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Things We Eat: Indian Food Part 2—Women Cooks

October 5, 2024March 19, 2015 by Viktoria Haddan

Sampling local food, the cooking classes, street food and fresh fruit and vegetable markets were probably the highlight of our trip to India and Nepal. Check out Indian food part 1 here.

In India, our travel group attended a cooking class in a small town called Orchha. Our host spent an evening teaching us how to make some of her favorite dishes. These included masala chai, roasted eggplant, potatoes and spinach, yogurt sauce, rice pilaf, and chapati bread.

In Kathmandu, Nepal, we spent an afternoon with a Nepalese couple that runs a cooking class in a home setting. We were the only two people in the group so it was nice to be able to ask a lot of questions and do every part of the cooking—from prepping to eating! We made tea, momo dumplings, lentil soup, vegetable curry, rice, mustard greens, fry bread and rice pudding.

In both of these settings, women finally took center stage as leaders—in the kitchen. Neither of the women finished their schooling. Each had incredible stories of arranged marriage, financial hardships, raising children and becoming ‘discovered’ by tour leaders who encouraged them to make a living by showcasing their country’s food to tourists.

The meal today comes with a side of social commentary. Skip ahead to the recipes if you’re not interested. While these women make money with little to no education, most women do not. They depend on their husbands. The scales are so unbalanced in favor toward men in this society and its economy, that it’s hard to stomach.

The message I heard was, “All women can do is cook and have kids so if they can make money at the same time, why not?” Yes, women should have the ability to choose. If a woman has culinary talent and she has a desire have kids, that’s great. But if that’s her ONLY choice and she was robbed of an opportunity to further her education, which may provide her some other options, that’s nothing to be proud of.

I will also add that women do ALL of the cooking in this society. Men, when questioned, expressed no interest. Why bother when my woman does it? The women cook. Men eat first. Then, whatever is left over, the women and children eat. In Nepal, the man came to sit and eat with us while his wife cleaned the kitchen.

In most of the urban city centers, there was a noticeable lack of women. I felt eerily outnumbered at times. Where are all of the women? At home, where they belong? In the Delhi Metro, women are assigned to ride in a separate car. This is similar to Japan and I understand the reason—to avoid sexual harassment. (Side note: I’ve never had a problem in Japan, or India for that matter. Maybe because I’m white and traveling with a big ol’ man to protect me.) Anyway, the separate car is not my issue. The issue is out of the whole entire train, just one car is for women and it was barely full at rush hour while the men in our group were packed shoulder to shoulder in their car. Where are all of the women in the middle of the workday?

India, instead of viewing women (half of your population) as a deficit, find a way to see them as an asset. Both genders working=everyone wins. The International Monetary Fund is working on an initiative to equalize pay for men and women. It states India needs, “… to boost presently low female labor force participation.” Source.

I understand that’s my privilege as a white, educated, Western woman to have these ideas and that not everyone agrees. I don’t pretend to know everything and I don’t want to make light of these women’s accomplishments. Changes are made slowly within the norms of each society. At least the men in both of these situations have some realization that their wife has earning power. Small steps for womankind.

I’ll get back to the food. Below is my adaptation of Vandana Dubey’s recipes of Aloo Palak and chapati.

Aloo Palak (Potatoes and Spinach)
Serves 2-4 people

1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh chiles, chopped finely
1 lb. fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 lb. – 3/4 lb. raw potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-4 – 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp coriander powder (you can substitute cumin powder)

Directions

Step 1: Steam or boil the diced potatoes for about 5-7 minutes. You want them pretty done—firm, but not falling apart. Like you’re making potato salad. Set these aside.

Step 2: Heat oil in a large sauté pan and then add cumin seeds, garlic and chilies. (We don’t have fresh chiles in Japan so I used dry ones that I let hang out in some boiling water for a few minutes.) Fry for 1-2 minutes on medium high heat. Don’t let your garlic burn…you are infusing the oil with flavor here.

Step 3: Add your potatoes and the salt, turmeric, chili powder and coriander/cumin. Stir and incorporate all of the spices.

Step 4: Add the chopped spinach and toss about. You just want to wilt the spinach here for a couple of minutes. Don’t overcook.

Step 5: Turn off the stove. Enjoy! Serve with rice or chapati. We also had some raita, or yogurt, to take the edge off the spice.

Note: You can adjust the chiles and chili powder to your liking. Same with the salt.

Chapati
Makes 8 chapati

1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt (1/16 tsp)

Directions:

Sift flour onto a flat plate and add salt.

Sprinkle water onto flour and knead into a smooth dough.

Make golf ball sized balls, flatten by hand then roll into thin pancake, coating in extra flour to keep from sticking.

Fry chapati on a flat, unoiled frying pan for about a minute on each side, then place bread directly on gas flame until it begins to puff up. Repeat on other side.

Below is a video of Viktoria making chapati with Vandana.

Everybody, This is India… India, Meet Everybody

March 19, 2015 by Robert Haddan

Americans routinely use words like “broke” or “poor” to describe why we can’t go out with friends, take a vacation or buy a new car. We’ve coined the hashtag of “#FirstWorldProblems” to describe many of our daily trials and tribulations. We are spoiled.

