| Type | Izakaya |
| Restaurant name | Teyandei omo-ya |
| Location | 〒106-0031 Tōkyō-to, Minato-ku, Nishi-Azabu, 2 Chome−20−1 |
| Map link | Google Maps |
| Website | http://www.teyandei.com/teyandei_omoya/ |
| Write up | My foodie friend Xue had taken me here before one evening and it was amazing so had to revisit again.The uni (sea urchin) pasta was a memorable dish so had to order that again. Incredibly rich and smooth texture of the uni and the egg yolk coated the cold pasta. A lovely fragrant toasted sesame and a very delicate freshly grated wasabi could have been a car crash combo but added a lift in different dimensions. 
One dish I wasn’t so sure about when it was ordered was the cheese tofu. Then out came gelatinous off white coloured dish topped with what looked like a soy sauce and flaked garlic with a side of sliced baguette. After seeing my friends dive into it like it was going out of fashion quick i followed suit and what a surprise. It had the wonderful silky smooth texture of tofu for sure, but tasted like creme caramel with an ever such slight hint of cheese. The soy was in fact a caramel sauce and the garlic was in fact sliced almonds. More of a dessert than a main, but delightful nevertheless. By the time I realised what I was enjoying I looked to see the plate empty and my friends looking in various directions as if it had nothing to do with them. The soup gyoza was warm and comforting. Still prefer the fried ones though
The avocado chicken and parmesan was nice rich and salty hit
The anchovy potato was the closes thing I’ve had to 1. roast potatoes and 2 proper bacon. Not too heavy on the anchovy paste but a good dollop’s worth to coat a side or two
Spinich, mushroom and onsen tomago (half boiled egg) salad was a yummy irony hit. Every salad should have an onsen tomago! Sake here was pretty tasty. No idea which one it was though.
|
| Cost | ¥3,500 |
| Rating | Food 5/5 Service 3/5 – a little slow waiting for the food, but everything is made to order fromscratch Value for Money 4/5 |
food
Tempura over rice (TenDon)
| Type | Tempura |
| Restaurant name | 天茂（てんしげ） |
| Location | 〒105-0000 Tōkyō-to, Minato-ku, Akasaka, 3 Chome−6−11 |
| Map link | Google Maps |
| Website | http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1308/A130801/13002795/ |
| Write up |
A MD from the bank I am working at took me and another colleague out for lunch. A short ride away from the office opened a whole host of different eating options.Her favourite Tempura place was carefully selected after she heard I loved my food. We got there just before 12 to avoid the mad lunch rush. Through a typical small building entrance on the first floor going through a tiny sliding wooden door opened up to a restaurant that probably seated 20 people. My host kindly ordered for me (only two things on the lunch menu) which was a tempura of prawn and baby scallops on rice (Don). She also explained that sushi and tempura chefs are typically men, but this lady took over the helm when her father passed away a few years ago. She carefully gathered the filling mixing it with the batter in a small bowl before dropping it in oil pretty much freestyle. Attentively ensuring it was cooked evenly by penetrating it to let the raw batter ooze out.
Once she had finished frying it her assistant dipped it into a pan of soy based broth. As it absorbed the yummy, and slightly sweet but salty goodness it sizzled out all the heat from the fry. All cooked one by one to order.
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| Cost | ¥1,500 |
| Rating | Food 5/5 Service – so quick there wasn’t really much service to rate, but they were very efficient and polite Value for Money 4/5 |
Kyoto Day 1 – Piece Hostel, Fushimi Inari (Red gates), Night lit shrine and dinner in Potoncho
In my most humble opinion Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities in Japan. It’s contrast of busy large city integrated with sites which immerse you in a deep cultural experience that really feels Japanese. I’ll attempt to explain why in my next 3 posts.
Getting in from Kobe just before lunch time the first stop was to check in at the Hostel. Piece Hostel is potentially the best hostel I’ve stayed at and I’ve lost count at how many I’ve been to.
The hostel was very modern and minimalist in the sleeping spaces with shared but private showers. Outdoor patio areas where decked with simple and stylish furniture and greenery. Incredibly it was less than a 5 minute walk to Kyoto station. The reception, cafe, bar, common area was chilled out with books and nice seating areas. You could say for between $25-35 depending if you got a dorm or a private double room. Amazingly thats no difference to the vast array of other place I’ve stay in throughout Japan. All perfect so far and would have been perfectly happy with, but what made it exceptional were 3 things.
- Free breakfast – this may have served to get people up and out if I was looking at it cynically, but there seemed a tremendous sense of the staff really wanting people to be set up for the sightseeing day ahead. Travellers would share experiences over rice and miso soup and you could read the bespoke whiteboard/tourist map with tips for the main attractions and daily updates on weather and any special events. Staff were always on hand to help out with any questions on what to do and how.
- Happy hour. $2 beer between 7-8pm provided the perfect medium travellers to meet, share experiences and arrange activities together
- Cheap bike rental. For $5 you could rent a bike for a whole day and reach those sites that are tucked away in Kyoto’s nooks and crannies. Everywhere else I spotted on the way was at least $8 and far from the hostel or train stations.
Throughly enjoyed my stay there and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Kyoto.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is famed for its ‘thousand orange gates’ the whole site from the station all the way up to the peak is paved in stone with gates as far as the eye can see. It’s almost like a red gate theme park. Even the prayers offered are on mini little gates rather than the normal wooden plaques that are used. You can also buy varying size red gate as souvenir.
That said its a beautiful sight to see. Each of the gate have been donated by various people and the gate size is dependant on the donation size.
Some times there were meters between gates, other times you could barely fit your finger between them. There is a specific stretch quite early on where there are a few hundred gates over a hundred meter stretch which can make quite the spectacular photo. However the constant river of tourists makes it pretty damn impossible to get that perfect shot. After a while I gave up and took the obligatory jump shot. First time too! Ha – got a few weird looks, but heyho.
It was a lovely looped hike to the summit, but to the ignorant tourist (moi) did feel a bit like groundhog day towards the top.
Having got back to the hostel I had heard from other travellers that there were some shrine which are lit by night that are worth checking out. They were right. The specific one I had gone to was Yasaka Shrine close to Gion, the Geisha district. It was nice to see traditional lanterns and more modern paper models lit up amongst the shrine and trees. A week or so later and I might have been able to catch Sakura here which I can only imagine how amazing that site might be.
