virtual hugs

Sending good thoughts to the people of Ishikawa prefecture.

Not only did they endure a huge earthquake at the beginning of the year, but over the weekend, they had heavy rains and flooding from Typhoon 14 (Pulasan)

So heartbreaking to see all the damage and hear all the updates

hiramiyuki farm

The Noto Pennisula earthquake that happened on New Years Day was so tragic.

One of the stories that was featured on the news here was of Hiramiyuki Farms' blueberries.

The farm experienced a landslide

Wanting to help some how, I was happy to see her selling what blueberries she had at Tabechoku

We've ordered from Tabechoku numerous times since the pandemic

800 grams, with taxes and shipping (special type since they were frozen)...4976 yen of which 300 yen will be donated to the earthquake victims

These orbs are huge! and delicious.

Seeing Japan grown blueberries at the market has been rare these days.

I'm glad we got to help a little and I hope she will be able to get back to her farming again soon.

kaga onsen-osaka

On the last day of 2011, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day.

Apparently it had snowed the night before, so there were many slick spots on the sidewalk.

There were several shrines that Satoshi was interested in visiting, so we gingerly made our way.

Along the way, we stopped in for coffee and some sweets at Premiere.

Their popular item is called a Yamashi-roll, a rolled cake made with rice flour and edible charcoal (the texture was a bit gritty), a black sesame cream and some adzuki beans.

The service was spotty (they served us the coffee but forgot our cakes) so the owner added a small cream puff as a peace-offering...everything was delicious...600 yen each for cake and coffee.

Then the hotel shuttle took us back to the station and we ended up waiting several hours for our train back to Osaka.

While we waited, we bought some items for our lunch on the train.

Satoshi bought a grilled saba(mackerel) sushi while I chose these sasazushi (rice and fish pressed together then wrapped in a sasa leaf (young bamboo leaf)).

I thought this was funny....the ladies of Kaga have a campaign to promote their businesses around Kaga, when I saw their posters, I thought of this lady...Lady Gaga.

Hope you enjoyed our little adventure.

Despite some low points, we had a nice time and enjoyed seeing snow.

Premiere
2-8 Yamashiro Onsen Kikyogaoka
Kaga, Ishikawa
Phone: 0761.77.2511

p.s. it's back to the grindstone for Satoshi today...hope your 1st week of 2012 is going well.

kanazawa-kaga onsen

The next day, we awoke to snow, sleet and hail.

Breakfast for me were two doughnuts from Doughnut Plant (carrot cake with cream cheese and their black out (a very chocolatey doughnut).

Both were very moist.

Satoshi had two musubi (rice balls) and we both had coffee.

The nice thing about Kanazawa is that there are many underground walkways, so that if it is raining (or snowing), you can easily get around.

The underground walkways aren't as extensive as Osaka, but still very convenient.

After breakfast, we went to check out Kenroku-en (Kenroku Garden). This garden is one of Japan's top 3 gardens to see. The other two are Koraku-en in Okayama prefecture and Kairaku-en in Ibaraki prefecture.

But before going to the garden, right across the way from it is Ishikawa-mon (Ishikawa gate), there are turrets and storerooms and it is the only remnants of the Kanazawa castle.

It was my first time to see a moat frozen over.

Although this area has been restored many times, I was surprised to see that they kept the stairways traditionally steep, I still can't believe that samurai, with their long hakama (skirts) and katana (swords) ran up and down these stairs.

I had to hold onto the railings for dear life going up and down.

We then went across to Kenroku-en. A beautifully kept garden which used to be the outer garden of the castle.

I noticed many trees with ropes draping from their tops and figured it is to keep a lot of snow from accumulating on the branches.

From the garden, we walked back into the city and checked out an area with restored samurai homes called Nagamachi.

The streets here are very narrow and winding.

We didn't have any time to check out the insides of these homes, but it was fun to walk around their "neighborhood".

We then caught the train from Kanazawa to Kaga Onsen, which is about 50 minutes away.

