I am a viking.

I’ve always been a creative person, but in general I find it difficult to initiate any sort of productive endeavor without first giving it a solid, meaningful, and hopefully catchy title. I had hoped to start blogging much sooner after moving here to work for the JET Program, but for a number of reasons I was unable (i.e., too lazy) to do so until now, three (almost four) months after my arrival. The impetus for finally getting down to business came about a month ago, when I was struck by an electrifying flash of inspiration in the form of my new blog’s title:

I am a viking.

Those of you who know me should be quick to point out that no, I am not really a viking. Still, I stand by this title for several important reasons. First off, I am, to the best of my knowledge, ethnically Norwegian to at least some small degree. As an American of mixed European ancestry, I have long felt compelled to align myself with a more tangible ethnic identity for reasons I hope to discuss in a later post. Sometime in high school, I claimed Norwegian as my primary cultural heritage (my brother chose Italian - mostly, I think, for his love of Italian food and The Sopranos) and went to the local flag and map store to buy a Norwegian flag iron-on patch, which I still have but have never affixed to anything. Why did I choose Norway? I don’t know. I guess it just felt right. It doesn’t really matter anyway.

Secondly, I feel that image of the viking explorer makes an effective symbol of how I try to live my own life (though do I hope I’m less violent and destructive in my excursions than the vikings were). Due in part to my short attention span and tendency to crave newness, I have long been interested in world travel, in order to see, hear, do, buy, and eat things that are either unusual or just straight-up awesome to me. You may analyze this somewhat materialistic sentiment using the deconstructionist/psychoanalytic theory of your choice, and if you reach the conclusion that my urge to seek out new life, new civilizations, and new food is nothing but the product of an imperialist, white, macho, leisure class, consumer culture-conditioned sensation-seeking mindset, well… you’d probably be right. But you’d also be rather presumptuous and perhaps in need of a good deconstructing yourself.

Another reason I find this title so apropos is because in Japan, the word “viking” (or, more accurately, baikingu バイキング) has a peculiar meaning that’s rather relevant to one of my main goals here: to eat as much as I can. Here, “viking” is used to advertise buffet-style all-you-can-eat or all-you-can-drink deals, usually focused on one particular food or type of food. Some common examples would be the beer viking, the dessert viking, the steak viking, and (in Sapporo) the Genghis Khan viking - probably the most warrioriffic name for a meal I’ve ever seen. While I don’t really care for all-you-can-eat specials (I generally find them unsatisfying and overpriced), I allude to Japan’s “viking” buffets because I came here mostly to eat lots and lots and lots of Japanese food - and, hopefully, to learn some things about Japan’s shokubunka 食文化, its fascinating culinary culture, while I’m at it.

So, I am a viking will be primarily a chronicle of my life as a viking in and around Japan (and by “around,” I mean anywhere within a locus of twenty-five thousand miles). It will be a venue for various misuses of time, including but not limited to: food commentaries, cultural observations, needlessly wordy personal anecdotes, beer reviews, exhibition reviews, concert reviews, recipes, book reports, miscellaneous unsolicited opinions, and original illustrations and cartoons. Oh, and there’ll be pictures, but I’ll just warn you right off the bat that I am a pretty lousy photographer.

Please, let’s have enjoy!