Green Around the Globe » Japan

Highlights from Japan and Australia

Keith — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:29:48 +0000

While it has been a few months in the making, I was able to finish up the highlights video for Japan and Australia. Enjoy, and you can find the four earlier trip summaries here.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame…Japanese Style

Amy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:49:41 +0000

“Take me out to the ballgame…

I am not a sports girl. But ever since I read this article about baseball in Japan I have been obsessed with seeing a game firsthand. With tickets in hand thanks to JapanBall, I got my chance to watch the Seibu Lions battle it out with the Yakult Swallows.

Getting to Seibu Stadium, however, was a little bit of a journey. Unfortunately we were staying on the opposite side of Tokyo, so it took two subway lines and two commuter trains to reach the game. The beauty, however, of the Tokyo trains is that they are fast and almost always on schedule, and the station is just meters away from the stadium entrance.

We arrived at the domed stadium just in time for the singing of the national anthem and opening pitch, finding our seats along the first base line close to home plate.

Take me out with the crowd…

The crowd was a mix of men in business suits, kids in t-shirts and fans of all ages in their favorite team’s gear. While far from a sell out, the enthusiasm radiating from the stands was palpable. A cacophony of cheers and clapping surrounded us, interspersed with moments of intense umbrella waving. Yes, you read that correctly, umbrella waving. I’m not sure how pastel plastic umbrellas became the foam finger of Swallow fans, but there you have it.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack…

I know this is totally un-American, but we snacked on neither peanuts nor Cracker Jack. But we did have hotdogs. And soba noodles. Between the French fries and chicken tenders, we also could have indulged in sushi, tempura and other Japanese culinary delights, but we had to make sure to save room for the beer.

Beer delivered to our seats.

By cheerful girls in pigtails.

With kegs strapped to their backs.

Keith’s never really been a huge baseball fan, but I think he may have found his new favorite sport.

I don’t care if I never get back…

We did get back to our teeny-tiny bunk bed room in Tokyo, but really, there’s not much else to say about the ride home.

Let me root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame…

In the US, when the crowds get really riled up, say, in the bottom of the ninth with a tie score, you might get a “Let’s go!” chant going in the upper decks. If the crowd is really, really into it, you might even get a wave. But here in Japan, all it takes is a new player up at bat and the cheap seats go crazy. I’m talking jumping up out of their seats waving Canadian flags while singing at the top of their lungs crazy. In fact, each player has a unique cheer that doesn’t end until that player either strikes out or gets a hit. Foreign players get their home country’s flag in the air while Japanese players get signs that are, well, in Japanese. No one in the outfield seats sits when their team is at the plate.

Oh, and the home team did win. In the bottom of the ninth the Seibu Lions hit the winning run, making for a very exciting game.

For it’s one, two three strikes you’re out at the old ball game!”

Great game. Delicious food. And grown Japanese men jumping around like three year olds with pixie sticks. What more could we ask for?

Glorious Japanese Fish

Keith — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:31:22 +0000

As noted by Kristin in the comments of my Cuisine of Japan post, I made no mention of the glorious sushi found throughout Japan. That’s because the sushi of Japan could not be simply lumped into a roundup cuisine post, with fish this amazing it demands a dedicated post.

The Tsukiji Market
This is the undisputed biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. It is the source for most of Tokyo’s amazing sushi and for those reasons I was really looking forward to visiting. So much so that I excitedly set the alarm for 4:30am to ensure we caught the very first train to the Tsukijishijō Station at 5:12am. However, even this effort was not enough to secure one of the 140 tourist spots to witness the famous tuna auction on the official tour. Not being so easily defeated, I was able to strategically position myself outside one of the massive garage doors that opened into the tuna area. From the picture below you can see that I was able to get a much better and unobstructed view of the action than the tourists on the official tour. They are the ones in the green jackets roped off and fighting with each other for a view and a quick snapshot over my left shoulder.

After seeing the tuna auction, which ends by 7 am, we wandered around the inner market looking at all the other great fish and seafood on offer. Watching the precision carving of a massive tuna with a 3 foot knife was amazing. Not a bit of the expensive meat was left on the bones. The market itself is huge and we spent a good hour wandering around and taking in all the sights and sounds. Oddly different from any other fish market we visited, and even the fish vendors at Reading Terminal Market back in Philadelphia, there was no fishy smell to speak of. This is a result of the extensive daily cleaning the market gets everyday at 1pm once it closes.

Sushi Breakfast
The best end to a visit to Tsukiji is a sushi breakfast at one of the many restaurants ringing the market. Amy and I decided on a small one just to the east of the market. The only seats were at the counter and there were 4 options for sushi sets: good, better, best and really expensive. Amy went with “good” and I decided that “best” was the way to go. The fatty tuna was silky, the rice firm and my first taste of raw prawn was quite good. I would not recommend raw prawn outside of Japan but I thought it has to be better than my sister Kristin’s experience, when she mistakenly ordered raw chicken. Thankfully there was no raw chicken on my gorgeous breakfast banana leaf. I savored each bite and lamented that what I previously thought was good sushi at home was never going to measure up to this.

