imoya kinjiro

Since I like to add grains to our rice, I wanted to try Imoya Kinjiro’s multi grains.

They are the same shop that V & I bought imo kenpi from.

You add this to 2 cups of white rice and cook it in your rice cooker.

I love that they not only have 16 different grains in this mix but also bits of dried sweet potato. 

They also give you a little book of recipes, hope to try some of them out.

foodie thursday

Thursday I went to check out some antenna shops in the Shinbashi-Yurakucho area.

My first stop was the Tottori-Okayama shop because I was in search of rakkyo (pickled scallions).

A lot of makers in Japan use scallions from China along with artificial sweeteners (because both are probably cheaper), but the ones from Tottori prefecture seem to be more "natural" using their locally grown scallions and sugar.

The shop also had a kim chee version as well as some anpogaki.

Then I walked towards Ginza and stumbled upon Kuuya.

Apparently they have been in business since 1884!

Their monaka (wafers filled with sweet bean paste) is so popular that normally you need to reserve the amount you want to purchase.

Luckily, they were not sold out and I was able to purchase a box.

Actually, I had originally only wanted 2 pieces (1 for me and 1 for Satoshi) but they don't sell them individually, so bought a box 10 pieces.

These were delicious! the wafer was light and a little crisp, the sweet bean paste wasn't overly sweet.

Friday, I sent Satoshi with the rest of the box to share with his co-workers.

As I walked towards Ginza, I enjoyed looking at the different buildings...like the Shiseido Building.

And the Mikimoto Building.

I also checked out the new Muji.

They sell veggies as well as have a Muji Hotel above the store.

At the edge of Yurakucho is the Kochi Antenna shop.

I bought some katsuo (bonito) products and look forward to trying them.

Across the road is the Marunouchi area.

Japan has been hosting the Rugby World Cup since mid-September and the finals are this weekend.

They also have a temporary Rugby Shrine at the Maru Building...it was fun to see various objet, like this ninja

and a bronze statue of sumo wrestler Tochinoshin in "rugby mode".

Lunch was at Wise Sons, a San Francisco Deli.

I had the small pastrami reuben...delicious.

The basement area of the Maru Building have many eateries and shops.

I checked out Akomeya...a shop that is dedicated to rice and all things that can be eaten with rice. Will check out the main shop in Ginza another day!

We tried this rice flour sweet filled with sweet potato and sweet bean paste and these soy beans with seasoned arare (rice cracker) coatings.

My last stop before catching the train was Zopf's curry pan stand.

This popular Chiba bakery sells their curry pan inside of the wickets of the JR Tokyo station in an area called GrandSta.

The curry is spicy, I'm glad we tried this.

Lots of walking, lots of eating..I'm glad the last day of October was a sunny one.

Tottori Okayama Antenna Shop
1-11-7 Shinbashi
Minato, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3571.0092
Hours: 10:00-21:00

Kuuya
6-7-19 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3571.3304
Closed Sundays
Hours: Mondays-Fridays 10:00-17:00, Saturdays 10:00-16:00

Kochi Antenna Shop
1-3-13 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3538.4365
Hours: 10:30-20:00

Wise Sons Tokyo (UPDATE: 2024 no longer in business)
2-4-1 Marunouchi, Maru Building B1F
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6551.2477
Hours: Mondays-Fridays 7:30-21:00, Saturdays & Sundays 8:30-21:00

Akomeya (UPDATE: 2025 no longer at this address)
2-4-1 Marunouchi, Maru Building B1F
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Phone: 03.6206.3349
Hours: Mondays-Saturdays 11:00-21:00, Sundays & Holidays 11:00-20:00

Zopf
inside of JR Tokyo wicket, in GranSta B1

nahari-oboke-iya

From Nahari it is about a two hour train ride to Oboke, which is located in Tokushima prefecture, another of the four prefectures of Shikoku.

When we arrived, there wouldn't be any buses running for another couple of hours.

In fact the amount of buses running were sparse (total of 4 per day!), so we split a cab with another couple going in the same direction and headed for the Iya area (about 20 minutes from Oboke).

On a side note: The kanji (chinese characters) for Oboke literally mean "big-walk-danger"...let me tell you it is definitely not an area to be walking...all hill!

The taxi dropped us off at Iya no Kazurabashi...a suspension bridge that is made out of vines!

Apparently these type of vine bridges were plentiful in this area back in the day.

They were made of natural materials so that they could easily be cut if enemy were in hot pursuit.

These days there are actual wires supporting the bridge, but apparently the bridge itself is made of only vines and wood.

The vines are changed every 3 years...

Admission is 550 yen per person.

You know, I was brave enough to cross the suspension bridge in Nara, but this bridge was too krazy for me!

I mean, you could see the water rushing down below.

