Hanami with Me?

Many people are probably familiar with the imagery of trees heavy with flowering cherry blossoms in Japanese culture. From ancient wall scrolls to scenes from romantic anime, showers of falling cherry petals are a common motif. And recently we here in Tokushima experienced the flowering sakura no ki (cherry trees) for ourselves.

The Japanese go gaga over sakura blossoms. During the week or so that they’re flowering, a common activity is to go on outings simply to admire the trees.  This is called hanami, which might be translated as “flower viewing.” And a few weekends ago, when the bloom was at its height, that’s exactly what I did. But with a camera in tow!

There are few things as photogenic as the sakura trees in their full glory.  It’s no wonder the Japanese embrace the occasion as one for celebration. Although, the other day I was chatting with the cashier at my grocery store, and she was sort of marveling at the Japanese penchant for festive opportunities.  My comment was that the Japanese are certainly an iwai-zuki (celebration-loving) people.

The fascination with all things sakura here extends beyond the trees themselves. There are bentou boxes, handkerchiefs, and all sorts of paraphernalia decorated with cherry blossoms.  It’s hard to go anywhere and NOT find something sakura-themed around this time.

So yeah, not a particularly long or in-depth post, but I figured such a significant event in this country warranted its own 15 minutes of reflection.

Mata kondo ne.

Kobe Weekend, Day 3

So on to the final day of my stay in Kobe!

Yuri, being the bestest bud that she is, totally enables my love of sweets. Because of that, one of the first places we hit on my third day was a store she thought I’d like. This particular place was a purveyor of “mochi cream.” Mochi, in case you didn’t know, is a traditional Japanese sweet (categorically called “wagashi”) consisting of sweet pounded rice wrapped around a filling. The standard fillings are bean pastes of some variety.  These, however, have fillings of different flavored creams. I chose one flavored with kinako (toasted soybean flour), and black sesame.

In addition, we relaxed over coffee and chatted before heading out for the rest of our day.

See? This smile pretty much sums up my whole stay.

Also, along the way we came across this shop specializing in omuraisu, or omelet rice. Basically, flavored rice wrapped in a thin omelet with some kind of sauce. They had the most adorable fake-food storefront. Of course I had to take pictures.

After wandering a while, we came to the highlight of the day: sushi! Kaitenzushi, to be exact. Kaiten means “rotation”, and zushi is sushi. So it was a sushi bar of the conveyer belt persuasion.  Because there are a lot of pictures for this part, I think less words and more eye candy is the way to go!

The ordering screen. If something you want isn’t coming around, you can order it yourself using this nifty thing.

Menchi katsu sushi. Menchi katsu are basically deep-fried mincemeat patties. Yep, on sushi with mayo.

California uramaki. Ura means “underside”, and maki means “roll”, so it’s basically the Japanese term for an inside-out roll.

Ikura, or salmon roe. And this style of sushi is called “gunkan”, or battleship sushi.

I….actually can’t remember what this was. I’ll ask Yuri and get back to you… <.<  >.>

Edit: Here's what Yuri said: "軍艦巻きの具の名前は「松前漬け」だよ。数の子（herring roe）、するめ（dried cuttlefish）、こんぶ、にんじんをみりんとしょうゆで味付けしたものよ。"

Allow me to translate. This neta is called Matsumaezuke, or Matsumae pickle. It's made of kasunoko (herring roe), surume (dried cuttlefish), konbu kelp, and carrots flavored with mirin (sweet cooking sake), and soy sauce. 教えてくれてありがとうね、ゆりちゃん！

Salmon with basil mayo.

Seared bonito (skipjack tuna, I think is what it’s called in English?)

Unagi, or pike eel.

Uni! Sea urchin, and a tie with ikura as my favorite neta, or sushi topping.

Tuna with grated daikon radish.

Nikudango, or meatball, sushi. With mayo. Mmmm….

A “super” piece of nigiri (the topping-on-thumb-sized-ball-of-rice style), with tuna, egg, tuna salad, nori shreds, mayonnaise, and a leaf of lettuce to hold it in.

