25th of November 1988, Hiroshi Miyano and Shinji Minato were wandering about on separate mopeds in Misato, the Prefecture of Saitama, with the purpose of snatching bags from or raping young women. Spotting Junko cycling home at around 8:30PM, Miyano told Minato to “kick that woman”. Minato did so and left the scene immediately. Junko fell to the side. They mentioned on a Japanese site that ‘she looked so scared’. Miyano then approached her saying, “That one’s crazy; I’ve been threatened by him with a knife a short time ago. You may still be in danger. Let me walk you home”. 
Place where Junko was knocked off her bicycle and abducted: 35°47'46.5"N 139°51'50.1"E
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Gaining Junko’s trust, Miyano lured her into a nearby warehouse where he dropped his ‘good guy’ pretence and raped her, saying: “I’m his accomplice and we are both yakuza. If you obey me, I will spare your life. Let me have sex with you; if you scream you’re dead.” He then took her to a hotel by taxi where he raped her again. From the hotel Miyano rang Minato‘s home, their usual hangout, and told Ogura that he succeeded in raping the girl, actively bragging about it too. Ogura asked him to keep her in captivity so he and numerous other men could come to rape her. At around 0:30AM on the 26th of November, Miyano with Junko, Ogura, Minato and Watanabe met up in a park. After a talk between Miyano and Ogura, they decided to abduct and imprison her. They told her that they knew where she lived from her student notebook (which every student was expected to carry with them while in uniform) and that they would get yakuza members to kill all of her family if she tried to escape. She was taken to C‘s house in the Ayase district of Adachi, Tokyo, where she was easily overpowered and repeatedly gang-raped. Location of the home Unlike what some websites claim, she didn’t know her abductors beforehand, they had no grudge against her and there was nothing particular that made them do this. They were all school dropouts, serial gang rapists and juvenile delinquents. She was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, literally just riding back home after finishing her part-time job.
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Captivity and Torture: 
On the 27th of November, Junko’s worried parents asked the police to search for her.  However, the gang forced Junko to call her home three times between the end of November and the middle of December.  She was made to tell her parents that she had run away from home, was safe with friends, and she wanted the police search to be stopped.
From then on, the four kept gang-raping her continuously, they also invited and sold her off to low-ranking members of the Yakuza called chimpira and many of their other friends, encouraging them to also take turns raping her. More than a hundred men are believed to have raped her over the course of her captivity. There were instances where she would be raped by 12 different men in a single day. The men who raped her also reportedly enjoyed urinating on her. 
One time, Koichi Ihara, one of the men who was invited in the house to rape Junko and who was allegedly pressured by gang members into raping her, told his brother about the incident after he left the Minato household. His brother subsequently told their parents, who then contacted police. Two police officers were dispatched to the Minato household, however they were informed that there was no girl inside the house. The police officers declined an invitation to look around the house, believing the invitation was sufficient proof that there was no girl in the Minato house, they were supposed to visit the house regardless of what the residents told them, but they didn't follow the procedure. Both officers faced considerable backlash from the Japanese community. If they had come inside the house and at least checked some clues, Junko probably would have survived and would still be alive now. The two officers were allegedly fired for failing to follow the procedure. 
In early December, while the gang was asleep, Junko called the police, but was stopped by Miyano before she was able to say anything. The police called back right away, but Miyano said it was a mistake. Angered by her act, they started to becoming more and more torturous with her over time. She was repeatedly punched, kicked, struck by heavy objects, foreign objects inserted into her private parts such as broken bottles, an iron bar, scissors, roasting needles, grilled chicken skewers, a hot lit light bulb rubbed inside of her vagina until it exploded inside, had her skin burned with cigarettes and lighter fluids. They burned her eyelids with hot wax and cigarette lighters. They had fireworks forced up her anus and set them off multiple times, causing severe damages inside of her orifice. They had her left nipple ripped off with pliers and sewing needles pierced through her breasts. They also stopped feeding her. Due to both external and internal injuries and malnutrition, she could hardly walk and had to crawl downstairs to the bathroom, which took her about one whole hour. When she could no longer crawl to the bathroom, she was made to urinate into a cup and was forced to drink her own urine. They forced her to consume absurdly large amounts of alcohol and milk to the point of throwing up, as well as forcing her to smoke multiple cigarettes at once. Because of the unbearable violence and pain, Junko repeatedly begged them to kill her to end the suffering. Ignoring her pleas, they continued to torture her for days. They had heavy dumbbells dropped on her stomach while she was lying on the ground with her hands and feet tied, causing her to lose control of her bowel control. They made her stand up and beat her legs with bamboo sticks, golf clubs and many other diverse objects. They kept her hanging from the ceiling and used her body as a human punching bag, because of the intense attacks her nose was so swelled up with blood she could only breathe from her mouth. Putting her in a freezer for several hours which only infected her worsening injuries. They smashed her hands and fingernails with weights, making her unable to grip anything.
The brutality of the attacks changed Junko’s appearance completely. Her badly beaten face was so swollen that her cheeks were as high as her nose. Her burned and infected skin produced body fluid with a bad smell. The gang no longer had sexual interest in her. To ‘fulfill their sexual desires’, at around 2:30AM on the 27th of December 1988, the four abducted a 19-year-old woman on her way home. They pushed her into A‘s car, threatened her with a knife, took her into a motel room and gang-raped her. Even before abducting Junko, Miyano, Ogura and Minato had committed a similar gang-rape on the 8th of November.
When January 1989 arrived, the gang talked about what to do with Junko’s body. “Kill and bury her?” “Let’s mince her body after killing.”  “We can burn her in an oil drum.” “Fill the drum with concrete and throw it into the sea. The police would never find it.” 
Murder and Death:
In the early hours of the 4th of January 1989, after losing a lot of money playing mahjong, heavily frustrated Miyano visited Watanabe‘s house. Ogura and Minato were also present. After playing computer games for a while, Miyano decided to vent his anger by going to Minato’s home to beat Junko where she laid, almost dead. The attack started at around 8AM. Junko was punched for multiple consecutive hours nonstop, violently kicked, had her face covered in hot wax with two short candles placed on her eyelids. She hardly responded. They made her stand and struck her face with swinging kicks. Defenceless Junko fell onto a stereo state and collapsed. She started a fit of convulsions.
The gang knew Junko might die, but did not stop. She bled from her nose and mouth, and bloody pus emerged from her burns. Blood spattered all over the room. Reluctant to get blood on his fists, Watanabe covered his hands with plastic bags and taped them around the wrists before punching Junko in the stomach and shoulders twenty or thirty times. Miyano, Ogura and Minato imitated Watanabe and covered their hands in bags. They took turns to punch and kick Junko in the face, stomach and thighs. They also struck Junko in the thighs many times with a heavy iron ball which was part of Minato‘s kick boxing exercise machine. Watanabe dropped the iron ball onto her stomach several times. Miyano repeatedly poured lighter fuel on her thighs, stomach, hands, feet and set it alight. Junko initially gestured as if trying to put it off, but gradually became unresponsive.
The gang taped around Junko’s ankles so that she could not escape and went out to a sauna. It is believed that she died in Minato‘s room some time during the last torture or the hours that followed.
The next day when Miyano, Ogura and Minato were at a florist run by yakuza, Minato‘s elder brother rang to tell that Junko appeared to be dead. Afraid of the murder being detected, the three gang members decided to get rid of Junko’s dead body. They wrapped her body in two blankets, pushed it into a large travel bag and taped around it. During her captivity, Furuta had mentioned to her captors several times that she regretted not being able to watch the finale episode of the show she liked, Tonbo (Dragonfly). So Miyano found the videotape of the episode and placed it in the travel bag. As he later explained, it was not because he pitied Furuta, but because he did not want her to return as a ghost and haunt him. From his former employer, Miyano borrowed a cement mixer and a truck and took them to his home. They fetched an oil drum which was used as a litter bin in the neighbourhood. They placed the travel bag which contained Junko’s body in the drum, threw in some concrete blocks, and filled up the drum with fresh concrete. The drum was taped into a large black litter bag. At around 8PM the drum was loaded onto the truck. They initially planned on dropping it into the sea, but on the way they passed an empty space near a development site and abandoned it here.
The development site where they encased Junko’s body in concrete
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Investigation and Arrestation:
On the 23rd of January 1989, Miyano and Ogura were arrested for the gang-rape of the 19-year-old woman in December. On the 29th of March, two police officers from the Ayase district (where Minato’s house was) came to interrogate them. Women’s underwear had been found at their addresses and the police suspected that they might have committed theft as well.
There had been murder of a mother and her 7-year-old son in Ayase district on the 16th of November the previous year, nine days before Junko’s abduction. As the case had not been solved (and remains unsolved even today), during the interrogation one officer lightly uttered a trick question to Miyano, thinking that he was a possible suspect, because of his serial offenses around the area. “You mustn’t kill someone, you know”. However Miyano thought that the officer was talking about Junko Furuta, thinking that Ogura in a separate room had already confessed. “I am sorry that we killed”, he told probably thinking that going along with it would make him have a lesser sentence. The officers were astounded as it wasn’t what they were talking about in the first place and they were surprised as Junko’s disappearance was initially deemed as a teenager runaway. They went to the empty space accordingly to the confession, where they found a drum with a strange smell. The 305kg drum was lifted onto a truck by a crane and taken to the police the following day.
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Junko’s body was found in the drum, badly decomposed and disfigured as she had been dead for almost three months. Edema all over her body. Malnutrition. Facial features unrecognizable due to severe disfigurement. It had to be identified by fingerprints. On the 1st of April Minato was arrested for another rape case and was rearrested for the murder of Junko Furuta. The arrest of Watanabe and two other accomplices (Tetsuo Nakamura and Koichi Ihara) followed after the two’s sperm DNA was found inside of her.
The location where her body was found has been developed since and is now a Wakasu park.
Autopsy:
Using the fingerprints, it was revealed that the body belonged to Junko Furuta. The autopsy found so much disturbing evidence of abuse. It was revealed that Junko Furuta was pregnant at the time of her death because of the repeated rapes. Her brain shrank and reduced in size due to the dire circumstances of Junko’s final days.
DNA found on and inside Junko’s body led the police to several other accomplices, including Tetsuo Nakamura and Koichi Ihara, as mentioned earlier, and also other semen sources that could not be identified due to two reasons: it having been too long and it being too much to identify which person it belonged to.
The autopsy found cigarettes, broken glasses, vitamin bottles, fireworks and many other deadly objects inside her vagina.
Funeral:
Junko Furuta’s funeral was held on the 2nd of April 1989. Had she not been murdered, the following day – Monday the 3rd of April – would have been her start at her job at the electronics retailer.
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One of Junko’s friends’ memorial address:
‘Jun-chan, welcome back. I have never imagined that we would see you again in this way. You must have been in so much pain… so much suffering… The happi we all made for the school festival looked really good on you. We will never forget you. I have heard that the headmaster has presented you with a graduation certificate. So we graduated together – all of us. Jun-chan, there is no more pain, no more suffering. Please rest in peace.’
Junko’s future boss presented her parents with the uniform she was to wear at work. It was placed inside her coffin. At the graduation, Junko’s school principal presented her with a school diploma like all the other students in commemoration, which was given to her parents.
Prosecutions:
Despite the shockingly brutal nature of the crime, the identities of the four perpetrators were protected due to all of them being minors at the time of the crime. Some media however published their names. On the 12th of July 1991, after overturning the original terms, Tokyo High Court sentenced them as follows. 
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A (Hiroshi Miyano to later on Hiroshi Yokoyama) : 17 years imprisonment which was later increased to 20 years imprisonment, because the judge was angered by the audacity of the culprit, who was trying to appeal to his already way too lenient sentence even after the severity of the crime he committed. (In my opinion, even the death penalty isn’t enough for these demons, they deserve the worst torture possible)
A‘s mother sent money (50 million yen≒USD425k) to Junko’s parents after selling their family home after they filed a civil lawsuit against them due to the unbelievable injustice of the crime. A was released in summer 2009. 
B (Jō Ogura to later Jō Kamisaku) : Indefinite 5 to 10 year term imprisonment.
In court it was revealed that Ogura‘s father started saving money for compensation to Junko’s parents, despite Junko’s parents’ refusal to accept it. Sources of information in more recent years states that Ogura‘s father’s savings, originally meant for Junko’s parents, had been consumed by Ogura for frivolous luxuries. Ogura was released in August 1999. 
C (Nobuharu Minato to later on Shinji Minato) : Indefinite 5 – 9 year term imprisonment.
D (Yasushi Watanabe) : Indefinite 5 – 7 year term in juvenile detention center.
Perpetrators Whereabouts: 
In January 2013, A was re-arrested for fraud, but remained silent during interrogation. Due to insufficient evidence he was released without charge.
Here is a text which talks about information of his whereabouts after his release.
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Yellow text in the bottom right corner: “His favorite saying was “I stuck it in her mouth so far that she threw up".
White text on the bottom: “When I heard the rumor, I couldn't believe it. So I asked him over a drink. The stuff about you being one of the perpetrators of the concrete-encased high school girl murder case (Murder of Junko Furuta) is a lie, right? His facial expression suddenly stopped and turned pale. This happened in August of this year. The next day, I stopped receiving any contact from [Miyano], even though I had been spending almost every day with him.”
The photographer, mister M, said this with suspicion. M presented a photo where there was a shirtless man sitting on a bench throwing a peace sign.
“That man (Miyano) called himself “K". We met around 3 years ago. I joined a gym in Western Tokyo where I was commuting. He felt like a big brother to me, and invited me to hang out with him. This picture (panel 3 with the three guys in suits with Miyano (K)’s face blacked out and the two guys around him with pixelated faces) was taken at a barbecue we had earlier this summer. It was a time when I really didn't know about the murder incident…”
The end of 1988 marked the murder of Junko Furuta. The murder case, which is described as the “deeds of savages hiding under their masks,” is well known more than 20 years later. However, after having been released from prison in 2009, what became of [Miyano] was largely unknown.
“I could have never envisioned myself being so close to such a brutal criminal. But in retrospect, realizing he was one of the main perpetrators [of Furuta's murder] isn't that surprising. He was always talking about Judo (martial arts) or sex, and would brag about how when having sex with women how he “stuck it in her mouth so far that she threw up". He also talked about how much he liked choking women during sex. He is also 43 years old, and that is certainly his face right there. Friends of mine who have also met K would send me photos of [Miyano] and say that this is unquestionably the same person.”
The photo [of Miyano] released at the time of the murder incident [in 1989] certainly bears a striking resemblance to the photo [of K] taken in August earlier in the summer. His well-featured nose, the so-called “gyoza ears" so prevalent in Judo practitioners, and his symmetrical hairline. “A hairline is like a fingerprint in that it is unique to each individual.” Like a plastic surgeon, even if 30 years have passed, such a coincidence is further deepened.
M continues talking.
“And that's not all. [Miyano] was said to have been arrested for fraud in January, and around the same time [Miyano] was arrested, K suddenly disappeared for 2 weeks. Because it was around New Years, I thought we should all go out drinking together, so I tried calling [K] but I couldn't get a hold of him. Later, when I asked [K] about where he had been, he claimed that he got in trouble with a rental car and so he was brought to the Akasaka Police Station, but looking back in retrospect there's no way that could've been true. The reason why is because K told me directly that he knew a lot of people engaging in a group wire fraud scandal.”
