Sai Sai Jaran Jaran is a featured series here on MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON from the members of the all-female band SILEN SIREN (aka Sai Sai) who visit various hot spots in Japan and experience different things, the Sai Sai way.   For the long-awaited 6^th entry we take a trip with band leader Hinanchu. She lived in Indonesia for 10 years from the age of 5 to 15. She fancied a bite of nostalgia so she hit up an Indonesian restaurant in Tokyo. Indonesian cuisine isn’t a familiar taste to the people of Japan, but it seems like there are a lot of delicious options.   Hinanchu visits “cabe” in Meguro for a bite of nostalgic Indonesian food The first place we visit is “cabe” in Meguro. The Indonesian Embassy is close by this restaurant. Over half the customers that dine there are from Indonesia. The restaurant is considerate of Islamic law and so provides authentic Indonesian cuisine that uses absolutely no pork or pig-derived ingredients. The head chef is a Javanese woman who has expert skills in creating major Indonesia dishes as well as food seldom handled in Japan. Hinanchu begins by ordering one Sate Ayam (¥220) and Fried Tempeh (¥500). Sate is famous dish from Indonesia of skewered meat. When made with chicken it’s called “sate ayam.” Tempeh is made from soy and used in place of meat for various dishes, making it popular with vegetarians and those on a macrobiotic diet. “Tempeh is a food that was always at street food stands. I used to eat it a lot as a snack when I was small! It’s a nostalgic flavour! It’s sort of like natto, but it doesn’t have a smell. It’s easy to eat.” The Soto Ayam (¥730) is a chicken soup made with vermicelli. It’s like Japanese miso soup and can be found in all regions of Indonesia. It has a turmeric colour and looks like curry soup but it’s chicken flavoured. It’s said that Sapporo soup curry took a hint from this dish. Mie Bakso (¥800) is an Indonesia meatball soup with noodles. cabe handmakes all of its meatballs so one of its characteristics is how large the meatballs are. “This is what I’ve been wanting to eat forever! I’m moved that I’m able to eat proper Indonesian food for the first time after coming back to Japan! The other [band] members love Indonesian food too so I want to come again with everyone.” The restaurant is spacious and comfortable. They also sell Indonesian ingredients and goods there too. You can try a lot of different flavours on the menu so we recommend visiting here if you’ve never tried Indonesian cuisine before.   Merah Putih Cafe in Shin-Ōkubo Hinanchu’s next stop is Merah Putih Cafe in Shin-Ōkubo. It’s located inside a multi-purpose building that’s filled with a multicultural exotic mood that will have you wondering whether you’re still in Japan.   The restaurant serves food from Padang, the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province. This region is famous for its food which is distinct for its spices. The first dish Hinanchu picks is an assortment of Padang style food "Nasi Padang" (¥1,280). The assortment changes each day. On this day it came with fried omelette, fried chicken with coconut, salad and rice. “The chicken is spicy. It was delicious. I lived in Jakarta so it was refreshing trying Padang style food!” This restaurant has a lot of regulars including tourists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and other East Asian countries. The people of Indonesia love rice so the restaurant serves it with spicy food, fried food and other types that go well with it. We recommend this place if you’re looking for an authentic taste. Having visited two Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo, Hinanchu made the following comment: “Since coming back to Japan I’ve been wanting to eat Indonesian food, but there’s a lot of restaurants here that serve Southeast Asian cuisine. I’m happy I was able to enjoy authentic meals today. I was sucked into the nostalgia, it was like being back over there.”   Hinanchu also spoke Indonesian with the staff who were also from Indonesia and took a photo!   Indonesian cuisine isn’t a familiar taste to the people of Japan, but there are many delicious things to choose from. If you’re in Japan why not try it for yourself?

