Japan

I report here on last week’s tour through Japan and its flavors and fashions. You may already be aware of Blueberry & Hazelnut Pringles. Why stop there, though, when you could work your way through an assortment of flavors including a daring Lemon & Sesame combination or the ever-popular soft-shell crab?

I saw this new flavor of Royce’ nama chocolate a few weeks ago and tried it for the first time today. I jotted down a few tasting notes: Chocolate-forward A gorgeous banana bouquet Approachable saccharinity Sophisticated Puddingy Attractive packaging too.

You may be aware that my training program for the Hood to Coast is complicated to some extent by my professional obligations. You may therefore be amazed by this week’s athletic adventures.

I have had a busy week, and I am still reading (and carrying around) the new biography of Dickens, who noted at a particularly busy time that he had “an immense arrear of demands on my attention.

After the turfgrass science seminar at Shinjuku I went to Hokkaido for a few days of post-seminar exercise and relaxation. Two Hokkaido institutions, the Sapporo Brewery and the Rocye chocolate company have joined forces to make a chocolate bitter brew.

Today’s turfgrass science seminar was at the Shinjuku Maynds Tower, just a block away from Shinjuku station. With an average of more than three million passengers a day, Shinjuku is the world’s busiest train station.

Sometimes one goes to a place so beautiful that the photos don’t quite do it justice. Here are four photos from the Gala Yuzawa and Yuzawa Kogen ski areas, looking over the town of Yuzawa in Japan’s Niigata prefecture with the Echigo Mountains in the background.

I was at Japan for nine days this month to speak at turfgrass science seminars and to have a few meetings. For an official report of the seminars, check for updates to www.

  Were it not for my noted reserve in pecuniary matters, I would have filled my bags with this canned Minke whale curry. Equally surprising is the jingusikan curry at right.

I was at Tokyo and Chiba last week to attend the Japan Turf Show and for the wedding party of my friends. Tokyo in November is a splendid place, and I experienced four days of sunshine and ideal autumn weather.