Adventure - Cascadian Abroad

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?

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

Kyoto: Reaching Enlightenment

December 10, 2014 by Robert Haddan

We woke up early on our final day in Kyoto. The Lonely Planet guidebook suggested arriving at Ginkaku-ji as soon as it opened to avoid the crowds.

We hopped on the #100 bus at Kyoto Station, which I’d wished we’d taken on our first day as it was essentially a 230 yen tour bus. It carried us past the massive orange torii at Heian Shrine and five other must-see sights. It was also a subtle reminder that three days in Kyoto wasn’t nearly enough.

After rubbing shoulders with thousands of our closest friends over the previous couple days, arriving at Ginkaku-ji before the crowds was simply amazing. You could get the sense of what it would have been like to walk the grounds before it became a tourist attraction. With only a handful of people inside, our ears rang with silence and tranquility.

The temple, officially known as Jishō-ji, was built as a retirement villa for shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the late 1400s. Ashikaga’s grandfather had commissioned the golden pavilion of Kinkaku-ji and Jishō-ji was intended to resemble that pavilion, including a silver-foil facade. However, the Ōnin War delayed construction and Ashikaga died before the silver foil could be applied. The common name Kinkaku-ji (“Temple of the Silver Pavilion”) became a popular nickname in the 1600s.

Fuji-san — A carefully-raked pile of sand in the Kinkaku-ji garden in the shape of Mt. Fuji

The stellar gardens are highlighted by two meticulously maintained sand sculptures. The first sits in front of the pavilion itself. The sand formed into a four-foot tall homage to the sacred Mt. Fuji.

Ginkaku-ji Sand Garden — The sand garden in front of the residence

Sitting on the veranda of the residence, you can gaze over the second sand garden with its sharp curves and lines. A maintenance man was straightening the sculptured sand before the crowds arrived with the precision of a surgeon.

The temple path leads up into the surrounding hills. From one overlook, you can see a Chinese parasol tree growing in the distance. In 2011, a seedling from a tree in Hiroshima that survived the atomic bomb during World War II was planted on the hillside.

From Kinkaku-ji, we headed down the Philosopher’s Path, a two-kilometer walk along a cherry tree-lined canal leading to Nanzen-ji temple. The path was named for Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro who would follow the path on his daily walk to Kyoto University. The surrounding neighborhood mixes residences with small cafes, giving it more of a European feel.

Sanmon at Nanzen-ji — The main gate (sanmon) at Nanzen-ji

We arrived at Nanzen-ji, our last stop before heading home. The massive sanmon (main gate) welcomes you into the surprisingly large grounds. The temple was established in the late 1200s and buildings seem to sprout from the surrounding trees.

Nanzen-ji Aquaduct — The aqueduct of Nanzen-ji

The most impressive of all of the temple’s structures was the long, arching aqueduct. It was built in the 1800s to provide water from Lake Biwa west to Kyoto. It looked out of place amongst the traditional eastern architecture, but the curves of the arches provided several foolproof photo opportunities.

With that, our unforgettable Kansai trip came to an end. We boarded the Shinkansen for Tokyo Station and returned to real life.

Kyoto: Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizu-dera

October 6, 2024November 25, 2014 by Robert Haddan

After two wonderful days in Osaka, we set out on the second-half of our Kansai adventure, bound for Kyoto. But first, coffee!

I only mention the coffee stop because it was the morning of November 3, yet the Starbucks at Temmabashi Station was already decked out for Christmas with an updated drink menu and American holiday music blaring through the speakers. But, as the saying goes: “When in Starbucks, do as the Starbuckians do.” We ordered the seasonal Snow Maple Toffee Latte, a take on a Canadian/New England treat called Maple Taffy (which the internet says is made by pouring boiling-hot maple sap over snow).

With a lethal dose of caffeine and sugar coursing through our veins, we boarded the Elegant Saloon 8000 express train to Kyoto. Other than the comfortable forward-facing seats, I didn’t notice anything particularly special about the train, but all along the 30-mile route, photographers with tripods and $10,000 lenses were set up, waiting to capture a photo of the train with the hills of central Japan in the backdrop. I snapped a horrible photo of the train once we arrived in Kyoto because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Changing Colors — The changing colors of the Japanese maple trees in Kyoto

So, right… Kyoto. An amazing, dynamic and diverse city, the former imperial capital of Japan boasts more than 2,000 temples and 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We intentionally scheduled our trip for early November to see the sights surrounded by the changing colors of autumn and we were not disappointed.