The hotel picked us up and we were able to leave our things with them until check-in time.

While waiting to check-in we decided to look for lunch. Since it was after 13:00 and nearing the end of the year, pickings were very slim.

We ended up waiting almost an hour for lunch at Bengara-ya.

The woman running the cafe had run out of the simpler lunches (noodles and rice bowls), so we ended up ordering fancy chazuke (tea with rice) lunches.

In fact, this lady was running the place by herself and kept running back and forth like a chicken without a head and at one point had run across the street to fetch a pot of cooked rice!

I chose the ume (pickled apricot) with chirimen (small anchovy) toppings for my chazuke, while Satoshi chose mentaiko (spicy pollack roe)...1365 yen each.

Our lunches came with some nimono (simmered veggies), miso soup. There were also some toppings for our chazuke like tiny rice crackers, wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and shiso miso (soy bean paste mixed with perilla).

Despite the long wait, everything was delicious.

We then walked to the outskirts of town to see the Kutaniyaki (Kutani ware) kiln and gallery. Kutaniyaki uses a dish to "bake" its pieces in the kiln fueled by pieces of wood.

We were able to see the remnants of this kiln, it was a huge thing covering a hillside.

The volunteer guide (who was 80-something) said that his father used to be one of the artisans at this site and that nowadays pieces are fired off in electric kilns.

The gallery/kiln area was truly amazing to see.

We then went back to the hotel to check-in then quickly went back out to check out the oldest bathhouse in the area.

Ko-so-yu is a restored bathhouse dating back to the Meiji era.

They don't allow you to use soap or shampoo at this bath, just soak.

The area to disrobe is not separate from the bathing area like modern bathhouses are, so they give you a plastic bag to put your clothes in so they don't get wet from the steam.

Even though this was a restored bathhouse, it was a beautiful place with stained glass windows.

Dinner at the hotel was a disappointment, there was crab, but it was very "dry", Satoshi was also very disappointed with the meal which is surprising because he usually enjoys whatever he eats.

Not wanting to end this post on a bad note, I was fascinated with this huge tea pot objet at the JR Kanazawa station...it even had a cover!

Bengara-ya
59 Yamashiro Onsen Road
Kaga, Ishikawa
Phone: 0761.76.4393

Kutaniyaki Kiln and Gallery
19 Yamashiro Onsen 101-9
Kaga, Ishikawa
Phone: 0761.77.0020

osaka-kanazawa

The last time we visited Kanazawa was in 2010 and it was just to pass time until our train connection.

From Osaka, Kanazawa (which is in Ishikawa prefecture) is about 3 hours away.

We arrived close to 13:00 and luckily we were able to check-in. After unloading some of our things, we went in search of lunch.

Satoshi wanted to check out the Omi-cho Market, a huge shopping arcade filled with...seafood!

Since Ishikawa prefecture is near the Japan Sea, seafood is definitely abundant here.

Many vendors were doing brisk business as many shoppers were trying to prepare for the New Year.

There were many shops with customers lined up out their doors, but we decided to check out Mawaru-omi-cho-ichiba-zushi (a conveyor belt sushi shop).

Even though there was a small line, it moved quite fast because the interior of the shop is quite large.

You can eat the sushi from the conveyor belt, order the kinds of sushi you want (if you can't wait for what's on the belt) or order sushi bowls.

I ordered the kaisen don...1480 yen. This was just the perfect amount for me.

Satoshi ordered the omakase don...1890 yen, which he enjoyed very much.

After lunch, the rain came pouring down.

We had intended to see a garden but since it was raining, we didn't know what else to do, finally we decided to check out the Contemporary Museum.

But upon reaching the museum, we found out they were closed for the rest of the year...boo!

Cold and sopping wet, we flagged down a taxi to take us to the East Geisha district.

The roads are very narrow in this area and the taxi maneuvered scarily through.

Parts of this area reminded me of Kyoto.

After seeing this area, we caught a different bus back to the Kanazawa station area.