I had read that close by Potoncho was famous for its amazing array of restaurants and izakayas. Was hard to pick one from the other, but as always wasn’t disappointed with a random choice.
Smoked tofu, fish, ham and duck was a delicate balance of smokiness across a spectrum of base flavours from the more palette cleansing tofu to gamier duck.
Tried some local speciality of ‘tofu skin’ which was silky smooth and ever so slightly sweet which when accompanied with a little shoyu was divine.
Sea eel and soba nori maki tempura
Stir fried prawns with vegetables and a motchi like cake made a nice contrast of crunch, bounce and chew textures
Wagyu tenderloin was lovely, but wasn’t a patch on the previous night’s Kobe experience
The akagai (shellfish) was tender on first bite but needed a bit of chewing to finish each piece.
An interesting dumpling and soup dish which comprised of a prawn ball which had a light batter coating that was scored as a grid to create a textured surface. All the crispiness had gone because it was soaked in the soup and the ricey type soup was somewhat bland. It was somewhat complimentary.
A chicken and new potato dish that was quite similar to a chinese soy based dish I’ve had and cooked in the past however these potatoes were extremely starchy and formed a slippery almost slimy layer on the surface that made it taste like a dumpling. Yum!
A grilled snapper served like black cod would be back home. Just a very good bit of fish.
The Kobe beef experience
It would have been criminal to come all this way from London and not try the renowned Kobe beef.
So when booking my flight back from Miyakojima and Kobe popped up as a destination airport it was meant to be.
Wakkaqu was the restaurant of choice which was a higher end choice, but didn’t want to skim on the experience and I wasn’t let down.
Teppenyaki was the style of cooking. So a chef looked after our every need for the evening. Amazingly the chef spoke near perfect English without having lived abroad. He says he’s a singer and loves The Beatles.
A mixture of sirloin and the recommended fillet steak set meal was duely ordered.
At the start of the meal the chef carefully placed garlic slices on the grill and toasted them to perfection. He then plated up a selection of condiments of local sea salt, pepper, english mustard and the toasted garlic. There was of course the obligatory shoyu (soy sauce) on the side.
The chef would prepare bite size pieces of the meat alternating with one of a variety of vegetables, tofu and potato gel cooked in the excess beef fat that he chops off at the beginning. At every step the chef would explain the detail of and difference of the food he was serving.
Each serving was done so at you eating pace. The meal is finished off with fried rice flavoured with little beef fat and meat nuggets and finely diced vegetables.
As you finish one serving he would plate the next in almost perfect timing. The beauty of this way of dining was that every mouthful was a perfect temperature, a nice crisp on the outside yet rare enough to enjoy the flavour of the meat. The chef would recommend on or a number of condiments to try to accompany each morsel of food.
Well? How did the beef taste? – I hear you ask. I chose the sirloin because I wanted a bit of fat. The beefy meaty flavour burst out on every downward grind of my jaw and swilled around my mouth as my jaw opened again.
It was simply so divine every jaw movement happened in slow motion to try and savour the experience longer. The chef enjoyed a chuckle as I closed my and made various murmurs of oral pleasure. In actual fact the fillet (or as the locals call it by the actual cut tenderloin) was an even nicer balance of meat and fat. More meat meant a firmer (meaty?) texture, but still oh so packed full of flavour. Glad I was able to try both and compare. Would probably stick to the tenderloin next time.
I have eaten some amazing food in Japan, but I’m going to put it out there and say this comes the top of my list. Amazing ingredients, cooked with such precision, care and love and as always in Japan top class service.
Dazaifu
In the backpacking days of year gone by my main sources of information were the Lonely Planet (probably why I’ve stuck to that trusted source), exchanged stories with other travellers and guides and leaflets at various points of interest. Off the beaten track points of interest in Japan don’t serve Gaijins too well. I think I learn more about the reason for certain shrines in researching destinations compared to actually visiting them. Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine was no different. Japan-guide.com and Lonely Planet being the 2 main sources as well as anything else a search on the inter-web brings up. A stark contrast of my round the world trip 10 years ago. How the world has changed. (and how old do I sounds saying that!)
The Tenmangu Shrine was in a beautiful setting, but I think I had picked a day when every single school decided to visit the same shrine. Though it has to be said I’ve seen literally school loads of kids at airport check in all patiently sitting on the floor cross legged chatting quietly in rows. Amazing level of discipline. Cut a long story short, this clever fella Michizane passed away after being exiled and a bunch of bad tings happened. Like earthquakes and dat. So now they pray to this shrine to stop dem tings. (sorry was reading a funny social media response from Argos which I thought I’d try, maybe badly may homage to). The better explanation is on Japan-guide.com
On of the main reasons I came to Dazaifu was to see the Kyushu National Museum. A pretty impressive building housing a main gallery of historic artefacts of times before the Japan as we know it existed so also explains certainly interesting similarities with other south east asian cultures. There was also an interesting special exhibition on sacred treasures from shinto shrines and outlined the development of deities over time. Pretty interesting stuff.
The transport network isn’t really set up for easy public transport access to Dazaifu. A bit of a walk between independent train networks. It would be a while until I would get to the right line to Nagasaki so I thought I’d grab lunch here. Rarely do places charge a premium in tourist hotspots so not much of an issue. Pretty enjoyable tempura soba. Got the slurping technique down to a tee. Going to look like a right rude eater when I get back to London – Ha!
Next Nagasaki
Fukuoka
I was only in Fukuoka for an evening on the way to Dazaifu, however given it was one of the larger cities in Japan, I thought I better have a look around. When I arrived it was pretty bustling and had more of an energy. Tokyo is by far my favourite city still with so much to do and I was quite surprised that cities like Sapporo where so quiet (maybe its just the areas I had been to).
It was a pleasant discovery to find another hustle bustle city. I’d met a random fairly elderly Irish gentleman at the hostel who was ‘over from Korean for the day’. Couldn’t work out exactly why as he said he worked in the education sector. Most people just say teacher and if he was really there working then why was he in Japan to reset his Korean visa?
