LD's Guide to Japan

Please give to the Red Cross to support relief efforts in Japan!

For Japanese readers, the QR code above will tell you what to do.  For American readers, go here. (via JapanTrends)

As usual, the New York Times brings us the best multimedia breakdowns for a current event — in this case, what’s gone wrong, so far, at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (via inothernews)

You’re probably all aware by now that a rather large earthquake hit Japan a few moments ago.  Just wanted to say that I’m fine.  I live on the opposite coast (facing Korea/Russia), so we only felt a fairly minor tremor and we’re not at risk for tsunami.  I’m watching the news like a hawk, though, and it’s crazy.  My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.  (map reblogged from soupsoup)

Higashifuse, Kurobe. 2/3/11

Got this dish in our school lunch today. Took a bite to discover a flavor and texture I had never tasted before. I consulted our menu to see what it was, and discovered I was eating “kujira-niku”—whale meat.

I’d heard stories from my “sempai” (seniors) of the occasional whale meat school lunch, but was told that they’ve been phasing it out and it was really rare these days. I don’t really know if I should count myself as lucky or unlucky that I got this chance to eat it, but either way, I ate it.

For the curious: it’s not great. You can see the meat is really dark—almost black. It’s similar to beef, but with much less flavor. And it’s VERY tough. It took me quite a while to get through this small amount. The bottom line: once is more than enough times to try whale meat.

Toyama Castle (富山城) in the snow (Taken with instagram)