Japanese Language - A Quick Reminder

I thought I could probably remember up to ten Japanese words, and you could probably do the same, at least five, without visiting recently or at all.

Here is my list, amplified with a quick look back through my own blogs on Japanese.

Akiko  girl's name meaning bright or autumn child (ko as the ending of a name means child or girl)

arigato - thank you

baddo - bad

basu - bus

beddo - bed

bento - box of lunch, think of lunch box, divided into compartments like an airline meal

creamu - cream

desuku - desk

e Edo - (name of former capital, gate of the river, now used in other place names)

fan - electric cooling fan

gamu - gum

geisha girl - entertainer, usually female, multi-skilled including singing and sympathy

ginko - nuts, prized for health giving property

hai - yes (I think  of Hi. Another memory aid would be to think of a high excited agreement of delight at a suggestion)

Hiroshima - hiro is wide and shima is island

hoteru - hotel

iki-gai - zest for life, reason for living, passion, inspiration, what gives your life meaning

jinzu - jeans

judo - gentle way, (martial arts). judoka - judo practitioner, judo-ki judo clothing or uniform 

kamera - camera

karaoke - singing for fun, to recorded music, using songsheets of video subtitles in the language you choose, provided by the company hiring the studio room, often in a shopping mall or hotel The word means empty orchestra.

kawa - river

Kiko (ki-ko means hope-child, or bright future)

Kimono - wide sleeved outfit, wrap around, secured by a wide belt. Associated with women, but can also be worn by men. Often heavy, satin or similar, lined, elegant, with seasonal patterns

Kin-tsugi - literally gold(en) journey, adding a gold line over a crack in a cracked or broken porcelain 'china' case, crockery, bowl or other object, to recycle and upcycle. Kinkaku-ji means the golden pavilion.

kinokunia - bookshop name, huge store in Singapore, name meaning country, trees

kissu - kiss

Kōhī - coffee

konnichiwa - hello / good afternoon

Kyoto  kyo means capital, to means capital, together they mean capital city

l

menu - menu

Midori - green, a girl's name, and a green drink, sweet, melon flavour,20% alcohol and as it is quite strong, used with non-alcoholic mixers to make cocktails

miso soup, like a green tea, meatless, seaweed?

mori means mountain

N 

Nagasaki, name of the city, from Naga meaning long, and saki meaning headland or cape

Noriko - girl's name law-child, discipline

O obi - wide sash worn over a kimono to tie around the waist.

Ohaiyo gozaimasu. Good morning.

piza - pizza

q

resutoran - restaurant

sake - the drink, a spirit, served hot or cold from a small porcelain bottle into tiny porcelain cuts without handles. I love it.

sayonara - goodbye. You can watch a video on You Tube of the popular classical song, in English, featuring the word sayonara.

sensei - teacher master maestro

sofa - sofa

sushi - pressed rice, topped with sliced raw fish, or meat 

sachimi Sashi - sliced/pierced thinly - mi = meat)

shoppingu moru - shopping mall

taxi - taxi

Tokyo means Eastern Capital

tometo - tomato

u

v

wagu beef, tender marbled meat from a breed of cow called Wagu, fattened up from Kobo in Japan, or Australian, expensive because of the cost of feeding the cattle

Wasabi - horseradish or similar plant, green paste with sharp flavour

x

Yotto - yacht

Yoko - girls name meaning sunlight-child, child of sunlight, bright child

Yokohama yoko is by, beside, next to, and hama is beach or shore

yukata - light summer kimono, fold-over wrap, housecoat, often cotton

Yukiko - girl's name snow-child, pure and soft

zero - zero

Useful websites

https://www.namesmama.com/japanese-girl-names/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi

https://japaninsides.com/japanese-words-that-sound-like-english-38261

wordhippo.com

Please save links to your favourite websites. Please share links to my posts.

Goldfish sake from Japan and a brewery visit

 

What a wonderful bottle. With the goldfish design. It costs £110 in the UK. It is cheaper in Japan. However, still expensive, even in Japan.

A cheaper wine at about £30 -35 is export dry black.

Another is called Ima, meaning now, is a sweeter one. It goes with oysters, around 12% alcohol. This is the one which I preferred at the lower price.