I had read about the Yatai street food stalls that Fukuoka was famous for. I head to Nakasu island which is just a small area by the river connected by bridges. On arrival I’d probably call them more street izakayas. They generally seat no more than 10 people and you can eat well for $10-20
They all pretty much serve the same kind of thing, Yakitori, Ramen, Stir fries and a special type of tempura.
It is always a bit challenging to try everything when you only have one evening in a city/restaurant and travelling by yourself, but I certainly tried. I ordered the yakitori set which had various innards and seafood on a stick. The one to the right of the picture below is probably the one I haven’t encountered yet. It was some spiced Tarako (fish roe) wrapped in a shiso leaf which is then wrapped in pork, sliced and skewered. The saltiness of the fish egg and the fattiness of the pork is nicely cut through by the freshness of the shiso. Pretty yum.
It certainly wasn’t enough to fill me up but I wanted something a little less fatty. I noticed the dish the 2 people sitting to my left had so pointed and asked for one of those (one of the phrases I had just about managed to get a handle on). No idea what it was at the time but a bit of stir fried veggies would never be a bad thing. A well seasoned dish I had wondered what the squid like bits were, but on biting they were like little chunks of fat. Tasty but very chewy.
Thats when the retired couple next to me asked me where I was from. Maybe I hadn’t mastered my Japanese so well they spotted the gaijin a mile off. Ha. Anyway we got into a interesting conversation in patchy English and Japanese. They offered me their remaining tempura and some of the Nihonshu the old boy was drinking. He warned me the Nihonshu was pretty spicy but I thought it tasted pretty sweet. They told me the tempura they had ordered was the speciality of the region and in particular this Yatai was famous for. I had randomly stumbled into this one out of the 10 others that lined the river.
The tempura was similar to the new yakitori i had tried. Tarako wrapped in shiso leaf which was then deep fried in a light tempura batter. Nice with a beer, but pretty rich so couldn’t eat too many. Sorry no photos, but I was too busy bowing and saying thank you to the generous hospitality to remember to take a shot.
I’ll never forget the friendliness and generosity of the Japanese people to strangers. So nice for them to be genuinely interested in where I had been, why and what I had particularly enjoyed. I’d constantly reminded that a 3 month sabbatical would never be heard of here.
I walked back to the subway station hunting for a watering hole for a cheeky pint when I realised I was in the more colourful end of town. Confirmed only by the pretty blatant signs and door men trying to get me to pay $200 for an hour.
I kindly refuse and continue to head back a see a few more legitimate watering holes. One called The Shooting Bar. Why not give it a go? The worst it could be was a themed bar, the best could be a shooting range. It was something in between and there was a menu of lots of different types of BB guns some famed from movies such as Robocop and Leon. Others from various computer games
I had a couple of beers and shot a few guns, yes the Robocop one and yes it was just like the film. brr-r-r-r-r-r-r. ” You’re move creep”
Time to head back and rest, ready for a bit more culture in Dazaifu tomorrow.
Hiroshima – Miyajima, A-Bomb musuem, Mazda musuem and spicy dipping ramen
So on arriving in Hiroshima I reacquaint myself with the hostel experience with the hope of meeting more travellers along the way. When I arrived in my 4 bed dorm room they all had curtains for each bunk. First time I’d seen it. A touch anti social but it also kind of made sense.
I asked the hostel for a recommendation to try Hiroshima’s version of okonmiyaki and they suggested Denko Sekka
Took me a while to find as it appeared that every eatery on the 6 floor of this mall was a okonomiyaki place and the signs were all in Japanese. A bit of character matching and spotting the Denko Sekka t-shirts worn by the staff helped confirm I was in the right place. Another cosy dining experience they sat me between two couples I had to tuck my elbows into my kidneys for a while.
A twist on okonomiyaki I had experienced which included a choice of soba or udon noodles and all the fillings sandwiched between 2 small pancake size omelettes. A number of fillings and options include seafood and a fried egg. I opt for the Hitoni Yasashiku (double pork, egg, noodle, oyster, spring onion and shredded nori). Nom nom nom
I wake up the next morning to clear blue sky and blazing sun so opt to go to Miyajima as the famous shrine by the sea it would hopefully yield better photos.
Pretty cool as I can get there on the local JR train and JR Ferry as part of my JR train pass
The ferry ride was pretty quick but enough to get a glimse of the shrine gate from a far. There are lots of small platoons in the water along the way and I figure they are some sort of fish farm, but later learn they are oyster farms.
This shrine is on a raised platform over the sea and its red exterior contrasts nicely against the sea.
I walk through the town which is mainly made up souvenir shops and restaurants to the ropeway.
The ropeway was a bit of a trek to get to, pretty old and $15 to get up! The view from the top was pretty cool and you see how many neighbouring islands Hiroshima has.
I opt not to sit down and lunch, but snack along the various places on the way back to the ferry with the aim to head and see the A-Bomb museum before the sun sets.
First I eat a battered custard donut on a stick. So Oishi! but not really something for Lunch.
Next I have a prawn and fish cake thing which is sausage shaped on a stick. So much flavour packed in. So glad I ordered when I did because some fella came over and pretty much ordered the rest of what was left.
Then given the oyster farms I thought I better try some and get some grilled oysters with garlic butter. So damn tasty my mouth is watering writing about it. 2 oysters for $2 I thought was a bargain!
I head back to Hiroshima and the peace park. I have to say the whole experience of the peace park, A-Bomb memorial and the museum was an extremely somber experience. I mean I learnt about this at school many moons ago, but the extent of the events and the impact caused a lump in my throat on more than one occasion. A horrible loss of life in an instant. Even after all of that I’m not sure I’m decided on nuclear weapons. I certainly disagree with the principal and hope the world never sees another one denote. However do I feel safer that some western powers have that capacity? I think I do. Despite learning that Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to the use of the A-bomb on Japan, I do hope the current powers have more sense. It does scare the living hell out of me that some of the other world powers are doing everything they can to enable their nuclear capability.
The following day I head to the Mazda Museum
It was a great tour of their history and was great to see the live production line. Definitely better than the Toyota museum I went to, but I understand the Toyota plant tour is supposed to be one of the best. Again surprised to see the early American influence, and that actually it was a German that invented the concept of the rotary engine. It was pretty staggering to see how much of Hiroshima Mazda took up and how much influence it had on the local economy and infrastructure.
