The great thing about a city like Tokyo is that you never run out of things to see. After a brief Tokyo rut, we’ve recommitted ourselves to crossing things off the “to-see” list.
First item off the list was the historic Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo’s Chūō Ward. Tsukiji is a popular tourist spot, but it’s also a working wholesale fish market. Visitors rub elbows with local chefs picking through the freshest (in many cases, still alive) seafood in Tokyo.
A turret truck cruises through the narrow aisles of Tsukiji Fish Market
Inside, hundreds of vendors crowd into a warehouse. The smell of the sea greets you from a block away. The aisles are narrow with just enough room for one-and-a-half people to pass through. Tourists alternate between snapping photos, sidestepping fish-water puddles and dodging the turret trucks that zip down the aisles. Old-school wooden carts roll through more slowly, loaded with some of the larger ocean fish and offering a hint at the origins of the market.
Catch of the day… it looks like I’m afraid someone’s going to steal my fish!
Fish markets in Tokyo date back to the 1600s, but the current incarnation was built in 1935 after its Nihonbashi district predecessor was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. In November 2016, the market will be moved to nearby Toyosu to free up the current location for development prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The tools of the trade at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market.
The butchers worked with surgical precision, carving the large fish into perfectly-weighted fillets and making paper-thin slices for sashimi (raw fish). Many used “knives” that more closely resemble a samurai sword than anything you or I have in our kitchens. The four-foot long blades made short work of the even the largest tuna.
The surgeon vs. the sturgeon. Did I mention this was a working fish market?
After awhile, the aromas inherent in such a place started to take their toll on our stomachs. Occasionally I’ll come across Japanese food that makes me second-guess my vegetarian choices, but the fish market was not one of those places.
Cascadia-style coffee perfection at Kachidoki’s Market of the Sun
We headed outside for some fresh air and a short walk over the Kachidoki Bridge to our very favorite farmers market in Japan. Market of the Sun is Japan’s largest regular farmers market and has the most unique selection of local produce, goods and snacks in Tokyo. We left with a couple varieties of honest-to-goodness rye bread and a hearty beet, both nearly impossible to find in our local area.
Looking down Monja Street on a quiet Saturday morning.
A couple blocks away from the market, we checked off another of our Tokyo to-dos with a visit to Monja Street. We’d first tried monjayaki during my birthday weekend in Asakusa. This two-block stretch of restaurants in the Tsukishima district features almost exclusively monjayaki and okonomiyakishops.
Although it was proper lunchtime, most of the shops were still closed when we arrived. We found one with several people inside and ordered a monjayaki and an okonomiyaki—best described as savory Japanese-style pancakes. The waiter started our monja on the table-top grill, but we took care of the okonomiyaki ourselves. Check out the video below to see us in action!
There’s only one thing anybody wants to know right now…
Did you do anything for Golden Week?
I’ll concede there’s a small chance this topic is only relevant among people living in Japan and, if it’s coming up in English, it’s only a hot topic among 0.01 percent of the population. But hey, that’s my demographic!
UN Farmers Market and Cinco de Mayo
We started our Golden Week with a weekend trip into Tokyo to visit one of our favorite farmers markets and hit up the Cinco de Mayo Festival at Yoyogi Park.
The latest edition of “True Portland”—a high-quality Portland, Ore. guidebook written by Japanese authors in Japanese—was released recently. The authors had a pop-up tent at the UN Farmers Market featuring Portland products like Jacobsen Salt and Fuller Foods Serious Cheesy Puffs.Oregon Beer Geeks is a company in Japan that imports beer from Oregon and sells it online. At the UN Market, they had two beers from Burnside Brewing and one from The Commons Brewery, both based in Portland.Lunch at the UN Farmers Market—a vegetarian take on Hawaiian plate lunch, a hummus and veggie bagel pizza and Burnside Brewing’s “Too Sticky To Roll India Red Ale” and “Sweet Heat,” an apricot and Scotch bonnet pepper wheat beer.Tokyo’s take on Cinco de Mayo is a lot like America’s take—lots of drinking and sad Mexican-ish food. The best find was probably this Day of the Dead Porter from Mexico’s Cerveceria Mexicana brewery.