In Japan you can visit the brewery, in Niigata, prefecture, region, nw of Tokyo.

Imayo Tsukasa Sake Brewery Co Ltd

Useful Websites

www.shop.sakecollective.uk

Tricks for learning Japanese

 I am learning Japanese on Duolingo. Japanese is a challenging language if your first language is English. The verb goes at the end, like in German. If your native language is German, or you have ever started learning German, this concept will be more familiar to you. 

Useful Websites

I am also looking at all sort of other websites. To name a few, well, let's start with one, Wikitravel phrasebook. it gives the Japanese words in the same alphabet as English, which the Japanese call Romanji. (Just like we talk about Roman numerals, I II III, the Japanese talk about the Roman alphabet, a b c.)  the Japanese like to add a vowel on the ends of words. So Roman becomes 

Romanji. 

Loan Words

You will find two types of loan words.. First, easiest to pronounce are English words borrowed from Japanese.  Second, similar sounding Japanese words borrowed from English

First, Japanese words we already know and use are from clothing and food and drink.

Clothing words include: 

kimono.  

Food words include: 

sushi. The start sounds like Susan. Susan and Sue like Soo-shi, Sushi. Drinks include Sake, which is rice wine.  

When looking for easy to remember Japanese words, one of the first things I look for is words which are almost identical in English and Japanese.  I can recognize them quickly which gives me a sense of achievement and success. 

For example, checking I find

 taxi and menu are almost the same. So is toilet! And bus. In Japanese, Bas. Computer is an adapted word. 

Duolingo teaches you simple sentences and useful words. For example, She is a teacher. He is a doctor. She is a nice teacher. He is a nice doctor. At first sight the words are challenging. I find it easier to relate them to a sentence or phrase in English which sounds similar. for example, 

isha is doctor. I remember: I shall see the doctor. Isha = doctor. 

The word for teacher looks like sen-say, same sound twice. What does the sensible teacher say twice? 

I clock on the little megaphone symbol to hear the letters said. The exercise offers the translation of Japanese into English and English into Japanese. I can now quickly pick the right word each time and hear it said correctly. 

 Useful Websites

Duolingo Japanese

duolingo.com

Wikitravel Japanese Phrasebook

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.

Languages without a and the

I have been preparing slides for next Sunday's weekly meeting of LILT, the online languages club, where we do a new language every month, except most weeks, except for the very popular languages with several dialects such as Chinese and Sanskrit/Hindi where we do two weeks. I group together pairs of languages which can help you or confuse you, mostly help you. 

For example, Arabic and Hebrew and German and Yiddish. 

Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese are linked languages. They use the same picture symbols, although said differently. Think of it like the symbold for no smoking and do not iron on clothes. The symbols look the same but are said differently in the UK, USA, France and Germany and Spain.. 

Hebrew

 Hebrew does not have a, only the/this.  the verb comes second or last. You don't need the verb to be. (Ha is the. Ha zeh isthis is. Ma zeh is what is this.)

Japanese

Japanese does not have a and the.

Japanese sentences have the verb at the end.

Winter Solstice in Asia

 Asia

I was surprised to receive in WhatsApp greetings for the winter solstice from a Toastmasters International club., in Singapore.

Red is the lucky or auspicious colour in China.

I looked it up in Wikipedia. It is not the mooncake festival. Wikipedia says>

The Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; pinyin: Dōngzhì; lit. 'winter's extreme') is one of the most important Chinese festivals celebrated by the Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Taiwan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans and other East Asian-related people during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice), some day between December 21 to December 23.

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, it is believed that days will have longer daylight hours and therefore create an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fu (Chinese: 复, "Returning").

Contents

• 1Traditional activities
  • 1.1In Taiwan
• 2See also
• 3References
• 4External links

Traditional activities

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is a time for families to get together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of tangyuan (汤圆) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinous rice flour and are sometimes coloured pink or green. Each family member receives at least one large tangyuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls are cooked in a sweet soup or savory broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl. It is also often served with jiuniang, a mildly alcoholic, unfiltered rice wine containing whole grains of glutinous rice (and often also sweet osmanthus flowers).

