happylife

What is Eco?

It's a "printer season" here in Japan. Sending a lot of new year's cards is an important annual event for most Japanese people though I won't do it. Sure the number of cards have been decreasing year by year, but still a lot of people keep doing it. It's not ecological but I don't deny this old custom because I know how real cards from friends make us happy. However, I can't help having a big question to printer makers such as Canon, Epson, HP and so on. -- Shamefully, most of them are Japanese companies. They often say "we are thinking about the ecology of the earth" while they do producing and selling new models of printers every year. As my printer ran out of ink, I went to an electric store and found a stupid phenomenon. Why new printers with ink were sold for less than 9,000 yen while a small refill ink cartridge cost almost 5,000 yen? The makers were apparently willing to sell printers rather than ink cartridges. If they really think about the earth, the ink must be way cheaper and printers cost double or more. After worrying for a few minutes, I got a cheaper refill cartridge which was made by nameless company not by Canon. I have decided not to buy a new printer until it gets out of order. It's not because of thinking about the earth but because I don't like the hypocritical major enterprise!

A Vulgar Menu Item?

Ramen is one of the most popular menu items in Japan. It is a noodle in soup which originated from China, but it has been improved a lot to fit Japanese taste. One thing I feel wasted about ramen is that it has too much soup compared with noodles and most people leave the soup half eaten while they eat up the noodle. In my case, a bowl of ramen is not enough, but I can't eat it up including the whole soup. It's too thick and I need something to eat with the left soup. Some ramen restaurants provide a cup of steamed rice so that we can eat it with the left soup. I feel happy when it is provided for free, which sometimes happen in lunch time. In this restaurant I found in Sapporo was a little bit different and it made me happier. As you guess, eating the rice putting into the soup tastes better than eating them separately, however, it is regarded as a very bad manner in Japan. Some one calls it "cat food". Lots of people including me hesitate to do it, but in this restaurant, the "cat food" was on the menu item list -- the vulgar but delicious eating manner was authorized in the restaurant! So I was able to enjoy the special risotto after the noodle without worrying about other people's eyes.