India—or more accurately, Taj Mahal—was on our short list of “must visit” places in Asia during our time in Japan. An easy 10-hour flight from Tokyo, it was more accessible than ever. But you can’t fly 10 hours to see just one thing, so we looked for help crafting the perfect itinerary. In the end, we chose Intrepid Travel‘s Delhi to Kathmandu, Nepal trip.

Delhi side street — An alley in Central Delhi near our hotel

Our trip began in India’s capital city of Delhi. Before arriving in Delhi, phrases like “developing nation” and “extreme poverty” were buzzwords on Sunday morning political shows or keywords in a college thesis. But they weren’t real. They didn’t have faces.

Aside from well-known landmarks like Taj Mahal or the Ganges River, the reality of India is largely ambiguous in the minds of most Americans, myself included. India is an emerging power on the geopolitical landscape. It is a large landmass in the center of an unstable part of the world with an increasingly wealthy upperclass. As such, it’s an important national security ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism. It’s battling China for the title of world’s most populous country with more than 1.2 billion inhabitants.

Delhi Streets — A main street in Central Delhi. Shopkeepers clean up the sidewalks as best they can, but the trash will pile up again throughout the day.

But it’s also a country with considerable poverty. Poverty unlike anything that exists in the U.S. and certainly unlike anything I’ve seen firsthand until now. According to World Bank, India has the largest concentration of impoverished people in the world. Delhi alone is home to 22 million people in an urban area the size of Jacksonville, FL. New construction dots the city, but not fast enough to replace crumbling residential buildings and spotty infrastructure.

Delhi Street Scene — Looking down at a typical Delhi street scene from Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Delhi’s largest Sikh temple

As tourists, we’re discouraged from giving handouts of food or money. There’s a larger strategy at play to quell the national poverty problem. But try ignoring a toothless grin from an elderly lady at the train station or the children, undernourished and dressed in dirty rags, wading through traffic begging for change from passersby who drive a new Audi or Mercedes-Benz. These aren’t the guys in a Columbia jacket standing on the freeway ramp with a “Why lie, I need a beer” sign. This is real, life-and-death stuff and it’s heartbreaking.

Government propaganda encourages a “green” Delhi, yet trash piles up in the streets. An editorial in The Times of India newspaper claimed (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that throwing trash in the street is part of the national identity. The government is also encouraging the use of toilets instead of doing business in the open. Since October 2014, a government program has provided more than 500,000 toilets in homes across the country, but is fighting a perception that indoor toilets are unhygienic.

Yet, in a situation that seems unresolvable, India is trying to move forward. The country was still buzzing from President Obama’s visit the week before we arrived. When we told people we were from America, they’d reply with a big grin and say “Obama!” More importantly, they see that the U.S. finally understands the seriousness of India’s successful development.

Today’s India is a country breaking free of an imperial past. Despite its ancient history, it’s only been independent from the British since 1947. It’s a country resetting the expectations imposed by a caste system that determines a person’s lot in life simply by the family they’re born into. There’s unprecedented access to education, yet many are still not participating, young women in particular.

My goal is that this is the last of the “book report” posts about India… our travels through the country were amazing, inspiring and enlightening. But, to present India only through the lens of its natural beauty is to do a disservice to the realities facing its people and the efforts of those who have literally given their lives in the development of the nation (Mahatma Gandhi and his daughter-in-law Indira Gandhi to name a few).

Indian Tea (Masala Chai Recipe)

March 15, 2015 by Viktoria Haddan

Every locale has its signature drink, which usually signals a preference for coffee or tea. In Portland, Oregon, it might be Stumptown drip or espresso coffee. In Australia, we drank cappuccinos with every meal. In Japan, it’s green tea or matcha—ground green tea that is blended with water and sometimes milk and sugar (matcha latte). We had fun watching matcha being ground in Kyoto. There are so many types of green tea to count, and I’d like to try them all. The antioxidants in green tea have been attributed to the long lives of Japanese people.

Chai Cups — Starting the morning off with a few cups of Masala Chai.

In India and Nepal, THE drink is undoubtedly masala chai (the wiki read is fascinating). The spicy, sweet drink quickly became a favorite among our group members. However, not all masala chai is created equal. It became a game to rate each cup and declare whether it was the best we’ve had. In Nepal, masala chai is a little weaker…more similar to milk tea. Milk tea is also popular here in Japan and it’s, you guessed it, (black) tea with milk and sugar.

If you’ve had a chai latte from Starbucks, you have an idea of the flavor of masala chai. In India, the milk is brewed with the tea, instead of adding it later. You can also get some Chai tea bags and add some milk, but it’s not the same.

We had masala chai on the street, in restaurants and in people’s homes. While we were in the city of Orchha, India, we had an opportunity to meet a woman who taught us some traditional recipes.

Making Masala Chai — Vandana Dubey strains the chai tea from the spices and loose leaf tea.

Below is my adaptation of Vandana Dubey’s Indian spiced tea. This drink has “warming” spices: best drank in the winter.

Masala Chai
Yield about 2 cups

1 cinnamon stick
6 pieces of whole clove
6 green cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp. black loose-leaf tea
3 Tbsp. white sugar
2 cups water
1 cup milk (any kind)
pinch of garam masala, optional

Step 1: Lightly crush the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns. The best way is probably a mortar and pestle, but who has one? I break the cinnamon stick into small pieces and place into a medium saucepan. Then, I throw in the cloves, cardamom and peppercorns. I use the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher (use what you got) just to break ’em open.