The Osmanthus flower is a tiny white flower also known as tea olive or sweet olive. It can be used in rice cakes as well as the drink. It looks like privet and has a fragrant perfume.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. This custom is said to have been started by Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. One cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm and prevent their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qùhán jiāoěr tāng" (祛寒娇耳汤) or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

In southern China, people eat rice cake (Chinese: 冬至团; pinyin: dōngzhìtuán), which means reunion. It is not only eaten by the family, but also shared with friends and relatives as a blessing. Mutton soup, rice cake and red bean sticky rice are also popular in southern China.

Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the same clan to gather at their ancestral temples to worship on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial ceremony.

Another tradition is eating hot pot.

The festive food is also a reminder that celebrators are now a year older and should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many Chinese around the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after the Dongzhi celebration instead of waiting for the lunar new year.

In Taiwan

The Dongzhi Festival is also very important to Taiwanese people. It is also a tradition for Taiwanese to eat tangyuan on this day. They also use the festive food as an offering dish to worship the ancestors.

In accordance with Taiwanese history, many people take some of the tangyuan that have been used as offerings and stick them on the back of the door or on windows and tables and chairs. These "empowered" tangyuan supposedly serve as protective talismans to keep evil spirits away from children.

As well as following some of the customs practiced on mainland China, the people of Taiwan have a unique custom of offering nine-layer cakes as a ceremonial sacrifice to worship their ancestors. These cakes are made using glutinous rice flour in the shape of a chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow, or sheep, and then steamed in different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition.

Many people take invigorating tonic foods during this particular winter festival. To the Taiwanese, winter is a time when most physical activities should be limited and you should eat well to nourish your body. This practice follows the habits shown by many animals which follow the law of nature and hibernate throughout winter months to rejuvenate and to preserve life. In order to fight cold temperatures, it is necessary to eat more fatty and meaty foods during winter when your body can better absorb the rich and nutritional foods at this time due to a slower metabolic rate.

Since Dongzhi is the "extreme of winter", Taiwanese regard it as the best time of the year to take tonic foods. Some of the most widely popular winter tonic foods enjoyed by Taiwanese to fight cold and strengthen the body's resistance are mutton hot pot and ginger duck hot pot. Other foods like chicken, pork, and abalone are also common ingredients used in making tonic foods with nurturing herbs such as ginseng, deer horn, and the fungus cordyceps.

Useful Websites

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-and-the-winter-solstice/

https://mitzvahday.org.uk/hanukkah-winter-solstice-festivals-of-light/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongzhi_Festival

Osmanthus flower to flavour food and drinks

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Osmanthus_fragrans

How Singapore AIrlines Introduced Me To UTalk Language Learning Inflight and the Korean word for three

Back in 2005 Singapore Airlines had Berlitz language learning on the flights. With about 12 hours sitting metaphorically glued to a seat in front of a screen, seemed like a good time to pick up a new language. 

I did not make fast progress. However, I was disappointed when the system stopped.

Imagine my joy when I discovered language learning had come back. this time with a system I did not know, called UTalk. I had a choice of several languages. I started with the most challenging, Korean. Did I learn anything? Yes, only one word, but it was important. I now know that the word for three in Korean is Sam. The Chinese and Japanese share the same word for three, San. (I learned the Japanese, Ichi, Ni, San, Shi. Sam, like same, like uncle Sam. This was the first evidence that some, not all, of Japanese and Korean and Chinese words could be similar. 

The Chinese and Japanese signs are mostly the same. Think of the no smoking symbol, which is read by the English as no smoking. The French will look at the same sign and get the message, which they translate in their heads into French.

English - Korean

Three - sam

Korean - English

sam - three

Useful Websites

Airline Passenger Experience magazine

https://apex.aero/magazine/

https://apex.aero/articles/watch-learn-flight-language-lessons-put-words-passengers-mouths/

Duolingo

Memrise

My Language Exchange

https://www.mylanguageexchange.com/

UTalk /Eurotalk

https://utalk.com/news/tag/wikipedia/

https://utalk.com/news/helping-yourself-to-learn-a-language/

For Children

https://utalklanguagegames.com/

https://eurotalk.com/en/store/learn/french/talknow/cd

Why Learn Another Language? (Plus 7 easy Swedish words)

Flag of Esperanto. From Wikipedia.

