Indoor Electric Composter - Made in Japan

A photo of the composter from Hitachi (Hitachi BGD-V18 Kitchen Magic)

This past week, Ken bought me the neatest new 'toy'. It's a composter. I have wanted a composter for a while, not having much space out in the garden for a pile, I have been looking for a good small barrel that could be turned easily. I was not that enthusiatic though since outdoor compost piles or containers can be pretty icky and attract unwanted 'visitors' (such as cockroaches and rats). That might not be such a big deal if you have a large yard and can place it far from the house. However, probably because most people in Japan have small or no gardens, here in Japan, they have made the ultimate electronic composter that can be used indoors or on your apartment's balcony! Several companies make one, Hitachi, National (Panasonic), etc. We got the Hitachi BGC-V18 model from Amazon Japan (and it arrived at our door less than 24 hours after placing the order!). I used it last night for the first time. I think this is a great machine!

First of all, it is nearly silent! Unbelievably quiet, I can only hear this or that being turned around inside. Last night I'd put some bits of a corn cob in there and I suspect those were responsible for most of the sounds I heard.

Second, it doesn't generate heat around it like I thought it might. The casing of the machine itself gets fairly warm to the touch, mostly on the back of the machine, but that is it.

Thirdly, it composted the things I'd put into it in only 4 hours and without any smell.

All this and it has a very minimal footprint!

Supposedly, it uses only a few pennies in electricity to run a full course (something like around 50 US cents/50 JP yen a month), which is drastically less than it ends up costing (in money and in the affects to the environment) to throw the material to be composed into the garbage/landfill instead. Because of this, our city will give us some money towards the purchase of this machine once we fill out a form they have. They pay for 1/3 of the cost of the machine. Pretty neato huh?

I am looking forward to seeing how my garden responds to the composted material this summer.

UPDATE June 21, 2009:

Well we have been using this composter for a year now. I really love it. There is some noise once in a while such as a squeak or tumbling sound, but hardly noticeable. I think it depends on what matter is being composted. There can be a slight smell when you open the lid to add things, but it is not repulsive. It smells something like burnt coffee in the bottom of the coffee pot (when someone has forgotten to turn off the coffeemaker). Again, it's not a horrible smell but I do try to pop the items into the machine all at once and close the lid quickly because my husband likes to comment that it's stinky. The final composted material works great in my garden and it seems my tomatoes this year are benefiting from it so far! What is really great is you can take out alittle compost at a time (after the machine has run it's approximately 4 hour cycle). You don't need to wait longer than even one day to use some of the compost, on the other hand, if you prefer, you don't have to use any of it for quite a while (in our 2 person household), just keep adding the matter to be composted and let it run a cycle, and on and on. I did empty all the compost out and give the inside a full cleaning about a month ago. I then had to add a new starter bag of compost accelerator. Very simple and easy.
Seems like these type of composters are STILL not available outside Japan. What a shame! I'm sure they would be wildly popular in the USA as well as many other places. Get smart Hitachi, Panasonic...start making these for the overseas market!!!

Here are some pics.

Here is the machine parked in our kitchen, next to the refrigerator.

The control panel on the top is easy for me to use even though it's in Japanese. Ken helped me with some translation which I have written on the protective plastic covering that it came with. I think I can memorize pretty quickly and remove the plastic and notes later on.

View of the inside after I had run the machine once. In 4 hours the corn cob, lemon peels, cuttings from the garden and other kitchen compostible wastes I put in, have turned into what you see here. The paddles turn around so quietly I hardly knew the machine was on.

Another picture from Hitachi showing how, once you open the front panel, you can have the machine expel the finished compost easily into a bucket.

Daisy's Rock n Roll dog T-Shirt

Daisy loves Led Zeppelin! Just like her Mommy.... She was jealous of my orange Zepp T-shirt, so I made a custom Led Zeppelin dog T-shirt for her. It's different from my vintage shirt, but I like hers better I think! Got sparkles!