Sai Sai Jaran Jaran is a featured series here on MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON from the members of the all-female band SILEN SIREN (aka Sai Sai) who visit various hot spots in Japan and experience different things, the Sai Sai way.   Today we follow the band’s vocalist – Suu! Suu is a huge candle lover and says that she has a lot of candles in her home. She’s always wanted to try candle-making, so she’s taken this opportunity to challenge herself to the task! Suu visited Candle Studio in Daikanyama and participated in a one-time candle-making lesson. You get to make one complete candle to take home. Candle Studio is an all-out candle-making school, offering everything from one-off lessons for beginners to a JCA-recognised candle craft course, candle artist course and instructor course. The location is visited by newcomers and pros alike. The one-time lesson Suu took cost ¥4,000. With that, you get to pick from a botanical candle and aroma wax sachet. You can either make 2 of the same type or 1 each. You get to pick different coloured and fragranced dried flowers to make your own personal candle. Suu was given special permission to make 2 of each. After putting on her apron it was time to get creating. “I’m nervous whether I’ll do it well or not but I’ll try my best!” said Suu. First up, the botanical candles. You start by picking the candle’s base colour. Suu went for blue and orange candles. After putting the candles in the silicone mould, you pick the flowers you want and fit them into the gap around the candle. They have a whole range of decorations prepared including dried flowers, preserved flowers, paper berries and so on. Choosing what to go in there is all part of the fun! Use pin sets while cutting the flowers of your choice with scissors and place them in. Arrange them around the outside of the flower with the sides you want to show. If you use thin flowers they will look transparent when you light the candle, so keep this in mind when choosing your flowers. The secret to success however is to not think about it too much and just go all in. Once you’ve placed all the flowers you want, pick a scent of your choice from the samples provided. Suu went with cranberry and rose. Melt the wax to 65℃-70℃ and add one spoon of your chosen fragrance. Heat the scented wax once more and pour into the silicon mould. After releasing the air from the center of the candle, arrange any flowers that have floated to the top and set aside to harden. Next on the list is to make the sachets. Like before, pick out a base colour from the colour samples provided. Suu chose a white base this time. Transparent wax is mixed in with the white colourant. To make the colour a little creamier mix in just a tiny bit of vanilla colourant before adding the fragrance. Suu picked plumeria and mango. Next is to position the dried flowers. With the sachets, you will add dried flowers on top after pouring the wax into the mould. So think about how you want them arranged first by positioning them in the mould first. Once you know what you want, add the wax into the mould. Once the wax has cooled slightly and skin has formed on the surface, arrange your dried flowers. Suu styled hers like a bouquet. She then added dried flowers and fruits to the other one. Now all that’s left is to wait! While Suu was making the sachet, the first candle she started on had hardened. She removes it by pushing it up out of the silicone mould. After curling the wick into a beautiful shape it’s complete! The sachet was ready now too so Suu removed it from the mould. Suu adds an eyelet and chooses a ribbon of her choice to complete the sachet. Her botanical candles and aroma wax sachets are complete!   “It was a little hard as it was my first time, but I was able to fully concentrate. It was so much fun! The time that went by making them was very therapeutic. You can make all sorts of other candles too, so I want to come back ASAP!” explained Suu as she booked her next class right there and then. The class was a big success and Suu left super satisfied. Candle Studio Daikanyama are now holding classes to make snow dome and Ornament sachets for the Christmas season. It costs ¥5,000 to make one snow dome candle and three sachets with Christmas designs. They cater to all beginners too, so if you’re interested you can feel at ease if you visit. Try it yourself.

Sai Sai Jaran Jaran is a featured series here on MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON from the members of the all-female band SILEN SIREN (aka Sai Sai) who visit various hot spots in Japan and experience different things, the Sai Sai way.   This month we’ll be following band bassist Ainyan, who is also responsible for having designed the band’s original character Sai Sai-kun and even handling the designs of the band’s official merchandise.   Ainyan loves writing with calligraphy pens. She also knows about and is interested in artistic calligraphy posted online. Teaching her calligraphy art today is calligrapher Yuki who showcases her work at events, and her skills have also been requested for projects. All that you need to produce calligraphy art is an ordinary Japanese calligraphy set. As well as a brush, ink, shijajiki mat and paper weight you’ll need watercolour equipment and coloured autograph card. The first step is to think of the character you want to write. If you can’t think of one you can flick through a Japanese dictionary. The thing to note about calligraphy art is that you’re free to write as you like! There’s no strict rules like in regular Japanese calligraphy. For example, you can hold the brush in any way you like, write in whatever style you like, and go over any lines you’ve already put on the paper. It’s important to think freely and express yourself in calligraphy art. Also, hanshi paper used for calligraphy has a glossy surface. With calligraphy art you want to let the colours run and spread, so