1 Be Bilingual

 Being bilingual could stave off Alzheimers for five years. Giving you quality of life. Saving you from sad visits to grannies. Saving the government money.

2 Why Start Language Learning With Esperanto?

If you only speak one language, (English and louder English) and are scared of languages, the easiest is to learn Esperanto. It is a made up language designed as an intermediary language for Europeans. 

What use is it?

a) People who learn it go on to learn another language and pick it up faster. 

3 Where can I speak Esperanto?

b) You can find or start Esperanto clubs on Meetup. In the UK there is one in Reading. 

c) Although no country speaks it, you can join the homestay system and stay with another Esperanto speaker for free for three days to practise the language. 

d) Countries like Hungary, whose language has little in common with neighbouring languages, favour Esperanto. Hungary has had Esperanto as an A level.) I bought the Esperato-English dictionary and did a correspondence course in Esperanto. You can see a map of where to find Esperanto speakers.

e) Esperanto speakers hold an annual conference.

3 A sense of achievement

Which languages are easiest? First Esperanto if you are European or speak English. Then Spanish, from that Portuguese or Italian. If you are learning Chinese or Japanese, they are a pair. The written language uses the same symbols, like the no smoking sign and washing symbols, the signs are the same, although the spoken words are different. Bulgarian uses Cyrillic like Russian. Cyrillic combines Greek and Hebrew with new letters. Spoken Arabic and Hebrew are similar. Salaam and Shalom mean peace or hello.  

German and Dutch and the Scandinavian languages are a group. Finland has Swedish as one of two official languages. Chinese (Mandarin) is also used in Taiwan, and Singapore. (Hong Kong uses Cantonese.)

Humour In Language

Lots of mistakes in language are funny in retrospect. I wanted trousers in a US department store. They say pants for trousers and underpants for pants.

I asked for rubbers.  

'Not stocked here. Try a drug store.' 

I found them. I confronted the assistant. 'What's this!'

An eraser.

The American for rubbers is erasers. Rubbers are contraceptives.

Spanish, Italian and Portuguese are a group.

Some simple Swedish words

Swedish - English

1 arkitekt - architect

2 modell  - model

3 polis - police

4 pappa - papa/Dad (notice the a, unlike American Pop)

5 professionell - professional

6 syster - sister

7 tomat - tomato

English - Swedish

1 architect - arkitekt

2 Dad/pop/papa - pappa

3 model - modell

4 police - polis

5 professional - professionell

6 Sister - syster

7 tomato - tomat

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.

Kinokuniya Japanese Bookshop - Delights & Successes

Why Choose Kinokunia?

I wanted to buy a book in Singapore and thought the best selection would be in a large bookshop, easily located, near an underground railway station. (MRT for short - remember it as standing for mass railway transit.) 

I looked up bookshops and found three major bookshops, Kinokunia, Popular and Times. I remembered that Kinokunia is accessible via an underground walkway lined with shops, from the central railway station Orchard (on Orchard Road). That seemed a good idea on a rainy day. I did not want to get wet, nor risk my freshly bought books and stationery getting wet.

The Name, Kinokunia

Kinokunia is a Japanese bookshop. It is upstairs in the office tower housing the glamorous, oriental department store Takashimaya, which is also Japanese. 

The name Kinokunia is two words forming a compound word. Kino is Japanese for country. Kuniya means trees. 

How do you remember this if your first language is English? The first syllable or word Kino sounds like cinema or kinetic. The second word starts with another k. Then the third vowel follow the pattern AEIOU, the IOU part. Notice the I and Y. Finally a. Say it three times. Japanese words give each word or syllable equal emphasis. Key-no/know-cun-ya. (or ear or ee-ya - listen to how a Japanese or Chinese employee of the company pronounces it.

Getting There

The underground walkway (underpass, basements 1 and 2) is lined with enticing shops, a very pleasant walk.

When you reach Takashimaya department store in the basement of one of the two towers of Ngee Ann City (a 26 storey skyscraper complex), you see the semi circular fountain and Takashimaya Plaza. 