There is even more evidence that [Miyano] is K.
In the spring of this year, a reporter from a certain weekly publication called the gym that M was a member of asking for information about [Miyano]. This became a topic of gossip among the other gym members. In fact, the reporter actually came to the gym to cover something.
“But at that time I wasn't really paying attention. The person who told me that K was actually [Miyano] was a guy who served 12 years in Chiba Prison. This guy told me that he had met K in Chiba Prison and was like his underling. [Miyano] got 20 years in Chiba Prison too, right? That guy let loose a secret while drinking and said “brother, the media is still chasing you for the [Murder of Junko Furuta]. Must be rough, huh?””
When M last met K, K was driving around in a BMW, he had a Hermès wallet, a gold Daytona luxury wristwatch, and overall seemed to be doing well. He is engaging in [fraudulent] multi-level marketing, and there are plenty of LINE messages from him nagging at his friends to engage in fraudulent activities.
It cannot be said that he was made to pay for his crimes after serving only 20 years in prison. To kill that girl in such a sorrowful and gloomy manner, and not even apologize or explain his actions to [Junko's] bereaved family. This magazine intends to pursue more information [relating to Miyano].
Reading this, we can notice that he is trying to make others not see his identity as the culprit of the Junko Furuta murder. There’s also another article I’ve found about him after his release:
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Text Translation:
“It wasn't just in the gym. He (Miyano) would have both his juniors and his friends call him “K" in private, and would even have his name recorded as K in matches (Judo/Kickboxing). He even wrote his name as simply “K" on his resumé, which I got to see.”
This is what our informant, who was treated and cherished like a younger brother by Miyano, had to say. During the summer, [our informant] happened to overhear that K was actually [Miyano]; when [our informant] questioned [Miyano], [Miyano's] face turned pale and abruptly cut all contact with [our informant].
So what has K been up to since then?
First, his whereabouts. No matter how nice and friendly [our informant] has tried acting towards K [after discovering his identity], K has refused to so much as let him enter his house.
“[Miyano] will dodge the question by saying that his house is too cluttered, and he won't even come to hang out with me when I suggest we can meet somewhere other than his house. However, I do know where he lives. He was living in a small town by the riverbank of the Tama River. At least, that's were he was living until August. That address is the one that was written on his resumé, and he would pick up the phone whenever I called the number associated with that address.”
This “small town by the riverbank of the Tama River” is not a very well-known place, and is just a residential area you'd find in any suburb with a few shopping districts around the train station. When we went to the exact address, we found it to be a still new apartment building. [Miyano's] apartment nameplate wasn't anywhere to be found, but there's no mistaking that he's here. However, when ringing [Miyano's] doorbell or banging on his door, no one came out.
There is still one clue we have to ascertain [Miyano's] whereabouts: Ikebukuro. It is said that [Miyano] frequently comes to Ikebukuro to go drinking.
“K often said that many of his juniors are there. When [Miyano] was arrested by the police in January, those involved in Ikebukuro were paying money.”
[Miyano] was arrested in January for wire fraud. We got to see the exact location in Ikebukuro where K and the Ikebukuro group were meeting. However, when we questioned the Ikebukuro group [about Miyano], they all refused to tell us anything.
“Well, I don't know. Because I don't know what kind of relationship it is, I won't say anything,” said one of the former scam group members.
[Miyano] has disappeared yet again. This time we got to see what deep, dark connections he has.
In both of these articles, we see that Miyano tries his best to hide what he has done from others, which makes this even more infuriating than it already is.
Offender B (Jō Ogura to later Jō Kamisaku) is said to have learned some IT (Information Technology) skills while in prison and worked at some kind of firm after his release from prison, but got fired because the people around him knew of his involvement in Furuta's murder and serious criminal past. He later joined a gang, where he was reported to have said the following:
“When I was a boy, I went to jail for 10 years. I had put a girl in confinement, and one day when I came back to the house from when I went out to play, the girl was dead. So I lit a cigarette and put it next to her nose, and the smoke didn't move at all. That's how I knew she was dead,” Ogura bragged while laughing.
A year after this quote (2004), Ogura would go onto kidnap and beat one of the gang members he bragged about this to in what is known in Japanese as the 三郷市逮捕監禁致傷事件. At 2:00 in the morning on May 19th, 2004, Ogura severely beat one of the members of his gang on the street named Takatoshi Isono and threatened him with a bat. He then kidnapped the man and drove him 40 minutes away from Adachi to Misato where he said the following while beating the man for four consecutive hours: “You're the one who took my woman. I'll kill you. I have killed before.” It is mentioned that the man Ogura assaulted was involved with his girlfriend.
It's almost as if he perceives his past murder as a badge of honor. So he clearly hasn't learned anything or shown any sign of remorse, not like it would change anything.
Some sources of information report that B‘s mother vandalized Junko’s grave “because she ruined her son’s life”. 
Offender C (Nobuharu Minato to later on Shinji Minato) for the most part, went off the radar following Furuta's murder. He married a Romanian woman in 2006 although they soon had a divorce in which the wife took custody of their kid. However, on August 19th, 2018, Minato repeatedly beat a man on the shoulders with a baton and stabbed the man's neck with a knife. After getting arrested for this, he had the following to say about his former sentence for Furuta's murder case:
“Prison is nothing but hardships, and is not an environment where I can confront my past crimes. Even after being released from prison, society is just too difficult, so of course I couldn't face my past crimes.”
Here's another quote from Minato from the same source:
“In various articles [written about me], they say that I am beyond rehabilitation. These people have never met or spoken with me, so they have no idea how I've been living my life, so why do they arbitrarily write these things [about me]? Idiots.”
Offender D is the main culprit with the least information I could find about his whereabouts, probably because he was the only one who didn’t re-offend after his release and kept off the radar. He seems to be living with his mother after release.��According to the Japanese Wikipedia page, which states the following: 
[Watanabe] was released from detention in 1996 and became a hikikomori. In January of 2001, Eisuke Inoue, a reporter from the Mainichi Shinbun, contacted Watanabe's mother and began interviewing them in the spring. On April 8th, 2001, the contents of the interviews were published in an article. The article was met the both sympathy for Watanabe as well as harsh criticism, with people arguing that the material was “too sympathetic to the perpetrator” or “rubbing the feelings of the victim's bereaved family the wrong way”. In turn, Inoue said that “the pain the victim's family was going through was beyond his imagination. I looked through the court records and reports on the case as much as I could, but somehow disregarded how brutal the case was, and am still bewildered by it even after finishing the interviews. Having read my readers' criticisms, I better understand the difficulty of compensating for one's crimes.” Has also not worked since release.
Media & Public Reaction:
This case is arguably one of, if not the most popular true crime case that has happened in Japan, with so many articles and media coverage made about it. At least three books have been written about the crime. Two low-budget exploitative snuff films, have been made about the incident. The first one, Joshikōsei konkurīto-zume satsujin-jiken (The Concrete-Encased High School Murder Case) was directed by Katsuya Matsumura in 1995. The second one which followed was Shonen no Hanzai (Juvenile Crime) directed by Gunji Kawasaki in 1997. The case was also the inspiration for the film Konkurito (Concrete) in 2004, where Furuta's name was changed into Misaki. Two mangas have been based upon the case, the first one is Shin Gendai Ryoukiden: Modern Stories of the Bizarre, made by Uziga Waita (an infamous eroguro mangaka), published in 2000, the second one is the mainstream manga 17-sai by Seiji Fuji published in 2004–2005. The volume 3 of the manga Reversible Man, written by D. Natakani, is allegedly greatly inspired by this case. Songs have also been made, based or inspired upon this case such as 44 Days by Mr.Kitty, Junko Furuta by Danilla and Taino PV by The Gazette (although this one hasn’t been confirmed but many speculate it is due to the similarities). The track list of Swerslvt’s album Don’t Be Afraid Of Dying is an acrostic of “Junko Furuta”, as a tribute to her.
Due to this event, Japanese people especially at the time were concerned about a ‘US-influenced epidemic of violent crime’ which they called the “American Disease”.
Also, the case brought national attention to the adjudication and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders, especially in the context of youth tried as adults, and created a media sensation.
Note & My Point of View (about this case)
Honestly these four demons deserve worse than a simple death. They deserve a slow, painful one. For this case, I absolutely support capital punishment. These demons don’t deserve any human rights whatsoever. That also counts for these hundred boys and men who participated in the rapes. I don’t know what should I be more disgusted of, what these four abominable demon seeds did or the fact that so many guys participated in this, and they all were enjoying it?? I think the worst thing in this case is the bystander apathy, the fact that more than 100 people knew what was happening, did nothing about it and were enjoying participating in her suffering. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth should be applied in this case. All of those pieces of trash should have been executed the first day they were convicted. 
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randyorton88 · 1 year
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Realism and detail in set design
Introduction
My chosen subject for my final major project is Set Design in film and television, In particular, miniature realistic models of surrealities. I have visited different universities which are possible places for me to study in the future and their courses on set design. This gave me a very clear idea about what I would be studying, creating and what different career paths I could take. It also gave me a good understanding about how far detail in miniature models could be taken and what was achievable. Examples of different graduates work was motivation for me as I had never seen such detailed models before. When I was growing up, like any other kid, film and television was the only thing I knew, so I’ve always had the desire to study into it and have a my own impact on it. Set design has played such a big part not only in my favourite movies but my life in general whether that be organising and laying out food at my weekend job or even just influencing the process of my making. 
A starting point in my chosen theme was looking into different references, designers, materials and processes which would guide and influence the making of my final outcome. However, before I began my research into this I decided to look into potential themes and interests which would help me base what my project will be about. I began by looking into Japanese architecture, Buildings and temples in Japan have such a unique aesthetic and are something you’d never see anywhere else, especially not in London. I look at the shape of these structures and the beauty inspires me to make and create my own scenery. The most prominent part about these pictures is the scenery surrounding the buildings which frames them to be alone but also standing powerful, bringing the focus closer to them and complimenting them. I have done many projects on Japanese culture but I have barely touched the surface with my knowledge. I also believe there is a strong link to set design within architecture in terms of the making of models and style of which they’re made. 
After Japanese architecture I began to move onto my interest in Interior design which covers a wide spectrum in the role in set design. From the interiors constructed in theatre, to the complicated sets built at film studios such as Pinewood, Warner Bros Studios or Shepperton which represent interior shots in movies. The process involved follows an initial design brief which the ‘Production Design‘ team will create and build maquettes ( scaled miniature versions)of the set to. A Team of carpenters and plasterers will be employed to build the set in a designated studio. Sometimes real homes or buildings are used as locations and the sets are ‘dressed’ to reflect the mood of the film. Recently a scene from the latest Indiana Jones movie was shot in one of the houses in a neighbouring street where I live. The owners of the house had styled their house completely in a period of the 1940’s which was one of the reasons it was chosen. 
Contextual references
Tim Burton, an American film maker has and will always be an inspiration to me because I grew up watching his movies and always loved the sets used in them. I appreciate the fact that Tim didn’t rely on CGI all the time and had a passion for making which meant the process to for his movies were just as impactful as the film itself. I would find myself watching videos on how Tim created some of his sets and the ways in which he filmed scenes for them. I would be so fascinated by these processes as it’s what made some of my favourite movie experiences growing up. Some examples of these movies are; The nightmare before Christmas, corpse bride,
 And Frankenweenie which are all created in the same style of animation and are home to some of his most famous sets. Other films like, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Charlie and the chocolate factory and Alice in wonderland have a completely different atmosphere as they sets are life size and a lot more realistic as they don’t heavy rely on animation (excluding Alice in wonderland). He would use a range of materials which I use regularly which showed me that I could create sets just like his if not better. 
My project will also look into the importance of detail and precision in set design as this is what creates a new world and atmosphere for the viewer. A designer who shows the beauty of detail in their work goes by the name of Henry Beltran. I came across Henry on Instagram and then visited his YouTube channel where I couldn’t stop myself from watching his videos. Henry creates miniature street scenes of New York scaled down in size, focusing on specific areas or objects which are commonly found on streets e.g. streets where there is a lot of graffiti on vending machines, pavements, bins or even telephone boxes. I was drawn to his work because of the variety of colours and attention to detail as I didn’t realise his work was actually miniature until I read about it, which shows the effect detail can have on such a model and how it creates a sense of realism. His work also appealed to me because of my passion for detail. The idea of spending hours adding small features to a design makes me happy and excites me so when I came across Henry’s work I automatically knew I wanted to know his processes and thoughts which go into his creations. 
My experience
I have studied set design in the past at A-level for 3d design which was a very strong theme for me and something I was very passionate about. I looked into set design specifically in movies, television, interior and music. However after a year of studying I don’t feel like I have near enough knowledge and I am still looking to develop my skills in this theme. In my time learning about set design the project heavily revolved around model making, in particular, miniature model making which was one of the main reasons for me choosing this theme. I created a numerous amount of models based off my own understanding of set design but also my own drawings creating different ideas for models. I used a range of mediums in my project such as; 3mm plywood, epoxy resin, cotton, grass shavings but mostly clay so it was the most useful when shaping scenes which had more complex angles and designs. I would mostly use plywood for buildings which I would design on 2d design and then cut out on the laser cutter which was beneficial as I wouldn’t have been able to  using regular hand tools as the designs were so intricate and detailed. The deeper question for this project was ‘How have different types of set design influenced entertainment?’ Which I’d say was the the best way for me to build my knowledge on set design, how it’s mostly used and why it is such a key part of entertainment. Whereas in my final major project I will look into specifically the realism detail can bring to a set in film and television. The best and only way for set design and music to link is through music videos as they’re seen as small movies with actors and always have scenery which goes with the music to create the right atmosphere.I have already studied numerous, already existing, music videos with what I thought were interesting, realistic set designs. I also used music videos in my A- level project for set design so I already have knowledge on this topic. This gave me a better insight into how I should create sets and showed how set design is used to improve music and music videos. Set design plays a crucial part in music videos and building a set is a real art form. It could be utilising an existing environment or creating a bespoke set from scratch. It often works in tandem with the Lighting design team and allows room for the camera to move around easily. They vary from a simple backdrop where lighting takes centre stage to something more sophisticated which could involve animation, or elaborate prop design. Some sets are more important than the music itself as in the series of videos by the band ’OK Go’ who have earned a reputation of creating low budget music videos often in one take. Working with directors Francis Lawrence and Olivier Gondry their work has been shown in Art galleries all over the world. The Weeknd, artist Abel Tesfaye is a well known cinephile, and has won many awards for his music videos, many of which have been influenced by a variety of Hollywood films such as Batman, Joker, Blade runner, The Terminator and Hitchcock’s Dial m for murder are just a few examples. I have a clear understanding for where I want my final major project to go and I am fairly confident in the theme as I already have knowledge on it and it is something I will take as a career path in the future.
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ruminativerabbi · 3 years
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What I Saw on Mulberry Street
At first, I was slightly amused by the whole brouhaha that followed the announcement last week by the estate of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, that it would stop republishing and selling six of the famous author’s books, including such classics as And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, On Beyond Zebra, and McElligot’s Pool.  I know all these books; they were classics of children’s literature so long ago that I remember reading them when I actually was a child and enjoying them immensely. We all did. Dr. Seuss was part of the children’s canon back then: read by all, touted endlessly by librarians and teachers, and considered controversial—as far as I recall—by none. Just the opposite, actually: if there was one children’s author from back then whose whimsy was deemed charming and fully acceptable, it would certainly have been Dr. Seuss.