Chichibu’s Hitsujiyama Park
Chichibu is our favorite place for outdoor adventures in Japan. It’s about an hour away by train and is usually pretty quiet. However, during Golden Week, thousands of people descend on the otherwise sleepy town to see the shibazakura or mountain phlox at Hitsujiyama Park.
Video: Mountain Phlox in Chichibu
Phans of the phlox phlocking to Chichibu (see what I did there?)The phlox fields at Hitsujiyama Park in Chichibu (click to zoom)The heart of the phlox gardenMt. Buko sits in the distancePeople sitting around the edge of the garden having a picnic and, in many cases, a napTourists getting in the way of the view of the phlox 🙂Local Chichibu honey for sale at Hitsujiyama Park. A large queen bee is inside each jar.“Hitsuji” means “sheep” in Japanese and “yama” means “mountain,” so the aptly-named Sheep Mountain Park should have a few sheep wandering the grounds. The local paparazzi went crazy for this one.A window in a home near the park proudly displaying its winnings from the UFO Catcher gamesMt. Buko and a bright red neighborhood shrine. The scarring at the top of Mt. Buko is a result of heavy mining of limestone used for the ever-present construction in the larger cities.After a day of walking, we went to an onsen (hot springs) in the nearby Yokoze neighborhood. This is proof that I can use chopsticks like a champ!
Koburi Pass
We milked every last second out of Golden Week, heading out on the last day of the holidays to nearby Hanno for some hiking. We found a very non-touristy spot called Koburi Pass. We befriended a couple of older Japanese ladies at the train station, one of whom nearly missed the train when she went upstairs to get us some local sightseeing pamphlets.
Lots to see along the way, like this statue of Buddha playing a mandolinThese happy farm animals were painted outside a local butcher shopWalking up the road to the hiking trails leading to Koburi PassSeveral small shrines appear along the path, like this one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神). Hikers leave coins at each shrine for good fortune.A view of the Okuchichibu Mountains as we approached the top of Koburi Pass. Mt. Fuji was barely visible due to the cloud cover, but it’s not at all visible in this photoLunch under the pagoda of Marishiten Temple. From the very top of the pass, we could look over the entirety of Saitama Prefecture. On a clear day, Tokyo Skytree is visible, nearly 50 miles away.Springtime in Japan in all of its glory. The wisteria trees in bloom.Viburnum plicatum is better known as the Japanese snowball.Mountain laurel is native to the eastern United States, but it found its way to JapanKoi swimming free in a stream near the train station
How did you spend Golden Week? Leave a comment below!
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.
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.
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?
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).
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. 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We bought this box of sweets, including pistachio barfi, on our first day in Delhi.
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. 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?
A tramp to Tokyo VegefoodFesta last weekend led to a completely random and awesome day in Japan’s capital city.
Dodging the rain outside the 2014 Tokyo VegefoodFesta at Yoyogi Park
The rain was just heavy enough to keep the crowds thin at Yoyogi Park, where two separate festivals were taking place simultaneously. VegefoodFesta is an annual beacon for Tokyo-area herbivores, offering a few dozen booths with 100% plant-based eats, fresh produce and responsibly-made goods.
Takoyaki, a fritter that usually contains a piece of octopus, was vegetarian-friendly at VegefoodFesta
I love these kinds of events because it’s an opportunity to get a taste of traditional Japanese foods without the fear of meat or fish sneaking into the dish. There were vegan versions of takoyaki (octopus fritter), tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) and Japanese curry (usually has chicken).
A vegan tonkatsu sandwich. The breaded pork cutlet is a popular food in Japan.
