Yakiniku Dining [Taijuen] / 焼肉DINING 「太樹苑」

Last dinner of the year 2009. During the day we went to Yushima Tenjin (as mentioned in a previous post). It was really cold that day, so after going to the shrine, we decided to head straigt home. Mikako suggested going to a yakiniku restaurant for dinner. As this being the start of the New Year Holidays, a lot of places were closed but we decided to take a chance (and the restaurant being located nearby), off we went. It was open!! The name of the restaurant is Taijuen. We had been here before and really enjoyed it. The 2000yen course is a bargain for the amount of food you get served. We were prepared this time so we ate a little bit of everything. Last time we ate almost all that was served as it came to our table, and was about to leave when the waiter said the course wasn't over! This is the complete menu for the 2000yen course: Assorted kimchee platter, sunny lettuce with dressing, salted beef tongue, roast, pork wrap, kalbi (not sure of the English equivalent), assorted offal platter, vegetables, beef tongue marinated in red wine, and a Korean pasta-like dish called chop-chay - similar to the Chinese chop suey.

2009年最後の夕飯。昼間は湯島天神にお参りしまたが、以前のネタで話しました。あの日は凄く寒くて、お参りした後はまっすぐ家に帰ることにした。美香子の提案で夕飯はうちの近くの焼肉屋ならどう？ お正月の休みが始まったばっかりで、結構休んでる店が多いけど行ってみた。良かったことに店は営業してました。店の名前は「太樹苑」。以前もこの店に来たことある。その時お得なコースを選んで、でてくる料理はすぎからすぎを食べて、満腹になって帰ろうと思ったら店員がコースが終わってませんよと言われた。今回はちょっと学習して、サラダとか他の前菜は全て食べないことにした。それで今回も２０００円コースを選びました。このコースを選ぶとこうゆうメニューになります：

前菜：キムチ盛り合わせ / 味付サニーレタス

焼物：タン塩 / 塩ロース / 豚バラ野菜包み / 薄切りカルビ / ホルモン３点おまかせ盛 （今日はハツ、せんまい、とギアラ） / 野菜焼

一品料理：牛タンワイン煮 / チャプチェ

Assorted Kimchee Platter / キムチの盛り合わせ

Sunny Lettuce with Dressing / 味付サニーレタス

Chapchay / チャプチェ

Beef Tongue marinated in Wine / 牛タンワイン煮


Roast and Vegetables / 塩ロースと野菜焼


Grill to your own liking

自分好みで肉を焼く

Beef Tongue / タン塩


Pork for the Pork-Wrap / 豚バラ

Rest of the ingredients for the pork-wrap - lettuce, onions, and garlic / 豚バラに包む材料

Grill the pork, place on lettuce, add onions and garlic, wrap and eat!

豚バラを焼いて、レタスの上の乗せ、オニオンとにんにくも乗せ、包んで、食べる！

Various sauces served with our meal.

いろんなソースで自分好みで楽しめる。

Assorted Offal Platter / ホルモン3点おまかせ盛

Most of my American friends are not big fans of offal (not to my knowledge anyway) and today's offering was senmai, giara, and hatsu which are stomach, intestines (tripe), and beef heart. The stomach lining looked like it has fish scales but was quite delicious. Heart doesn't taste too different from liver. The tripe was too chewy and rubbery for me, so I couldn't finish it. We were getting pretty full by this time, but there was yet another meat dish to come.

僕のアメリカ人の友達はほとんどホルモン系は食べないですね。今日の3点は先も書きました、センマイ、ギアラとハツ。僕は初めてセンマイを食べてみた。見た目はちょっと不思議。何か鱗が付いてるみたいな感じ。焼いて食べたらこれはイケるなと思いました。ハツは食べたこともあったので、驚くことはありませんでした。レバの似た様な感覚。ギアラはね～僕にちょっと駄目でしたね。噛んでもゴムを食べてる感じでした。これを食べたら結構満腹状態になりましたが、まだ一品の肉料理がありました。薄切りカルビ！

Thinly sliced Kalbi / 薄切りカルビ


Mikako was quite full by this time and only had two pieces (which left more for me). Of course I wouldn't let the kalbi go to waste. It's one of my favorite dishes at any yakiniku restaurant.

