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I wonder when it was last that Japan was said to be a country of nondiscriminatory society. Time has changed and today many Japanese workers suffer from the difference between regular employment and irregular one. In Japan when we do the same job, our salary or social security is different whether we’re hired as regular employee or not. (Yes, this is very unfair!) In fact, many temp-workers have been fired and they turned to be homeless these days.

Japan used to be nicer to the poor and the weak of society but watch this video to see how these people are striving today. They are not lazy. They are doing as much as they can to make their living, but they can not get out of working poor. They are not anything special. Such people can be next door, and this can happen to anyone under such bad economy.

Sneakers Special
5/SEP/2009 on air

CONVERSE is an American sneaker brand but these days they try to listen to the voices from Japanese streets. They ask girls walking down the streets in Harajuku to try their 6cm high-heeled sneakers on and tell them what they think. High-heeled sneakers are good for those who usually don’t wear sneakers. VANQUISH from Onii-kei brand and no name from girly brand stresses sneaker fashion.

When you choose what to wear, do you choose from clothes or shoes?
Girly dress and girly shoes are too normal and just girly. It’s cool if we combine girly dress with fashionable sneakers!

The star patterned sneakers of X-girl‘s collaboration with Vans were limited-line but they sold very fast.

Urahara is one of the best places in the world to shop fashionable sneakers. Many international celebrities pay an incognito visit to this area. Kenye West and Black Eyed Peas are not exceptional. The day of recording the episode, Tokyo Kawaii TV caught Keri Hilson’s shopping in Urahara. She visits CHAPTER and KICKS LAB.

3 men are collectors of vintage sneakers. Each of them bring 3 pairs of sneakers and Mr.Ikki and Beni-chan guess which one is most expensive or which one sold fastest. Vintage sneakers could be priced as much as 700,000yen (USD7000) at online auction today.

In 1995 it was NIKE that gave a new value to sports shoes. They suggested customised design sneakers using PC. The variation of design was as many as hundreds of millions patterns. ADIDAS also changed their image and started to target woman customers. Pumps shaped sneakers are fashionable as well as functional. They are popular among female office workers because they are so comfortable enough to wear for hours.

Imai-san is a designer of MADFOOT. 210,000 people in Japan wear the shoes he designed, which means he can find 4 people wearing his shoes within 1 hour in Harajuku. MADFOOT shoes are sold at 500 stores in Japan, and also in London and Taiwan. Their colorful sneakers are so popular. He chooses theme first, then color from 1000 colors.

Kirin’s opinion:
MADFOOT’s colorful sneakers are not my taste. When I first saw them I wondered how we were supposed to coordinate with these too many colors. I’d definitely choose simple colored base plus accent color if I choose sneakers for myself. I like pumps shaped sneakers, but when heels are too high, that makes me tired. I am also interested in sneaker boots. But this winter I didn’t have a chance to buy them.

***There are archives of episodes listed under the page titled “Tokyo Kawaii TV” that is just located under the title banner of this blog

I’ve posted about hot pot cuisine (nabe ryori) sometimes before, but this TV show is introducing variety of hot pot cuisine, especially supported by the locals in Japan.

As you see, there are many reasons that we like to eat hot pot in this (autumn – winter) season.
-It’s tasty.
-It’s good for health. We can have many kind of vegetables.
-We get all warmed up when we eat it.
-We feel close to each other by sharing a hot pot.
-We can choose from variety of soup, ingredients, and “Shime” (whether rice or noodle or what?)
and so on…
Ah, now you see how I ate the collagen hotpot with a lump of collagen. The collagen lump will be totally melt in a soup, and you will eat it up when you eat rice or noodle afterwards because it absorbs the soup.

Some examples of “Shime” (=to finish) from the TV.
Eating Udon for “Shime” is very common, and we do this often when we eat it at home, too.

Eating spaghetti for “Shime” is not an authentic Japanese way, but this looks good as long as the noodle is kept “al dente” and not too soft.

Eating Ojiya (steamed rice and raw egg to make something like congee) is very orthodox and common. We do this quite often at home, too.

This must be yummy! Regardless of curry taste, cheese and Ojiya is a good combination.

I want to try this restaurant or this one in this season and if I do, I’ll share my experience in this blog.

Which hot pot looks good to you? Do you have a nice hot pot cuisine in your country that you may want to share with us? I have no idea how common hotpot is in other countries. If it’s as common as in Japan, I’d like to try some foreign hotpot too, if I have a chance! :p