One booth made “hie of fish” sandwiches, using Japanese millet (hie/ヒエ) to create a fish-like patty. They also offered an “American Dog,” which was a corn dog that replaced the “dog” with a large chunk of burdock root (gobou/ごぼう).
Our friends from Loving Hut were on hand with three separate booths featuring their meatless version of yakitori (meat on a skewer). Mana Burger was right by the gate and I had one of their veggie burgers in hand within moments of entering. I was looking forward to visiting them on our trip to Fukuoka, but they’d closed up shop. In July, they reopened in Yokohama and made the short trip up to Tokyo for the festival.
The main stage at Fiesta de España featuring IAMDIVE
The other half of the festival grounds was hosting Fiesta de España. I’d pretty much eaten everything in sight at VegefoodFesta, but there was still room for some Spanish red wine and a churro. We watched a couple songs from Seville, Spain folk-dub-shoegaze duo IAMDIVE on the main stage before heading out.
The trees are turning in Yoyogi Park
We walked across the street and into the actual park area of Yoyogi Park. The leaves are in full autumn mode and the park grounds had transformed from summer green to fall yellows and reds. The park was crawling with photographers and models, taking advantage of the short-lived landscape.
The trees along the streets of Roppongi Hills light up blue…… then they change to red. We felt bad for the guy who had to hang all those lights!
After wandering around Harajuku for a bit, we hopped on the train for Roppongi. The trees along the streets near Roppongi Hills are wrapped tight with lights alternating from blue/white to red every few minutes.
The Roppongi Hills Christmas Market
Inside the Roppongi Hills complex, a small Christmas market featured small ornaments and German food and beer. Christmas in Japan is all about the secular and is very Western in terms of music and decor.
The heart in the pond at Roppongi Hills. Tokyo Skytree lights up the night sky in the background.
The Tokyo night was brightly lit between the trees and the shining Tokyo Skytree tower in the skyline. Everyone was in good cheer—maybe because “Whisky Hills 2014” was hosting 300 yen (about $2.50 USD) whiskey tastings.
A metal cone with changing lights set up in 66 Plaza at Roppongi Hills
All the walking around worked up an appetite. We (barely) found the nearby Chien Fu vegetarian Chinese restaurant. A nondescript sign led to an elevator to the shop. We entered the dining room with its ornate tables and decorations. Everyone was dressed up for a night on the town. I felt a bit like a drowned dog after tromping around in the rain all day, but they didn’t seem to mind. We split a sweet and sour “pork” dish, spring rolls and an eggplant dish.
As we left, the sweet old man who greeted us when we came in asked “Vegetarian?” We said yes and his face lit up…. “Very good!!! Vegetarian… very good!”
I’ll say the same for Tokyo on that day… “Vegetarian… very good!”
Thanksgiving is the first big family holiday to roll around since we’ve been in Japan. For the past few years, we’d hosted family at our house. We’d make too much food and everyone would bring their favorite treats. We’d squeeze ourselves around the dinner table and share what we were thankful for during the year. I figured this would be the first time I’d really miss home.
Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of in-your-face reminders that Thanksgiving was coming. The day sort of snuck up on us and, since we’re a day ahead of Cascadia, social media hadn’t quite lit up with family photos and sweet potato casserole selfies yet.
Japan celebrates Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日 / Kinrō Kansha no Hi) a few days before American Thanksgiving, but it’s a different beast. In the 5th century, it was a way to celebrate the hard work leading to the harvest of grains. After World War II ended, the current holiday was established to mark changes in the post-war constitution related to workers rights.
The day’s lesson on the blackboard along with a list of Thanksgiving-related vocabulary, from Pilgrims to Black Friday. And a ghost?
Still, Thanksgiving Day is an important American tradition and we celebrated as best we could. On the day of, Viktoria invited me to visit her classroom for their Thanksgiving party. The first half of the period was a regular class and it was cool to see her in action. The students were engaged and really connected with her. They didn’t know much about American Thanksgiving, but I didn’t know much about Japan’s Thanksgiving until I Wikipedia’d it five minutes ago.