We bought some souvenir items for MIL as well as some sweets to try and headed back to the hotel to put these things down.

NOTE TO SELF: bring old newspaper on trips to stuff into wet shoes.

We then went in search of dinner and ended up at another conveyor belt sushi place called Sushi Tama.

Look at the size of this negi toro (onion with fatty tuna)...huge!

Even though we had sushi for two of our meals we enjoyed them both.

For dessert, we tried a sweet by Matsui, this monaka is in the shape of the Maeda clan's mon (family crest) and is filled with sweet bean paste. Apparently this sweet only appears in stores for the New Years, so we were lucky to be able to try this.

Satoshi wanted to try this...Ankoro, mochi (rice cake) surrounded with sweet bean paste. It didn't look pretty but he enjoyed this.

Even though it was a cold and rainy day, I think we did quite a lot (as well as eat a lot) for our first day in Kanazawa.

Mawaru-Omi-cho-Ichiba-zushi
28-1 Shimo-Omi-cho
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Phone: 076.261.9330
Hours: 9:30-20:00

Sushi Tama
JR Kanazawa station Kutsurogi-kan 2F
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Phone: 076.235.3238
Hours: 11:00-21:30

Matsui
JR Kanazawa Omiyage Annex

ukeian

Another item we found in Kanazawa were sweets made from the eggs of the ukkokei (silkie bantam).

This chicken's feathers are supposed to feel silky which is why they are named such and its eggs are supposedly the top rank in Japan.

The egg yolks are so rich and dense that you can pick them up whole with chopsticks!

We got the slice of castella (sponge cake) 242 yen (about US$2.42) each.

This was rich, not too sweet...mmm!

And the custard pudding...420 yen (about US$4.20) each.

Again, rich and delicious.

I can see why the eggs and chicken are prized in Japan.

Ukeian
JR Kanazawa Omiyage Annex

p.s. this ends my posts on Ishikawa prefecture, back to the kitchen I go! Have a nice weekend!

utsuwa chazuke

There was something neat that we found in Kanazawa...utsuwa chazuke.

Utsuwa means bowl/dish and chazuke is cooked rice with green tea poured over it.

Inside of this wafer "dish", the texture of the wafer is similar to an ice cream cone, are condiments like konbu (seaweed), bonito flakes, jakko (whitebait).

After removing the "dish" from the package, break it in half and put on top of your hot rice.

Pour over some brewed green tea or hoji cha (roasted green tea) and enjoy! (I used green tea)

We bought 2 types katsuo (bonito)/konbu (seaweed) and jakko (whitebait)/shiitake (a type of mushroom)...210 yen (about US$2.10) each. One "dish" is actually one serving.

We shared both over two breakfasts and loved the flavors. (This would definitely be nice during winter.)

After looking on the internet for information on this shop, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have a counter at Hankyu Umeda. I hope to pick up more.

Tsukuda no Tsukudani
JR Kanazawa Omiyage Annex

nakaura-ya

Another item we bought at the asa-ichi was called Maruyubeshi (whole citron mochi) by Nakaura-ya...1575 yen (about US$15.75)

Nakaura-ya has been in business for 100 years.

For this sweet, yuzu (citron) is hollowed out and mochi (rice cake) is put inside. Then the whole thing is steamed.

This sweet is made only once a year when yuzu (citron) is in season. It is not something to be gobbled down, but enjoyed slowly.

To eat it, you cut it in half and then in half again then slice thinly.

The bitterness from the peel balances out with the sweetness of the mochi. Texture-wise it is more like a semi-dried piece of mochi, chewy but not sticky.

The lady at the shop mentioned that we could freeze some of it and steam it when we wanted to eat some.

I think I will do that so that we can enjoy this later in the year.

Nakaura-ya
Asa-ichi dori Kawai-machi
Wajima, Ishikawa

p.s. I have a couple more items, hope you stay tuned.

tako meshi

One of the items we got at the Wajima asa-ichi (morning market) was a whole dried octopus...500 yen (about US$5)

The guy we bought it from said that you could heat it on the grill and just eat or make tako meshi (octopus rice) with it.