Logistics

Tuna Auction: if you really want to go on the official tour of the auction you need to spring for a taxi. The trains do not start running early enough to ensure you get there in time to get one of the 140 tourist spots. Also be sure the taxi takes you to the office where the tickets are distributed on Harumi Street, northeast of the actual tuna market.
Photos: taking pictures in the fish market is tough. It is early in the morning, the light is very low and the distance from you to the tuna is 20-30 meters at best. The key is to ensure you have a camera with a high ISO setting (>1600) and if it is an SLR you have a zoom lens with a wide aperture while at 200-300mm. I used a Tamron 70-300 1:4-5.6.

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Update June 27, 2010:
This morning after reading the New York Times Magazine cover story on the destruction of the wild blue fin tuna stocks in the worlds oceans I felt compelled to link to the article as a way to help inform others. Before reading this well written and informative article I was not aware of the perile that these wonderful, if tasty, fish are in. I will no longer be able to order tuna sushi in good conscious and I would suggest that if you enjoy tuna that you read the article to see if it changes your mind. If Japanese sashimi was my last, I am glad for it.

Cuisine of Japan

Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:52:44 +0000

Okonomiyaki. It is a fun word to say, go ahead and try it, o-ko-no-mi-yaki. It just rolls off the lips and tongue. If saying it is fun, eating it, be it Hiroshima or Osaka style, is a texture and taste experience not to be missed when in Japan. Okonomiyaki was just the beginning of our 15 days tasting and eating our way around Japan.

Our journey was filled with culinary exploration and rewards at every turn. Using dollars as a metric for what we valued, when we look back at our budget for Japan it is clear that we voted for the amazing food. We exceeded our average daily budget for food of $45 by 80%, while still being slightly under budget for the country as a whole. We both have zero regrets about a single dollar we spent on all of the delicious food. Below are some of our favorites. If we missed your favorite, please leave it in the comments.

The Great Okonomiyaki Debate

Hiroshima or Osaka style? This is the question that needs answering when consuming okonomiyaki. Both styles start with the same basic ingredients: cabbage, rice pancake batter, and egg. And while Hiroshima style also includes noodles, it is really the assembly process that distinguishes the two. Hiroshima style okonomiyake has a much more complex and regimented approach to its layered construction. At the Full Focus center in Hiroshima, which has an entire floor dedicated to okonomiyaki restaurants, we sat at a bar and watched the process unfold before our eyes. The chefs layer the ingredients one at a time to carefully build a crunchy and cheesy delicious creation.

Our experience in Osaka was much different with the ingredients arriving mixed together in a bowl. The chef then poured the mixture out onto the hot griddle to let it cook while periodically reiterating through hand gestures that it was not yet ready to eat. I guess he expected us to dig in with our chopsticks as soon as he turned his back. And while I appreciate the simplicity of Osaka style, and its delicious combination of sweet sauce and mayonnaise, I remain a loyal Hiroshima style fan. There are after all no short cuts to create the great tastes and textures that come from the effort that goes into creating a layered Hiroshima okonomiyaki.

Donuts

While not the first thing to come to mind in a discussion of Japanese cuisine, we found that despite a couple of other dessert failures (green tea ice cream was gross), the donuts were consistent winners. From the cinnamon donuts we bought in a Kyoto subway station to the delicious whipped cream and brown sugar topped delight below that we discovered by joining a long line of teenagers outside a stand at the Nishiki Food Market, the donuts did not disappoint. The second lesson we learned here is that a long line of Japanese teenagers outside any food stand often leads to delicious discoveries!

Attention to the Details

The Japanese take presentation of their food to a whole new level. For anyone that has read Linchpin by Seth Godin, the Japanese bring their “art” to work everyday in many wonderful ways. If you have not read the book I highly recommend it, but the result of this effort towards every small detail is that you will constantly be delighted. The perfect example of this is the omelet I ordered for breakfast one morning from a small hole-in-the-wall place in Tokyo. The owner/chef used the ketchup to wish me a great day, and as a result was sure to bring a smile to my face and more importantly bring us back in the next morning.

We found this same amazing effort all over Japan, including the McDonald’s in the Hiroshima train station. Imagine this experience at a McDonald’s at home: our order of hash browns is delayed, so we take a seat at a table. Minutes later the cashier brings our hash browns to the table and apologizes for the delay. He then wishes us a great morning and safe travels. What a change from what we can expect when we return to the States! At the 30^th Street Station McDonald’s in Philadelphia I am glad when I get what I ordered the first time around, much less a polite good morning and a wish for safe travels.