Two of the classes came together to celebrate Thanksgiving
The second half of the period was dedicated to partying! The class sizes are fairly small and groups of students move between teachers, so two of the classes shared by Viktoria and another teacher, Ramon, joined together for the party. Behind the group, you can see a sneak peek of the spread. It was very non-traditional Thanksgiving food, for sure! A lot of Japanese convenience treats mixed with the items brought by the Americans (apple cobbler, cheese, dinner rolls, macaroni salad…).
The students really seemed to enjoy themselves though. We brought a can of whipped cream for the cobbler, which ended up in nostrils, on the floor, in a dinner roll….
That evening, we had a slightly more traditional Thanksgiving. Vegetarian Thanksgiving doesn’t include turkey. In the past, we’d ask family to bring turkey or ham for everyone else and we’d slice into a Tofurky loaf. It’d become our own little tradition. Alas, those frozen vegetarian comfort foods aren’t readily available in Japan, but I think a new tradition may have been established this year.
Behold… the Seitan Roast!
The above photo is why I can’t be a food blogger. Staging be darned! It’s time to eat! I made the famous seitan roast from Post Punk Kitchen’s recipe blog. It’s texture comes from vital wheat gluten (the protein from wheat) and a shiitake mushroom and leek stuffing is a little surprise waiting inside. It turned out awesome and was even better the second day.
This year’s dinner was a far more scaled down version than years past, but still included Thanksgiving staples like mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, all made mostly from scratch. A little taste of home for the holidays.
A short walk from the Imperial Palace sits Tokyo Station, host to more than 3,000 trains and nearly 416,000 passengers every day. However, the station is more than just a transportation hub. Completed in 1914, it’s seen war, assassination and rejuvenation over the last 100 years.
In 1921, Prime Minister Takashi Hara was assassinated at the station on a trip to Kyoto. Nine years later, Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi was shot in an attempted assassination and died a few months later. In 1945, much of the station was destroyed by Allied powers during the Second World War.
Today, Tokyo Station is a standard Japanese combination of function, commerce and history. Last week, we visited the station for the first time to buy our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets for our upcoming trip to Osaka and Kyoto. We quickly got lost in the underground labyrinth of the station. Passageways are given “street” names to help navigate between the different lines as well as the myriad of shopping, dining and cultural opportunities throughout the station known as Tokyo Station City.
Fortunately, there are information desks in each area of the station with English-speaking attendants. We were given directions to the ticket counter, but first we needed to eat!
We hadn’t had a purpose to go through Tokyo Station before, so we’d been saving a special stop for this occasion. T’s Tantan is a vegan ramen shop located inside the JR gate of the station. We actually had to pay fare (140 yen) to enter the restaurant area even though we weren’t boarding a train.
Awesome signage at T’s Tantan and our meal, Shirunashi Tantan, Daizu Karage (fried soy meat) and Midori Tantan
The place was busy for 5 p.m. in Japan. There were a couple granola-types, but also a lot of people in business suits who showed up because the food was good. We ordered a couple amazing Tantan bowls, which are flavored-up ramen with fresh vegetables, and a side of fried soy meat.
T’s philosophy is playfully illustrated on the walls of the shop. One sign shows roughly-drawn figures of animals and a human surrounding the English words “We live to eat vegetables.” That’s when I knew this place was for me. We even scheduled our return trip from Osaka to arrive at Tokyo Station around dinnertime. Get ready T’s… I’m coming for you!
Enjoying a couple Oregon beers at Popeye Beer Club in Ryōgoku
Popeye Beer Club was another stop on this side of the city that hadn’t fit into previous visits, but today it was just a short train ride from Tokyo Station in the Ryōgoku area. What started as a standard izakaya 60 years ago is now one of Tokyo’s best destinations for both local and international craft beer. Popeye even has several of their own brews among the 70-plus beers they rotate on tap.
