The Yellowtail

Ok sorry for this weeks blog being a bit late but as usual my time has been limited. I originally thought this week was gonna be a bit slack, but it turned out to be well hectic again.

Saturday was Ayaes birthday so after work I headed home to pick her up and then we went to an organic restaurant. Ayaes pretty obsessed with organic food so this was a treat for her. The food here was unsurprisingly expensive but delicious nonetheless. We both ordered set menus which had about 12 different minature courses each although I had no idea what I had actually ordered.

This meal was proper lush. Each tiny portion of food was presented like a work of art causing a small sensation of guilt when you eat it. Of course it was all 100% organic, and there was lots of salads and steamed vegetables, and also some really awesome pork curry type thing. So yeh that was awesome.

The next day we both had a free day so we went to the Nagoya zoo and took a picnic. We had both been before last winter but going in the sunshine was a lot nicer (its still sunny here!!, (well, it was at the time of writing!). Also because of this we were able to go round the zoo in record time and stick to the awesome animals (monkeys, bears and elephants). Once we`d done that we decided to go shopping in Sakae. After blitzing the designer stores, we were both well hungry and happened upon a small foodcourt in the basement of one of the many department stores. Being as Ive been trying to try as many different dishes as I can while Im here I was delighted to find a Pizza Cone shop. A Pizza Cone is as it sounds; like an ice-cream cone but instead of ice cream, tomato sauce and cheese (and whatever other toppings you desire), and instead of a wafer cone, a pizza dough cone. This is then put into a massive oven thing and served to you pipng hot. This was again an awesome dish. Ive always found pizza to be a very cumbersome street dish (that is, walking and eating a pizza while holding the box is rather inconvenient. Sure you can just buy one slice but that’s not gonna fill you up much is it?). So the Pizza Cone solves all these problems. That’s Japanese inventiveness for you!

After this I was still hungry (all right, it doesn’t solve ALL the problems!), so we headed to the Mitsukoshi department store food market. I had been here before, but not since last winter and had forgotten how awesome it is. Anyone that visits Nagoya, I recommend you check this place out! It’s a big food market filled with loads of weird and wonderful dishes. Altho its all pretty pricy, its all cooked on site so its well good. Because its difficult for pictures to do this place justice I took a movie (see below). Particularly of note were the biggest Tempurified meat thing Ive ever seen!

As we headed outside the street had a couple of different live bands playing. Everytime Ive been to Sakae theres always live bands playing, and good ones too. One of the bands playing was a really decent rock band, and the other was a Latin American pan pipe band. Both were really good, and we sat and listened to them as we chowed down on our gourmet cuisine. With the bright neon lights of Nagoya, and the Sunshine Sakae ferris wheel in the background, it was a pretty awesome moment.

Monday I had a hectic morning of going shopping (to the other other supermarket the other side of Nisshin), then returning to make a massive curry, with home made naan, and rice in time for Ayaes return from Uni (Im a house husband now!). Just as we were about to eat I got a call from my boss saying a teacher was sick so could I get to Hekinan as soon as possible. Hekinan is about 2 and a half hours away so I hurried my lunch and got there as fast as I could. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong station so it took a while before someone from the school could pick me up. By the time I got to the school I had 15 minutes to prepare 5 lessons, and the first 3 were back to back without even the usual 5 minute break. I did alright considering and basically did the same Halloween based lesson for all the classes. Halloween is a pretty big deal out here (commercially - no one really goes trick or treating I think), and especially at the ACC school, where all the schools are covered in Halloween themed decorations. In fact all the schools are having Halloween partys today and tomorro, and some unlucky teachers have been roped into entertaining the kids all day without getting paid. Thankfully Im not one of them!!!

When I finished work it was about half 8 and I was knackered considering I`d been doing stuff literally all day. By the time I got home it was quarter past 11, so I went straight to sleep.

Tuesday, and I went in with Ayae to her Uni as she needed to get her coursework checked. I quite like going to her uni, it’s a pretty nice setting. Futuristic buildings surrounded by plenty of greenery and plants and stuff. As we sat and had lunch in the cafeteria I observed some breakdancers spinning on their heads and wotnot which was pretty cool.

Wednesday and we went to visit Ayaes parents. To get to Irago by public transport is always a chore and involves about 4 different trains and 3 different buses, but we got there in the end.