I thought it would be nicer to enjoy it as a rice dish, so that is how I prepared it.

I cut it in half and then into bite sized pieces. I then added it to 2 cups of washed rice, 2 cups of bonito-kelp stock, 2 tablespoons shoyu, 2 tablespoons mirin & 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Threw everything into the rice cooker and...voila!

I topped it with some chopped green onion.

NOTES: The hardest part was cutting this octopus into bite sized pieces. It was like cutting hardened rubber. I imagine cutting a rubber slipper with a dull knife would be similar??

The grains of rice were a bit al dente, I think it was because I had some brown rice mixed in.

The dried octopus plumped up nicely after cooking.

Flavor wise, we knew this would be good because we could smell all the flavors melding as it was cooking...it was a little salty, a little sweet, nice spicy crunch from the green onions and the octopus was really tender.

We had this with some kinpira and takuan for dinner this past Sunday.

I have the other half of the octopus and some leftover stock so I'm making this again....soon!

asa-ichi and kanazawa

The next morning started quite early, we had a large breakfast featuring a soft boiled egg, dried pufferfish which was heated on a wire grill and other items (top left photo).

After breakfast we got ready and checked out raring to see the morning market. When we got there not many vendors nor customers had arrived so most of the vendors were calling out to us to come check out their wares.

This market is for locals as well as tourists, it was neat to see all the grannies chatting with each other.

We found a vendor selling dried fish and other dried seafoods, and picked up this dried tako (octopus). (top right photo). (I'll show you what I did with this in another post.)

One of the places Satoshi wanted to check out was this museum dedicated to Go Nagai (bottom right photo), a manga writer who is from Wajima. I think some of his works are Mazinger Z & Cutie Honey.

We paid 500 yen (about US$5) each for admission and what a let down (in our opinion). For one thing, no photos allowed, not even with the huge Mazinger Z in the lobby area.

There are some figurines and an area showing some of his cartoons but that was it, nothing more to see. Total waste of money in our opinion. (Though I did snap a photo of a little statue they had in the hallway between the two buildings of the museum, I'll show it to you on Flickr).

We did get to try some taikoyaki, these are round treats filled with things like sasagi beans, tiny shrimp, custard or sweet bean paste (top left photo). We tried the sasagi beans (black eyed peas) and tiny shrimp. 100 yen each. These were delicious, though we would've liked more shrimp.

Since we had some time before meeting up with our tour group, we popped into Chabo 3-chome for some coffee.

We liked the retro-feel of this place. (bottom right photo).

After coffee, we met up with our tour group and headed down the coast to Kanazawa.

Our first stop was a parking area called Togi. Here we were able to pick up some cider made with Oku-Noto salt...250 yen (about US$2.50)

We enjoyed the sweet salty combo of this. (top right photo)
At this parking area, we also saw the longest bench in the world...460.9 meters (about a quarter of a mile) (top left photo)

We also got some arare (bottom right photo), perfect for snacking on our long bus ride...350 yen (about US$3.50) and some squid-sesame senbei (crackers) 350 yen (about US$3.50, not pictured)

Our next stop was Ganmon (literally stone gate) and lunch. To see the stone gate we boarded a boat and took a 20 minute ride around the bay. 900 yen (about US$9) per person. (top right photo) Little boats can pass through the opening but boats as big as the one we were riding could only go up to the mouth of the entrance then had to back up, which is what we did.

Another thing we were able to see from the boat was the oldest lighthouse in Japan. Called the Old Fukura Lighthouse (not pictured), this structure is over 500 years old. Until recent years, this lighthouse was used and a couple of feet away is the new lighthouse.

After lunch, we passed by Hatagoiwa, a pair of rocks "tied" together with a large thick rope. (bottom right photo)

Our next stop was Myojoji to see their 5 tiered pagoda. The roofing in this temple complex is a technique called Kokerabuki. They use Japanese cedar or Sawara cypress and split the wood into thin boards 3 millimeters thick, 10 centimeters wide and 20-30 centimeters long.