But times have changed. And there is no question that illustrations in all the books in question feature caricatures of various minority groups, particularly Asians (depicted with slanty lines for eyes, pigtails, and conical coolie-style hats) and Black people (shown shirtless, shoeless, and wearing grass skirts). On the other hand, Dr. Seuss himself was a powerful enemy of fascism who published more than 400 wartime cartoons savaging Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese leadership. And some of his books were thinly veiled anti-fascist parables: it is widely understood, for example, that Yertle the Turtle (1958) was meant as a direct attack on fascism (apparently dictatorial Yertle originally sported a Hitler-style moustache) and that Horton Hears a Who (1954) was meant as a kind of encouraging parable about the American occupation of Japan. More to the point for Jewish readers is that The Sneetches (1961), a book that the estate will continue to publish, is a focused, double-barreled attack on racism and anti-Semitism and was understood that way from the time it was published. Nor was this imputed meaning—the author himself was widely quoted at the time as saying formally, that The Sneetches “was inspired by my opposition to anti-Semitism.”
So we are left with an interesting dilemma. Geisel, a life-long Lutheran who actually suffered a bit of anti-Semitic discrimination in college when he was mistaken by some bigoted classmates for a Jew, was a proud anti-fascist, a virulent opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, and a true American patriot. And he published some books that featured images which feel—at least by today’s standards—racist or at the very least inappropriate for books pitched at impressionable children. The managers of his estate solved their problem the easy way by deciding simply not to republish six of the man’s books, thus ending the controversy by eliminating the problem. An alternate approach, of course, would have been to re-edit the books, eliminate the offensive imagery, and bring out versions that feature the original text with illustrations tailored more precisely to suit modern sensitivity. And speaking specifically as a Jewish American, the fact that there aren’t any Stürmer-style caricatures of hook-nosed Jews holding huge bags of money in these books shouldn’t be a factor in our evaluation of the evidence: if anything, the thought of Black parents cringing when they come across racist caricatures of Africans should be more than resonant with Jewish parents able to imagine being in exactly the same position and feeling exactly the same level of hurt and outrage. And that brings me to the question that feels to me to be at the heart of the matter: should works deemed utterly non-offensive in their day be altered, either slightly or dramatically, to suit evolving standards with respect to race, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc.? It’s an interesting question, one that goes to the heart of the question of what literature actually is and what role it could or should play in society.
There are, of course, lots of examples of books that have been successfully revised to suit modern tastes. Agatha Christie’s book And Then There Were None was originally published in the U.K. as Ten Little Negroes (and the third word on the cover was specifically not “Negroes”). That was deemed offensive here, so the publisher just made up a different title. (The English publishers eventually did the same and brought the book out under the marginally less offensive title Ten Little Indians.) In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a favorite of my own children years ago, Roald Dahl originally depicted the Oompa-Loompas who worked in the factory as African pygmies and the depiction was basically of them as slaves and certainly not as dignified, salaried employees. A century earlier, Dickens himself was prevailed upon to tone down Fagan’s Jewishness in Oliver Twist, which he did by halfheartedly removing some of the references to Fagan’s ethnicity. Of course, when the author himself makes the revisions we are having an entirely different discussion: surely the actual authors of books should feel free make whatever changes they wish to their own work. The question is whether the world should “fix” published works to make them suit issues that were on no one’s radar, or hardly anyone’s radar, when the book was written and published.
Some readers will recall that one of my pandemic coping exercises last spring was embarking on a re-read of Mark Twain, a favorite author of my younger years. I was surprised how well many of his books stood the test of time, but I found myself most engaged of all by my re-read of Huckleberry Finn. Widely and entirely reasonably acclaimed as an American classic, the book is basically about the relationship of Huck and Jim, who is almost invariably referred to as Negro Jim. (Again, that’s not the word that appears in the book.) Of course, Mark Twain was writing about Missouri life in the 1830s and he himself was from Missouri and a child of that era. So he certainly knew how people spoke and I’m entirely sure that that word was in common use to reference Black people. Today, that word is anathema to all and is considered unusable in normal discourse, written or oral. But what about the book itself? Should it be “fixed” by having the dialogue altered specifically to reflect a dialect of English spoken in those days by no one at all? Or should the book itself be dropped from high school or even college reading lists as something too offensive to allow, let alone to require, young people to read? Huckleberry Finn is an interesting book for many different reasons, not least of all because Jim, a slave, is depicted sympathetically as a man of character, virtue, and strong moral values—a fact made all the more poignant by the fact that he is depicted as almost wholly uneducated. Indeed, Jim is a grown man with a wife and family, while Huck is a boy of thirteen or fourteen and the clear implication is that while the white world has failed utterly to make Huck into a decent adolescent, Black Jim, an uneducated slave, is quite able to bring him to the threshold of decency by showing him how to behave in an upright manner. So the book is hardly anti-Black. Just the opposite is far more true: in many ways, Jim, not Huck, is the hero of the book. And yet the constant use of that word is beyond jarring. Editions have been published for use in school that simply omit the word or change it. Is that a rational compromise? Or does that kind of bowdlerization deprive the book of its essential honesty, of its ability to depict a society as it truly was and not as moderns vaguely wish it had been? It’s not that easy to say.
When I was deeply involved in the research that led me to publish my translation of the Psalms, I became aware—slightly to my naïve amazement—of the existence of Christian editions of the Psalms from which all references to internecine strife, violent clashes between opposing groups in old Jerusalem, the corruption that led at least some poets to condemn the Temple priesthood, and the deep alienation from God with which at least some psalmists struggled—that the psalms depicting all of that challenging stuff had been nicely excised from the book so as to create a book of “nice” poems. (This parallels a Christian edition of the Old Testament I once saw from which the entire book of Leviticus had been omitted, presumably lest readers be offended by the notion that animal sacrifice and the safeguarding of ritual purity were essential elements of the covenant between God and Israel.) Those editions of the Psalms struck me as ridiculous and precisely because the resultant book was specifically nothing like the original work and gave a totally incorrect impression of the original work. But would one of the Dr. Seuss books under discussion really have been substantially altered by some of the drawings of black or Asian people replaced with more respectful images?
My feeling is that the Dr. Seuss affair is indicative of a larger issue in society. Obviously, changing a few drawings in a book is not such a big deal and is something that I’m sure happens without fanfare in the world of publishing all the time. But this specific issue seems to have struck such a chord with so many precisely because Dr. Seuss is deemed, not entirely incorrectly, as representative of a simpler world—by which term people generally mean one in which it wasn’t deemed necessary to care what smaller groups in society felt or thought. We’ve come a long way since then, and rightly so. The Seuss estate could certainly have felt justified in commissioning some new drawing to avoid going against modern feelings about ethnic or racial stereotyping. The books themselves would have been substantially the same. Once that line is crossed, however, and the book no longer is the same as it was—“fixing” the language in Huckleberry Finn, for example, or eliminating Shylock’s Jewishness from the play or Othello’s blackness—that is missing almost entirely the reason literature exists in the first place: to stir up emotion, to challenge readers’ preconceptions, and to educate—in the literal sense of the world: to draw the reader forward to a new level of understanding of the world of the author…and of the reader as well.
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partwildflower · 5 years
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Great ice cream parlours around the world
Wherever you are in the world, ice cream is the quintessential summer treat. Whether you’re cycling in Copenhagen or temple-touring in Tokyo, exploring famous streets or keeping off the beaten track, we’ve scooped up a selection of fantastic parlours offering you respite from a sweltering day. All you’ve left to do is answer the all-important question: what’s your flavour?
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Ice cream sandwiches at Ruby Violet, London. Image courtesy of Danielle Wood/Ruby Violet
Ruby Violet, London
We love the flavours at this quaint, blue-tiled London hideout, where extraordinary flavours are presented in an array of forms – from milkshakes and affogato to sofa floats and the Meringue Muddle, comprising two scoops with meringue bathed in hot salted caramel or chocolate sauce. If none of these will tide you over, you can also pick from a tantalising selection of cocktails, tea, coffee and hot chocolate, or indulge even further with an ice cream afternoon tea, ice cream cake or elegant bombe. The parlour was brought to life by Julie Fisher – who’s so good at crafting the creamy stuff, she’s even published her own recipe book, Ruby Violet’s Ice Cream Dreams.
Address: 118 Fortess Rd, London NW5 2HL
Le Bac à Glaces, Paris
All journeys to Paris should begin and end with a taste of its sweetest snacks: for the best artisanal ice cream try the chic and sophisticated Bac à Glaces, which makes its own creamy delights using natural produce and fresh fruit. Some stunning French flavours are just a scoop away: choose from chestnut, coffee, nougat, salted caramel, white cheese, speculoos and more, or opt for a selection of refreshing sorbets ranging from pink grapefruit to passionfruit.
Address: 109 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris, France
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Image courtesy of Oddfellows Ice Cream Co.
OddFellows Ice Cream Co., New York City
On your next trip to Brooklyn, New York City, make a stop at OddFellows Ice Cream Co. where the ice cream is pasteurised and made from scratch to guarantee a rich and flavourful snack. A bright vintage-inspired parlour featuring red-and-white striped interiors, it offers a different array of flavours each day – standouts include buttermilk apple, matcha passionfruit, pumpkin cheesecake, roasted pear and caramel walnut, and black olive coffee with blueberry compote.
Address: 175 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249, USA
OLUFs, Copenhagen
About as colourful as Copenhagen’s architecture, the ice cream bars over at OLUFs in Osterbro are treats to both the eyes and tongue. Each one is a work of art in its own right: whether chocolate-dipped, pistachio-flecked or coconut-covered, the home-made Italian gelatos and sorbets are smothered and sprinkled to perfection – they’re so pretty, they’re the kind of snack you’ll want to be seen eating as you amble down the city’s stylish streets.
Address: Olufsvej 6, 2100 København, Denmark
Popbar, Jakarta
While we’re on the subject of popsicles, another venue to try is the amazing Popbar, which has made the rounds in the United States and proves a refreshing option to beat the heat with in Jakarta. You can customise a selection of pretty pastel popGelatos and popSorbettos with hundreds of toppings. Some eye-poppingly fruity flavours here include guava, papaya, watermelon, kiwi, mandarin and banana.
Address: Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav. 28, Central Park Lt. L No. 157, RT.12/RW.6, Tj. Duren Sel., Grogol petamburan, Kota Jakarta Barat, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 11470, Indonesia
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Image courtesy of Salt & Straw
Salt & Straw, Portland
Pear and blue cheese, strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper, chocolate gooey brownie, and honey lavender are just some of the unique combinations that can be found at Salt & Straw’s Portland joint, which brings creativity and refinement to the table with frosty flair. Teamed with a rustic interior, where wooden floors and produce-lined furnishings glow in the sun, this little spot is perfect for whiling a post-lunch afternoon away.
Address: 838 NW 23rd Ave, Portland, OR 97210, USA
Glaslyn Ices, Beddgelert
Far removed from bustling big cities, this little Welsh parlour comes as quite a surprise, with award-winning ice cream that’s irresistibly thick and served on a tasty waffle cone. You’ll find it in the picturesque village of Beddgelert, set in the gorgeous Snowdonia area of Gwynedd. Pick up a crème caramel, white chocolate or butterscotch and pecan snack, to savour on a leisurely stroll along the river.
Address: Beddgelert, Caernarfon, Gwynedd County LL55 4YB
Rocambolesc, Barcelona
Located in Barcelona, this little treasure of a gelateria is a dream come true for every kid at heart. Imagined by Jordi Roca of El Celler de Can Roca fame, its cute interior makes for an upscale Roald Dahl-esque experience – think giant candy-striped pipes, bicycle wheels and colourful illustrations straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We haven’t even mentioned the best part: uniquely-shaped popsicles and freshly-churned, 100% natural ice cream, popped onto a long waffle cone and decorated with many a great topping. On less sunny days, try the panet – lush ice cream and toppings wedged between two brioche halves.
Address: La Rambla, 51-59, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
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Image courtesy of Gelato Messina
Gelato Messina, Sydney
Voted the home of Australia’s best gelato by Good Food Guide, Gelato Messina serves whopping, mouth-wateringly messy portions to more than satisfy your sweet tooth with. Five special flavours are introduced weekly alongside the usual crowd favourites, which include panna cotta with fig jam and amaretti biscuit, macadamia crunch, apple pie, and pear and rhubarb. Gelato cakes are also available – options include the quirky Dr Evil’s Magic Mushroom, the epic hazelnut and caramel affair that is The Golden 8, and the more sophisticated Bombe Alaska.
Address: level g/80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont NSW 2009, Australia
Giolitti, Rome
Giolitti is one for all serious foodies to top their ice cream bucket list with: founded in 1890, this popular parlour is the oldest in Rome and constantly buzzes with eager crowds. Try a rainbow of traditional and harmonious flavours, each perfected by years of experience and served in generous portions. Follow a cone up with a delectable ice cream biscuit, cake or truffle, or opt for the most indulgent Mont Blanc dessert.
Address: Via degli Uffici del Vicario, 40, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
Gelateria Sincerita, Tokyo
Once you’ve finished tackling Tokyo’s savoury treats, head off to find this quiet, dainty and adorable hideout in Suginami. Everything here is coloured in feminine shades of pastel, making for a sophisticated Italian gelato experience in the heart of Japan. Get your hands on a scoop of coconut, maple, fresh milk, white berry or cheese and fig ice cream, all served in a dainty cup, and grab yourself a warming coffee for the road.
Address: 1 Chome-43-7 Asagayakita, Suginami, Tokyo 166-0001, Japan
Written for Secret Escapes’ blog, The Great Escape, published 14 September 2018.
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zealoptics · 5 years
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Back to the Future!
**Words and images by Sandra Hillen **
What if I told you there was a place where trains travel nearly 200 miles per hour, snow is measured by the foot rather than the inch, sushi is bottomless and costs next to nothing and every toilet seat is heated? You’re probably thinking, “Doesn’t exist,“ right? Wrong. This fairytale place is real and you can find it in the future, just 16 hours from Mountain Standard Time. Welcome to Japan.
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Japan is known for cherry blossoms and its beautiful spring and summer landscapes, but in winter, it’s all about the snow, and I’m on a quest to find it. Journeys like this are always better with friends, so I had to bring Michaela, our personal photographer who also happens to be a doctor, and Kristin and Stephen, a couple who quit their jobs last spring to travel full time, learn about the world, and write blog posts for jealous people back home.
Stepping off the plane in Tokyo, we rushed through insanely busy-yet-orderly train stations to jump on the bullet train, or Shinkansen, up north to the region of Hokkaido. Most people have heard of Niseko, but we’re headed for a paradisiacal resort that’s slightly off the beaten path but worth the extra effort. I’m talking about a little place called Rusutsu. I’ve been to Japan before, but this is my first time to Hokkaido. Flying north through the countryside on the smoothest train ride of my life, I drifted off dreaming of what was to come slashing through perfectly spaced trees and bouncing off untouched powdery pillows.
