Microbrews, a la Nippon

Back in two-thousand sumpin or other, a sports pundit joked that the only way to get Americans to watch soccer (yeah, that's right Brits...SOCCER!!!!) was to give them free beer. Fast forward to 2007 and a Wisconsin native who now lives in Austin, Texas, said to himself "Hey! What a great idea!"

And the Free Beer Movement was born.

It's simple - beer is the carrot, soccer is the stick. Take a friend to a game and buy him/her a beer or two.

I was introduced to the Free Beer Movement via a the baddest ass supporters of the U.S. Men's National Team, The American Outlaws. I subscribed to the FBM on Facebook, and the nice thing about this guy, is that he posts pictures of all these wonderful American microbrews that the good ole U.S. of A. has to offer. With every picture he put up, I grew more and more jealous because I am pretty much stuck with Yebisu, Kirin, or Asahi, the big three of Japanese macrobrews, and nowhere to look for anything else.

While the World Cup was going on, I actually took a little trip down to Matsuyama (Matsuyama is a partyyyy toooooowwwwwwn!!!!!) , a city in Ehime Prefecture. While touring around the city with Mrs. Gaijinforlife, we stumbled across a little place with a sign on the outside that beckoned to our heart's every desire with a simple outdoor sign that read "Brewery Restaurant." Neither of us had the ability to pass it up. Turns out that this little cafe was a microbrew called Dogo - and I never looked back.

It was exactly what I had been looking for ever since being exposed to the FBM. They had three different types of beers: a stout, a Belgian ale, and a pale ale. Despite the price tag, we ordered one of each, splitting the third. They had magazines that were dedicated to microbrews in Japan, and I was stunned - nay SHOCKED - to find that there were quite a few located in Hyogo! OH buddy here we go...

The first microbrew that I will introduce in this little series will be the threesome out of Kobe's next door neighbor, Akashi Brewery. The first one I had was Akashi Kaigan Beer (Akashi Seaside Beer). Skip it. Go to the next one. It was like an over-carbonated Bud Select. Perhaps more of a cider that they came up with after someone forgot to put the fruit in. They have wheat stalks on the label so I think it was supposed to be a wheat beer. They failed. Awful. NEXT! (Scroll down)










Akashi Roman Beer. A nice sipper! The wife had the majority of this one, but from the picture, it's a brown if not Belgian ale, and it was loveable and huggable and downright deeeeelicious from the one or two sips I had.
(One more to go! Scroll down.)














And last but not least, Akashi's choco-stouterific wonderland of goodness, Akashi Yukyunokoku Beer (Akashi Eternal Time Beer). After finding out exactly what the name of this beer means, I had to laugh because I got a good chunk of this beer and it lasted me for a good looooong time. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to drink quite quickly. I simply couldn't stand for this one to be finished, so I nursed it like a cancer patient. It tasted of dark chocolate, but not so dark that the bitterness overpowered the sweet side of the chocolate; it was VERY well balanced. There was also a hint of a smokey flavor, meaning that (personally) I didn't mind when the beer went room temp. I suggest this beer with a mild cigar. Wish I had one at the time of drinking it.

Well, I hope this to become a bit of a regular thing. I like to try microbrews and I really miss how available they were back in America. Aahhhh ever the gaijin. Longing for home, but loving it here. Have the Roman and the Eternal Time,
skip the Seaside.

Michael out.

ECP's

I've been thinking about my first post for a few days (minutes actually) and was wondering what I should blog about.

Having never written a blog (or an essay, letter, note, IOU, memo, my name in my underpants...wait... did that.) I decided to blog about....Escalators!

I know, I know... 'What's up with that?' you ask yourself. Well it's like this...

Firstly,
Escalator - a noun Yes, I know you know. But did you know that the verb is to escalate?

es·ca·late Verb /ˈeskəˌlāt/
to increase rapidly

Therefor we take the escalator in order to ascend QUICKLY!!!
If I can walk up the stairs next to the escalator and PASS YOU, you are not using the escalator properly. Let's go people! Chop chop!

Unless you have leg cancer or some other horrendous injury, like a bleeding head wound...please WALK up the escaltor. Do not stand for any reason.

And you people who walk up the escalator and STOP just before the top....aaarrgh!
What? Are you tired??? What are you doing??? Get going!!

So I propose that we (who know how to use escalators) carry fishing poles with us.
The next time we spot an Escalatorily Challenged Person, we flick the fishing pole just enough to render a stinging blow to the back of said persons neck.
That'll get 'em moving.

Phew! Thank you for your time.

Now.....where's my fishing pole...


MikeyB

Homework Assignment.

To celebrate the brand spankin' new scholarly year, we would like to send all of you in Japan on a bit of an assignment. This assignment isn't so much a go-out-and-do-it as a keep-your-eyes-peeled-for-it.

We would like to prove it once and for all to all people outside of our little bubble life here that Japanese people wipe their dog's ass after they crap on the street. Get me a picture or a video of it!

First one to do it either gets a guest spot on our forthcoming podcast and we will supply the beer (necessary for a podcast!). If I get it before you, you all lose and we keep the beer for ourselves!!!

Sincerely,

Mike&Mike in that order

Why Gaijin for Life?

Someone has asked me why Mike and I picked Gaijin for Life as our theme earlier. It's a small story, but one that should be told.

We were sitting around, as we do, drinking beers one night. The topic of what home is like came up. I, being from Omaha, began to talk about how much the city has changed since I've been gone: the urban sprawl that is closing farms, the enormous arena that has gone up, the increase in population, the closing of the old baseball stadium that hosted the College World Series on an annual basis, and on and on and on. Mikey, being from somewhere in podunk Canada, talked about how the hockey team had gone to Arizona and then came back (so in the end nothing changed I guess).

As the topic continued, the inevitable question came up: "Would you consider going home? And if so, what would it be like?"

We both agreed on nothing. Nothing would be the same. The face of the matter is that we have moved on from our hometowns, they have both changed. If either of us were to go back with the missus, that we would feel out of place. We are Gaijin no matter where we go. Hence, we are Gaijin for life.

Harro There!!!

Disclaimer: the picture to the left - an unknown American after our GLORIOUS win over Canada in the opening round of the Olympics - is not a rip by a Yank on Canada (again, GLORIOUS!!), but rather a tribute to those who are willing to stand out in the crowd.

We, Mike and Mike (one Canadian and one American), intend for this blog to be simple: a glimpse into the life of a few gaijin and our lives in Japan. The ups, the downs, the bitches, whines, moans as well as the praises, gloats and boasts about why we live here.

Like anywhere else in the world, there are good days, bad days, really bad days, and REALLY bad days that you wish the whole damn archipelago would sink into the ocean and you were the only one with a life vest. It seems that these are the days most well documented. We hope that we also post on the good days, and especially on the great days.

We are the ones who chose to live here; to leave behind what we know and love to find something else to know and love, or even to find (or stay with) or a person we know and love. We came here by different means. Sometimes we come with intentions, sometimes without. Sometimes we come willingly, sometimes not. The fact is that we like it here. This place gives plenty of talking points and stories which can be entertaining. These are our stories. We hope you enjoy them.