The Best Beef

No discussion of Japanese cuisine would be complete without mention of one of Japan’s most famous and expensive exports, Kobe beef. With our JR train passes in hand, we spent our last afternoon in Japan by taking a quick side trip to Kobe. Only a 25-minute train ride from Osaka, I had to try genuine Kobe beef in Kobe. Despite the price tag of $55 per person for lunch, it was well worth it. The beef had extensive fine marbling that made for a tender and flavorful steak when prepared by our own personal chef. In addition to the beef we also had seasonal vegetables that were grilled in the rendered fat of the steak (yum!), seafood bisque, salad, coffee, green tea and grapefruit sorbet for dessert. It was an excellent end to our Japanese eating adventures.

Also be sure to check out our favorite pictures from Japan here.

Best Values in Japan

Keith — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:00:45 +0000

Japan is not cheap. Our first example of this was finding out that $55 per night only gets you a 48sq foot room, with a shared bathroom, in Tokyo. If that sounds small, that’s because it is. The room was just big enough for twin bunk beds, so tight in fact that the door was not able to fully open. But cost is absolutely no excuse for skipping this amazing country. Our two weeks in the land of the rising sun was a fantastic experience full of friendly people, gastronomic delights and elegant architecture. While there are many ways to blow a modest flashpackers’ budget, in Japan, most of them on the amazing Japanese cuisine, there are also many hidden values if you know where to look. Since we found a couple we thought we would share them. If you have other examples be sure to add them into the comments below.

1) Nara YMCA Goodwill Guides: Private 5 hour guided tours of Nara

Cost = FREE, however, buying your guide lunch is a nice gesture
Contact Info: eggnaraymca@hotmail.com

Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan and like other first capitals (such as Philadelphia, the first capital of the US) Nara is rich in history and sights. And being only a short 30-minute train ride from Kyoto it is an easy day trip. All of the major sights are within walking distance from the JR train station. The day before we were going to head to Nara, I looked in our Lonely Planet and found an outdated entry for Nara Goodwill Guides. After a quick Google search to find their latest website I sent a quick email on the off chance we could still arrange for a guide the next day. An almost immediate response from Keiko let me know that it was possible to still arrange for a guide. After a couple of logistic questions we had sorted out that we would meet our guide at the information desk in the JR station the next day at 10:15. As we arrived at the information desk we spotted Nishi, a rather petite woman asking all the white tourists if they were “Mr. Keith Sutter.” I approached Nishi and introduced myself and she quickly shuffled Amy and I out of the train station for a full 5 hour tour around her beautiful and historic city.

The best part of our time with Nishi was the opportunity to get to know a friendly Japanese woman who it turns out is one of the top square dances in the world. She is ranked in the top 15 in Japan and is at a level of only the top 100 square dancers in the US. Quite an amazing lady, even if she was only 4 foot 10 inches tall!

2) Sushi-go-round: Conveyor belt sushi, where you sit at a bar and different sushi comes around to you on a conveyor belt.

Cost = price is dependant on the plate color. The cashier counts your empty plates when you are done to determine your bill. Our bills were $18-35 for two of us.

This is not a top value for the reason you are likely thinking. Yes, the fish is fresh and just eating at one of these at the end of the day is worth it to watch as locals stop in on their way home from work for a quick bite. The reason I think that this type of sushi restaurant is a great value in Japan is the unlimited ginger and green tea. I hate it when you go out for sushi in the States and get two or three anemic little pieces of pickled ginger with a large order. And if you ask for a little extra you may even be charged for it. This is a travesty as far as I am concerned. I love pickled ginger with sushi, and want a piece or two on each piece of sashimi or roll. That is why I was ecstatic to discover a jar on the bar at the sushi-go-round with a little pair of tongs that was filled with pickled ginger and, get this, you can TAKE AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE! It is amazing and delicious.

Additionally, but not quite as exciting, is the unlimited green tea. If you have never had Japanese green tea, you may be surprised when you open the other jar on the bar and discover that it is filled with green powder that is tea, not wasabi, which was my first guess. Place a small scoop into your cup and then fill with hot water from the spigot right at your seat for delicious hot tea, again as much as you can drink. Sometimes it is the little things that I appreciate.

3) Calligraphy Books: An accordion-style book used to collect unique red stamps and hand drawn calligraphy at most major Japanese temples and shrines.

Cost = 1,000-1,500¥ ($11.15-16.72) for a book & 300¥ ($3.34) per stamp

We learned about this extremely cool Japanese souvenir from a traveler we meet in China. He had studied for a year in Japan and told us that we should look for these books at the first temple we went to in Tokyo. Our first stop was at the Meiji Shrine in western Tokyo and near the main shrine building was a small building that was selling charms. We walked up and found a book we liked and got our first stamp and calligraphy page there. By the end of our 2 weeks in Japan we had nearly filled up the book with only 4 empty pages remaining. Those empty pages mean that we will now have to return to Japan someday to finish the job of filling the book. That is a job I look forward to.