For once, we took the approach of “Hey… we’re in Japan for awhile!” and skipped the local beers in favor of a taste of home. I had a Breakside Brewing IPA from Milwaukie, OR and a Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout from Newport, OR. Incidentally, that Breakside IPA recently won the 2014 Great American Beer Festival gold medal for best American-Style India Pale Ale. Viktoria had the Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine, which was appropriately served in a snifter to trap the aromas of the macadamia nut and strawberry notes.
Sumo statues outside of Ryōgoku Station
We did a lap around the neighborhood before getting back on the train for our 90 minute ride home. The famous Ryōgoku Kokugikan sumo hall is on the opposite side of the station from Popeye. While it was dark and locked up tight, you could still sense the grand tradition of this religious ritual-turned-sport. The outer walls were adorned with ukiyo-e murals of wrestlers and the modern temple (built in 1985) rises with an agelessness unmatched by its neomodern neighbors.
After seven months, we already have our standard stops in Tokyo, so it was great to explore a different part of this massive city. There’s a fair chance this day will see a repeat in about a week when we return from Osaka.
I’m a beer snob. Let’s just get that out of the way. I’ll gladly pay $8 for a local craft brew on dollar domestic beer night at the ballpark. For a Cascadian, access to good, locally-made beer is as natural as rain on Labor Day. Oregon alone has more than 170 brewing companies in 70 cities across the state.
When we decided to come to Japan, one of the first things I did was check out the ji-bīru or local beer scene. It was bleak… the Land of the Rising Sun has long been ruled by the “Big Four” regional brewers—Suntory, Sapporo, Kirin and Asahi. Not unlike Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) and Molson Coors in the U.S., these brewers produce similar-tasting lagers focused on appealing to a large market.
Small-batch brewing is a relatively new industry in Japan with restrictions removed in 1994. But, the industry has slowly grown over the last two decades and more than 200 microbreweries now represent the local flavor of nearly every prefecture in Japan. Here’s a sampling of some of the Japanese breweries that have earned the Cascadian Abroad stamp of approval.
Enjoying Coedo Brewery’s Shikkoku Black Lager with a margherita pizza at Wood Bakers in Koedo
Coedo Brewery
Coedo Brewery makes their five signature beers right here in Kawagoe. The flagship Beniaka Imperial Amber is brewed with local sweet potatoes and earned a Silver Medal at the 2010 World Beer Cup. Each beer is named after “The Rich Colors of Japan,” from the Shikkoku (jet black) Black Lager to the Shiro White Hefeweizen. The Kyara India Pale Lager will make you shout “There ARE hops in Japan!”
Yo-Ho Brewing’s Aooni IPA is a regular occupant of our refrigerator
Yo-Ho Brewing Company
Nagano’s Yo-Ho Brewing has generated incredible word of mouth, with brewmaster and Japan beer ambassador Toshi Ishii leading the charge. The flagship Yona Yona Ale has spent the better part of the last decade winning gold medals at international beer competitions all over the world. The Tokyo Black Porter rivals any bottled or draught stout I’ve had while the Aooni India Pale Ale brings a pleasant bitterness that will appeal both to new IPA drinkers as well as old pros. Fortunately, the store down the block from us carries a wide selection of Yo-Ho beers.
Kiuchi Brewery
Kiuchi started as a sake brewery in 1823 and has operated continuously ever since. Hitachino Nest Beer, known to us foreigners as “Owl Beer” due to the unique owl character on the label, is the brand name for Kiuchi’s ever-expanding beer line. True artisan brewing can be found in the Red Rice Ale (brewed with ancient red rice) and the uniquely Japanese Nipponia, made with native barley and Sorachi Ace hops.
The taps at T.Y. Harbor Smokehouse in Harajuku. Oregon’s Rogue Ales’ 7 Hop IPA was the guest tap on this day.
