asakusabashi-kuramae-asakusa

Before meeting up with V & A, I walked up from Asakusabashi
 

Bought some things from Tori Toyo, which I have visited in the past

I bought some karaage chicken wings & a mini portion of keema curry

The curry was spicy and a tad bit salty, I guess I should've eaten this with some rice, but would get this again....520 yen (tax included) (for the wings & curry)

The wings haven't changed, meaty and juicy

Up the street was Daily's Muffin, which I saw on a television show

Everything muffins...

I picked up a savory muffin to try...their hashed pork...420 yen (tax included)

The little muffin on the package shows you how to reheat their muffin

zap then toast

While the pork on top was very flavorful with grainy mustard and a little shoyu, it was too oily leaving a heavy mouth feel...meh and the muffin itself was quite dry

Still, I'm glad I tried this

Nearby is a Toyoko Inn.

Back in the day, this was the property of Masudaya Toys.

This area had many toy factories and has changed over the years due to the change in the markets

Mighty 8, a huge robot, is a symbol of Masudaya Toys

Up the street is Pelican Bakery...we've visited here in the past and it seems that their shop got a facelift

In Asakusa is this cutie...I learned about it from social media

It is quite a small store though

The line wasn't too krazy at Kameju, so I stood in line

And purchased some warabi mochi for V and a dorayaki for myself

the price has gone up but it is still huge and fluffy

Choose between kuro (black) or shiro (white) bean paste

So good

It was nice to explore and reconnect with Asakusabashi, Kuramae & Asakusa

Daily's Muffin

2-3-1 Kuramae

Taito, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays & Mondays

Hours: 8:00-16:00 (Tuesdays-Fridays), 11:00-17:00 (Saturdays)

sokichi

Met up with V, A and V's friend M at Sokichi in Asakusa on Friday.

Last year, V & A had a nice experience making their own Edo kiriko (etched glass), so they booked a class for all of us 
 

Choose your glass, there are some that are included in the price of the class, or some that you need to pay extra for

The teacher then shows you how to etch and you get to practice on their practice glasses

Then you choose your design

with a marker and stencil you draw your design on your glass 

Me, I wimped out and chose the same design we practiced...stars

V, A and M chose more difficult things like irises, sakura and such

After you finish, they set up a mini studio for your glass' photo shoot

The teacher also teaches you how to take the photo so it looks "professional"

It was a cool experience.

Thanks for today A, V & M

Sokichi

2-1-14 Kaminarimon

Taito, Tokyo

*reservations recommended for a class

costco & enoshima

V and her daughter A are here

I was lucky to be able to meet up with them on Thursday 

We went to Kawasaki Costco

I had been to Costco when we lived in Osaka (pre-blog) at the time Japan didn’t have many locations, I think they now have 30 (maybe more)?! 

Anyway, there are a lot of similar items like the ones in Hawaii, but there are also many items that are unique to Japan

Costco has a little area that you can eat the food you purchased at the concession (some sit down tables and some stand up and eat type of tables)

A had their salmon poke roll and chicken mushroom soup.

V had their margherita pizza

Kat tried their bulgogi bake...this was delicious but HUGE! it doesn't skip on the meat...would get this again!

Afterwards we went to Enoshima since V mentioned that she had never been to this part of Kamakura

We took the Escar (escalators) up to the top 

You need to walk down the stairs, but these escalators really helped!

Had the weather been a little better, we could've gone up the Enoshima candle (tower) and maybe see Mount Fuji, but it was drizzly while we were at Enoshima...no rain no rainbow

Still, I hope they enjoyed Enoshima.

Thanks for today V & A!

Kawasaki Costco

3-1-4 Ikegamishinmachi

Kawasaki, Kanagawa

Hours:10:00-20:00

shinshu nagano-zenkojishita-nagano-tokyo

It had been over 20 years since I had been to Zenkoji

When I first came to Japan back in 2001, we went with Satoshi's co-workers by car from Osaka to Nagano

It was Golden Week and the traffic was so awful...

Anyway, I don't remember that much about Zenkoji, so it was nice to reconnect 

We were there early so it wasn't too krazy with people

This pillar looked like it was twisted...

The leaves were so beautiful

Glad that most of these areas were roped off so that there weren't hoards of people in there...

At about 11:00-ish the head priest (I think) walked through blessing everyone on one side of the walkway

Lunch was at Kado no Daimaru

Apparently they have been in business since 1703!

Kat had their tenzaru...while the soba was delicious

The tempura was disappointing...the outer coating was hard and dry

Satoshi had their sansai (mountain greens) soba...his looked way better

Across the street is Yawataya Isogoro...famous for their shichimi (7 spice)

They have a lot of variations to choose from, even an area to make a custom blend

Around the corner we saw their "so teeny" truck

From Zenkoji walking down to JR Nagano station, we saw all sorts of beautiful leaves

We tried kuri dorayaki from Sakurai Kanseido...they have been in business for over 200 years! so good! 