Fushimi Inari Taisha Torii — A few of the thousands of torii (shrine gates) lining the path to the inner shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha

We started our day at Fushimi Inari Taisha, the shrine dedicated to the kami (god) of rice (among other things). The shrine is famous for the thousands of torii (shrine gates) that lead to the inner shrine in the middle of Inari Mountain.

Inari is also the kami of industry, so in an offering to the god, Japanese businesses have donated each of the torii. Each gate is marked with the date it was placed and the name of the donating company. To the uninformed foreigner (us), you’d probably assume the words to be something spiritual. However, to the Japanese-literate, it’s an endless string of advertisements. Pretty cool advertisements though!

We spent a couple hours hiking up/down the trail to the middle of the mountain, where a view of the entire city opens up. We stopped for lunch, which of course included inari sushi (a fried-tofu pouch filled with sushi rice, named for the kami). We also had a bowl of kitsune soba. Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox. Foxes play a significant role in Japanese folklore. They’re also said to be fond of aburage (fried tofu), hence the namesake dish.

Kiyomizu-dera is a Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. One of the UNESCO sites, its current structures date back to the 1600s. The impressive main hall, with its large veranda designed to accommodate thousands of pilgrims at any given time, was built without a single nail.

I’m a big fan of the Buddhist temples and the smell of incense that fills the air. Despite the large crowds (turned out we were there over the Culture Day holiday weekend), there’s still plenty of opportunity to find a moment of Zen.

English Students — Two separate groups of students practiced their English on Viktoria. They were clearly unimpressed with me.

One (or two) such moments occurred when small groups of students descended on tourists to practice their English. They asked three pre-written questions with no follow-ups. The shrines and their large crowds must be popular for this homework as we experienced this in Asakusa back in May as well. The earnest students left a good feeling as we ventured into the temple.

Artist — An artist working on a sketch of Kiyomizu-dera’s main hall

From the veranda of the main hall, you can see a grand view of the city and, across the way, the temple’s lonely pagoda rises from the trees. A scenic walk leads to the pagoda. An older Japanese man sat near the trail, oblivious to the crowd around him as he made a beautiful color sketch of the iconic main hall.

Kiyomizu-dera Pagoda — The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

We reached the pagoda after a lovely walk, where I’ll admit to committing a cultural faux-pas. A very nice lady of Asian decent was snapping photos of her travel companions by the pagoda, so I asked her if she would take our photo as well.

Me: Shasin wo totte morae masu ka?
Her: I’m sorry, I don’t speak Japanese.

Shoot… As a person who is offended by the general clumping of cultures, I felt terrible, but she didn’t seem to mind. I’m guessing it’s one of those things that the other person doesn’t think twice about, while you beat yourself up over it for a couple days. The picture turned out lovely though!

Kyoto Tower rising from the edge of the city’s downtown area

We headed to our temporary Airbnb home near Kyoto Station. We’d need to rest up with two days and 2,000 temples to see.

Cascadian Abroad :45—Kyoto

Osaka Castle: History Comes Alive

October 6, 2024November 17, 2014 by Robert Haddan

Day two of our Osaka adventure was consumed by the majestic Osaka Castle (大阪城). We were lucky enough to visit on the weekend the castle honored the 400th anniversary of the Siege of Osaka, filling the park with several bonus events.

Otemon Gate of Osaka Castle — Sengan-yagura Turret (left) and Tamon-yagura Turret (right) once protected Osaka Castle’s Otemon Gate, but now welcomes visitors

Osaka Castle Park was just a short walk from our apartment, located in the middle of the government-building-heavy Chuo Ward. The surrounding area is typical modern Japan, but the park is a sprawling green compound—nearly half a millennium of history in the heart of today’s Osaka. We entered through Otemon Gate on the west side of the complex, Sengan-yagura and Tamon-yagura turrets looming as a reminder of the area’s more violent shogunate past.