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On the hour-long taxi ride from the train to the resort, I watched as the small snowbanks on either side of the winding mountain road gradually turned into walls. The resort area of Rusutsu is fairly small, but it’s got tons of amenities. They have a wide variety of restaurants, convenience and souvenir shops, a wave pool with a waterslide, an onsen (think traditional Japanese group hot spring, suits not allowed), an arcade, and even a couple reindeer hanging out at the base. We were lucky enough to stay in one of their private ski-in/ski-out log cabins, complete with a beautiful fireplace and cozy pajamas. As we settled in, we were as stoked as kids on Christmas to see the snow outside piling up.
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The next morning, we woke up early to see what gifts Mother Nature had brought. Powder panic hit us hard when we realized she’d delivered nearly a foot of fresh snow overnight, and she wasn’t done yet. We couldn’t wait to get out and explore. As soon as we stepped off the gondola, we quickly realized you don’t have to be a local to find the white stuff because the snow everywhere was EPIC! Some of the best pillows are directly under the gondola and with every new run leading to the discovery of fresh snow we were convinced it was endless. The only sounds cutting through the beautiful, heavy silence of the snowy trees were whoops of joy. It was hard to stop even for a moment, but we had to get a few shots to try and capture the magic.
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The trees looked like huge cotton balls, it was like being Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory and wanting to try everything and being overwhelmed with excitement. The crazy part was we re-lived it day after day. Japan was delivering the powder it is famous for. For three days in a row we were able to find new and fun terrain all over the mountain. We didn’t want to stop, we rode until our legs were jelly but another great perk of Japanese resorts is the time spent warming up to refuel.
Guys, now’s time to tell you about the food. Resort food has a reputation for being overpriced, mass-produced, and not what you’d consider fresh by any standard. Not here. For less than half the price of most resorts in the states, you’ve got made-to-order choices of fresh food to warm your insides up, such as ramen, udon and Japanese curry. At night we constantly amazed at how good the food was at the resort restaurants. We couldn’t go wrong with anything we ordered even if we didn’t always recognize what they put in front of us.
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When asked what their impression of Japan is, many visitors simply say that their expectations were met 100%–that literally it’s as good as advertised. Rusutsu is no exception. This natural playground’s abundant snowfall and accessible tree lines are begging to give you the best pow runs of your life. Throw in hardly any lift lines, incredible food, the nicest people and a crazy cool culture and you’ve got the winter adventure of a lifetime.
Mother Nature blesses this land with over 42 feet of light and fluffy snow each season. I’ve shown you the future, so what are you waiting for?
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PDITL’s Guide to Tokyo
I’ve decide to launch a new segment on PDITL, and share with you some ideas of what to do around Australia, and the world. To kick things off, I thought I would start with sharing with you some of the incredible things we did in Tokyo, Japan that I would recommend. I recently spent 5 days there thanks to Jetstar Australia, and fell in love.
TRAVEL
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We flew to Tokyo with Jetstar Australia, and landed at Narita Airport at about 6pm. Our flight over flew (pardon the pun), probably because of the amount of new release movies I watched. I never go to the movies, so the flight gave me the chance to catch up on all the movies I’ve wanted to see. We then caught the train into Tokyo, which took about an hour and a half. The free Wifi meant that we could catch up on everything we missed while in the air, so the trip sped by pretty quickly. 
STAY
We stayed at: ★TOKYO TREASURES★ Shibuya Scramble Crossing! 
We stayed in an AirBnb that was right in Shibuya, and only about a two minute walk from the famous crossing. It was a very tiny room, with a bunk bed and even smaller bathroom, but it’s location made it invaluable. If you can find a location right in Shibuya, then I would definitely do it! It made eating and getting around very easy, as it is such a happening and central location.
TO DO 
Explore Harajuku
We ended up visiting Harajuku twice because it is such an amazing place. In particular, make sure you wander down Takeshita Dori. It’s an Instagrammers haven, full of cheap shops selling trendy clothes and ‘grammable pastel crepe stands. While you’re there, make sure you try one. They’re probably not the best thing you will ever eat, but they’re certainly a fun, cute treat to eat while exploring. You will also find Style Nanda in this street, so it’s worth visiting for that alone!
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Make sure that you explore beyond this street though, as there are a lot of other interesting shops and things to see. Spend half a day to a day wandering around this area. There are quite a few vintage shops around here, as well as all of the big name ones.
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Visit Yoyogi Park
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Right near the entrance to Takeshita Dori, is Yoyogi Park, where you will find the Meiji Shrine. It’s a really beautiful and interesting thing to check out!
Go thrift shopping...
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We spent our last morning in Shimokitazawa, which was just one train stop away from Shibuya. This area is like a little Melbourne, and is full of little Australian coffee shops and the most incredible thrift shops. If you love thrifting, then I can’t recommend this area enough!
If you’re wanting something cute, sweet and a bit unique while in the area, then it’s worth a stroll to Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory. It’s an adorable little two storey converted house, that’s perfect for a little rest.
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Check out the shrine at Chiyoda
We didn’t really explore much of Chiyoda, but we did make the trip to the Hie Shrine there. At the Hie Shrine are the amazing Torii Gates Tunnel, which I would definitely recommend seeing.
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Get a view of the Shibuya Scramble...
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There are a couple of places that you can get above the famous crossing in Shibuya to watch the madness that is the scramble, but we elected to get a hot chocolate after dinner one night at Starbucks. It was really nice to sit up above in the warm and watch people dash about. 
Get puppy cuddles
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For about $10, we spent half an hour cuddling puppies at the Heart of Aquamarine Dog Cafe. We researched this pretty thoroughly to make sure it was ethical and okay to support, and everything we saw completely corroborated this. The dogs seemed to love the cuddles as much as we did.
Wander around Shinjuku...
We spent some of our third day in Tokyo in Shinjuku, and found it a really interesting area. It’s just a short train ride away from Shibuya. 
While we were in Shinjuku, we made sure to visit Piss Alley (Omoide Yokocho). It’s a cute little alley full of red lanterns, and little bars and food shops. 
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We had been tossing up whether or not to visit the Tokyo Skytree, which is  Tokyo’s most iconic observation tower and the tallest tower in the world. It was a bit of a trek away so we were still deciding if we would visit. While researching Shinjuku, I found a little blog that recommended heading up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to their observation decks. Unlike the Skytree, admission to these observation decks is completely free (versus about $25). The view is  impressive and getting there from Shibuya is far more convenient! 
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EATING
Heading to Tokyo as two vegetarians, we were a little bit concerned and didn’t know what to expect, but we didn’t struggle once. We even found vegan ramen on offer. If all else fails, there is vegetarian Italian and fast food chains everywhere in Shibuya. 
Genki Sushi
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I can’t recommend having a meal at Genki Sushi enough. The sushi is fab, but the experience is even better. This is also the perfect place to go as the language barrier is not an issue at all, as you order from an iPad, and your food is delivered straight to you on a ‘train’ that pulls up in front of you. It’s cheap and tasty, and while there isn’t much of a vegetarian menu on offer, it’s definitely worth trying out.
Nagi Shokudu
We found Nagi Shokudu on Happy Cow, an entirely vegan restaurant. If you’re after an easy, entirely plant based dinner, then this is the place for you. It’s a  short walk away from Shibuya crossing, and is the cosiest, most relaxing restaurant you will ever visit. 
CoCo Ichiban Curry House
If you’re craving a vegetarian Japanese curry, then this is definitely the place to go. It’s a curry chain that you will find all over the place, with an impressive selection of vegetarian curries. We spotted one right in Shibuya, but tried out the one in Piss Alley, Shinjuku, and it was delicious! 
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wineanddinosaur · 5 years
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10 Things You Should Know About Brooklyn Brewery
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Walking down Brooklyn’s North 11th St., one can smell the sweet scent of brewed grain wafting from Brooklyn Brewery’s open doors. A brand that’s reached international shores, Brooklyn Brewery was born in the ‘80s and still reps its old-school cool (we’re talking brewery years, here).
Wondering what the fuss is about? Here are 10 things you should know about Brooklyn Brewery.
Brooklyn Brewery transformed its neighborhood.
Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1988 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter. It began operations in its current address in 1990, and opened its doors to the public in 1996.
It’s often credited with the craft-beer-fueled transformation of Williamsburg, the North Brooklyn neighborhood where it’s operated since 1990. When the brewery opened its doors in 1996, “its neighbors were mostly deserted warehouses and factories,” USA Today reported in 2013.  Notably home to artists seeking cheap rent, and before that, immigrant families of Latin and Eastern European descent (including this author’s grandparents), Williamsburg’s transformation was shepherded by Brooklyn Brewery.
Like all New Yorkers, Brooklyn Brewery has landlord problems.
In 2016, Brooklyn Brewery announced plans to expand in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the tune of 75,000 square feet of production facility, a beer garden, and food court set to open in 2018. It called off the expansion in 2017.
The reason? A leasing issue. As Williamsburg real estate became increasingly attractive to hotels and banks (and rents were 10 times as high as when Brooklyn Brewery leased its space at $3 per foot), Brooklyn Brewery founder and chairman Steve Hindy feared the brewery “would not be able to renew leases with our three landlords.” Thanks to an update in zoning laws, the Williamsburg brewery lease was extended to 2025.
Brooklyn Brewery is global.
It has partners around the world, including in California, Colorado, Japan, and Sweden. In 2017, Brooklyn Brewery acquired minority stakes in 21st Amendment of San Leandro, Calif., and Funkwerks of Fort Collins, Colo. In 2016, it sold a minority stake to Kirin Brewery, headquartered in Tokyo.
In fact, it has a sister in Sweden.
In 2014, in partnership with Carlsberg, Brooklyn Brewery launched a sister brewery in Stockholm called Nya CarnegieBryggeriet. (Translation: “New Carnegie Brewery,” a reference to “the oldest living [beer] brand in Sweden, D. Carnegie,” an announcement said.)
According to the announcement, Nya CarnegieBryggeriet was the first European craft brewery to be operated by an American company.
Its brewmaster Garrett Oliver wears a lot of hats.
No, really: a lot of hats.
In addition to being a style icon, Oliver, who joined the brewery in 1994, is also an author (“The Oxford Companion to Beer,” “The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food”), speaker, and all-around craft beer evangelist.
Its lager made it famous, but Brooklyn makes lots of experimental brews.
Brooklyn Brewery has been an innovator since it was founded in 1988. After resurrecting the borough’s pre-Prohibition-era beer with Brooklyn Lager, it continued introducing fans to flavors they’d never tasted. In craft beer’s early days, Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout, featuring chocolate malt, was groundbreaking. More recently, the Brewmaster’s Reserve series included all manner of ingredients and inspirations, including sumac.
It’s into labels.
Brooklyn Brewery’s label is iconic, and that’s no accident: It was designed by Milton Glaser, creator of the even more iconic “I [Heart] NY” logo. Steve Hindy said he interviewed about 30 different firms before calling up Glaser — whom he continued to dial daily for two weeks. The “B” is intended to evoke Americana baseball nostalgia, while still being “fresh,” Hindy said in an interview.
It supports LGBTQ rights.
Each year, Brooklyn Brewery releases Stonewall Inn IPA in partnership with the legendary Greenwich Village bar known as the seat of the LGBTQ rights movement. Proceeds benefit the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI), a non-profit organization that fights intolerance of LGBTQ citizens through awareness campaigns and educational initiatives.
It resurrected a forgotten hop from Japan.
The Sorachi Ace hop variety was originally developed for Sapporo Breweries in Hokkaido, Japan in the 1970s. It became commercially available there in 1984. In 2006, thanks to American hop grower Darren Gamache of Virgil Gamache Farms, Sorachi Ace became commercially available in the U.S. Brooklyn Brewery was one of the first to experiment with the varietal in a boozy saison. Its eponymous Brooklyn Sorachi Ace is now one of the brewery’s most popular brands.
It’s a tourist destination.
Like its namesake borough, Brooklyn Brewery attracts visitors from around the world. A recent estimate counted 4,000 visitors every weekend — and that was before the 2018 taproom renovations. Learn more about how to get the most out of your visit here.
The article 10 Things You Should Know About Brooklyn Brewery appeared first on VinePair.
source https://vinepair.com/articles/brooklyn-brewery/
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destinyhixon-blog · 5 years
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You can’t miss the capital of Madeira, Funchal. Either you heard it in relation to the famous Cristiano Ronaldo, or got puzzled by the location and setting of Funchal airport; it is one of the places you will want to explore on the island.
In this post, we will share our experience in Funchal. We spent almost a week in Madeira, Portugal, doing hiking next to levadas and to the famous Pico Ruivo. We flew to Madeira from Lisbon, Portugal (Madeira is independent but is part of Portugal). Also, read our experiences regarding food and different cities in Portugal.
The city of Funchal (population: around 110.000) is built in an amphitheatrical way. In fact, as you see the city from the sea, it seems like houses are climbing up the steep mountain. 
Madeira is an island with tropical forests and mountains, but the majority of the points of interest in Funchal are close to the sea.
Since being the capital of Madeira, there are lots of things to do in Funchal. Plenty of options for nightlife, parties, food and a good number of interesting things for sightseeing.
Definitely, taste the rum of Madeira, eat codfish and scabbard fish and their special liqueurs. Madeira is famous for its wines and if you are a fun of good strong wine, you need to taste at least one.
Here are the things we did in Funchal, Madeira.
Walk Through the Old Town of Funchal
You cannot miss the Old Town of Funchal! Most of the bars and restaurants are in this area. Some of the most fantastic views towards the Atlantic are there too. 
Walk on the cobblestone (and fantastically clean) streets of the Old Town, towards the fort of Sao Tiago.
Allow yourself to get lost in the narrow streets. Don’t worry, eventually, you will get back in the Old Town center one way or the other.
Your walks will get to Rua da Santa Maria. Here you will admire the public art program called “Arte de Portas Abertas” (means: the art of the open doors). The artwork is a perfect example of how old elements of houses are transformed into pieces of art, that people enjoy and take lots of photos.
Fantastic artwork on each door in this area.
Visit Mercado dos Lavradores of Funchal. That is actually the big Farmer’s Market of Funchal. Meat, fish, poultry but mostly splendid colorful fruits are sold here. Beware of the prices. Fruit prices are off the roof.
Delicious fruits of Madeira
Make a note of the scabbard & cod fish and how it looks (see below). Chances are you will eat plenty of it while in Madeira.
Scabbard fish with sweet bananas. That is a local delicacy.
If you are lucky you will bump into the colorful ladies, dressed with local traditional outfits and selling tropical flowers.
Unbearable beauty!
There are not (many) beaches in Madeira. The city has created huge swimming pools that are filled in with sea water.
Have a break at the cafe at the top of Rua da St. Maria. The view is fantastic.
You can do this walking with a guide and learn even more for the history of Funchal. Click this and pre-book.
Fabulous Funchal Monte Palace & Gardens
There is no way someone to visit Madeira and Funchal and skip the Monte Palace (and the whole hill). The reasons are multiple. Getting there with the scenic cable car is just one of them, though the ride is long with beautiful sceneries.
Tip: You can get to Monte in that way or by car/bus/taxi. You can get down from Monte in the same way, or… you can take a Toboggan ride; if you dare.
Quinta Monte Palace is a complex that consists of many things. The palace history and its landmarks have a special taste for Buddhism.
The Monte Palace Tropical Garden is open daily from 9.30 am to 6 pm. You can spend 2 to 3 hours in this place if you want to enjoy it in a slow “zen” like pace.
Ticket costs: 12.50 euro p.p. Free entrance for children under 15 years old (accompanied by an adult). You can book a discounted combo ticket for this, a Toboggan ride and the Nun’s Valley tour from here.
