Vegan Japan

februari 2008

saterday februari 23

volunteers... (^_^)

sometimes people help me. for instance, people give me tips on new veggie restaurants, and Buzz from Mixi sometimes checks restaurants if they are vegan or not.
Thank You all!!!

and more volunteers >_<

but also there are the regular Volunteers from Hell, who start out well but soon turn into dissagreeing, complaining and start abusing me. >_<

last year volunteer-translator gets angry and insists that i use the word ヴィーガン and not ビーガン (two diferent ways of writing "vegan", both are widely used) , but i like that word ! >_<

just two weeks ago, other translator gets very angry with me. Because on my website, i say that Ueno Zoo is "animal prison".
You are being negative and that way i cannot be volunteer anymore"
but it is true, animals in zoo are innocent, why they are in small cage ? "zoo" is just prison for them. i am not negative, just telling an inconvenient truth.

so i dont have translator and i have to translate japanese webpage by myself. kind of frustrating. >_<

this months Volunteer from Hell is vegan Mico san !
i asked her if she can be translator for the new J-V-R Pocketguide.

she writes back, various long detailed emails telling me about the 2 pages of "useful vegan sentence article", that i did send her.

"there are too much sentences", "all the time you use same sentences only repeated the same thing bla bla bla", "that is stupid sentence", "they are just waisting space", "you make me insane" etc.

and finally:

"I don't like to work something I do not agree or I am not happy with for free."

so instead of just saying "no, thank you" she completely trashes Vegan Pocketguide with long emails. well...

Vegan Pocketguides

a while ago i started to work on two vegan books, the new edition of the Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide, and a new vegan book about veganism in japan, titled, "Vegan Life Happy Life" .

unfortunately, the Vegan Life Happy Life project is cancelled. a dedicated assistant/volunteer with enough time cannot be found.

so currenlty i am focusing on the new Japan Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide .
Lots of work, its going to be a full color (yes, FULL COLOR!) pocketguide, with more then 120 100%vegan/vegetarian restaurants, from Sapporo in the north, to Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, all the way to Okinawa in the south of japan!

it will be twice as thick as this years Pocketguide. But dont worry, thin paper is used, so the new pocketguide will not be heavy. ;-)

do you like translating?
i still really need good translator for the next edition of the Pocketguide....

tuesday februari 19

Carrot Tower

Did you ever visit Tokyo's Carrot Tower ?

hmmm, i wonder if there is a Pumpkin Building or a Broccoli Tower ... ;-)

(photo from last year)

sunday februari 17

Vegan Tofu
Recipe

this is very easy and delicious recipe from my friend Madoka. I never did see this recipe in any cooking book !

1 2

3 4

1. we need a nice block of Tofu.

2. we place the Tofu between a towel and put a not-too-heavy book on it for 15 minutes. We do this to get rid of excess water.

3. we place the Tofu on a small dish and gently cover it with Miso paste. Use soft miso. For this one, i use sweet light miso.

4. when the Tofu is totally covered with Miso paste we put it in the refridgerator.

We keep the Miso covered Tofu for a week in the refridgerator. The tofu will change in a kind of Tofu cheese.

friday februari 15

Non-Vegan News

tonight i had aikido exam and did get my black belt. :-)

sunday februari 10

in holland the weather is like early spring, sunny and warm. in tokyo it seems to be cold and still snowing.

Last month the only Vegan Restaurant in Kobe, the Vegi Smile, changed name and owner. Now it's called ASH cafe.
It has been upgraded from a rather dark space with rather irritating blue lights and 60th rock&roll music (not the good asskicking & eye poking kind of rock and roll but the bubblegum kind of r&r) to a modern bright classy Vegan Cafe. :-)
Congratulations !