Step 2: Grate the ginger into the pot.

Step 3: Throw in the black tea and sugar.

Step 4: Add the water and bring to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes. It’s going to smell amazing.

Step 5: Add your milk. If you can heat the milk beforehand, that’s best, but if not, add your cold milk and bring it back to a boil. Then, bring down to a simmer for about 2-3 minutes.

Step 6: Get your cup(s) ready and find a fine strainer. Strain the liquid from the solids.

Step 7: Add a pinch of garam masala if you like and enjoy!

Notes:

Ginger is the main flavor here. We didn’t have any one day and it tasted all wrong.
I also didn’t have a cinnamon stick for one batch. Ground cinnamon is not a good replacement. Powdered versions of any of the spices don’t suffice.
If you don’t want to go out and buy all the spices, you can still make a good batch with just ground fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick.
If you’re unsure about how much sugar you’ll prefer, you can leave it out here and add as you like to the final product. You can also leave out the sugar and add sweetened condensed milk at the end.
If the tea is too “spicy” for you, add more hot water or milk to dilute.
Garam masala is a powdered blend of most of the spices in the recipe: peppercorn, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. If your grocery store has bulk spices, buy a tiny bit of it to try.

Let us know if you try the recipe and how you “make it your own.” What is the signature drink where you live?

Whirlwind: India, Nepal and Thailand

March 9, 2015 by Robert Haddan

The world is a big place. We’ve tried our best to take advantage of our current locale to visit parts of the world that previously seemed unreachable. In August 2014, we spent two weeks traversing Australia. Japan on its own could fill years of travels, but we’ve started chipping away with trips to Kyoto and Osaka, Fukuoka and Mt. Fuji among others. However, our latest adventure has been the most epic yet. Spanning 33 days, three countries and every transportation method imaginable, we’ve had a taste of southern Asia that’s left us hungry for more.

Travel Map — From Tokyo to Delhi, Kathmandu to Bangkok… our 2015 tour de Southeast Asia. Click on the image for a closer view.

Beginning in Delhi, India, we toured the northern part of the world’s seventh largest country before crossing into Nepal. From Kathmandu, we flew to Thailand, where we lounged on amazing white sand beaches, explored national parks, lived with the locals and wandered through one of the world’s greatest cities.

Helpful Couple — A couple on vacation from Krabi helped us get settled in Kiriwong

Along the way, we met amazing people with both heartbreaking and heartwarming stories. We experienced the “real” India, Nepal and Thailand, but could also see the impact that tourism is having on the identity of these cultures. We ate what the locals ate and what the tourists ate—spoiler alert: they’re not the same.

This trip was not only a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but also a perspective-altering one. The reality of seeing developing countries in different states of progress trumped anything I’ve ever read in Time or Newsweek. Our eyes and minds opened as we struggled to understand a way of life that flew in the face of what we know to be “right”—arranged marriages, extreme poverty, access to education and gender inequality.

Mud Hut — Our made-from-mud duplex in Nepal

It also brought new opportunities. I can now say that I’ve played cricket (on the banks of the Ganges River, no less) and I generally understand this sport that mostly remains a mystery to Americans (despite being the second-most popular sport in the world). We slept in overnight trains, mud huts and bungalows—the latter included a 5 a.m. wake-up call from both a crowing rooster and a flying chicken landing on our roof with a thud. We gained a better understanding of Hinduism as well as the role it played in shaping Indian society and many of the world’s religions. And we learned a thing or two about toilets around the world (“squatty potty” anybody?).

Enough with the teasers. Let’s dive right in with a look at some of the best food we’ve ever eaten… anywhere! Meet northern Indian cuisine!

Things We Eat: Indian Edition (Part 1)

March 9, 2015 by Viktoria Haddan

As we planned our trip to India, we had a vague semblance that we were going home to our (vegetarian, spice-loving) people. We knew that the cow was sacred in Hinduism and that McDonald’s in India didn’t have hamburgers. We liked the Indian food we had in the states and in Japan well enough (Japan has a surprising number of Indian and Nepalese restaurants).

Ganges Boat Lunch — Cascadian Bob’s plate on our sailboat journey on the Ganges. From top: aloo, saag paneer, dal, spicy chutney, beets and carrots and chapati. One of the boats held a cook and food supplies for our overnight journey.

But I would have never guessed how incredibly amazing and flavorful actual Indian food is. We never got sick of it, even after three meals a day for 10 days. Nepal (seven days) had similar food to India, but with a little less spice and pizzazz, in our opinion. Quick note on spice: even though we asked for it, we never had really spicy (as in, ‘this is so spicy, I am going to die!’) food in India (or Nepal or Thailand). I think it’s because the locals thought we couldn’t handle it. Shame!

A Thali meal is a selection of many different dishes. It’s served on a steel tray with separate small bowls. It’s fun to order and try a variety of things. It usually includes a rice dish, dal, vegetable curry, roti, chutney or pickle, papad and a dessert like the rice pudding pictured here.

As we were traveling, I was reading books about India. One of which is called “Climbing the Mango Trees” by Madhur Jaffrey. This book hit me at the right time in our travels. The author describes her childhood in India through the lens of the food her family ate. She intertwines food with history, describing the influences of Persian or Muslim dishes on the traditional Indian or Hindu ones. She also accounts a home economics test of cooking bland English (British) porridge.

