Happy Year of the Tiger!

In a short time it will be 2010, a year of the tiger. I thought it appropriate to post a woodblock print of a bald guy with a tiger.(ukiyo-e, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi).
I would characterize 2009 as the cow it was. Other than the US electing it's first afro-american president, I can think of nothing really outstanding.
In sports for us in Japan the top stories were about baseball. Starting in the spring with Team Japan's second victory in a row of the World Baseball Classic, followed by Ichiro Suzuki breaking an ancient record by hitting safely more than 200 times for 9 years running, and finally Hideki Matsui became yet another Japanese MVP in the World Series of American baseball.
Personally, in 2009, I developed cyber friendships with people all over the world via Twitter. I can't thank everyone who improved my life this year via links, personal messages and witticisms!
My greatest fear is that I would omit someone. So you guys know who you are! Thank you, ありがとう, Gracias, Merci, شكرا, 谢谢.
As for 2010, MMX, I hope that all will have good health and enough fortune that you will feel compelled to aid those in need. I wish you peace on one hand, but on the other hand the words of Billy Joel at the end of a concert in Gainesville, Florida, decades ago also ring true, "Don't take any shit from anyone, Gainesville!"

Sincerely,
Your hardheaded uncle(Gankojiji)

Simon O

Lunch and Dinner of Champions!

Wheaties may be billed as the “Breakfast of Champions” and that maybe true or not, but in the world of sumo and in our house Chanko nabe is the meal of champions.

First I must say that nabe mono is one of the few endearing benefits of winter. In my heart, good hearty comfort food is the ONLY good thing about winter. But for the uninitiated nabe simply means pot.(I’ll not tell you what it means in street Japanese). In the case of nabe mono it means an earthenware pot. Often translated as “hot pot”, the translation fails to express the richness and warming qualities of nabe mono.

There are many blogs, photos, and recipes of hot pot cooking on the web so I’ll let your fingers do the browsing. We enjoy chanko nabe as it is the famed food eaten twice daily by sumo wrestlers. I have seen them belly up for breakfast at the McDonalds in Ryokoku since they generally don’t get breakfast at their stable.(If they win their bout of the day they can get free burgers after the match at this shop) Suffice it to say there are as many different varieties of nabe mono as there are cooks in Japan. I am sure that there will be more pictures of vegetables and meat bubbling in broth on my food blog and Flickr before the winter is over.

Going out for a nabe mono dinner can be quite expensive and the best shops are often run by former sumo athletes thus driving up the prices. For a family night out a trip to a chanko shop is hard to beat.

Japanese Country Cooking; beyond sushi!

A friend, a sushi chef, once said to me that if I returned to my country, I’d starve. I laughed and told him that Japanese food was pretty much available in the “civilized” parts of my country. But thinking about this I realized that I was wrong. Sure, there are sushi shops in the wilds of West Virginia and “Japanese” restaurants in many landlocked areas. But as for quality “country cooking”, fresh ingredients just aren’t available-not to mention qualified and experienced kitchen help.

When I first arrived in Japan I was often served small plates of unfamiliar, shall we say, “goodies”. Training and upbringing taught me to eat whatever others around me ate and afterwards inquire to what it was. Of course there were times when I regretted that first bite. Culinary adventures they were, but nothing like appendages of sheep or simian sauté(another story)!

I’d like to introduce you to some of the items that I have grown to enjoy including more informative links that will give you greater detail.

I first experienced “fougere de mers” or “undaria pinnatifidia” in grad school before coming to Japan. In an attempt to make “ichiban dashi” http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/hints/dashi/dashi.html for Japanese soup I succeeded in smelling up my basement apartment with the aroma of low tide.

“Wakame” http://www.physorg.com/news77201733.html is cursed by it’s English name “seaweed” but is an integral ingredient in Japanese cooking. It’s off shoot “mekabu” http://www.nilab.info/cheapjap/000920.html and more at http://epicureandebauchery.blogspot.com/2009/03/terms-mekabu.html was introduced to me by my wife as a healthy way to lower cholesterol. It looks pretty dreadful, but it is quite tasty.