12.00-24.00(LO:23.00) closed wednesday
2-1-14 Hachiman-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
070-5657-3788

Vegan Boom

Apart from a new branch of Vegan Healing Cafe that will be opened end of this month, two other vegan restaurants will be opened in Tokyo within a few months.

all i all , the number of 100% Vegetarian/Vegan restaurants for the new edition of the Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide is well above 120 restaurants ! (Compared to about 54 veggie places in this year's edition)

tuesday februari 5

Before i Go....

sunday night, just a day before leaving japan, tired and not in the mood to go out, i got email from An from Kick Back Cafe at Sengawa informing me of event for the night.

yeah, very nice but its one hour away from my Nippori hotel.
but, i think i should go and enjoy and take a change to visit a new place and maybe meet nice people and have a chat! (^_^) LETS ROCK !! >_< KICK ASS !! GO! GO! (>o<)

i arrive at 9 o'clock at night. there is no admission fee.
its a cool place, where i can sit and enjoy a vegan meal and enjoy the concert. Its lively and enjoyful atmosphere. :-)
there is also a performance, because today is Setsubun, which is a tradition where you throw roasted soybeans to "devils" and chase away the evil spirits! (^_^)
Its funny, with performers dressed up like Oni with Blue and Red face. ^^

the (non-vegan) menu has a special Vegan Menu. I tasted two dishes and its delicious.
there are three Vegan Curries (1050 yen~ 1500yen) , Tacos Rice 1000 yen, Grilled Soy Cheese Sandwich 900 yen,Tofu Dengaku 850 yen.
Besides, there are various vegan cake and cookies.

View from the table, while enjoying my Vegan meal.

To go and enjoy the Kick Back Cafe is defenitely recommended, because there are not many places where you can both enjoy an event or concert while having a choiche from a selected Vegan Menu.
From Shinjuku station its not so far, 20 minutes with the Keio line, to Sengawa station.

both owners are musician (they were playing at tonights gig !), and recently they have become the new owners of the well known vegan Peace Cafe in Kyoto, which has a new name now, Cafe Proverbs 15-17 but will continue to be vegan.

it was a very nice evening, i did meet with An, (we couldnt talk much however), had a delightful chat with one of the charming staff (^_^) , i did meet with gringo Richard, and had such an inspirational chat with Marre and Kumiko , the owners of KBC. thank you all !!

Herwin in the Sky

i am having a Vegan Meal, and reading "Doraemon" whose Artist started his career as a famous duo with Fujiko Fujio A, (a famous japanese vegetarian cartoon artist) and watching the movie Rendition with "Legally Blond" Reese Witherspoon who is.....Vegan !! ^_^

Welcome Home !!!! >_<

yesterday night i arrived in amsterdam, after an 11 hour flight from tokyo.
i had three seats for myself, great! (^_^)
at home much unpaid bills are waiting : "pay within 8 days or we will cut of your electricity!!" "pay within 4 days" etc.

"welcome home", zzzz...zz...zzz

sunday februari 3

it's snowing !!

since this morning its snowing heavely here in Tokyo. I go for a walk to nearby Ueno Park.

right next to the entrance of Ueno Zoo (a.k.a Animal Prison) is a pizzeria.
here you can have a vegan pizza, just order the Margruerita Pizza without cheese !!

inside is so nice. unlike the japanese vegan and vegetarian restaurants with there never ending "groovey" Jazz Music and the "all you need is LOVE" Beatles, here they play some cool blues music. Yeah!

according to the posters on the wall explaining about the high tech greenhouses where there veggies for the pizza come from, this is DEFENITELY not Macrobiotic or Organic ! and they are PROUD of it ! (^_^)

saterday februari 2

Closed Without Notice !!

last year in Setagaya the Iede Cafe opened, a small cozy shojin ryori restaurant.

the last weeks i visited the place various times, taking the Tokyu Den-en-toshine line from Shibuya station, and than chanching to the Tokyu Setagaya line. But everytime Iede Cafe was closed for the day. Maybe they had changed opening hours?

Unfortunately Iede Cafe is closed permanent, out of business. and more unfortunately, the owner doesnt take the trouble of hanging an "out of business" sign at the door or even putting information on the Iede Cafe website, thus making it unclear for his customers that the cafe is CLOSED.