welcome to japan^^

Welcome to japan

Tokyo, Japan at Night

Tokyo, Japan at Dusk

In August or July of every year, there is a ceremony to honor the spirits of Japanese ancestors called 'Obon'. It is a tradition to send off their ancestors' spirits with Toro Nagashi (floating lanterns), lit by a candle inside and floated down a river to the ocean.

Very Colorful bridge. As you may be able to tell, Japan likes the color red in its traditional structures, such as this bridge.

Hanabi means fireworks

This is Japan's current flag design. Another commonly seen with the exploding sun design is Japan's military flag. Whereas Americans think of the sun as yellow, the Japanese think of it as red. The flags represent a red sun because Japan is the "Land of the Rising Sun", so titled because of the country's easternmost position on the globe.

A garden in Kyoto, Japan

This is the Gold Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan

Miyajima Shrine torii (gate)

Mt. Fuji at night

Mt. Fuji

Sakura (cherry blossoms) only bloom for a very short time, usually two weeks at the most in the month of April. Japanese families like to gather underneath the trees and have picnics to celebrate.

Traditional Japanese tea ceremony, chaji

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo Tower looks quite similar to France's Eiffel Tower, doesn't it?

Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan. A popular tourist attraction.

Shinjuku District in Tokyo, Japan

Japan the Beautiful

japan==recipe

Omurice (short for Omlette Rice) is as Japanese as you can get. It’s fairly simple food – basically tomato friend rice wrapped up in an omlette. Sometimes served with a side of meat or veggies.

You usually find these in Japanese ‘family’ restaurants like Denny’s or Gusto’s. As a picky little child, when it came to meals – if it wasn’t sweets, I probably wouldn’t eat it. But one of the few savoury dishes I always wanted was Omurice. Anyway – there aren’t many places in Sydney you can get Omurice (except the new Poporo place in Chinatown that we love) but we’ll cover that next time.

But really it’s not that hard to make.
Here’s how its done.

You’ll need

• 2 Large eggs
• Some butter
• 1 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 1/2 small onion chopped finely
• 1/2 cup ham (or diced chicken breast if you prefer) cut into small pieces
• Ketchup or Tomato Sauce
• Salt and Pepper

Sauté the finely chopped onion (and I stress, finely) until transparent in butter. Add the chicken or ham and sauté until done. Add the rice and toss until heated through. Add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of ketchup and toss quickly. The idea is to colour the rice, not make it too saucy. Add a little salt and pepper to taste and place on a plate. Best to put it into a little mound like an omlette kind of shape.

Chuck some butter into the pan. Quickly prepare the egg mixture: two eggs in a bowl, salt and pepper, and mix up with a fork. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and create an omelette shape that is still slightly runny in the middle.

Once you are done, carefully turn the omelette onto the mounded rice. It’s also nice cut it carefully down the middle and let the egg run a little over the rice.

Draw something nice on top with ketchup, like a face or a star or something.

Maybe add a side salad. Maybe not. Enjoy....