Tag Archives: japan

Ippudo Ramen Osaka

Ippudo Ramen

We had perused the archives of Ramen Tokyo most assiduously in preparation for what to expect at a Ramen-ya in Japan.  We had read of the interminable lines and of the push-button Nihongo-only ticket pre-ordering with no photos whatsoever.  We read of tiny shops with only counter seating, and of patrons who dined solo, heads-down, looking and interacting with no one until their bowl is thus rapidly consumed.  We read of instances where couples and friends may not necessarily get to sit next to each other. We read of having to procure your drinks prior to arrival, or at least while waiting in line (usually there is a vending machine or two nearby), of the need to  bring a packet of tissues or your hankachi (handkerchief) since no napkins would be provided. Continue reading

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Kichisen, Kyoto

Kichisen Counter

We should have asked.  We had noticed the young man standing by the sidewalk – not so much in the middle of the walkway, but on the edge, somewhat nonchalantly, looking around – crisp cream shirt, black trousers.  He stood in front of a quiet, understated entrance whose signage we did not initially see; we also didn’t want to gawk and only glanced in its direction (we thought it could have been someone’s residence).  We should have just asked, “Sumimasen, Kichisen wa, dochira desu ka?” (Excuse me, where is Kichisen, please?)

It took us an hour by Kyoto’s city bus to get to Kichisen on the other side of the city, approximately the same time estimated by Google walking directions.  It’s a good thing that we left the Shunkoin Guest House with plenty of time.

Kichisen was our first truly fancy meal of the trip, selected because of Michelin, recommendations and accounts by Kyoto Foodie, and some research on Chowhound. Continue reading

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Thousands of Torii Gates

Entrance to Fushimi Inari

Fushimi Inari is the oldest of all Inari shrines in Japan, said to be founded around 711 AD; this date also coincides with the first recorded instance of Inari worship.  It’s the head shrine, and the largest, and there are as many as 32,000 other sub-shrines in Japan.  Inari is the Japanese Shinto diety (or kami) of agriculture, fertility, rice, wealth, and industry. Her messengers are represented by foxes — kitsune — most commonly found as a duo in front of the shrine – one holding a key to the rice granary and the other holding a jewel or a scroll.  The Fushimi complex is also known for the thousands of striking torii gates (“senbon torii”) that line the pathways up to sacred Mount Inari.  No one knows exactly how many torii there are, but they are all donated by businesses hoping for wealth and blessings from Inari — the size of the gate coincides with how much the benefactor donates. Continue reading

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Last night in Tokyo

About to play with Liquid Nitrogen

Chef Jeff Ramsey, Molecular Tapas Bar, Tokyo

And so we’re back from Japan, and feeling a bit depressed not only at the prospect of coming back to the daily grind, but also at leaving a wonderful, magical, astounding and vibrant country and people.  This is not to say that we didn’t feel some travel fatigue at the end of our trip, having had our good fill of various temples and shrines over first 2 weeks.  By the time we reached Tokyo, the urge to see these lovely and ancient structures was definitely not as strong as it initially was at the beginning of our journey.

The Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental was a perfect last dinner for us.  We had spent this last day running from Tsukiji Fish Market in the early morning to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.  The next day, we would head out for Narita and for home.

The Mandarin Oriental hotel is a swanky establishment, and it seemed that virtually every staffperson there spoke excellent English.  We were a little early for our scheduled 8:30pm dinner slot (every evening there are only 8 seats for 2 dinner slots – one at 6pm and one at 8:30pm) and thus were able to peruse the cocktail menu, which contained a nice selection of original as well as classic cocktails.  Alas, I can’t remember the name of the cocktail I eventually chose but it contained gin, yuzu liqueur, ginger ale and sudachi juice – my kind of drink — light, refreshing, gently acid.

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But What About the Food?

Beautiful way to start our meal - Kikunoi Roan

Hassun course at Kikunoi Roan: skewer of miso-marinated avocado, smoked salmon and Tai liver; grilled squid with nori seaweed and egg yolk; fava beans, mountain yam “butterfly;” poached egg-bearing octopus; Tai sushi with Kinome pepper leaf; Yurime lily root petals; Udo stalk petals; ikura.

Indeed, what about the food?  The trip was planned after all, in CCDD fashion, around food.  It’s been absolutely glorious – from the high-end to the low, from street food or market stands to Michelin-starred establishments and smoky izkayas, train station ekiben or small ramen-yas filled with salarymen… we’ve been eating very, very well.

In Osaka, I think I quite had my fill of takoyaki; DD kept wanting to sample these wherever we went, and we ended up tasting some from 4 different vendors.  We also loved sushi fresh from Kuromon market and Endo Sushi in Osaka’s Central Wholesale Fish Market, similar to, but not as big as Tsukiji.