Whilst we were there we decided to take it easy and Irago is the kind of place where its hard to take it any other way. Although the warm weather has pretty much gone now, it still has a very slow, chilled out pace, which was exactly what I needed. On Thursday I was invited to help out and learn a bit about Ayae`s Minshuku (A Japanese Inn that her parents own and run). After donning an apron and some boots I headed down to the Irago fish market where Ayaes dad was bidding for various fish. The Irago fish market is famed for its fresh fish as the ocean in Irago has very little contamination.

The market consisted of a series of small plastic tanks with live fish in, and lots of hoses pumping fresh seawater into them. As the market is next to the sea, the water goes back into the sea, and the cycle continues. Since the tanks are open at the top, the water is constantly overflowing so the floor is always wet (thus the reason for the boots).

The various hotels and restaurants from around the area send someone to go and buy the fresh fish. In Ayae`s family`s case, her father heads down. It is run like an auction with each tank, or set of tanks going to the highest bidder. Because of this there is a constant buzz in the air, and lots of noisy shouting.

After Ayaes father had bought all the fish he needed we organised it. I should state that at this time most of the fish are still alive. My duty was to sort the Abalone (kind of like oysters) from the other shellfish. Abalone are a particular delicacy and carry with them a high price tag. After sorting them out I took the different buckets to the truck to be loaded up. I did this using a walking stick like implement thing with a blunt wooden handle at one end and a spike at the other. The spike hooked underneath the bucket so it could be dragged along, as they are far to heavy to be carried long distances.

In addition to the shellfish, Ayaes dad also bought some buckets of other small fish I cant remember the name of. One thing I do remember however was the Yellowtail. He only bought one Yellowtail fish (or Amberjack), but it was a pretty huge one. After we had loaded the truck up with everything else, the still live Yellowtail had to meet its maker. It seemed to be minding its own business, swimming round the tank, when suddenly the water was tipped out by Ayaes dad. After flopping about on the floor a bit it was eventually still enough and he whacked it with the blunt end of the walking stick like implement. It was still moving after this so he slammed the spike end right through the fishes brain causing a sickening cracking sound. As the fish lay twitching I have to say I was a little bit shocked, (although not as shocked as vegetarian Ayae!). I eat a lot of fish and meat, but seeing killing like this first hand does make you think a bit. Still, every fish we eat has to be killed somehow and this is at least fast, if a little gruesome. I should also point out here that Ayaes dad isnt some kind of crazed fish murderer, hes a very warm hearted gentle guy so I don’t wish to give the wrong impression of him. Also he`s got that spike stick implement thing…..

In all seriousness he is a very nice man. In fact because their family is Buddhist and Buddhism is generally against harming living things, he has to get a special blessing thing each year to allow him to kill so many fish. Hes been doing it for 22 years so that’s a lot of fish!

When we got home we unloaded the fish and went to the kitchen of the inn. Here I watched Ayaes dad cut up the fish expertly. When he got to the Yellowtail, he chopped its head off, and extracted a special bit from inside the throat. He told me it was a very special tasty bit, and set it aside for later. He also descaled and decapitated/gutted the other small fish. As I watched him do this at lightning speed he offered me a go. I accepted altho I was a little nervous due to the fact the knife was ridiculously sharp and really quite big. As I tried to slowly descale the fish, the knife slipped and I nearly cut my thumb off. Still I persevered and took about 5 minutes to do one fish. After this I left it to the professional and went back to the house.

That night we got to eat some of the Yellowtail. The special tasty bit from the throat we had in a stew type thing, and we also had some sashimi (raw slices) taken from the body. In addition to this we had the some of the expensive Abalone in a butter sauce. This was really really gorgeous, and what with the extreme freshness (they were alive just a few hours ago) it was a very unique culinary experience.

In fact although I didn’t know it, most of the fish I have had at Ayaes parents house has been similarly fresh (caught and bought in the morning, then killed and eaten at night). Thanks to ice boxes we have also been able to enjoy Irago fish in Nagoya. Whenever Ayae comes back, she brings some sort of fish in an icebox (last time it was some lovely Fugu steaks we had for breakfast).

Since I had work Saturday I left Irago on Friday, leaving Ayae to chill at her parents (and rustle up some fresh fish!). The journey home was a proper ordeal. I got on the wrong bus (although there wasn’t actually a right bus to begin with), and then had to get a train and well, basically it was a proper chore. Im normally quite good with public transport, but this week I seem to be losing it a bit….

Hmmmm…..

Anyways that’s about it for this week. Not really anything planned for this week but Ill try and do something to write home about.

