It is cherry season here in Japan and I was lucky enough to travel to one of the areas where Japanese cherries are grown. Japanese cherries are white fleshed cherries and taste amazing. An indication as to the effort that goes into producing these cherries is highlighted by one of the orchards I passed that had an oil fired heater to ensure that the temperature in the hot house was constant early in the season.
The orchard I visited was completely enclosed to keep the animals out and the ground under the trees had reflective tarps to focus the heat on the cherries. As you can see the end result looked amazing. Even more amazing was the fact that the farmer ensured some of his cherries were sampled straight from the trees.
After seeing, and tasting, all those cherries on the trees I was compelled to buy some to take home. Being Japan, and being a specialised fruit, they were not cheap. A one kilogram box of the top grade cherries was 6000 yen (about 75 Aussie dollars).
When you open up the box there are two hand packed 500 gram punnets. The taste is as good as they look and while the cherries are expensive, when considered a special treat, they are worth almost every cent (no they are not polished).
In preparation for getting a car I had to go and get a Japanese license. I was warned that it was likely to be a long process and that I would need half a day to complete the process. Luckily I was warned.
When you first arrive at the window on the second floor they give you a number, time to take a seat and wait. Twenty minutes later I was called up and they gave me a piece of paper to sign and then looked through all of the documents you are required to bring with you and then it time to take a seat and wait, again. Forty minutes later they called me up and sent me off for an eye sight test on the first floor. Another queue and having to then wipe the sweat off the forehead rest of the machine from the guy before me was a real highlight. You have to look through the eye pieces and identify gaps in circles and colours??? You have to take the results back up to the second floor and then its time to take a seat and wait, again. Forty minutes later I was called up to get my papers again and this time its time to go and queue and get your photo taken on the first floor. After having my photo taken it was time to head for a different room, this time the 3rd floor. It was like sitting in a bingo hall waiting except your waiting for your license number to be called on the electronic boards. Forty minutes later, bingo, Japanese license. Time to get out of there and start looking for a car.
3:02 PM |
Category:
Living in Japan
|
I decided to try, again, to find Kappabashi and this time I managed not to get lost and have a little look around. This street has eight blocks of any sort of kitchenware that anyone could want including knives, bowls, plates, cooking equipment, shop fittings, uniforms, signs, etc. Basically anything you need to establish or maintain a restaurant you can find in this street. To give some hint there is a shop called “Kitchen world”.
The main reason I wanted to find this area was to look at the plastic food shops. This area is supposed to be the home of the plastic food replica. A lot of restaurants and cafes in Japan have plastic replicas of the food they serve in their restaurants out in display cases on the street to entice you in. There was the mandatory sushi represented in the model but also beer, fruit and deserts. Some of the deserts looked almost good enough to eat.
5:09 PM |
Category:
Out and about
|
Lotteria, a fast food burger chain here in Japan, has just released a massive burger.
The base burger starts off at 160 yen for a bun and two burger patties and two pieces of cheese (and pickle). You then build your own tower by paying 100 yen to add one pattie and piece of cheese to the burger (to a maximum of ten patties).
This thing was huge, and very popular, the guy who bought this one had to wait in line for 10 minutes. Maybe it took that long to cook all the beef?
9:21 AM |
Category: |
After nine months in Japan I finally managed to get a chance to go fishing. Not the wilderness experience I was thinking of when I first arrived in Japan, but a fish is a fish. I only brought my light flyfishing gear to Japan so I was "forced" to buy an eight weight outfit with the expectation that I would be getting some invitations to head out to some of the lakes near Tokyo for a spot of bass fishing and also trips out on Tokyo bay to chase larger flathead and other ocean species.
With all of my equipment arriving I was a little toey to get out and wet a line and one of the guys I work with was talking about chasing seabass in the canals near where I live and I thought why not?
The first thing is that you need to fish on the ebbing tide with a full moon, apparently, so that means late nights. After leaving home around eight I walked the thirty minutes to the canals and while crossing one of the roads got this great view of Tokyo tower.
Soon I managed to get lost on the banks of the canals where the only concerns are not snakes but some very strange guys. Luckily enough someone flyfishing in the middle of a Tokyo night is enough to freak even these guys out so they left me alone.
It's a surreal expereince casting along the walls of these canals (where the seabass are supposed to live and ambush any struggling worms) while bullet trains and monorails are travelling over head. After trying a spot where I saw a few fish moving and missed a few subtle takes I decided to head to another area where I had previously seen fish. While walking along the side of the canal I passed loads of people and not one of them looked at me strangely. Thinking about it I figure if people can hop on trains and sit in the corner dressed as dogs or women can be led around the streets on leashes a guy carrying a fly rod in the middle of the night could almost be considered the norm.
At this spot I was fishing for about 15 minutes and looked up to see about a dozen people on the bridge behind me watching me fish. They stayed there for about 30 minutes, no pressure and I always thought there was plenty to do in Tokyo.
I was just considering heading home when I hooked up to a grey mullet - not what I was expecting. After playing the fish for five minutes I looked around and figured that landing the fish would be a challenge given the height of the canal banks. I managed to lie down and reach into the canal and grab the fish but as I was standing up I managed to lose it back into the canal - so no photo (though I did manage to get a photo from another source of a similar fish). I also managed to control my disappointment to express it in a word that was a lot more socially acceptable than some that may have been used in similar situations in the past. I am now the proud owner of a landing net that has an extendable two metre handle - no more escapees.
5:41 PM |
Category:
Fishing
|
One of the guys I work with has been telling me great stories about fishing for sea bass in the canals near where I live. I thought I should at least get ready – just in case – so I went back to the Sansui fishing shop to get some flies.
Some how I also managed to sign up for their loyalty card. At 420 yen the flies work out to be about 5.50 Australian dollars, not to bad for these ones, but Royal Wulffs (and most standard dry flies) are around 320 yen – about 4.40 Australian – a little expensive.
And a Royal Wullf is:
9:19 AM |
Category:
Fishing
|