美香子は限界に近いと言ってましたが、カルビを二枚を食べて、夕飯終了。もちろん僕がカルビを残せず、全部食べました！どこの焼肉屋に行っても、カルビは絶対外さない逸品です。

As we were getting ready to leave, the waiter said, dessert would be served as well! What? More food? We politely refused dessert, paid for our meal and headed home on a very full stomach.

食べ終わって、お会計しようと思ったら、店員さんがまだデザートがございますと言った。え～？料理はまだ終わってなかったの？ デザートを申し訳ないですが、断りました。お会計を澄まして、満腹で家に帰りました。

Bon Appetit!

いただきます！

http://www.taijuen.co.jp/

Koma Hachi / 駒八

Way back in June, the department I worked in had a welcoming party for some new staff members at this izakaya called [Koma Hachi]. I had never gotten around to writing a post about it but recently, as I had been transferred to another department in my place of employ, my previous co-workers had their "End of the Year" Party (including my farewell) at this same place. As we had the course menu, the food served was almost identical to the menu we had in June. I think the food pictures I took in June were much better than the recent ones and since the menu was pretty much identical, you can still get a jist of what we ate.

去年の六月に僕がまだ所属して部署が誰かの歓迎会をここの居酒屋「駒八」で行われた。まだそれをブログには書いてなかったんですが、僕がその部署から異動になって、年末もあって、僕の送別会含む忘年会をまたこの店で行われた。メニューをほぼ一緒なんで（コースメニューだったので）。

Assorted Sashimi Platter (this was in June) / 刺身の盛り合わせ （こちは6月で食べた）

Assorted Sashimi Platter (in December) / 刺身の盛り合わせ（こちは12月で食べた）


Salad / サラダ

Assorted Platter of Chicken, Almond-covered Squash, & Fish Cakes / チキンとかぼちゃとすみれのプレート

Assorted Yakitori Platter / 焼き鳥の盛り合わせ


Nabe / 鍋

Once most of the nabe is eaten, you leave a bit of broth and add some noodles to it for a finishing dish.

鍋がほぼ食べ終わったら、〆はうどん。

It's been a pleasure working with the people below and I hope to drink with them all another time.

一緒に働いた方々に感謝。部署が異動しても、みんなとは仲良くして下さい。

Me and my former boss, Tamura-san.

僕が前に所属した部署の部長、田村さん。

It really has been a pleasure working for years with the people pictured above. I thank them all for sharing their time with me.

本当に長年一緒に働いた仲間に感謝とありがとう。部署は違うけど、会社は一緒なので、会えると話せることはこれからもあります。みんな、このブログも読んでくれてありがとう。今年もバシバシ更新します。

Ern's Monthly Visual Victuals (December 2009)

*映画に関するネタ、日本語は書き込みません


Okay, time to write about the films I watched in December. But before that, I shall share with you my favorites for the entire year. Hm, I've been looking over the list I keep of the films watched - which was a whoppin' 126 films (not that I went to the theater to see them all). Most were DVD rentals, quite a few were aired on network television. I think Mikako and I went to the theater twice for the entire year. We went and saw "Burn After Reading" which wasn't as funny as the previews made it out to be, and "Rainfall" which didn't do the book any justice. I rather enjoyed the action flicks like "Hitman" and "Shoot 'Em Up". The Thai action flick "Chocolate Fighter". I watched some great documentaries like the title listed below and "In the Shadow of the Pagodas". The music documentaries like "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", "Global Metal", and "Heavy Metal in the Country : The Nuclear Blast Story". Crazy comedies like "Pineapple Express" and "The Hangover". As to films I can actually recommend to my friends and readers - Germany's "Vitus". Quite a few Japanese films worth watching that I don't mind recommending - "Departures" for one. "Detroit Metal City" for another. "Ichi", "The Magic Hour" and "Happy Flight" are also fine gems. The animation flicks - "Monster House", "Wall-E", "Kung-Fu Panda" and "The Girl Who Leaped Through Time". And now for the films I watched in December:

WATCHMEN (2009) – The title everybody said would be impossible to adapt to the silver screen. Based on Alan Moore’s award winning graphic novel of the same name. This is a story of an alternate earth in 1985 where superheroes were a normal part of life. Yet, because of new laws, most of either retired or disappeared from the public view. But on one particular Friday, history is changed as someone is killing off masked superheroes one by one and only one masked superhero named Rorschack is investigating it. Well, I must agree with most of the critics that this should have never been adapted. It could be labeled the “thinking man’s action hero movie” as their isn’t much action to speak of. Either that or the “K-Mart of action films” or perhaps a low-rate “X-Men” would be the simplest way to explain it. You would be far better off reading the original graphic novel and would probably find it more entertaining.

S.W.A.T. (2003) – American television drama from the '70s makes it to the silver screen. I had previously watched this when it first came out on DVD. It was aired on network television so I found myself watching it again. It’s a better action movie than “Watchmen”.

I LOVE YOU, MAN (2009) – A rom-com for men? I must admit, I laughed quite a bit when watching this. A man who is about to get married has absolutely no male friends which his fiancée and her friends think is a bit abnormal. So somebody has the bright idea of using the Personals to find a best friend – a “man-date” so to speak. For Rush fans you get the added bonus of hearing quite a few of their songs and they actually appear in the film as well (but only as a backdrop to the story). There was only one problem with this flick – the conflict created by soon-to-be-groom’s best friend borrowing $8000 for some unspoken reason. When you learn why – you can’t help but think – LAME!! The conflict was so contrived and unbelievable that it lowers this great flick down to good. You can’t blame the actors though, this was the screenwriter’s miss. How stupid to those screenwriters think their viewing audience is anyway?

BORN INTO BROTHELS (2004) – A friend of mine recommended this award winning documentary to me a few years ago. I immediately went out looking for it only to find that it wasn’t released in Japan at the time. I had to wait at least two years before I finally found it available on DVD over here. Although the subject matter may seem depressing, this is actually quite an uplifting story of survival. Zana Briski takes it upon herself to teach photography to the children of prostitutes in the red light district of Calcutta, India. The DVD includes footage of some of those same children as they are today. Highly recommended.

THE OTHER SIDE OF (2003) – Korean rom-com. However, when watching this, it seems the director couldn’t decide if he wanted to make a fun comedy or a serious drama. And why the girl falls for the school bully goes beyond all reasoning. In fact, Mikako got bored a little more than half-way through the film. The laughs are had only at the beginning of the film. Once it reaches the half-way mark, you just can’t wait for the damn thing to end. If you want to watch a great Korean rom-com, stick to “My Sassy Girl” and “Love Story”. And for you Korean trivia buffs (who probably already know this, the actress featured in this movie committed suicide a couple of years ago - what a tragedy).



HERO (2007) – Popular Japanese drama series of the same name starring Takuya Kimura and Takako Matsu has a story adapted for the silver-screen. It could just as well been a made-for-television movie but I suppose the added appearance Byung-hun Lee and the Korea location gave it cinema value. And the Kimura/Matsu pair is also quite popular as well as they also starred together in a drama series called “Love Generation”. It kept me entertained. Oh, this was also aired on network television.

HOSTAGE (2005) – Another film I watched on television. This one stars Bruce Willis as a hostage negotiator. After a failed hostage crisis, Bruce takes a job as a local sheriff for a small community that also includes a very ritzy neighborhood. Bad boys give the eye to hot chick who flips them off and leaves. Bad boys follow hot chicks, find out where she lives (hot chick is daughter of seriously rich dad), bad boys invade the house, create a hostage crisis, and Bruce gets caught in a situation he doesn’t like. Why? Cause rich dad is accountant for bad buys (who are never mentioned, named, or revealed – there just bad guys). Bad guys take Bruce’s family hostage to get him to do what he doesn’t want. You can figure out the rest – this being a Bruce Willis film after all.