My tiramisu-flavored cream dessert. It was really good, but possibly actually too sweet. That, or I was so full from all the sushi that I couldn’t enjoy it as much as if I had started with it. Maybe next time I’ll go with dessert first, haha.

And finally, the carnage….

Mwahahahaha.

Kobe Weekend, Day 2

Finally getting around to the rest of these! My schedule at school is undergoing the annual shake-up, so I've been distracted this week, a bit. 

First, something I forgot to include on Day 1, which I just realized. During our meandering, Yuri and I stopped at an ultra-cute parfait shop that I went to in Kobe before. I should've taken a shot of the storefront, but alas, I didn't think to. However, I did take pics of our respective treats. Yuri was such a good sport about all the picture-taking, even reminding me when I myself forgot about getting photos of our food.

This was Yuri’s dish. We both ordered sort of mini-sundaes made with frozen yogurt. And it tasted like yogurt, with that tart and refreshing bite.

Mine had some azuki bean paste, and a little black sesame “purin” (purin is the Japanese pronunciation of the word “pudding”, but really purin is much more like flan, or panna cotta than what we Americans think of as pudding). I saw it and immediately knew I wanted it; Black sesame is one of my all-time favorite flavors.

Now on to day 2 proper!  So, we’d stopped quickly in China Town the day before in Kobe, and I’d been so enchanted by what I saw (read: the food I saw)  that I wanted to go back the next day and indulge in some of it.  We were asked by Yuri’s mom to pick up a specific kind of kimchee in Korea Town in Osaka, so we munched while we walked around there, as well.  Yeah, we got looooots of stuff; It was great, getting to try so much stuff!

So, we went to Osaka first. Before Korea Town, we walked around in Dotonbori, one of the most well-known neighborhoods in the city. It’s the street with the giant crab sign, among other things. Here, have a look.

After Dotonbori, we continued and went to Korea Town. Boy, we had a bunch of eats here! Kimbap (basically Korean sushi), Toppogi (rice cakes in a sweet/spicy sauce), griddled pancake things I can’t remember the name of (we got octopus/scallion and beef cheek respectively), Yuri got a mochi-esque small fried pancake thing filled with a sweet peanut/bean paste filling (the thing in the cup), and of course, the requested kimchee (no pic of that, unfortunately).

We also did some non-food shopping. I bought some little doll thingies to send to Mindi (my sister in the states) and my mom, and a sweet purse (which I’ve gotten many compliments on).  We saw some cool hanbok in a couple shops! Here, see?

Before hitting China Town, We stopped and took a break around the train station. While we were there, Yuri mentioned "Gacha Land", that she'd always loved stopping into as a kid. Of course I had to see this Land of Gacha. Turns out it's a bunch of those little 100 or 200 yen vending machines that spit out really cute little toys. I got something for Mindi from here too, ahaha. It's like a compulsion. 

There's Yuri again! What? It's not like it's, er, staged or anything. Um, yeah.

So on to China Town. Would you like some visual aids? Of course you would.

A vending machine? Duh. Lookit the name of my blagh.

It had started to rain a bit by this time, so we didn't linger too long. Basically long enough for me to satisfy my gustatory curiosity. I tried a squid ink nikuman (steamed meat bun), a chimaki (sticky rice with fillings wrapped in a bamboo leaf), and some un-inked nikuman of the sandwichy-variety. The savory-sweet hunks of pork in the latter were really good, and the guy behind the counter was awesomely genki and asked me where I was living. He seemed tickled when I told him I lived in Tokushima.

And as a finale to all this snacking, I needed something sweet. So we stopped by a vendor that Yuri's sister, Yuki, had told us about. They sold these little rabbit-shaped buns with sweet custard in them. So I got a steamed one, a fried one, and a fried mochi ball filled with black sesame paste, and rolled in sesame seeds (in case you forgot, I like sesame).

 I found I liked the fried bun better of the two, for the main reason that it wasn't served piping hot. I know eating things hot is generally considered tastier, but I find when things are hot, they tend to be TOO hot, and I can't discern any flavors above the heat. So I could taste the sweet, creamy, and bready elements of the fried one easier. 

Phew, now I only have day three left! Prepare, sushi pics will be had!

Mata ne!