T.Y. Harbor
Brewmaster Kazunaga Abe is a student of brewing and his American-style craft beers are a favorite in the T.Y. Express family of restaurants throughout Tokyo. The flagship Pale Ale gets its citrus flavor from authentic Pacific Northwest Cascade hops while Czech hops and organic barley malt give the IPA a floral finish. Rotating selections showcase seasonal ingredients like pineapple, mango and hibiscus.
Baird Beer
Baird Beer is an interesting entry. While exclusively located in Japan, Brewer Bryan Baird is an American who cut his teeth in the beer mecca of the American Pacific Northwest, including an apprenticeship at Washington’s Redhook Brewery.
We visited the Harajuku taproom back in April and noticed a Portland, OR postcard on the wall at the end of the bar as well as a business card for Alpha Beta Hops in Ashland, OR. I told the bartender we were from Oregon and he got a little excited. He disappeared into the keg cooler and emerged with a 22-oz. bottle of “Seven” from Portland’s Upright Brewing. He’d just returned from a beer vacation in Portland.
Baird now has five taprooms in the Kanto region, including the original location at Numazu Fish Market where you might find yourself drinking with the brewers themselves. Baird offers 10 beers year-round and rotates seasonal selections to highlight local ingredients, many of which will be grown at the new brewery in Shizuoka.
Up-And-Coming
There’s an energy around the local beer scene that is reminiscent of Portland in the early-to-mid 00s or Bend in the early 2010s. Several breweries are making a living at beer festivals around Japan and have small cafes and taprooms opening soon.
Hokkaido Brewing: We found Hokkaido Brewing at the Keyaki Hiroba Spring Beer Festival in Ōmiya. There was a long line, which always means something good in Japan. They specialize in playfully-crafted seasonal beers, so we tried their Melon Wheat and Raspberry White ales and they didn’t disappoint.
Y.Market Brewing: Y.Market is another one we found at the Spring Beer Festival. They’re making a lot of noise on the ji-bīru scene and are selling their beers faster than they can brew them. They have a taproom scheduled to open this year which will feature specialties like the White ACE! Belgian White brewed with Sorachi Ace hops and highlighting spicy and citrus notes for an interesting blend of flavors.
Brimmer Brewing: Like Baird, Brimmer is an American brewer making American beers in the heart of Japan. Brewmaster Scott Brimmer utilizes his depth of international brewing experience to create three primary beers and a rotating seasonal made from all-natural ingredients. The Beer Box taproom in Omotesando feels like a backyard barbecue and offers all four beers on tap or in bottles to go. The Golden Ale session-style beer was great on a hot summer day.
Of all the crazy recycling days here in Japan, non-combustables day is my favorite. This is the day everyone puts their used goods—things you’d take to Goodwill in the U.S.—and puts them on the curb for the taking. Not everything is a gem, but sometimes there’s some good stuff out there.
This last week, I found a full-on countertop oven. It has multiple settings and the temperature goes up to 500 degrees. It works near-perfectly (I think the cord is a little loose) and I’ve already used it to make oven fries and falafels. My cooking world has been opened up… baking, roasting… oh the meals I’ll eat!
I’ve been on a Middle Eastern food kick lately. I found myself longing for one of our favorite restaurants back home and I must’ve had it bad, because it informed half of our meals this week. Happy. Healthy. Life. posted a recipe for Curry Chickpea Cool Cucumber Wraps last week and the tahini cucumber salad reminded me of an impulse purchase I made a few weeks back.
I’d been on a passive search for tahini, but finally decided to look up the Japanese word for it. For those not in the tahini fan club, it’s a paste made from sesame seeds. It’s kinda bitter on its own, but is the primary flavor in hummus and baba ganoush.
Behold the power of sesame paste! NERIGOMA!