Kinokunia - How To See Inside Shrink-Wrapped Books

In Kinokunia the books are all sealed inside a transparent shrink-wrapping. Whilst this ensures they reach you undamaged and uncontaminated by other human hands, it does make it hard to browse and choose books.

By chance, I went to ask a question and the assistant was busy helping another customer. He removed the shrink-wrapping from two books for her. I was delighted to discover this was possible. Apparently all the assistants carry a small knife so they can help customers see inside books. 

Choosing A Baby Record book

Having narrowed down my choice to the two cheapest baby books, I asked for them to be opened up. 

One was a flashcard box. The cards were not what I wanted at all. They had patterns on the back and images on the front, no empty frames where you could add pictures. So that was a fast decision. 

The Baby Record Book Bought

I bought a baby book.

Then watercolour pencils and a small thick paper sketch book for doing little pictures of people and places when I travel.

The Learn Chinese Language Books I Could Have Bought 

Then a Chinese language book. The book Chinese For Dummies looked excellent but was beyond my budget, and rather large and heavy for reading in bed and lugging around. I found half a dozen books which all looked excellent and bought the two cheapest items.

The Laminated learn Chinese Card

The laminated card was not tow sections like a book but in three sections with two vertical folds like an old fashioned dressing table mirror or altar picture. It was large but very light to pack. 

Learn Chinese Book

The cheapest and thinnest book was Chinese Made Super Easy. My main reason for choosing it was the large print. I could read it in bed at night. Or in semi-darkness on a plane.

The outing was a delight. The whole of the Takashimaya building is decorated with the theme of orchids. Up the massive multi-storey pillars. The orchid is the national flower of Singapore.

(More photos of location and books later.)

Useful Websites

https://kinokuniya.com.sg/

https://www.takashimaya.com.sg/

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Learning and remembering names of people you meet when you travel

 "What is your good name?" was the charming question from an Asian friend-to-be.

My good name is Angela, which is Greek for messenger.

Biblical And Religious Names

Many names are from the original bible (which Christians called the Old Testament, after they added the New Testament. Abraham, David, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Paul, Saul, Solomon. For females, Rachel, Rebbekah, Sarah (which means princess - Hebrew version nowadays is Shoshana). Diminutives include Bekky, Rae, Ray, Sally 

Jewish, Hebrew and Yiddish

The Yiddish and Hebrew versions include Abram, Avram, Baruch, Moishe, Yitzak. Diminutives (short abbreviations) include Abe, Jo, Izzie, Mo, Solly.  The twelve tribes of Israel supply surnames such as Hart (a hart or deer). 

Cohen means priest. Anglicization results in variations such as Cahn, Kahn, Cohan and Cohn.

El and Ya (or Yahweh) are the two terms for God. Joel combines both. Eliza, Elizabeth. Daniel (God is my judge). Ezekiel. Michael (Micha-el). Jo-seph. Jo-anne.

From the New Testament, Mathew, Mark, Luke, John. 

Jesus (pronounced Hay Zeus in Venezuela) and Christus are Spanish. 

French

Marie (Mary in English) is given to many girls in France. Therefore a different name is added, such as Marie-Antoinette. Blanc means white, so LeBlanc is the white one, or white-haired, or pale skinned.

Greek

Peter is rock (English) and Petur.

Moslem

Mohammed is frequent amongst Moslems. David becomes Dawood, as a surname or family name. You can sometimes see that the names in Arabic are derived from Aramaic, similar to Hebrew. Amin is Arabic and means trustworthy, often used as part of a compound word.

Latin

Latin names include Caesar, Julius (from which we get the month of July), Marcus,

Danes & Scandinavian

Danes and Scandinavians might call themselves Christian as a first or middle name, such as Hans Christian Andersen.

Italian names

Male names end with o such as Mario, whilst the girls' names often end with a, such as Maria.

Iago is equivalent to John.

English Family Names

English names often end with son which means son of. For example, Johnson, Peterson, Robinson, Stevens, Williams.

Scandinavian Family Names

Scandinavian names often end with sen which means son of.

Scottish Family Names

The Scottish Fitz means son of. Fitzwilliam is son of William. The Irish O' means of. O'Connor means of Connor. Anderson means son of Anders.

