Aya

Magazine & web editor
Words & design / Books / Culture & traditions
Observing the everyday / Always hungry

[Aya @SameThereJP]

I’m good at spot-the-difference puzzles.

This one was tricky, but I found it, @X.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Ramen Pick #003 🍜

Oyadori Chuka Soba Ayagawa
Ebisu, Tokyo

Order: Ajitama Chuka Soba (medium-thick noodles)

The broth is rich with the flavor of Japanese jidori chicken. The handmade curly noodles are satisfyingly chewy—more for chewing than slurping. The mature chicken chashu gets more flavorful with every bite. Bolder than it looks—get the rice.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Beauty magazines come with cosmetics. Cooking magazines, insulated bags. Men’s fashion magazines, sunglasses. Children’s magazines, toys.
They know just how to tempt you.
The whole idea took off in Japan about 20 years ago.
In a country where trends come and go so quickly, it’s still going strong.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@JaviSantamarta I do this too.
Sometimes I get halfway through before thinking, “Wait… why am I so good at predicting this plot?” 😅

[Aya @SameThereJP]

A message in a bottle, delivered not by sea but over the internet.
The LED matrix was apparently soldered together inside this tiny bottle.
…How?

[うぐいす@コミケ 日曜 南g-25a @ume2uguisu]

Maker Faire Tokyo で見て驚愕したのがボトルシッ���電子工作。ビンの中ではんだ付けしてるらしい。

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Hanamon folding—a flower-like Japanese origami technique—recreated as a leather coin purse.
Beautiful. It almost looks alive.

[金谷 勉 @ CEMENT PRODUCE DESIGN @cementblue]

日本で2番目に小さい町、奈良県三宅町。そこは100年間野球グローブをつくってきた職人達がいます。

現場で出会った若手の職人と酒飲んで、
こんな話になった。
「縫い目のない、折りだけでこんなコインケース作れないかな？」

グローブの革を、切って、漉いて、折って、貼って、立体に仕上げる。その技術を極限まで振り切って生まれたのが、このコインケースです。

[Aya @SameThereJP]

With everything going digital, I love that this is on paper.
It holds more than facts. It holds the moment you learned something, and the moment you wrote it down.

[🪷青蓮🪷 @yorubara0619]

その時々で気になったことを何でも調べてメモした雑学手帳。
味付けゆで卵の作り方からサンタクロース、六曜や豚丼の歴史、バースデーカラー、花言葉、星言葉、その他色々調べてる。

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Ramen Pick #004 🍜

Hachan Ramen
Daimon, Tokyo

Order: Special kombu-water tsukemen (soy sauce)

Kombu-water tsukemen has become increasingly common in recent years, but this is still one of the best I’ve had.

The noodles come in slightly thick, umami-rich kombu water, with a separate broth for dipping.

The elegant soy sauce dipping broth is fragrant with duck and rich in umami, paired with springy, medium-thick straight noodles.

Starting with the noodles on their own, then playing around with salt, lemon, and shichimi—that’s part of the fun.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

At many Shinto shrines in Japan, the standard sequence is:

“two bows, two claps, then one more bow.”

But in Japanese, this sequence is written in two different ways:

“二拝 二拍手 一拝”
or
“二礼 二拍手 一礼”

Why the different kanji?

A hai (拝) is the deepest kind of bow: 90 degrees from the waist. Rei (礼) is a broader word that can also refer to bowing. At a shrine, the bow itself is supposed to be a hai (拝). But rei (礼) is more familiar, so perhaps it’s used to make the instructions easier to understand.

I used to bow about 45 degrees. Now that I know, I do the full 90. My stiff hamstrings complain every time.

Unfortunately, I don’t see many people doing a full hai (拝), either. Maybe making the wording easier made the most important part harder to see 😢

[Aya @SameThereJP]

I forget the plots of books, the characters’ names, even why a book moved me so much.

I remember almost nothing from when I was very young, either. Family trips, things I saw, words I heard. But those experiences must have helped shape who I am. Even if I don’t remember them.

Reading feels much the same. I read and forget, but book by book, it all becomes part of me without me even realizing it.

To me, that’s what reading is. 📚

[Aya @SameThereJP]

The storage is impressive, but the uniform size is what makes it work. Most Japanese bunko paperbacks are A6, so they fit almost perfectly.

[猫と本@読書垢 @VZlHaHj18EPuhct]

本の収納、やっぱり本棚が最強だけど……実は15冊入るクリアBOXも推せる。著者ごとにまとめられて移動もラク。
「東野圭吾祭り」「村上春樹祭り」「伊坂幸太郎祭り」「知念実季人祭り」が家中で手軽に開催できるので最高すぎます。
推しの世界を持ち歩く感覚、読書好きならわかってもらえますよね？

[Aya @SameThereJP]

For anyone traveling in Japan: FamilyMart’s socks for all 47 prefectures went on sale yesterday. Each design is inspired by a flower representing the region and sold only there. Tokyo gets Somei Yoshino cherry blossoms 🌸 I want all 47 😍

https://t.co/KAyYaxHXtY

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@7559pr Books give us the imagination to see the world through someone else’s eyes.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Why are English-language paperbacks so big?
Same novel, side by side. The smaller one is a Japanese bunko edition: a compact paperback format, usually A6 (105 × 148 mm).
The English edition is obviously huge. Do books follow the same rule as McDonald’s fries—the bigger, the better?
Small, portable paperbacks like Japanese bunko editions seem much less common elsewhere. Or is that just my impression?

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@Civixplorer “An eel’s bed”—うなぎの寝床. In Japan, that’s what we call a long, narrow house.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@petalesblancs Invincible forever 😍

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@Dr_TheHistories The Spider Family of Mt. Natagumo appears in one of Demon Slayer’s most memorable arcs. Several of their traits bring to mind the Jorogumo and other Japanese spider legends. I wonder if those legends helped inspire them.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@TeteEau A University of Tokyo professor once said: Hesitating because you may not finish a book is already a major loss. If you don’t buy it, reading it is no longer an option—and you may never see it again. So buy it anyway. Once it’s yours, you can read it anytime. “Books don’t spoil.”

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Ramen Pick #003 🍜

Menya Sign
Gotanda, Tokyo

Order: special shio ramen with extra noodles

The clear salt broth is full of flavor from chicken and shellfish. The chicken chashu is moist and tender, while the pork chashu has a rich, meaty flavor. The thin, slightly firm straight noodles have a soba-like bite and pair perfectly with the broth.

I can happily eat this even after a few drinks.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

@Gamygin_kr @dedennegasuki Exactly.

[Aya @SameThereJP]

Vermeer’s The Astronomer and The Geographer feature blue Japanese-style gowns. They traveled from Edo-era Japan to the Netherlands and became status symbols for Dutch elites.

As a Japanese person, all I see is hanten—warm jackets worn at home, often by grandparents and kids🫣

[Green Pepper @r2d2c3poacco]

今朝の新聞に、日本の着物がフェルメールの作品に描かれているという記事があり、気になったので検索してみた。1668〜1669年に描かれた「地理学者」と「天文学者」がまとった青いガウンが「ヤポンス・ロック（日本風上着）」と呼ばれるものだ。日本で言う半纏とか言われる防寒着だ。当時オランダの富裕層や知識人の間では、このヤポンス・ロックがエキゾチックなものとして愛用されていたそうだ。
半纏を着た西洋知識人。面白い。