And every time you took a step you needed to look down at your feet (at least I needed to)...

I tried two times but chickened out.

A waste of 550 yen for me, instead I was happy to be in charge of taking Satoshi's picture as he crossed.

If you click on the photo, you may be able to see him (bright blue shirt).

That bridge is 45 meters long (147 feet), 2 meters wide (6 feet), 14 meters above the water (45 feet)...krazy, right?!

The Biwa Falls on the other side of the bridge was something to see.

Since we had some time to kill before the bus to Kubo, we decided to grab something for lunch...Iya soba at Ikoi Shokudo.

These noodles are thick, dense...not like the soba noodles we were used to.

Deko mawashi are skewers with potato, tofu and konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly), which are cooked over coals and slathered with some dengaku (sweet miso).

Apparently when it is flipped over it resembles a doll dancing, so it is called "deko mawashi".

The hour long bus ride from Kazurabashi to Kubo was winding and hair raising, since the road is mostly one laned, at some curves we almost came head-on with cars not familiar with the roadways...eep!

I've attached a photo of the width of the road and the bus...

The ryokan sent a mini-van to pick us up and it was another 20 minutes from Kubo to the property.

Iyashi no Onsen-kyo is only open 6 months of the year. From November until April they are closed because there is too much snow and too dangerous for people to be roaming around the roadways.

I appreciated having tv & wifi especially since we were in an area where I had no cell signal.

Dinner was an array of local delicacies, but there was just too much food and instead of wasting, we asked if they could stop serving us some of the courses.

It was another long day, but we were glad that the weather was just overcast and not rainy like it was forecast to be.

Ikoi Shokudo
166 Nishiiya-yamamura-zentoku
Miyoshi, Tokushima
Phone: 0883.87.2840

Iyashi no Onsen-kyo
28 Higashiiya-sugeoi
Miyoshi, Tokushima
Phone: 0883.88.2975

kochi omiyage

These days whenever we go travelling, I try to pick up food things as omiyage (souvenir).

I usually don't give away omiyage to anyone, well, sometimes to MIL, but I mostly buy for us to try.

Like these mi-re (mee-ray) biscuits (blue side), tiny crackers, that tasted similar to ritz crackers.

The red side was kenpi, thinly sliced sweet potato that is fried and coated with a sweet glaze...super addicting.

A lot of yuzu is grown in Kochi.

Most residents use yuzu in place of shoyu and squeeze some onto their sashimi.

I often like to buy yuzu if it the peel has been candied.

A lot of ginger is also grown in Kochi.

This okazu (side dish) shoga looked interesting.

Diced ginger simmered with shoyu, sugar and other seasonings.

The package says you can mix it with rice, put it into omelettes, and many more uses...really versatile.

The biscuits and kenpi are already gone, can't wait to try the yuzu and ginger.

nahari sights

There weren't many sights in Nahari, mainly because it is a tiny village.

N took us to see a a silk worm warehouse.

Huge building!

It isn't used any more but it was nice that they kept it in relatively good condition.

See the tiles going horizontal across the building?

Those are called "mizukiri".

Since Kochi is often hit with typhoons and severe rain, they created these mizukiri (literally "water cut") to deflect the rain.

By deflecting the rain, the walls of the building are protected from water damage.

One more warehouse with a more pronounced mizukiri.

N also showed us various stone walls surrounding homes.

He wasn't sure as to why they were made these ways, but they were fun to look at.

Cool, yeah?!

Lastly, N showed us this old train bridge and tunnel.

Only about two people could walk through it side by side.

Makes me wonder how small the train cars were back then.

Not many sights in Nahari, but we were grateful for N showing us around.

Thanks N!

osaka-kochi-nahari

From Osaka, it is about a 4 and a half hour bus ride to Kochi.

Kochi is one of four prefectures of Shikoku.

We were lucky to get a bus that only had 30 seats, so this seemed similar to business class in an airplane.

Each person had their own foot rests, slippers, and outlets to charge your phone, the seat could recline quite far back too.

There was free wifi on board, even in the tunnels, it was a treat!

After reaching Kochi, we took the local train to Nahari, which is located on the east side of the prefecture.

The train runs through the town and then alongside the ocean.

Too bad the weather was cloudy, the views of the ocean would have been beautiful.

After reaching Nahari, we caught a bus to the Kitagawa Village Monet Garden, a replica of Monet's garden and home in Giverny, France.

Too bad it was late in the day, most of the flowers were starting to close.

All though I did find a piece of "home".

Our main purpose for visiting Nahari, was to see Satoshi's friend, N's exhibit.

N is an architect as well as an architectural photographer.

It was nice to see N's photos of Le Corbusier's works.

I loved seeing all the different flowers around the grounds. This wall vase was so cute!