Upon entering the compound, you get a sense of what life may have been like in those days gone by. Even today, the Shudokan (martial arts training hall) is brimming with life, hosting judo, kendo and naginata classes.

Nearby, a large statue honors Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the mastermind of the castle’s construction and Japan’s second “great unifier” responsible for ending a century of war in Japan’s feudal period.

First Look at Osaka Castle — The first view of Osaka Castle, peering through Sakuramon Gate

Not long after, we had our first glimpse at the architectural masterpiece itself. Sakuramon Gate frames the castle and marks the entrance to the main part of the castle grounds.

Samurai — Osaka Castle’s samurai serve a different purpose today

The grounds were lively with the festival remembering the 1614-15 Siege of Osaka, which resulted in the destruction of the original castle. Modern interpretations of traditional music filled the air. People in period costume wandered the park, snapping pictures with willing tourists.

A Hōzōin-ryū demonstration (see video below) captivated the crowd. Hōzōin-ryū is a form of martial arts that specializes in sōjutsu or spear-fighting. The men wielded the yari (spear) with the respect demanded by history, showing off the different maneuvers like a choreographed dance.

Ame-mura (Clockwise from top-left): Artistic street lamps; Statue of Liberty replica; What Japanese people think America is; Mexican-style poutine and pizza at Canadian-owned Slices Pizza

We took a break from the castle to find lunch. We headed back for the entertainment side of town and landed in Amerikamura. Known by the locals as “Ame-mura,” the area of American Village is Osaka’s take on western culture. While it has a reputation as a foreigner hangout, there aren’t actually many foreigners in the area. It felt very similar to Tokyo’s Harajuku district as far as the types of shops and fashion, but decorated with a tired caricature of the good ol’ USA.

We tracked down a Canadian-owned pizza joint called Slices and had a veggie pizza, some tasty fried potato strings and a nacho-style poutine. Refueled, we headed back to Osaka Castle for the rest of the festivities.

We re-entered the park from the southeast side, which leads into Forest Park and the Plum Grove. A climb up a Fuji-steep set of stairs led back into the main part of the park. The sun was beginning to break through the clouds, casting a yellow glow on the city and the castle.

The park closes around sunset, bringing an end to our time at both the castle and Osaka in general. The next morning we’d be on the express train to Kyoto.

Osaka’s Dōtonbori: The Japan We All Know and Love

October 5, 2024November 11, 2014 by Robert Haddan

Last week, a school event gave us a nice long five-day weekend. We took advantage of the time to visit the metropolis of Osaka and Kyoto in Japan’s central Kansai region. This will be the first of a series of posts since we packed a LOT of activities into those five days. Plus, a new feature… read to the end to find out more!

We were excited about our first real Shinkansen (bullet train) trip, which covered the 500 km trip from Tokyo to Osaka in about 2 1/2 hours. Technically, the train to Narita Airport in Chiba is a Shinkansen, but it doesn’t really reach the speeds that the Nozomi trains do.

The Shinkansen culture is an experience in itself. There is a definite sense of velocity, especially once you get out of the Tokyo metropolitan area and are speeding along the southern edge of Honshu. The train feels like a much more comfortable airplane. The seats recline to a healthy 45 degrees, but with ample legroom, you don’t feel cramped by the seat in front of you. Spacious airplane-style restrooms are located in between the cars and train staff bring a cart through offering snacks and drinks.

Bento boxes — Everyone had their bento boxes open before we were out of Tokyo-proper

Many of the riders brought their own bento (boxed lunch) with them, which could be readily purchased at the train station. 1,000 yen (a little under $9 USD) will get you a large bento and a tall-boy can of Japanese beer. We had our American bento—a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with potato chips.

Home Sweet Home Away From Home — Our home sweet home away from home

We would have two days to see what Osaka had to offer. We dropped our bags at the apartment we found on Airbnb. If you haven’t tried it yet, Airbnb is a great way to find low-cost places to stay all over the world (I feel like they should pay me for that statement…). The apartment was comfortable and centrally located between three main train lines, making it easy to navigate the city.

While the PB&J was a nice train treat, it was time for a proper lunch. We headed down to the Japan we’ve all seen on television—Dōtonbori. At night, the popular tourist district lights up with neon and video (more on that later), but it’s pretty impressive during the day too.

