Domo arigato gosai mas!

After we have been back in Emeryville for over two weeks it’s time to reflect on what we learned in Japan and how our trip has transformed us. First of all look at the pictures! They show us actually sitting on our knees, smiling, because we can do it.

Our most Japanese breakfast

After the memorable dinner at the Meiji Memorial House

But we are hopeless when is comes to speaking and reading the language. Nevertheless, we practice what we learned. Everytime I call Bob now, he answers the phone with a cheerful “Mushi, mushi” and that really brightens my day. And when he says “hi” it is not only “hello” anymore, but also “yes”. “Doso” is one of my favorite words. I learned it on my first trip 19 years ago from Yoko’s mother. It means “please” ( … help yourself, … take a seat etc.) and shouldn’t be confused with “domo” for “thank you”. To thank someome can have several stages. After “domo” comes “domo arigato” and “domo arigato gosai mas” for the ultimate thank you like “Thank you very, very much”.

I must confess that right after we got back, I newly appreciated every cup of French roast coffee (from Peet’s), a  croissant for breakfast, and dinners that are a mix of what many different corners of the world have to offer. But I am sure that we will soon create Japanese dishes again with fresh inspiration, use the beautiful chop sticks that Yoko gave me for my birthday and wash it all down with exquisite green tea, sake and sho ju.  Bob is thinking about making sweet potato beer for Thanksgiving 2009!

A heartfelt “Domo arigato gosai mas” goes out to Chris and Yoko, Keiko, Hajime and his family, Michiko, Mieko, Seiki and all the people in Japan who made our stay so very special!

Irene and Bob

Here are some more photographic highlights from our trip:

Path at Shisendo Temple, Kyoto

Outdoor stairs and Christmas tree, Kyoto train station

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Fall theme: Gingko nuts on pine needles

Tommy Lee Jones: The ultimate boss?

What’s Happy Birthday in Japanese?

It is always very different to spend one’s birthday in another country. Irene’s birthday was on Sunday and started with a special evening the night before. We took the Shinkansen from Okayama to Atami, then a regional train to Yugawara, a spa town near Mt. Fuji, to stay at a  Japanese guesthouse with Chris and Yoko. First a cleansing shower and a relaxing soak in hot mineral water(onsen), then a delicious meal, beer and lots of smooth sake. The label on the sake bottle had a picture of a woman reading a love letter, Chris translated the name of the sake: “The one that makes a woman cry”. Luckily nobody shed any tears of sorrow, infact, we had a pretty good time in our private little restaurant room being wonderfully waited on by a woman in kimono. Just when I thought it was time for bed, Chris announced that now the traditional walk outside would follow and that our wooden sandals were already put out and ready for us. Rain was no excuse. With transparent umbrellas in hand and giggling because I felt like going out in my pyjamas, we wandered along main street of Yugawara, another group of guests was just across the street from us. After admiring an old waterfall, which was already mentioned in a poem about 1200 years ago, we took pictures in front of the ryokan – despite their blurriness a memorable documentation of the evening.

Beer, Sake, and Sho ju

We were very fortunate during our visit in Kawagoe to have Hajime, Yoko’s older brother, to spoil us and drive us around. Since Hajime continues into the third generation the family soy sauce, sake, and beer distributorship business it was only natural for him to arrange a special tour for us at the Coedo Brewery just outside the Kawagoe city limits. We arrived at the brewery at sunset after driving past numerous sweet-potato fields. It turns out that Kawagoe is famous for its sweet-potatoes and is very proud of its reputation for their extremely high quality.

We arrived at the brewery and were escorted upstairs, after removing our shoes and donning slippers of course, to sit around a table facing a wall of medals and citations attesting to the world-wide appreciation of their beers and including an autographed and framed picture of Michael Jackson, the “beer hunter”, not the pop star, who had visited some years before. Our anxiousness to taste those beers was rising. But wait – this wouldn’t be Japan if green tea didn’t get served first.