Thanks for reading and all the great comments from last time. Let me know how this one finds you. Are the pictures slowing the page down?, or am I writing way way too much about food? This blog has pretty much just been on that now that I think about it!

So yeh….

Peace Out

Jack

This movie still doesn`t really do it justice but hey what can you do.

The Night Out

Ok thanks for making it over here, I hope you`ll all agree its much better over here than myspace.

Anyway Ive had a really busy week so Ill get to it.

Friday I bought a digital camera, thus the reason for the blog move.

Saturday was the Nagoya Matsuri (festival) which I was really looking forward to. This was basically a procession of various acts including baton twirlers, marching bands, floats, and loads of people in traditional dress.

One of the highpoints of this had to be the marching band who were performing various traditional tunes, and then without warning burst into Eye of the Tiger! Awesome!

In addition to this, there were some really awesome battle re-enactments with some samurai sword fights, mass battles and lots of ridiculously over the top deaths. The whole thing looked well good anyway.

I should also say that this day was particulary of note as I discovered a new dish. I figured that as it was a festival, there would be loads of awesome street food and I was right. When I got off the subway into Central Park (a park in the err, centre), the whole place was completely full of vendors. I decided to do a circle to try and find something Id never had or even heard of before. Luckily I found OmSoba which is, as you may have guessed an ommelette stuffed with fried Soba noodles, as well as meat and vegetables and covered in okonomi sauce and mayonnaise. This was really tasty, although I don’t know if it was just cos it was a new dish or cos it was some ancient secret recipe………..hmm, maybe I should try and find that stall again……

Anyway, after the festival I headed home to get some food and then headed out again. It was Tracy (one of the other teachers) birthdays and she was having a night out. We started in a sports bar called Shooters. (By we I mean about 25 other people!). There were people from Japan as well as lots of different countries including America, Australia, Canada (always with the Canadians!), and even Peru. Everyone was pretty safe and there were lots of people who had only been there a month which was good to know. I was however the only British person which to my surprise meant I was actually a little bit cool. It seems the whole Cool Britannia thing is still going strong thanks to The Office and Radiohead, and lots of people wanted to chat to me which was nice.

Shooters is like an American style sports bar on the second floor of a tower building just outside Sakae. It was full of Gaijin as well as a number of lairy (well, by Japanese standards) baseball fans. Saturday night was a big game for the Nagoya Dragons as they were in the end of season playoffs. Im not sure if Ive really emphasized enough how important baseball is in this city. Nagoya is often called the Manchester of Japan. If that’s true then the Dragons are the Man United. Last season they won the league beating their rivals the Tokyo Giants (who I guess are the Chelsea). This season they havent been so lucky, just losing to the Giants but theres some big championship thing going on anyway and theyre doing pretty well.

Ok enough about baseball. Anyway it was cool to be in a bar again hearing cheering sports fans (the Dragons totally cleaned up!). Having said that, it was a shame they showed this instead of the England Estonia game, also on that night.

Another thing I should mention about this bar is that instead of paying for your drinks individually, you have to have a tab, and pay afterwards. This isnt unusual in Japan, but in a bar of this size it didn’t really work too well. It was difficult to get drinks since the waiters and waitresses were always running over the place, but never in our direction. Anyways eventually I got to drinking.

After this bar we headed to ID café which is the biggest club in Nagoya. On the way we walked past some office building skyscraper which had some people hanging round outside it. As we got closer I realised that there were loads of little crews gathered round boom boxes, and body popping / break dancing. This was pretty surreal, it felt kind of like 1980s New York (or how I imagine 1980s New York) but totally awesome!

The club was expensive (around 15 quid) although that came with 4 free drinks so it kind of evened out. It was pretty huge though, about the size of Fabric in London but spread over 6 floors. I didn’t check out all of them since I didn’t want to lose my friends (I didn’t have anyones phone number!). The floors I did visit though were a techno floor, an R&B floor, a chillout floor, and a reggae dancehall floor. This one was totally packed so we spent most of our time there. Again this club seemed to be more than 50% gaijin but everyone seemed pretty friendly. I met this one bloke who used to be a teacher but is now a bartender by night and a priest by day. I think that’s possibly the coolest combination of careers Ive ever heard of.