Every time she mentioned a dish, I thought, “Hey, I just ate that!” She gave a historical, firsthand account of her memory of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the tensions in India about British interference (my word, not her’s), whether the country should split into Hindu and Muslim nations (which, unfortunately, it later did in the Partition, creating Pakistan in 1947) and Gandhi’s funeral. When we visited Nehru’s home in Allahabad, we got to see where many of these historical deliberations were made, including Gandhi’s office.

Now, back to the food! While reading the book and menus in restaurants, I started making notes about what the names of the dishes meant. I was familiar with a few of the Hindi words, but I decided to make a handy guide for the next time we’re in an Indian restaurant and I blank on what “aloo mattar” is. 🙂

Keshari Menu — An example of a typical Indian restaurant menu. Main dishes are from 110 ($1.75) to 180 ($2.90) rupees. Some Indian people we met claimed that foreigners were charged tourist prices. Even if we were “overpaying,” we sure didn’t mind! We could both order a main dish, bread, drinks and maybe a dessert for about $5 to $10 a meal.

I’ll explain more about our cooking classes and share a few recipes in part 2 of this post.

Vegetables—There were many fresh vegetable stands on the street. Potatoes are used a lot, along with garlic, onions and chili peppers. Our cooking host said that if her children wanted a dish with peas, they had to shuck them the night before (no frozen peas here!). We also saw mustard greens with their yellow flowers growing in Nepali fields; we later ate this seasonal green in a Nepali cooking class.

Aloo—potato
Mattar—peas
Saag—spinach or another leafy vegetable like mustard or Collard greens
Palak—spinach. Check out my recipe for Aloo Palak.
Gobhi—cauliflower
Baingan/baigan—eggplant
Chutney—refers to a sauce or fresh, chopped salsa of vegetables or fruit. This was not like a sweet jam, as we’ve previously had chutneys. More like a chimichurri or pico de gallo.

Muktaj Curry — Robert ordered this Mukthaj Curry with naan. The curry had paneer cheese and peas in a sauce with fresh ginger, onions and green peppers.

Legumes—Cheap and filling! We had a great variety of dal dishes, spiced in many ways.

Channa/chole—chickpeas
Dal—can refer to any legume (bean, pea or lentil). There are many types of dal, such as black, green, red, yellow, mung, etc. It can also mean lentil soup as we found out in Nepal.
Masala—means spiced

Dairy—We saw a lot of dairy used in Indian cooking. Milk was boiled in a huge pot and sold on the street. Yogurt, cream, butter and paneer is made fresh daily.

Paneer—cottage cheese, large curd. Freshly made.
Ghee—clarified butter. Used in place of oil when cooking and in desserts. You can buy it already made, but our cooking class instructor said she made her own.
Raita—yogurt sauce, can be flavored in many ways, but we usually had it plain.

Meat—Most of the castes in India are vegetarian, but a few are not. They eat chicken, fish, wild boar and mutton. The Nepalese eat buffalo (which bears relation to the cow), but the Indians do not.

Keema—ground meat, usually lamb
Mutton—can refer to goat or lamb/sheep.

Grains—The base for every meal. The rice was flavorful (I’m not a rice fan), but we especially liked trying the different types of bread. The only kind we had tried previously was naan. Now, roti is our favorite! And stuffed paratha. And masala dosa. And pakori. Yum!

Roti/chapati—wheat flatbread. Unleavened. Just flour, water and salt.
Naan—yeasty, bubbly, teardrop-shaped bread cooked in a tandoor oven.
Papadum/papad—thin, crispy cracker usually served as an appetizer or with beer. Or as part of a Thali meal!
Paratha—flatbread like a pancake. Sometimes stuffed with aloo (potato) or vegetables.
Basmati rice—very long grain rice. This is an expensive type of rice and reserved for special occasions.
Biryani—main rice dish with vegetables and/or meat and spices. Can be served with raita.
Pulao—(rice) pilaf. A Persian influence.
Tandoori—style of food or bread that is dry cooked in clay pot/oven. This style of cooking became mainstream in India (and eventually all over the world) after the Partition when Hindus who moved to India from what is now Pakistan brought their tandoor ovens with them.
Poori/puri—deep-fried puffed bread. We had this for breakfast with curry.

We ordered some basic Indian dishes for breakfast. Breakfast is not a big meal. Top is poori bhaji, fry bread and curry. On the bottom is stuffed paratha with spicy pickled vegetables.

Samosa—deep-fried dumplings stuffed with potatoes, peas and cumin spices.
Pakori—fried vegetable fritters with chickpea flour.

Pakori — These fried vegetable pakori and chutney hit the spot after a long day of sightseeing!

Kofta—deep-fried vegetable dumpling, usually in a brown gravy or cashew-based sauce.
Dosa—very thin crepe that can be filled with spices, dal, and/or paneer. A South Indian specialty.

Two Dosas — On the left is a dosa ordered from a restaurant. This one is a thin, rice pancake filled with paneer and chiles. On the right is a dosa being prepared by a street vendor.

Chaat—savory snack.
Momo—steamed dumpling from Nepal.