Dutch Names

Dutch names might include von which means from.

German Names

German first names include Fritz, Hans, Herman, Wolf.

The family names include: Cassell, castle; Mann, meaning Mann, Kaufman meaning shopkeeper or seller, Klein meaning small, Muller meaning Miller.

Indian/Hindu/Sanskrit

Anand from Sanskrit means joy. Balakrishnan means child of Krishna. Kaur is a woman's name among Sikhs and others, used as a last name or the last part of a first name or personal name. Mohan means

Patel is Gujurati and means the head man of the village. Reddy is a caste from Southern India, and members of this cast are known for both farming and administration.

Shah, which I thought was King, is described as Emperor in Persian but a mere merchant in other groups. Of course, a merchant could be very rich and powerful (a bit like company director).

Sharma means joy or shelter.

Names from Gods include

Names of tribes include

Russian

Russian names include of or ov for a man, son of (place or person), whilst ova is daughter/female of a place or person. So Ivanov is son of Ivan.

Spanish Names

Spanish names, like French, are often taken from the Saint's Day, which is the birthday of the child being names.  Popular names include Teresa. José is the name Joseph in English (or vice-versa) and if your surname is Fidel that means faithful.

Rude Names

Some foreign names sound rude in English. It would be rude to draw attention to it. However, I must, in case you wonder why others are laughing, from embarrassment, when you are not. Cock means a part of the male anatomy in English. It is a popular surname in The Netherlands, because it means Cook in Dutch. 

The Chinese surname Kok is frequently seen or heard.

Some other customs you might come across which could confuse you. You may need to ask questions to clarify. In the UK in previous generations it was standard for a woman to take the man's family name upon marriage. Amongst the upper classes, when both families were prominent and well-known, a name could be hyphenated. Later with the advent of TV and media celebrities, women who took their husband's name might retain their own name by which they were already well known. For example, tennis player Billy Jean-King. 

In Spain the woman's family name is often retained as a middle name. No hyphen.

Chinese Names

Shan meaning mountain is a common girl's name. Shan Shan is a plural. Mountains.

Mei means beautiful.

Japanese

Ko means a female, a girl, a daughter. Hence names such Akiko, Yoko, Yumiko. 

Travel Tip

To learn somebody else's name, or impress yours on their mind so they don't forget you, repeat the name three times.

Useful Websites

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/popular-indian-last-names-for-your-baby_00334734/

New Restaurant in Hatch End, Fusion 381 opened mid 2022, with my menu translations

Fusion 381 restaurant in Hatch End, exterior showing the street number is 381. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 Interior of Fusion 381 restaurant, showing the depiction of a lady in a large at above the bar. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Fusion 381

The new restaurant, was new to me, and my family, in June 2022. The location is Hatch End. It is in the old, former Natwest bank building. 381 The Broadway, Uxbridge Road. When I pushed open the door, the manager or owner rushed forward to greet me.

Decor

Above the bar area is a big picture of a lady in a large hat.

The table are wipe clean wood or wood effect. The chair backs lean back and are orange at the front and blue on the back.

Some of the words on the menu which you might like to get familiar with before a visit.

bao - bun

canai - roti canai is Indian flatbread

ebi - shrimp or prawns in Japan

edamo

galangal - also called Siamese ginger (Thai ginger)

gelato - Italian sorbet/ice cream

Gyoza - sometimes described as a dumpling but more often a pasta wrap pressed together with a filling of stuffing of minced meat and vegetable, like a fan shape fried ravioli, but can be larger like a semi-circular samosa, but on this menu dumplings with apple filling.

Katsu - means cutlet in Japanese, strips of fried meat (or vegetables) in batter which you eat dipped in a sauce

julienne - sliced into short sticks, flat edged

king prawn - large prawns

mangetout - french for eat all, tiny peas served in the pod

Massaman - rich, mild, Thai curry

mirin - like sake, which is rice wine, but with more sugar and less alcohol

miso  Miso (みそ or 味噌) is a Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji  (fungus) and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. The thick paste is used for sauces, spreads, pickling vegetables, fish, or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup. 