They then layer these pieces, overlap them and fasten them with bamboo nails. By doing this, there is a gentle curve to the roof. (top left photo)

Our last stop before Kanazawa was the Chirihama Driveway. This is 8 kilometers of hardened sand that you can actually drive on.

Even our tour bus was okay on this sand. (bottom left photo)

It was a great tour.

At Kanazawa, we had some time to wait for our train connection so we checked out their omiyage annex and picked up a few snacks and some items to take back with us.

One thing we tried while waiting was the Okiagari monaka by Urata (top left photo), this sweet has a wafer shaped like a daruma (think Japanese weeble-wobble) and filled with sweet bean paste...105 yen (about US$1)

We also tried Suehirodo's Tamahime temari...157 yen (about US$1.57) This sweet is only made for Kanazawa's Hyakumangoku Festival (which was taking place the next day!).

The Hyakumangoku Festival commemorates Maeda Toshiie's entrance to the Kanazawa castle in 1583.

This sweet was steamed and filled with sweet bean paste. On top were some colorful fu (dried wheat gluten) and gold leaf. (bottom right photo)

We had a great time, I hope you did too, the weather was spectacular and we had lots to eat and see.

I'll share some of our omiyage (souvenirs) in another couple of posts.

Chabo 3-chome
2-47-1 Kawai-machi
Wajima, Ishikawa
Phone: 0768.22.5793

Urata
JR Kanazawa Omiyage Annex

Suehirodo
JR Kanazawa Omiyage Annex

wajima sights (and some food)

Awhile back, when I mentioned to Satoshi that I wanted to go to Wajima, he thought that the most important thing for me to see was their Asa-ichi (morning market).

But, as we looked through travel pamphlets and online, we realized there was way more to see.

Instead of relying on the infrequent local bus, we hired a kanko taxi(tour taxi) and had the driver take us around to see different areas.

Our first stop was Senmaida (1000 rice fields). This dan-dan-batake (terraced rice field) goes from the ocean up to the mountains.

Apparently there are 1004 fields, many used to be tended to by families but since most children of the rice farmers do not want to take over the business, they have started asking for volunteer groups to tend to the fields or "franchises" (where you rent the field).

You will also see these high "fences", wooden poles roped together to make a fence of sorts, this is to dry the rice once it is harvested. I think when they dry the rice naturally, it "seals" in all the nutrients and makes for a more flavorful grain.

To see the fields as the sun sets is supposed to be beautiful, definitely something to see the next time we come.

From the rice fields, we went a little farther down the road to the Wajima salt field (bottom right photo). There is actually a more authentic salt field in Suzu, but we didn't have THAT much money for our taxi ride.

Anyway, these salt "farmers" gather sand, spreading it out on the ground with wooden rakes. Then using wooden cones, they throw salt water onto the sand. After letting it dry in the sun, they gather the sand and put them into these collapsible boxes, filling them again with sea water. The water that is collected after being "filtered" through the sand, is then cooked in a stone pot and the liquid that comes out forms salt after a couple of days.

Amazing process!

We then headed back towards Wajima city and visited the Kiriko museum (bottom left photo). Kiriko are tall but slender "floats" that many men carry on their shoulders during the summer festivals in this area, usually between July and August.

These floats used to be made of bamboo, but over the years they became a little more elaborate being made of wood and then even more elaborate by being lacquered.

The largest and oldest Kiriko dates back to the 1800s and is as tall as a 4-story building and weighs 2000 lbs. Amazingly, it only took 150 men to carry it and is sometimes still used in festivals. (THAT would be something to see!)