Sweets—Many of the sweets were dairy based—condensed milk, milk, ghee. Usually not too sweet. Barfi sounds terrible, but it’s so heavenly. Heaven must be made of milk, don’t you think?

Barfi—similar to fudge; made with condensed milk, sugar and nuts. Usually has gold leaf on top. The pistachio ones were soo good.

Halwa/halva—can be made with flour or nuts. Commonly made with ground sesame seeds (tahini) and sugar. I grew up in a Russian household eating this as a dessert.
Carrot halwa—a pudding made with grated carrot, cashew and sugar. I might have to make it at home!

Street Sweets — Street sweets. On the bottom left is jalebi, the pretzel-shaped donut. On the right, halwa is shaped and decorated. Pieces of halwa are shaved off and sold by the gram.

Jalebis—squiggly pretzel-shaped donut soaked in sugar syrup. It’s a popular street food.
Lassi—yogurt drink. Can be plain or flavored with fruit, nuts or spices. We were encouraged to sample flavors that were in season because fresh fruit puree would be added instead of flavored syrup.

We visited Blue Lassi, a specialty shop making fancy lassis in Varanasi. From top: banana, saffron pistachio and papaya pomegranate flavors.

Gulab jamun—Round balls are made from milk, fried, then soaked in a simple syrup.
Fennel seeds and rock sugar—an after-meal breath freshener and digestion aid. Try it!
Masala Chai (my recipe here)—spiced tea with milk and sugar. The spices are black peppercorns, green cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. We call it chai in the states, but Indian chai has much stronger spices. And deliciously so!

We enjoyed some Masala Chai in terra cotta cups along with some cakes at a bus stop.

Writing this post made me hungry! What’s your favorite Indian dish?

Thirty-Something

October 5, 2024January 28, 2015 by Robert Haddan

As of last weekend, I’m officially in the middle of my late 30s. And where better to spend a birthday that in one of the greatest cities on the planet. We spent the entire weekend in Tokyo with no real agenda, which ended up being an action-packed three days.

Instead of a long rundown of events, please enjoy some photos from the weekend.

Dinner with Friends — An unexpected dinner with our Airbnb hosts Yusuke and Hiroki at Rokumonsen, a monjayaki (or monja as it’s commonly called) place in Asakusa.

Monja — Yusuke (one of our Airbnb hosts) scrapes the monja off the griddle. The mixture of cabbage, cheese, mochi and sauce cooks to the griddle and is basically a gooey top with a crispy bottom.

A rarity: nobody in front of Kaminarimon Gate at Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa

Akihabara Electric Town. These blocks are filled with video arcades, electronic shops and maid cafes. A little something for everyone.

03_lovinghut — My birthday lunch! Vegan buffet at Loving Hut in Chiyoda. This was plate one of three or four… the food coma set in at some point.

The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Museum at Tokyo Dome. This was one of my favorite things we’ve done recently and will warrant its own post in the near future.

Skytree and Asahi Flame — Tokyo Skytree and the Asahi Beer Hall flame sculpture from the Asakusa side of the Sumida River. The locals call the Asahi sculpture “kin no unko” (金のうんこ) or “the golden turd.” Our host didn’t know the English translation and I’ll never un-see his pantomime that clearly translated said meaning.

Tokyo Skytree from the Airbnb — The view from the front of our home away from home. Not too shabby.

The Gate Hotel Kanarimon — Birthday drinks on the 13th floor of a restaurant overlooking Asakusa.

This playground near Tokyo Skytree had an awesome metal-roller propelled slide. We only saw adults use it in the short time we were there. Video below.

Shark Tank — A shark swimming in the tank at Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo Skytown. The window of the tank doubled as a projection screen for a flyover movie of the city.

Penguin at Sumida Aquarium — Sumida Aquarium had a great penguin exhibit.

Penguins at Sumida Aquarium — Penguins swimming in the tank at Sumida Aquarium

Sumida Aquarium Jellyfish — The first exhibits at Sumida Aquarium are jellyfish illuminated by changing colors. It was truly impressive.

Fish tank at Sumida Aquarium — Sumida Aquarium did its best to recreate native environments for the different species of sea life in its keep.

Looking up from the near the base of Tokyo Skytree, which at 634 meters is the tallest structure in Japan, the tallest tower in the world and the second-tallest structure in the world behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa Tower.

Yokohama

October 5, 2024January 23, 2015 by Robert Haddan

Yokohama was high on my list of places I wanted to visit while in Japan. I really knew nothing about it and the desire was probably due to it being home to the Yokohama Baystars baseball team, Japan’s equivalent to the Chicago Cubs (think “lovable losers”).

Last weekend, we popped down to Yokohama for the day. Located a short train ride south of Tokyo, it’s actually the most populated municipality in Japan and second most populated city after Tokyo. Due to its development as a port town in the 1800s, Yokohama is a melting pot of Pacific cultures.

Our first stop was the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, billed as the world’s first food-themed amusement park. On the two lower levels, a 1950s-era Japanese street scene has been replicated in authentic detail with signage, music and a variety of ramen shops. A less-era-authentic magician performed tricks for the large crowd while blasting modern electronic music from his iPhone.

The wait times for each shop are on a chalkboard by the main stairs. We arrived around noon and already some of the shops had 30 minute waits. Waiting that long for ramen in Japan seems a little silly since there are literally 20,000 shops in Tokyo with no wait, but it’s a little like waiting in line at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland. The wait is part of the experience.