Now that cold weather is here I enjoy “arctium lappa” or burdock root http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_burdock in my soba and “oden”. This relative of the Deadly Nightshade plant is quite delicious and has been used extensively in Chinese medicine and is supposedly this source of origin of “velcro”. Harvest this plant at your own risk!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other slimy yet tasteful addition to buckwheat noodle(soba) soup. “Yamaimo” or “Dioscorea opposita” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_opposita is a yam and is grated and added to the noodle soup at presentation.

Time and your patience with this blog are running out so I will leave other highlights of Japanese “country cooking” for another date.

I have given the Latin names primarily for my readers who live in Japan and often are asked by bleary eyed bar patrons how to say these dishes. Unless they are serious students and taking notes at the time, I like to give them the Latin(if I’m in condition to remember). I enjoy the look of dismay as I say “Discorea opposita”. I feel like Harry Potter invoking a curse!

Curry to Die for By the Beautiful Pacific!

Here is Japan we are spoiled by really good restaurants and wonderful service. My Twitter friends often post pictures from little out of the way “Izakaya” and generally it’s of what we have come to call “comfort food”. The kind of food that “sticks to your ribs” and leaves you with that warm comfortable feeling.

Being so spoiled it is seldom that I do more than publish a few pictures on my photo blog http://gourmetjapan.tumblr.com/. Note and disclaimer that this is also where I often post pictures of family cookouts under the influence of uncontrolled substances. However, today I do have a place to rave about.

Kamal, http://sale.riseresort.com/index.html , was brought to my attention by 4 students mentioning it in class over a 2 week period. Then a student volunteered to take us to this beachfront “curry shop” located between Chikura and Awa Shirahama at the tip of the Chiba peninsula. We all know the mantra about starting a restaurant; “Location,location,location!” They have completely ignored this and placed it at lands end. I half expected to see “The Black Pearl” anchored on the horizon. It is worth the trip!

I know there are many wonderful Indian restaurants in Tokyo and I hit them when I can. Shops in Yurakucho and Ginza come to mind. But I must throw down the gauntlet and challenge any of them to make better “Nan”(Indian flat bread) than I had Sunday night; absolutely the best in recent memory!

At lunchtime(1100-1500) they offer it as an “all you can eat” side dish with their curry sets. I don’t think most people could hold more than one. Sumo wrestlers not being “most people”.

The dinner menu is served from 3PM, meaning lunch specials are over and the prices change. If I were to drive here from Tokyo, I’d want to have lunch, see some sights and return later in the evening for dinner. They stop serving at 9:00. Speaking of sights, Kamal is so close to the Pacific that global warming will put them out of business if success doesn’t prompt them to relocate first. I defy you to not walk across the road and gaze at the Pacific!

Finally, I must allay any doubts you have about the Nepali beer they serve at Kamal. It’s quite good actually and I would say better than 80% of what passes for beer in North America. That, of course, is just my opinion.

Their website is noted above and is only in Japanese, but prices and pictures should inspire you. The website is much slicker than the restaurant, so don’t expect anything fancy from this 5 table shop; beach sandals and jeans no problem.

Tabletop cooking!

The climate here at the far end(I'm being nice today) of the Chiba peninsula is such that we can cookout 9 months of the year. Bundling up against the fierce wind is sometime required, but February cookouts are not out of the question.

Yesterday we came across a little stove that reduces our reliance on charcoal to cook "yakitori", the popular mini-kebabs that almost all foreigners learn to love. I had my first skewer (don't go there) within hours of arriving at Narita in 1987 and have never stopped loving them. You can see the Iwatani Robata gas oven above on our picnic table. It is very easy to set up and get cooking. Of course the difficult part of yakitori is what happens behind the scenes. Cutting the chicken and other delights into "skewerable" sizes is a labor of love, but each person can build their own "kushi" at the table. If you use bamboo skewers you should soak them in water for a long time to reduce the possibility of them burning. This little oven comes with rests for the skewers which fold down out of the way if you just want to grill meat and vegetables .

I suggest using longer metal skewers with the heatproof handles. It may require a little more clean up, but you could then cook safely without the skewers catching fire. As you can see from the picture to the right the stove will flare up from time to time. For this reason yakitori chefs are required to hover over their masterpieces, turning them constantly.

As I mentioned before, wind is a factor in outdoor cooking and as you can see from the next photo down, care must be taken when using the grill as the wind will send flare ups flying.

If you visit my honest to goodness nothing but food and drink blog, you can see some of the other culinary crimes we have committed outside. My favorite being apple pie baked in a Dutch oven perched on a small charcoal brazier.

http://gourmetjapan.tumblr.com/ .

Bumper Stickers, Philosophy and Twitter.

One does not often see bumper stickers in Japan. Apart from the small window sign that tells us that there is an immature, regurgitating, human life form in the vehicle. Japanese cars go pretty much unadorned. You do see the little colored leaf that tells us if a driver is a "newbie" or incredibly old and shouldn't be on the road any longer. Hint, the green and yellow ones mean they still have pretty good eyesight, but not the best of judgement. Now that I have insulted well over half of the Japanese nation, nothing personal of course, lets move on. Why would Japanese not be inclined to commit amateur philosophy on their cars? Simple, he says, required classes!

You remember, quite fondly I'm sure, required classes. Those entry level courses often taught by bored graduate teaching assistants to indifferent under grads in cavernous, poorly heated classrooms. I'd be interested to hear which one was your least favorite. Japanese have required courses, but I'm sure "Introduction to Western Philosophy" isn't one of them. Oh, please, I still remember the excruciating hours listening to that guy drone on. Not a grad student(who would get a post graduate degree in philosophy in the first place), but a full fledged Ph.D deigned to enlighten a room full of disinterested adolescents! However, as scintillating as they were it wasn't the lectures that made us into a nation of one line philosophers-it was all that reading in preparation for the exams and condensing the wisdom of the ages to forms usable in essay questions. Then came the late '60s and a large segment of the population wanted to get all philosophical in traffic and the bumper was no longer enough; entire life philosophies started to appear. (Disclaimer) My Volkswagen van had absolutely no painted flowers. Of course this trend spread to the masses whose last required class was 8th grade English and that was the end of any form of civility.

I haven't been stuck in traffic in the US for many years, but judging from some of the Twitter philosophy I see; I'm sure things have only coarsened and worsened. So the next time you see one of those little green/yellow(wakaba) or brown/orange(koreiba) stickers on a Suzuki mini car, just remember; it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Don't forget to let me know which was your least favorite required course.

Kappabashi is for Cooking!

Many great cities of the world have long established neighborhoods that specialize in products. I remember the dazzling gold "souq" in Damacus as well as the less appealing meat shops in other areas. Tokyo's most famous "town" is Akihabara or "Electric Town".

Lesser known, but possibly more significant, is "Kappabashi" which supplies kitchenware and restaurant fixngs for households and Michelin 5 star restaurants. If you are a foodie or just a kitchen gadget nut like myself, you owe yourself an afternoon in Kappabashi.

My interest in knives was a source of distress for my departed mother who thought no good would come of a hothead with a knife. Fortunately on this occasion she was wrong and I have channeled this love along culinary lines. The gleaming beauties you see here are displayed in a wonderful shop "Kamata" which has been in the business since 1923.(http://kap-kap.com) The master was very friendly and informative once he was comfortable with our Japanese ability. These are works of art and worth a "drop in" just to browse. You might want to leave your credit cards in your other wallet. However a great knife is forever, and you can pass it along to your kids.

Competition for the diners yen is very high among Tokyo's over 180,000 eateries so displays and gimmicks of all sorts are available in Kappabashi. The picture of a giant shrimp being eyed warily by Betty Boop was taken in "M's Display and Sign"(http://minegishiSS.com). Display items for bars, clubs and restaurants know no bounds here.

The same holds true for the very "camp" shop of Mr.Shimura who displays americana goods from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Everything from a full sized working jukebox to tin advertising signs from the past are available here. My wife intervened before I could buy tin adverts for John Wayne cowboy movies. His webpage is http://www.shimura-s.co.jp Below is a picture from the front of his store. I do have to go back there, alone.

There are many more wonderful shops I could tell you about, but I will save them for another posting. I will leave you in probably the most photographed interior on the Kappabashi way, that of the triple decker shop Kajiwara. This shop has an incredible amount of kitchenware, but you must mind your step and your head while browsing in the upper levels. Happy shopping in Kappabashi, near Ueno station.

Incident at Yakitori Okamura

On our summer vacation trip to Tokyo we stayed in Asakusa since my wife found a good bargain at a hotel we had stayed in before. I'm no big fan of that area as it is much too "touristy" for me. That said, I agreed because the price was right and it is just a short walk to the "Kappabashii" area which is the cooking goods and restaurant supply area of Tokyo. I intended to get photos for a blog post on this very interesting area; that should come next week.

Our second evening there, in quest of yaki tori, we came across a new large cloth "kanban" or sign displaying the face of the shop's master. The very same master was twirling small skewers of chicken on a grill facing us through a small window(see picture). The prices on the sidewalk chalk board looked reasonable so we went in.

The 2 storey shop's main floor is narrow with only four tables that I could see without rounding a corner by the kitchen. The other tables were occupied by a family of 3 young girls and their parents and a lone non-japanese customer waiting for the skewers I mentioned before.

The family group was already into their meal and their table was crowded with plates and empty beer mugs.The drama began just after we ordered. I faced the entrance way, as is my custom, and was taking a picture of my son, when I heard a loud crash next to me. Apologies filled the air as the family scrambled to escape a large puddle of draft beer and broken glass. The young father stood rather sheepishly by the table perfectly drenched in the beer that didn't make it to the floor.

Not seeing what had happened, and from prior experience, my first thought was, "fight"! No way, this is Japan.I've only seen 2 fights in 19 years and I caused one of them.(Long story)

The waitress in this newly opened shop had pushed the limit of the table to critical mass and a beer mug had fallen to the floor, soaking the father's pants on the way.More apologies and cleaning ensued as the very cool master joined in and dispatched a young kitchen employee out the door. Fortunately none of the kids was cut as they had managed to slip off their sandals before the incident.

The mess cleaned up and more beer arrived with compliments of the house and I thought the incident finished.

Soon the young kitchen staff returned clutching a large bag marked "Uniqlo". The master gave the bag containing new slacks and underwear to the father who scurried off to change. The end of the story saw the family of tourists leave the shop without paying a single Yen. Master and staff bowing on the way out as they would later do to us while apologizing for the commotion.

Oh, by the way, non-plussed the master's yakitori was excellent. So If you are ever in the Kaminari mon area of Asakusa, across the street from Starbucks you will find a large kanban with a grinning face of a young chef who has his act together.

Below you can see some of the prices for party groups in the upstairs room.

Autumn Appetite and Outdoor Cooking

It will come as no surprise to my friends and the neighbors that we are crazy about food and cooking outdoor. Autumn always brings the best weather for the latter as well as "Autumn appetite". Aki no shokuyoku, in Japanese, means the natural increase in appetite that comes with cooler weather. For us it means we break out the Shichirin charcoal brazier. Basically this miniture stove is used to grill fish over a frugal portion of charcoal. They are available in home centers for less than ¥1000 ($10 USD) and come in various shapes. They are made from a special type of clay and we replace ours about every 2 years.

The above picture(right) of thin sliced pork rib meat wrapped around Japanese basil (Shiso) demonstrates how to cook Yakitori or skewers of chicken and other goodies.

But diverting from the norm of 3 or 4 pieces of charcoal there are more interesting things one can enjoy.

For steaks, thick burgers, and Dutch oven cooking a hotter fire is needed so you should build a strong fire by adding coals to your base fire. The photo above left shows small pieces of wood added to some charcoal to speed up the process. My wife has baked biscuits and even an apple pie using a Dutch oven on a shichirin. Needless to say the apple pie was a lot of work, but the baking was extremely simple. There are plenty of pages devoted to Dutch oven cooking on the Web. Below you can see how she lowered the pie into the Dutch oven onto a steel trivet. She used aluminum foil(heavy duty) to lower and remove the pie. The top crust was a little over cooked so it's not necessary to load up the top of the oven with hot coals.

With a little ingenuity and a lot of patience you can do a lot of cooking on the little shichirin.

Are you "bogus eco"?

Young singles in hope of finding a partner flock to an "Eco" event in rural Japan and take up chain saws to bring down trees in hope of finding an eco conscious mate. Bogus eco! They could have been planting trees in Tokyo. What did they do in the evening, sit around a bonfire and sing "We are the world"?

But, in fairness, isn't this whole grassroots efforts to save the planet doomed to failure without a complete restructuring of the materialistic value system of the advanced world? Since you are reading this on a computer it is safe to say that in a nearby room their is a large electric box keeping your food from spoiling. In another room another smaller box that brings you pictures, entertainment and advertising telling you that you need more of their products. It is equally safe to say that nearby there is a petrol powered vehicle waiting to take you wherever you want to go. Comfortable climate controlled rooms allow you to sleep and work without breaking a sweat. Not that you should feel guilty about any of these modern conveniences; I don't.

Now that we've established our starting point. Which one of you wants to go tell 1 billion Chinese and soon 1 billion Indians that they can't get in on this gravy train?

China and India have just as much right to comfortable lifestyle as we do. There's the problem. Where are all the resources going to come from to fill all this demand? All the above mentioned products require massive amounts of resources to produce and maintain, not to mention disposal/recycle.

Now if you have recently adopted a frugal, environmentally friendly, lifestyle-as the owner of the above pictured bicycle has-don't let me dissuade you. But, in my view, too little too late. Time magazine warned the world about the explosion of the population bomb back in the '60s. Over population and dwindling resources makes this trendy "Eco" movement almost laughable. How about turning off that light when you leave the room.

A 2 year stay now approaches 20!

There are almost as many blogs about Japan as their are foreigners with computers. I have 2 other photo blogs that are devoted to Japanese food and the many wonderful restaurants in this country. No tipping please! Good service is a mark of personal commitment to the customer.

This blog will be the ramblings of a "ganko"(hard headed) "jiji"(rough Japanese for geezer"). Postings will cover many passions and peeves which accumulate with the years. They will be highly opinionated and sometimes insensitive; that's the nature of ganko jijis. If you are easily offended I suggest developing a thicker skin; mine comes in very handy. Your comments are welcome at the end of each post!

I started living abroad when I was 3 in Alaska which was not a state at the time. When asked where I grew up I always say, "... in the back of a '49 Ford".

My family and I live in rural Japan which I am slowly getting used to as I approach "retirement". Fortunately we can reach central Tokyo on a bus when being surrounded by others of my ilk gets to be too much. I love Tokyo and would move there if circumstances permitted, but the rent we pay here is just too sweet.

That's enough about me as I see a twitchy index finger hovering over a mouse ready to move on to another blog.

In future posts I hope to inform you a little and when possible make you at least smirk if not guffaw loudly attracting curious stares from fellow slackers drinking coffee at Starbucks. Not that you are a slacker! What did I just say about "thicker skin"?