THE HEARTBREAK KID (2007) – A fairly entertaining romantic comedy starring Ben Stiller (with Jerry Stiller playing his Dad). Ben is being pressured by his family and friends into getting married. By chance, he tries to help a woman who just has her purse snatched. Woman visits Ben at the store he owns and works at. They hit it off. Before you know it, Ben proposes to said woman and finds that the woman he married turns out to be one psycho-woman from hell with boat load of baggage. Purse-snatcher turns out to be her boyfriend, she used to have a cocaine addiction, and is a wild woman when it comes to sex. They head to Mexico for their honeymoon where Ben then has eyes for another woman and lots of laughs abound. The surprise ending leaves a bitter taste in your mouth though.


G.I. JOE : THE RISE OF COBRA (2009) – Decent action movie which unfortunately relies almost exclusively on CG effects. I also find the making of this movie to create another franchise appalling. Hollywood reaches another low as they can’t seem to find an original story to produce. Its either sequels, remakes of other countries films, or creating a film from a toy. How sad is that? Oh, and Byung-hun Lee plays a bad guy in this flick. But I will probably watch the sequels when they come out. Damn Hollywood!






PUNISHER : WAR ZONE (2008) – It seems the makers in Hollywood still can’t decide if the Punisher should be all out action film or should be another Marvel Comic franchise. This is the third Punisher to movie come out. It’s gotten more bloody and violent than the previous one, although it still leaves the first one in the dust (to refresh your memory, I’m talking about the one that starred Dolph Lundgren back in 1989). I can still recall the film critic who said “it’s too comicky”. Well, duh, it’s based on a comic. Then the second one made in 2004, had a better story but pretty much did away with Punisher’s trademark T-shirt. This third installment is not a sequel – it’s a separate story. Only for action freaks. The stunt choreographer added some parkour scenes as well.

パコと魔法の絵本 [PAKO TO MAHO NO EHON] / [PACO AND THE MAGICAL BOOK] (2008) – As you can surmise from the title, this is a Japanese film. It stars Koji Yakusho and Ayak Wilson. You may first think this is a silly children’s movie – and how wrong you would be. This is a wonderful but sad story. You see, Paco was in an accident in which her parents were killed. Paco survived but she can only retain her memory for only one day (kind of like that Drew Barrymore flick – “50 First Dates”. Koji Yakusho on the other hand is a grumpy old man named Onuki who collapsed at a board meeting at the company he built and finds himself in a hospital with Paco. As you continue watching the film, you realize that they are hospitalized in a mental institution with quite a few other quirky characters. What makes this film wonderful is Paco’s love of a particular picture book which she reads everyday because it was a present from her mother. The story in the storybook is about a mean Toad king who comes to realize the error of his ways. Onuki who learns of Paco’s short-term memory loss finds himself reading the picture book to her every day and finds himself changing for the better as well. A beautiful story.

容疑者Xの献身 [YOGISHA X NO KENSHIN] / [SUSPECT X] (2008) – Another popular Japanese television series "Galileo" makes it silver screen debut. This stars the popular Japanese talents of Masaharu Fukuyama and Kou Shibasaki. It’s a movie where the physicist “Galileo” Yukawa (Fukuyama) is pitted against his genius mathematician friend Tetsuya Ishigami played by Shin’ichi Tsutsumi. Ishigami’s neighbor Yasuko and her daughter kill Yasuko’s no-good ex-husband. Ishigami comes to their rescue and plots an air-tight alibi for Yasuko and her daughter. Of course Yukawa does not believe the alibi and suspects that there is a way to prove his theory correct. If you were a fan of the television series, then you would enjoy this flick as well.

I can't believe we only went to the theater twice last year. That's pretty sad. At least we had an early start for 2010 as we went and saw our first film at a theater on New Year's Day. That would have been "Avatar" but not in 3D. I'm also planning on seeing the new Tony Ja film at the theater as well (it starts next Saturday). What? Who is Tony Ja? The next big name when it comes to action films. Segal and Van Damme have had their day (and they be get old and their movies get lamer with each release). Sorry Jackie - who's also getting up there in years as well.