The Museum
Right next to the entrance is the museum. It is not big and during our visit, it hosted an exhibition related to African culture. 
Artwork from Africa
Artifacts were really nice, depicting the culture of that continent.
Don’t forget to visit the museum at the ground level. That showcases a huge variety of impressive mineral rocks. 
The Palatial area
The palace itself is not open for visits. The whole area around and towards the palace is. At some point, you will reach this veranda where you see the palace but also the lake and all its sculptures. 
The central location of the whole complex is here.
Here is a 360 surround video from this location.
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The view of Funchal and of the gardens from the palace veranda (a different one) is equally nice.
The Gardens
The gardens are the reason this area is famous for. A huge variety of different flora, mixed up with some waterfalls, streams and open ancient art spaces will make your eyes pop.
As said, the garden sculptures and art includes lots of Buddhism related elements. 
There are paintings and even Buddhist shrines everywhere.
The reason for that is the strong influence and culture from China and Japan, with which Portugal has strong commercial relations.
You will notice a panel called “The Adventure of the Portuguese in Japan”. It consists of an iron structure with 166 ceramic plates who tell the story of a social, commercial and cultural relationship between Portugal and Japan.
At the far end of the gardens, you will find a simple cafe for some refreshments. Nothing impressive but will do the job.
Monte Toboggan Rides
Get out from the same entrance (Caminho do Monte). There you will notice a team of people dressed alike, next to some wheel-less carriages. 
Did you hear about the Toboggan rides? This is it. You get into that wooden box and 2 people take you sliding down to the feet of the hill. That can get you an adrenaline rush!
Watch the video. People were wondering how they manage to turn that thing in corners.
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The fee is 25 euro p.p.
Visit Madeira Botanical Garden
This whole area was previously an estate. You can clearly see it from the old house (now a museum) and the overall landscape, stone benches and such.
Just a small part of the huge botanical garden of Madeira.
These gardens host a great variety of local flora. Don’t know what is best there. The colorful gardens or the view to Funchal. 
The garden covers an area of 80,000 m².
You can get the cable from here to land on Monte Parish. 
Visit a Rum Factory
Don’t leave Madeira without tasting their rum and see how the whole sugarcane-to-distillation process is done. Rum distilleries are walk-through and open to the public. There are different brands. 
Visit one and try the Poncha drink. 
Poncha looks like orange juice but it is a very strong drink.
It is made from the sugarcane rum, honey, sugar, orange/lemon juice or with different fruit juices according to the version of Poncha. The traditional one is with lemon. It is a strong drink with a strong taste.
If you like drinking then you can look out and also taste these popular drinks of Madeira:
Coral (the local beer)
Nikita (flavors of ice cream, sugar, pineapple rings, and white wine or white beer)
Pé de Cabra (dry wine, black beer, sugar, chocolate powder & lemon peel)
Sidra (fermented apple juice)
Ginja (strong cherry liqueur)
Brisa and Laranjada (carbonated drinks made with flavors of passion fruit, apple, lemon, and orange)
Aguardente de Cana (Sugar Cane Rum)
Rum
Vinho Verde (Green Wine)
Tim Tam Tum (Liqueur)
Aniz (Liqueur)
Licor de Tangerina (Liqueur from tangerine peels)
Cortadinho (hot drink made from wine, coffee, and lemon peel)
Facts about Funchal, Madeira
Portuguese is the official language
Allegedly the name “Madeira” means the island of “Wood” (there is an abundance of such)
The currency used, is Euro
Despite being an island, don’t expect sandy beaches and such
Definitely ask locals on where to eat cheap, good and plenty
Six o’clock in the afternoon means plenty in Madeira. Most services close at that time. Even the hotel pool was not reachable after 6 pm and we saw that time mentioned in many different areas. That doesn’t stand for eating and drinking though.
Where to Stay in Funchal in Madeira
Stay at a hotel that is next to the sea and has a pool. If you plan to go there from May to September, then that is the best option.
Since Madeira is not famous for its beaches but it is for its hotels, mountains, levadas, and forests you will spend lots of time exploring the island. That is not an island to go and simply stay in the capital. 
We stayed at this hotel, which was in a really good price with huge rooms and a big veranda to the Atlantic. It had a fantastic pool and a small dock from where we were able to swim in the Atlantic. That swim was a freezing experience but still a great one.
Do read our other posts for different hikes in Madeira. The island is really well organized and a hiker’s friendly destination.
Always book travel insurance and plan your flights early. If you are a backpacker then choose this travel insurance for backpackers service.
Have fun.
The post Things To Do in Funchal Madeira Portugal Personal Experience appeared first on AGreekAdventure World Travel Blog.
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molovesvintage · 7 years
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In the month or so since I last posted, a lot has happened! I changed cities, moving from Nagoya on the south side of Japan’s Honshu island to idyllic Kanazawa on the north side. I also changed jobs, ditching the giant, factory-style children’s language school I was employed with for a small local one that caters to learners of all ages. And for the first time ever, I’m living alone, in my very own apartment, a lovely feeling that I still can’t get over. Expect posts on all this and more in the near future.
But before leaving Nagoya, I had the best possible send-off by visiting Hōnen Matsuri, the fertility festival, with some of the amazing friends I’d made during my time in Nagoya.
FYI: Depending on your workplace, this post may be NSFW. I will use multiple words for male anatomy and post photos of phallic items. Consider yourself warned.
I was out to dinner with Justin and Yo Ko, two of my friends from swing dancing, along with Justin’s roomate Matt. I forget what we were talking about, probably about my moving plans.
“On the 15th we’re going to a penis festival! Want to come?” Justin says.
A penis festival?!? How could I possibly say no to that!
A week later on the 15th, I convinced Imaan and Patrick, two of my Sharehouse roomies and besties, to join, and we met Justin and Yo Ko at the train station to take the train to Komaki, the smaller countryside town where the festival takes place. Matt brought his Japanese girlfriend as well, so we were a merry band of 7 revelers cavorting for the day.
Festival crew, aka, the best crew ever. Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
Hōnen Matsuri is actually a harvest festival, and celebrates all manner of fertility and prosperity, but from what I saw these days has more to do with fertility of the human kind, and less of the vegetable. Such festivals take place all over Japan, but the one in Komaki is one of the more famous. Japan is really into festivals, and everyone knows you can’t have a festival without drinking, which we started doing almost as soon as we arrived!
You also can’t have a festival without food, and Japan has mastered the art of festival street food. In the areas surrounding the main shrine were lanes of stalls set up, selling all kinds of savory and sweet treats. Imaan and I came up with the brilliant idea to share everything between us so we could have a bit of everything, and throughout the day happily grazed on chicken and beef skewers; strange, long curly french fries; fried chicken; chewy squid legs in a sauce; and rice balls wrapped in tender slices of meat and grilled in soy sauce.
Eating really chewy squid legs! Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
The grumpiest takoyaki seller
Naturally, the most popular food items at a penis festival are the various novelty foods made to look like penises. How could I or any of my friends resist the chocolate and sprinkle covered bananas? The bananas came with two marshmallows at the base, a thoughtful touch.
Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
Imaan and I with bananas. Photo Courtesy: Imaan Jeraj
One thing I noticed while we were browsing and grazing was the atmosphere of the festival. True, there were some annoying drunk foreigners and funky Japanese folks in weird costumes, but mostly it was families hanging out together, with toddlers running around with chocolate-covered penis bananas in hand. It was almost wholesome in a way, yet still tongue-in-cheek. If we had the same festival in the US, I can’t imagine it working. It would be taken over by horribly wasted, immature morons and protested by conservatives.
Along with the light-hearted atmosphere though, there was still a sense of reverence in the air, which was apparent when we visited the shrine complex. There were hordes of people around, lining up to pray at the main shrine, buy lucky tokens, and to touch some special. . . balls. Around the corner from the shrine stand these two smooth, stone balls, and if you rub them and pray it can bring good luck for you and your prospects of having children. I don’t want children, so I declined from rubbing the balls, but my friends all took turns.
Rubbing the balls. Photo Courtesy: Imaan Jeraj
Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
Around 2:30, it was time for the parade. By this time, we’d been happily imbibing Japanese wine-cooler type beverages for hours, and we were damn ready! We tipsily made our way to the street with the crowds and watched streams of priests and town officials pass, carrying banners with giant penises emblazoned on them and carved wooden statues, while passing out buckets of free sake. We were standing next to an old Japanese man who didn’t speak much English, but was keen to learn, and just as keen to supply us with sake.
“What’s that, English?” He pointed at the banner.
“Penis” we told him. “It’s called a penis.”
“Pee-nus! Pee-nus!” He proclaimed, before laughing like a crazy person. We taught him more words.
“Cock-u! Big cock-u! I like big cock-u!” More hilarity and laughter, from him, from us, and from the Japanese couple next to us who clearly understood English.
“Everybody likes big cock” I replied, to even more laughter.
This guy!
Best day of his year.
He was right though: coming down the street was the big cock, the star of the show,  “a 280 kg (620 pound), 2.5 meter (96 inch)-long wooden phallus” (thank you for those stats, Wikipedia), carried by a dozen white-robed, giggling, probably drunk, Shinto priests. You could tell this was the highlight of their year, and at intervals they would stop and rest, or change out with other priests. There was a seemingly endless supply of priests that day!
The main attraction.
The crowds moved from the street to the shrine complex to watch the giant phallus being inserted (ha!) into the shrine, it’s home for the coming year. Next year, the parade will be reversed, and it will be carried back down the street to the other shrine. And the cycle repeats.
The big phallus going home.
But there was still one more event in store for us. Close to 4:00, we moved to an area outside the shrine yard, where a giant scaffolding had been erected. The crowd arranged themselves in front of this scaffolding and waited. At 4:00 the priests climbed on top of the scaffolding and lined up. Over a loudspeaker, an announcement was made in Japanese, something to the effect of “remove your glasses, put away your cameras, if you get hurt it’s not our fault, etc”. Then, chanting, the priests picked up hard balls of mochi and pelted them at the waiting crowd! Catching a mochi ball means good luck for your baby-making future, but you were far more likely to get hit with one – and they hurt too, Imaan took one to the head and saw black for a moment! It was kind of like being in a mosh pit: a bit scary, but good fun.
Waiting to be pelted with mochi!
The mochi mosh pit!
Caught one! Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
Photo Courtesy: Yo Ko Fiedler
We had a final browse of the food stalls, another Kirin “Strong” flavored alcoholic beverage, and with the fading light and cooling air decided to take the party back to Justin and Matt’s place to hang out. It had been a day filled with food, booze, immaturity, reverence, and amazing good friends. Pretty much the best day ever, and one of my favorite days in Japan so far!
Happy Travels,
Mo
Can you tell this was the best day ever? Photo Courtesy: Imaan Jeraj
  Hōnen Matsuri: Nagoya’s Fertility Festival, aka The Penis Festival In the month or so since I last posted, a lot has happened! I changed cities, moving from Nagoya on the south side of Japan's Honshu island to idyllic Kanazawa on the north side.
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mastcomm · 4 years
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Trump Signs Trade Deal With Canada and Mexico
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed the revised North American Free Trade Agreement into law on Wednesday, fulfilling a key campaign promise and bringing more than two years of tumultuous negotiations over the continent’s trade rules to a close.
The trade deal, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, updates the quarter-century-old NAFTA, with stronger protections for workers and the digital economy, expanded markets for American farmers and new rules to encourage auto manufacturing in North America.
“Today we are finally ending the NAFTA nightmare and signing into law the brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Mr. Trump said during a signing ceremony at the White House.
“For the first time in American history, we have replaced a disastrous trade deal that rewarded outsourcing with a truly fair and reciprocal trade deal that will keep jobs, wealth and growth right here in America,” he said.
The deal will restore certainty about the direction of the North American economy for the multitude of companies that depend on the rules to carry out their businesses. While the Trump administration reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico more than a year ago, it came after months of tense negotiations that included a threat by the president to leave Canada out of the deal completely.
And the agreement’s fate remained in question for most of the past year, given concerns among congressional Democrats, whose support was needed to approve the pact, that the new deal had not included strong enough provisions related to labor, the environment and access to pharmaceuticals.
The deal constitutes an important political victory for Mr. Trump and his second trade win of the month. The president signed an initial trade pact with China at the White House just two weeks ago, giving him crucial talking points as he heads into his re-election campaign. While his deals with China and other countries like Japan and South Korea are smaller than traditional trade agreements, Mr. Trump will be able to claim that he has renegotiated trade terms with countries responsible for more than half of American trade.
The president wasted little time in touting the new North American trade deal, calling it a “colossal victory” for farmers and factory workers and the “largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved.”
Mr. Trump has long derided the original NAFTA, and he frequently threatened to rip it up entirely if Canada, Mexico or congressional Democrats would not agree to his new rules.
He came into office with an executive order drafted to begin the process of withdrawing from NAFTA and nearly signed it on several occasions. But more moderate advisers and business contacts repeatedly dissuaded the president from scrapping the deal.
The 26-year-old agreement, which was negotiated by the George Bush administration and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, has since become a political target, derided for encouraging American companies to move factories and jobs to Mexico.
Many economists have a more sanguine view of NAFTA’s legacy, saying the deal provided a positive, if small, benefit to American wages and employment. It allowed industries to reorganize their supply chains around North America and take advantage of the differing resources and strengths of the three countries. The deal helped to more than triple America’s trade with Canada and Mexico.
But the opening of borders has come at a cost. Some Americans, particularly those with less education, lost out as factories moved to Mexico, taking jobs with them.
Gordon Hanson, an economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, said studies have found that average incomes rose in all three countries as a result of the trade deal, though by a small magnitude. But the deal’s benefits were very unevenly distributed around the United States.
“We can certainly find places where jobs are lost as a result of increased trade with Mexico, as well as places where jobs were gained as a result of increased trade with Mexico,” Mr. Hanson said.
The government programs that were designed to help workers adjust to these changes proved to be a Band-Aid for a deep wound that never healed. As China’s 2001 entry into the global economy accelerated the loss of American factory jobs, NAFTA became a potent symbol for labor unions, many Democrats and Mr. Trump of where American trade policy went wrong.
The Trump administration began its renegotiation of NAFTA in August 2017 with harsh words for Canada and Mexico, with the president’s top trade adviser saying the pact had “fundamentally failed many, many Americans and needs major improvement.”
Talks were initially expected to wrap up by the end of 2017, but negotiations lingered well into the next year as officials from all three countries scrabbled over issues like dairy-market access, federal-government contracts and systems for settling trade disputes. Business groups were alarmed by several of Mr. Trump’s proposals, including the idea of injecting a “sunset provision” into the deal that could cause it to automatically expire.
The Trump administration also deployed hardball tactics with Canada and Mexico, placing tariffs on their steel and aluminum and threatening to tax their cars as well. In the final stages of negotiations, when the United States was at odds with Canada over issues like agriculture, Mr. Trump threatened to turn NAFTA into a bilateral deal with Mexico, leaving Canada out entirely.
At a meeting in Buenos Aires in November 2018, Mr. Trump joined the leaders of Canada and Mexico in signing the revised deal. But he still faced an uphill path to get the pact approved in Congress, particularly the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
“I hope he understands what he’s signing today,” Ms. Pelosi said at a news conference, holding up a fact sheet outlining the changes Democrats secured for labor, enforcement, environment and prescription drugs. “Just because he’s the person signing it would not be a reason we would not do something good for the American people”
On Capitol Hill, Democrats sought to remind people that the pact would not have won overwhelming bipartisan support without their changes, particularly the updates to labor enforcement.