Afterwards, we had dinner together at Kuimonoya Ai, probably the only place serving food in the area.

Their food was good and everything fresh.

And the portions huge!

My favorite dish was this thick sliced toro futomaki. Enough wasabi to blow out your sinuses, but the pieces of toro were fresh and delicious!

It was nice catching up with N.

The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Nahari was kinda bad, the television worked when it wanted.

But, at least there was wifi and they had just renovated the furo (bath) area.

It was a long day, it was only the start of this adventure but our next day would be even longer...

Hotel Nahari
593-1 Otsu, Nahari-cho,
Aki-gun, Kochi
Shikoku
Phone:0887.38.5111

Kuimonoya Ai
No address or phone number online

we're back

We came back last night from Shikoku.

It was a rather short trip, but we got to see and eat a lot.

If you keep up with us on other SNS sites, you kind of know what we were up to...

Will update as soon as possible.

miel sweet

I came across this sweet potato at Crazy Pantry recently.

It is called Miel Sweet and is grown in Kochi, Shikoku.

Miel is French for "honey" but this sweet potato isn't sugar sweet.

I like the bright yellow color of the flesh when cooked.

It doesn't taste any different from any sweet potato I've had, but I'm glad we got to try this.

I made a small batch of this salad with it.

kanzashi

Well, I turned off the "prove you aren't a robot thingy" because I hate to have to "prove it" on other blogs and felt why should you have to on mine?!

Anyway...Satoshi recently brought back this sweet from Kochi, which is located in Shikoku.

It is called kanzashi and is made by Hamako. Apparently this sweet was created in 1972 for their Yosakoi festival and is the first one in Japan to be baked in foil.

Kanzashi is actually a decorative hair ornament. You can read more about it here.

The yellow cake is slightly favored with yuzu (citron) orange and is filled with a sweet white bean paste that has a slight cherry flavor.

On the outside, a picture of a kanzashi is stamped on it. A box of these also comes with a kanzashi lollipop.

Something different but delicious. (Thanks Satoshi!)

made in japan

I drank this the other day.

When I saw the label, "Shimanto Red", I thought it was Rooibos tea, but when I read the label I realized it was a straight black tea.

Shimanto is an area in Kochi prefecture. Apparently there are many tea farms there.

This tea is smooth and I am glad they add no sugar to it.

I noticed on their website that they also have a Royal Milk Tea version, so I'll be keeping my eye for it around here.

yuzucha

A couple of years ago, I was first introduced to yuzucha (citron tea), when my host-sister gave me a bottle of Korean yuzucha. I didn't know much about it then, but after trying it as a drink and as a topping on yogurt and also on toast, I was hooked!

This yuzucha is made by a company in Kochi prefecture on the island of Shikoku--the same company that makes a yuzu drink that I like called Gokkun.

I think yuzu and other citrus fruits, such as mikan (tangerine) have the power to keep you warm, that is why it is added to onsen or furo(hot spring or bath water)--plus, it smells nice and refreshing.

Yuzucha has no actual tea in it, in fact, it looks like runny marmalade.

Just put a tablespoon or two (depending on how sweet you want your drink) into your teacup and add hot water.

It is a nice way to warm up and I also love eating the strips of yuzu at the end.

crochet, wagashi, gokkun

<---This was the first project for my intermediate crochet class. A 2-row necklace.

This other project was an extra project. I was talking with another student and we were thinking of changing classes after this one is over because it is just too expensive.

For one thing, we are using sterling silver wire so you can't make a mistake...Plus, the teacher changed the way we pay for our lessons, so every time you go, you don't really know how much you'll owe her...just a bit too stressful!!

Wagashi or Japanese confections usually consists of azuki(red) bean paste and mochi (rice cake). Nowadays, there are wagashi makers that blend Western ideas with their Japanese confections.

One of those makers is Satsukian. Their original store was in Miyanokawara, Takatsuki; what I didn't realize was that it was near our company housing! (I think they have since closed this store and moved closer to Ibaraki). I went to a store in Minoo. My friend told me about this shop, they are known for their cafe au lait daifuku. (authentic daifuku is a very soft mochi (rice cake) with azuki bean paste inside) But, this version is a bit different, it has coffee flavored cream in the center and a little azuki bean paste, the outside of the mochi is covered with cocoa powder. Yummy!! I also bought kurikanoko, this is chestnut (kuri) with azuki beans and a mochi center.....also, very good!

I love this drink, it is very refreshing, it's called Gokkunumajimura, but most people call it Gokkun for short. Umajimura is a town in Kochi prefecture where yuzu (citron) is grown. Gokkun is made with yuzu and hachimitsu (honey). A very simple drink. I love this in the summer time, a gourmet supermarket was having a sale, I decided to pick up a few.