The Japanese in the title is a bit off, but don't mind it.
It's an unavoidable obligation,
and it's unusual to have it on a Wednesday.
The program features a piece that's hard to prepare for in advance.
For me, it's not even a piece I already knew and would remember upon hearing,
so there's no way to get ready for it.
If it were something like an orchestration of Dragon Quest background music,
I wouldn't need to prepare at all.
Bonus 1
Regarding the matter of buying up all of the wholesaler's stock of 270mm and longer
individually-sold bent-neck CX-RAY spokes (→here),
the second shipment from splitting the order into two deliveries
has arrived.
Normally these come 20 spokes per bag,
and while shop convenience led to individual spokes being removed—which the wholesaler had historically allowed—
bags with 2 or 6 spokes are fine enough, but
19 spokes? Are you kidding me?
There's a limit to how much you can help yourself.
Well, from now on, any shop that wants to do this
will have to purchase 270mm and longer spokes in units of 20.
The 19-spoke spokes came in bags and also as unbaged bundles,
and even the ones in bags had their tops cut with scissors.
↑This is the standard 20-spokes-per-bag unit
that I ordered at the same time,
and the bag was in pristine condition.
Excellent.
With the single CX-RAY spokes that come bundled,
the nipples that normally come in a separate bag are threaded onto the spoke's threads.
Perhaps thinking they might fall off if only loosely hooked on,
they've been installed quite far down the threads on every single spoke,
and removing them all is tedious double work.
The image above shows 270mm black spokes,
and since stock was running low on the length I keep in regular inventory,
this was really helpful.
Update: With the return to 20-spoke packs,
I received a comment noting that shops might resurface that insist on
"We only sell in units of 20—no smaller orders" to customers ordering less than 20.
I see, that's certainly possible.
There are this many traces of single spokes being pilfered.
Bonus 2
At a store whose name starts with D,
they sold their own-brand pesto sauce, and I had been stockpiling it,
but I haven't seen it at any store location for about half a year.
Affordable pesto sauce is rare and precious, after all.
By the way, the one in the image above is the last one I found.
So while searching around, I found that Yamaya (ヤマヤ),
which is within walking distance of the shop, carries
Divita pesto sauce—a brand you can also find at business supermarkets.
It's 300 yen per jar.
Pesto sauce varies by manufacturer in terms of
paste particle size and saltiness, so
whether you thin the sauce with water or pasta cooking water,
and how much anchovy to add if using it,
all require adjustment.
Anchovies themselves have large individual variation in saltiness,
and depending on how dissolved or intact they are
even from the same manufacturer,
the amount you add changes.
This is Lorena brand Parmesan cheese,
the economical 454g size,
and on the left is the 277g size (half of that),
while on the right is the old packaging of what's sold
under the store brand of the D-named store.
↑The new packaging is on the right side
The containers are identical.
The importers are different (one in Ota Ward and one in Meguro Ward, both in Tokyo),
and the displayed nutrients vary slightly in the decimals,
but the taste is completely the same (I couldn't detect any difference).
Originally, Lorena was sold at the D-named store,
and at some point they switched to their own brand...or so I thought,
but they've gone back to Lorena at times.
Since their store brand sells out and they can't restock immediately,
they've gone back to ordering Lorena again.
Currently, at the D-named store
I only see their own brand version.
Bonus 3
One of our female customers
has completed multiple brevets, including some 600km rides,
and she's planning to ride around 600km solo (not a Cannonball)
in the near future, so she asked me to teach her again how to change a tube in case of a puncture,
so I made a manual.
Frog Sensei (カエル先生) has a belly button for some reason,
so lightning is his weakness.
It's an unavoidable obligation,
and it's unusual to have it on a Wednesday.
The program features a piece that's hard to prepare for in advance.
For me, it's not even a piece I already knew and would remember upon hearing,
so there's no way to get ready for it.
If it were something like an orchestration of Dragon Quest background music,
I wouldn't need to prepare at all.
Bonus 1
Regarding the matter of buying up all of the wholesaler's stock of 270mm and longer
individually-sold bent-neck CX-RAY spokes (→here),
the second shipment from splitting the order into two deliveries
has arrived.
Normally these come 20 spokes per bag,
and while shop convenience led to individual spokes being removed—which the wholesaler had historically allowed—
bags with 2 or 6 spokes are fine enough, but
19 spokes? Are you kidding me?
There's a limit to how much you can help yourself.
Well, from now on, any shop that wants to do this
will have to purchase 270mm and longer spokes in units of 20.
The 19-spoke spokes came in bags and also as unbaged bundles,
and even the ones in bags had their tops cut with scissors.
↑This is the standard 20-spokes-per-bag unit
that I ordered at the same time,
and the bag was in pristine condition.
Excellent.
With the single CX-RAY spokes that come bundled,
the nipples that normally come in a separate bag are threaded onto the spoke's threads.
Perhaps thinking they might fall off if only loosely hooked on,
they've been installed quite far down the threads on every single spoke,
and removing them all is tedious double work.
The image above shows 270mm black spokes,
and since stock was running low on the length I keep in regular inventory,
this was really helpful.
Update: With the return to 20-spoke packs,
I received a comment noting that shops might resurface that insist on
"We only sell in units of 20—no smaller orders" to customers ordering less than 20.
I see, that's certainly possible.
There are this many traces of single spokes being pilfered.
Bonus 2
At a store whose name starts with D,
they sold their own-brand pesto sauce, and I had been stockpiling it,
but I haven't seen it at any store location for about half a year.
Affordable pesto sauce is rare and precious, after all.
By the way, the one in the image above is the last one I found.
So while searching around, I found that Yamaya (ヤマヤ),
which is within walking distance of the shop, carries
Divita pesto sauce—a brand you can also find at business supermarkets.
It's 300 yen per jar.
Pesto sauce varies by manufacturer in terms of
paste particle size and saltiness, so
whether you thin the sauce with water or pasta cooking water,
and how much anchovy to add if using it,
all require adjustment.
Anchovies themselves have large individual variation in saltiness,
and depending on how dissolved or intact they are
even from the same manufacturer,
the amount you add changes.
This is Lorena brand Parmesan cheese,
the economical 454g size,
and on the left is the 277g size (half of that),
while on the right is the old packaging of what's sold
under the store brand of the D-named store.
↑The new packaging is on the right side
The containers are identical.
The importers are different (one in Ota Ward and one in Meguro Ward, both in Tokyo),
and the displayed nutrients vary slightly in the decimals,
but the taste is completely the same (I couldn't detect any difference).
Originally, Lorena was sold at the D-named store,
and at some point they switched to their own brand...or so I thought,
but they've gone back to Lorena at times.
Since their store brand sells out and they can't restock immediately,
they've gone back to ordering Lorena again.
Currently, at the D-named store
I only see their own brand version.
Bonus 3
One of our female customers
has completed multiple brevets, including some 600km rides,
and she's planning to ride around 600km solo (not a Cannonball)
in the near future, so she asked me to teach her again how to change a tube in case of a puncture,
so I made a manual.
Frog Sensei (カエル先生) has a belly button for some reason,
so lightning is his weakness.