“The only reason that the president is having a signing today is because of what we did as Democrats,” Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said at an infrastructure news conference.
Some Democrats were quick to point out that the deal being celebrated by Republicans at the White House was far more in line with Democratic priorities than with traditional conservative ones.
“It actually kind of puts a smile on my face,” said Representative Jimmy Gomez, Democrat of California, in an interview. “It’s ironic. They’re lauding the most progressive trade deal in the history of this country.”
“They should send her a box of chocolates,” Mr. Gomez said of Ms. Pelosi, who has a famous penchant for chocolate, particularly from California. “Dark. Ghirardelli.”
The new trade deal faces one final hurdle before it can go into effect: It still needs to be approved in Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s first action when Parliament resumed after an extended break on Monday was introducing legislation to carry out the trade pact, which it calls the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Because Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party does not hold a voting majority in the House of Commons, the bill will require opposition support to pass. All three major opposition parties have various complaints. But many local and provincial politicians, labor and business leaders are calling for quick approval, making the legislation’s defeat unlikely.
Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister, urged the opposition parties to work with the government to pass the bill swiftly.
“This is a victory for all Canadians of every political persuasion and from all regions of our great country,” she said in a news conference.
Ian Austen contributed reporting from Ottawa.
from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/trump-signs-trade-deal-with-canada-and-mexico/
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michaelfallcon · 4 years
Text
The Sprudge Coffee Guide To Penang, Malaysia
The history of Penang dates back to the 19th century when it was an important trade port in the Strait of Malacca for Europe, the Middle East, India, and China. Today, it is a booming tourist destination that retains the cultural diversity brought by merchants all over the world along with colonial-era architecture, especially since its George Town gained status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site back in 2008.
Traditional coffee shops in Penang are called kopitiam: they mostly serve breakfast of Chinese-Malaysian cuisine with dark-roasted coffee. But in recent years, third wave coffee shops have started to take over the island, where you can enjoy specialty grade single-origin coffee after your treat of asam laksa.
Constant Gardener
Constant Gardener was the first stop in my cafe-hopping journey around Penang, I must admit I went there on purpose—as SK Leng, the shop owner, was a coffee professional famous for his continuous research to coffee science who held various workshops on pressure profiling and water system across Southeast Asia.
The cafe occupies the first floor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Building, right around the most northeast corner of George Town, Penang. It is small—I walked past the entrance twice before noticing the shop’s name engraved on the window. Inside, the place is filled with occasional plant pots that lend a touch of greenery to wooden tables. Constant Gardener’s menu is impressive, reflecting Leng’s commitment to traceability and sustainability, as everything from coffee to tea to chocolate is meticulously sourced with details provided on their origins. Coffee here is roasted by Cloud Catcher, Factory Coffee, Artisan Roastery, and The Roast Things, pulled from the heavily modded Kees van der Westen Spirit. During my visit, Constant Gardener featured an Ethiopia Guji Peaberry “Purple” from Cloud Catcher, which was best enjoyed as a long black or with milk. Matcha comes from a direct trade relationship with a farmer named Yamauchi in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Constant Gardener is located at Ground Floor, Chinese Chamber Of Commerce Building, 9, Lebuh Light, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Macallum Connoisseurs
You will notice Macallum Connoisseurs from very far away—while crossing through Gat Lebuh Macallum, I immediately spotted a very huge building with a Macallum sign on top of it. The cafe’s sheer size (8,000 square feet) comes from the fact that the space was once a factory, and although it was transformed into a coffee shop in 2015, Macallum still retains that industrial feel from the high ceilings and metal structure. A square coffee bar sits in the centre of the cafe, hosting a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle and Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinder and bags of coffee to bring home. (Macallum Connoisseurs is the only shop in this guide that roasts its own coffee.)
Taking advantage of its huge space, the cafe also doubles as a coffee academy. And if you are craving a sweet treat after your caffeine fix, there is a small bar by Nippy Gelato at the left corner of the building, where they sell their daily-made ice cream and waffles.
Macallum Connoisseurs is located at 1, Gat Lebuh Macallum, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Awesome Canteen
After a few days wandering around Penang, I noticed a distinct similarity among public places around the island, be it a shopping mall, restaurant or cafe—every place has indoor-grown trees, and Awesome Canteen is a great example of that. The cafe feels calm and refreshing, with naturally high-grown trees placed in between long rustic tables and rugged walls. Awesome Canteen is best enjoyed as a lunch spot, serving dishes inspired by Western and Japanese cooking styles. I suggest trying their delicious cold noodles before moving on to the coffee tasting.
Awesome Canteen starts its daily operation at 11:00am, so on the day of my arrival I was the first customer to open the door. The barista, Wen Han, kindly asked me to wait as he diligently re-brewed my filter coffee order because he was not satisfied with the first brew. And it turned out to the best cup of coffee throughout my trip—a Burundi Gitega Butemba COE #16 with notes of black tea, peach, honey sweetness, and spiciness.
Awesome Canteen is located at 164A-B, Lebuh Victoria, George Town. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Ome by Spacebar Coffee
A joint project by Joachim Leong and Shean Tan, Spacebar Coffee was founded in 2014. Initially, Spacebar Coffee occupied a space within Awesome Canteen before relocating to its permanent location on the narrow and quiet Lorong Toh Aka alley. I was surprised to discover Leong used to be a lawyer before he took on his job as one of the founding baristas at VCR in Kuala Lumpur. As for Tan, she got bit by the coffee bug during her time studying in the UK. The two met at VCR before moving to Penang to open Spacebar Coffee.
Ome, if you’re wondering, means “Home” (with the H omitted), as Leong and Tan wanted to create a space that felt like home to their customers. And they did. The duo has successfully formed a small coffee community here—Ome regularly acts as a location for coffee events in Penang, most recently a screening of the AeroPress Movie.
Ome, much like Constant Gardener, is a multi-roaster cafe. Joachim sources beans from roasters like Artisan Roastery and The Roast Things, along with occasional offerings from overseas roasters, notably Square Mile and Hasbean—Leong seems to have a thing for UK coffee professionals, “Buy it, it’s my bible,” he excitedly said as I pulled a copy of Colin Harmon’s “What I Know About Running Coffee Shops” from the retail shelves.
Ome by Spacebar Coffee is located at 1, Lorong Toh Aka, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Komichi Tea House
You can already guess from the name that this last mention is not a coffee shop, but a tea place. I choose to feature Komichi as I believe coffee and tea have many similarities—we drinkers all look for a complexity of flavor and balance in the drinks. (And you may remember that Sprudge launched a tea week earlier this year!)
Located just a few doors away from Ome by Spacebar, Komichi was carved out of a humble old building in 2017. It specializes in green tea, which Komichi founders Akane Nimura and Joeyin Chua source directly from plantations in Toyota City, Japan. Through my conversation with Chua, I was introduced to different kinds of green tea, while sipping a matcha latte served with some matcha cookies. My stay at Komichi ended with a pot of gyokuro, which means “pearl dew,” one of the highest grades of Japanese tea used in tea ceremonies. It has flavor notes of green tea, seaweed, with a salty undertone and a lingering savory finish.
Komichi Tea House is located at 20, Lorong Toh Aka, George Town. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Tung Nguyen is a freelance journalist based in Vietnam. Read more Tung Nguyen for Sprudge.
The Sprudge Coffee Guide To Penang, Malaysia published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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shebreathesslowly · 4 years
Text
The Sprudge Coffee Guide To Penang, Malaysia
The history of Penang dates back to the 19th century when it was an important trade port in the Strait of Malacca for Europe, the Middle East, India, and China. Today, it is a booming tourist destination that retains the cultural diversity brought by merchants all over the world along with colonial-era architecture, especially since its George Town gained status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site back in 2008.
Traditional coffee shops in Penang are called kopitiam: they mostly serve breakfast of Chinese-Malaysian cuisine with dark-roasted coffee. But in recent years, third wave coffee shops have started to take over the island, where you can enjoy specialty grade single-origin coffee after your treat of asam laksa.
Constant Gardener
Constant Gardener was the first stop in my cafe-hopping journey around Penang, I must admit I went there on purpose—as SK Leng, the shop owner, was a coffee professional famous for his continuous research to coffee science who held various workshops on pressure profiling and water system across Southeast Asia.
The cafe occupies the first floor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Building, right around the most northeast corner of George Town, Penang. It is small—I walked past the entrance twice before noticing the shop’s name engraved on the window. Inside, the place is filled with occasional plant pots that lend a touch of greenery to wooden tables. Constant Gardener’s menu is impressive, reflecting Leng’s commitment to traceability and sustainability, as everything from coffee to tea to chocolate is meticulously sourced with details provided on their origins. Coffee here is roasted by Cloud Catcher, Factory Coffee, Artisan Roastery, and The Roast Things, pulled from the heavily modded Kees van der Westen Spirit. During my visit, Constant Gardener featured an Ethiopia Guji Peaberry “Purple” from Cloud Catcher, which was best enjoyed as a long black or with milk. Matcha comes from a direct trade relationship with a farmer named Yamauchi in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Constant Gardener is located at Ground Floor, Chinese Chamber Of Commerce Building, 9, Lebuh Light, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Macallum Connoisseurs
You will notice Macallum Connoisseurs from very far away—while crossing through Gat Lebuh Macallum, I immediately spotted a very huge building with a Macallum sign on top of it. The cafe’s sheer size (8,000 square feet) comes from the fact that the space was once a factory, and although it was transformed into a coffee shop in 2015, Macallum still retains that industrial feel from the high ceilings and metal structure. A square coffee bar sits in the centre of the cafe, hosting a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle and Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinder and bags of coffee to bring home. (Macallum Connoisseurs is the only shop in this guide that roasts its own coffee.)
Taking advantage of its huge space, the cafe also doubles as a coffee academy. And if you are craving a sweet treat after your caffeine fix, there is a small bar by Nippy Gelato at the left corner of the building, where they sell their daily-made ice cream and waffles.
Macallum Connoisseurs is located at 1, Gat Lebuh Macallum, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Awesome Canteen
After a few days wandering around Penang, I noticed a distinct similarity among public places around the island, be it a shopping mall, restaurant or cafe—every place has indoor-grown trees, and Awesome Canteen is a great example of that. The cafe feels calm and refreshing, with naturally high-grown trees placed in between long rustic tables and rugged walls. Awesome Canteen is best enjoyed as a lunch spot, serving dishes inspired by Western and Japanese cooking styles. I suggest trying their delicious cold noodles before moving on to the coffee tasting.
Awesome Canteen starts its daily operation at 11:00am, so on the day of my arrival I was the first customer to open the door. The barista, Wen Han, kindly asked me to wait as he diligently re-brewed my filter coffee order because he was not satisfied with the first brew. And it turned out to the best cup of coffee throughout my trip—a Burundi Gitega Butemba COE #16 with notes of black tea, peach, honey sweetness, and spiciness.
Awesome Canteen is located at 164A-B, Lebuh Victoria, George Town. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Ome by Spacebar Coffee
A joint project by Joachim Leong and Shean Tan, Spacebar Coffee was founded in 2014. Initially, Spacebar Coffee occupied a space within Awesome Canteen before relocating to its permanent location on the narrow and quiet Lorong Toh Aka alley. I was surprised to discover Leong used to be a lawyer before he took on his job as one of the founding baristas at VCR in Kuala Lumpur. As for Tan, she got bit by the coffee bug during her time studying in the UK. The two met at VCR before moving to Penang to open Spacebar Coffee.
Ome, if you’re wondering, means “Home” (with the H omitted), as Leong and Tan wanted to create a space that felt like home to their customers. And they did. The duo has successfully formed a small coffee community here—Ome regularly acts as a location for coffee events in Penang, most recently a screening of the AeroPress Movie.
Ome, much like Constant Gardener, is a multi-roaster cafe. Joachim sources beans from roasters like Artisan Roastery and The Roast Things, along with occasional offerings from overseas roasters, notably Square Mile and Hasbean—Leong seems to have a thing for UK coffee professionals, “Buy it, it’s my bible,” he excitedly said as I pulled a copy of Colin Harmon’s “What I Know About Running Coffee Shops” from the retail shelves.
Ome by Spacebar Coffee is located at 1, Lorong Toh Aka, George Town. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
  Komichi Tea House
You can already guess from the name that this last mention is not a coffee shop, but a tea place. I choose to feature Komichi as I believe coffee and tea have many similarities—we drinkers all look for a complexity of flavor and balance in the drinks. (And you may remember that Sprudge launched a tea week earlier this year!)
Located just a few doors away from Ome by Spacebar, Komichi was carved out of a humble old building in 2017. It specializes in green tea, which Komichi founders Akane Nimura and Joeyin Chua source directly from plantations in Toyota City, Japan. Through my conversation with Chua, I was introduced to different kinds of green tea, while sipping a matcha latte served with some matcha cookies. My stay at Komichi ended with a pot of gyokuro, which means “pearl dew,” one of the highest grades of Japanese tea used in tea ceremonies. It has flavor notes of green tea, seaweed, with a salty undertone and a lingering savory finish.
Komichi Tea House is located at 20, Lorong Toh Aka, George Town. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Tung Nguyen is a freelance journalist based in Vietnam. Read more Tung Nguyen for Sprudge.
from Sprudge https://ift.tt/2QT2fFE
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beertengoku · 4 years
Text
{:en}As we travelled through Nagoya in a taxi – the previous night at Hop Buds had been a bit heavy – the scenery changed from one of hustle and bustle, to one of industrial. Sprawling factories in the northern part of Nagoya, dotted along the banks of The Shin River – another man-made part of the area. All of the factories appeared to be the same, with their typical dull grey exteriors, and a few signs posted above the doors so you know where you are. However, one building stood out from the rest, with its colourful, vibrant door to the warehouse.
Y Market Brewing opened this brewery in November 2018 as the demand for Y Market’s beers had outstripped the production capability at their brewpub in the Yanagibashi Market. From the outside, the brewery appears to be brand new – its sparkling, gleaming exterior looks out of place with the much older factories and warehouses in the area.
As you enter through the multicoloured door – you are treated to what appears to be the canning room. Except it isn’t. Every nook and cranny in the brewery serves a purpose. In the entrance area appears to be pallets of blank cans – 3000 or so on each pallet, all for the sole purpose of canning some of the beers brewed here. Unlike the brewpub branch, this brewery both cans and kegs the beers made here. Right in front of you is another shutter. But it’s not for entering the brewery – it’s where all the malts are kept. Nagoya’s weather ranges throughout the year – sunny to snowy, 40c to -10c at its extreme – so all the malts are kept in a climate controlled environment.
Y Market Brewing import their malts through one of Japan’s biggest malt distributors – Ohnishi Shoji – who supply malts from around the world, with countries such as Germany, The UK, and the US represented. These malts can also be bought in online homebrewing shops too which means the homebrewer can use the same materials that are used in Y Market Brewing’s beers. Forklifts are used to access the grains; however, they are still carried to the milling station, and sliced open by hand to ensure no metallic parts or dust enters the milling area.