Mr. Kenji Nagase, the Brewery Manager and Sales Manager, sent one of his brewers down to the lagering tanks to pull a representative selection of their beers while he told us about the history of Coedo.  It turns out that there are vanishingly few regional craft-breweries in Japan, and that those few tend to have the common thread of having been started with the assistance and guidance of professional German brewers. It was no surprise, then, to learn that the Coedo beers are mostly lagers with the distinctly Bavarian sensibility of well balanced malts and noble hops. All yeasts come from a German yeast bank, and all malts are German sourced. The hops are predominantly German noble varieties with some Saaz and more modern German bittering hops like Perle also available.

Each of us were given five generous cups of beer to taste and analyse; Kyara, Ruri, Shiro, Shikkoku, and…Beniaka. Kyara is an amber beer with reddish tints, medium-light body with clean noble hop aroma and firm Munich malt backbone, around 5% alcohol and a sort of combined Munich Helles/Dunkel character. The Ruri is a straightforward and very clean Pilsener with soft malty notes, well balanced by crisp noble hop aroma and bitterness. I felt it to be closest to the Bohemian Pilsener style due to the malt profile, but reasonable minds may differ. Shiro means “white” in Japanese, and is a Bavarian Weizen beer with pronounced phenols and esters… think cloves and bubblegum. It has a light-medium body and high carbonation, and should probably be served well chilled to rein in the fruity notes, you just know that they use a Weihanstephan yeast in its fermentation. Shikkoku was a very pleasant surprise… a straight-ahead Black Lager with sweetish medium-light malt body, dark color from highly roasted barley malt and crisp hop bitterness and flavor. The roasted malt notes were spot-on with no astringency or harsh bitter character. Very smooth, I felt the closest German example I have tasted would be the Märkische Landmann  Schwarzbier that I got to like last winter in Berlin.

Shiro - Beniaka - Shikkoku

As you may have guessed by now, we were having a pretty good time. Mr. Nagase would explain the features of each beer and the brewery operations in Japanese, while my brother-in-law Chris provided the English translations. Chris would then patiently translate my numerous and detailed questions regarding lagering times, fermentation temperatures, German Purity Laws and other arcane matters into Japanese. It was appropriate that our attention now focused on the Beniaka. How to describe this beer made with a healthy helping of roasted sweet-potatoes? Think medium-full body, clean and clear dark amber color with modest hop bitterness and firm Munich-malty backbone. Also think “sweet-potato pie”. Not too sweet at all, more of a caramelized roasted sweet-potato aroma and flavor notes which were well supported by the malt and clean hops. 7% alcohol, and the perfect beer to serve with the Thanksgiving Turkey. I did not ask about the Reinheitsgebot and sweet-potatoes, but suspect that this may be why their German Braumeister returned to Germany a few years ago…

Bob, Hajime and Chris

Coedo is beginning the search for European and American representation and distribution of their beers. My guess is that they will be well received when they achieve this, and that Japan will finally be recognized for its contribution to the craft brewing world. Now, about our visit to the sake brewery in Kawagoe…

The thrill of traveling in Japan

With our Japanese Rail Pass we were able to travel for seven days wherever we wanted to. Taking the shinkansen (bullet train) was the fastest way and a lot of fun.

From Kyoto to Okayama every half hour

We didn’t need to make reservations, just came to the station, showed our pass and waited for the next train. On the train – just like in Germany – snacks and drinks are served. When the sales-lady enters the coach she always bows, often with a smile. The conductor does the same. For our trip to Okayama we bought lunch in a bento box and ate it while waiting for the train in Himeji.

Bento box with Mt. Fuji

Bob is impressed by the quality of the food, so fresh and tasty. And the sake he is holding in his left hand smoothly washes it down.

Tokyo has a music director for all the train stations, because each station has its own tune which is played as soon as a train enters the station. Its done to wake up those passengers who have fallen asleep during  their train ride. For Tokyo and the region around it there is the  SUICA card, that you can reload and the fare is automatically deducted once you leave the gate of the station. Just pressing your purse with the Suica card inside against a designated spot on the barrier opens the gate for you. So easy and practical – we would like to introduce that in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Quite a monster!