We picked NARUMI-IPPUDO, a French bouillon/Japanese dashi hybrid for our first course. The mini-sized bowls with medium-sized noodles and light broth were the perfect appetizer. In response to the variety of tourists who come through the museum’s doors, most of the shops offer at least one vegetarian bowl and one halal option for the increasing number of Muslim visitors. Guilt-free ramen is the best ramen of all!

Spicy Miso Ramen — The delicious spicy miso ramen at Ryu Shanghai

Lunch #2 involved one of the aforementioned 30 minute waits. Ryu Shanghai offered a unique spicy ramen with thick noodles in a rich, flavorful soup. The added dollop of the spicy miso sauce on top was enough to open up the sinuses on a cold day.

Kamome Shokudo was one shop caught my attention in the brochure. The original shop washed away in the 2011 earthquake and tsumani that decimated northeastern Japan. The shop has been replicated in the museum, giving their Sendai-style ramen a second life.

Puroresu — A 1950s-era television broadcasts old puro resu (professional wrestling) matches

Era-correct props dotted the museum’s basement floors. A payphone booth was made even more authentic by the black electrical tape holding the cord to the handset. An old black and white television console showed 1950s professional wrestling matches (side note: the sport’s popularity in the 1950s used to draw large crowds to watch the matches on big screens in Tokyo). A stained vending machine rolled out small glass bottles of Coca Cola. Plenty to see while waiting in those long ramen lines.

Yokohama Bayfront — Yokohama Landmark Tower; Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel; Yokohama Bay Bridge.

Next, we headed south toward Tokyo Bay. Every once in awhile, we get those “doesn’t feel like Japan” moments. The area around Tokyo Bay certainly qualified as one of those times. The massive Landmark Tower, Japan’s second largest building, anchors the skyline and casts a large shadow over the Nippon Maru, a clipper-style boat-turned-museum that was used as a training vessel for the Japanese Merchant Marines from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Looking toward the bay, you can’t miss the Cosmo Clock 21, the centerpiece of the Minato Mirai 21 (MM21) shopping center. Built in 1989, it was the world’s tallest ferris wheel for nearly a decade and, thanks to the digital clock on its face, it still stands as the world’s largest timepiece.

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse — The Red Brick Warehouse served as a customs building in the early 20th century, but now hosts shops, restaurants and cultural facilities

From MM21, we followed Kishamichi Promenade along the bayfront. It felt more like the Cairns Esplanade in Australia than anything we’ve seen in Japan. A running event was taking place on the day we visited, so we shuffled alongside those athletes braving the cold weather along the bayfront, ending up at the Red Brick Warehouse. The event overtook the grounds of the former customs warehouse, which was restored in the early 1990s and is now (of course) a retail center.

Yokohama Chinatown — The gates to Yokohama’s Chinatown district

From there, we ventured inland toward Yokohama’s thriving Chinatown district. Thousands of Chinese immigrants arrived at the port in the 1800s, bringing with them food (including ramen) and customs that still thrive in Japan today. More than 250 shops are fit into several city blocks, making it one of the world’s largest “Chinatown” districts.

Two ornate and impressive temples appear between the pork bun shops in Chinatown. Guan Di Miao was founded in the 1860s by immigrants as a central spiritual site as well as a tribute to Guan Gong, a well-respected general during the Han Dynasty in around 220 B.C.

The Mazu Miao temple is the newest temple in Chinatown

The second temple rivals all of the great structures we’ve seen in Japan, yet was built less than a decade ago, officially opening in March 2006. The city had planned on building a large apartment complex on the site, but the community was concerned about the impact such a building would have on the area. They negotiated with the developers and eventually purchased the land, building Mazu Miao in its place.

Less than two hours by train, Yokohama deserves another day trip in the near future. Would love to hear from anyone who’s visited about what we missed the first time around.

Cascadian Abroad :45—Yokohama

Coming of Age

January 19, 2015 by Viktoria Haddan

Working with young people, I have a chance to hear about some of the “exciting” first rites of passage into adulthood. Students getting their driver’s licenses or first jobs. First forays into drinking, smoking, sex. Forming opinions. Rebellion. Normal teen stuff.

Each culture has its own definitions of the not-so-fine line between childhood and adulthood. But, in the U.S., there’s no official ceremony surrounding it. The closest thing we have is perhaps a “Sweet Sixteen” or the 18th birthday. Latino cultures have the “Quinceañera” for young women at 15 years of age. In Japan, there is a public holiday on the second Monday of January, which is deemed “Coming of Age Day” (Seijin no hi).

In Japan, the legal age of adulthood is 20—for voting, drinking and smoking. For about a year, I’ve been hearing about the preparations for this day from some of our sophomore students at the university. And finally, it was here. My Facebook feed was suddenly flooded with loads of young women in beautiful kimonos and ornate hairstyles.

Japan really is a curious mix of the old and the new. To see young women transformed from their jeans and t-shirts to feminine visions from a past era was fascinating.

I asked a few students to share the significance of this day. Maybe it’s similar to asking an 18-year-old in the states why all of a sudden they can now vote, join the military or get a tattoo. “It’s a tradition,” they say. “We’re now considered adults based on our age.”