To another year of watching movies - good and bad!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Ern's Monthly Page Turners (December 2009)

*一部に日本語が書かれてます

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This post ends my year of reading for 2009. It's been a great year for reading. Some of my favorites I read this year were pretty entertaining. I even managed to read a couple of classics as well (Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" and Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"). Some of the highlights for me was "Red, White and Brew" by Brian Yaeger about his tour of American micro-breweries and was kind enough to leave me a comment on this blog as well. Although I haven't featured it yet, I did take his advice on trying Ibaraki Prefecture's Hitachino Nest Beer (thank you Brian). John Barlow's "Everything but the Squeal" as he attempts to eat every part of a hog in Northern Spain. Brandon Wilson's "Yak Butter Blues" as he treks the pilgrimage trail from Llasa, Tibet to Katmandu in Nepal with his wife and their donkey. Howard Dully's memoir "My Lobotomy" - an intense and sad but true story. Emmanuel Jal's "War Child" of his experience being a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Mark Thomas' "Belching Out the Devil" filling us in on Coca-Cola's not-so-clean business record. Misha Glenny's "McMafia" about some "seriously organized crime". And on the lighter side Julia Powell's "Julie and Julia" as Powell attempts to make all 500+ recipes of Julia Child's French cookbook and writes about it on a blog or Eric Talmadge's "Getting Wet" as he writes about Japanese bath culture and which was also featured on the blog "Asia by the Book" courtesy of me. I hope you enjoyed the books I read this year and I am looking forward to sharing my choices with you for 2010! And now for the books I read in the final month of 2009!



THE MACHO-MAN’S POINT IT BOOK by Nicotext – A stocking-stuff for your male-chauvenist friend. This book has absolutely no words. It’s as its title suggest, a book filled with pictures so the Macho-Man in you can point to the picture to convey what it is you want – a glass of beer, the remote, SEX, it should offend any female friends you have (if you still have any left), but it was amusing nonetheless. Published by a small publisher out of Sweden called Nicotext who’s titles become more popular with each release.

SIAMESE DREAMS by Christopher Johnson – One of the fortunes of being transferred back to the book floor of my employ is having interaction with our various customers and sometimes our customers could be the author of a particular book. Such was my meeting with Christopher Johnson, who currently resides in Tokyo but has a love for the Kingdom of Thailand. Having visited Southeast Asia before, we got to talking and before he made his exit he gave me his latest book which was published by Bangkok Books. Of course I read it. I have nothing against the author, but the story was very Bangkok specific and filled with a lot of dialogue in Thai. The story centers around two buddies who just graduated from high school but decided to seek adventure and followed the road to the Southeast Asia where they fall in love with the country and decide to stay. To be honest, this wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it was interesting how Johnson manages to blend the tragedy of the 2004 tsunami into his story line without making a farce of it. Unfortunately, his writing reminded me of Charles Bukowski who is one writer I just do not appreciate.

A YEAR OF MORNINGS: 3191 MILES APART by Maria Alexandra Vettesse and Stephanie Congdon Barnes – For a long while, I found this book sitting in the cookbook section. As I took a closer look at it, I found it to have no recipes and had absolute nothing to do with food whatsoever. But it seemed like a worthwhile book for the holidays. This book was put together from a blog the two women created. “Two Women! One Blog!” would make for a fine catch copy. One living in Portland, Oregon while the other lives in Portland, Maine – thus the subtitle of being 3191 miles apart. The two made a promise to each other to post a picture of their morning for an entire year. By becoming acquainted by the internet and finding they had the same interests led to this experiment in photography. As other people started to leave comments on their blog saying how the pictures inspire them to enjoy what’s around them, I find that this book is more than just about photography, it’s inspirational.

NINETEEN MINUTES by Jodi Picoult – Here in Tokyo, Picoult’s book “My Sister’s Keeper” adapted for the silver screen and currently playing in theaters around town and a popular seller at my local bookshop, I was fortunate enough to be given a comp copy of this particular title. Now this is an intense story which starts out with “In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game…In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge”. With the real-life incidents such as Columbine, it isn’t hard to imagine this story where the protagonist Peter has been bullied since kindergarten. Now seventeen and in high school, he has taken matters into his own hands and has killed at least ten people and injured a number of others. Unlike the students at Columbine, Peter is caught after the killings and stands awaiting trial. But the more you read the story, the more you begin to understand Peter. Bullying also being a major problem in Japan, the bullies might feel luckier over here with Japan’s strict gun laws. However, we’re talking about a country that has had over 30,000 suicides in this year alone (and quite a few of them could be attributed to bullying). A very hard book to put down.