Great showcase of their portfolio of cars from years gone by
Also a pretty good marketing tool to understand their green credentials
So during my research I came across the local speciality of tsukemen. Unlike the normal soup ramen this bad boy was cold in temperature but hot on the Scoville scale. The noodles are served on a plate with a selection of greens including cabbage, cucumber and spring onions.
The dipping sauce is served in a separate bowl and all you can see is a spicy red liquid filled with crushed sesame seeds. As you dip your noodles the sesame clings to the noodles holding the spicy sauce to the noodle. On the counter resides a bowl mound so high of sesame to top of your dipping experience. You have to pick on a scale of 1-10 how spicy you want it. I opt for what I think is a safe 6, but it certainly had me in a sweat by the end of it.
I always like a hot meal over a cold one, but this one would definitely be a regular lunch spot of mine if it was in London.
I head back to the station to head to my next stop Fukuoka
Hakone and Kawazu
My friend Chikako chan had been kind enough to organise a couple of higher end ryokans in Hakone and Kawazu with nice onsen options.
The trip to Hakone by car was interesting, least not because the fear of getting lost in the midst of Kanji and Hiragana roadsigns, but also any local traffic peculiarities say such as speed limits. I may have had a conversation with the local fuzz at the side of the road. There was a lot of talking in Japanese by him (sounded like a standard script) and a lot of nodding, bowing and the occasional sumimasuen (excuse me), gomenaisai (sorry) and wakaraimasu (understand). I was only a few kph over the limit and driving a pretty standard car, must be the face.
Hakone was supposed to be eye shot of Mt Fuji, but the weather was not onside. The ryokan in Hakone was simply amazing. The complex was set within the mountain we were on and had views of luscious green trees and bamboo.
The ryokan was big enough to sleep a family with a mini Japanese garden.
They traditionally serve you dinner and breakfast in the room both with more food than I could manage and rather similar to a michellin starred tasting menu if not better!
The complex had a number of different onsens you could use all with different views. Not cheap, but considering what you get it would be the equivalent of a fine dining mean and night in a moderate hotel and in London.
Next morning a trip to another cable car this time to the summit of Mt Komagatake in the hope of catching a glimpse of Fuji-san. Unfortunately the weather again hampered the attempt.
The structure at top end of the cable car resembled an abandoned missile silo out of a James Bond film from the 70s.
A shrine a short hike from the top of the cable car was probably a bit more adventure than I had planned. The partially melted residual snow covered path was a little deeper than expected and there were a number of occasions a leg sunk in so deep I’m sure my scrotum touched snow.
A short stop over at Joren waterfall made famous by a classic Japanese tail/film and one of the 7 waterfalls in the region.
Lots of Wasabi cultivation in the region due to the fresh clean running water from the waterfalls, but I avoid the local wasabi soft (ice) cream speciality, more so because of the fear of the lactose fallout as I’m told when young and raw it doesn’t have such a kick.
Pretty cool spiral road down to Kawazu led to the next Ryokan which was famed for its outdoor onsen next to the largest of the 7 waterfalls.
It also had a man made tunnel onsen which was a bit like a steam room, but didn’t say in for long as it was pretty claustrophobic and felt more like caving having to duck through certain low ceiling points.
The room had a private onsen which was the nicest of them all. Mainly as it had a modern luxurious feel to it with a view of sakura in full bloom.
The sakura in Kawazu blooms very early due to its warmer climate and the festival that celebrates it brings hoards of Japanese tourist to view the few kilometres of sakura lined rivers all the way to the sea.
It coastal road itself is a beautiful drive. You get pretty high, pretty quick as the road snakes around the coast. Reminds me a little of the Great Ocean road in Oz except this road has numerous tunnels that cut through the mountains.
A great little off the beaten track trip that I’m blessed to have experienced.
Tokyo – Part Ni
After my fairly quick tour of the north part of Japan, I headed back to Tokyo. Mainly so that I could spend my birthday with the friends I had made over my time in Japan who were largely based in Tokyo.
Had opted for a novelty option for my birthday dinner in the fishing restaurant where you can fish for your dinner. The main restaurant is a big wooden boat surrounded by a moat like tank.
Fishing rods where a simple stick with a small hook where depending on what fish you are trying to catch you either put a little bait on or just get the fish to bite on the hook. I have to say I was pretty hopeless and no birthday boy special treatment from the fish to have a nibble on my line. Luckily Shane managed to catch quite a nice bass and we ordered a la carte for the rest of our evenings sustenance.
The suitcase had been a bit of a pain on the previous leg of my journey as it barely fitted on the overhead space in the trains and train station lockers and was cumbersome to wheel around. Time to get reacquainted with my backpack which I hadn’t used in earnest for 10 years. Repacking into this bad boy meant I was more conscious about travelling light. Still amazed how functionally well thought through this bag is. Great investment. Must try to use it more!
Onward to Hakone….
Nyuto Onsen – The Onsen Tour
Having skipped the cable car in Hakodate I make my first train in good time. Between the fish market breakfast and the walk around town I managed to go to the station to reserve my tickets in the hope of better seats. The first train is a normal JR train. 2 hours on I change at Shinaomori for the JR Tohoku Shinkansen for the next leg of my journey. I only had 13 minutes to get from one platform to the other which given the different networks was a short walk. I find my carriage and seat and get settled. My seat was next to an old lady so I gamble and sit in the 2 empty seats. But given the train was a rapid service to Tokyo my luck ran out at the next stop and I had to move to my allocated seat. Seeing the snow covered Japanese countryside is quite humbling. Its so different from Tokyo with simple one or two story buildings scattered around. Seeing the sparse road traffic makes me realise how bloody fast we are travelling. It’s only when I get off the train I see the full beauty of the Shinkansen train that I’ve only ever seen on TV documentaries. Just the nose itself is 2 long car lengths. I guess the aerodynamics play a large part in the whole bullet train set up. 
Last leg is another Shinkansen, but just the one stop to Tazawako where I have to get an hour long local bus transfer to Arupa Komakusa and the onsen I booked will come pick me up. 