Osaka is famous for its okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is basically a savory pancake. Each region of Japan does it a little differently, but Osaka-style is the most common in Japan. The batter is made from grated yam, flour, eggs and cabbage, then it’s topped/mixed with a variety of ingredients. Walking through Dōtonbori, there was no shortage of places offering up this Japanese soul food. We ended up lunching at Takohachi, more famous for its fried octopus balls (takoyaki), and dining at Kyo-Chabana after the line at the famous Mizuno didn’t move for 15 minutes.

After lunch, we walked over to the National Bunraku Theater and bought tickets for an act of that evening’s show. We had a couple hours before the show started and hunted down a cool craft beer bar called Yellow Ape. I’d learned about it when I reached out to Newport, Oregon’s Rogue Ales to see where we could buy their Pumpkin Patch Ale in Tokyo. I’d expected a form message in reply at best, but instead I received a quick personal message and was put in touch with Phred, their distributor in Tokyo. Phred not only offered up some Tokyo locations, but told me the dates the beer would be on tap and suggested Yellow Ape while we were in Osaka. Rogue was already pretty cool in my book, but I was really impressed with the personal and super-helpful service.

It turned out Yellow Ape was close to our apartment. We stopped in before the bunraku performance and enjoyed a pint of the Pumpkin Patch Ale and an excellent Shonan Orange IPA from Kanagawa’s Kumazawa Brewing.

Showtime! Bunraku is a type of puppet theater that was founded in 17th century Osaka. The performance itself begins at 11 a.m. and ends around 9 p.m. It consists of several acts and you can buy tickets for individual acts (about two hours) or the whole day. We opted for the single-act tickets.

The puppets (ningyō) are amazing up-close, standing between three and four feet tall. The heads of the puppets are divided into different classifications based on things like personality and social class and are used in multiple shows, so you can easily tell the heroes from the villains.

During the performance, the puppets are expertly animated by the puppeteers (Ningyōtsukai) and two assistants. While the assistants are dressed in black from head to toe (including a hood), the main Ningyōtsukai becomes part of the performance. The Ningyōtsukai is responsible for constructing their own puppet for the show, making the connection between puppeteer and puppet very personal.

For me, the highlight was the narrators (Tayū) and shamisen musicians, who sit side-by-side at the side of the stage. A different pair is revealed for each act from behind a rotating wall. The information provided at the performance says “The narrator and the shamisen player, in their twin positions, seem to be trying to top the other in artistry… but in fact they are in perfect unison: neither leads and neither follows.” It was a perfect description as each stood out in their artistry, but in a way that fit together. The shamisen is a three-stringed guitar and has that traditional Japanese music sound. The Tayū stretch and strain their voices as they fill the roles of all of the characters as well as that of the narrator.

While the performance was in Japanese (an English “gist” was provided in print and a more in-depth “gist” could be rented in recorded form), the artistry of the whole thing outweighed the story, which was quite violent and soap-opera-esque. By the end of the story, several characters were killed off and more than one revealed themselves to be disguised as someone else.

After the show, we headed back into Dōtonbori. By now, the neon signs illuminated the night and the crowds packed in tight for the quintessential Osaka photographs. Dōtonbori itself is just a collection of restaurants, shops and clubs, but the environment is energetic and highly entertaining.

Dōtonbori Signs — Signage hanging above the restaurants in Dōtonbori

In addition to the ornate and playful static signs mounted above most of the restaurants, several were also animatronic, willing you with their subtle wiggling toward their offer of goods and services. We took a few laps around the area, had the aforementioned okonomiyaki fix and headed back to our apartment to rest up. Our Kansai adventure had only just begun!

Cascadian Abroad :45

I’m trying something new with this trip. Pictures are great, but so much of the experience is, well, experiential. I thought it’d be great to share some moving images to provide a better feel for some of our adventures. Since our video camera is also our point-and-shoot camera and I’m a terrible videographer, I’m going to condense the essence of the trip into a 45-second video. Quick and easy to watch, plus a lower risk of motion sickness from my shaky hand! Here’s the first one… enjoy!

More on our February 2015 Adventures

Cascadian Abroad :45—Yokohama

Cascadian Abroad :45—Kyoto

Cascadian Abroad :45