Found in Tokyo on the train

Sign for priority seating

In Hiroshima we took a street car that was made in Duesseldorf/Germany and looked exactly like those in Cologne. With the help of Seiki we talked to some second-graders on the street car and took their picture.

No picture taken without the V-sign!

Learned something

Getting up with the monks

A loud speaker in the room woke us up abruptly in Japanese  this morning and a knock on our door made sure we actually were on time for the daily morning ceremony at the Chishaku-in Temple in East Kyoto. We jumped into our clothes and went with a group of about 10 people from our guesthouse to the temple through the cool dark morning. Sitting on little stools for Westerners we could follow an intense Buddhist worship held by monks and novices. Chanting, gongs and a huge taiko drum were part of the ceremony. An open fire ! was burning in the altar area, smoke and incense mingled with the forceful and precise voices of the praying monks, who were singing in fast tunes mostly on one tone into the new day.

Afterwards we visited the famous temple garden just by looking at it from a distance sitting on mats with a cup of green tea and two cookies in front of us. The guiding monk didn’t speak English, but with the help of our friend Mieko, who patiently translated into German and/or English, we could understand  his explanations. Here are some pictures from temples and gardens in Kyoto:

A vegetarian Japanese breakfast was quickly gobbled down and we then rushed to Kyoto Station to catch the Shinkansen train for Himeji. Chris had called Himeji Castle  a “must-see” and so we got off the train for about an hour and a half on our way to Okayama. Himeji Castle, a world heritage, is a samurai castle, completely built from rocks and wood, 6 storeys high, with a collection of old weapons and gun powder (introduced by the Portuguese), many hundred oversized wooden stairs up and down again and fantastic views from the top, schoolkids and people having lunch in the park – just to sum it up in short because there was little time and so much more to write about.

Blossoms in November

Yes, Faith - we were relieved, and very happy when we heard in a taxi to Shisendo Temple yesterday afternoon that Obama had won the presidential election back home and behind the Japanese commentary we were able to make out John McCain’s concession speech. Celebrations – no or not yet. At least, now that we are in a Western-style hotel again, we can stay informed. Haven’t seen a single English newspaper in a long time.

 

Will stop here, because our friendly guide for Okayama, Irene’s nephew Seiki, will knock on our door any minute to make sure we get our daily tourist program done. Hate to wake Bob though, who is taking a nap – Japan is demanding on our energy and we don’t think we have gained any weight – so much walking, climbing steps and stairs, taking shoes off and putting them on, trying all this (mostly) very healthy food!

Our ryokan in Kyoto

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese guesthouse. Our room has tatamis, a low table and mats instead of chairs. At night we sleep on a futon that was put on the floor while we were having dinner in a large hall downstairs. Although this is in the middle of Kyoto it is very quiet. A beautiful garden surrounds the ryokan and just looking at it during breakfast eases your mind.

Breakfast with a view

We are wearing a blue and white yukata (house robe) with a dark-blue overcoat – very comfortable but during the meals we still feel a little silly in it.

Intern

Yu-dofu is served in wooden pots

After we got off the Shinkansen (bullet train) in Kyoto, Irene’s friend from old Cologne times, Michiko, came from her home-town Gifu and waited for us at the mega-modern train station of Kyoto – to guide us to our ryokan and be together with us for one afternoon. We visited the Kiyomizu Temple, which is famous for its 1000 year old  main hall built without a single nail. Irene showed Bob the  temple for lovers where she made a wish five years ago … Now, what better proof than us that it helps! The temple also has a little restaurant and we had tofu watching the crowds go by.

Breakfast with a view

Bob, Irene and Michiko

Alley leading to the temple

Internet connection!

Good for the blog – internet connection!

In front of the Kiyomizu Temple

Bob, Irene and Michiko

Kyoto – the city of thousand temples, enough to visit in a lifetime, but Kyoto also has a fantastic food market (Nishiki Market) that we discovered today. Now Bob and I are debating priorities. Finding food heaven or soul heaven. We settle for doing both and for coming back sooon!

