Apr 10

WIT Life #161: Kit Kat craziness (again)

Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers Add Comment (2)

WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

I finally had a chance to sort through the pictures from my recent trip to Japan, which brought back many happy memories.  I think I found them hard to deal with until now as they represent the demarcation between pre and post quake (I left the day before it hit).  But I bit the bullet and looked at them for the first time since my travels, and I felt ok.  I tried to think of my friends rebuilding their lives post-disaster and somehow getting by thanks to their hope for the future.  As trite as it sounds, at this point they are taking things one day at a time as that is all they can do in the midst of the immense uncertainty that remains.

On a lighter note, one of the things that I love to do when I go back to Japan is check out the new flavors of items in konbini and other stores.  One brand I am always sure to find is Kit Kats, as they offer varieties we would never see in the States.  This time I found some old favorites like sakura maccha and Uji maccha (top 2 in picture), as well as some new tastes like annin dofu and wasabi (bottom row)!  As for the latter two, almond tofu was somewhat close to the Chinese dessert, but wasabi was definitely an acquired taste.

I went down south to Kagoshima in a quest to climb up to the 7000-year old cedar tree in Yakushima said to have mystical properties and designated as a World Heritage Site.  In the airport I found some Kyushu gentei or limited to Kyushu) versions.  As pictured on the left, the flavors were beni imo or purple sweet potato and yuzu koshou or yuzu zest with chili pepper.  As expected, the former went well with the white chocolate Kit Kat, but the latter left a spicy taste in my throat and didn’t seem well suited for the accompanying sweetness.  Try them all out on your next Japan trip!

In more serious news, a few recent articles from the Times regarding Japan’s radiation issue.  One is an editorial that comments on the actual threat, another profiles a mayor of a city directly affected by contamination who appealed to the world over YouTube, and from today a front page article talking about how nearly 90% of nuclear power plant workers are contract employees who receive less benefits than full-time staff and are essentially seen as disposable labor.