UP IN THE AIR by Walter Kirn – Originally published in the USA in 2001, this title has been adapted for the silver screen. And if any of you enjoyed Tom Hanks in “Terminal”, then you will want to read this book as well. It is about a business man who spends most of his time in the air or at airports or what the book refers to as “Airworld”. Unlike Tom who was stranded at one airport, Ryan Bingham is a slave to the skies. His job title is “Career Transition Counselor” or as you will read on the back of the book, “…is a fancy way of saying that he fires people.” Ryan hates his job. He is planning on quitting his job once he reaches his ultimate goal…one million frequent flyer miles! But you will have to read the book to see if he reaches that goal or not and I’m not going to spoil it for you.

THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY: ONE MAN’S HUMBLE QUEST TO FOLLOW THE BIBLE AS LITERALLY AS POSSIBLE by A. J. Jacobs – After finishing the previous book and not having anything to read at home, I asked a few of my friends for some recommendations. One suggested Herman Hesse (one of his lesser known works), my aunt shared with me one of her favorite authors but said I probably wouldn’t enjoy it, and another suggested this title. I picked this title for two reasons. One, I had read Jacobs previous book “The Know-It-All” and thoroughly enjoyed it. In that book, he reads the entire Enclopaedia Brittanica from A to Z (a challenge I wouldn’t want to take up myself) and writes about his experience doing so. Second, its Christmas season so the timing was perfect. Now, it’s almost an impossibility to literally live by “The Book” but Jacobs decides to do so for an entire year as “he vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor.” But to also follow some of the lesser known rules listed such as “avoiding wearing clothes of mixed fibers” or to “play a ten-string harp”. What makes this book really interesting though, is that Jacobs is an agnostic (which is probably closest to my beliefs and which my friend Father Chuckie does not hold against me) but is fascinated by religion (much like I am). Hopefully, this book will get you to thinking about religion as a whole as well, not just Christianity but Islam and Judaism and the controversies surrounding interpretations for and against abortion, masturbation, homo-sexuality, etc. A fascinating read and an eye-opener as well. I would recommend this to all my friends, be them Christian or not. Highly educational, it may even make you want to read the Bible again.

HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD: THE STORY OF ACRASSICAUDA by Andy Capper and Gaby Sifre – Baghdad and Heavy Metal? In the same sentence? Yes. Acrassicauda is a heavy metal band from Iraq. They were also the subject of documentary film made by Vice Magazine. This book picks up where the documentary film left off. Unfortunately, I don’t think the film is available or has been released in Japan yet. But it’s a very human story about a group of 20 year old guys who like to listen to Metallica and Slayer, not unlike the youth of our own country. But this is an Islamic nation. Saddam Hussein was still in power, and playing or listening to hard rock and heavy metal can literally get you killed. I am looking forward to seeing the documentary but I believe the book is more intense (a transcript of the film is included in the book as well). What makes this intense is that the band continued to play and rehearse even as the U.S. was preparing for war. All these guys wanted to was to play music, but then the “Second Gulf War” started, and instead of improving the life for the citizens of Iraq, it only led to more violence, an insurgency, and an impossibility to practice or play anywhere. The workers at Vice Magazine did not know that their article would spawn such a great response that they found themselves helping the band to leave their country and to gain refugee status elsewhere. I listened to one of their songs on YouTube and if you like heavy metal, you will want to support this band as well.

WHY AC/DC MATTERS by Anthony Bozza – Only three more months until the Australian bad boys of rock return to the “Land of the Rising Sun”. I haven’t bought my tickets yet but I think I may be going to this show. There are quite a few titles out about the band but this covers everything from their beginnings to their current release “Black Ice” which they are touring. I can remember the first time I saw them as well. It was 1979, they were the opening band for Ted Nugent and Cheap Trick at the Seattle Coliseum. This was when the band was still fronted by Bon Scott and touring their most successful album to date – “Highway to Hell”. I knew I was reading a book written by a kindred spirit as Bozza went on to say that the first time he saw AC/DC in concert was at Madison Square Garden in New York City and how the crowd got wild and built a mountain out of the chairs on the arena floor. I read that and thought to myself – “Damn, I was there. I was sitting in the arena when those chairs were flying over my head”. Yes, I saw the same tour in ’79 as I spent most of my summer in New York City with my uncle. I even saw Kiss on their “Dynasty Tour” there but that’s another story. I must definitely start buying back all the AC/DC CDs that I had sold over the years.

HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE: A SON OF PRIVILEGE LEARNS TO LIVE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE by Michael Gates Hill – When I first saw the name Starbucks and Gates and Privilege, I naturally assumed it was some relative of Bill Gates (okay, so I didn’t notice his last name was Hill the first time around). But this is such an excellent story. An elderly white gentleman – an executive at a well known advertising company, Yale educated, owns a house in the suburbs of Connecticut finds himself put to pasture by his younger boss. Not only does he find himself jobless – but he has an affair and has a child which leads to a divorce. Now he’s jobless, divorced, and living alone. His only comfort is having a cup of Joe at Starbucks. It is here that a decision is made which will change his life. The young, female, African-American manager approaches him and half-jokingly asks if he would like a job. She is taken aback when he replies “Yes, I would like a job”. Now this white man who was part of the “Old Boys Club” will be taking orders from a young, black woman. It’s such a human story – although it sounds like one long plug for Starbucks – you can’t help buy enjoy reading about his experience. As a bonus, the film rights to this book has already been sold and will star Tom Hanks with Gus Van Sant directing.

蒼井優 今日、いまごろ – 帯に書いてあるのは「２２歳。“女優の顔”と“女子の顔”」蒼井優の写真集ですよ。これを買ったのは日本語読みの勉強。写真が多いけど取材の記事とかはふるがな無しなんで、ちょっと勉強になります。彼女も可愛いし。いつ好きになったか分かりませんが、良く彼女の映画は観ます。あと帯に書かれたことはこうです：「映画の撮影現場、乗馬、住宅街を散歩・・・完全撮りおろし＆ロングインタビューを集めた完全保存版。私物紹介、ブライベートフォトで綴る旅のはなし、主演作品ヒストリー・・・etc. いちばん気になる女優・蒼井優の“今”をキュッと詰め込みました。」あと「主演映画“百万円と苦虫女”の撮影現場オフショットも満載！」や～可愛いですな。今はあの競馬と午後の紅茶のCMで彼女は観れる。

FREEDOM by 高橋歩 – 高橋歩の最新作。現在はまだ家族で世界を放浪してますが、まが新たなの本が出版されました。写真はもちろんと自分にエールをもらえる様な言葉もたくさん書いております。「倒れときは前のめり」「旅をして、自分をぶっ壊せ」等々。写真が面白いから飽きない。いつか下北沢で経営してる店をたずねて行ってみたいですね。世界一周は憧れますね。

FUCK YOU: ROCK AND ROLL PORTRAITS by Neil Zlozower – Zlozower has been taking pictures of rock and punk musicians for over thirty years. This is a collection of those artist with one recurring theme – they are all giving him the bird, flipping him off, the middle finger salute. From popular recording artists such as Metallica, Motley Crue (that’s Nikki Sixx on the cover by the way), Jon Bon Jovi, Ratt, Lemmy (from Motorhead) to lesser known artists (unless you’re a rock maniac like me) like Laaz Rockit and the Bullet Boys. This title will go well with your copy of “American Hair Metal” as well.





WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak – The original classic Caldecutt winning book by Sendak. Our bookstore is currently featuring this and other related titles as the Dave Eggers penned “Wild Things” has been adapted for the silver screen. I remember reading this (or having it read to me) when I was little. Along with this title, I vividly recall “Into the Night Kitchen” as well. The seemingly simple story has a deep message. Max runs wild and is scolded by his mother and is sent to his room without supper. So Max escapes into his imagination and heads off to “where the wild things are”. Some children’s books are just timeless classics and this is definitely one of them.

I am currently half-way through with my next book - a fiction title set mostly in Italy. I already have two other titles waiting after this one. And I'm always open to suggestions as well. So once again, I wish you all a Happy New Year and HAPPY READING as well!