So Nyuto Onsen is an area close to Lake Tamagawa (deepest lake in Japan) that boasts 7 different onsens, each with different mineral compositions and some dating back to the 1600s. 
The one I was staying at Tsurunoyu is a mixed onsen that had 20-30 rooms and probably the most famous in the are. When staying at any of these onsens the price includes dinner and breakfast. The mixed thing wasn’t that big a deal as the way they are set up allows people to get changed in separated changing rooms and enter the onsen discreetly. The water is a cloudy milky white and combined with the steam off the onsen you would struggle to see far in front of you. I get there close to dinner time so opt to onsen after dinner. Dinner was an interesting collection of foraged mountain vegetables, mushrooms and fish. It was nice to see such good use of what was around them. Each normal thing you would find at a Japanese dinner was slightly different. The soup had mountain yam in it. A creamy slippery potato like dumpling that added a little bite to the soup. Deep fried rice ball and some sort of fried chicken are one of the tasty highlights. The pickles were all smoked in a lovely woody flavour which quickly subsides when the vinegar kicks in. 
The fish was on a wooden skewer with a salt bake type layer probably to protect it from the wood fire it was sitting over. 
A whole arrange of different tasty mushrooms throughout the dishes and as I eat them I wonder if I will have funny dreams tonight. 
A short while after dinner I onsen and have the whole place to myself. Given its outdoor its more like a warm soak. I hunt for the onsen source like a crab trying to keep my whole body submerged and must have looked something special. It wasn’t that much hotter so I shuffle around a bit more. In that process I feel my buttocks get a little hotter than comfortable and realise there are various natural outlets from the gravel covered floor. I head for the indoor onsen and its a much hotter affair. It almost scolds the skin as you get in, but only for the first second or so as my body gets used to the temperature. I realised that the slightest movement of any body part causes that same initial sensation to reoccur. Better not get too excited then hey? I return to my room to find my bed made (awesome!) I try and revise my Japanese vocabulary as a couple of brushes of difficult conversations encourage me to get my head back in the books. 2 weeks off snowboarding in Australia didn’t really help matters either. The next morning I onsen before breakfast and I book my shuttle to the onsen and the lady is really helpful in helping me with the logistics. I have to get a shuttle to one of the other onsens and from there I can walk along to the others. She also gives me a number of bus schedules to help me get back to the train station as well as the Tokyo train schedule. I buy a ticket booklet which allows me to go to 5 onsens and take the shuttle for about $10. 
Ganiba onsen – I’m dropped off by the bus and met by an angry looking man (and yes I realise the irony in me saying that) and he points me to the 2 different onsens available. The first is an outdoor onsen which is clear as day and has a smattering of egg white like particles in it. To get to it you have to walk through a cut out path with snow walls twice my height either side. As the sun comes out and reflects in the virgin white snow its hard to make out the difference between floor and wall. As I bathe a couple of guys come by and take a snap and then see me bathing, apologise and carry on snapping. One tries to have a full on conversation with me and after whats seems like his life story and apologise and explain I can’t speak Japanese. He apologises profusely, gets naked and bathes the other side of the onsen. 
I try the other onsen the other side of this hotel and its a hottie. A lovely wooden tub which is really smooth. The water is not as clear and loads more white particles that resembles the egg in a chicken and sweetcorn soup. As I doze off slightly my perfirial vision sees each of the eggy particles spitting out a rainbow along its edge as the sunlight beams through the windowed wall. Pretty special but I do wonder if any of those mushrooms might have taken hold. Oogama onsen – pretty standard after the others but was amazed to see the size of the icicles hanging pretty close to the outdoor onsen’s edge. This indoor one was the hottest yet and I bail after no more than 5 minutes hoping to save myself for the others.
I planned to head back to Tokyo as there wasn’t a great deal that had caught my eye between here and Tokyo except a certain nuclear reactor that I’d rather keep clear of. Ben was away in the Philippines and I try to arrange to pick up the keys from one of his friends, but proves difficult mainly due to my last minute plan and complete lack of mobile phone reception the night before. I skip the last onsen I had planned to go to. Firstly because I walked straight past it and secondly because the bus back to the train station and train back to Tokyo only run hourly with a 40 min gap in between. Much more hot soaking and I think I’d pass out anyway.
I get on the bus back to the station as it picks up quite a few passengers on the way. One of which a young family who decide to put their fold up buggy in the aisle. A short while into the journey I wake up suddenly from a post onsen nap and drop my phone and bus ticket I was holding. It had fallen under the buggy and reach down to get it holding on to the seat in front for balance. Ouch – feck. Did I just dislocate my arm? Yes I did. Did I just managed to dislocated it after avoid serious injury including this bloody recurring one after all that snowboarding. Yes I did. Numpty. I couldn’t really afford to go to hospital as I was on a pretty tight schedule to pick up Ben’s keys. After liaising with Ben in the Philippines and planning out the weekend in Tokyo the last thing I wanted to do was delay it all and have to depend on my Japanese friends to help me translate over the phone to the doctors that I had managed to dislocate my arm picking up a bus ticket. At this point I was thinking of heading back to Tokyo (3.5 hrs away) and getting it seen to there. But then wondered how was I going to get my heavy rucksack or suitcase off the beaten up old bus. Every bump the bus hit was hurting so I decided to try and do it myself. I read an article maybe about 2 years ago and had a couple of episodes where I could have but didn’t try it. This was the time to pull it out the bag. Medic friends always tell me that it is procedure is to first exclude a fracture, but even I couldn’t be that unlucky and the trauma was low impact (a bloody bus ticket!). I put my hand into my shoulder socket to check and yep its definitely out. I put my hands together and interlocked my fingers and clasped my bent knee. I straighten the knee and voila. Crisis averted. Was it really that easy? Appears so. Pretty painless too. Still I won’t be trying to do that again in a hurry, but good skill to have in the back pocket. Well done Tim – you now no longer wear the badge of always being there when I pop my arm out. Just only when it requires medical attention. Anyway onward back to Tokyo to celebrate my birthday!