Everyone got pretty wasted from the 4 free drinks and then some, and we left the club at closing time (which was the ridiculously early 1am!!). It didn’t matter though cos that was when the fun started. Since the last trains run at about midnight, everyone who was still with us (about 13 by this point) had to pull an all nighter til the trains started again at 6. Since it was Traceys birthday, she decided (as did everyone else) that the best idea was go to an all you can drink 24 hour Karaoke bar (Because when is that not a good idea!!!).

This was awesome. Ive always loved Japanese Karaoke, but doing it when ur wasted is awesome because you THINK you sound the bollocks. We managed to get a room which was big enough, and the drink flowed, as did the music (although having said that, lots of people did decide to pass out). Throughout the night people kept coming into our booth staying for a song then leaving (Tracey has been here 6 years so she knows loads of people!). Most were really safe although there was one fat Australian woman who cancelled everyones songs and set up like 5 for her. Eventually after some arguing she left. Still even with that incident, it was still really really cool!

Anyway after screaming my way through Stairway to Heaven and hearing numerous versions of The Pretenders` “Brass in Pocket”, it was finally 6am and time to leave. The trip home was pretty much without incident although I did manage to fall asleep on the train. I was woken up by the conducter at the end of the line and had to get a train going the other way, back to Hongo (near where I live) although luckily this was only 1 stop away.

The next morning I felt pretty horrible so I didn’t do much. In fact this whole week I havent really done much since my hours have been cut at the school. It sucks, but for the moment Im just doing Saturdays. In a couple of weeks Ill be doing another week of full time work but until then Ill have to be minding the pennys. That said I did receive my first pay packet this week which was awesome!

O yeh I almost forgot, Wednesday was pretty cool. Since Ive been here over a month my hair has gotten pretty long so I decided I had to get it cut. With my extremely limited Japanese this has been something Ive been dreading, but it had to be done. I had been scouting places this week to try and find somewhere cheap but everywhere is over the 25 quid mark. Luckily on the internet I found this old mans barbershop which was nice and cheap.
Before I left I got some key phrases from Ayae to help me order what I want, (namely “Short here”, and “Not-too-short here”). The barbershop was a bit of a trek but I found it in the end. When I got in there, a kindly old lady invited me to a chair and I tried to remember the phrases Id been given. Having forgotten them, the lady gave me a picture card of different lengths of hair and I pointed to the one I wanted. It’s a shame they didn’t have plasticised versions of different hairstyles in the windows, otherwise I could of taken her outside and pointed like a restaurant!

Anyway I was left with a pretty ok haircut, a bit longer than I wanted but given the circumstances I was very relieved.

That evening, Ayaes friend upstairs (not God; she`s got a mate who lives in the appartment above us) was having a party. This wasn’t a western style party of drinking your own body weight, falling over and breaking stuff, this was a food party!

Ayaes class mates have these from time to time. Basically the organiser buys loads of food, makes dishes (with the help of the guests) and then at the end everyone splits the cost of the ingredients. This particular party was a sushi party. I met some really cool people here although when you get Japanese girls together chatting Japanese to each other, it is impossible to keep up, theyre like anime characters or something!

The food here was awesome!

In addition to the many different sushi ingredients (raw tuna, crab, shrimp and salmon as well as loads of vegetables), there was also lots of salad and 2 home made pizzas, which were proper tasty. Although I found it impossible to chat Japanese, one of the girls was a huge football fan so she put on the big international game that night (not England v Russia, Japan v Egypt of course!!). This took the edge off as it was actually a pretty decent game to watch with 5 goals (Japan won 4-1).

After the main course Ayae went to a convenience store with one of her friends to buy some more food. This was of course all a set up since Ayaes friends had actually planned a surprise birthday party for her (shes 22 this Saturday). As soon as she was outside they got a cake out with candles and had me sign a card, and of course prepared lots of tea. The big surprise thing went a little dodgy, but still she was proper chuffed and I got to eat loads of cake. Awesome.

Ok, that’s about it for this week, thanks for reading, and Ill hopefully write something next week!!

Thanks again yo!!!!!

Jack








P.S Apologies for my shaky camera work, I had to hold it above everyones heads to get shots so found it difficult to get the framing right.

P.P.S Im gonna put all the other photos on Facebook for anyone whos interested.

The OmRice

This week me and Ayae went on a little excursion.

We started off with Nara. Remember last week when I said it would all probably go horribly wrong? Well this trip was a testament to this. First we took a train there but missed the station we had to change at, so we had to wait half an hour til the next train, then get one going the other way. Then when the ticket conductor came we had the wrong ticket so had to pay a load more. By the time we got to the train station we were ready to crash out. Luckily our hotel was apparently next to the station.