The Coming of Age ceremony usually takes place the weekend before or around the official public holiday. Young people who turned 20 after April 2 of the previous year or 19-year-olds who will turn 20 before April 1 of the current year take part in the ceremony. Students traveled across Japan to go home for this occasion.

Akie presents a close up of her ornate hair and ‘furisode’ kimono.

Women usually go to a shop about a year in advance to be fitted for their “furisode” kimono with all of its intricacies. It’s similar to how women choose a wedding gown. It’s a chance to put your stamp of creativity and stand out in the sea of beauties. The family plays a large role and it’s not a cheap endeavor with kimonos costing in the thousands of dollars (many borrow or rent). Young women wake up early—about 6 a.m.—and go to a special salon that does hair and makeup. There is also someone who helps with fitting the furisode.

At around noon, students join their former junior high school classmates in a public hall for the ceremony. From what I understand, there are many speeches and formalities. Most of the men wear suits and a few wear the men’s version of the kimono, which is called a hakama.

I taught Masaaki when he studied abroad in Oregon (he has now returned to Japan). His appearance stood out to me as he was one of the few who chose to rent a hakama for this day. He said three people had to help him dress in the kimono. “After I wore the kimono, I ate special lunch with my relatives gathered,” Masaaki said.

And after the ceremony? Students have a reunion with their classmates. And, then the parties! And rowdiness! “I had second and third parties. I enjoyed until next morning ‘cause we were legally able to drink alcohol!” Masaaki said.

Shuta is a student at the university. He just turned 20 in October and he traveled two hours by plane to get to his hometown of Isahaya in Nagasaki Prefecture. He wore a suit for his ceremony and he said he didn’t have enough time to rent a kimono. In October, when some of the other students surprised him for his birthday in our class, he said a few words about the significance of 20 and how he must be a man now and take schoolwork and his future seriously.

But when I ask some of my students if they feel like an adult now that they have gone through the ceremony, most of them say not really. Are they ready to vote and form opinions and explore all of the fun and not-so-fun rites of adulthood? Maybe not. And that’s OK. There’s no hurry to grow up.

Sunday Surprise

January 13, 2015 by Robert Haddan

A mysterious sign appeared in our neighborhood trash collection area around New Year. In addition to being the receptacle for our weekly waste, the concrete bunker also serves as the neighborhood bulletin board. Usually the messages are related to trash pickup, but I could read enough of this sign that I knew it wasn’t about garbage.

South American Music Concert Sign — This mysterious sign appeared in our trash bunker…

I snapped a photo and, after a few minutes with Google Translate, I discovered the local community center was hosting a South American music performance. I slapped it on our calendar and we made plans to attend.

On the day of the performance, we climbed to the second floor of the community center, greeted by a row of shoes placed on newspaper. A basket of slippers sat nearby and we dutifully replaced our shoes with the public slippers. Many brought their own slippers, so we’ll know for next time.

The band was made up of nine very skilled Japanese musicians. A couple of them played the zampoña (pan flute), two others played the charango (lute) and an energetic drummer pounded away on the bombo legüero, all the while urging the crowd to clap along. They reminded us of a less-authentic—yet equally talented—version of an Ecuadorian group we sought out at the Oregon State Fair every summer.

We were handed a couple sheets of paper when we came in. One was a schedule and the other a lyric sheet. Over the course of an hour, the audience was encouraged to sing along with about half of the songs. I couldn’t read fast enough to sing along, but I was surprised at how well I was able to follow along while our fellow listeners harmonized with the band.

After the show, people shuffled into a room across the hall for snacks. We tried to slip out quietly, but were stopped by one of the organizers who spoke just enough English to get his point across—it’s very important that you stay and celebrate. OK… shoes off, slippers back on.

Snack time — Our neighbors gather around the great feast celebrating the new year

We were glad we did. We told the man our address and he attempted to find our neighborhood table. In the end, I think we were just added to a table with some empty space as we didn’t recognize anyone at the table. Immediately, our new neighbors poured us green tea and began asking questions. One man spoke excellent English while another couple had a daughter living in the U.S. and learned a little bit of English each day on the internet.

Each table had the same spread: pizza from the recently-opened Domino’s, assorted hosomaki (thin sushi rolls), sandwiches, fruit and desserts. We waited and watched how they handled the food (some ate the pizza with their hands, others with chopsticks!) and followed suit (pizza with hands… our chopstick skills are good, but this was some next level stuff!).

At the end of the meal, the best English speaker asked if we wanted some New Year dessert soup. Oshiruko is a cold, sweet bean soup often served with mochi cakes. Ours came with small, multicolored, flower-shaped cakes that resembled the marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal.

After lunch, a man named Naka, who participated in the local English Club, came over to talk with us. Shortly after, he brought over another member—Kuni—who works as an investment banker and spent five years in the 1980s working in the World Trade Center in New York City. They asked the usual questions (where are you from, why are you here, etc.) and we talked about how difficult it is to learn each other’s languages.

While we talked, the organizers passed out rubber bands to everyone in the room. We were about to play the biggest game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (janken/じゃんけん) that I’ve ever participated in.

We paired off and began to battle. In the one-and-done format, if you win, you get the other person’s rubber band and move on to the next opponent. I beat Kuni in the first match, but then lost to a man from the next table who slow-rolled my scissors (choki/ちょき) with his rock (guu/ぐう).