Anyway, with Japan’s status as one of the world’s largest importers of sesame seeds, it seemed like tahini should be on the shelves. Turned out it is and with its very own Japanese name: nerigoma (練りごま). There were two options: the standard light-colored paste and (my impulse buy) a jar of black sesame seed paste. I justified this purchase by telling myself that, since dark-colored foods are good for you (it’s a real thing), I’d be doing a disservice NOT buying it.
But what to do with it… ? I usually make hummus with garbanzo beans, but the idea to use the prevalent-in-Japan black soybeans (kuromame) popped into my head. Mix in the black nerigoma and we’re in superfood heaven!
By the time I finally got around to making this, the local gardens were starting to sell the fruits of their labor and one had a bag of Japanese eggplants for 100 yen. Black hummus… baba ganoush… maybe make some falafels… did I put too much thought into a single meal? Perhaps…
While a delicious meal, admittedly, it’s not the most photogenic meal.
Usually bana ganoush and hummus have a lot of olive oil. I chose to omit those from my recipes since they add a LOT of extra calories. Frankly, I didn’t miss them. This was easily the simplest and best batch of baba ganoush I’ve ever made and the hummus is unique in a good way.
Japanese substitutions:
I used Japanese eggplants, which are skinnier than your standard eggplant. They’re fairly easy to find in the U.S. nowadays and I think they work better for baba than your usual eggplant.
I used nerigoma, but it’s roughly the same as tahini. The seeds used for nerigoma are toasted, which gives it a slightly different flavor, but tahini will probably be easier to find.
Baba ganoush usually uses lemon juice, but I used a mix of lime juice and rice vinegar instead. This was just because I had those things in the fridge and hadn’t bought any lemons. I really like what it did to the flavor.
The black soybeans were really dry, but I didn’t want to add copious amounts of oil and also didn’t want to neutralize the flavor with water, so I added the miso liquid to stay with the Japanese theme. You could use oil or add vegetable broth to get the consistency right.
Tip: If using a blender, I suggest adding the wet ingredients to the jar first. It seems to help the beans work their way down to the blades.
Baba Ganoush
Ingredients
3-4 Japanese eggplants
2 tbsp sesame paste (tahini or nerigoma)
3 garlic gloves
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
flat-leaf parsley for garnish
Prep
Puncture the eggplants several times with a fork.
Put the eggplants under your oven’s broiler until the skin begins to blister and turn black, then flip and repeat on the other side. This takes anywhere from 7-10 minutes. The skin should be charred and the inside of the eggplant should be soft.
Set aside to cool.
While the eggplants are cooling, peel the garlic, chop the parsley and set up your blender or food processor.
Cook
Peel the eggplants. The best way I’ve found is to slice the eggplant down the middle, then take the flat edge of a knife and scrap the flesh off the skin. Make sure the skin is completely removed as the texture can be unpleasant.
Put the eggplant flesh in the blender. Add the garlic cloves, sesame paste, lime juice, rice vinegar, cumin and salt.
Blend until smooth.
Chill for at least an hour before serving. Serve with fresh parsley garnished on top. You may also choose to drizzle olive oil on the top for added richness.
Kuromame Hummus
Ingredients
1/2 cup black soybeans
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp black sesame paste (tahini or nerigoma)
juice from 1/2 medium lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1 tsp miso paste mixed with 1/3 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
Kuromame Hummus Prep
If you’re using dried soybeans, soak them overnight. Then put in a saucepan, cover with 1-2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until they reach the soft side of tender.
Set up your blender or food processor.
Kuromame Hummus Cook
Add the garlic, sesame paste, lemon juice and a couple tablespoons of the miso liquid to the blender.
Add the soybeans, cumin and salt.
Blend until smooth. Add miso liquid 1 tablespoon at a time if the mixture is too dry until it reaches the desired consistency.
Chill for at least an hour before serving. Like the baba ganoush, you may choose to add extra virgin olive oil prior to serving.
