October I ate Octopus
Stardate 202510recap
The month I have been waiting for is finally here. October started with a bang. You ask why? Because I was in Japan on October 1st. That is the best way to start a month, if you ask me. I have been to Japan previously just last year, also in October and this year, I am here again.
I don’t know why Japan calls to me; I guess it’s just the calmness of being here. I don’t fancy tourist places much, and since I visited most of them last time around, this time around I find myself longing for calm walks around the block to cozy cafes and restaurants.
As an introvert, I find Japan very calm; no one is shouting, and there are no cars honking on the roads. If you want to, you can find places to sit and eat where no one tries to chit-chat with you. Even the customer service is designed to leave you alone to explore things at your own pace. I find this very calming, and it makes me want to go out, even though I am an introvert who usually doesn’t like to go out much.
Highlight from Osaka
Osaka is known as the “Kitchen of Japan.” Since I am a vegetarian, I struggled here a lot last time. This time around, I wanted to try at least one famous seafood dish. So, the very first night after checking into the hotel, we walked to the nearest metro and headed to Dotonbori. I tried the famous “takoyaki” (octopus balls). The outer layer was way too slimy and made me feel like I was going to puke, but the octopus itself was simply chewy flesh. It was certainly an experience. We spent every night in Osaka returning to Dotonbori, eating and drinking next to the river.
Highlight from Kyoto
We went to the famous food street in Kyoto, “Nishiki Market,” and also did the trek at Fushimi Inari, which was fun. We went to Uji to get some good matcha and tried the famous Japanese cheese omelette in Kyoto street food market. I think I walked the most in Kyoto. On the day we planned to visit Arashiyama, it rained, but we purchased umbrellas and walked anyway. That day, in hopes of getting away from the crowded places, we walked to many nearby temples and ended up walking around 6 km in light rain. I also ended up getting blisters that day, I guess the rain didn’t help.
Highlight from Tokyo
Shopping was the highlight of Tokyo. I went to so many places to get items from my bucket list. I bought the famous Tabio socks, anime figurines from Akihabara, and lots and lots of Pokemon cards from different stores. I went to the Hobonichi store and the Traveler’s Notebook shop to pick up journals, and I went to Itoya to pick out some beautiful pens.I tried lots of the famous 7-Eleven foods here. I also went to the famous food street in Shinjuku and had beer and fried snacks. Two pubs in Shibuya had been on my list for years, LOST and ØL by Oslo Brewing. Neither disappointed. The rest of the stay was just me running to all the shops I wanted to visit and drinking all the coffee I wanted to drink.
TV
X-Men ‘97 Season 1
After not watching any TV shows for a long time, I was looking forward to starting with something light and fun, and X-Men ‘97 had been on my watchlist for so long. I picked it up, and boy, oh boy, it didn’t disappoint. On the surface, the story is about the old-school X-Men, and if you are a fan of the comics, you will instantly love it. The art style is also reminiscent of the old cartoons we grew up watching, so it successfully nostalgia-baits you. I liked the fact that you can watch it as mindless, fun superhero entertainment, but also as a serious show since it deals with a few very good topics regarding society and trust. I think the word I am looking for is “allegory.” I would definitely recommend this to all superhero or Marvel fans.
Movies
Chef
The Naked Gun
Wolfs
Head of State
I watched just four movies this month, and all of them were on the flight. I watched “Heads of State” on the Japan Airlines entertainment feed. It was a good, fun movie that kept me entertained for some time. While traveling back from Japan, I watched three movies in the span of eight hours. I watched “Wolfs” first, again, nothing special, just another good action movie. You could say that with those two as your leads, you might expect a slightly better movie, but it is what it is. Then I opened my laptop, where I had two movies downloaded. I watched “The Naked Gun 2025.” This was also a good comic movie. I could see some semblance to the old Austin Powers movies in there, and it also paid homage to the original Leslie Nielsen “Naked Gun”. But the movie that really shone through this month was 2014’s “Chef” What a lovely and simple movie. It is just a beautifully told story there is nothing fancy going on. The film just pulls you in with beautiful storytelling and nicely acted scenes. This is one of those movies where the conflict decreases as it goes along. It’s just a joyful, feel-good movie through and through.
Gym
I was in Japan for half the month, so the gym went for a toss. I came back and tried to slowly get back into it because I hate that sore muscle feeling you get when you first start working out. But I could not avoid it. After two days of the gym, everything started to ache badly. I tried to take it slow for the month, just doing 3 to 4 sets each day and getting my body used to the workout again.
Professional
It was 15 days of rest followed by 15 days of email catch-up. I was just glad that there were only 800 emails when I got back. I am happy that since the year is about to end, so many of the projects have already been completed. Until next January, we will be in a bit of a relaxed mode—just maintaining the apps and keeping an eye open to ensure nothing breaks.