Japanese Techno-Craziness even on Ojika

So Ojika has avoided most of the wierd gadgetry and flashing neon lights that has overwhelmed the more populated areas of Japan. That is why I was so astonished when an office worker from the school here handed me a can of warm soup that he had just bought for me from the entryway vending machine! I mean, I have bought a drink or two from that machine, but its usually an orange juice or some tea. I had no idea it would spit out hot cans of soup or coffee. Maybe this isn't so crazy as it seems to me, but I have never seen such a thing.



Unfortunately the vending machine is coca-cola, so everything in there is coke products. They seem to have just as tight a grip on asia as they do on North America (if not more so). So yes, this was indeed a can of coca-cola corn soup(refer to my last post on the quality of bread and apply it to seemingly just about any other food you dont make or grow yourself). I am astounded by the amounts of preserved and refined foods people eat over here. I would not be surprised to see life expectancies decrease in Japan over the coming years, It just doesnt seem that people are getting good nutrition from this stuff.

Bad Bread

So I have had an ongoing cold for close to two weeks now, and it is really starting to get old. Every time I think it is getting better, it comes right back. Im quite tired of it.

On another note, I made sugar cookies the other day. I wanted some sort of christmas cookie, and sugar cookies are about the only thing that I can easily find the ingredients for. Gingerbread cookies seems to be well know around here, but the food shop didnt have molasses or cinnamon. I guess people just eat the factory baked ones, especially since most folks dont have an oven to bake things.

I cant believe what passes for "bread" over here. It is disgusting stuff. Everything comes individually wrapped, is loaded with processed sugars, fats, creams, artificial flavors...basically the least healthy and nutritious baked goods you could imagine.
It seems like people would buy real bread if it was available, in fact, a woman from my conversation class used to sell it. Unfortunately, she was baking it in her kitchen and the health department shut her down when some shop owners complained about it. They complained because she was selling so much bread, she was taking the sales of their crappy "bread" away from them. I think she said she was baking something like a hundred loaves a week, which I think is pretty incredible for a small island like this. Especially when you are operating out of your household kitchen and have a small child to raise!
What I am getting at is this island needs a bakery in a serious way. Especially if they are wanting tourists to come to town... there needs to be a good place to get tasty baked goods for breakfast. A shrink wrapped weiner roll(a hotdog buried inside something that is supposed to be a roll) just wont cut it.