Why Do Okinawans Live So Long?

Apparently, Okinawans live the longest of any people in the world. Is this due to their relaxed island lifestyle? A high dose of vitamin C from eating goya? Genetics?

Well, it's probably not from the quality of the medical care here. I just got back from the hospital. Now, before you start to worry that something terrible happened, let me reassure you: I am perfectly healthy. I went to the hospital to get some medicine so that I hopefully won't get malaria during my upcoming travels. But in Japan, those who are about to keel over and die and those who just need a prescription or a physical go to the same place. Hopefully I didn't catch anything nasty while in the waiting area. Perhaps I should have worn a surgical mask like the cool kids.

Anyways, after explaining why I was at the hospital, I was quickly directed to a doctor. He spoke shockingly fluent English. I was very excited about this. So I explained to the doctor why I wanted medicine for malaria. He seemed unsure about my request. So then I showed him a piece of paper with the name of the medicine I wanted. Luckily, I had done my homework, and had found out that I needed a certain kind of malaria pill because the malaria in parts of Cambodia is resistant to mefloquine.

So the doctor said he could give me the medicine and asked me how long I would be traveling. I told him 11 days. And he said that he would give me 7 pills. Excuse me? 7? I told him again that I would be traveling for 11 days and would need one pill for every day of my trip, plus one pill to take before I leave, and 28 pills to take after I return. So I would need 40 pills for my 11 day trip. Not 7 pills. And then the guy who has been to medical school (or so I assume) told me that I wouldn't need to take any pills after I came home. Hmmm.

Now, to give the guy some credit, I was perhaps his first patient who ever requested pills to prevent malaria. (time for some non-p.c. generalizations) Japanese people are not adventurous travelers. Japanese people don't like to go places they consider dangerous. Japanese people don't travel off the beaten path. When they travel, they go on expensive tours. They don't have to learn the local language and culture. They just point and click the camera. They tend to stay in big cities and touristy areas which probably wouldn't have as much of a malaria problem. They wouldn't even know that they would need pills to prevent malaria unless the tour company told them ahead of time.

So after the doctor checked some textbooks, he decided to tell me the correct dosage. The same dosage I had told him I needed. 40 pills. He wanted to know where I saw information about the medicine. I told him: the internet. (http://www.cdc.gov/) I wonder what happens to patients who go to the hospital without knowing exactly what they need, including drug name and correct dosage.

At least my medicine was cheap. About 300 yen ($3 ish). Without insurance it would have been a whopping 1000 yen. Dirt cheap compared to the US. Probably would be at least 10 times more expensive there! This miracle pill will not only protect me from malaria. It will also treat the following conditions: bubonic plague, gonorrhea, UTIs, sinusitis, pneumonia, tetanus, acne, chlamydia, bronchitis, gangrene, traveler's diarrhea, respiratory infections, eye infections, and plenty of things I have never even heard of.

Unfortunately, the pharmacy didn't give me any information on possible side effects or drug interactions. Maybe because they thought I wouldn't be able to read Japanese. Or maybe because they don't give out that information in the first place. Good thing I have the internet to tell me about my increased risk of sunburn and yeast infection.

This is Tokyo.

This is pig stomach. Cooking on the grill on my dinner table. The texture was not nice at all.

A New Career?

When I was in Indonesia, I took a number of fun classes. One was a batik painting class. To make a batik painting, you draw a design using melted wax. Then you make sure that the wax has soaked all the way through the cloth. Next you add the dye. And then you add a different kind of wax that makes the dye crinkly. (I can't come up with a better word to describe the effect.) After putting the cloth in really hot water to melt the wax, you put the cloth into different chemicals. Rise, dry, and it is finished! Here is the batik painting I made during my 6 hour class. (I didn't draw the design. I just traced it with hot wax, which was difficult enough.)

I also took 2 silversmithing classes. I made 3 rings. I had so much fun that I decided I should take silversmithing classes when I go back home. Although I'm sure they won't be as cheap as in Indonesia. I'd like to be a silversmith!

I'm not sure what this means.

I saw it in a parking garage.

Let's see if I can make this at home.

When I was in Indonesia, I took 2 cooking classes. I used some spices I had never seen before. When I asked what they were, I didn't understand the answer. And I wasn't sure if my teachers just didn't know the English name.. or if it isn't possible to buy the spices in the U.S. I know I will have a hard time finding banana leaves at home... Look what I helped to cook. Doesn't the food look delicious?





Ahhhh I miss Indonesian food. No, I just miss non-Japanese food. On the scale on good cuisine, Japanese food has to be pretty darn low. Of all the places I have visited, the food in Japan has been the worst. Or maybe Costa Rican food was the worst.. No, I'll go with Japanese. I'm worried my stomach might be shrinking because Japanese food doesn't make me want to eat very much. (By the way, I think there was pig intestine in my school lunch again.)

Japanese people often ask me if I like Japanese food. At first I lied and told everyone it was delicious because that was the only way I knew how to answer in Japanese. Now I often tell people so-so. I just don't have the language skills to tell them that their food is boring and bland and often quite disgusting. And that I have to go to Korea or other countries to get decent tasting food. Even Japanese-style "Western" food is quite bad. But I imagine even if I could say that in Japanese, it would be rude.

So for now, I will just stare at these pictures from Indonesia. I will remember the flavors. I will look forward to my next international trip. Because I am hungry.

The food pictured above includes: spicy chicken ball soup, vegetables cooked with lemongrass, chicken grilled inside banana leaves, chicken satay, saffron rice, thin pancakes with caramelized coconut inside, caramelized tofu, and fried fish in a coconut sauce.

Indonesia

I need to back-blog a bit. I went to Indonesia for 2 weeks. Look at the pictures.

Very strange.

Last night, I had a dream in Japanese. I'm not normally so fluent when I'm awake...

It looks good enough to eat.

My friend Anna (the one who is cold and doesn't have any sweaters) just sent me a fun package from Germany. It contains many mysterious items. I can only guess what they are from the pictures on the packaging. I guess I should be used to this.

I decided to try out one of the items this evening. Tonight's experiment was German face mask. A chocolate face mask. I smeared the stuff all over my face. It looked like chocolate pudding. It smelled like chocolate pudding. It felt like chocolate pudding. It tasted like chocolate pudding. Exactly like chocolate pudding.

I can just imagine the strange German person who thought of this idea. Let's put chocolate pudding in a package... call it a face mask, and see if anyone falls for it!

P. S. Thank you to Rachel, who also sent me a very fun package. It's just not as unusual to have shampoo in my hair, so no blog post about it.