Visiting Japan

[mesherm]

One of the guys here is from the Phillipines and was mentioning at lunch the other day how much he liked balut....when he got to describing the not quite developed feathers part the lunch room emptied quickly. :chicken:

[SDS-PAGE]

I had Balut once before, mostly because I had Phillipino roommates in college that dared me to try it. I didn't mind the texture so much, but it smelled funny. My favorite still is live octopus sashimi. Nothing beats the sensation of squirming tentacles sticking in your mouth with their suction cups. It's quite therapeutic, actually. You can make them squirm faster if you salt them.

[EWBrown]

Balut are beyond my culinary courage, heck, I even pick the little red spots or tiny chicken embryos out of raw eggs before I fry or scramble them... After all, an aborted duck fetus isn't high upon my list of favorite foods Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_31

Was it Nietzsche, who said "That which does not kill you, will only serve to make you stronger" ?

For a full description of the "balut experience", as described by a "local", just go here:

http://www.thewilyfilipino.com/blog/arc ... 00076.html

Warning, not for the squeamish, high "blort" factor...

I suppose that "grippy" octopus tentacles are easier to swallow than a palpitating , freshly-excised snake's or frog's heart. :o

The frog hearts are available in Tokyo at the Asadachi (which translates to "morning erection") and the cobra hearts can be experienced in Hanoi.
You'll have to see the Andrew Zimmern or Tony Bourdain TV shows to get the rest of teh grim and gory details... :o

I'll do fried frog legs, but not raw frog sashimi... (blort)

About the closest to "live" food I've ever consumed is raw oysters and cherrystone clams. And those are only "barely alive" at best...

/ed B in NH

[hembrook]

Interesting stuff...
I will be on a trip to ShangHai for about a week; then Tokoyo for two...Hopefully I'll be able to bring home the goodies :D

There are two good stores here:
http://www.hembrook.com/travel/japan/ak ... hoto1.html

Follow this map from the Akihabara train stop on the JR Green line (that goes around Tokyo in a circle) to the Tokyo Radio Department Store. In the basement is transformer heaven. Tango-Iso, Hasimoto, Noguchi, and others. The power trans are all 100V, tho, so be careful. Worthless to me in Germany. I got some 15W push-pull Noguchis for Y4000 a pop. Tangos and Hasimotos fully potted start at Y14,000 ($140)

Upstairs at the very top is a tube store. Prices are all over the map. The guy had some 6AS7Gs there for 1000 Yen (just under $10) with the exchange rate right now of 105 Yen to the dollar.

Toei transformers is harder to find, I'll have to research where they hide, but they have great stuff, if plain (exposed coils and all) on some models. Priices range from 2000 yen to a lot more.

[hembrook]

Man the food is great there. Loads of Sashimi, but also lots of noodle soups, fresh seafood, and Curry. Awesome curry at Cocos, get the Crispy chicken, #2 spicy with Nato (fermented soybeans) over 300grams of rice. MMMMMM.

I ate well. The best are the Bentoboxes (sushi in a tray) for train travel. I got one for my Bullet Train to Osaka (Smashing Pumpkins fans anyone?) for 1000 Yen ($10).

[EWBrown]

China has its own "bizarre" unique foods...

Along with more normal foods which absolutely have no resamblance to the so-called "Chinese" food served in most American restaurants, which is a synthesis of faux Hawaiian and faux Polynesian cuisine. One has to go to the major cities "China Town" sections to get the real thing... I've done so and it was really good, and nothing which could be considered as being "bizarre" or even slightly strange.

(BLORT ALERT)

The last Andrew Zimmern "Bizarre Foods" program, he was in Beijing, and there are all sorts of strange food items from donkey meat (very lean, tender and tasty) to a specialty, high-priced restaurant which specializes in various forms of (ahem) penis. Anywhing from snake penis to yak penis, bull penis, etc... :o :o :o All penis, all the time... Trendy and expensive, as well as just plain strange :o

Around a decade ago, PBS had a series called "The Heart of the Dragon" which was an early inside look at all things about China, and there was a saying, that in Canton province, the people will eat anything with legs except for a table, and anything with wings except for an airplane.