Hakodate
It’s a 3.5hr train ride to Hakodate from Sapporo so it was unlikely I’ll get up to observation point before the cable car closes for the evening. So when I arrive I check in and go find something to eat. A bit of research had pointed me to a few places, but the top listed Japanese options seemed to be closed. I opt for the Lucky Pierrot (burger) option which turns out to flood tripadvisor mainly with comments its not the gourmet meal people were expecting. The joint is different to say the least, but was willing to give it a go despite the reviews on tripadvisor. The set up feels like a cross between a dirty fried chicken joint and a wimpy that has been decorated by gypsies. The food isn’t that bad. Its fast food and is what it is. The chicken burger is more like chunky karage that is well seasoned between a sweet toasted sesame bun with more mayo than I care for. The chips come in a mug with some kind of chill and more mayo. The drink of course is the traditional accompaniment of iced tea. I was kind of grateful for something with meat in it as the back to back mainly raw seafood is getting a bit too rich for me and need something else to balance it out.
Not sure I’ll rush back to Hakodate just for this, but it’s worth a try.
Since I had already missed the last cable car I decide to call it an early night so I can head to the fish market at 6am for breakfast the next morning. I had a prawn, scallop and crab rice bowl for lunch which was simple, but really tasty. The advice of the guy was to use soy for the prawn and scallop, but have the crab plain.
I picked up a steamed crab bun for a snack just to try. I love these filled with char siu so though would be amazing with crab. It tasted different to the sweet/salty combo I’m used to. I’ve had better steamed buns, but had to try it. Was unlikely to get it many other places outside of Japan.
I walked around the old Motomachi district which was rich in British, American and Russian ties and interesting histories of fires that burnt down the city, things being rebuilt and the cycle repeating itself.
Given the late opening time of the cable car I wasn’t going to be able see the city from above without significant risk to missing my complex schedule of trains and buses to Nyoto Onsen.
Otaru
I’m told me that Otaru was famous for its seafood and glassware. The storm still blowing I still managed to walk to the fish market a friend suggested to go for breakfast. It was a late start so it was too late to eat without spoiling lunch so I just had a walk around. I got asked by a local if I was Thai which was a first. But I realised my snow rat goggle mark suntan probably make me look darker than normal. Some amazing sea cucumber and blow fish specimens there which make it special.
I waited patiently outside a restaurant that was recommended to me, but unfortunately it was closed. Gutted. I walked back towards the station where a smaller market I walked through earlier and find lunch. Surprising to see a bunch of people from Hong Kong at the place I pick. These guys were on the same bus from Niseko and they clock the coincidence too. What they didn’t realise was I could understand cantonese and hear them speaking about me.
Manage to get back to Sapporo by 1pm in the hope of reaching Hakodate earlier, however due to the weather a lot of the regular scheduled trains were not running and I had to wait to 5pm. Bummer. Onto Hakodate
Sapporo, Hokkaido
So I’ve decided to travel back to Tokyo slowly by train. I don’t have all the time in the world so can’t travel too much of Hokkaido, but plan to make use of my 7 day rail pass to do a bit of exploring and make a few stops on the way down. On the morning of departure from Niseko, Simon dropped me off by the Welcome Center / Bus station.
I Takkubin my snowboard back to Tokyo. A god send of a service where for $10-$20 USD you can send your luggage anywhere in Japan. It only takes a couple of days, but takes the pain of trying to drag your snowboard to and from the airport at both ends. Even more so when travelling around the rest of Japan. This may be a good point in time to tell Ben he might be expecting a snowboard at his apartment on Monday morning 🙂
We are informed the bus to Sapporo has to take an alternative route due to the adverse snow conditions and they tell us it will take 3.5 hours as opposed to the usual 3. Ironically it actually only takes 2.5hrs. The bus is due to make 5 stops around Sapporo and I’m booked on the last stop. I do a quick look up on the map from my phone and I’d much better get off at an earlier drop.
As with the way in Japan the drive insists I stick to the plan and assures me the last stop is near my hotel. Oh how wrong he was. I was now off the bus 5 km from my hotel and running low on battery. I stand outside the bus for 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do when the driver opens the door and says its all ok and he’ll drop me off at the main station near my hotel. He must have made a call because he had two English speaking reps waiting for me to make sure I could get to my destination. Obviously my Japanese is not anywhere near the ability to explain myself, and no doubt there will be more of these situations to come.
I find my way to the hotel and drop my bags and have a wonder around the sights of Sapporo. By this point the winds are incredible strong blowing the fallen snow to make visibility terrible.
Though throughout the day I think I experienced all four seasons. The roads are covered in a powdered snow that resembles that of the stuff you get in indoor snow domes. Its a good few centimetres deep on the roads and falls away as you walk on it, but the temperature is so cold it doesn’t want to melt. It makes crossing roads a challenge, but I see hunched over old ladies manage fine, so just tell myself to man up and just get on with it.
I make a trip the clock tower and learn a bit about the history of the town. Still amazed how early on the Americans were here.
Then I head to the Sapporo Factory. Part of the old beer manufacturing estate turned into shopping mall that seems to specialise in mountain sports gear.
A little misnavigated walk later and I’m in the Sapporo beer factory – surprisingly interesting learning about the history of Japanese brewery.
Catch a bus back into the city centre and walk around the fish market. Humungous crabs bigger than my head! Had the fortune to try some back in Niseko. Chunkier than lobster and oh so sweet.
I find the Soup Curry place my friend recommended. I thought Japanese didn’t do spicy, but this brought on a good sweat.
Walking back to the hotel the city seemed to liven up at night. I walked past the TV Tower and decide to venture up to the observatory. The storm was taking full effect and though I could see as far as the famous Ski jump, the photos came out terrible as the camera couldn’t decide what to focus on.
Though against the norm I caved in and bought the souvenir photo of me with the background of Sapporo in better conditions.
Nagasaki
So I ended hitting the train times with pretty awful luck. I ended up waiting at Nishitetsufutsukaichi station for over an hour. A brief check and I thought the trains ran every hour, however they were every 2 hours to where I wanted to get to. Oh well was a good time to research and update the blog.
Nagasaki’s chinatown seemed to come up on the radar quite a lot on the research especially their sara ramen so I checked into Hostel AKARI and they showed me round all the facilities, pointed out the main attractions in Nagasaki and gave me some discount vouchers for popular sites. Score. The hostel had a nice vibe to it. Friends chatting and strangers watching TV together, a hostel vibe I hadn’t seen until now.