'We' (ok just me actually) recently got into the Led Zeppelin 'mood' after dreaming about how we might be able to manage to get ourselves a seat at their one time reunion concert last month (Dec 10th) in London at the at the O2 Arena. They played a one time show in memorial for their recently passed away friend, Ahmet Ertegun, with Jason Bonham drumming in place of his father. But alas, a dream was all it was. We are anxiously waiting to hear if Led Zeppelin will play some other shows in the future for us sorry losers who couldn't see the show in London. Over 13 million people entered their names on the website for the lottery for tickets to the London show (initially crashing the website!), but there were only 20,000 seats available.

You can make a custom rock and roll dog T-shirt for your dog too (or any other theme you like)! You will need one plain dog T-shirt to start with. We used orange for Daisy's Zeppelin shirt since the Zeppelin logo I was going to use was coming from a shirt that was also orange.

Next, you need a patch or use a cutting from an old T-shirt with the logo or wording or picture you want to put onto the dog's T-shirt. I cut the words/logo "Led Zeppelin" from a T-shirt of mine, as mentioned above. Of course the T-shirt I cut it from is no longer usable by me, so keep in mind you are sacrificing one T-shirt for the dog T-shirt if you are going to cut a logo or picture instead of using a patch.

This is really all you will need, sewing the patch or cutting onto the plain dog T-shirt (after determining where you like to place it on the T-shirt it). Sew first one straight stitch on top of the patch/cutting all the way around (about 0.5 cm or 1/4 inch in from the edge) attaching securely to the dog T-shirt. Then go back and sew a zig-zag stitch along the entire edge of the patch or cutting so that it won't roll up along the edge after washing (this is especially important when using a cutting from a T-shirt).

Being the over-doer that I am, I was not content to stop here, I wanted something more. Originally I thought to use some silver studs for that rock and roll look but then remembered I had some even more interesting crystal studs in my sewing basket and got those out. I think plain silver studs would be good for a boy dog and the crystals are pretty for a girl, like my Miss Daisy!

If you are going to decorate with studs or rhinestones, after sewing on the logo, lay the shirt out flat and plan out where you want to place the decorations before starting to attach them one by one. I didn't measure, just eyeballed it and it turned out fine.

We may be making more T-shirts in the future!

Click on the pictures to enlarge to see detailing closer.

Rear view of the finished shirt.

Decided to bring some crystal studs around on the front too.

Miss Daisy Ipo in another pose in her new shirt.

Have you heard of Wii Fit?

Menu for the different muscle conditioning exercises.

What is Wii Fit? It's a new addition to Nintendo's Wii games. You may have heard about it. It was released this past December in Japan. It is hard to get though, as it is sold out as soon as the store gets it in. A few weeks ago, my father in law found out when a local store had just received a shipment. He stood in line about an hour before they opened and he was able to get one. It costs 8,000 Yen in Japan which is currently about $75.00 USD.

We are visiting with my in laws for a week right now and are enjoying playing around with Fit. I usually dislike gaming, mostly to do with the time it wastes and the negative content of many of the games, but I really think that Nintendo has done something great with Wii. This is enjoyable not only for those who have never really been into gaming, but also now the whole family can get involved. I think Wii games are good mental exercise (the basic ones I have seen) and now with Wii Fit, you can get a bit of physical exercise too, especially for older folks who may find other gaming systems difficult.

I have tried some Wii games earlier this year at a friend's house and I liked it (Wii Sports was fun), but now I am really motivated to get Wii Fit when it comes out in US (since I don't really read Japanese well, I need to be able to operate it in English).

I have heard that Fit was supposed to be released in early January 2008 in US, but then read some other comments on the internet that it will be available much later than that. Release dates for Australia seem yet to be announced as well. I'm sure it will sell out quick in the English language verison whenever it becomes available. Some places may be pre-selling it seems.