Ainyan is using the back of the paper. Ainyan begins by challenging herself to writing the kanji麦 (mugi) which means ‘barley,’ a fundamental ingredient used in beer which Ainyan loves. Don’t think about the art side of things straight away. Just write it normally first. This is Ainyan’s first attempt at writing out mugi. Next is to think about how to write it in a more running style. She could write it in a patchier way, drip ink over it, have parts sticking out and so on. Ainyan goes ahead and splotches lots of ink on. She dips plenty of ink onto her brush, so much so that it’s dripping off, and begins writing in a large and thick style from the first stroke. She continues writing like that until the end without topping up her brush with more ink. Her final stroke comes completely off the paper! Ainyan was concerned that the top part of the kanji was too black and blotchy because of how much ink she used.   “What should I do so that the middle part doesn’t become blotchy?” she asked. “If you lift the brush up vertically, like it’s floating, then you can draw thinly,” the teacher replied. Ainyan learned while the teacher lent her a hand. Her second attempt at writing mugi has fairly thick strokes. You can feel the vigour in this piece. Taking into consideration what the teacher said, Ainyan gave it another shot. She dipped it into plenty of ink once more and began writing with strong strokes and keeping the brush upright to draw thin lines while adding variations. Compared to the first attempt, this version of mugi is slim and confident.   “I want to hang it up in an izakaya!” said Ainyan laughing. After having understood a bit about art penmanship, Ainyan moved onto another kanji. The one that came to mind was笑顔 (egao) meaning ‘smile.’ She starts out by drawing it in the way she likes. This is her first version of egao. The first kanji 笑 meaning ‘laugh’ is drawn like a face, while the 顔, meaning ‘face’ also has a face in the 頁 section of the kanji on the right. “If you know a kanji like this, then no matter how much you alter it you can still read it as ‘笑顔’ so it’s okay to change it as you please,” the teacher said. Next Ainyan thinks on how she can improve the piece.   “The ‘笑’ kanji looks like a dog so I might try to make it look a bit more like a dog. The ‘顔’ kanji has a lot of legs and looks like an octopus so I’ll make it an octopus!” she said. Ainyan begins making her kanji characters look like a dog and octopus while having the original to the side as reference. She made the strokes of the 笑 look like ears and fit in eyes and a nose to look like a dog. She also connected the 彦 part of 顔 to the 頁 part and made the face look more like an octopus face. Truly a work of calligraphy art! The next important step is to add colour. If you add too much water to your water colours they will fade when you add on the ink, so it’s important to layer the two by not using too much water. If it becomes patchy add just a little bit of water. Adding a border makes the white parts that are left look cute so Ainyan left part of the inside of the dog’s ear white. She used orange for the dog’s ear and red for the octopus’s legs. To top it all off, she painted a doggy paw print in a free space. Looks pretty good! Finally, Ainyan drew up a new and final copy on the coloured autograph paper by fixing up any small details and adding colour. Her first piece of calligraphy art is complete!   “I’m really satisfied I got to do something I was wanting to do!” she said with a smile – a 笑顔. Ainyan looked over pieces the teacher had created and was especially interested in the ones with blotted ink. She decided to challenge herself to making such a piece. The kanji she decided on was 愛 (ai) meaning ‘love’ which is also part of Ainyan’s own name.   Once again she readied plenty of ink and began with strong strokes. She drew the thin parts of the character while bringing out the details until she finished with a final strong stroke. She made the right part stroke of the 心 part of the kanji blurry. This effect is achieved by adding some water to the brush and pressing it onto the stroke you have already drawn that you want to make blurry. Her kanji is complete! The blurriness gives it a 3D effect. No painting tools were used and yet Ainyan was still able to create art from calligraphy. She made a final copy of this on coloured autograph card too. To make it even more arty Ainyan turned the final stroke into a love heart which she added water to for the blur effect. Ainyan wasn’t satisfied so she sprinkled ink around the heart for additional effect. To do this, you hold the brush horizontally and hit the end of the brush to make the ink sprinkle down. After checking the balance was right, Ainyan signed her completed piece. What a vibrant and lively piece of calligraphy art! But Ainyan wasn’t done just yet. To commemorate this month’s feature, she drew one for MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON (もしもしにっぽん)! She made the circle part of ぽ (po) a red sun which symbolizes the Japanese flag and made the ん (n) look like Mount Fuji. We are pinning this up at the MOSHI MOSHI BOX Harajuku Tourist Information Center, so be sure to look for it if ever you stop by to see us in Harajuku. Ainyan wrote so many! Here are her comments on what looked to be a hugely satisfying occasion. “Today was so much fun, it was over before I knew it! It’s enjoyable not having to follow a correct way. The more you write, the more you think to yourself, ‘I want to do it this way,’ so you never get tired of writing! It was fun being able to write freely. Even the teacher said things like ‘It’s good like this’ rather than ‘You should do it like this!’ It relieved my stress and I felt refreshed!”   In the next article, we will be joined by SILENT SIREN vocalist Suu. Look forward to seeing where she goes and what she gets up to!     Writer: Sayoko Ishii Photographer: Kayo Sekiguchi Translation: Joshua Kitosi-Isanga