A lady from our table made it all the way to the final group. Although she didn’t win it all, she did return with some sort of coffee-related prize.

We helped cleanup the table as best as possible. As we picked up, each of the ladies nearby placed a handful of the leftover Lindt truffles in front of us. We must have taken six or so with us.

We walked home and I couldn’t help but shake my head. It seems like every time we venture out into our neighborhood, something special happens. We’re still a bit of a spectacle, but people accept us into their communities so readily that the novelty wears off quickly and, before long, we’re just another neighbor.

New Year: Daruma Festival and Koma Shrine

October 6, 2024January 8, 2015 by Robert Haddan

The first week of the New Year is all about starting anew. There’s something about the changing of the calendar that invites retrospection of the year gone by and the setting of goals for the coming year.

Most of Japan is closed during the days surrounding New Year’s Day, giving people the opportunity to focus on starting the year right. In Kawagoe, that means heading out to Kita-in Temple’s Daruma Festival, held annually on January 3.

Daruma are round-ish dolls with bushy-featured faces and are believed to have inspired Russia’s iconic matryoshka dolls. Daruma dolls are about goal-setting for the coming year. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, each with a different meaning. They’re slightly weighted in the bottom so, if they’re tipped, they’ll always remain in an upright position like a Weeble. The feature is a metaphor for resiliency as Daruma are often associated with the phrase “nanakorobi yaoki (七転び八起き),” meaning “fall seven times and stand up eight.”

The Daruma’s eyes are both blank. Once you’ve decided on your goal for the year, you color in one of the eyes. If you accomplish your goal, you color in the other eye. If you don’t achieve your goal, well… I guess you have a Popeye Daruma.

2014's Charms — Kabura-ya and Daruma from 2014 pile up at Kita-in, waiting to be burned

At the beginning of the New Year, people bring last year’s Daruma and other charms (decorative arrows called kabura-ya (鏑矢) are another common New Year charm) back to the temple or shrine to be ceremonially burned. Mountains of 2014 charms piled near Kita-in’s main temple.

Daruma For Sale — One of many vendors selling Daruma for the New Year

Vendors lined the paths of the temple grounds with new Daruma and charms for sale. If you want general good fortune, buy a red one. Want to focus on love and happiness? Get a white one. Even corporations get in the act, buying larger Daruma equal to the audacity of the goal.

It wouldn’t be a Japanese festival without Japanese festival food and the Daruma Festival had plenty. Hockey puck-shaped pancakes filled with cream or sweet bean, called imagawayaki (今川焼き), are a popular sweet treat. Hot, steamed potatoes with butter, mayonnaise and kimchi are another mainstay at the local festivals. We managed to catch the okonomiyaki guy just before he sprinkled on the fish flakes, making for a filling lunch.

Kawagoe Hachimangu Mural — The new mural celebrating the Year of the Sheep at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine

Walking through town, many of the shrines were still packed with visitors paying their first respects of the year. One of our favorite little shrines, Kawagoe Hachimangu, featured a brand-new mural celebrating the year of the sheep.

Koma Jinja — Hanging out with Akinari at Koma Shrine in Hidaka

A couple days later, we visited Koma Shrine in nearby Hidaka. One of Viktoria’s students, Akinari, is a local and volunteers at the shrine during the holidays. He had ample opportunity to practice his English with us as we peppered him with questions about the traditions and meanings of different things.

Prayer at Koma Shrine — Waiting to approach Koma Shrine for prayers

He patiently walked us through the ceremonial hand washing process (temizu/手水) before paying respect at the shrine (toss a coin in the bin in front of the shrine, bow twice, clap twice, make your prayer then bow once).

We bought our fortunes (omikuji/おみくじ) for the year, which Koma Shrine kindly offered in English and Korean in addition to Japanese. Mine was only “Slightly Lucky,” so I tied it to the tree branch with all the others in hopes that the slight luck would attach to the tree instead of me.

Akinari’s job at the shrine is selling omamori (御守), charms that provide blessings and luck for the holder. Viktoria and Akinari each bought a ryokō anzen omamori (旅行安全御守) or a travel safety amulet to protect us on our various adventures abroad in 2015.

The search for the world’s greatest Imagawayaki continues at Koma Shrine

Akinari also gave us the low-down on some of the festival foods that we always wondered about. Hidaka’s past is intertwined with Japan’s complicated relationship with Korea and, as a result, has a lot of Korean influences. He explained toppoki (tteokbokki in Korean), which is mochi, tofu and eggs in a spicy sauce. We’d seen it before, but the mochi look like little sausages, so we always avoided it. It was delicious! We also continued our search for the best imagawayaki. This one may be the leader in the clubhouse!

Afterwards, he took us to nearby Kinchakuda-Manjushage Park, close to one of our favorite restaurants (Alishan Cafe). The park is famous for its red spider lilies, which bloom by the millions in the fall, flooding the rice field in a sea of red. Goats and horses at a farm opposite the park were apt as we closed out the Year of the Horse and rang in the Year of the Sheep (goats… sheep… close enough!).

Getting the local experience was really valuable and we couldn’t be more appreciative of Akinari giving up a Sunday night to show us around. It’s a great memory of our first New Year in Japan.

More on our February 2015 Adventures

Cascadian Abroad :45—Yokohama