The making of tatamis, bathtubs, soy sauce, sake and beer

Today is already  Sunday,  November 2nd and our last day in Kawagoe, a city east of Tokyo, easily to be reached by train from Shinjuku. This is were Chris and Yoko have their home. From the roof of their house where there is actually a little garden, you can see Mount Fuji. They have one Japanese room with tatamis, shoji screens, an altar alcove with a scroll. In the middle of the room is a table with a hole underneath to stick your feet in – more comfortable for sitting but also nice  in the winter when the heater down there is on and warms you. Irene uses the room for her morning meditation and Tibetan yoga and enjoys the quiet atmosphere.

Due to Bob’s interest in traditional Japanese crafts a whole program was set up for us to go to local craftsmen and small factories that produce their goods according to old traditions. Kawagoe is famous for its “backwardness” meaning  that you find traces of an “old-time Japan” that has become extinct. Most of the places we visited were within walking distance. Kawagoe’s streets are extremely narrow and have no sidewalks except on the main street. Cars, bikes and pedestrians really have to watch out for each other.

Stitching a tatami

Japanese bath tubs

The beer in the middle is made from sweet potatoes

At a new soba noodle restaurant

We are making progress eating with chop sticks. But here is a link of a little video on youtube how to eat in a sushi bar – please don’t take it too seriously!

 

Sake blessed at the Meiji Shrine

The culinary highlight at the end of our two days in Tokyo was a dinner at a traditional restaurant which has ties to the Meiji period of Japanese emperors.

A fall-inspired flower bouqet

First course

Beer was served in ceramic mugs

Wonderful hostesses with gentle gestures served us each course and there were eight altogether! The conversation became livelier as the evening unfolded and the more beer, sake and shochu we drank.

Afterwards we got a tour into the garden, learned about and touched soft female and hard male needles of pine trees. With a gift of cookies and deep bows we were sent back to our hotel deeply impressed by so much exquisite food, devoted service and harmoneous atmosphere.

We just relied on the kindness of strangers

Everything on our flight from San Francisco to Tokyo/Narita went smoothly, even at the airport in Narita we managed to buy our tickets for the Express train, but then we arrived in Tokyo-Shinjuku – and got totally lost in the maze of this incredible station. With over 2 million people passing through it every day, it is the busiest train station in the world. We were there at rush hour – had no Yens and no address to our hotel, just a phone number to call my brother Chris. After a few outbreaks of despair, I asked a friendly looking young lady with a beautiful pink cell phone if she could please make this phone call – it worked, she dialed the magic number and a few minutes later we were in a taxi to Century Southern Tower . Chris’ wife Yoko bailed us out, we checked in at the 20th floor and zooomed up to the 35th floor, the top one, to our room. Wow, what a view ! – the glittering city by night on three sides  around us. We were marvelling down from above as if we were standing on top of a high mountain!

Our room is spacious and has granite floor in the bathroom, the toilet has got a warm seat and some other embarassing features.

In the evening we had a great dinner with a fusion of French and Japanese cuisine and fell in our bed almost unconscious.

To make good use of our jetlag we got up at 4 am and at 5 am we were on our way to the Tokyo Fish Market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After walking through a rabbit-warren of small alleys with dense traffic of small trucks and motorized pallet-skids we came to the main complex. Incredible as it seems, 90% of the fish consumed in all of Japan passes through this cobblestone-paved edifice. The density of fish, fishmongers”stalls, and darting cargo carriers is overwhelming at first, but one becomes a bit numb after twenty minutes or so. The variety of seafood, fresh, dried, preserved, frozen, or otherwise, is huge. Labels attached to some of the frozen tuna carcasses show origens from alll over the world, and auctions are held daily after the buyers have had a chance to closely inspect each fish. This is serious business indeed.

After seeing several thousand varieties of fish, shellfish, kelp, roe and other delights it was 7:30am, and time for a sushi breakfast in a little 8 stool sushi restaurant. Absolutely fresh, delicious, and unpretentious. We were fortunate to arrive when we did because there were about twelve people lined up outside patiently waiting for their turn at the counter.