I got settled and headed out to hunt down these noodles. Walking through the narrow main local shopping district into town and 15 minutes along I hit the well lit 2 main intersecting streets of chinatown. Lots of street stalls selling steamed buns and dim sum like snacks, but I save myself for dinner. The noodles were more like fried ramen, crispy and fragrant. However the topping was a little bland. Some gems of good ingredients, but think I could do better (which isn’t saying much), but is normally how I judge a dish’s various aspects.
The best way to get around Nagasaki was the streetcars (trams) and for 500 yen a day tourists can ride them all day. Pity I only noticed this at the end of my first day sightseeing.
As mentioned in my previous post I thought getting to know more of the detail about the atomic bomb droppings was pretty a somber experience. However even more having visited Nagasaki to learn that it was actually a secondary target and had only been hit because the primary target was covered in fog and the pilots couldn’t see the target. Less casualties than Hiroshima, but just as unnecessary.
I venture to some of the shrines around Nagasaki which are dotted around some of the higher grounds of the city a lot of them next to each other but dedicated to different deities or teachings. Some pretty similar stories of things being burnt or moved and rebuilt. The Sofukuji temple below with strong Chinese influences and apparently each part was shipped over from China and assembled here. They are backed up the hills by their associated cemeteries which being deserted and a little overgrown was a little eerie to walk through.
Not that hungry, but I did want to try some of those steamed buns and treats in Chinatown. Not a good as the ones I’ve had else where but I think that mainly because they were left in the steamers too long and the bun was too soft. Belly pork was damn good though and full of flavour.
I was told by another traveller that I must go to the ropeway view at night. “It’s the third best night view in the world after HK and Monaco”. I had read top 3 in Japan but either way had better go check it out!
So it was beautiful view. Pretty windy but the city was quite spread out leaving a great night view spectacle. Certainly not top 3 in the world, but worth a look.
Thought I fill my belly with something more Japanese this evening and throw myself into the deep end with more Japanese only situations. The guy serves me up an amazing salad. Not the healthiest, but very tasty with lots of various nuggets of yum.
Tomorrow was going to be a pretty heavy travel day to Miyakojima for a spot of hot weather, scuba diving and beach time so I head back and hit the sack.
Myoko Kogen
On New Years day we make a transit to Myoko Kogen which is about an hour away. The resort is even more primitive than Nozawa, but I’m promised good snow and runs and I’m not disappointed.
The lodge was pretty basic and seemed almost industrial except for the rooms. Food was again a wide array of dishes, but most of the gaijins were not that impressed, more due to the repetitiveness. I however was amazed with the spread
Breakfast was an experience to say the least. My first introduction to Nato. A fermented soya bean dish that is mixed with soya sauce and rice. One of the gaijin warn me, but as most of you will know I’m a pretty adventurous eater and brush the comments to the side. I’ve eaten plenty of fermented dishes in my time and loved them all. Not so much with this bad boy. 
Slimy, stringy and the stick of rotten flesh is the best way I can describe it. I ate it, but it wasn’t something I’d rush back for if I’m honest. Ben however hoovered it in 10 seconds flat. I’d put the slowness down to the time of day rather than anything else.
The first day riding was pretty much constantly snowing which doesn’t help much on the visibility but was amazing for the slope conditions. There are no piste bashers in Myoko so the pistes ride like off piste runs. I’m told that when conditions are extremely heavy they just have to close the runs because there is too much snow.
There is a pretty large group of us and its a great day’s riding with the sun coming out toward the end of the day. There is a huge queue for the top lift which only opens at 11. We hit some amazing knee deep powder on what is ordinarily a mogul field which we only determine after hundreds of people have flattened out the fresh snow by the afternoon. Ben and I get stuck in powder a number of times and its a fair work out to get out again. I soon get to grips with the ‘bum shuffle’, ‘backward rollie pollie’ and ‘roll lots till I build up enough momentum to stand up’ techniques. Combined with the dig like a gopher they work out to be pretty effective techniques. However managing body temperatures in what are probably -10c and digging for England to get free, turns out to be more a challenge. Next objective – don’t fall over in the powder so much!
The next day we hit a neighbouring resort which is supposed to be a 15 minute bus ride away. Hope the 3 amigos that morning managed to get off a stop too early. We only realised when we tried to redeem our lift passes to which we were clearly told we were in the wrong place. We proceed to wait 40 minutes for the next bus to arrive but were met with the most amazing blue sky back drop
Shane takes Hans and I through some drop off the top lift which is basically follows the chair down.
We meet Zuma for another couple of runs. A great challenging number of run down, but a bout of flu has got the better of me so I stop for a ramen lunch in the hope it will sort me out. I decide to call it day and head to the cafe at the bottom and wait for the others to finish to get the coach back. Mainly because I had no clue which one to get and didn’t want a repeat of this morning.
I spend the next couple of days trying to recover and work my way through my entire paracetamol supply to only discover its quite hard to get anything in this pretty remote and basic resort. I do discover that pot ramen here is amazing though. It’s pretty tough staying in whilst seeing the copious amounts of snow falling outside.
Various people make their own way back over the next couple of days due to scare stories of previous 8 hour delays due to snow storms. We make our way back on the chartered bus which after all that noise takes just shy of 3 hours. Ben and I then navigate our way back to his apartment on the JR train network and head out to an izakaya (Japanese bar) where small dishes are served. An incredible experience. Firstly because the draft beer here are incredibly smooth, more so with the Yebisu Premium which I discover like all beers here are always served perfectly chilled and like our continental counterparts with a hefty head. It was a thing of beauty. We accompanied that with some grilled tongue (cow I think), asparagus and some beef brisket. An amazing end to a great ski trip.
First taste of Japanese Snow
After a pretty boozy night out getting to know the rest of the tour group we are woken at 7am by a tanoy announcement in Japanese for what I think is the breakfast call.Still pretty jet lagged, but the thought of hitting the mountain gets me up. I fuel up and get set up.
Discover the most amazing honey and butter combo disposable dispenser. I’ll let the photos do the talking: 
I had been pre warned about the dated infrastructure here compared to Europe/US and low and behold there was a 2 man calf chopper waiting for us. Most of the regulars shoot off by I spend the morning with Ben while he finds his feet. 