However as we were traveling on the Kintetsu and not JR line, we arrived at the wrong station and had to get a bus to our hotel.
By the time we got checked in, and back out again we were starving but had to rush a lunch as the Todaji temple we wanted to visit was closing in an hour. On the way it started raining and we realised we`d both left our umbrellas at the hotel.

Eventually we got there and I dunno, maybe because it was a place we had both already been, or because we were tired or whatever but we both thought it was all a bit so-so. Anyway we saw some nice deer lol

Back at the hotel we paid a fortune for our evening meal at the hotel, and again it was average. Then we went to the hotel bath house and both found the water to be too hot, and a bit unpleasant.

Anyway I could go on bitching but its getting a bit boring so Ill get to the positive. The next morning we went to Miwa which is the oldest shrine in Japan. This was a really sweet little town and there was a gorgeous temple there. Ayae had to get some purification ceremony done so I got to view that which was pretty cool although I got a bit nervous when I had to go in front of the `congregation` and do some bowing and clapping thing in the right order.I probably messed it up but no one said anything.

After Miwa we went to Kyoto. Kyotos a really cool city so it was great to go back there. Again we visited the hotels bath house but this was just right. Also their bath house was on the roof outside so there was a nice cold air to go with the extreme heat of the water.

The next morning we took a sightseeing bus to 3 of Kyotos attractions, although there was only one I really wanted to go to. The Eiga Mura. This is basically the film set used in the majority of Japans numerous Samurai TV shows, and many of the older Samurai films. It is a whole village in the style of the Edo period, and there is always something being filmed there. This was an awesome place although we only had 2 and a half hours there. As well as seeing some samurai TV show being filmed, we also got to see a live show showing different filming methods. This was really cool. Although I couldn't understand a lot of what the actors were saying I got to see how they choreograph samurai fight scenes and then watch one which was cool.

After that we went to the costume department and got to dress up in traditional gear and get a picture taken. I will try and get it up on here at some point but basically its me in a samurai get up(obviously!) including a wig with the shaved head thingy, and Ayae as a Japanese princess. Anyway its proper funny trust me!

After the Eiga Mura we went to Nijo castle which is one of Japans oldest castles. We only got an hour here but did a speed sightsee and got to see some really beautiful gardens, as well as all the rooms the emperor of Japan used to live in.

After that we went to the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) which again we had both been to before. Beacause of this we went straight to the tea house. This was lush. We got some green tea and an absoloutely gorgeous Japanese dessert , and enjoyed them in a sweet little garden.

We then headed back to Kyoto station. Before we took the train home to Nagoya though, I had a certain mission to fulfill. On my first trip to Japan, the nicest meal I had, in fact one of the nicest of my life, took place in a certain Omrice restaurant below Kyoto station. Before this I had never tried Omrice, in fact I didn't even know what it was (Its an ommelette stuffed with rice and other stuff by the way). Ever since then I have had omrice many times but never had anything resembling the meal I had that night.
I had always wondered if that restaurant had some sort of an ancient amazing secret recipe for Omrice or if it was just the discovery of a new dish that provided such an awesome culinary experience. I decided to find out.

We found the restaurant and I ordered a slightly different dish from 2 years ago, but Ayae ordered the one I chose last time so I could try it and ensure fairness (Shrimp with Spinach Omrice). I can`t emphasize enough how exciting the wait for this Omrice was. This had been an idea at the back of my mind for 2 years and I never thought Id actually be able to try a `Watashi to Tamago` (`Me and the egg`) Omrice again.

When it came it was pretty damn good, although not as amazing as I remember. I dunno, maybe there was a different Chef or a different recipe 2 years ago. Or maybe there was just something in the air that night, but then it was truly unbelievable. Still, I was very glad I could find out and finally have an answer to the question that has plagued my mind for so long.

After this we went back to Nagoya. Wednesday I had work again although this would be my last day doing the 2 hour trip to Okazaki as the woman I was substituting for would return the next day. This day went fine, although I had 2 1 hour kids classes, which drove me nuts.

So now I can have a bit of a relaxing break as I go back to working part time. This weekend brings with it the Nagoya street Festival which Im thinking will be AWESOME!!!

Anyways more on that soon. Take it easy and cheers for reading. I really appreciate it, especially the comments. They make it feel more like a dialogue, so thanks everyone!

Jack