Okonomiyaki in the Dotonbori

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In search of Sakura

Bugbears in bloom: Ume no Hana in Kenrokuen

We’d read that the best times to visit Japan were either in the Spring or Autumn.  DD, reluctant to miss porcini season in the Bay Area, made the decision easier and we selected springtime for hanami, or flower-viewing – when most of the country goes crazy for the beautiful pale pink cherry blossoms that are spread so widely across the entire nation.  We arrived in Osaka to find it a bit chilly and indeed, a bit too early for sakura; buds were still green and tight among the trees we saw…

After a few days in Osaka, we traveled by shinkansen to Takayama, a mountain town in Central Japan known for their well-preserved old town of machiya, or merchant’s houses.

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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Small note: I started this post before we left Osaka on the 29th.  Since then, we’ve been to Takayama and Shirakawa-go where we didn’t have broadband access.  We’re now in Kanazawa, in a little guesthouse called Minshuku Ginmatsu. We wish we had another night here but we journey to Kyoto this afternoon.

What does one do when one has just spent a somewhat stressful and bewildering wandering about of one of Osaka’s wards, looking in vain for an address that does not appear to follow any rational arrangements of ordering principles? What to do when you are the lucky beneficiaries of Japanese helpfulness and generosity, in the form of a wonderful couple out on a walk back from the suupaa, complete with cute long-haired daschund puppy and armed with gentle graciousness and working mobile phones with maps?  What to do when the above-mentioned angels deliver you quite efficiently to your destination, just in time for your 7:30pm yoyaku (reservation) and you awkwardly burst upon a teeny, tiny sliver of a room where there are 2 seats left at the 8-person counter and all eyes swivel towards you?  And, after getting through the formal bowings and greetings to the chefs behind the counter, after you’ve managed to order some sake somewhat successfully,  what to you when you realize that you probably can’t decipher in any meaningful way the beautiful calligraphy on the hand-written menu and that the chef does not appear able to communicate back, despite his smiles and goodwill?

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Day 1: Breakfast at Kuromon

Om nom nom nom sushi!

Breakfast at Kuromon Sanpei

A note: These update posts will be pretty minimal – but I’ll try to write with as much detail as time allows, as well as include photos.

Where to begin? Even while wandering around at midnight in the Dotonbori, a quintessential Osakan entertainment district, running parallel to the Dotonbori canal, one couldn’t get a true sense  of the crazy energy from even more Osakans and other Japanese (very few foreigners here, from what DD and I can tell) who emerged and filled the streets around the Kuromon Market, Den Den Town (or Osaka’s version of Tokyo’s electronics district, Akihabara), and the Kappabshi Dogugai, a restaurant-supply area also filled with eateries and other food establishment.  After we got to the end of the Dogugai, we managed to stumble upon the Takashimaya department store, where we encountered one of Japan’s fabled depa-chika food halls for the first time.

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The Arrival

Taken around 19:10pm

HIkari Shinkansen at Shinagawa Station

While long, the process of getting from Narita to Osaka, I’m happy to report, was quite straightforward and utterly lacking in any sort of stressful near-misses or complications.  Essentially we arrived at Narita Airport around 3:10pm, got through customs and immigration and finally made our way down to the train station by 4:45pm.  There were so many helpful individuals at Narita, whether it was the information desk clerk in the basement floor of the airport near the train stations, or the JR clerk who exchanged our JR pass vouchers for actual passes, apologized profusely when she found out the next rapid Sobu express to Tokyo was leaving in about 3 minutes (we declined and opted to take the next one arriving in another hour), most helpfully booked us reserved seats on the Hikari Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka-Shin, and gave us exceptionally detailed directions in great English.

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So far, so good…

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We Arrived at LAX around 8am, and managed to check luggage and get through security in about 45 minutes, but in a very relaxed, wandering and unhurried way. We were particularly elated to find out that we had the entire row of 3 seats to ourselves. やった!!

There seem to be relatively few people traveling internationally today; our gate seemed like a bit of a ghost town in the beginning.

We stopped at the one restaurant in our part of the terminal — Marina Bar –and decided to grab a bite: a couple of hot dogs for our last meal in the states for a bit. Too bad Pink’s downstairs was still closed. DD was particularly elated to find a bottle of Shichimi though, to sprinkle over his sauerkraut-and-neon-green-relish-and-nacho-cheese-topped-hotdog.

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No beer available yet at 8:45am, and DD couldn’t find a Starbuck’s for coffee… Not a great terminal, unfortunately.

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