Brickshelfer ballchoi presents a nice three-tiered castle reminiscent of a much larger one in Himeji:
Tag Archives: Japan
Cold Noodles in a Stream, Hurray!
It’s brutally, miserably hot (well, mainly humid) in Japan right now. My most recent post featured cold tofu from mumu and his wife. Today’s post features another cold cuisine from mumu, “somen“:
There are several types of noodles in Japanese cuisine, including thick wheat noodles called udon, thinner buckwheat noodles called soba, and very thin wheat noodles called somen. Somen is usually served cold, often on a bed of ice, with various garnishes and a cold sauce for dipping.
Some restaruants, like the one mumu shows in his LEGO scene, make somen a bit more of an experience. You sit at a bar with little channels running in it, and you scoop out the noodles as they float by. They tend to be a bit touristy, but they’re really fun — kind of like revolving sushi, except with channels of water instead of a conveyer belt.
I took my grandfather, visiting from Freeport, Maine, to downtown Tokyo when I was nine or ten, and twenty years later he still tells the “hilarious” story about going to a restaraunt with me and being served cold noodles. “On ice!” he exclaims, “with dipping sauce! I’d never seen the like!” He nearly fell over when we went to a nagashi somen restaurant (nagashi means “flowing”).
Tora, Tora, Tora!
After seeing the beautiful Boeing B-29 bomber Josh posted, I could hardly neglect JUNLEGO’s swooshably cool Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighter:
(The Zero was the primary Japanese fighter in the attack on Pearl Harbor, after which the code phrase “Tora, Tora, Tora” was transmitted back to Tokyo to indicate that total surprise had been achieved.)
JUNLEGO has also posted a floatplane version of his Zero. Incidentally, he’s been working on a battleship Yamato that may rival Malle Hawking’s Harry S. Truman when it’s done!
Kokekokkooooo!!!
That’s the sound a rooster makes in Japanese. Here’s MisaQa with another batch of her great brick-built birds:
Nothin’ Tastier than Cold Tofu on a Hot Summer Day!
In addition to chilled soba (buckwheat) noodles with dipping sauce, one of my favorite summer-time dishes is cold silken tofu garnished with green onions and ginger, drizzled with soy sauce. Called hiyayakko, it’s quick, simple, and mighty tasty!!! Mumu and his wife have each created their LEGO versions of this delicious dish. In the Mumu household, they put bonito flakes and Japanese mustard on the tofu instead of grated ginger.
Here’s Mumu’s version (I love the drizzled soy sauce):
And here’s Mumu’s wife’s tofu (the yellow must be the mustard):
The family that builds (and eats cold tofu) together stays together!
Night-Fishing with Flames and Cormorants
A traditional method of fishing practiced for hundreds of years in Japan, called ukai, involves flames and cormorants. Sounds way more fun than a fishing pole or net, right?! The fishermen place a large basket full of fire out over the water, and as fish come near the surface, the fishermen release Japanese cormorants on leashes. The cormorants catch the fish and return them to the fishermen. There’s a great photo essay on PhotoTravels.com about this now-rare fishing method:
Japanese blogger Sumi_handy’s has captured ukai in a cool little scene:
Toshiya’s Na-San
Japanese builder Toshiya has posted another adorable cartoon character, this time from the TV show Kirarin Revolution.
Here’s Na-san, the cat:
Ahhh… Adorable! Who can resist sparkly eyes?
Behold the show’s theme song in all its YouTube glory (and tremble in fear!):
Tokugawa Ieyasu by Nelson Yrizarry
My series of Japanese historical and legendary characters stalled when I couldn’t figure out how to make the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s hat (image from Wikipedia; click to read Ieyasu’s biography):
Nelson Yrizarry has solved this problem with a unique combination of pieces, and I also like Nelson’s solution for a folded fan:
LEGO King Championship Footage on YouTube
Last November, I blogged about the LEGO King Championship event broadcast on TV in Japan. Now, via the aptly named TV in Japan we have actual footage of the show:
Toshiya’s Kuromi
Sanrio (of Hello Kitty fame) recently released a counterpart to pink-hooded bunny My Melody called “Kuromi.” Apparently there’s a TV show centered around My Melody in Japan (official Web site and clip on YouTube — both in Japanese).
Toshiya has built a nice little Kuromi statue, complete with key, black hood, and spiky devil tail:
Yes, that’s a red skull on Kuromi’s hood.
Ken Takeuchi’s LEGO Works
I’ve been subscribed to Japanese builder Ken Takeuchi’s blog for some time. (Ken goes by “Ken-Tucky” online.) However, it wasn’t until Soren Roberts mentioned Ken’s creations as a source of inspiration for his recent “Heavy Missile Cruiser” (Blocklog post) that I took the time to explore Ken’s Web site, LEGO Works.
Since 1998, Ken has been posting fantastic LEGO creations. (And it’s interesting to see his building style evolve over the last eight years — integrating newly available parts and new building techniques.) With an English version of his LEGO pages, exploring his site is well worth your time. To whet your appetite, I’d like to introduce a few of my personal favorites.
One of dozens of micro-scale vehicles in his “L.E.G.O Force,” here’s an awesome “Armed Starfighter Carrier”:
Demonstrating that Ken’s not just a Spacer, here’s the bathouse building from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away:
A whole fleet of micro-scale World War II planes:
A camel Ken built while participating in the LEGO King Championship TV show:
Toshogu Pagoda by Thomas Bendt
The city of Nikko in Japan is a major Buddhist and Shinto center, most famous for housing the tombs of the Tokugawa shoguns. German builder Thomas Bendt (Triathletus on Brickshelf) has just posted a recreation of the famous pagoda at Toshogu shrine:
The thumbnails in the gallery (and even the image above) don’t do justice to this stunning creation. Be sure to check out the full-size pictures in Thomas’ gallery. While you’re at it, be sure to check out other amazing creations by Thomas, including Pulguksa temple (in Korea) and a Thai temple.