UC#3 and family continue their visit to Japan. He commemorates his visit with poetry: HaikuPork tongue link sausageFrom Kanazawa Lawson’sChoked on tough bits LimerickA samurai from Kanazawa was hungryHe went to find something to fill his tummyHe entered Lawson’s, 7-11 and Family MartAfter brandishing his sword, he was asked to departAlas, he had to have […]
Category: Asia
UC#3, the celebrated WLBOTT Poet Laureate, offers his reflections on his good will tour of Japan. In Kyoto- nice crisp weather, leaves in color, 17,000 well behaved Japanese students on field trips, our son [redacted] is tolerating us in a pleasant way. I am inspired to produce a haiku- Golden pagodaLeaves turning dark crimsonTime for […]
I enjoy watching Korean movies and series on Netflix, mostly because the dramas are so way, way over the top (in a good way). Plus it’s fun to get a glimpse inside another culture, and their social structure seems much different from the US. So while watching episode 5 of The Glory last night, I […]
[Thanks to UC#1-SU for today’s topic!] That video was really fun! I loved how he started out by dumping out 1000s of grains of rice on the table. What was he thinking??? And using a felt-tipped pen probably was both an advantage (since he might be used to such writing implements) and a disadvantage, because […]
[Thanks to UC#1-SU for pointing us towards today’s topic!] Rice Writing is a thing…. Rice writing is the art and skill of being able to write small enough to write on a grain of rice. HistoryRice writing originated in ancient Anatolia in Turkey and India. Many rituals and rites use rice as a medium, but […]
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Ozoni / Mochi
It all began with a work assignment from board member and Senior Elder UC#3: [UC#3]Much more work to do for WLBOTT: and connections between food and culture/religion [UC#3]And the mochi thing is real: Four women die in Tokyo after choking on ‘mochi’ rice cakes | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis [UC#1-SU]Can […]
UC#3 sent us down a delicious rabbit hole when he suggested we research the dangers of eating Ozoni soup on New Year’s Day in Japan which causes choking deaths from the gelatinous mochi ball. Many of these images were liberated from My Modern Met (more below). Konel Bread More liberation from My Modern Met: Toast […]
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Big Eyes
First grade – Montgomery, Alabama, no air conditioning but lots of fans. My parents bought us a set of children’s encyclopedias, and one had a picture of a Tarsier on the front. I remember being a little bit terrified, worried I would turn into one, and a little bit “let’s get one!” Each of the […]
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Olga Reporting Live from Pyongyang
I was preparing a BLOTT about reliable, informative news sources that will help you get the big picture on Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. This is a pretty big task, but as I was digging into Jake Broe, he had such an incredible story that I wanted to focus on this rabbit hole. The background […]
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Special:Random – Workers’ Paradise
While doing some WLBOTT Special:Random research, look what randomly came up: Note that there are some glaring omissions, including but not limited to Putin, Stalin, Lenin, etc. The list from the Soviet era is noticeably thin: serial killers were bad PR for the Workers’ Paradise, and there have been movies and documentaries about how the […]