... a lunch/dinner combo always worth the wait ... (60/365, 1 Mar 2022)
A new month, March. The last month of the academic and business year. Everything starts anew on 1 April. Really. So March is a fairly busy month for us. You would hope at some point we would get some kind of reasonable break (this sounds like a continuation of yesterday's post already) but starting today there is a series of meetings as well as graduation ceremonies to prepare for, as well as other preparations for the new year, as we tie up the loose ends of the old.
Today, for students at least, was an important series of meetings starting at 9:00am and effectively running through until 4:30pm to confirm, at various levels, the students who will in fact graduate, and those who will advance through to the next year of their studies. It also means confirming those who won't graduate or will have to repeat a year...a mix of joy and sadness, depending on your result.
So, by the end of the day, a long day, I had little time left to do much except the shopping, shopping that included a combination lunch and dinner. (The academic life tends to lean more towards a combination lunch/dinner rather than the more leisurely breakfast/lunch 'brunch'...you'd think we could come up with a suitable word for it wouldn't you, 'words' being part of the job description.
Anyway, as a result of the day, I have nothing but a 'before and after' shot of that meal combination. Tonight I settled on sushi from the local sushiya-san. One thing I will miss about Japan is the relatively inexpensive takeaway meals you can buy, whether from the sushi shop, the convenience store, almost any shop or restaurant has takeaway these days (part of the response to Covid in many cases). When I first came to Japan, as a student, it became apparent very quickly, that in fact eating out at some of the cheaper local cafes and restaurants (shokudo, or 食堂) was actually cheaper than buying the ingredients and cooking for yourself at home, quite the opposite to the Australian experience. In my student days too, it had the added bonus of putting myself in situations where I had to learn to speak Japanese, and in a hurry...
Thus, tonight's meal for example, the main plate of sushi cost around the equivalent of ten dollars Australian, and it was one of the more expensive options because it had that little bit extra. My usual from this place can cost as little as six or seven dollars (even less a bit later in the day when they discount everything by 30 percent).
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| Before... |
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| ...after |
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| And a different beer, every day if I wanted it to be so... one day I should do a post (or three) on Japan's craft beer industry |
Also, buying takeaway and eating at home, gives me a chance to use the pieces I am 'collecting' from various pottery and ceramics shows--all made with the very intention of being used, not displayed as decoration. Tonight's plate from a potter in Ogawamachi, Saitama, from a trip out there just a couple of months ago. I liked the shape and form of this plate and when I bought it I imagined sushi lined up on it just like this...it can make the long day well worth it.
Also today, the evening chime, to remind children it is time to return home for dinner, moved from its winter time of 4:30pm, to the summer time of 5:30pm. It chimed as I was walking home with 'lunch' in my shopping bag. Another reminder the year is moving on.
Shot with iPhone 12 mini, and a sense of 'what can I capture today, besides a Zoom screenshot'..,.