We hit some pretty cool piste runs and a bit of park and it definitely as great as everyone said it would be. Wide pistes with nice dusting of snow.
We hit a late lunch by the top of the gondola and have the most amazing steak and rice and ramen for lunch. All the steak in Japan seems to have incredible marbling which makes it just melt in your mouth (and probably solidify in your arteries).
Another cool contraption is the auto beers dispenser that pours the perfect head:
We catch most of the others at lunch. Ben sticks to the piste for the afternoon whilst I follow 3 others including Ricky the organiser on some back country runs. I stack it a few times getting used to the thigh deep powered and dodgy small branches of trees, but have an incredible time. Getting out of such deep snow when falling is a challenge, but I soon get the hang of rolling and getting up. Starting to feel the jet lag a bit more, knowing full well I have the season ahead of me and not wanting to over do it I decide to call it a day. Lifts close early here (3.30pm) so had a decent innings. 
We head for the onsen when the others return which was an experience in itself. For less than 3 quid you get to soak in some amazing natural hot springs which have a pretty powerful sulphur smell. There are some free onsens in the town, but the temperature is not regulated and the facilities are pretty basic. A quick rinse before opting for the outdoor onsen and a nice long soak with all hanging free relaxes the muscles after a hard days boarding.On reflection a very interesting cultural difference. On one side you have a very conforming, obedient and fairly private society that rarely appears to break the rules that thinks nothing of baring it all in front of strangers; in comparison back home you have a pretty liberal and more controversial society that covers up all modesty without fail. Even in a changing room.
Tokyo Gaijin – Nozawa Onsen
StandardSo I learn Gaijin is anyone who is not native Japanese and the group we are joining will be mainly Gaijin who live/work out of Tokyo. Should be a good opportunity meet some people and expand the social circle.
The first destination we are heading to is a Hot Spring (Onsen) town where we will be joining the tour 2 days late. Just the thought of a nice hot soak after a long hard day’s boarding has got me excited. Can’t f-king wait!
Still 100% dependent on Ben getting us there we need to some how get to the Tokyo JR Station which is on the mainline rail network. We can either drag our now reduced luggage through the metro network or try find a cab that will fit our snowboards.
We head out to look for a cab, but everything that drives by seems the same jazz as at the airport: inadequate to cope with the sizeable boardbags.
We test our luck and flag one of them down. The same trial and error protocol is executed with the driver first trying to fit the board bags across the back seats. Ben and I look at each other as if to say “where the hell are we going to sit?”. Ben tries to suggest dropping the seats down, but the taxi seems to be LPG and has a jock off tank between the trunk and the back seat. He tries to angle one of the bags into his trunk and to be fair wasn’t far off. Then as if by magic he whips out a random length of strap and proceeds to tie his boot lid down.
I acknowledge Ben’s comment from earlier about just letting them get on with it. I was pretty amazed at the lengths this guy went to just to ensure he was able to service our needs whilst in the middle of the main road (taxis seem to pull in anywhere!). The first of many experiences where the Japanese will go to any lengths to try and accommodate you.
The taxi drops us off right outside Tokyo JR station and we buy tickets for Nagano from there a bus transfer to Nozawa Onsen. We miss the next train by literally minutes, but doesn’t seem so bad as the next one is in 30 minutes. At Nagano we realise that we’ve just missed a bus by 15 minutes and the next one isn’t for another hour and a half!
We are in no real rush so Ben manages to locate a tiny little restaurant that specialises in Unagi a short walk from the station.
We drag our bags over and the proprietors move mountains so we can be seated and our cumbersome luggage accommodated. I try to sit down on the tables which appear lower than normal western standards and struggle to fit my thigh between the top of the chair seat and the underside of the table top. A nod of acknowledgement from Ben from the other side of the table that he is having the same issue puts a smile on my faces and I make myself as comfortable as possible. The owner brings over a menu of which there appears to be 2 options, regular or large. Ben orders us 2 large and they proceed to bring over the standard, hot flannel, tea and little dishes of pickled vegetables.
The main dish arrives and its first of many amazing eateries Ben takes me to. Never had such soft, flavour packed and plentiful Unagi. The side dish of softly poached sweet apple pieces balance out the flavours really well.
We head to the coach stop a little early to queue for seats and Ben assures me the coach will leave on schedule. The coach driver got on the bus after loading everything with 30 seconds to spare. With 10 seconds to go he pokes his head out the door to see if there are any passengers running for the bus and pulls off smack on time. Amazing. Though I will always wonder if we would have still left on time if someone had been running for the coach with 10 pieces of luggage.
Managed to sleep most of the journey so didn’t take any photos, but what I did see, as I drifted in and out, was a crisp sun lit flat landscape with a mountain range in the distance, all of which was covered in snow. We arrive in Nozawa Onsen and located our lodge and sleeping quarters. Was fairly surprised that it was basically a room with tatami mats laid out with futons and blankets by the people who were already staying there.
We are soon joined by our roomies: Mai-Chan the crazy, but adorable Swiss educated Japanese girl, Xue the German Chinese with a very British education and Shane the Ozzie snowboard extraordinaire.
I get to hear their adventures from the days riding which get me excited for tomorrow. I get the call of nature so venture to the gents and get more than I bargain for in my first J toilet experience. The actually facilities in the lodge seemed fairly basic with the cold mountain air coming in through an open window. Thought this was going to be primitive. But when I sat down and was greeted by a nice warm seat. I definitely need me one of these!
When I was finished I couldn’t find the flusher, but did notice a Knight Rider like console to my right. I surveyed my options and though the icon with the flowing water might be my best bet. A warm jet of water then proceeded to clean my poo poo hole. Genius really! I continued to sit there thinking this may come to a predetermined end when the water started to get cold and thought I better do something here. I then hit the button with the person’s head (don’t ask the logic behind this decision, because I have no idea). As another jet of water then proceeded to target my testicles it dawned on me that the image on the button was that of a women and this feature was to clean women’s bits. I sort myself out and head back to the room to share my water closet adventure with my room mates who are in stitches.
Taste Bud Adrenaline Junkie 