Mochi - moulded rice cake, could be a white, ball, a dome or an oblong, and can be coloured

mouli - a type of radish

pak choy - a green vegetable. I don't like it. Asians love it.

panko - crunchy small breadcrumbs

ponzu - citrus based sauce which is colourless but brown when soy sauce is added

roti - round Indian flat bread

roti

roti   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canai.jpg

roti canai

shallots - onions

shichimi - spice of chilli pepper with 7 ingredients, such as 

• coarsely ground red chili pepper (the main ingredient)
• ground sanshō ("Japanese pepper")
• roasted orange peel (Chenpi)
• black sesame seed
• white sesame seed
• hemp seed^[5]
• ground ginger^[3]
• nori or aonori (seaweed)
• poppy seed
• 
  
  
  
  

tamarind - brown, sweet, tangy fruit from trees grown in Africa

Tamarind, picture from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind#/media/File:Tamarindus_indica_pods.JPG

tempura - Japanese fried food

tofu - vegetarian food, often white cubes like a solid mousse or feta cheese, can be fried

wok - bowl shape frying pan for quick cooking vegetables and sliced up meat or fish or other items which are tossed about

yakitori - Japanese style, grilled with tasty brown sauce which might be based on a soy sauce

V=vegetarian (vegetables, no meat)

VE=vegan (vegetables, no meat, no milk, no eggs, no animal products - which will mean no gelatine from animals)

I have already chosen what I would like to order. I am allergic to shellfish. So no prawns or squid for starters.  My choices of starters would be Indian bread with curry, or chicken skewers with sesame seed, and if we order a second different starter the duck with Peking sauce is a favourite of my family although you can order that at other places.

For my main course, there are three chicken dishes, two dishes with lemon grass, and an extra of sweet potato fries.

Fusion 381 restaurant

381 Uxbridge Road

Hatch End 

HA5 4JP

TEL 020 3859 8722.

The menu is on the outside wall on both sides of the front door, also on their website. The menu choices include

Starters

Main courses

Sides and salads include coconut rice and sweet potato fries.

I like the menu. Desserts include chocolate brownie with coconut ice creams, or apple dumpling (called gyozo).

Drinks include cranberry juice, lychee juice, prosecco, sake, cocktails, wines.

Location

By car

You can park outside. Easy to find near the Tesco Express, on the opposite side of the road to the Hatch End railway station.

By bus and train

Hatch end has two buses. The H14 goes to and from Stanmore. 

The H12 goes to Harrow Northwick Park.

Website

https://www.fusion381.com/

Food menu

https://www.fusion381.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/381food-v2.pdf

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/h12/

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/timetable/h12/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti_canai

Update November 2025. This post is now about historic Hatch End. The latest restaurant in the converted bank is Eggholic. See my later posts.

Please follow me share links to your favourite posts. I have three busy blogs, on travel, fashion, and poetry. Others are intermittent.  

Japanese Michelin starred restaurant Bam! in Singapore. Prices!

 

Tomato Gazpacho. The best dish, also the best value, at only 6 Sing dollars. (Add 10% service charge and 7% GST to the bill.)

This close up shows the almost invisible ginger, like what we in or from Britain call a jelly (Americans use the brand name Jello).

Another vegetable dish, at the same price, S$6, was spinach.

Door to Bam! restaurant in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The round, red, doorway stickers tell us that the restaurant had the prestigious and internationally understood Michelin mentions, awards?, in 2018, 2019 and right now at the time of our visit, 2021.

The best dish at Bam was my starter, a cold tomato soup with pieces of ginger. It looked great and tasted greater. Highly recommended. 

We chose the tapas, the individual plates, not the seat meal.

Our Chinese friend Shan, one of Trevor's former colleagues, lives part of the year in Japan so she is knowledgeable about Japanese food as well as Asian food. Trevor is the wine expert. I just eat. And write. And take great photos. 

This picture taken by the waiter is slightly askew. I tried editing it to get the horizontals correct. However, that cuts off my shoulder. So I have left it looking tipped and tipsy. In addition to the smiles all around, I love the yellows and reds.

What can you see in this photo? Unusual cutlery. Knives, forks and spoons and cutlery rests. We were also given chopsticks and chopstick rests. 