THe local Cantonese street market looked more like an exotic pet shop than a food market, all of the assorted creatures were still alive - they stay fresh longer that way Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_04

Shanghai has a lot of Eurpoean architectural influence as well as a combine of Chinese and other Asian cultures, it should be interesting and exciting.

/ed B in NH

[Brik]

If you happen to be in the Akihabara district in Tokyo, one place worthy of a visit may be Noguchi Transformer ("Noguchi Toransu" in Japanese).
They stock and sell many retail models of Tango, Tamura, Hashimoto, and their own brand power and output transformers and chokes.
They are located 3 minutes walk from the JR Akihabara station in the basement level of a nondescript, skinny building by the name of
"Tokyo Radio Department Store" ("Tokyo Radio Departo" in Japanese).


JR Akihabara Station - "Electric Town" entrance:



Entrance to "Radio Departo":


The first sight of Noguchi Transformer that will greet you as you arrive on the basement floor on the escalator is the "show wall (not a room, but a wall)" of audio equipment showcasing some of their inductor products:


This version of Nipper looks away, in mild disgust, from "His Master's Vice" (Reminded me of my better half...):


An "expert's implementation" of an amplifier construction article in a magazine:


"Lookie but no touchy" (especially with live 800V AC):


300B Single Stereo Amplifier (I think...):


A magazine article on EL84 push-pull stereo amplifier, and the pre-punched chassis for the construction article for sale:


More amplifiers that use their products:


Here are some of the Noguchi products:


You can buy many of the name brand transformers "over the counter":


Or "off the shelf":


Or "out of the show case":


Noguchi's own FINEMET "C-Core" single output transformers - 5k/7K Primary, 4-8-16 ohm secondary, 3 Watts - costs a tidy 1,3500 Yen ($167 US) each:


I would not go there if you are merely looking for low prices, however.

[DeathRex]

Note to self: scratch the jewelry store, new place to rob; Radio Departo in Japan. Bring big truck.

[EWBrown]

And I always thought that Heaven was angels, harps and puffy white clouds

I almost experience an "asadachi" looking at all the goodies

That Tango X-10SF is "only" about $800.

The pre-punched chassis seem to be reasonably priced, the "2A3" version is about $60.

Domo Arigato! (Mister Roboto)

/ed B

[Shannon Parks]

Great pictures and post. That place is *totally* on my list of places to go in Tokyo. Fantastic!

--Shannon

[SteveH]

So...since my last post in this thread I've been around that transformer shop a couple of times....Believe it or not; I got a set of custom OPT's wound in HK for about the same price as an off the shelf OPT C-core could be bought for in JP. These though, are rated to 2kV @ 100mA

[Brik]

Another store of interest is "Kasuga Musen Transformers". They sell transformers and other inductor products from manufacturers such as Tamura, Tango, Hashimoto as well as their own.
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 6prmd%3Div

Their focus, however, seems to be Kasuga-branded vacuum tube amplifier kits and vacuum tubes.
The store is a little difficult to find - it is located in a collection of stores named "New Akihabara Center" which is partially under the elevated railroad tracks of Yamanote/Keihin Tohoku lines (See the map below.)



As you enter the left-most entrance (actually, it looks more like an alley than an entrance) you'll notice shuttered storefronts on the right. It's hard to tell whether these shuttered stores are in business or not since many stores in Akihabara have short store hours and/or many holidays.
You'll see Kasuga Musen at the end of the alley:


6L6G Single stereo amplifier, and PCL86 Pushpull stereo amplifier kit/assembled:


Monoblock 300B single amplifiers sold in stereo pairs:


EL91 Pushpull amplifier:


2A3 single amplifier:


71A single stereo amplifier


6AU8A single, 9AU7 line-level, and 6N6P spud amplifiers:


And, of course, there are tubes for sale (Some are sold in matched pairs. Click photo for hi-rez version.):


(Some are sold in matched pairs. Click photo for hi-rez version.):


(Some are sold in matched pairs. Click photo for hi-rez version.):

[battradio]

I wonder what customs would do if you showed up in japan with a suitcase full of 245 tubes to trade for iron .