On the way back to Tokyo, we were lucky to see Mount Fuji as we passed through Saitama

We bought sauce katsu sandwiches for dinner from Meijitei...it turns out that we had tried them before when we were in Osaka.

Their katsu was so delicious, no fat, just tender pork

We ate a lot, saw a lot and walked quite a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Kado no Daimaru

504 Nagano Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:30-16:45

*cash only

Yawataya Isogoro

83 Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-18:30

Sakurai Kanseido

1-22-6 Minami Chitose, Midori 2F

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-20:00

Closed when Midori is

iwasaki bakery

In the lounge area of Biyu no Yado, I came across a book, “The Nurse and The Baker” and the Japanese title “Sekai ichi no Pan” (The best bread in the world)

This story was about a fourth generation baker,  Iwasaki Koyata

(His great grandfather started the bakery in 1860!)

In the 1930s, turberculosis was taking over areas of Japan

Many Canadians came to Japan to help treat and take care of these patients.

A Canadian nurse, Ms Powell was very strict and seemed kinda scary 

One day she asked Mr Iwasaki to come to her house

He was nervous because she was so strict but she served him Chelsea buns, which I think might be similar to a cinnamon roll

He ate a piece and thought it was the most delicious thing he ever ate

He asked Ms Powell to tell him the recipe

And then began his mission to recreate the buns

After many tries, Ms Powell finally approved of his version

Mr Iwasaki’s Chelsea buns are still made today.

This story was so heartwarming!

When we were in Obuse, we tried to purchase some Chelsea buns to try.

Unfortunately Mr Iwasaki passed away in 2011 and the family members running the bakery have not been feeling well, so they do not operate on a set schedule, so we were not able to try this.

We hope the next time we are in this area we will get a chance to try this.

Iwasaki Bakery

620-1 Obuse-cho

Kamitakai, Nagano

Closed Wednesdays*check before going

Hours: 10:00-17:00

wakita

Satoshi's classmate, A, lives in this area. 

If you've been reading our blog, you might remember that he used to send us boxes of apples.

A and his wife picked us up and took us to Wakita for dinner.

There were all sorts of items that were unique to Nagano/Shinshu

The tsukune (chicken meat balls) were mixed with botan kosho, a fiery pepper...mouth.on.fire!

Next to it is an enoki flower...kinda similar to those awesome blossoms (deep fried onion)...this is a special type of enoki that is coated with karaage mix and deep fried...I was amazed it tasted just like chicken!

In front of that is a bowl with agedashi tofu topped with a slurry of assorted mushrooms

And to the right of that is bairing (a type of eringi) that was sandwiched with nori and mentaiko then fried

And then we tried the tsuke yaki soba...dip the noodles into the worchestershire sauce and mayo

B-kyu gurume! so ono

It was nice spending time with A and his wife. 

We hope to see them in Tokyo the next time they visit their daughter.

Thanks for today A!

Wakita

1-10-4 Central

Nakano, Nagano

Closed Mondays

Hours: 17:30-22:00

yudanaka-obuse-shinshu nakano

Breakfast the next morning also had more Nagano items like miso with shoga

An unusual item was the soy meat simmered with ginger

After checking out we explored the Shibu Onsen area which is about 32 minutes walking from where we were staying.

Kanaguya was apparently a model in the Ghibli film "Spirited Away"

Again, the fall colors were very vibrant!

We then explored the upper area of Yudanaka where the Sekai Heiwa (World Peace) Kannon is

It was cool to see apples growing along the roadway

We also explored Issa's walk, Kobayashi Issa was a poet and I think he was from the Yudanaka area.

I was really impressed that this small town had wifi service everywhere!

From Yudanaka we took the train to Obuse

Obuse is known for chestnuts...in the past we tried Obusedo's mont blanc

Their kuri daifuku! was so ono

One huge chestnut is surrounded by kuri paste then wrapped with a soft mochi...

Lunch was at Masuichi Club, I tried their Shinshu Pork with apples and balsamic sauce...so so good! The pork had a crisp outer crust and the meat was so tender

Satoshi had their Shinshu Pork Ginger, he let me taste some and it was so good too.

The yamaimo (Chinese yam) pickles were so good!

After lunch we checked out the Hokusai Museum.

Apparently Hokusai was in this area for many years.

The panels in front are real, and huge! the ones on the float's ceiling above are replicas

This variety of chrysanthemum is called Hokusai tomoe nishiki...so pretty!

We saw these at the Takai Kouzan Memorial Hall

Again the fall colors were vibrant especially at the Obuse Museum and Nakajima Chinami Museum

It was a great day

From Obuse we headed back to Shinshu Nakano, to meet up with Satoshi's classmate for dinner.

Masuichi Club

807 Obuse

Kamitakai, Nagano

Open daily 11:00-22:00

Obusedo Sanpuro

500 Obuse

Kamitakai, Nagano

Open daily 9:00-17:00

Route Inn Grand

4-3-27 Nishi

Nakano, Nagano