Bisdak Babbles

When you order fruit salad in the Philippines, you’ll wonder where the fruits are because everything is covered with milk and cream. But in Japan and Singapore, they just put in sliced fruits. I don’t really like it much because like in the photo above, I just eat the orange and watermelon slices.

Non-Pinoy style does justice to the name but, I still like the Pinoy version more. Not only because of the milk and cream but because there’s a lot of banana in it.

I miss the “real” Japan taste, so I was ecstatic when I received a flyer about the Hokkaido Fair at the Tampines Mall from July 3 to 12. I dropped by last weekend and the venue was crowded.

The usual comment that I heard from the customers? “It’s not so cheap.” If you’re used to the prices in Japan, you’ll find the prices at the fair acceptable because based on the computations I’ve made, I think they have just directly converted the prices to SGD. But I’ve stayed in Singapore for more than 3 months already so I find it not so cheap also. But Hokkaido doesn’t come to Singapore often so I just ignored the guilt I felt and bought Hakodate Maru Cheese Cake and … mentaiko! I miss the ramen in Japan so I might visit the fair again before it ends.

The booth owners are really from Hokkaido that I was so happy to speak in Japanese again, but alarmed at the fact that I’m slowly forgetting the basics. I also miss how the Japanese treat their customers. I wish that would be the same here in Singapore, too.

Some of you might have heard of the “ore ore sagi” here in Japan.  Just an overview, I took this from the article written by Rev. Ai Hironaka:

“In Japan, males refer to themselves as boku or ore, so ore ore sagi is fraud committed by males pretending to be sons or grandsons in need of money. Victims, mostly mothers or grandmothers, receive a frantic phone call from someone who says, “Ore ore!! Ore dayo!! (Mom, it’s me!)” Because the caller is talking and crying at the same time, it is difficult for the distraught mother to truly recognize the voice of her son or grandson. Instead, the frantic mother responds, “Is that you, Ai?” (using her son or grandson’s name). The caller responds, “Yes, it’s me, Ai” and assumes the identity of Ai. Then the caller says, “A debt collector is after me for money I don’t have. If I do not pay now, something terrible will happen to me. Can you put money in an account for me?” And he gives a bank account number.”

This afternoon, I’m pretty sure I fell victim to another type of scam. Let’s just call it the “saifu wa uchita” (I dropped my wallet) scam.  I was in a hurry to my next lesson when an old guy, probably in his 70’s asked me something.  I thought that he was just lost in the confusing underground structure of Osaka.  He was wearing a suit and carried an attache case, an image of the usual “salaried man”.  I told him that I didn’t understand what he said but he rambled on.  He spoke so fast but I was able to pick up some words.

Old guy:  densha … saifu … uchita (train, wallet, fell).
Me: [So, he dropped his wallet on the train. But why ask a foreigner like me instead of going to the lost and found section? I am sure that I’m being tricked.]
Old guy: kaererarenai… okane … kashite … okurimasu yo (can’t go home…money… lend…send)
Me: [Tadaaan! He finally said the “trick” words] Ikura gurai? (How much?)
Old guy: Mie-ken… 3,640 yen. (Mie prefecture … 3,640 yen)

I almost laughed out loud when I heard those words. If my Japanese were any better, I would have told him upfront that the best people to help him were the police. But I was running late so I just told him that I don’t have that amount and I could only give him 500 yen. After giving the 500-yen coin to him, he still asked me if I don’t have any more money! Honestly, I only had 1,500 yen with me.

I was held up for about 5 minutes already so I just said no and continued running. I was in a bad mood after the incident because I knew that I was being tricked but I still gave the old guy something. It was because a little voice in me kept asking… “what if the guy is really telling the truth?”.  At least I gave him something that’s more than enough to use the payphone and contact someone from his home.

Lately, I have been obsessed with wanting to buy a new watch.   I have always wanted to buy a Swatch or a Guess but again, budget issues comes in so I just have to make do with my cute, almost a year old,  supposed-to-be-temporary,  “so-so” watch.  While surfing a favorite online shop, I came across this one:

Cute, isn’t it? And looking at the price, it does look like a very good bargain. I was bent on saving up for it but good thing a friend informed me that other online shops are selling this watch at prices lower than the discounted price displayed here. Moreover, the other shops’ prices are just the regular, not discounted, prices!  This is a good tactic to attract the ever trusting Japan population to buy this product.  However, I choose to believe that this is just a mistake by the seller.  I choose to believe in the goodness of business men and the whole humanity.

In the Philippines, we start to prepare for and celebrate Christmas in September. When it’s “-ber” (September to December) already, then it’s Christmas! As early as September, you could already see Christmas decorations in the shopping malls, small stores, and houses. I’ve always thought early Christmas happens in the Philippines only. However, since October, I’ve already seen Christmas decors in Osaka and Kobe. Most of the Japanese aren’t Christians but I think they love Christmas, too. One of my Japanese friends already put up her Christmas tree last month.

Japan is relatively safe. But when you talk with the Japanese people, most of them would say that crime rate here in Osaka is the highest in all of Japan. Surely, I’ve read news report on cases of theft. Strangely, I have heard rumors on stolen undies. There were also cases of stalking and rapes. I thank God that I haven’t been a victim of these (I fervently pray I won’t!). Perhaps I owe some of it to the apartment building’s security system. We have a common lobby and for someone to enter, he should have that black “digital” key.  The apartment is also equipped with a number of surveillance camera.  Aside from these threats, the security system spare us from dealers who go from house to house, among other things. 

Viking - Japanese term for all-you-can-eat buffets

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Lots of something hanging at the subway train station in Shin-Osaka. This is a bit blurry because I didn’t stop long enough to take the picture.