The neutral colour table top and walls are offset by the cheerful red water tumblers. The red water glass co-ordinates with the red wine, and my red top.

Every dish comes with a dip or sauce, contrasting colour, texture and taste. 

My companions ordered shellfish. One of the dishes was Taraba Crab Cake. I am allergic to that so I ate more of the chicken wings, at Shan's kind suggestion.

The composite savoury cakes (a bit like so-called fish cakes) included one of yellow corn, which  we mostly eat as corn on the cob. it is listed on the menu as white corn, and the corn kernels are in a thick white sauce in the batter. (Americans call the corn, maize. Off the cob - it looks like squashed yellow peas.) The yellow corn kernels were in a white sauce, inside a fish cake like deep fried batter, a contrast of textures.

BAM! Tapas-Sake Bar

38 Tras Street

Singapore 078977

Tel 62260500

Lunch 12 noon - 2 pm.

Dinner 6.30 pm - 10.30 pm.

Useful Websites

www.bam.sg

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including: Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Happy Birthday To you - Learn and teach the tune and words

 

Happy birthday to you is said to be the most universally known song. It is translated into many languages, into Spanish. The Japanese can sing it in English. How come this English language song is so popular?

It is easy. How many words? Five.

Happy

Birthday

To 

you

dear  my

It is widely song at birthday parties in restaurants. The best restaurants, in my opinion, dim the lights so that others look towards the birthday table and the family have time from the advance warning to get their cameras ready and photograph the candles. know a good singer, get them to lead the singing. Give them the microphone.

Playing the tune is good because it helps everyone sing in tune, or masks their sharp singing if they don't.

Useful Websites

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

BHA

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on 

bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee was by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

Next meetings will be on these dates (unless a national holiday in Singapore or worldwide)

Themes and word of the day are tentative

2021

JULY - JUBILANT JULY

Theme/WOD Jubilant

WORKSHOPS & EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS (based on level one of Pathways)

1 Your first speech or role EASY ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Articles A and The, Plurals, Tenses, Pronunciation, Singlish)

2 CHOOSE YOUR PATH

Wed July 7th 

Saturday 17th

July 4th American Independence Day.

2021 AUGUST - AWESOME AUGUST

1 Pathway Level 1 Introductory Speeches

2 Evaluations

Wed 4th

Sat 21

2021 SEPT - SUPER SEPTEMBER

Wed 1st

Sat 18th SPEECH CONTESTS

Humorous Speech Contest

Table Topics Contest

2021 OCT - ODD OCTOBER

Wed 6th

Sat 16th

2021 NOV - NOVELTY NOVEMBER

Wed 3rd

Sat 20th Wed

Diwali Hindu Festival of lights Nov 4th.

Nov 25th American Thanksgiving.

Hanukah starts 28 Dec 8 days until Dec 6. Jewish Festival of lights, celebrated by Jesus.

2021 DEC - DARLING DECEMBER

Wed  1st (Hanukah if not previous month. Festival foods.)

Sat 18th

Speech on 

JAN 2022 - JOYFUL JANUARY

Wed Jan 5th New beginning - forget the past

Sat 15 Long-term plans = for the future/Chinese New Year (CNY for short)

2022 FEB FUN FEBRUARY

Theme Love and romance - Chinese New Year

Feb 1st and 2nd are holidays - do we move this Feb 2nd meeting date?)

Wed 2nd (Valentine's Day Mon Feb 14)

Sat 19th

2022 MAR - MARVELLOUS MARCH

Theme

Wed 2nd

Sat 19

March 1st is Christian Pancake day. 

2022 APR - APRIL'S AIMS

Wed 6th

Sat 16th

Muslim Ramadan 1-30 April.

Jewish Passover (Seder meal=Last supper) April

 16

2022 MAY - MODERNISING MAY

Wed 4th

Sat 21

2022 JUN - JUBILANT JUNE

Wed 1st

Sat 18th

Jul 6, Jul 16, Aug 3, Aug 20, Sept 7, Sept 17, Oct 5, Oct 15, Nov 2, Nov 19, Dec 7, Dec 17.

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See many varied posts such as the post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts.