Tsukimachi Fall

I went to Daigo City in Ibaraki prefecture last weekend. The weather was fine and warm, so I wore only T-short. It took for 3 hours by car from Tokyo, and my purposes were falls and Soba.

The most famous fall in Ibaraki is “Fukuroda Fall”, which was selected “the best of 100 falls in Japan” before. Its height is 120m and width is 73m. Amazing!!

However my fall at this time was “Tsukimachi Fall”, which was also called the “hidden eight views” and “passable fall”. You can go behind the fall. If you wanna go there, please ask someone around there, because the fall is completely hidden from a main road. That is the reason why it’s called the “hidden eight views”. The size (height : 15m / width : 10m) is much smaller than Fukuroda Fall, but it appears attractive and showers lots of negative ion.

The other purpose, a Soba restaurant, was at the same place. Seats of the restaurant faced to the fall, thus I thought the restaurant owned the fall, but it’s not. The taste was awesome! I’ve eaten plenty of Soba in Tokyo and Shinshu, but this Soba was better than ever. My recommendation to you is “Chigiri Soba”as a dessert, which is a Soba dumpling with bean jam and toasted soybean flour. If you like sweets, this can be your favorite.

To be honest this was my second time to visit Tsukimachi Fall. but whenever I go there, I’m sure I love it. Hot springs and ski resorts are close. I wanna build my second house there hopefully.

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Yudofu (boiled tofu)

Your country may have seasonal dishes. We value sense of the season and have seasonal dishes too. A representative example is YUDOUFU, which means “boiled tofu”. How to cook is very simple.

1. Boil water with dried kelp.
2. Cut tofu with fine size and put it in the boiled water.
3. Dip the boiled tofu into ponzu sauce with some condiments.
4. Eat.

You can see the complete picture on the bottom.

Now it’s cold in Japan because of abnormal climate, and Hot pot is always effective for cold body specially YUDOFU. The taste is nothing special, but I can say that YUDOFU is Japanese heart.

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AKIBA

This is an abbreviation of AKIHABARA. You may know the place. Japan is famous for electric appliances specially AKIHABARA. Every year many tourists from overseas came over, and AKIHABARA is one of their destinations. If you wanna buy electric appliances with cheap price, AKIHABARA is the best. Sometimes I go there even though there are many stores close to my house.

The area is very interesting. Have you ever heard “maid cafe”? It’s a cafe, but Japanese girls ware special uniforms and serve your order. They call you “MASTER”. You can feel them like your servants. Some Japanese love the situation. I don’t know why, because I’m not interested much. However it’s good for your memory.

Additionally AKIHABARA is kind of an illegal area. You can buy bootlegs of softwares, DVDs, and CDs. Now those things are strictly forbidden in Japan, but a few stores escape from crackdowns. Don’t buy them even if you find the stores.

Also AKIHABARA has been developed recently. Many apartments and office buildings are constructed. Couple of years ago AKIHABARA was not clean. I mean dirty. However now the area changed like a modern city. Nice to live. Please walk about the area if you go there.

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A cozy Italian restaurant in Tokyo

If you are an advanced-level traveler in Japan, your vacation would be great with Japanese food, but sometimes you want to eat Italian food or other dishes don’t you? Actually I do. I’ve tried to eat other countries’ dishes whenever I go there and compare the same dishes in Japan. Of course motherlands are always better, but we have fine restaurants, which may satisfy your mouth, in Tokyo.

Last weekend I went to one of my favorite restaurants, “<A href=”http://www.elio.co.jp”>Elio Locanda Italiana</A>”. My sister told me the place. Now she is in Milan with her Italian husband. Both of them are gourmet and have eaten everywhere in Tokyo. The restaurant is homey, comfy, and tasty. Friendly staffs welcome you when you open the door. Everybody says to you, “HELLO!”. This is not usual matter in Japan. I order fresh pasta whenever I go there. I think their fresh pasta is the best in Tokyo. Of course other dishes are also amazing.

Unfortunately my girlfriend had a fainting fit at this time, and it was worse than ever. She couldn’t sit, and then the staffs gave us blanket and special drink, which was delicious. I tried some. Finally they made an empty room for us. She got over thanks to them. They are well-served.

I wanna say, “thank you!” and go there again to eat fresh pasta.

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Japanese breakfast

Do you eat breakfast everyday?

I think I can work well with sensible breakfast, and rice is the best breakfast for Japanese. Our standard combination is rice, miso soup, pickle, and some side dishes such as natto, roasted laver, eggs, roasted fish. In the past rice was protein source for Japanese, and protein of soy bean covered amino-acid lysine, which was not included in rice. I guess the perfect combination of rice and miso soup was created by this theory. We have to be careful not to take too much salt. Of course we drink green tea after meal.

A dining etiquette of Zen Buddhists is “1 SOUP AND 1 SIDE DISH”. It means they simply eat rice, miso soup, pickle, and a side dish (vegetables). Pickle is not counted as a side dish. Additionally they have some restrictions. Meet, fish, and egg are forbidden to eat due to ahimsa. We usually use bonito flake for miso soup, but it’s strictly forbidden as well. Chive and garlic are not used because of the strong smell. This is definitely a vegetarian life.

Nowadays our society is full of food, but I don’t wanna waste them, and I don’t wanna forget compliments for all.

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Kyoto-style pickle store, MURAKAMI

I went to Kyoto last autumn, and then I looked forward to seeing colors of the leaves as well as Kyoto food.

I searched remarkable restaurants and make reservations before going there. My favorite restaurant was Kyoto food HARISEI in Gojo. The direction from Gojo station is to walk 10 minutes to a post office and turn right at the corner of the post office, then you can see the store curtain. Staffs welcomed me once I entered inside. They prepare a private room (about 33 square meter) for me. I enjoyed tasty sake and Kyoto food in a calm atmosphere.

My last dish was OCHADUKE and Kyoto-style pickle. OCHADUKE is one of Japanese traditional dishes (some toppings on rice and pouring Japanese tea). The pickle was very tasty!! Its presence was more than OCHADUKE. I was impressed and asked a staff, “could you sell it?”, and the staff answered, “we buy it at a pickle store”. I asked the place, and they told me soon. It was close to the restaurant, so I went there next morning.

The appearance was like private house, but they sell variety of pickle. I tried other pickles, but the pickle I ate at HARISEI was the best. They deliver all over the nation, thus I ordered at the moment and got a business card. Now I frequently order the pickle. The exact name of the pickle is NARADUKE of melon. It costs 1,200 YEN for each. I think this is good for souvenirs.

[ Kyoto-style pickle store, MURAKAMI ]
Address : 7-385 Miyakawasuji Higashiyama-ku Kyoto-shi
Phone : +81-75-561-3835

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Japanese driver license

How do you get a driver license in your country? I have 2 licenses. One is in Japan, and the other is in US. When I compare these two, I can recognize some differences of the procedure, so I guess other countries may have unique procedures. I talk about Japanese way at this time.

The exam is for age 18 or over. In the beginning we have to go to a drivers’ school. I don’t know how many schools exist in Japan but around 70 schools in Tokyo. I went to one of them when I was 18. Usually it takes 3 months to graduate and costs around 300,000 YEN ($2,600 ). Do you think it’s expensive? It is!!

Each school prepares certain programs for students. We study more than 25 hours and drive more than 30 hours. Instructors sit next to us during our driving. In the middle of the program we take an interim exam, which is for road trainings, and finally we can take a main exam. Each lesson has a short test. We must pass it, and then instructors give us their permissions. If we fail several times, additional fees occur.

Once we complete whole procedures, we need to go to DMV. They issue our diver licenses in hours. What do you think about the Japanese system? Some are the same as your way, and some are not.

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Japanese crest of the family

Japanese crests of the family signify each ancestry and estate.

Usually crests of the family are delineated with flowering grasses or animals. A custom to delineate crest on our dress began in the mid-Heian era. Court nobles delineated their favorite marking on their clothes and furnishing goods. At the moment crests were only for men. Women started to delineate crests on their clothes in the mid-Edo era.

It was strictly forbidden for populace at large to have their family name until Meiji era started. After the term all families held each crest. Women wore KIMONO with crest of the family as a ceremonial dress, and position, form, and size of the crest were fixed then. The custom has been taken over to the present. The number of crest on each dress is 1, 3, or 5. The more number of crest is delineated, the more formal the dress is. However we generally ware a single crest dress.

The chrysanthemum crest is special for the emperor and blood royals. It’s treated as national emblem.

Each crest of the family is simple but sophisticated, and it’s not just art. It has a history of the family.

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A curious noodle shop in Yoyogi

I’ve mentioned Japanese noodles in my articles since I started to write. SOBA is one of my favorite, and its taste is different from each shops. Last Saturday I brought my dog to a pet salon to shampoo him, and meanwhile I went to a gym. One the way to the gym there is a SOBA noodle shop, which I’ve been curious. The atmosphere is like teahouse in mountain path.

The name of shop is YAMAZAKI NOODLE FACTORY.

It’s located in the middle of residential block. I think it’s hard to find for you, but the taste was not too bad. A master of the shop looked picky about SOBA. The taste was fine, and the price was reasonable. (480-YEN for Zaru Soba)

Moreover my attention was Japanese Sake, “ANBAI”, which was brewed for salted food. I love the naming!! I wanted to drink some if I wouldn’t have any plans after that. Do you know anything about ANBAI? Please tell me some!!

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The housing situation in Tokyo

Japan is a very small island. Especially Tokyo is tiny, but around 20 million people live here.

We have lost our lands year by year. What we have to do is to construct housing higher like skyscrapers and make reclaimed lands. This phenomenon makes land prices higher. Recently Japanese stock market is getting better, and the Financial Services Agency lifted the zero-interest-rate policy. It also makes land prices higher. At the same time some parts of Japanese family income are increasing. I AN NOT!!

By the way do you know how much we have to pay for rent? Some of readers will come to Tokyo, so I tell you the average. You can negotiate with your agent. A studio like 30 square meter in the center of Tokyo is between 90,000-JPY ($750) and 200,000-JPY ($1,670). Of course it depends on your housing condition.

For example my previous apartment was 20 yeas old, two stories (a part of 2nd floor), spacious bathroom, and 33 square meter studio close to Ikebukuro. It was 100,000-JPY without utilities. This was reasonable I guess. A friend of mine lives in Aoyama. His apartment is modern and spacious 1BR, and it costs 250,000-JPY ($2,080). Of course this is a luxurious apartment.

I guess The housing situation in Tokyo is like New York, San Francisco, or Milan. If you choose cheaper one like dorm, you can save money, but usually those of kind apartments do not have fine conditions, thus people live outside of Tokyo.

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