Fit has more than 40 different types of training activities designed for all ages/members of the family. There are four fitness categories including aerobic exercise, muscle conditioning, yoga poses, and balance games. The aerobic exercise consists of 10-minute exercises that are designed to get the heart pumping. The muscle conditioning is done by controlling your motions using arms, legs and other body parts. Yoga Poses uses classic poses that focus on balance and stretching. Some of the balance games are ski jumping and heading soccer balls, that challenge the player’s overall body balance. Lean to block soccer balls, swivel hips to power hoop twirls or balance to hold the perfect yoga pose. When you stand on the Fit's balance board, your body’s overall balance is tied to the game.

The Wii Fit's balance board can also be used for daily tests. These evaluate two key measures that a household can track via progress charts:

• Body Mass Index (BMI): A weight evaluation based on a ratio of weight to height.
• Wii Fit Age: The Wii Fit Age is measured by factoring the user’s BMI reading, testing the user’s center of gravity and conducting quick balance tests.

My father in law is 82 and has no problems with the games or operating the Wii internet functions and photo viewing. We only had to help him get the wireless router necessary for the internet connection (for the Wii itself). My niece and nephew (10 and 12 years old respectively) were monopolizing the system on New Year's day when we all got together. They tried out all the games for us and then gave us pointers.

Here are some pictures and some of the Wii Fit different games we have been enjoying.

The Wii Fit balance board.

The balance board with someone standing on to show size.

Ken enjoying the snowboarding game, for this, the Wii Fit balance
board is turned lengthwise.

The Yoga menu.

Menu for the balance games, soccer balls, downhill skiing,
ski jump, tightrope walking, etc.

Downhill ski racing game.

I don't know what this one is called, but it's pretty fun. Tilt the different shaped trays (this one is a "W" shape) and make the balls fall into the hole within the allotted time period.

Tilt the iceberg to get points with the penguin and jumping fishes.

A Swedish Tablecloth 「スウェーデン製のテーブルクロス」

Today I put on my table a beautiful tablecloth that my dear friend Beata (who is from Sweden) just gave me (which she got on her recent trip back home, thank you B!). She made such a nice selection of colors, and it goes surprisingly well in the room.

It was alittle long in one direction for my antique table that is sized a bit strange, so I got out the sewing machine and made the adjustments. I ended up having some left over material and got this idea to put little 'caps' on the backs of the dining chairs. I have some velvet covers on the chairs already (the antique wood needs refinishing desperately). Velvet as some of you may know, can get matted down when it is touched often so these little covers will help protect the velvet nicely. I may make more of these with other fabrics and use them on the chairs even when they just cover the plain wood.

They are super easy to make and they add a nice accent don't you think?

My amazing friend Jun 「友達のジュンさん」

This last Friday, I stopped by my friend Jun's house. She is a lovely former JAL airlines flight attendant and now spends her time representing a line of wonderful Italian handmade ceramics and accessories that she helps import to Japan (called Mamma Ro'), enjoying life with her husband and their 2 dogs and pursuing other outlets for her creativity.

She is amazing to me since she is always making something creative, setting a perfect table, cooking or baking up something gourmet and picture perfect, hosting a wonderful BBQ party at her exquisitely decorated home (BBQ's are unheard of in Tokyo but she has a large and fabulous roof garden overlooking the Ebisu area), to name just a few things, and still she has time to write a most interesting blog, be a savvy business woman, super homemaker and wife, and on top of it all, being such a cheerful happy friend all the time. I'm so fortunate to have such inspirational friends around the globe!

So last Friday, Jun was putting on an exhibition in her home for Mamma Ro' (the Italian Ceramicware) and I stopped by. Her friends had done some very nice flower arrangements and baking of goodies for us all to enjoy. Here are some pictures of some one of the table settings that day and the elegant hostess herself chatting with her customers over a table of colorful dishes.

Jun has her own blog (although its in Japanese, you can still enjoy the pictures if you can't read) which is at http://manufatto.exblog.jp/ and a website for her Italian Ceramicware, where you can see more beautiful pictures. Check it out at http://labellavita.jp

It was fun afternoon!

Aloha, Terri