While Y Market Brewing are more famous for their IPAs and pale ales, from time to time, they do make darker beers. With up to 60 bags of malt being used for each batch of beer, it can get time consuming to clean the milling machine, so Y Market go with milling the darker malts first – think chocolate, black, roasted barley, then the caramel or crystal malts, before moving onto the paler base malts such as two-row or Maris Otter. The milling machine is connected right to the mash tun via an overhead conveyor belt; however, some of the non-malt products, such as oats or rye, get milled in a separate machine. Wheat is a notorious difficult grain to mill – it can produce lots of flour and make the mash gummy, so this gets milled away from the malts and then transported up via a conveyor belt.
As you walk into the main brewhouse area, the space is immense. While Y Market have utilised the space efficiently, there is still a lot of room left for future expansion – something that is not a case of “if” but “when”. As you walk past the fermenters, looking overhead, pipes run above you – hot water, cleaning, wort – all going somewhere before ducking down behind stainless steel containers.
The brewing area is an impressive setup. Four huge tuns sit on top of a platform at the far end of the brewery, overlooking the fermenters and water tanks that stretch down the middle and the side of the brew house. The tuns are all computer controlled – in English as Kachi-san prefers it that way – though they are operated by hand and have the specific details such as mash temperature, chosen by the brewers. Unlike other breweries in Japan, Y Market Brewing also have a four stage hoprocket – the largest at the time of writing in Japan – connected to the system to impart more hop flavour than just boiling the hops normally.
Nakanishi-san mentioned it would be possible to do a double brew, possibly even a triple brew, on the current system if there were a demand for it. A brew from start to finish usually takes around 6 hours. That’s thanks to the two huge water tanks that collect water from the city. While that sounds unusually compared to other breweries that use underground aquifers or wells – something that sake in Japan is famous for emblazing on the bottle labels – the reason for this is that the city water is carbon filtered and then have its profile changed to suit the kind of beer being made.
The two huge water tanks contain both hot water for the mash, known as the HLT, and also for sparging, while the cold water tank contains water for cooling. This cooling stage occurs once the wort has passed through the whirlpool tank – one of the biggest we’ve come across on our travels for BeerTengoku. This huge tun is used to impart MORE hop flavours and aromas once the beer has begun to cool down as the boiling wort causes some of the more delicate oils to be evaporated off. Once the wort is brought into the whirlpool tun, it spins around the centre and then hops are added – this spinning effect is called the “Tea Cup Effect” and was first summarised by Albert Einstein – who’d have thought Einstein would have influenced how a beer is hopped? Then the wort is allowed to stand for an additional 20 minutes or so to allow the hops and trub to form a compact trub/hop pile in the center of the vessel. The wort is easily separated from the pile by pumping it out of an outlet located on the side of the vessel.
The wort is then pumped into one of the nine 3600 litre fermentation vessels that lie in the middle of the brewhouse. Each one of these is glycol chilled and all were full up when we visited. Some were of the Y Market Brewing regular line up, some were collaboration beers, while some were special beers for the Spring Keyaki Beer Festival. There is no in-house set yeast either – each batch of beer is brewed using liquid yeast from Wyeast that is specially imported over for each beer. Moreover, the meticulous nature of both Kachi-san and Nakanishi-san means when the yeast is about to be added, the whole packet is washed all over to ensure that no infections or wild spores are on the packets. This also extends to the cutting tools – be it a pocket knife, pair of scissors, or a much larger knife – everything gets meticulously washed.
Once the beer is deemed to be finished, it then moves onto one of the three BBT – known as bright beer tanks. These tanks are used to carbonate a beer before it moves onto either kegging, bottling, or in Y Market Brewing’s case – canning. ⅓ of every batch of beer is canned at this location, while the remaining is kegged for sales either in the taproom, the Y Market bar, or for bars across Japan. The canning machine itself is mostly automated and it is able to can 1300 350ml cans per hour, though think of the poor person who has to load the canning machine.
Once the beers are canned, washed, dried, they are then x-rayed to ensure that no metallic parts are inside the beers and also to ensure that the level of beer inside is the same for all the beers. If the beer is off at all, it is immediately discarded from shipping. When asked what happens to the beer, in the hope of a few “samples”, Nakanishi-san laughed it off and said the beer would not be for consumption. Random samples from each batch are tested to ensure they meet the rigorous standards and then the labels are applied.
The original plan was to use heat-shrink labels on the cans; however, the cans were being crushed when the film was being heated on the empty cans. Of course, heating the cans once they have beer inside is also not desirable so Y Market Brewing decided to go with the simplistic, but effective, single stripe down the middle. The beers are then stored in a giant walk-in fridge, that also stores the hops from Yakima Valley Chief, before the beers are shipped off for sale.
Perhaps the most important stop on the tour is the taproom, open primarily at weekends, where you can get some fresh beer from the bright tanks, or even some cans to takeaway. All of the Y Market Brewing staff drink there – it’s next door to their offices – and you can often walk up to meet and chat with them. While tours are not commonly done at Y Market Brewing, if you do get the chance, it’s a great brewery to see in action if given the chance.{:}{:ja}名古屋をタクシーで旅をしていくと、(Hop Budsでの前夜は少し飲みすぎた)景色が喧騒から���業地帯に変わっていった。名古屋の北に広がる工場は、人口の埋め立て地である新川のほとりに点在している。すべての工場は同じように見え、典型的な鈍い灰色の外観と、ドアの上にいくつか看板が掲示されているので、今自分がどこにいるかを知ることができる。しかしある建物は、カラフルで鮮やかな倉庫への扉があり、他の建物よりも際立っていた。
ワイマーケットブルーイングは、そのビールへの需要が柳橋市場の彼らのブルーパブでの生産能力を上回っていたため、2018年11月にこの醸造所をオープンした。外からは、その醸造所は真新しく見え、その輝かしい外観は、そのエリアの遥かに古い工場や倉庫とは一線を画している。
色とりどりのドアを入っていくと、キャニングルームのようなところに入る。しかし、そうではない。醸造所の隅々が目的を果たしているのだ。エントランス付近では、空き缶がパレット積みされている。各パレットに3000個程度あり、ここで醸造されたビールの一部をキャニングすることのみを目的としている。ブルーパブとは違い、この醸造所では、作られたビールを缶詰めと樽詰めの両方をここで行っている。すぐ目の前には、もう一つのシャッターがあるが、醸造所に入るためではなく、そこにすべてのモルトが保管されているのである。名古屋の気候は、晴れから雪、極端な場合は40℃から-10℃と、年間を通して変化する。すべてのモルトは温度管理された環境に保管されている。
ワイマーケットブルーイングは、ドイツ、イギリス、アメリカなどの国を代表して世界中からモルトを供給する日本最大のモルト販売業者の1つである大西商事を通じてモルトを輸入している。これらのモルトはオンラインの自家醸造ショップでも購入できる。これは自家醸造者が、ワイマーケットブルーイングのビールで使われているのと同じ材料を使うことができることを意味している。フォークリフトは穀物を取るために使用されるが、それらはミリングステーションに運ばれ、金属部分や粉塵がミリングエリアに入らないように手で切り開かれる。
ワイマーケットブルーイングはIPAとペールエールで有名だが、時には濃いビールを作っている。ビールのバッチごとに最大60袋のモルトが使用されることで、ミリングマシンの洗浄に時間がかかるので、ワイマーケットはまず濃いモルトから製粉する。チョコレート、黒、ローストした大麦、次にキャラメルまたはクリスタルモルトを考慮して、ツーローまたはマリスオッターなどの淡いベースモルトに移っていく。ミリングマシンは、オーバーヘッドコンベアベルトを介してマッシュタンに直接接続される。ただし、オート麦やライ麦などの非麦芽製品の一部は、別の機械で製粉される。小麦は製粉するのが難しいことで有名な穀物。小麦粉を大量に生産し、マッシュをグミにすることができるため、これはモルトから製粉され、コンベヤーベルトで運ばれる。
メインの醸造エリアに入ると、スペースが広い。ワイマーケットは空間を有効活用してきたので、将来の拡張に向けて、まだたくさんの空き部屋がある。それは「もしも」の備えではなく、来るべく「その時」のために。発酵槽を過ぎると、パイプ(温水、クリーニング、麦汁)が頭上を走っており、すべてがステンレスの容器の後ろに落ちる前に、どこかへ運ばれる。
醸造エリアは印象的な仕組みである。醸造所の遠端にあるプラットフォームの上部に4つの巨大な樽があり、醸造所の中央と側面に広がる発酵槽と水槽を見下ろしている。カチさんが好むように、樽はすべてコンピューターで制御されているが、手作業で操作され、醸造者によって選択されたマッシュ温度などの特定の項目がある。他の日本の醸造所とは違い、ワイマーケットブルーイングには、通常のホップを煮沸するよりもホップの風味を高めるためにシステムに接続された、4段階のホプロケット(執筆時点で日本最大)がある。
ナカニシさんは、現在のシステムで要求があれば、ダブルブリュー、場合によってはトリプルブリューも可能だと言っていた。醸造の始めから終わりまでかかる時間は、通常およそ6時間だ。
これは、都市から水を集める2つの巨大な水タンクのおかげである。地下の帯水層や井戸を使う他の醸造所と比べると変に聞こえるが、(日本のお酒はボトルラベルに印字することで有名だが、)その理由は都市の水と炭素をろ過し、ビールの種類に合わせてプロファイルを変更するためである。
2つの巨大な水タンクには、HLTとして知られるマッシュ用の温水とスパージング(麦汁ろ過)用の温水が含まれ、冷水タンクには冷却用の水が含まれている。この冷却プロセスは、麦汁がワールプールタンク(ビール天国の旅で出会った中で最も大きいものの一つ)を通過すると発生する。この巨大な樽は、ビールが冷め始めたら、麦汁が沸騰してよりデリケートなオイルの一部が蒸発するので、より多くのホップのフレーバーとアロマを与えるために使用される。麦汁がワールプールタンに運ばれると、中心が回転し、ホップが加えられる。この回転効果は「ティーカップ効果」と呼ばれ、アルバート・アインシュタインによって初めて要約された。アインシュタインがビールのホップに影響を与えたと誰が思うだろうか。その後、麦汁をさらに20分ほど放置して、ホップとトラブが容器の中央にコンパクトなトラブ/ホップパイルを形成できるようにする。麦汁は、容器の側面にある口からポンプでくみ出すことにより、パイルから簡単に分離できる。
麦汁は、醸造所の中央にある9つの3600リットルの発酵容器の1つに送り込まれる。これらはそれぞれグリコールで冷やされており、我々が訪問しときにはすべて満杯だった。いくつかはワイマーケットブルーイングのレギュラーラインナップで、いくつかはコラボレーションビールで、いくつかは春けやきビールフェスティバルのスペシャルビールだった。自社セット酵母もない。ビールの各バッチは、ビールごとに特別に輸入されたワイイーストの液体酵母を使用して醸造される。さらに、カチさんとナカニシさんの細かい性格により、酵母が追加されようとしているとき、感染または野生の胞子がパケットにないことを確実にするため、パケット全体を洗浄している。これは裁断道具にも当てはまる。ポケットナイフ、ハサミ、またははるかに大きなナイフなど、細心の注意を払ってすべてを洗浄している。
ビールが生産完了とみなされると、3つのBBT(Bright Beer Tank) のいずれかに移動する。これらのタンクは、ビールが樽詰め、瓶詰め、またはワイマーケットブルーイングの場合は缶詰めのいずれかに移動する前に、炭酸を入れるために使用される。ビールのすべてのバッチの3分の1はこの場所で缶詰にされ、残りはタップルーム、ワイマーケットバー、または日本中のバーのいずれかで販売されている。
ビールが缶詰め・洗浄・乾燥されると、X線を照射して、ビールの内部に金属部分がないこと、ビールのレベルがすべて同じであることを確認する。ビールに不備がある場合、出荷品からすぐに弾かれる。「試飲」を期待して、そのビールはどうなるのか尋ねたところ、ナカニシさんは笑い飛ばして、このビールは消費用じゃないと言われた。各バッチからの抜き取りサンプルは、厳しい基準を満たしているか検品されて、ラベルが貼られる。
当初は缶に熱収縮ラベルを使う予定だった。しかし、空き缶にフィルムを加熱すると缶がつぶれてしまった。もちろん、ビールを入れた後に缶を加熱することも望ましくないため、ワイマーケットブルーイングはシンプルで効果的なシングルストライプダウンを使用することにした。その後、ビールは巨大なウォークイン冷蔵庫に保管され、ビールが販売のために出荷される前に、ヤキマバレーチーフからのホップも保管されている。
ツアーで一番重要な場所は恐らくタップルームである。主に週末に開いており、タンクから新鮮なビールを飲んだり、いくつか持ち帰ったりもできる。ワイマーケットブルーイングの全スタッフ��そこ(事務所の隣)で飲んでおり、スタッフと会って話すことができる。ワイマーケットブルーイングでは一般的にツアーは行っていないが、機会があれば、実際に見学するのに最適な醸造所である。
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#2000! Y Market Brewing Tour - a little guide around the brewery.・ワイマーケットブルーイングツアー:ブルワリー内で一緒に見ましょうか。 #craftbeer #beer #クラフトビール #地ビール #ビール {:en}As we travelled through Nagoya in a taxi - the previous night at Hop Buds had been a bit heavy - the scenery changed from one of hustle and bustle, to one of industrial.
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wikitopx · 4 years
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One of the main highlights of a visit to Hokkaido Island is the opportunity to visit its capital city, the majestic Sapporo city.
This part of the island is known to be one of the most interesting cities in this part of Japan and you can come here and enjoy both the more modern and traditional aspects of Japanese life. The city is known for its winter-themed attractions such as the winter festival as well as some of the beautiful ski resorts on the outskirts of Sapporo city. You can also try some of the delicious food that Hokkaido is so well known for including juicy hairy crabs, and this is, of course, the home of the iconic Sapporo Beer.
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1. Tour the Ishiya Chocolate Factory
If you want to do something a little sweet on your trip to Sapporo then you might want to visit Ishiya Chocolate Factory. You can tour the premises and learn how they make chocolate here, and their signature dish is white chocolate called 'Shiroi Koibito, a Hokkaido specialty.
You can also dine at the on-site restaurant and enjoy a cake buffet as well as watch a robot show and a toy museum. If you are traveling with younger visitors then this is definitely one of the top attractions in the city that is not to be missed.
2. Attend Sapporo Snow Festival
The Sapporo Snow Festival is the main social event in the city and is known for its amazing ice sculpture competition. The festival takes place every year at Odori Koen and starts at the beginning of February.
Visiting ice sculptors come from all over the world and you can also find attractions for children such as ice castles and igloos. If possible come at night when the ice sculptures are illuminated with different colored lights, but keep in mind that it can also get rather crowded.
3. Walk around Asahiyama Park
Asahiyama Park is one of the prettiest of its kind in the city and is covered in a gorgeous flower garden which is a riot of color throughout the year. The park is famous for passionate young couples, and the best time to come here is in the spring when you can watch the beautiful cherry blossoms.
If you are here in the autumn then you can also take in the burnt orange fall colors and this makes a nice spot to get away from it all and find a corner of calm in Sapporo.
4. Catch a game at Sapporo Dome
Sapporo Dome was the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and now it serves as the home ground of a range of baseball teams such as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. You may not even think of baseball when you think of Japan, but you will even find traditional snacks like hot dogs here and you can catch some games throughout the season.
If you're a baseball fan or just like seeing something a little different in Hokkaido then this is a great option.
5. Check out the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art
Art lovers should make sure not to miss the Hokkaido Modern Art Museum in the middle of a beautiful park with heady lawns. The museum is dedicated to displaying modern artworks made primarily by Japanese artists but you will also find a number of Western works on display.
They also have rotating galleries of visiting artists, so make sure you drop by and see what's on the road while you're in town.
6. Buy some chocolate
Sapporo is famous in the context of domestic tourism and many locals choose to buy chocolate as a souvenir for their trip. The signature treat in Sapporo is known as Shiroi Koibito which means ‘White Lovers’ and, as the name suggests, this is a kind of white chocolate that is smeared inside a wafer.
You can buy chocolate throughout Sapporo city to enjoy the sweet taste of the city after you leave.
7. Check out the Clock Tower
  The Clock Tower is known for being one of the most iconic buildings in Sapporo and it dates from 188 when it was built in honor of what is now Hokkaido University. There is also an explanation here of how the Clock Tower came into existence.
This is a very popular spot in Sapporo so make sure you leave some time here to take pictures as it can get rather crowded.
8. Visit Odori Park
Odori Park is the most famous green space in Sapporo and this is also one of the best-loved spots in the city. The park unfurls over some 15 blocks and you will find that it makes an excellent place to come and enjoy an afternoon stroll.
Odori Park is covered in trees, flowers, and fountains and if you come here in the autumn you can also enjoy the gorgeous copper fall colors.
9. Check out the views at Sapporo TV Tower
Sapporo TV Tower is one of the most recognizable buildings not just in Sapporo but also in the whole of Japan. The tower is a rather surprising attraction in Sapporo as it is modeled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
You can go up to the observation deck here, which is about 90 meters high and take in the breathtaking views of Sapporo city, so this is a good option if you're new to the town and want to get one. Overview of the city landscape.
10. Tour the Sapporo Beer Museum
One of the main attractions in Sapporo is the Sapporo Beer Museum, which displays one of the city's most popular drinks. The museum is owned by the wider Sapporo Brewing Company and you can take a guided tour of the facility and learn how the beer is made and how it got its start.
There are galleries to fill you in on the history of the beer and you can also end by sampling a range of different blends.
More ideals for you: Top 9 things to do in Nagoya, Japan
From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-sapoporo-705747.html
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boredsingaporean · 5 years
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Chapter 24: Take a Break, Have a Holiday
Choi, Nicky, Sally, Kah Leng, business development manager from the Singapore Capital Markets team, and I had been talking about making a trip together for quite some time. With the Christmas season break just one month away, we decided to work on a concrete plan. “So where can we go for a week’s break?” Choi asked. “Should we go London?” Nicky asked. “I’ve got some friends there and we can stay at their places and save on accommodation.” “But Nicky, I think most of London will be closed during the Christmas season,” Choi objected. “I’m sure not all places will be closed right?” “Let me check from the Internet.” After a few typing on the keypads and a few clicking and scrolling on the mouse, Choi turned his notebook screen to face us. “Dude, almost all shopping centers will be closed from twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth of December, most of the museums like the National Gallery will be closed, and even the Tower of London will be closed! What are we going to do there? Sit at Hyde Park outside Hard Rock Café and feed the pigeons?” “Maybe even the pigeons are not around,” I added. “I guess not everywhere is going to be closed right?” Nicky was skeptical. “Then how about those tour groups going over from Singapore? The tour guide must bring these tourists to somewhere right?” “Erm… I think in most Europe tour packages that touch on London, our tour agencies only arrange visits to the Big Ben, along the House of Parliament, at the gate outside Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge and Tower Bridge. So they’ll never have any opening or closing problem.” I explained. “Anyway, London will be too cold for me,” Sally added. “Okay, fine. Let’s go somewhere else then,” Nicky sulked. “Guys, I read from the newspapers that there is this Icehotel in Sweden where the whole hotel is built using the mountain water from Torneälven River. Every thing there, even the furniture is made of ice. Pretty cool huh?” I suggested avidly. “You meant pretty cold,” Kah Leng commented. “Beng, I know Ms. Xiao Long Niu from Louis Cha’s Chinese wuxia novel, The Return of the Condor Heroes, slept on ice. But she had very powerful inner strength, a.k.a. nei gong, which we commoners don’t have,” Nicky mocked. “Hey, you’ll be provided with a sleeping bag with liner!” I argued. “Erm… if you don’t mind, I’ll prefer to sleep on a white goose feather and down featherbed,” said Kah Leng. “Anyway, it’s not worth going to the Scandinavians in winter, when the days are short and the nights are long. Too much time wasted sleeping,” added Nicky the typical Hong Konger that believed that time is money. “Okay, let’s go somewhere else then,” I gave up. “Since most places in the western countries will be closed for the Christmas season, and their days will be rather short, why don’t we stay in Asia Pacific instead?” I suggested. Besides the issue of having shorter days, we could have problems finding our meals as well. Most restaurants in the western countries will be closed during the holidays. This meant that we would have to either take ridiculously expensive dinners in the hotels, or settle with cheap but almost inedible Chinese food. The hardworking Chinese businessmen do not believe in closing for holidays. In fact, knowing that most western cafes and restaurants will be closed and hungry souls will be awash on the street, most budget Chinese restaurants are happy to remain opened for even longer hours during the holidays. However the problem with these budget Chinese restaurants is that most of them only serve gong bao chicken, sweet and sour chicken or beer or pork, deep fried chicken or beer or pork and fried rice or noodles, and most of these dishes taste, well, funny. “How about Gold Coast or Cairns?” Sally suggested. “Err… Sally, Australia and New Zealand will be having their summers during that period,” Choi said. “And I’m not very keen in getting sunburn.” “You can always put on some sun block lotion what.” “I don’t really like the feeling of perspiring so much under a layer of sun block lotion,” Choi still rejected the idea. “It reminds me of those national service days when I had to wear camouflage face paint and scout around in the hot forest, with houseflies trying to land on my face all the time. Oh, that reminded me. There are tons of houseflies in Australia during their summers.” Okay, our destination should be in Asia and not Asia Pacific. Anyway, it might not be a good idea to walk beside a constantly perspiring Choi for a week. “Let’s go to Taiwan. None of us has ever being to Taiwan right?” Kah Leng suggested. “Hmm… Taiwan sounded good,” I agreed. “There are a couple of scenic national parks in Taiwan, like the Taroko National Park and Yangmingshan National Park.” “Erm… I was thinking more of the shopping areas there,” Kah Leng admitted. “And Taipei 101.” “Yah! I heard that the crystal jewellery there is stunning! And their fashion is also very ahead of us! Wow, so many things to buy!” said Sally, the other shopping queen. “And the night markets there! Like Shi Ling night market!” Choi exclaimed. “I heard they’ve got this super-sized chicken chop there that is simply delicious!” “Err… guys,” Nicky interrupted our excitement. “I’m not really into Taiwan. To me, Taiwan seems to look like another Hong Kong. And I would rather return to Hong Kong since I prefer the food there.” “Oh…” “Hey, you guys can still go ahead without me. It is okay, I don’t mind! I can always return to Hong Kong and spend the holidays with my friends and relatives there.” “No, no, no. We won’t just desert you like that. Let’s think of another destination then,” Kah Leng gave up Taiwan though she seemed to be disappointed. Well, if we said we will travel as a team, we will travel as a team. “How about Japan? Like Hokkaido?” Sally asked. “I’ve just seen Globe Trekker on the Discovery Travel channel introducing Hokkaido and it seems interesting. They have a musical box museum where you can choose the tune that you like and make your own musical box, a white chocolate factory, and the Kitaichi Glass Shop reputed for its unique and elegant hand-blown glassware.” “Good idea! Then we could try their snow crab and king crab which are as big as lobsters! We could have crab sashimi, crab tempura, yaki crab, crab miso soup, baked stuffed crab shells and crab hand rolls! Hahaha…” Choi thrived at the thought of food again. “Erm… Choi, I heard that these crabs are expensive,” said Sally. “Hey girl, you could only get them there. You’ll regret if you don’t try!” “Wait… though the thought of Hokkaido with snow flakes floating down from the sky seems romantic, I must remind you people that Hokkaido is also famous for being very very cold,” I reminded. There was nothing wrong with my language. I had used two ‘very’s intentionally to emphasize on the extreme coldness of Hokkaido. Winter temperatures in Hokkaido are known to remain well below zero and can even drop to as low as minus fifteen degree Celsius. The occurrences of heavy snow and gusty winds are also common. “I’m more worried about you girls. Nicky should still be okay with the cold weather because Hong Kong could be pretty cold sometimes too. Choi, I’m not so worried too because he has got a think insulation layer…” Choi raised an eyebrow at me and folded his arms. I continued: “But are you girls sure that you can stand the harsh weather? Are you aware that the temperature could drop to as low as minus fifteen degree Celsius?” Both gals pondered upon what I had said, looked at each other, and then nodded their heads to indicate that they agreed with me that Hokkaido was a bad idea. “Then how about South Korea? It won’t be as cold as Hokkaido and it’s just as interesting,” Kah Leng suggested. “Oh yes! South Korea! Why didn’t I think of that?” Sally blurted. “Then I can visit the filming sites for Winter Sonata and Jewel in the Palace!” “What’s Jewel in the Palace?” Choi asked. Kah Leng, Sally and Nicky stared at Choi as if he was saying that pigs can climb trees as good as cats. “Jewel in the Palace is the most popular Korean drama in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and even Malaysia!” the shock Nicky hollered. “What is it about? Some kind of Korean Tomb Raiders show with smart and armed thieves stealing hilariously expensive crown jewellery from the royal palace?” “No!” This time, Sally hollered at Choi. “It is about how Jang-Geum the heroine fought through a feudalistic society with serious sexual discrimination, defeated all the male doctors in the palace and became the first female head physician of the Joseon Dynasty! It is based on a real story!” “Not your type of bimbos kicking action movie,” I nudged Choi. “Okay, fine. But why are we going to those Korean TV serials filming sites?” Choi protested. This time, Kah Leng and Sally stared at Choi as if he was saying that pigs are more intelligent than women. “Err… but I kind of have problem with those spicy Korean kimchis,” said Nicky. “Don’t worry, Nicky. They’ve got other non-spicy food like claypot rice, stew beef, seafood fermented in salt, BBQ beef and ginseng chicken soup,” Kah Leng consoled. “Ginseng chicken soup? I like it!” Nicky grinned. “And we mustn’t forget that South Korea has got a cheap and good skiing resort,” Kah Leng grinned. “And breath-taking scenery at Jeju island,” I grinned. “So do you have any objection to South Korea, Choi?” Kah Leng asked. “Well, with lots of pretty Korean girls surrounding me, and lots of delicious food, I’ve got no problem,” Choi grinned. Gosh, finally the five of us had agreed on our tour destination. Since South Korea was a popular tour destination among Singaporeans, we needed to quickly decide on the tour details. “Should we go on a packaged tour or a free and easy one?” I asked. “Beng, we can’t go on a packaged one. Sally’s Chinese is pretty bad and Kah Leng can’t even write our company name in Chinese,” Nicky commented. “Yah, and most of these packaged tours have Chinese speaking tour guides,” Kah Leng agreed. “Okay, which means that we’re going free and easy…” I agreed, and then suddenly realized that something was amiss. “But which one of you speaks Korean?”
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thisweekinjapan · 6 years
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This week in Japan, January 08,2018- January 14, 2018 Part 6
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And here we are, finally at the end of this long, lovely weekend. Perhaps I spent too long on it, but then again, I am a sucker for Disney.
Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been sick and busy as of late. However I’m determined to get through January before March finishes!
In any case, this picture comes from the middle of the day, but where was it taken? how did I get there? and what did I do after?
Let’s get started!
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January 14th started a bit late, but after sleeping in, I met a friend at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, a landmark of Tokyo and one of its most beautiful spaces. I often visit when I’m in town, because it’s always showing off something amazing.
While these might be ordinary flowers to you, to me they’re rather spectacular, since they’re blooming in the frigid January temperatures.
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One of the best things about the garden is that it has a greenhouse full of exotic plants, from all corners of the globe. These are just a few that caught my eye that day.
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It’s so big it has its own waterfall.
Also it’s pretty toasty, even on the coldest winter day.
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Another famous aspect of this place is its long, broad, lawn. Though usually a verdant green, today it was a nice brown, reminiscent of a carpet. If it were warmer, I might have lain down for a nap.
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The building in the background is a symbol of Shinjuku, the NTT building. It is famous in the west for being featured in Makoto Shinkai’s movies, along with the garden itself.
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Can you believe there’s fish swimming in the ponds? Resilient little guys aren’t they?
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If you doubt whether it was really that cold, well, here’s some evidence. An ice sheet, breaking off from the shoreline, and heading out to the middle of the pond. I was pretty blown away. You can hear the wind too, it blew pretty fiercely.
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Sparkle Sparkle
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An unassuming gazebo, until you realize Shinkai used it as one of the primary settings for one of his films.
I wonder if those two are talking about... footwear?
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We decided to escape the cold and head in for some delicious tea, and a sweet treat!
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The water in the small basin outside was still pretty frozen.
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One of the last things we saw was this fellow, perched inconspicuously on a branch. Perhaps he was thinking of going fishing? but maybe the water was a bit too cold.
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After parting ways with my friend, I made a quick stop in Harajuku, where I passed by this place. Anyone familiar with the voice talent here?
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Two videos!? Yes indeedy. This is the world famous Totti Candy Factory, where they make amazing cotton candy and other delectable treats. I highly recommend it!
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As you can clearly see, you get quite a lot of cotton candy for quite a reasonable cost.
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After all that sweetness, I craved some spicy mexican food, and luckily Guzman Y Gomez was nearby to sate my needs (No, I’m not sponsored by anyone as of now, but if GYG wants to sponsor me with some free burritos, I’m interested!). Especially since they have habanero hot sauce.
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I’m getting hungry just looking at this!
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Have you ever had a crepe that had a slice of cheesecake in it? I have. And yes, it’s delicious. This can be found just downstairs from GYG, I love stopping here at Cafe Crepe for crepes every time I’m in town. This one is the strawberry chocolate cheesecake crepe, in case you’re thinking of getting one for yourself. But there’s over 100 varieties, so there’ll be a crepe for everyone!
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This is Harajuku station, one of the oldest stations still being used in Tokyo, it’s sadly being taken down in order to build a new station in time for the olympics in 2020. The current building dates from 1906, when Tokyo had a much smaller population, and stations didn’t need to service that many people, which leads to lots of overcrowding. Still, it’s sad to see it go. I’m glad I got to see it.
Speaking of things I’m happy to have seen...
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This very, very good boy.
Hachi is a beloved landmark of Shibuya, just a short train ride from Harajuku.
He’s also right next to...
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The world famous Shibuya crossing!
I was just passing through here, but it was a good moment to take a shot.
After this, I went to a party, where there was much crowding and merriment, but not a lot of picture taking. But be assured, it was epic. I was even “recognized” by someone who realized who my rapper look-a-like was.
Then there was a rush to catch a train and hustle on home on the train. All in all, a great end to a great week. And it was only January. I’m writing this in March, and man, my adventures in between have been incredible. I only wish I could share them all with you instantly! But this takes time, so I thank you for your patience. Next time we’ll pick up with week 3.
See you then!
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