For this reason, most of the towns in this area have their electrical wires underground, especially in the areas where the Kiriko will pass by.
After seeing what we could within the means of the taxi and our financials, (we actually negotiated 5000 yen (about US$50) for an hour but ended up paying 7000 yen (about US$70). we didn't have the exact amount and the driver felt he took us to extra areas not negotiated in the beginning. Even if we were planning to give him a little tip, the way the driver asked for extra money left a bitter taste in our mouths.), we checked in and then decided to check out the Yu-ichi (evening market), this is held at the Sumiyoshi shrine.

By the time we got there though, most of the vendors were packing up. Apparently this market is mainly for locals and only consists of a handful of vendors. (When they sell out, they go home, or even if they don't sell out but want to go home, they go home)

Since we had some time before dinner, we walked around the area where the Asa-ichi (morning market) would be held.

In the process, we found some interesting looking manholes.

(bottom left) Gojinjodaiko--a festival featuring drummers in demon masks and hair of seaweed wildly drumming on Japanese taiko (drum)
(upper right) Images of the morning market--fish, vegetables and grandmas
(bottom right) Wajima lacquerware (bowls and chopsticks)

Dinner consisted of LOTS of seafood...some highlights were tai (snapper) shabu shabu, a dish where you dip the raw fish into simmering seaweed stock (top right). It is eaten with momiji oroshi (grated daikon and chili), green onions and ponzu (citrus soy sauce).

Sashimi--tai (snapper) and amaebi (northern shrimp) (bottom left) and many, many other delicious dishes (bottom right). I was freaked by the amaebi, it was served with the eggs which were bluish.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about the Asa-ichi (morning market) and some sights as we made our way to Kanazawa.

Senmaida and Wajima Salt Field past Kiriko Museum along Route 249

Kiriko Museum
3-22-2 Tsukudamachi
Wajima, Ishikawa
Phone: 0768.22.7100
Open 8:00-17:00 (during festival season (July 15-August 31) it is open until 18:00)
Admission: Adults 600 yen (about US$6) Children 15-17 y.o. 450 yen (about US$4.50), 6-14 y.o 350 yen (about US$3.50)

Hotel Yashio
Sodegahama kaigan Fugeshimachi
Wajima, Ishikawa
Phone: 0768.22.0600

osaka-wajima

From Osaka to Wajima it takes about 6 hours. Wajima is located near the Japan Sea and is a city in Ishikawa Prefecture, near the Noto Peninsula. We started out quite early and caught the Thunderbird (the name of the express train) from Osaka to Wakura Onsen. 

Upon arriving at Wakura Onsen, we didn't have much time before our next connection, so we picked up some sushi and sweets in the waiting area.

The sushi was different, instead of being wrapped in nori (laver), these were wrapped with egg. We also tried miso manju (steamed buns filled with sweet bean paste). The outer bun has miso (soy bean paste) in it so it is a sweet/salty combination. Another item was egara manju, this was more like mochi (rice cake) than manju (steamed bun). 

This was filled with sweet bean paste and topped with grains of mochi rice (glutenous rice). Everything was delicious. 

As the train that would take us from Wakura Onsen to Anamizu neared the platform, you could hear a song start to play, I found out later that this was called "Wakura Ondo" a traditional song in this area. (checkout the video up top) I thought this was neat because most times when trains near the platform, there are melodies playing (to warn that the train is coming or going) but none with actual singing. (Sorry I only caught the ending of the song.) 

From Wakura Onsen to Anamizu it took about 30 minutes by train, this train line is very small, there is only a total of two cars going in both directions and at times we had to wait for the other to pass to use the rails. From Anamizu, it was another 30 to 40 minutes by bus through some mountainous curvy roads to Wajima. Wajima is most noted for their lacquerware, similar to Wakasa in Fukui. 

Tomorrow, I'll cover some of the sights in Wajima, it turned out to be more than we expected. 

Takeuchi Miso Manju O-14 Tatsuruhamachi-cho Nanao, Ishikawa (right)

Sugimori Egara Manju 45 Ri-bu Tazuruhama-cho Nanao, Ishikawa (left)

we're back

We're back from a little adventure, it may take me some time to sort out my photos.

Hopefully within a couple of days.